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​​ ## 1. Surrounding

When the convoy appeared on the horizon, Lin Shuang was inspecting the ballista on the roof of the factory.

Zhang Xiaomei saw it first.She counted them through the telescope—not thirty, but thirty-two.Not one hundred and fifty people, a rough estimate of at least two hundred people.The car lights looked like yellow eyes in the gray morning light, forming three columns and advancing along the dry river towards the factory.

"Lin Shuang." Zhang Xiaomei's voice was calm, but Lin Shuang could hear the underlying thing - not fear, but despair.Zhang Xiaomei, who was a scout, knew better than anyone what two hundred heavily armed enemies meant.

Lin Shuang poked her head out from the parapet and took a look through the binoculars.

Thirty-two cars.Eight of them were armed pick-up trucks with machine guns mounted in the bed - not ****, but real, pre-war general-purpose machine guns used by the army.The remaining twenty-four were troop trucks. The carriages were covered with canvas canopies. It was not possible to see how many people were inside, but judging from the tire indentations, each vehicle contained at least fifteen to twenty people.

Two hundred and fifty people.Eight machine guns.Automatic rifle.Grenade launcher.

Lin Shuang put down the telescope, turned around and got off the roof.

Zhang Xiaomei followed her.

"Lin Shuang, if we retreat now, we can take everyone away from the north path - the reapers don't know that road yet. We don't want the factory, we don't want the supplies, we can take whatever we can with us. Go south and find Fang Qing."

Lin Shuang did not stop.

"Fang Qing will arrive two days later. If we go south now, we will be overtaken by their armed pickup truck in the open area. The path is only big enough for one person to walk. How long will fifty-two people walk? By the time we reach the open area, their cars will have already been waiting in front. "

"What should we do?"

Lin Shuang stopped at the door of the factory, turned around, and looked at Zhang Xiaomei.

"Hold here."

"Hold? What are you using to defend? A crossbow, five machetes, a broken rifle, and less than a hundred rounds of ammunition. There are two hundred and fifty people on the opposite side, and eight machine guns!"

"So we can't fight hard." Lin Shuang walked into the factory, and everyone woke up when they saw the lights of the motorcade.Fifty-two women crowded on the floor on the first floor. Some were crying softly, some were trembling, and some were praying in low voices.Zhou Xiulan gathered the children in her arms and covered their ears with her hands to prevent them from hearing the sound of the engine outside.

Su Lin is sorting out the first aid kit, sorting out all the bandages, medicines, and syringes.Her hands were shaking slightly, but her movements were very methodical.

Zhao Xiaohe stood at the door. The dagger in her right hand had been pulled out. The bandage on her left shoulder had collapsed during the battle last night. New blood seeped out, but she didn't feel it.

Wang Fang, Qian Xiaohong, and Li Cuihua—the three women who had followed from Qingquan Town—were standing behind Zhao Xiaohe with machetes and iron bars in their hands.Their lips were trembling, but their legs were not.

Lin Shuang stood in front of everyone, looking at every face.

"There are two hundred and fifty people outside. Eight machine guns. Thirty-two vehicles. They came because we blew up their excavator yesterday, burned down their oil depot, and saved forty of their 'cargoes.' They are angry. They want to kill us all and burn this place to the ground."

The factory was so quiet that you could hear breathing.

"But you know what? They are afraid of us."

Lin Shuang’s voice was not loud, but every word was like nails hammering into the air.

"Two hundred and fifty people did not dare to attack at night and had to wait until dawn. With eight machine guns, they did not dare to disperse and encircle. They only dared to line up in a single column and push slowly. Why? Because they don't know how many people we have, what weapons we have, and how many traps we have set up. They are afraid. They are afraid that we will catch them by surprise like yesterday. "

She paused.

“We have to take advantage of this fear.”

​ ## 2. Deployment

Lin Shuang knelt down and drew a floor plan of the factory on the ground with charcoal.

"The periphery is the first line of defense. The trap area - the traps, pits, and sound alarms that Zhang Xiaomei set up before. The reapers don't understand this area, and they will cause chaos when the traps are triggered. If there is chaos, our opportunity will come. "

"The gate of the factory is the second line of defense." Lin Shuang pointed to the row of low walls made of bricks and sandbags at the door - it was built overnight by Li Cuihua and a few women who could still move after returning from rescuing people last night. The bricks were removed from the gaps in the wall, and the sandbags were filled with broken bricks after the flour bags were emptied. "The height is as high as the chest, and people can hide behind it and shoot.There is only a crack in the door, and only one person can enter at a time.But they can't spread out at the door.We have five machetes, a crossbow, and a rifle.In a narrow space like the door, the number of people is not an advantage but a burden."

"The roof is the third line of defense. Two ballistae, with a range of 80 meters, covering the south and east. Zhang Xiaomei and Wang Fang are in charge. There are only six arrows left in the ballista, three in each frame. Don't hit people, hit cars - hit tires, hit water tanks, hit fuel tanks. If a car is blocked on the road, the cars behind it will not be able to pass. "

Su Lin raised her hand: "What about me?"

"You're in charge of the wounded. No one will be sent to you - because we won't let anyone break through the second line of defense. What you have to do is, if - and I mean if - someone gets injured, you can keep him going and keep fighting."

Su Lin nodded and said nothing.

Zhao Xiaohe stood up.

"I'll guard the door."

Lin Shuang glanced at her.

"The door is the most dangerous place. The first person to fall must be at the door."

"I know. But you taught me that the greatest happiness in the wasteland is not to fall before others fall."

Lin Shuang was silent for two seconds.

"Okay. You guard the door. I'll guard your back."

She took the crossbow off the wall and checked the string and arrows.He took out the shotgun he brought back from Qingquan Town from his backpack and handed it to Zhao Xiaohe.

"Shotgun. One for you and one for me. You guard the door and shoot the ones who are close. I am inside and shoot the ones who are far away."

Zhao Xiaohe took the shotgun, held the stock of the gun with his right hand, and held the handguard with his left hand - although his left shoulder had not fully recovered, it was still okay to hold it up.She aimed her right eye at the gap in the factory door and nodded.

Zhou Xiulan came over, holding a cloth bag in her hand.She opened the cloth bag and found a pile of large and small iron nails inside.

"I have searched out all the nails in the factory. You can scatter them on the ground at the door, and whoever rushes in will step on them."

Lin Shuang looked at the pile of nails and moved the corner of his mouth slightly.

"Grandma Zhou, you are more ruthless than all of us."

Zhou Xiulan pursed her lips and said nothing.She placed the bag on the ground, turned back to the children, and hugged them closer.

​ ## 3. The first wave

The sky is completely bright.

The reaper’s convoy stopped about five hundred meters south of the factory.

Lin Shuang looked out from the observation hole on the roof - not with a telescope. The lens of the telescope would reflect light and make it easy to be discovered.She used a homemade periscope - two pieces of broken lenses picked up from the ruins, fixed on two pipes with wires - to extend outside the parapet and observe the enemy's movements through the reflection of the mirror.

The convoy stopped in a semicircle, surrounding the south and east sides of the factory.To the north are steep slopes and ruins that cannot be climbed by large vehicles, but infantry can climb.To the west is the back wall of the factory. There are no doors or windows, just a high wall.

Zhang Xiaomei squatted on the other side of the roof and reported to Lin Shuang with gestures: "To the south - two platoons of infantry, about sixty people, are spreading out skirmishers. To the east - one platoon, thirty people. Six armed pickup trucks, machine guns pointed at the factory door. "

Lin Shuang replied with a gesture: "Wait until they are eighty meters away before firing the ballistae. Hit the car first, then the people."

The first batch of Reaper infantry began to advance.

Their formation is very loose, with three people in groups, with about ten meters between each group.This was much more professional than the rabble of predators - if Lin Shuang had a ****, this formation wouldn't be able to withstand it, but she didn't.She only has ballistae.

One hundred and fifty meters.

One hundred and thirty meters.

One hundred and ten meters.

"Let it go!"

Zhang Xiaomei pulled the trigger of the ballista.An arrow about one and a half meters long flew out from the roof, with a sharp sound of breaking through the air, and directly hit the front wheel of an armed pickup truck.The loud sound of tire bursting echoed in the empty wasteland. The pickup truck tilted to one side. The machine gunner in the truck was thrown out and fell to the ground and rolled several times.

Almost at the same time, another ballista operated by Wang Fang also fired.The arrow struck the hood of the second pickup truck, penetrated the thin steel plate, and lodged itself in the engine.White smoke came out of the engine compartment, then turned to black smoke, and flames shot out of the cracks in the hood.

While the two vehicles were paralyzed on the spot, the Reaper's skirmisher line stopped for a moment.

They are waiting for orders.

Lin Shuang did not wait.

She climbed down the ladder from the roof and ran to a window on the second floor - this window was opened by her in advance and pretended to be sealed with bricks. In fact, she could push it open with just a hard push.She reached out the crossbow from the window and aimed at the chest of the person at the front of the skirmish line.

Fifty meters.The effective range of the crossbow.

The arrow flew out and the man fell to the ground.The two men next to him immediately fell down and opened fire in the direction of the window.The bullet hit the brick wall, debris flew, and Lin Shuang had already retreated to the inside of the window.

"Their firepower is very fierce." Zhang Xiaomei climbed down the ladder from the roof and squatted next to Lin Shuang. "The ballista only has the last arrow left. It takes five minutes to load the arrow."

"We don't have five minutes." Lin Shuang glanced in the direction of the factory door.Zhao Xiaohe was already crouching behind the low wall, with his shotgun mounted on the low wall, aiming outside the gap in the gate.

Outside the door, footsteps are getting closer and closer.

​ ## 4. Doorway

When the first reaper appeared in the gap at the door, Zhao Xiaohe pulled the trigger.

The shotgun shell hit his chest from a distance of less than five meters.He fell backwards without even making a sound, bumping into the person behind him.

The second one squeezed in.Zhao Xiaohe had no time to reload, so he pulled out the dagger with his right hand, jumped out from behind the low wall, and pierced the man's throat with the dagger.Hot blood sprayed on her face, hands, and clothes.She drew her knife, turned, and went back behind the low wall.

The third one didn't rush in - he saw the death of the two people in front and flinched.But the people behind him were pushing him, and it was impossible for him not to come in.

Zhao Xiaohe has a good medicine.She crouched behind the low wall, waiting for the moment when the third person squeezed in.

There were shouts outside the door: "There are at least three people inside! There are guns! There are knives! Don't squeeze! Come in one by one! No, shoot with a gun - shoot in through the gap!"

Several gun barrels stuck out from the cracks in the door and started firing blindly.Bullets were flying around the factory building, hitting the walls, floor, and ceiling.A stray bullet hit the iron bucket of the water purifier. Water flowed out of the bullet hole and formed a small puddle on the ground.

Lin Shuang rushed down from the second floor, squatted next to Zhao Xiaohe, and aimed his crossbow at the crack in the door.She didn't shoot anyone - the door was too narrow to hit.She shot an iron sheet above the slit.

The arrow penetrated the iron sheet and was nailed to the door frame.The crack in the door became wider.

Another gun barrel stuck out from the crack in the door.Lin Shuang threw away the crossbow, pulled out the stone axe, and struck the barrel of the gun with the axe.The barrel was bent and the trigger guard was deformed, jamming your finger.The screams of the man outside the door came through the iron door.

Zhao Xiaohe took this opportunity, stretched out the shotgun from the crack of the door, and shot blindly.She heard a muffled groan and then the sound of something falling to the ground.

“There is a lock on the door!” Lin Shuang shouted to Zhao Xiaohe, “Hang the lock!”

Zhao Xiaohe took out a padlock from behind his waist - Zhou Xiulan found it from the tool room, it was originally used to lock the tool box - reached out from the crack of the door and touched the lock on the outside of the door.It took her one second to find the location, two seconds to hang the lock, and then lock it with a click.

The door cannot be opened from the outside.

But it doesn’t mean it can never be opened.The padlock can only block it for a few minutes.Reapers would use crowbars, hammers, and gun butts to break open locks.After a few minutes, the door will still open.

"As long as you can block it." Lin Shuang pulled Zhao Xiaohe back from the door and retreated to the second line of defense - a temporary brick wall inside the factory. It was waist high and ran the entire width of the factory, separating the front and rear.

Behind them are Su Lin and the wounded, as well as the elderly and children.In front are Lin Shuang, Zhao Xiaohe, Zhang Xiaomei and Wang Fang.

"Now, wait for them to come in."

​ ## 5. The second wave

The door lock was broken open.

The iron door was pushed open from the outside, making a harsh metal friction sound.A dozen reapers rushed in with guns in hand, and they saw the front half of the empty factory building. Page (1/3)