After Beating the Game, I Became the Villain BOSS

Chapter 533: Chapter 346: Nationwide Fury

[Rust Wall M6 District Outer Wall]

As time marched on, the battle between the mercenaries and the beasts had escalated into a brutal, trench-like confrontation.

Even with fire suppression from the high ground and with Titan Mechas as well as High-tier Extraordinary Beings controlling the transport hubs from multiple directions, the battle lines had stretched too long.

Refugees gathered in the Eastern Border District numbered six to seven million.

The mercenaries involved in the fight were only from the Edge, Mo Xue, and other Mercenary Corps, totaling two to three thousand.

On average, one mercenary had to protect two to three hundred people.

And this didn’t even account for sudden situations, like refugees being trapped in other city areas, necessitating rescue teams to be dispatched, and so on.

The shortage of personnel resulted in the defensive line being generally very loose. Faced with the beast hordes’ fierce assaults, multiple lines struggled to sustain fire suppression, resorting to brutal hand-to-hand combat.

Constantly, battle lines were breached and pushed back, only to be counterattacked by reinforcements arriving, repeatedly turning the battlefield into a meat grinder, with heaps of corpses everywhere.

While mercenaries fought bloodily, the Eastern Border refugees could only anxiously wait at the rear, at most helping to care for the wounded brought back; there was nothing else they could do.

At this moment, people were all praying, praying for the life channel to the Inner City to open as soon as possible.

As time passed slowly but restlessly, without any warning, the fire recognition zone holographic warning of the Rust Wall M6 District disappeared. The fixed turrets on the wall also retracted, the gates’ alloy panels opened, revealing the passage.

No more holographic warnings, no more turrets, the gates opened too, logically leading everyone to believe the City Council had ordered to let them into the city.

The refugees nearest to the Rust Wall were stupefied for a few seconds, then stirred as excited voices resonated through the air:

"The gate is open! The Rust Wall gate is open!!!"

"Great! We’re saved! The City Council hasn’t abandoned us!"

"Quickly tell people in other places, the door here in M6 is open, everyone quickly get into the city!"

The pressure accumulated from the onset of disaster until now suddenly released, and the refugees outside M6 District surged toward the Rust Wall like a tidal wave amidst the clamor.

One person spread to ten, ten to a hundred, the news travelled rapidly, refugees from other regions heard only M6 District had opened its gate, believing it to be the designated entry point by the City Council, they rushed toward M6 District one by one.

At this moment, the commander of the Rust Wall Defense Team in M6 District, standing up high, was already drenched in sweat from the overwhelming crowd rushing toward him, shouting to the deputy: "What’s going on? Who shut the system down?!"

The deputy was entirely at a loss, stuttering: "I, I don’t know, it definitely wasn’t our people who shut it down, we don’t have that authority!"

Then, the commander’s communicator buzzed, it was a call from the Rusted Wall Defense Command Center.

After answering it, he initially listened respectfully, then was struck with shock, which eventually morphed into an indelible fear.

After the communication hung up, the deputy cautiously asked: "Sir, what was said?"

The commander’s gaze was somewhat unfocused, muttering: "The command center said the terminal control room was breached, M6 District’s system was manually shut down, rebooting will require 12 hours."

The deputy was at a loss, asking: "Now, the refugees are rushing here, what should we do? Bring them in for arrangement first?"

The commander’s expression grew sinister, saying in a deep voice: "No... The City Council has just declared Rust Wall M6 District in wartime status, demanding we bring weapons and establish a manual defense line. All Eastern Border people attempting to rush into the Inner City shall be shot dead."

"What?!" The deputy was instantly chilled to the bone.

Granted, few soldiers in the Rust Wall Defense Team had any fondness for Eastern Border people, and some even had a twisted sense of humor, deliberately luring Eastern Border people into the fire recognition zone to kill them for fun when bored.

But using fully automatic turrets to kill and killing personally are two different concepts.

Killing a few for fun, and mass slaughtering a crowd, are also two different concepts.

The deputy asked tremblingly: "If we do this... We will be court-martialed, right..."

The commander’s face darkened to the point of dripping water: "No, quite the contrary, now that it’s wartime, these Eastern Border refugees are deemed hostile targets, us shooting them is executing wartime directives, procedurally there are no issues."

"On the contrary, if we refuse to follow the City Council order, then we’d be court-martialed."

The deputy listened, feeling a tinge of reluctance: "But this is too cruel!"

The commander pushed him, coldly questioning: "Then you choose, are you going to be cruel to these Eastern Border people, or cruel to your son? Hmm?"

"I... My son?" The deputy didn’t understand how the two were related.

The commander coldly said: "What, think this has nothing to do with your son? If you refuse to follow the City Council order, face court-martial thereafter, a blemish on your record. "

"By then not just your son, your grandson, great-grandson, for life won’t get any government positions, private companies demanding background checks will be out of reach too, probably ending up laboring in factories."

"Is this what you want? Hmm? To affect your entire family’s future generations due to a moment’s compassion?"

The deputy didn’t speak further, his bewilderment quickly dissipated, only after a brief mental struggle, his expression grew as sinister as the commander’s.

The commander glanced at the Eastern Border refugees surging into the fire recognition zone outside the Rust Wall, coldly said: "Have two teams drive all vehicles to block the gate, the rest switch to heavy weapons, issue one warning only, those who do not retreat afterward are to be shot on sight!"