In the operations command center, General Luo stared at the continuous reports of losses and casualties from all sides. The cigarette in his hand had unknowingly burned all the way to his finger. He slowly placed it to his lips and took a drag, then turned his gaze to the blurred silhouettes in the wartime holographic frequency affected by the crimson influence and said,

"Regardless of Phoenix Society’s actions, since South Heavenly Gate has pinpointed here, it indicates that the direction for our transfer is now clear."

"Today, the 13th Brigade successfully broke through Crow’s Mouth, and with the overall marching distance being less than 30 miles, even if reinforcements come, transferring all trains to the east line rails will take at least 5 to 7 days based on this progress. What does everyone think?"

General Zeng Weiguo from the 22nd Brigade said: "Today’s encirclement is more fierce than yesterday’s. If this intensity continues, it might only take two days for our column to be completely dispersed. There is almost no chance of reassembling such a large marching force."

He glanced at the commanding officers of the other combat units, coldly saying: "I’m still proposing night marches to deliberately disrupt this so-called ’pattern’."

"Your suggestion was unfeasible before, and after today’s heavy losses, it is even more so." General Li Sheng directly rejected, calmly analyzing: "The saying goes, ’Strike while the iron is hot, then weaken, and finally be exhausted.’ Our big charge failed 9 days ago, and now step-by-step advancing with minimal losses and the longest push distance is the optimal strategy. Due to the crimson issue, logistics supplement is completely choked. Every full coverage power armor is a treasure, and half-covered power armor can only stay in the carriage, with any crack leading to massive casualties..."

"Not to mention the speed of rail laying has already reached its limit, forced nighttime marches under these circumstances would be akin to setting oneself ablaze." He looked at the holographic screens of the crowd, and solemnly said: "It’s worth noting that we require rest, while the monsters do not..."

"Gentlemen, allow me to share some simple thoughts."

At this moment, a distant holographic silhouette spoke sharply. In the light screen, three to four shadows appeared, all with European facial features. The foremost was short in stature but had a handsome face with sharp eyes, a short buzz cut, and a constant smile.

This person was Edgar Shawn, formerly an ace Marine Corps soldier, who quickly assembled a rescue team after Apocalypse Day, capturing a trans-European train from apocalypse marauders and converting it into the Doomsday Train, developing and merging along the flight from Star Abyss, becoming a mega ’rail city’ over 12 kilometers long housing nearly 90,000 people. He joined the European Storm Alliance, meeting with Dawn Center, only to get caught in the current peril.

"Captain Shawn, please speak." General Luo directly invited his speech.

"Regarding the recent information judgment, I have some differing views."

Shawn’s voice was calm, but his speech was rapid: "Firstly, I don’t believe Phoenix Society would dispatch army-level reinforcements; this is likely a targeted fire from the rails. Certainly, achieving such precision and timing hints at Polar possibly being aware of our coordinates and even our battle situation."

General Luo nodded: "Indeed, there’s certainly that possibility."

"Moreover, regarding the operations these past few days, we must admit, the frequent assaults of the crimson monster tide aim to obstruct our march transfer, and I think the ultimate reason closely aligns with the delay hypothesis proposed by Infinity four days ago."

Upon hearing this, everyone’s expressions subtly changed, directing their gaze towards the holographic screen where Chen Sixuan silently listened without immediately speaking.

"Delay our transfer using the monster tide, then wait for that world-level disaster to emerge from underground and engulf us all?" Zeng Weiguo expressed a serious face: "I don’t reject this hypothesis. Two months ago, we joined forces with North American United Front, Marshal Li Heping personally overseeing it, deploying more than three columns, 9 Iron Guard Brigades, alongside four Dragon Horror Level Emperor Mechas under the Emperor Plan, encircling and battling the creature for two nights within the canyon. The Commander used South Heavenly Gate to fire 13 shots, but still couldn’t deal with that thing. Since losing contact after the main force separation, all reconnaissance group observational intelligence shows the monster pursuing Dawn Center southward..."

"So General Zeng leans towards these monsters being mobilized by S-Class creatures, rather than the world-class one?" General Li Sheng noted.

"Today, as the ’Black Disc’ was slain, with the monster tide retreating, doesn’t that clarify things somewhat?"

Li Sheng nodded slightly, refraining from commenting further, instead continuing to observe Shawn in that direction.

After both men spoke, Shawn continued: "In fact, after engaging multiple S-Class creatures, we made many observational analyses; the spirit vibration value fluctuation threshold of S-Class creatures is extraordinarily large. Specifically, for creatures like [Black Disc], akin to Nest-level, their coverage range is limited."

He turned: "Marcus~"

The team member named Marcus immediately projected some data, intelligence gathered from their convoy supporting various regional battlefields.

"Aside from Phoenix Society’s documentation of Abnormal Body observations, the majority encountered are unrecorded abnormal creatures, so our Utopia built our internal system for monster identification recording, primarily based on appearance, spirit vibration value range, and potential damage assessment, of course, we would nickname them ourselves, for instance, Red Stone Rift Valley, Black Disc aerial bat-like flying abnormal body; our Jenny named such creatures ’Witch Bat.’ Then, here at Black Stone Plain H District, besides crimson zombies, aerially descended creatures were four-winged, chest eel-like monsters with average wingspans reaching 15-18 meters, body akin to asphalt, suction cups not only repulsive but capable of emitting laser, causing us considerable trouble, the 13th Brigade’s 3, 6, 7 regiments should have significant insights."