The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse
Chapter 238 - 234 Land of the Chosen

Chapter 238: Chapter 234 Land of the Chosen

The captive carried on Gao Yuan’s shoulder had been repeating the same word, of course, Gao Yuan couldn’t understand it.

"What’s he saying?"

After catching up with Li Yang and the others, Gao Yuan hurriedly said, "This guy keeps mumbling, but I have no idea what he’s saying."

"Devil, he keeps saying ’devil’."

Li Yang, cradling an unused sniper rifle, turned his head to look at Gao Yuan and then at the captive on Gao Yuan’s shoulder, and suddenly said, "Stop, that’s far enough, let’s interrogate the captive right here."

Aside from Gao Yuan, everyone was gasping for breath.

Cao Zhenjiang came to a stop, walked over to Gao Yuan, then took his machine gun off his shoulder, rested its butt on the ground for support, and his hands naturally grasped the barrel.

"Huff... huff... Are you even human? Ah!"

After asking Gao Yuan a foolish question, Cao Zhenjiang suddenly let out a yell, his hands releasing the barrel he had been holding, and as the machine gun started to fall to the ground, he quickly grabbed the barrel again, followed by another shout.

"Damn it, it’s burning me!"

Cao Zhenjiang, in a panic, steadied the machine gun, then placed it on the ground, and while vigorously blowing on his hands, he hopped about exclaiming, "It’s burning me to death, burning me to death!"

The machine gun barrel was almost glowing red with heat— it must have been extremely hot, and although a few minutes had passed since the end of the fight, it hadn’t cooled down that quickly.

If it had been a few minutes earlier, Cao Zhenjiang’s hands would have been scorched, but now, it was just a momentary pain.

But Yu Shunzhou and the others finally couldn’t help but all burst out laughing.

"Mr. Cao, are you trying to scorch your hair and make some ’braised pig trotters’? "

Yu Shunzhou couldn’t hold his tongue, and Cao Zhenjiang playfully kicked at him, then once again turned to Gao Yuan with a cautious yet very formal tone and asked, "Are you really human?"

Gao Yuan placed the captive on the ground, but as soon as the captive’s feet touched the ground, he couldn’t stand and fell over, then kept kicking his legs, supporting himself with his left hand on the ground, and gazed at Gao Yuan with eyes full of terror, yelling and retreating backwards.

"He’s speaking Uzbek, saying you’re a devil."

Li Yang stepped forward and then said in a low voice, "Speak, why did you attack us?"

The captive was still repeating the word ’devil’, and Li Yang looked at Gao Yuan, then ordered, "Give him a slap."

Gao Yuan delivered a slap, then Li Yang shouted loudly, "Speak!"

"Are you a devil?"

Finally, the captive spoke a complete sentence, and Li Yang continued yelling, "Speak, why did you attack us!"

"You, you... We were ambushing, thought you were the enemy..."

Li Yang could finally have a normal conversation with the captive, and then he quickly showed an extremely shocked expression.

Gao Yuan asked anxiously, "What did he say?"

Li Yang turned back and said to Gao Yuan and the others, "He said they are just a forward position, behind them there’s at least a thousand regular troops, equipped with twelve tanks, four towed artillery pieces, and more than twenty mortars. The mortar position that fired earlier is just one of their mortar companies."

Cao Zhenjiang was stunned and said, "What’s this, what’s this for?"

Li Yang stood up, his voice trembling as he said, "The focus isn’t on how many people they have, but, but that they have just attacked Dushanbe and, after suffering a defeat, retreated."

Panxin said, "Wait! Does that mean we are still within range of the enemy’s heavy fire? We’ve got to retreat fast!"

Li Yang spoke softly, "Don’t panic, they are seriously short of fuel; the tanks can’t be moved, so we don’t need to worry too much about being shelled. The problem is something else he mentioned—they had just attacked Dushanbe and failed, wanting to retreat back to their original camp. To avoid pursuit by the Tajik army, they stayed here to set up an ambush. Also, this road is often used by people going to Dushanbe. To collect any useful supplies, they have laid bombs, and if they deem there’s value, they’ll detonate the bombs."

Gao Yuan asked, "Why did they attack Dushanbe?"

Li Yang exhaled and said, "That’s the part I’m surprised about, because Dushanbe hasn’t been attacked by the aliens at all. There are no viruses there, no zombies!"

Everyone was dumbstruck, and for a moment, nobody spoke; only their breathing, which had become noticeably heavier, could be heard.

In the face of a global disaster, at a time when humanity seemed to be at the end of its tether, could there really be a city completely untouched by the virus?

What is this, the Land of the Chosen?

Li Yang exhaled again, his voice very serious as he said softly, "Now you understand what has happened. If we continue along this road for less than twenty kilometers, we will reach Samarkand City in Uzbekistan, a city which is an Uzbek military stronghold, and the people who ambushed us are survivors from a military base near Samarkand."

Gao Yuan stammered, "Then why do they want to attack Tajikistan? Why attack Dushanbe?"

Li Yang turned back to continue questioning the captive, and after talking for a while, he said to Gao Yuan, "Because their supplies were depleted over the winter, and it’s clear that food can no longer be cultivated here, logistic lines have been completely cut off. In order to survive, they hope they can get to Tajikistan, but Tajikistan, to avoid outsiders bringing in the virus, forbade anyone from entering or even approaching Dushanbe. So, Tajikistan established a military defense line not far from the border."

Li Yang turned, pointing southward, and whispered, "It’s over there, less than fifty kilometers away is the Tajik border. These soldiers who ambushed us have just suffered a minor defeat and were driven back. They are hesitating whether to attack again or to disperse and sneak into Tajik territory quietly."

Cao Zhenjiang shouted, "He’s just a junior non-commissioned officer; how can he know so much?"

"Because they need every man to make a life-or-death decision, their commander told each of them the reality of the situation."

Nie Erlong looked puzzled and said innocently, "But why? Why doesn’t that place in Tajikistan, what’s it called, the one with something tied to its belly, have any problems?"

"Because Tajikistan is known as the country of mountains, with ninety-three percent of its territory consisting of mountains and plateau. To the north is the Tianshan Range, in the middle is the Gissar Alay Range, and to the southeast is the Pamir Plateau. Dushanbe is a small city established in a mountain basin, surrounded by high mountains, and the entire city has only a few hundred thousand people. It’s so small that the aliens didn’t bother to specifically target Dushanbe with the virus. Of course, this is just my speculation."

Li Yang spoke quickly, then said very seriously, "That’s the situation. We must get back to the vehicle as quickly as possible, and then decide what to do next."

Gao Yuan exhaled, as they stood at a crossroads of fate.

If they continued west, they would be in territory held by the Rebel Forces, and they’d just fought a battle against them.

If they turned south, they would have to detour a long way, but it would only be a detour; after reaching Dushanbe, it would still be possible to head west.

In that case, it seemed there was no need to choose.