Chapter 44: The Collision

“The monsters are coming!”

No one knew who shouted, but it was like pouring a plate of water into a pot of boiling oil. The entire pot seemed to erupt.

Those who regained their senses had a first reaction to flee, to escape from this place. Their second reaction was to go back to their cars and drive away. Under these two reactions, some people rushed straight for the blockade checkpoint and climbed over the barbed wire fence in front of it. Others turned around and ran toward where they had parked their cars.

The area in front of the entire blockade line was a chaotic mess, filled with terrified screams everywhere.

The lieutenant’s face turned iron gray. Holding a megaphone, he shouted, “Everyone stay calm! Don’t panic! Listen to me, we…” But at this moment, who was still listening to the lieutenant? Those who moved fast had already climbed the barbed wire and were trying to break through the defensive line formed by the blockade.

The soldiers stationed here pressed their gun barrels down sharply. Cold gun barrels were pointed at the growing number of people rushing toward the defensive line.

A roar from a fierce beast came from the distance again, followed by the sound of machine guns firing from armored reconnaissance vehicles and the explosion of missiles launched from helicopters. These sounds instantly shattered the peaceful night. Orange-red flashes appeared continuously behind the distant mountains, flashing and reflecting into the sky with every explosion.

Even from the blockade line, one could see missiles trailing flames as they plunged toward the ground from the helicopters firing them.

Amidst intense explosions, several purple-blue glowing orbs appeared, illuminating the entire sky brightly. Two armed helicopters were hit in the sky, turning into two burning fireballs. They were torn apart by repeated explosions and finally fell as countless small fireballs. The sky, just moments ago lit red, returned to darkness.

As if stimulating everyone’s nerves, fear finally erupted completely.

The lieutenant looked at the endless stream of people on the highway. Over tens of thousands of people were crowded together here, pushing and shoving each other. People kept falling, and the fragility of life disappeared quickly under the trampling. Screams of pain rang out from time to time. Even more people rushed toward the blockade line. In this situation, did they still care about previous warnings?

“Go back! Go back, or we will open fire!”

A platoon leader shouted, aiming his submachine gun at the sky for a short burst, making a series of “tat-tat” sounds. “Prepare the machine guns! Anyone who dares to crash through the blockade line will be shot!”

The lieutenant’s face was twisted. He finally seemed to make up his mind and shouted to the platoon leader next to him, “Pass my order: Lift the blockade, open the checkpoint!” The platoon leader paused. “But, but the orders from above…” The lieutenant pointed at the chaotic crowd in front of him and said loudly, “Do you want us to shoot them to stop them from passing? There are over a hundred thousand people here. If we don’t let them pass, they will all die.”

Over a hundred thousand people, not just a few dozen ants. The duty of soldiers was to protect the safety of the country and its people.

Moreover, if these hundreds of thousands of people really went desperate and rushed forward with no regard for their lives, would he really order his soldiers to open fire and massacre them? His original order was not to let them pass the blockade line unless further orders were given. But that order was under the premise that there were no fierce beasts. Now that the fierce beasts had arrived, sticking rigidly to that order would lead to casualties. Who could take responsibility for that?

“Do you hear me? Order the soldiers to open the checkpoint!”

The soldiers who received the order immediately opened the checkpoint. People didn’t even bother to cheer; they flooded into the checkpoint like a crazy tide.

In the camp near the checkpoint, when the alarm sounded, all resting soldiers scrambled up as fast as possible. They armed themselves and rushed out of the tents to form ranks, then ran to their designated posts as they did during wartime. In a moment, soldiers appeared in the prepared defensive positions in front of the checkpoint and on the roofs of some residential buildings in the Small Town.

Tanks and armored vehicles roared to life. The roar of their engines plunged the entire Small Town into a sea of mechanical noise.

On the highway, the sound of cars starting up mixed with people’s shouts. At least tens of thousands of cars were in the Small Town. In the chaos and lack of order, it was understandable that apart from cars parked on the side of the highway which could move, the others, lined up one after another, were completely unable to budge.

Car horns honked constantly. Anxious people cursed, wishing their cars could fly like in science fiction movies.

Some smart people, seeing these patches of immobile cars, gave up the idea of driving away. They opened their doors, grabbed valuable items, and ran between the cars toward the checkpoint. Seeing those who abandoned their cars and ran, others cursed them. People ran, leaving cars behind, blocking others anyway?

Several armed helicopters in the camp took off, making a “buzzing” sound as they flew over the Small Town.

The roar of the Fierce Beasts from the distance became more frequent, closer, and clearer to people’s ears.

The chaotic Small Town made it impossible for tanks and armored vehicles to cross the town to stop the Fierce Beasts. The lieutenant was frustrated, cursing under his breath. When he heard the sound of the Fierce Beasts was only a few kilometers away, he gritted his teeth and shouted, “Order the tanks to advance. Ram all the cars blocking the way!”

The situation was critical now. According to the intelligence data, it was unrealistic for ordinary soldiers to resist these Fierce Beasts. The only reliance was on this armored force.

Tanks had to go to the front to fight. Otherwise, when the Fierce Beasts appeared in the Small Town, those who hadn’t escaped yet would be doomed. Rather than that, it was better to be ruthless, sacrifice some property, and save more lives. In this emergency, he didn’t care about anything else.

Receiving the order, the tank company, amidst rumbling sounds, had Type 96 main battle tanks let out a ferocious roar and rushed out of the checkpoint.

The rumbling tanks crashed directly into the pile of crowded cars and then stopped. Tank crew members manning the anti-aircraft machine guns desperately used their hands to signal people to move aside.

In front of the tank was a BMW 7 Series. The middle-aged man inside looked at the ferocious tank in front of him, its huge barrel looking like a giant beast. Seeing the tank stop in front of his car, his mind hadn’t yet processed it. Seeing the tank crew member signal to move aside, he didn’t understand, “What are they… what are they trying to do?”

Seeing that his signaling had no effect, the tank crew member shrank back into the tank and slammed the hatch shut with a “bang.”

The tank moved. To the middle-aged man’s terrified eyes, the barrel tilted slightly upward, and the front armor directly crashed into the BMW. Amidst the screech of twisting metal, the front of the BMW deformed. The tank paused briefly. The man in the driver’s seat, already in a panic, opened the door and scrambled out like a rabbit…

People in other cars saw that the tank really dared to ram. They were dumbfounded.

The tank let out a huge roar and started again. Its powerful engine made it ignore the nearly two-ton BMW, hitting it fiercely and crushing it to the side. In the row of cars behind the BMW, drivers fled from their vehicles in terror, watching helplessly as their cars were smashed and pushed aside.

In just a short while, the tank had forcefully rammed a path through the highway congestion. The parked cars looked like they had been plowed over.

Amidst the rumbling noise, twenty tanks passed in formation, followed by several armored vehicles. Completely ignoring the terrified looks of the people, they rumbled forward toward the other end of the highway.