Chapter 200: A minor injury is not a big deal
The battle between the Crimson Dawn Base and the Earth Temple in the north of the city broke out without warning on the second night.
There was no declaration of war, no pre-war mobilization, and both sides took action almost at the same time.
The base sent out many teams to launch a surprise attack on a large number of believers of the Temple who were preaching outside, and basically wiped them out.
A large number of masters from the Temple attacked the base headquarters, releasing supernatural light that illuminated the night sky, which was thrilling.
In the end, the base barely managed to hold the gate and wall and prevent the enemy from breaking through at the heavy price of most of the awakened people being killed or injured and several fighter planes being completely destroyed.
However, the survivors living in the outer areas were killed and injured heavily by the temple masters before they left.
After daybreak, the base opened its gates and allowed survivors to take refuge in, but less than a thousand people were willing to enter, and the other 20,000 to 30,000 people all fled in all directions.
Some hid in other places in the city, some left the city, and some went directly to the vicinity of the temple. They would rather be preached and controlled by the temple than be attached to the Crimson Dawn base.
Because these people feel that the base has no hope.
Not only outsiders think so, many members within the base also feel the same way.
Before this night, they had believed the base was the most powerful organization in City C—it had a vast territory, a large population, and a leader with official connections. The entire base was united in their efforts to vigorously develop and acquire supplies. Everyone had a roof over their heads, food to eat, and even heating in the cold winter...
Is there a better place than this in the apocalypse? The base will surely become more and more powerful, leading everyone to build a new city!
However, after the night battle, people's faith was shaken and collapsed.
"The Temple of the Earth, those psychopaths who worship the Mother Goddess, aren't they an evil organization? A rabble gathered together through deception and fraud, yet why are they so powerful!"
"It's not them who are dying, it's us. They can just send two or three hundred awakened ones to attack the city. Maybe that's not all, but how many do we have? We worked so hard to conduct stimulating awakening training, but in the end, we couldn't even gather a hundred people."
"There are less than a hundred of us, and quite a few have died in battle... When they attack us again, will we be completely wiped out?"
"Captain Ye is the most powerful person in the base, but he's seriously injured and can't fight!"
"It's all that woman's fault. She had an affair and hurt Captain Ye. She's going to kill all of us!"
"Wow, wow, wow, I don't want to die. I still want to live. I don't want to die. I don't want to stay here and wait for the Temple to kill me..."
Taking advantage of the fact that the base opened its doors to take in outside survivors, many people rushed in, trying to break through the checkpoints and leave the base.
They were intercepted by the soldiers of the gate guard team led by Captain Xiao, who used sticks and guns to intimidate them.
"All soldiers, listen up! From now on, anyone attempting to escape from this base will be considered a spy and killed without mercy!"
"But, but the base rules clearly state that everyone can leave at any time after joining, and you are always welcome to come back if you want to..." someone weakly refuted.
Captain Xiao shouted angrily, "Those are the rules in normal times. We're at war now! You're not allowed to leave during wartime! Who knows if there are spies or traitors among you? What if they escape and reveal the internal situation of the base to the enemy, making it easier for them to attack next time?"
"But we don't want to wait here to die..."
"Who said the base will definitely lose and you will definitely die? Anyone who shakes the morale of the army during the war will be attacked!"
Captain Xiao ordered his men to drag out the people who were shouting the loudest and beat them ten times on the spot to serve as a warning to others.
He personally shot a man who refused to believe in the evil and insisted on breaking through the checkpoint. Only then did the turmoil of the escape finally subside. People dispersed in panic, fearing a beating and daring not to openly discuss the base's defeat. But privately, fear still spread, and people were uneasy.
Intensive care unit.
A joint meeting of the management and combat team was held in front of Ye Qi's bed, where they nervously discussed how to repair the situation after the war and how to plan for the next battle.
Ye Qi lay on the bed with his eyes half closed and his face pale as he listened.
He only stated at the end: "Do it according to the results of your discussion."
After the meeting, only Captain Xiao and Old Song stayed by Ye Qi's side.
"All this discussion is useless! Layout, how should we layout it? Right now, the Awakened are the key to the success or failure of this battle. What's the point of annihilating their missionary team? There are many ordinary people in those teams, and their deaths will not shake their foundation. But we only have twenty Awakened who can participate in the battle. What about the enemy? Dozens died in this battle, but there are still at least two hundred left! This is the number of people we saw, and who knows how many more are behind them. How can we fight this battle! How can such a newly established evil organization have so many Awakened? Isn't it weird?"
Captain Xiao suddenly realized something and exclaimed, "Is this temple related to the human body laboratory? Only that kind of perverted experimental method can quickly produce a large number of awakened people!"
Ye Qi looked at Old Song.
Old Song pulled out a few documents from the drawer. "This is the news from headquarters, as well as the investigation results sent back by our spies."
Captain Xiao took it and read it, his pupils dilated and his face was filled with shock.
"The official bases' operations to eliminate the Temple failed by 80%? Resulting in the destruction of half of the official bases?!"
"We have a spy on our side? Is this true?!"
"The supporters behind the Temple have influence all over the world. Our human laboratory is just a small branch of it?"
"Research on awakening superpowers, research on intelligent machinery, formation of combat armies...what do they want to do!"
"We have spies inside our base? Oh, I expected that. I've long said that the base's detention system is too lax! Look, there's bound to be trouble!"
Captain Xiao walked back and forth, clutching several documents. "We must find a way, a way. We can't be destroyed like half of the official base!"
Old Song said solemnly, "More than half. This data is from yesterday. The battle has broken out across the board. After today, many more bases will probably be destroyed. Conservatively speaking, we'd be lucky if 30% of the bases were left."
"So what should we do?" Captain Xiao slammed his fist on the table. "We even drove Qiao Lan away at this critical moment. Her group is very powerful!"
"It's a drop in the bucket. Her presence is useless. The Earth Temple in City C is the strongest in the eastern region."
This time it was not Lao Song who spoke, but Ye Qi.
He suddenly sat up in bed.
The bluish-gray face quickly recovered blood at a speed visible to the naked eye, gradually turning bluish-white, then pale, and finally returning to normal.
"Your injury?" Captain Xiao was shocked.
Ye Qi smiled faintly: "I am an awakened one, a very strong one, a small injury is not a big deal."
"That's just a minor wound?" Captain Xiao was speechless. The surgeon said the knife had pierced the back of the heart, and it would be very difficult to sew it up!
"Captain Xiao, if we lose..."
"Defeat! We won't lose! We'd rather fight to the death than to die!"
Captain Xiao shouted that he would organize everyone to become soldiers and that all members of the base had to fight. It was not enough to just rely on the awakened and the soldiers.
Ye Qi smiled: "After reading the documents, I am still full of fighting spirit. It is right to entrust this base to you."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to be away for a few days. Captain Xiao, the base and the alliance are left to you." Ye Qi said seriously.
He got out of bed, his posture straight and his complexion full of energy, completely different from his previous weak and dying state lying in bed.
He said solemnly, "From today on, all members of the base and the alliance will participate in the war. Everyone will be a soldier."
"Those who shake the morale of the army will be killed; those who shrink from the battle will be killed; those who flee and betray will be killed; those who try to fish in troubled waters will be killed! In the bloody dawn, we will fight and never retreat!"
"Captain Xiao, remember, even if we have to fight to the last man, we must hold on!"
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