Gao Wu: My freshman internship was a battle on the front lines.

Chapter 31: Encountering a Beast Tide Upon Arriving at Fortress No. 3

Fortress No. 3 is one of the only three remaining fortresses outside Jiangcheng.

The other two are number seven and number nine.

Speaking of which, Jiangcheng's defense system back then was practically impregnable.

Humans built four fortresses around Jiangcheng, named after the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise respectively.

Eighteen fortresses were built around the four fortresses, forming an impregnable defensive line.

At that time, people were very confident, believing that this defensive line could protect Jiangcheng for a hundred years.

Unfortunately, the rise of the alien beasts was extremely rapid, far exceeding human imagination.

In just a few years, fifteen of the eighteen fortresses were captured by the alien beasts.

Of the four fortresses, only the Xuanwu Fortress remains, struggling to hold on.

Outside Jiangcheng, humanity now only has the Xuanwu Fortress and three fortresses struggling to hold on.

They also became the last strategic foothold for Jiangcheng's counterattack against the alien beasts.

For this reason, the Jiangcheng military spends countless resources every year to reinforce and repair the three fortresses.

The Black Tortoise Fortress is entirely under the responsibility of the Night's Watch. Currently, the main force guarding the Black Tortoise Fortress is the Night's Watch Vanguard Battalion.

There are strange beasts that appear there almost every day of the year, and the city is besieged by them every ten days or so.

This is why the Night's Watch Vanguard has had an exceptionally high mortality rate in recent years.

At this moment, a large convoy is setting off from the Jiangcheng military headquarters, heading majestically into the wilderness.

Ten armored vehicles led the way, each equipped with a large-caliber machine gun, the muzzle gleaming with a cold metallic sheen.

In the middle of the convoy were five modified military buses carrying more than 300 freshmen from Wuhan University.

Five armored vehicles brought up the rear of the convoy.

The entire procession stretched for hundreds of meters, like a long steel dragon winding its way across the wasteland.

Ye Feng sat in the passenger seat of the first military bus, looking out the window into the distance.

"Instructor Ye, Fortress No. 3 is ten kilometers ahead." The driver was a young sergeant, speaking respectfully.

Ye Feng nodded: "Maintain speed and have the armored convoy expand its perimeter."

"Yes."

More than 300 new students sat on the bus. Some excitedly pressed their faces against the windows to look out, some were so nervous that their palms were sweating, and some pretended to be calm and closed their eyes to rest.

Lin Ruoxi sat behind Ye Feng, wanting to speak several times, but swallowing back her words.

Liu Kai, Zhang Hao, and their group huddled in the last row, barely daring to breathe.

Ever since they learned that Ye Feng was their instructor, they wilted like frostbitten eggplants.

Wang Dehou remained ashen-faced throughout the entire process and did not utter a single word.

They knew in their hearts that their lives were now in Ye Feng's hands.

If Ye Feng wanted to mess with them, he wouldn't even need to do it himself; he could simply arrange an "accident" for them during the trial.

"Instructor Ye." A veteran jumped off the armored vehicle, walked to Ye Feng's car window, and saluted.

"There's an abandoned road ahead, with bushes on both sides, which could easily hide wild animals. Should we slow down?"

Ye Feng thought for a moment and asked, "How many times have you traveled this road?"

The veteran was taken aback, then answered truthfully, "No less than a hundred times."

"Has anything like this happened before?"

"They've attacked three times, all small-scale ghost wolf attacks, which we repelled."

Ye Feng nodded: "Then proceed at normal speed. Have the armored vehicles set up their machine guns, and everyone go on standby."

"yes!"

The veteran turned and ran back to the armored vehicle, and the convoy continued forward.

On the bus, several students gazed curiously at the scenery outside the window.

The scenery of the wilderness is unique; the sky is high, the clouds are thin, and the distant horizon is a vast expanse of white.

Occasionally you can see a few crooked trees, their trunks covered with moss, but their crowns are bare.

"It's quite pretty," a girl whispered.

A boy next to him chimed in, "Yeah, it's much better than I imagined. I thought it would be full of strange beasts."

An old soldier overheard their conversation.

The veteran's surname was Zhao. He was in his forties and had a scar on his face that made him look ferocious and terrifying.

He was in charge of the bus's security, carrying a heavy sniper rifle on his back and with magazines hanging from his waist.

The veteran glanced at the two students, grinned, and smiled with an indescribable bitterness in his eyes.

"Beautiful?" He pointed out the window. "Do you know what's buried under those bushes?"

The student shook his head.

"Human bones are buried here." Old Soldier Zhao lit a cigarette and took a puff.

"Three years ago, Fortress No. 7 was captured by alien beasts, and the three thousand defenders and more than two thousand civilians were all wiped out."

The carriage fell silent instantly.

The old soldier continued, "You think the wilderness is beautiful because you haven't seen wild beasts eating people."

"But I've seen it. A level four Earthshattering Bear, with one slap, killed an entire squad of soldiers before they even had a chance to scream."

The girls' faces began to turn pale.

The old soldier flicked his cigarette ash: "Our human race is having a tough time right now. Do you know why? Because of numbers. A female beast can give birth to more than a dozen cubs in one litter, and two to three litters a year. Humans, on the other hand, have a ten-month pregnancy, and only give birth to one child at a time. Do the math."

He held up two fingers: "The current ratio of humans to beasts is conservatively estimated at one to twenty. That means one human has to face twenty beasts. And that's a conservative estimate."

"Then what do we do?" a boy asked in a trembling voice.

"What to do?" Old Soldier Zhao exhaled a smoke ring. "Kill them. Every one we kill is one less. Kill them until the beasts are afraid, until they dare not approach human territory."

"If it weren't for the high walls and thick fortifications of Jiangcheng, it would have been trampled flat by the monsters long ago. Of course, we also have to thank the night watchmen of Xuanwu Fortress. If it weren't for them holding things back from the outside, Jiangcheng wouldn't have been able to hold out until now."

When the Night Watchmen were mentioned, the veteran's gaze unconsciously swept over Ye Feng in the passenger seat.

"The Night's Watch Vanguard has a mortality rate exceeding 90%." Veteran Zhao's voice deepened. "Do you know what that means?"

Everyone knew what it meant!

One year later, only one of the ten Vanguard Battalions of the Night's Watch remained!

A collective gasp filled the carriage.

"Then Ye Feng, wouldn't he...?" Lin Ruoxi couldn't help but ask.

She looked at Ye Feng's back with a complicated expression.

Ye Feng remained silent, sitting quietly in the passenger seat, as if the things the old soldier was talking about had nothing to do with him.

But he knew in his heart that everything the veteran said was true.

In fact, reality is even crueler than the veterans described.

Just then, Ye Feng's brows suddenly furrowed.

His mental strength was far greater than that of ordinary people; nothing within a radius of hundreds of meters could escape his perception.

At that moment, he sensed something was wrong.

"Stop the car." Ye Feng stood up.

The driver instinctively stepped on the brakes.

The bus suddenly stopped, and the students inside immediately swayed and fell into disarray.

"What's wrong?" someone asked in a panic.

Ye Feng didn't answer, opened the car door and jumped out.

He stood in the middle of the road, his spiritual power spreading outwards like a tide.

In his mental perception.

There was a lot of life moving quickly in the bushes on both sides of the road.

Not human!

It's a strange beast!

And there are quite a few of them.

"Everyone stay in the vehicles, all soldiers, enter combat readiness!" Ye Feng shouted in a deep voice.

"Armored vehicles, move closer and form a circular defensive formation! Students on the bus, do not move without orders!"

The veterans in the military reacted the fastest and immediately took action according to Ye Feng's orders.

Armored vehicles quickly converged, forming a circular defensive perimeter around the bus.

The machine guns pointed in all directions, and the sound of bolts being pulled echoed throughout the room.

The students hurriedly hid in the car; some were pale, some were trembling, and some had already started crying.

"Don't panic! We're here!" the veteran shouted to maintain order.

Lin Ruoxi ran to Ye Feng's side and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong? Is there a strange beast?"

"Hmm." Ye Feng's gaze was fixed on the bushes ahead of the road. "There are quite a few."

"How many?"

Ye Feng paused for two seconds before uttering a number: "At least two hundred."

Lin Ruoxi's pupils suddenly contracted.