The passageway had been destroyed, but the tens of thousands of elderly, women, and children had yet to evacuate.
Zero had given the Northwest Army three minutes to evacuate the crowd. But the problem was that these tens of thousands of people were all in the vicinity of the passageway. Three minutes was too tight, and there was bound to be an oversight.
After the explosion, Big Bluff immediately tallied up the casualties. He discovered several hundred people had been injured by shrapnel and gravel during the missile bombardment.
There were also several hundred soldiers of the Northwest Army responsible for evacuating the crowd who were injured or killed in action.
No one had expected this to happen. With the passageway gone, it meant the elderly, women, and children would have to make their way back to Fortress 178 on foot.
And the most critical problem was that this group of people were the slowest to begin with. There were women carrying children and elderly people who could not walk easily. Big Bluff was so worried that his hair almost turned white.
When Zhang Xiaoman heard the explosion from elsewhere in the stronghold, he rushed back anxiously. "What's going on?"
Big Bluff muttered, "The Wang Clan's missile troops don't have a long range. In other words, they're already very close to us. If we evacuate now … it's too late."
P5092, who was working on a battle plan, also rushed over. Zhang Xiaoman looked at him and asked, "Can we use the vehicles requisitioned by the 6th Field Division to send these people away?"
However, P5092 shook his head calmly. "No, the 6th Field Division will only have enough mobility if they have those vehicles. Even if these elderly and children are controlled by the artificial intelligence, they won't pose too much of a threat. After all, their bodies are far from being able to withstand the intensity of the war. Instead, we should preserve the troops that are still capable of combat right now. "
Zhang Xiaoman said anxiously, "But those are the children and the elderly. We can't just watch them die on the road, can we? With their speed, the artificial intelligence will probably catch up to them in two days!"
"That won't do either." P5092 said coldly, "War is war. With Young Marshal not around, as the supreme commander of the 6th Field Division, I definitely can't judge based on emotions and morals. I only have one criterion, and that's how to win the war."
Zhang Xiaoman was speechless. Everyone knew P5092 was right, but they still could not accept it emotionally.
P5092 looked at the chaotic military control zone. "Hurry up and restore order here. Organize for them to evacuate on foot. I'll have to continue formulating the battle plan."
With that, P5092 turned around and returned to the command center. It was as though the crying escapees had nothing to do with him.
Zhang Xiaoman muttered, "Cold-blooded …"
Big Bluff glanced at him. "Actually, his decision wasn't wrong."
Zhang Xiaoman sighed. "I also know that he's not wrong. From a military point of view, I agree with him. It's just that I feel bad. I hope that the advancement of artificial intelligence is a little slower."
…
At the outpost east of Stronghold 144, Zhou Yingxue moved a wooden chair over and sat at the entrance of the outpost. She was lazily basking in the sun.
She squinted her eyes and hummed a song faintly in her throat.
Beneath her feet, several vines extended dozens of kilometers into the distance.
These vines were not densely packed together, so Zhou Yingxue was only using them as a means of reconnaissance.
Although Zhou Yingxue's vines were strong enough to engulf a stronghold, the scope of her reconnaissance was too large. She had to sacrifice the density of the creeper vines in exchange for an area of coverage.
These creeper vines were meandering on the ground like the veins of a huge leaf. Looking down from the sky, it looked strangely beautiful.
What made Zhou Yingxue a little unhappy was that Stronghold 144 seemed to be very busy. No one came to deliver food to her yesterday.
Zhou Yingxue called back to complain using the outpost's line. In the end, she was warned by P5092 not to use the line and that the outpost had to remain silent until the enemy was discovered.
Otherwise, everyone would get nervous every time Zhou Yingxue called and thought the enemy had already arrived.
But all of a sudden, Zhou Yingxue stood up from her chair.
A few dozen kilometers away, a crowd suddenly surged towards the area covered by the creeper vines.
Zhou Yingxue was no longer a nobody who could be easily bullied. She tried using the creeper vines to attack the crowd, but the density of the creeper vines was not high enough. Before the creeper vines could kill a few people, the crowd had already torn the creeper vines apart.
After the enemy encountered the creeper vines, they suddenly split into three groups and headed towards Stronghold 144, 145, and 146 respectively. There were probably several million of them.
Zhou Yingxue frowned. Her mission was to investigate, not kill the enemy.
Before leaving the outpost, Ren Xiaosu had made it very clear that although she was very powerful now, this enemy was not someone any supernatural being could defeat alone. Therefore, she only needed to report the enemy's situation and did not need to resist.
Zhou Yingxue turned around and went back into the house. She dialed the communication line and said, "The enemy is here. They're still 67 kilometers away from the outpost, and they're splitting into three groups and heading in three different directions."
After that, Zhou Yingxue quickly recalled the creeper vines and fled in the direction of Stronghold 144.
Inside the stronghold, Big Bluff was getting anxious when he heard about the situation. But after Zhou Yingxue reported the enemy's situation, he calmed down a lot.
There was no point in panicking. Everyone could only think of a countermeasure.
P5092 said to Big Bluff, "The 6th Field Division is in charge of guerrilla warfare to delay the enemy. Lead everyone and evacuate as soon as possible. The 6th Field Division won't be able to hold out for too long."
Big Bluff asked, "How long can they hold out for? The outpost is still more than 100 kilometers away from Stronghold 144. With the speed of the AI, they should be able to catch up to the escapees in a day and a half … or two days at the latest."
P5092 said, "I can't guarantee you how long the 6th Field Division can hold out for. You also know very well what kind of enemy we're facing right now. What the 6th Field Division can do is ensure that the escapees who left earlier are not caught up to. I don't think we should hold out too much hope for this group of people who are still stuck here. "
Actually, P5092's meaning was very clear. It was impossible for the old, young, women, and children who were still stuck in Stronghold 144 to survive.
The Great Hoodwinker sighed. Was there really no other way?
But at this moment, Xun Yeyu suddenly ran out of the barracks and shouted, "This is bad, this is bad! A group of enemies is approaching my sensing range from the northeast. I think there might be thousands of supernatural beings in there."
Everyone was stunned. Didn't the Young Marshal say that the AI should not be able to control supernatural beings? Why did so many of them suddenly appear?
And the problem was, there shouldn't be so many supernatural beings in the entire Barrier Alliance, right?!
Zhang Xiaoman said to Xun Yeyu, "Can you stop being so alarmed? Have you sensed it clearly? How can there possibly be so many supernatural beings?"
"My senses can't be wrong." Xun Yeyu said, "Those thousands of supernatural beings are escorting tens of thousands of civilians and are rushing over here at high speed. I feel that they'll only need four hours to reach our stronghold. Wait, there's another supernatural being who's especially fast. He's separated from the main group and is rushing over here by himself. "
"He's coming here by himself?" Big Bluff wondered. What was he doing here?
P5092 suddenly said, "Who knows, this might turn the situation around."
He turned around and got a soldier to drive over. The group of people headed in the direction of the enemy. P5092 suddenly felt that this group of people who had suddenly arrived were not enemies but friends.
P5092 said, "Do y 'all remember when we encountered a similar situation at Mount Zuoyun? At that time, everyone thought there were thousands of supernatural beings coming."
Big Bluff's eyes lit up. "You mean that person's wolf pack in the grasslands?!"
"That's right." P5092 nodded.
A few minutes later, Hassan arrived in front of everyone riding a warhorse in the wilderness. The horse was as tall as a dark cloud and looked extremely handsome.
Big Bluff had heard that the warhorses of the grasslands had all evolved. If such warhorses were to be bred with the warhorses of the Central Plains, the warhorses of the Central Plains would have difficulty giving birth.
Hassan sat on the horse's back and said loudly, "I'm here on Master's orders to report that tens of thousands of warhorses and cows have been driven from behind by the wolves for y 'all to use as transportation. Master said that y 'all should be anxious about how to retreat, right? "
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