Chapter 399: Lure the Snake Out of Its Hole
Chapter 399: Lure the snake out of its hole
. A busy tone accompanied by the sound of electricity rang in the communication channel.
Chu Guang, who was sitting in the office of the manager of Shelter No. 79, pressed his index finger between his eyebrows and hung up the video call from Dawn City with a little fatigue.
Three days have passed since he got the authority of Shelter No. 79.
In order to set up a resurrection point and a temporary base in Shelter No. 79, Chu Guang stayed at the front line to arrange work these days and did not ride Neeko back.
Just ten minutes ago, his little player finally set up a temporary communication base station in the urban area of Ruigu City.
Chu Guang finally got in touch with the rear and learned from Luca about Kaliman and the news that the Legion was invading Luoxia Province.
He certainly understood the principle of lips and teeth.
Once the Legion took over Luoxia Province, the southern corridor of River Valley Province would become the front line of the Legion’s battle with the Great Rift Valley.
By then, from Dawn City to Dawn City and even the entire southern part of River Valley Province would become a battlefield.
All the wealth created by players and residents of the Alliance in the past year will also vanish in the war.
If the Iron Heart had not arrived at their doorstep, thousands of players in the Alliance would have turned into mercenaries and rushed to the front line to fight the Legion.
Just when Chu Guang was about to discuss countermeasures with Vanus, the communication that had just been restored for less than ten minutes was suddenly interrupted.
Footsteps were heard outside the corridor.
Before the doorbell rang, Chu Guang opened the movable door of the office and saw a head of long silver-white hair as expected.
Standing at the door of the office, Heya complained with a depressed look on her face.
”I was copying the data here back to the Alliance server, but just now it suddenly lost speed… What happened?”
Chu Guang did not answer immediately, but glanced at the VM, and saw the report from the player flashing in the light blue pop-up window.
[Tail: giao! We were attacked by enemy artillery! ]
[Tail: Sir! The balloon floated away! Σ(Д;)]
From these two lines of messages, I roughly understood what happened just now.
Chu Guang closed the pop-up window with a sigh, and briefly answered Heya’s question.
”Maybe the source of the signal has been located… The Legion’s airship fired a few shots at the temporary communication device we just deployed.”
Putting away her complaining expression, Heya asked with a worried look.
”Ah? Then… Is everyone okay?”
”There is news, it should be okay.”
There are many bunkers in the city, and unless sub-nuclear weapons such as fuel-air bombs are used, the damage of the shelling is limited.
For the Iron Heart, this is after all “behind the enemy” far away from the supply line, and their shells are obviously not rich enough to bomb at will without feeling sorry.
Guessing that the other party will probably send ground troops to confirm the damage, Chu Guang issued a new order to the players on the mission to evacuate from the vicinity of the shelling area.
Although long-distance communication has not been restored, short-distance communication is still no problem.
Weak signals are difficult to lock specific locations. The other party can only know that there are people there, but it is difficult to accurately determine where the person is.
”It’s good that the person is okay…”
Scratching the back of her head, Heya was embarrassed to continue urging, so she changed the topic and continued to talk about other things.
”…By the way, when I was searching the server of this shelter, I accidentally found some interesting things. You should be interested.”
”What is it?” Chu Guang raised his eyebrows curiously.
His Xiaoqi had just been connected here for less than ten minutes before it was disconnected. He had not yet fully scanned the server of this shelter.
This shelter had already brought him enough surprises.
Therefore, after hearing Heya use the word “interesting” to describe her discovery, he immediately became interested.
Looking at the expression on Chu Guang’s face, Heya raised a smug smile at the corner of her mouth and continued in a pleasant tone.
”I found a set of exoskeleton drawings designed for the Death Claw in the private database of a researcher numbered A-7274. Although the project is not included in the research topic catalog of the shelter, the completion of the drawings is surprisingly high, almost to the point where it can be accepted… I’ll send it to you directly.” As she said
, Heya stretched out her index finger and tapped the VM screen twice, and quickly shared the data on Chu Guang’s VM.
Chu Guang opened the file and took a look, and found that it was a three-dimensional model containing the parameters of each part. It contains hundreds of parts, and its complexity is between “Miner Type I” and “Type V”.
It will not be difficult to make a prototype by using the magnetic confinement cutting machine. As for industrial mass production, if some configurations are omitted, it should not be difficult to imitate a beggar’s version.
Although this set of equipment is still on the drawing, the designer of the equipment still gave it a name that fits the identity of the Death Claw –
Hunter!
Looking at Chu Guang who was very interested, He Ya, who was standing aside, continued.
”…The body of a Death Claw grows very fast. It can grow from a cub to a height of 1.5 meters in one year, and will reach 2 to 2.5 meters in five months, entering adulthood.”
”Therefore, the design of this exoskeleton focuses on the adaptability of the equipment, strengthening the ductility of each structure, and can be worn by adult individuals with a spine length of 2 to 4 meters. However, the coverage area of the exoskeleton armor is slightly insufficient, and it can only protect the head and chest of the wearer.”
”My guess is that the researchers here probably considered that it would be difficult to operate the tools originally designed for the human body after the consciousness was transplanted to the Death Claw, so they designed an exoskeleton specifically for the Death Claw.”
As for why the plan was abandoned, it is also easy to understand.
Even if Heya didn’t mention it, Chu Guang could probably guess it.
Just look at the Death Claw Mother outside and you will know.
As long as the serum is injected, the growth will not stop. No matter how perfect the equipment is designed, it will only accompany them for more than ten years or even a few years at most.
Compared with the endless life span, this amount of time is just a sneeze.
Since the growth rates of various tissues and bones in the body are different, the idea of enlarging the exoskeleton in proportion is not feasible, and it can only be redesigned for different life stages.
Therefore, the idea of mechanical reinforcement was simply abandoned.
”Not bad… This set of equipment is just right for our wolf cavalry.” Chu Guang nodded with satisfaction, saved the drawings, and planned to pass them to Xiao Qi after the communication was restored.
”Wolf cavalry?”
”The army is currently researching a project. We plan to build a cavalry unit that can move quickly… Although it sounds a bit outdated to say this in 2341, we plan to give it a try,” Chu Guang replied casually, “Don’t worry about it. Leave the war to us. You don’t have to worry about it.”
Heya nodded, not quite understanding.
She didn’t know much about war.
But she knew in her heart that if the alliance lost, she would not be able to focus on the research she was interested in as much as she did now.
”Anyway, it would be great if I could help. I’ll go back to the laboratory first, you guys… do your best.”
When she reached the door, she stopped and suddenly made a joke in a teasing tone.
”By the way, that sentence just now sounds quite safe.”
Without waiting for his answer.
The brisk footsteps walked away from the corridor.
…
Ruigu City.
Commander Quanshui, who was crawling on the roof of a residential building, was holding a telescope and looking at the billowing smoke that was gradually dissipating in the distance.
Next to him was an abandoned water tank, and diagonally opposite was a stairwell, and his current position was just out of direct sight of the airship.
Gravehead Catcher, who was lying next to him, also held a telescope in his hand and stared in the same direction as Brother Quanshui.
He was killed by the Battlefield Guy a few days ago, and he just parachuted back these two days.
Although the Battlefield Guy said on the forum that he had helped him “destroy the body and wipe out the traces”, for the sake of being foolproof, he still stayed away from the front line and followed the commander of Quanshui.
According to past experience, it would be fine to follow this old Goubi.
The only drawback was that it was a bit boring. Unless it was absolutely necessary, this guy would hardly appear on the front line.
And even if he appeared, he would basically not fight.
For example, now.
Forget the exoskeleton.
This guy didn’t even bring a gun.
Lying down was really boring, and Gravehead Catcher couldn’t help asking.
”Are you sure the Legion will come?”
Quanshui thought for a while and replied.
”More than 80% probability.”
”Then why is there no movement at all?”
Quanshui was annoyed by the question and rolled his eyes at him.
”It doesn’t take time for others to come over? Don’t rush them, just wait.”
As soon as the voice fell.
There was indeed movement in the street in the distance.
A team of soldiers with live ammunition carefully surrounded the explosion area, covering each other and rushing through the collapsed wall.
The vanguard was naturally the escort troops with varying equipment, and the soldiers in black robes were in the back, urging the cannon fodder to enter the wreckage of the building.
Looking at the group of sneaky figures, Lao Gui’s face suddenly showed a surprised expression, and he muttered in surprise.
”… Damn, the Legion’s people are really here.”
”With such a large signal power, if I were the commander of the other side, I would also send someone to check it out.”
The other side should have regarded the communication base station as their headquarters.
Thinking silently in his heart, Quanshui stared at the team of soldiers on the street in the distance, carefully observing their equipment and personnel configuration.
Based on the reconnaissance in these days, he has basically figured out the attendance mode of the Legion.
If it is a normal duty mission, the Space Marine Corps will send a team of about ten people to act with the hundred-man team of the escort army.
The former is often responsible for supervising the battle and supporting, while the latter is responsible for charging, sweeping the building, exploring the way and covering the rear… In short, these are tasks with a high mortality rate.
If it is a guerrilla encirclement and suppression, more than three hundred-man teams of regular army will often be dispatched to cooperate with more than five hundred-man teams of the escort army.
According to the intelligence of the old brother in the battlefield, the number of survivors in the Fallen Leaf Camp is now close to 20,000, and the size of the escort army has also expanded from the initial 500 to 2,000.
If the organizational system of the escort army in the Fallen Leaf Camp has not been established, the legion would like to give all the young and middle-aged people who can carry a gun a rippers.
Due to the lack of lackeys who can fight, the current promotion speed of the grassroots officers of the escort army is like riding a rocket.
By the way, the battlefield guy is now the strongest competitor for the centurion.
After all, he was a centurion promoted by General McLennan himself. He not only hunted the Deathclaw, but was also the only one who won the battle against the guerrillas of the enterprise on the front battlefield.
Most of the players who followed him in also became junior officers such as centurions.
After confirming that the battlefield guy was not among this group, the grave ghost catcher said eagerly.
”Do you want to give them a surprise?”
”This place is too close to the airship. Their gun barrels are probably aimed at this urban area,” the commander of the fountain looked up at the sky, thought for a while and continued, “Wait until dark.”
Just now, he suddenly thought of a good idea.
I heard that the brothers of the Death Corps have recently captured a lot of garbage kings, and they have also received a batch of new equipment made with the help of goblin technology.
It’s a good opportunity to give them a chance to try their skills…
…
Late at night.
A team of soldiers in black robes advanced in the dark.
About ten hours ago, they destroyed a communication base station in the urban area, and just as the sky darkened, a new high-power signal source was located in the urban area.
Without any hesitation.
As the coordinates were sent to the gun position, the artillery group on standby immediately fired three rounds of 100mm artillery at the target, a total of nine shells to bathe the area where the signal source was located.
The other party was willing to set up this radio station at the risk of being bombed. It was obvious that the other party had something important to communicate with the rear.
Whether it was requesting reinforcements or reporting news from the front line, they did not intend to give the other party a chance to speak.
Rachel conveyed the command from the headquarters to the Fallen Leaf Camp.
Soon a team of 100 people composed of wastelanders completed the assembly and joined the team of 10 people sent by the Air Marine Corps, and marched to the city shrouded in the night.
”Why don’t we just serve them with artillery shells… Do we have to go over and take a look?”
Looking around the dark buildings around, the soldier in black robes could not help but whisper to the officer beside him while advancing on alert.
It is not a good idea to enter the city at night.
Any window here may hide a gun muzzle.
The officer walking in the team just repeated the order expressionlessly.
”The artillery has already exploded once. The signal source has been weakened, but it has not been completely interrupted. It is suspected that there is a reinforced explosion-proof bunker. We have to go and see what was just exploded and whether there are still living people there.”
As he said, the officer looked at the pangolin on the side.
”Take a few of you to investigate ahead.”
”Yes!”
As a professional cannon fodder, the battlefield atmosphere group responded neatly and walked ahead consciously.
Not only that, he also pulled a few confidants he cultivated, including the young man named Li Ba at the beginning.
”You, follow me!”
Everyone who was called to take the lead had a bitter face, but still followed behind this “pangolin” reluctantly.
Looking at their expressions, the battlefield atmosphere group smiled in their hearts, but did not explain.
There is no need to explain at all, these people will naturally thank themselves in a while.
As for the others.
Just pray for the best.
In war, there are always deaths.
…
Walking at the front of the team with his men, the battlefield guy quickly approached the building that had just been baptized by artillery.
This was probably a shopping mall before, with a height of only five floors. The steel structure dome was entwined with green vines, but now it has collapsed along with the broken steel bars.
Looking at the area in the open-air mall, Li Ba, who was following him, held his rifle tightly, and felt his calves shaking constantly.
Swallowing his saliva, he nervously glanced at the centurion beside him – the ruthless man called Pangolin.
”…Are we going in?”
The battlefield guy was too lazy to explain to him, and just said briefly.
”Follow me closely later.”
Li Ba nodded immediately.
Although he couldn’t tell the specific reason, his intuition told him that as long as he followed the guy in front of him closely, he would survive.
Passing through the security check passage at the main entrance and entering the mall, the battlefield atmosphere group looked around with their guns, and couldn’t help smacking their lips.
”Damn… these big noses are pretty accurate.”
The previous rounds of shells almost accurately passed through the dome of the mall and landed in the center of the wide patio, blowing the area around here to pieces.
The intelligence verified by the Storm Troopers with their lives before showed that the corps could locate the direction of the radio signal, but the accuracy of the location was unclear.
Now, the Battlefield guy is almost sure that for radio signals within a specific power range within 20 kilometers, the positioning technology of these big noses can almost accurately locate a point on the map.
Walking towards the center of the explosion, the Battlefield guy searched carefully and soon found the backpack that fell from the fifth floor next to a pile of scattered shopping carts.
The backpack was made of ordinary linen, and it contained a radio station and solid hydrogen batteries. In addition, a walkie-talkie was tied with tape, repeating the pre-recorded recording intermittently with a weak voice.
This is the source of the signal. It is
also the radio bait prepared by Brother Quanshui.
Li Ba, who was following him, couldn’t help asking after getting closer to take a look.
”What is being said inside?”
Although the walkie-talkie was talking all the time, he couldn’t understand what was being said at all.
The Battlefield guy replied casually.
”I don’t know.”
As a double agent of the Alliance, he could certainly understand. The intercom was playing Mr. Zhao’s crosstalk. It had just finished playing “Selling Crutch” and then played “Tease You”. The
only uncertainty now was whether the Iron Heart could monitor the specific content of the radio.
If it could, he could probably imagine the scene.
A group of electronic warfare officers sat at a table, listening to the crosstalk attentively and racking their brains to analyze the intelligence that might be hidden in it.
No…
After all, I am a double agent of the Alliance, I can’t laugh at this moment.
The battlefield guy couldn’t hold back his laughter with a dry cough, took off the intercom hanging on his shoulder, and read the lines he had memorized long ago to the officers outside.
”The first floor is safe, and an enemy radio station was found… It was in a backpack, and it should have fallen from the upper floor. Do we need to continue searching upstairs?”
The officer on guard outside also quickly gave the expected answer.
”Continue the search!”
”Got it!”
With a smile on his face, the Warlord hung up the call, turned around and looked at his confidants behind him, cleared his throat and gave an order.
”Start the search from the second floor, check every corner carefully, and don’t miss any suspicious clues!”
”Action!”
Just as the Warlord was exploring the second floor with his confidants, the streets outside the mall were silent.
Seeing that there was no movement in the building, the officers standing outside could probably guess that the people inside were either dead or had already withdrawn.
Seeing that there was probably no battle to fight tonight, he simply took out a cigarette from his pocket, struck a match and lit it.
The pungent smoke came out of his nostrils.
He was about to check the time on his watch.
However, at this moment, he caught a glimpse of an amber pupil hidden in the darkness by the moonlight sprinkled on the street. A
hissing low hum floated over.
The monster crawling on the wall was staring straight in his direction, and its amber pupil was filled with a desire for killing and blood.
The officer’s face lost color in an instant, and the cigarette butt with sparks fell from the stiff lips, breaking into ash.
Especially when he found that it was not a pair at all.
But a group of them——
”It’s the Death Claws!”
The officer yelled at the top of his voice, and at the same time reached out to grab the rifle and pulled the trigger first.
”Prepare for battle——!”
Almost at the same time as the voice fell, the Death Claws crawling on the walls and roofs roared and rushed towards the soldiers guarding the street outside the mall.
The tranquility on the street was instantly torn apart by the sound of gunfire, and the flashing gun flames reflected the faces twisted by fear. What
frightened them was not only the Death Claws.
But those Death Claws actually had people riding on their backs!
Those people not only tied themselves to the backs of the Death Claws in an extremely brutal way, but also held a variety of weapons in their hands.
Some were rifles, some were shotguns, and some looked like rifle grenades or something similar based on the caliber.
Before they collided with the Death Claws, the soldiers guarding the streets had been blown to the ground by a round of preemptive grenades and hand grenades. In
just a few breaths, this group of “flying over the eaves and walls” cavalry had already rushed close to them, and the hot breath even blew on their faces.
From this moment on,
the soldiers of the legion truly experienced what fear and cruelty were.
This group of bloodthirsty beasts were almost invincible in the fight at the extreme distance. Often, just a wave of their claws would cause a bloody storm and broken limbs.
Whether it was the wastelanders of the escort army or the soldiers in black robes, they were all being harvested crazily in the fear of death. They could not put up any effective resistance and could only flee into the buildings.
The people in the mall obviously heard the commotion outside.
Looking at the chaos on the street outside the window, Li Ba’s face was full of fear. The rifle in his hand had been aimed at a cavalryman who was galloping and fighting, but he could not muster the courage to pull the trigger.
At this time, a hand reached out from the side, grasped his gun barrel, and gently pulled it back from the window.
Li Ba turned around and saw that it was his centurion, with a surprised expression on his face.
”Don’t shoot and attract those monsters. We are not their opponents…” Making a gesture of silence, the battlefield man glanced out the window and said in a deep voice, “You hide here, I will find a way to rescue our leader…”
The street was in chaos.
Previously, gunshots could be heard, but now there were only screams and wails, as well as shocking broken limbs and blood.
The methods of these beasts are extremely cruel.
In order to enjoy the fresh prey, they almost never kill the prey, but after the other party completely loses the ability to move, they will quickly run to the next one without delay.
Since the two sides have already started a close-range exchange of fire, the airship watching in the sky can only worry and cannot provide support at all. In
just two minutes, the 100-man team of the escort army suffered heavy casualties, and the 10-man team of the legion was almost wiped out.
Seeing that there were no more targets to attack on the street, the cavalrymen who could fly over the eaves and walls retreated from the battlefield without delay, just as they had suddenly rushed out.
The officer who was dragged into the mall by a entourage still had a look of shock on his face as he watched the ghosts that scattered and fled into the darkness.
Panting heavily, he looked down at the bloodstain on his chest, then looked at the centurion named Pangolin beside him, and squeezed out a word of gratitude from his mouth.
”Thank you…”
The battlefield guy didn’t say anything.
Mainly because he was worried about exposing his feet.
Finally, he recovered, took a deep breath, and made a calm judgment.
”We have to withdraw from here…”
The battlefield guy looked at the wailing soldiers and entourage outside and asked in a low voice.
”Where are the wounded?”
A trace of pity flashed in the officer’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced by ruthlessness.
”They… are dead.”
I didn’t expect that the enterprise could actually drive aliens to fight. This was a big discrepancy with the intelligence they had, which was a bit difficult to accept.
Especially, he couldn’t be sure how many Death Claws the other side had hidden in the city. Under such circumstances, the command center could not approve support.
Hearing the officer’s answer, the battlefield man sighed in his heart.
What a pity…
…
After the remaining ground troops evacuated, the Iron Heart delivered regional firepower to the city, and the sound of artillery sounded for more than ten minutes.
General McLen, standing in front of the French window of the bridge, stared at the city lit up by artillery fire, and his expressionless face was full of haze.
He always had an illusion.
The longer they stayed here, the more Enterprise soldiers they killed, and their opponents were not weakened, but became stronger.
First, there were planes that flew faster than artillery shells, and now there were cavalry charging on Death Claws. The opponent’s moves were getting more and more outrageous, and their advantages were getting less and less obvious…
So how many reinforcements did Enterprise send here?
Or was his intelligence wrong from the beginning…
The staff officer standing aside reported in a deep voice.
”That signal source… seems to be a bait set by the other party.”
”Just now, we detected more signal sources in the city, from different areas and different frequency bands… We can monitor their conversations, but we can’t understand what language they are using.”
General McClane was about to speak.
However, at this moment, an officer walked to the door of the bridge.
”Report! Communication request from General Griffin!”
McClane said expressionlessly.
”Connect to the conference room and ask him to wait for me for two minutes.”
”Yes!” The officer replied and turned and trotted off the bridge. After
temporarily handing over the command to the adjutant, McClane then turned and left the bridge and went to the conference room upstairs.
There was a table in the conference room, and in the center of the table was a silver-white machine. Seeing General McClane nod, the officer standing at the door immediately left the room.
The ceiling light turned off.
The conference room was dark.
However, light blue light particles floated from the device in the center of the conference table and re-lit up the space. Not long after, a man in his forties or fifties appeared in the holographic image.
He had a prominent nose and a resolute face. He exuded the aura of a lion, but his eyes were very much like a fox.
Looking at the face in the holographic image, McLen’s eyes were filled with annoyance.
However, after all, the guy had one more star on his shoulder than he did, so he still took the initiative to salute. After the other party returned the salute, he patiently spoke.
”What’s the matter?”
”Be happy, it’s good news,” the man in the holographic image smiled faintly and continued calmly, “Your Excellency the commander of the legion has adjusted our deployment in Luoxia Province. Now we have officially intervened in the war between the Falcon Kingdom and the desert kings.”
As a war faction, this is indeed a happy thing.
Only by expanding the territory for the legion can we make achievements, and only war can plunder more wealth, land and slaves.
However, at this moment, McLen’s face did not have too much happy expression.
Obviously, the greatest credit has been taken away by the man in front of him, and when he returns, he will probably not even have a mouthful of soup left.
As if he understood the expression on the captain’s face, Griffin continued in a gentle tone.
”I wanted to wait until you came back before we started the next plan, but we were unexpectedly attacked by the corporate reinforcements… Before those desert dwellers get support from the east coast, we have to take the initiative. Of course, I believe you have heard about this from other places.”
Clearing his throat, the man standing in the holographic image continued.
”Now, I ask you to execute the new order and immediately set off for Desert No. 9 to support the ground forces of the Falcon Kingdom! I hope you haven’t wasted all the ammunition. There are at least two more tough battles waiting for you before you return to the port for supplies.”
”Corporate reinforcements?!”
Without listening to the second half of Griffin’s words, McLen’s face showed obvious surprise when he heard the first half of the words –
or disbelief!
He could no longer maintain his calmness. He suddenly put his hands on the table and couldn’t help but raise his voice.
”That’s impossible!”
”We have pinned down the reinforcements of the Enterprise in the southern part of the River Valley Province. Our airships have been blocking this plain! I can be sure that since the beginning of this month, no team… not even a caravan has entered the desert from here.”
”And if you have encountered reinforcements from the Enterprise, who are the ones fighting us?!”
A chuckle came from the communication channel.
There was some annoying sarcasm in that chuckle.
”Who knows.”
”Maybe it’s the natives.”
–
(I have to hang up for two days… I have to go again soon. By the way, the doctor actually recognizes my face…)
(End of this chapter)
