Duan Lei naturally had no idea that those Devourers were only continuing the orders given by their leader before Duan Xue sniped him. Thus, they had to continue cooperating with Lin Qiang, naturally without any wariness towards the humans around them!

As for the child soldiers, they had long received Lin Qiang's orders, knowing that they and the "white-haired people" were only temporary partners and might soon become enemies. This was why they were so wary of the Devourers!

To Duan Lei, the reactions of these men in black could only prove that his previous strategy hadn't been entirely successful. He had only managed to sow discord on one side, and that was the human side that hadn't suffered any losses!

However, Duan Xue's sniping, though unintentionally ruining Duan Lei's plan, had created a delicate balance on the battlefield in another way!

The death of the high-level Devourer had caused the Devourers to almost completely lose control of the giant zombies. As mentioned before, Devourers were like ants or bees, with a strict hierarchical system.

This system made them an extremely obedient race. Such a race, when commanded, was terrifying because they would execute orders thoroughly, without any deviation, even in the face of death.

This kind of execution was fine when they had the advantage or were evenly matched. Even when at a disadvantage, they would never desert, and there was always a chance to turn the tables.

However, all execution was based on having a commander. Once the command system collapsed, the Devourers were utterly useless. They couldn't make decisions based on the battlefield situation like humans could.

Now that all the high-level Devourers were dead, the remaining Devourers could only continue to execute the previous orders without showing any disorder. However, the giant zombies couldn't do the same.

They were, after all, low-level lifeforms created artificially. Although powerful, they had no independent consciousness. If controlled by Devourers, they could execute simple commands, just like before.

But now, with all the high-level Devourers dead, the low-level Devourers could barely control them, and the problem was that the Devourers hadn't received that order!

The extreme execution ability meant that the low-level Devourers had no autonomy at all. Even if they saw all their commanders killed, they would only continue the previous orders without making any changes. This was the biggest flaw of the Devourer race.

Thus, the giant zombies, which had been at a great advantage under the command of the Devourers, began to be suppressed by Li Yunshan's zombie army and the giant zombies controlled by Xiao Ya after the high-level Devourers died.

This wasn't very obvious on Li Yunshan's side, since the giant zombies there were already set on destroying all life before them and attacking the human gathering point in the center of the stronghold.

But the giant zombies on Xiao Ya's side were different. The ones attacking them were giant zombies just like them, controlled by Xiao Ya. Their own kind weren't included in the "all life" in the orders!

It had to be this way, or else the giant zombies would have started fighting among themselves long ago. It was the same reason why zombies didn't attack each other!

Originally, when Xiao Ya first started controlling the giant zombies, they had already become chaotic. Fortunately, the Devourers took control later, slowly turning the tide and suppressing the hundreds of giant zombies controlled by Xiao Ya.

But with the death of the high-level Devourers, the giant zombies lost control again. Although they were still resisting the attacks of their own kind out of instinct, their strength was greatly reduced.

In the previous battle, the four or five hundred giant zombies controlled by Xiao Ya had been reduced to only three hundred, with nearly two hundred being torn apart by their own kind. Now, these three hundred giant zombies regained their strength, and the passively resisting giant zombies died one after another in their hands.

Moreover, although Xiao Ya was just a child and hadn't grown to the level of the Netherworld Corpse King of her previous life, she had been following Li Chenzhou and Duan Lei all this time. Even when she was just staying in the room in the car with Xiao Yu'er, she had been watching Duan Lei and the others fight.

So, under Xiao Ya's intentional control, the giant zombies had a certain degree of coordination. At least, two or three of them would grab one of their own kind, then tear it apart with force, directly ripping it into pieces and then devouring it!

Seeing that the battlefield had stabilized, Duan Lei didn't relax and continued to stare at the men in black in the distance. At this time, Duan Xue's gunfire had stopped—although using the Death Howl wouldn't be too much of a burden for Duan Xue's physique, the ammunition for the Death Howl was really scarce, and it couldn't use ordinary rifle bullets at all.

Without the roar of the Death Howl, Lin Qiang finally dared to poke his head out to observe the battlefield. Unlike the Devourers and the child soldiers, Lin Qiang was, after all, a枭雄 (xiāo xióng - a hero with ruthless ambition). After looking at the battlefield, he quickly judged the current situation.

The situation was, of course, very unfavorable for Lin Qiang, because now everyone could see that the Devourers' giant zombies were at a disadvantage and would definitely be wiped out in the end.

Lin Qiang also calculated that if the battlefield situation didn't change at all, then in the end, the giant zombies on their side would be wiped out, and the incoming zombie tide wouldn't have much left, posing no threat.

So, at that time, the battlefield situation would be that Duan Lei's side would still have the warriors in those defensive positions and that tank, as well as about one hundred and twenty or thirty giant zombies.

And on his side, there would be an army of nearly a thousand people consisting of Devourers and child soldiers!

It seemed that the advantage was still on Lin Qiang's side, after all, he had an army, and the child soldiers were originally the most elite troops under Lin Qiang, and they were still fresh troops. Their ammunition and other supplies hadn't been consumed much, so they were naturally not afraid of one or two hundred giant zombies.

But the problem was that because Lao Wu had fled in advance, the tank card that Lin Qiang wanted to see hadn't been revealed, but Lin Qiang's final trump card, the child soldiers, had already been revealed! So, Lin Qiang wasn't sure that he could take the stronghold now.

According to Lin Qiang's cautious character, his best choice now was to immediately retreat with his child soldiers, letting the Devourers and giant zombies entangle the people in the stronghold.

He could continue to lead the child soldiers to scavenge the base and expand his forces, and then come to the stronghold when he had enough power.

But after seeing the battle between the stronghold and the Devourers, Lin Qiang felt that things were different now than before. If he failed and endured for a while, he would have the opportunity to make a comeback.

Now it was the apocalypse, and all creatures were constantly getting stronger. If he retreated now, the gap between him and the stronghold and the Devourers would only get bigger and bigger. In the end, he would be eliminated by this apocalypse…