After making his selections, Su Mo, accompanied by the Chief of Staff Zhongjing, led the Guard Company to the airport.

After a while, the Night Hawk Helicopter appeared first.

It looked quite similar to its image in the game, but appeared very large in reality, as it is a heavy transport aircraft.

The design of this aircraft is based on the CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter.

The aircraft is painted in black, providing a stealth effect.

The fuselage is 15.54 meters long, with fore and aft dual rotors, and a maximum take-off weight of 4.5 tons.

The aircraft houses three crew members, responsible for pilot, co-pilot, and the machine gunner who operates the onboard heavy machine gun.

Ye Fan boarded the aircraft, finding the cabin to be very spacious, with two rows of seats able to accommodate fifty people, and extra room in the middle to carry cargo.

The captain approached and saluted Ye Fan.

"Captain and pilot of the Night Hawk Helicopter, Chen Xiao, reporting to the officer."

Ye Fan nodded: "Tell me about your situation."

"Reporting, officer. The Night Hawk is a transport aircraft, not known for its firepower. It primarily focuses on payload and range. Currently, without load, its maximum range is 2,200 kilometers. Fully loaded, it's 1,500 kilometers. It can carry fifty people at full capacity and an additional ton of cargo. The aircraft also has decent protection, with armor that can partially withstand rocket attacks and allow for a safe landing."

Ye Fan asked again: "Partially withstand? And if upgraded?"

"If upgraded to Three-Star, it can withstand a single man-portable air-defense missile attack."

"Hmm, this aircraft is good, but its current No-Star status doesn't meet the payload and range needs. Before the zombie operation ends, make sure those residual zombies are dealt with, and get the aircraft upgraded to Three-Star, so it can have a capacity of eighty people and a range of 2,800 kilometers, making it truly useful."

"Understood!"

Ye Fan planned to requisition this Night Hawk Helicopter. Although Tang Yafei's Combat Helicopter had already been upgraded to a Heroic Unit, its payload was insufficient, making it inconvenient for travel.

After thinking it over, Ye Fan even decided to build another one; having two in action would allow him to move out with his Guard Company together.

After waiting a while longer, fighter jets appeared from the airport hangar.

Ye Fan, along with all members of the Guard Company, looked on joyfully as the fighter jets rolled out.

The aircraft's silver-gray paint job, streamlined body, and mounted missiles made Ye Fan's heart pound excitedly the moment it appeared.

Fighter jets, only seen on TV before, were a first for him to see in reality.

It must be said that the real thing looked markedly different from TV.

The immense pressure and awe-inspiring presence simply cannot be conveyed through TV, images, or videos.

Though this aircraft might not be the most advanced, today, as long as it's advanced, it's good enough.

The aircraft slowly taxied out of the hangar, stopping in front of Ye Fan, and the pilot jumped out to salute.

"Attack-8 Fighter pilot Shen Long, reporting to the officer."

Ye Fan returned the salute: "Tell me about your situation."

"Reporting, officer. Our fighter is mainly used for air combat. It currently has four Thunder-10 air-to-air missiles, with a range of fifty kilometers, two AR-2 air-to-surface missiles, with a range of twelve kilometers, and an aviation bomb. However, our arsenal does not yet have a missile production line; aviation bombs can be replenished, but missiles cannot and must rely on daily auto-refresh."

Ye Fan was, of course, aware that fighters are mainly for air combat, but Shen Long's words reminded him.

Missiles!

A unit's combat capability largely hinges on missiles, as firearms and similar technologies become considered low-end weapons at a certain point of technological progression.

He immediately inquired the Chief of Staff Zhongjing: "Chief of Staff, when can we develop air-to-surface missiles?"

Zhongjing inquired: "Officer, unlocking missile development is not easy; first, we must complete the Combined Arms Combat Laboratory to unlock the Missile Combat Laboratory."

Ye Fan pondered: "Then I still need a Naval Combat Laboratory."

Zhongjing nodded: "Yes, before the Naval Combat Laboratory, the officer will need to build a dockyard."

Thinking of the dockyard, Ye Fan felt it wasn't easy.

First, Dawn City doesn't support dockyard construction. The Seven-Star River is barely suitable for even Xiaoba to navigate, let alone warships.

To build a dockyard, he would need to go to the Great River or even the coast.

At this point, Ye Fan felt that building the headquarters in Dawn City actually had its drawbacks; but back then, he had no choice.

Perhaps in some time, he should go explore the coastal areas.

The thought of relocation first occurred to Ye Fan's mind.

But for now, it seemed a distant issue, so Ye Fan shook his head and continued observing the fighter's status.

Seeing the aircraft equipped with missiles and aviation bombs, Ye Fan felt excited.

He'd produced two fighter jets in total; there was another after this one. These two fighter jets might have a chance to change the course of war.

By afternoon, the remaining Attack-8 Fighter and Night Hawk Helicopter both appeared, but Ye Fan didn't immediately dispatch them to battle.

The zombies outside were still very numerous, and tonight might be the decisive battle; thus, the fighter jets needed to be used in critical situations.

After producing the aircraft, Ye Fan immediately turned to personnel replenishment.

In the three-day siege, the Dawn Army suffered significant losses, now amounting to almost a thousand dead, with over two thousand wounded.

Before the battle, the entire Dawn Army brigade had 13,200 people; now, only a little over ten thousand members remained healthy.

Ye Fan took a trip to the field hospital to visit the wounded.

The overall situation was still optimistic; aside from over a hundred severely wounded, most injuries were mild and could be treated and rehabilitated.

More than four hundred lightly wounded personnel had already received treatment and returned to the front lines.

Ye Fan even brought out his Brigade Commander's medical kit, using its medicines for the severely wounded. His medicines were the best and could help severely wounded personnel receive optimal treatment, making returning to the battlefield feasible.

However, his supply of medicine was limited, and he could only treat about a dozen people each day.

Ye Fan continued to reinforce his soldiers, bringing the number of healthy members back up to 13,200.

Currently, the total number of the Dawn Army had actually exceeded 15,000 people.

After replenishing manpower and ammunition, the time had already reached five PM, and Ye Fan's funds had dwindled to 1.9 million.

After some thought, Ye Fan purchased another 300,000 landmines, costing 1.5 million.

With the zombie horde not attacking, this was the perfect opportunity to use these landmines to tremendously relieve the Dawn Army's pressure.

After spending, he was left with only 400,000 in funds.

"Currently, we only have these funds. Because of the zombie siege, the Dawn Trading Market can no longer trade with the outside, relying solely on the daily gold mined, which is too little," he said.

Ye Fan calculated that this 400,000 should last until the end of the battle, but after that, he would be out of money. To further develop the army, he must find a way to secure more funds.

He knew that many Adventurer Squads actually had quite a bit of gold and silver stored away, but these Adventurers were also shrewd, aware of the importance of saving money, and would not easily spend it.

To extract resources from these misers, he needed to offer something they couldn't resist.

While lost in thought, the zombies showed unusual movement again.

Ye Fan immediately returned to the city wall, awaiting the final showdown.

Yesterday had already inflicted a heavy blow on the Little One's corpse horde, but the remaining 800,000 zombies were still difficult to deal with. Tonight's battle was feared to be a fight to the bitter end.

.....

Outside Dawn City.

In a patch of tall wild grass behind a small hill, Wang Huining stood in front of Little One.

Looking at the zombie, who resembled a child, Wang Huining was amazed with his mouth agape.

He had once imagined many things about this Corpse King, who commanded three million zombies and whose abilities were ten times greater than his own, but he never imagined it would be a child.

He looked about eight or nine years old, with a notably large head, and on top of his head sat a rusty tin bucket, evidently worn for a long time.

Unlike himself, this young one's eyes were completely blood-red, much redder than his own, but differing from ordinary zombies' usual numbness and frenzy at the sight of food, there was a hint of rationality, as evidenced when the child scrutinized him.

Ordinary zombies don't comprehend such reasoning, proving that the other side was thinking.

As long as they can think, it might mean he still had a chance.

Wang Huining had only one arm and one leg, though his leg had a prosthetic, provided by medics back in Dawn City.

He couldn't run but could manage simple walking.

He raised his sole arm, greeting Little One.

"Hi! Kid, can you speak?"

This way of greeting seemed a bit out of place for zombies, but Wang Huining was unsure of what else to say, so he used this method of communication.

Little One stared at Wang Huining, curious, as he had never seen such a zombie before.

The transformation into a zombie was incomplete, even somewhat human-like.

Especially since the other party could talk, it startled Little One.

He took a step back, opening his mouth trying to respond to Wang Huining, but only managed to utter the syllables "oh" and "ah."

However, to Wang Huining, this confirmed many of his speculations.

A Corpse King should be able to speak, but this young zombie perhaps hadn't spoken since the mutation and maybe forgot how to speak.

He dared not drop his guard, as zombies are not known for their rationality, who knows how the Corpse King might behave? He immediately started talking, hoping to catch the attention of the boy Corpse King and keep him from acting out and killing him.

He pointed at the boy and then at himself: "The two of us, friends, the same kind."

This time, Little One's gaze softened a bit.

It wasn't that he couldn't understand speech, it was just that nobody had spoken in his ear for a very long time.

He couldn't remember what he was like before becoming a zombie; his memory began after turning into one.

Now, hearing Wang Huining speak to him, he found he could comprehend.

For the first time, Little One felt the desire to speak.

Temporarily forgetting his hatred for Wang Huining, he tried to say something.

From simple "oh" and "ah," to "you," "me," "good," single syllables.

Little One quickly regained the ability to communicate simply, as he had once known how to speak.

When Little One managed to speak two or even three-word phrases, Wang Huining taught him a bit more.

He pointed towards the night sky and the enormous Dawn City sprawling against the earth: "Over there, bad people!"

Little One immediately looked towards Dawn City, eyes filled with hatred and some anxiety.

"Bad people, have."

"Yes, yes, yes, bad people, very powerful, Ye Fan."

The few words stumbled out but hit Little One in the heart.

Little One clearly remembered the name of that bad person, as he had heard it while in the town's elementary school.

Ye Fan was the bad guy, really powerful and really scary.

These words were deeply etched into his brain.

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