The mutated birds devoured the flares, causing great panic among the people.

Without a light source, the people could in no way confront the massive horde of zombies.

No matter how elite the Dawn Army soldiers were, or how good their marksmanship was, they needed to be able to see first.

Watching as the mutated birds in the sky began devouring the flares one by one, and as the battlefield gradually slipped back into darkness, the panic grew more severe.

"Oh my god! It's over, it's completely over!"

"There's no hope, humanity is doomed. If the zombies attack at night, how are we supposed to defend?"

"Mom, I'm scared, I want to go home..."

The Dawn Army directed the searchlights towards the city walls, which made the sky slightly darker.

Fortunately, this wave of zombies was almost wiped out, so they should be able to hold on a while longer.

Ye Fan opened his system page.

He clicked on the military supplies warehouse in the buildings section.

He had purchased flares from here, but there was actually another item.

Night vision goggles.

Unlike the night vision gear used by Scouts, these night vision goggles came in two types: low-light and infrared.

The low-light night vision goggles required a certain level of ambient light to function; in complete darkness, they were ineffective.

Infrared night vision goggles observed heat sources; without heating elements like living beings, flames, or cars, they too were ineffective.

Furthermore, the imagery from night vision goggles appeared in a pale green, which most people found quite uncomfortable.

In the military supplies warehouse, both of these night vision goggles were priced at 10 Gold each.

Ye Fan had chosen flares over night vision goggles initially because production took time.

If the Dawn Army's more than ten thousand troops were all equipped with night vision goggles, the cost would be over a hundred thousand Gold.

Producing items worth over a hundred thousand Gold would also take more than a day.

Therefore, he had opted for flares.

Now Ye Fan immediately ordered twelve thousand night vision goggles, although they wouldn't be very useful tonight, since dawn was only a few hours away and only a small portion of the troops could be equipped.

If Ye Fan could last until the next night, these night vision goggles could be equipped to most of the troops.

"Tonight is going to be tough."

Looking at the slowly darkening ground and the radar screen where the zombies were starting a new round of assembly, Ye Fan knew he had to do something.

Flares still needed to be used, but with the enemy's mutated birds dominating the sky, winning air superiority was not an easy task.

Ye Fan checked his air force units.

Transport planes and paratroopers weren't of much use in this situation, so during the combat break, Ye Fan had the second and third battalions withdraw for rest, while the rested first battalion and the paratrooper units were deployed to the city walls.

The paratroopers were equipped similar to the Scouts, all having night vision gear, allowing them to hold out for a while in this battle.

Meanwhile, the newly produced night vision gear, Ye Fan ordered to be primarily equipped on autocannon operators, heavy machine gunners, snipers, flamethrowers, and other main battle units.

Additionally, Ye Fan issued an order to bring twin-linked heavy machine guns up to the city walls!

This was Ye Fan's trump card, unused even at the start of the battle, and now it was time to deploy it.

The Dawn Army had over a hundred twin-linked heavy machine guns, which would surely play a significant role in the upcoming battle for air superiority.

These preparations weren't enough, so Ye Fan also began urgently producing War Hawks.

Twelve barracks plus the portable barracks, War Hawks were being produced at a rate of nearly one every five seconds, twelve per minute.

Based on the current zombie assembly situation and tactics of the Dawn Army, they could potentially hold off for another hour, possibly producing up to seven hundred War Hawks.

Combined with the existing three hundred War Hawks, Ye Fan's forces could form a contingent of over a thousand War Hawks.

Due to a spy stealing the barracks, the produced War Hawks were all One-Star, packing formidable combat strength. This unit of a thousand War Hawks could entirely contend with tens of thousands of mutated birds and would play an unexpectedly effective role in localized combat.

After selecting seven hundred War Hawks, Ye Fan spent a significant portion of his finances again.

The War Hawks cost three hundred and fifty thousand, the night vision goggles one hundred and twenty thousand, leaving him with only five hundred and fifty thousand in money.

There was another air force unit Ye Fan planned to upgrade.

That was the gunship.

During the time Ye Fan was away from Dawn City, the gunship had not been idle. Whenever the weather was suitable, it would venture out to hunt zombies, trying to exhaust all its ammunition.

The current gunship had been upgraded to Three-Star and could rise to a Hero Level air unit.

The Air Force Heroic Battalion currently had four positions, with two previously upgraded for Dark Clouds and Tang Yafei's Combat Helicopter.

Ye Fan placed the gunship into the Heroic Battalion.

Gunship (Three-Star): Upgrade cost is 1.5 million Gold!

Seeing this figure, Ye Fan couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed.

The gunship was modified from a transport plane and was more expensive than a transport plane.

A transport plane cost ten thousand Gold; upgrading to Hero required ten times the spending, so a gunship's cost should be a hundred and fifty thousand Gold.

"Nana, how long does it take to upgrade a gunship to a Heroic Unit?"

"Sir, the upgrade time for Heroic Units is capped; regardless of the cost, the maximum time is one hour."

Ye Fan hesitated for a moment before deciding to proceed with the upgrade.

The gunship, known as the ground-clearing maniac, was not exceptionally powerful in air-to-air combat, but its ground attack capabilities even surpassed those of fighter jets.

In terms of sustained firepower, even bombers were less practical than the gunship, making it an ideal tool for slaughtering zombies.

```

"1.5 million it is, upgrade!"

Ye Fan gritted his teeth and spent 1.5 million Gold to start upgrading the gunboat machine.

Now he only had four million left in hand, and this money could not be squandered recklessly.

The military supply warehouse started to continuously produce night vision goggles, basically producing ten and immediately using them.

Dual machine gunners, autocannon operators, and others all began prioritizing equipping night vision goggles.

But the ordinary soldiers wouldn't get night vision goggles tonight; the production rate wasn't fast enough.

********

The tense atmosphere began to permeate the entire province.

Darkness has always caused fear, making everyone yearn for light.

Especially in this kind of situation.

The pitch-black night sky had no moon, only a few faintly visible stars.

People could only make out the silhouettes of distant mountains through camera lenses.

In the endless night, too many dangers lurked, with zombies and monsters hiding in the darkness, ready to pounce and devour at any moment.

Though the Dawn Army had eliminated the first wave of zombies, it was merely a drop in the bucket.

Without light, the ensuing battle would be difficult; by dawn, Dawn City might become ruins.

It was already past midnight, but almost everyone in the province was still awake.

Unable to sleep, the impending doom filled everyone's hearts.

Inside Dawn City, many civilians were even burning incense and praying in front of Ye Fan's statue.

Since the apocalypse began, those with faith have gradually decreased because the gods they worshipped didn't protect them, and many lost their family and friends.

If it weren't for Ye Fan building Dawn City, they might have met the same fate.

So some even took Ye Fan as a spiritual support.

Of course, this wasn't unique to Dawn City; other bases had people doing the same.

People felt that this night was so long, the longest they've ever experienced in their lives.

Why isn't it dawn yet?

Hurry, Sun, pierce through the sea of clouds!

********

It was now 12:35 a.m.

The speed of zombie assembly was unusually fast; these creatures were similar to Red Alert Soldiers in some ways, executing orders with precision, without any unnecessary movements.

Another 200,000 zombies had gathered.

Through the radar screen, Ye Fan could see that ten kilometers ahead, a massive number of zombies were converging.

The entire field was pitch-black, and this time the zombies gathered recklessly, blatantly ignoring the Dawn Army.

Perhaps in the mind of the zombie leader, humans had turned into blind men.

Mutated birds still hovered in the sky, and if a flare was fired, they would swoop down and devour it, denying humanity any chance to see clearly.

Ye Fan stared at the zombies about to move, slowly closing his right eye.

Although the radar screen could detect the zombie horde, it only showed a cluster of dots, lacking detail.

Ye Fan didn't want the zombies to attack just yet; he wanted to stall for more time, as any delay would benefit the Dawn Army.

So he had to personally observe now.

His left eye tingled as he pushed his superpower to the limit.

This ability not only allowed him to see far but also worked at night.

The scenery ahead gradually became clearer.

From his vantage point, Ye Fan could see the layout of the zombie horde.

This time, the zombie leader clearly went all out; King Kongs and Crawlers aside, there was a large number of fat zombies in the ranks.

Ye Fan knew these zombies could explode, with explosive power akin to bombs; if they got close to the city walls, it would be disastrous.

Aside from the fat zombies, there was also a massive herd of mutated bulls!

Among them, a mutated rhino stood at a height of 3.5 meters, resembling a small building, with a massive horn over two meters long; Ye Fan wondered if it could knock down the city walls.

Ye Fan decided to strike first.

Dawn City still had a super cannon—Ye Fan's Dawn Justice.

This cannon hadn't been used since its inception, and Ye Fan planned to use it to attack the main target.

The first shot could be accurately fired, as the opponent was unprepared, but the second shot wouldn't be as effective.

Ye Fan had two targets to choose from now.

One was the mutated rhino, undoubtedly a major threat.

The other was the group of fat zombies, now with tens of thousands gathered together, also a great opportunity for the Giant Cannon.

He needed to choose one of the two.

Ye Fan quickly made his decision.

"Dawn Justice, ready!"

The Giant Cannon adjusted its aim according to Ye Fan's coordinates, pointing into the endless dark night!

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