Chapter 346: Public Anger

[Outer perimeter of Rusted Wall M6 area]

As time went by, the confrontation between mercenaries and beasts had entered a fierce tug-of-war.

Even with the fire suppression from the commanding heights, even if the transportation hubs in multiple directions were controlled by Titan mechas and high-level transcendents, the battle line was still too long.

There were as many as six or seven million refugees gathered in the eastern border area.

The mercenaries who participated in the battle were only 20,000 to 30,000 people from Edge, Mo Xue, and other mercenary groups.

On average, one mercenary was responsible for protecting 200 to 300 people.

This did not include emergencies, such as encountering refugees trapped in other urban areas and needing to send people to rescue them.

The shortage of personnel caused the overall defense line to be very loose. Facing the tide-like impact of beasts, multiple defense lines could not even maintain fire suppression and fell into a face-to-face melee.

The fronts were constantly penetrated and pushed back, and then pushed back by the reserve troops who came to reinforce them. It was like a meat grinder, and there were piles of corpses everywhere on the battlefield.

While the mercenaries were fighting bloody battles, the refugees on the border could only wait anxiously in the rear, and at most they could help take care of the wounded who were transported down, and they could do nothing else.

People were praying at this time, praying that the life passage leading to the inner city could be opened as soon as possible.

As time passed slowly and anxiously, without any signs, the holographic warning of the firepower identification area of ​​the Rust Wall M6 area disappeared, the fixed turrets on the wall were also retracted, and the closed city gate alloy baffles opened, revealing the passage.

The holographic warning was gone, the turrets were gone, and the city gates were opened. Everyone naturally thought that the city council had issued an order to take them into the city.

The refugees closest to the rust wall were stunned for a few seconds, and then the excited voices rang out everywhere, piercing the sky:

"The door is open! The door of the rust wall is open!!!"

"Great! We are saved! The city council has not abandoned us!"

"Tell people in other places quickly that the door of M6 is open, everyone hurry into the city!"

The pressure accumulated from the beginning of the disaster to today was suddenly released, and the refugees outside the M6 ​​area were like a dam-breaking wave, rolling towards the rust wall in a clamor.

The news spread very quickly, and refugees in other areas heard that only the M6 ​​area was open, thinking that it was the entrance designated by the city council, and they rushed to the M6 ​​area one by one.

At this time, the commander of the Rust Wall Defense Force in Area M6 was standing on a high place. He was already sweating profusely at the rolling crowd in front of him, and yelled to his adjutant: "What's going on? Who shut down all the systems?!"

The adjutant was completely at a loss, and stammered: "No, I don't know, it was definitely not our people who shut it down, we don't have the authority to do so!"

At this time, the commander's communicator rang, and it was from the Rust Wall Defense Command Center.

After he picked up the phone, he first listened to the report respectfully, then turned into a deep astonishment, and in the end, that astonishment was accompanied by lingering panic.

After the communication was disconnected, the adjutant tentatively said, "Sir, what did you say?"

The commander's eyes were a little out of focus, and he muttered, "The command center said that the terminal control room was invaded, and the system of the M6 ​​area was manually shut down. It will take 12 hours to restart."

The adjutant asked at a loss, "Then, the refugees are pouring in now, what should we do? Bring them in first and settle them down?"

The commander's face became gloomy, and he said in a deep voice, "No, the city council just announced that the Rust Wall M6 area has entered a wartime state, requiring us to bring weapons to establish an artificial defense line. All border people who try to rush into the inner city will be shot."

"What?!" The adjutant was immediately frightened and his hands and feet were cold.

Although few soldiers in the Rust Wall Defense Force have a good impression of border people, and there are even some people with bad tastes who usually deliberately trick border people into the firepower identification area to lure and kill them for fun.

But killing people with fully automatic turrets and killing people with your own hands are two different concepts.

Killing a few people for fun and slaughtering a crowd are two different concepts.

The adjutant asked in a trembling voice: "If we do this, we will be court-martialed, right?"

The commander's face was so gloomy that it seemed to drip water: "No, on the contrary, it is now a wartime state. These border refugees are judged as hostile targets. We shoot to execute wartime orders. There is no problem with the procedure."

"On the contrary, if we refuse to execute the city council's order, we will be court-martialed."

The adjutant felt a little reluctant after hearing this: "But this is too cruel!"

The commander pushed him and asked coldly: "Then you choose, do you want to be cruel to these border people, or to your son? Hmm?"

"My son?" The adjutant didn't understand why the two were related.

The commander said coldly: "Why, do you think this has nothing to do with your son? If you refuse to carry out the city council's order, you will be directly punished by military court afterwards, and there will be a stain in the file."

"By then, not only your son, but also your grandson and your great-grandson will never be able to work in the government, and they will not be able to work in private companies that require background checks. Most of them can only work as slaves in factories."

"Is this what you want? Huh? Because of a thought of kindness, your entire family will be affected?"

The adjutant stopped talking, and the confusion in his eyes quickly disappeared. After a short mental struggle, his expression became as gloomy as the commander's.

The commander glanced at the frontier refugees pouring into the fire identification zone outside the rusty wall, and said coldly: "Let two teams drive all vehicles to the city gate to block it, and the rest of the people change to heavy weapons. Only warn them once. Those who do not retreat after the warning will be shot!"

Soon, the order was issued to all the soldiers in the M6 ​​area. They drove the motorcycles, transport vehicles, armored vehicles and other vehicles in the inventory to the city gate and arranged them in formation, and set up roadblocks in front and behind.

Then, the rest of the people all changed to weapons specially used for intensive killing. Some carried individual light machine guns, and some carried heavy machine guns in groups of two in firepower. Boxes of ammunition were also quickly transported up.

At this time, the fastest frontier refugees had rushed to a position more than 100 meters away from the city gate. Looking from a distance, there were crowds of people, like a dark ocean.

Facing the crowd, the commander took out a loudspeaker from the warehouse and shouted: "Please remain restrained and calm! The control system of the Rust Wall in Area M6 has crashed due to unexpected reasons and is being restarted. The Rust Wall is not open to the border!"

"Repeat! The Rust Wall is not open to the border! Please exit the fire identification zone voluntarily! If you violate it, we have the right to shoot you in accordance with the wartime law!"

Obviously, compared with the original loudspeaker broadcast that the Rust Wall came with, the power of this portable loudspeaker is too small, and it is impossible to hear it in the noisy voice.

The commander's wrist is very iron, and he does what he says. After a round of warnings, he directly ordered the soldiers around him:

"Free fire!"

Although the soldiers were a little chilled, after the initial confusion, they all knew what to do about it.

Shooting is to complete the instructions issued by the city council, which is a public duty. Even if the sky falls afterwards, there are leaders above to support it. I just need to deal with the moral guilt in my heart.

If you don't shoot, you won't have any moral guilt. You'll just have to wait for the prison sentence and ruin your family's future.

Even though they were heartbroken, the price of disobeying orders outweighed everything, and everyone pulled the trigger one after another.

"Da da da da--" Various light and heavy machine guns sprayed long flames, and the steel whip formed by bullets swung at the crowd, opening the prelude to death.

In front of machine gun bullets, the human body of ordinary people is too fragile, and the crowd is dense. In just a few seconds, the volley overturned hundreds of people in the front, and pieces of blood mist bloomed, and the dead and wounded fell like dominoes.

In an instant, screams rose from the crowd:

"They. They shot!!!"

"Why did they shoot? Didn't they open the door for us to pass? What on earth are they doing!"

"Don't come over here! They shot!!!"

The refugees in front saw many people being shot and fell to the ground, and they were so scared that they almost paralyzed. They squeezed back desperately, trying to escape.

The crowd at the rear, due to the obstructed vision and the loud voices around them, did not hear the shouts and gunshots of the people in front, and did not know what was happening, so they continued to move forward.

In this way, the people in front and behind were crowded together, and the overall inertia was forward, and the crowd was still moving towards the rusty wall.

"Second round, keep firing!"

At the commander's command, the rain of bullets attacked again, and the crowd in front was like being caught in a meat grinder, and the dense blood mist continued to explode, bringing more screams of fear.

Finally, after several rounds of volleys, people finally realized that something was wrong, and the panic was also triggered by the smell of blood in the air. They scrambled to escape, and the crowd finally began to move backward as a whole.

In order to ensure that the task was completed as soon as possible, the commander was still urging the soldiers to shoot at the open ground, pressing all the way until everyone was forced back outside the firepower identification area before stopping the fire.

At this time, the fire identification area was full of devastated corpses, numbering several thousand. Most of them were not even shot to death by soldiers, but died in the stampede of the crowd in panic.

In such a dense run, once you accidentally fall, no matter how strong your body is, you can't stand up again, and you can only be trampled to death.

Some people did not die on the spot, dragging their bruised bodies and crawling in a pool of blood, but because everyone was driven out of the fire identification area, no one dared to come in to save them, so they crawled and crawled, and finally bled to death.

The hope that the refugees on the border had just risen was shattered in an instant.

Behind them was the ferocious beast chasing them, and the mercenaries had limited ammunition and would run out sooner or later.

In front of them was the fire identification area that would not allow them to move forward, and the soldiers of the Rust Wall Defense Force looked at them like the god of death.

They fell into despair again, unable to advance or retreat.

Because the scope of this beast crisis was so wide, not only the border areas were completely affected, but the inner city also experienced considerable shock.

In addition, the security forces were all transferred to assist the evacuation of giant companies, and street security was basically no longer in charge. Civilian drones controlled by the public could be seen hovering near the rusty wall everywhere.

Countless videos of the scene were filmed and posted online one after another, spreading exponentially on major social homepages and media websites.

If we say that the New Moon City authorities were understandable for their helplessness and panic when the disaster first occurred, it was because it was unprecedented for ferocious beasts to enter the inland, and no city had a plan for this.

Even when the Rusty Wall City gates were closed later, forcing the refugees on the border to be unable to move forward or backward, everyone could still understand it in their hearts. After all, it was too chaotic at the time. If the ferocious beasts also rushed in when the city gates were opened, the situation would be completely out of control.

But until the end, when tens of thousands of New Moon City mercenaries rushed to the border, they forged a bloody defense line for the refugees.

In this situation where the rear was stable and secure and they could open the door to save people, the Rusty Wall defense force actually chose to use heavy weapons to shoot at the crowd, killing thousands of refugees alive.

Anger broke out in the hearts of every netizen.

Whether locals or outsiders from New Moon City, all vented their anger in the comment section and social homepages at this time.

[Thugs and mercenaries are fighting the beasts, and the authorities are helping the giant companies kill people. Do you know who the real enemy is now? ! ]

[Crescent City Council, I quote what you said at the inauguration ceremony - I will become the guardian of Crescent City, perform my duties faithfully, and safeguard the life and happiness of every citizen. You are too despicable, really, you are a shame to all mankind]

[Everyone must remember this scene! This is not just a disaster for Crescent City, but something that each of us may encounter when a disaster happens to us one day! ]

[Despicable giant companies, and these politicians who take human lives lightly, history will remember you, and you will definitely pay the price for what you have done]

When the Internet was caught in a frenzy of anger, Schenkov, who was in the Rusty Wall Defense Command Center, also learned about the bloody tragedy that occurred outside the M6 ​​area.

Schenkov was so angry that his face was distorted, and his clenched teeth almost made his gums bleed. He pointed at Amir's nose, and his voice trembled with anger: "I feel ashamed to be associated with a scum like you."

Amir snorted coldly and said, "If you have time to scold me here, you might as well think about how to clean up your own ass afterwards."

"You should be thankful that the capital court has not yet sent an order. You are still the director of the General Security Bureau and enjoy the treatment of the ruling member of the city council. Otherwise, I would have someone shoot you on the spot!"

"Pack up yourself. It's almost our turn to evacuate. The people escorting you are outside and are preparing to go to the airport."

Schenkov's face was cold. He pushed Amir away and walked downstairs alone.

"Director." Several members who were temporarily transferred from the Anti-Rage Section 4 outside the building to escort the director of the General Bureau came up at this time.

Schenkov ignored them, walked straight to his car, opened the door and got in.

An anti-riot team member came to the car window and reminded: "Chief, our airship is over there, take the airship, we will escort you to the airport."

"You want to protect me, right?" Schenkov looked at them, with some incomprehensible emotions hidden in his eyes.

"Then come on."