Chapter 983 “Handle”
Chapter 983 “Handle”
The streets were filled with wind and sand, and only the barking of dogs remained in the light red mist. The noisy gunshots in the distance had stopped.
Hiding in an abandoned shop along the street, Malik nervously looked at the street outside the window, his heart pounding.
This place is at least 500 meters away from the place where he was sniped.
If nothing unexpected happened, the sniper should not have caught up with him, and he didn’t even notice that he had quietly changed his position.
But even so, Malik still didn’t dare to take it lightly, and he was still carefully observing the situation outside.
At this time, the icon of [Restore Communication] suddenly popped up on the helmet eyepiece, which scared him.
”Damn…”
Looking at the belated signal, Malik cursed, reached out and quickly turned off the signal interface, and entered the radio silence state.
The signal that was restored for less than two seconds disappeared.
Looking at the gray icon, Malik finally breathed a sigh of relief, and his hanging heart was also put down.
In this way, even if the alliance captured his teammates, they would not be able to lock his approximate position.
Thinking of Valen’s tragic death, Malik’s heart was trembling with fear.
There was no way.
The brain matter that was shattered in the carriage was so powerful that even after such a long time, his stomach still couldn’t help churning.
Malik, who judged that he had escaped, took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.
To be honest, he didn’t expect the alliance to send fighters, and the signal jammer was even more unexpected.
There was only one explanation-
from the moment they entered this area, all of them had been targeted.
Even before they started to act, the other party had already discussed every step of ambushing them.
Thinking that his group of people had quietly entered the sacks that the other party had arranged in advance under their noses, Malik couldn’t help but feel a burst of heat on his face.
This is too stupid!
”…We have to find a way to leave here.”
He muttered to himself, and stuck his head out of the window to confirm the direction of escape.
However, at this moment, he noticed that a mutant eagle owl was standing on the broken street lamp across the street.
The eagle owl stared at him intently, and its thick cheeks rose and fell slightly. Facing
the slightly provocative gaze, Malik suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart.
Almost subconsciously, he loosened the grip of the rifle and reached for the silenced pistol at his waist with his right hand.
In order to prevent the alliance from being alerted when escaping, it was the best solution to solve this hidden danger in advance!
However, before his right hand touched the pistol at his waist, a huge force suddenly and silently chopped at his popliteal fossa.
”Dang!”
A dull sound sounded, followed by Malik’s low roar of pain.
”Ah–”
He bent his knee subconsciously after being stabbed in the right leg, and tapped one knee on the ground.
Fortunately, he was wearing a power suit, otherwise the knife would definitely have chopped off his calf.
Malik had not yet recovered from the severe pain, and the touch of the sharp weapon pulling out from his popliteal fossa made every neuron in his body tense up!
Almost subconsciously, he swung his right fist and hit the short knife that was slashing at him.
”Dang!”
The sound of metal clashing echoed in the abandoned shop. Malik turned around and finally saw the attacker clearly.
It was a woman in a cloak.
There was a deep scar on her weather-beaten face, and the hatred in her eyes was deeper than the scar.
When he met the eyes engraved with hatred, Malik’s pupils shrank unconsciously.
”…Who are you?”
His intuition told him that this guy was not from the Alliance!
The man did not answer, but took a step forward and closed the distance between the two sides again.
”Looking for death!”
Seeing the man rushing up with a knife, Malik smiled coldly and raised his rifle to fire.
However, the gun flames had only been spurted out for less than a second before the flashing knife light cut off half of the receiver.
So fast!
Malik was startled and pulled out his pistol reflexively and fired. However, he was stopped by the man who had just gotten close to him just before he fired two shots. The shots hit the ceiling.
Large pieces of gravel and dust fell from the ceiling and splashed on Malik’s face.
He was shocked and angry. He raised his foot and kicked forward, but he didn’t expect to step on the cloak. The man dodged it easily by turning sideways.
”Buzz–”
The flipping knife made a buzzing sound, and with the help of the flipping body, it chopped the outside of his left knee with the force of thunder.
This time, both legs were hit by a knife.
Although the blade only left a shallow scratch on the power armor, Malik still couldn’t help but let out a stinging roar.
The distance between the two sides was too close!
Almost shoulder to shoulder, nose to nose!
Malik felt like a clumsy elephant, and the woman in the cloak was like a mouse running around on him, biting left and right.
Although the attack was like scraping, and could not hurt his power armor at all, it was not a good idea to continue fighting like this!
Just as he was trying to stabilize his body, the man suddenly jumped back and distanced himself from him.
Malik frowned with a warning sign in his heart, and an ominous premonition crept up on the back of his head.
At that moment, the flames of the explosion suddenly exploded from behind him.
The bomb seemed to be attached to his back, and the boiling flames instantly made him have no time to react. He staggered forward as if he was hit by a club on the back of his head, and was pressed to the ground by the hot shock wave.
[Alert! The power components are seriously damaged! ]
A yellow alarm jumped on the eyepiece of the helmet, and Malik felt that all the parts of his body were dislocated by the explosion.
Whether it was mechanical parts or physical parts.
Shaking his dizzy head, he supported the ground with both hands and was about to stand up, but he felt something like a brick “snap” on the back of his head.
Cold sweat instantly broke out from his forehead and flowed into his collar along the connection between the helmet and the armor.
Without thinking too much, Malik immediately gave up the resistance and lay on the ground obediently.
He was completely convinced.
After a fight, he was sure that he was no match for this guy, even if he was wearing a power armor.
”I surrender…”
The woman didn’t say anything, but just cast her eyes on the street lamp not far away, looking at the eagle owl standing on the street lamp.
The eagle owl seemed to understand her eyes, flapped its wings and flew into the sky, circled a circle and flew to the north.
Watching the eagle owl leave, the woman withdrew her sight from the sky, and then looked back at the disciple of the Enlightenment Society who was lying on the ground with his body prostrated.
In a voice without any ups and downs, she slowly spoke.
”Take it off yourself.”
…
On the other side, under the half-collapsed skyscraper, a “Sunshine” power armor walked out of the shadow of the ruins.
The ceramic steel breastplate was covered with bullet holes, and the messy scratches almost covered the light gray paint. The pair of alloy forged mantis knives were almost bent!
He looked embarrassed, as if he had just crawled out of the gates of hell.
Only experienced veterans could see that the injuries were all superficial, and most of them were concentrated on the detachable breastplate.
As for the mantis knives, it was a consumable item, especially when it ran into an opponent with the same armor, it was normal for the blades to be bent.
It was even more incredible that he could use these two mantis knives to the end!
This guy is a master!
Looking at the power armor coming out from the bottom of the building, the [Taran Raider] who was standing in front of the captives and pretending to be cool opened his arms with a smile on his face and took the initiative to meet him.
”Well done, brother! Would you like to consider joining us Sha-”
The player grinned, took off the two mantis knives and threw them on the ground, and then decisively stretched out his right hand.
”You’re welcome! Pay me, brother.”
”Fuck! So ruthless?”
The player chuckled.
”Not necessarily, it depends on the situation.”
Taran Raider: “…&￥#@!”
Fuck!
Who the hell are you looking down on!
But even though he’s foul-mouthed, he’ll still pay me as promised.
Besides, the money has already been paid to the mercenary guild of the alliance in advance, and you don’t even need to pay it on the spot. After it’s done, just click confirm and the money will automatically go to the other party’s account.
After getting the bounty, the player didn’t rush to leave. He walked to the outside of the city with a grin and stood guard.
The mission is not over yet.
The previous encounter was a temporary arrangement. The mission he received from the Desert Corps was to cooperate with the latter to complete the connection with the key NPC. He could only get the remaining money based on the completion of the entire mission process.
As a professional individual player, he still has this professional ethics.
Looking at the leader of the Desert Corps who looked frustrated, Junichiro Shokawa, who was also doing odd jobs, walked over with a grin on his face, throwing the combat knife in his hand.
”Old baldy, you are seducing retail investors again.”
Hearing this presumptuous name, Taran Raider almost choked on his saliva and turned his head to curse.
”Get lost, my name is Taran! You are the bald one, your whole family is bald!”
The Comedian rolled his eyes and said with a smile.
”Tsk, who remembers such a serious name, it sounds like an NPC.”
Taran Raider chuckled.
”Then you, like a corpse?”
The Comedian rolled his eyes to the sky.
”Get lost.”
Although this guy is not from the Desert Corps, Taran is familiar with him, including the sand sculpture who often hangs out with this guy.
Since they always do missions together, Taran has seduced the two of them to join the Desert Corps more than once, but the latter has never agreed, and the former is too lazy to mention it again after saying it too much.
Not everyone likes to join an organization.
And Taran thought about it and realized that his Desert Corps was not very attractive. It had no generous benefits, and rarely appeared in the center of the wasteland stage. Occasionally, he might mess up if he did some minor work.
To be honest, he was a little flattered to receive the task issued by the manager himself this time.
After all, the operation in Evernight Harbor should have been a mess…
After chatting with a few casual players, Taran turned back to the open space where the prisoners were guarded.
The brothers in the Corps should have finished the interrogation.
Just as he expected, the [Medical Miracle] in charge of the interrogation came over.
”After asking, they are from the Desert Scorpion.”
”Desert Scorpion?” Taran Raider frowned and muttered in thought, “What the hell.”
Medical Miracle reported concisely.
”According to their own account, they should be the special forces of the Enlightenment Society. The core members are all residents of the shelter, and some are awakened people who have been injected with gene-induced expression drugs.”
Taran Raider’s eyes lit up and he smiled happily.
”Great! We defeated a special forces unit!”
Medical Miracle said with a subtle expression.
”If I remember correctly… the Enlightenment Society should not have regular troops. In theory, all troops are ‘special forces’.”
Talan Raider coughed.
”It doesn’t matter! What matters is that we stood up!”
Looking at the overly optimistic leader, Medical Miracle sighed, paused for a while and continued.
”From the results of the separate interrogations, they were attracted by the radio signal just like us. At least this shows that they don’t know the NPC named ‘Zhuang Lan’.”
”In addition, their commander is a talent. He thought the same as you and planned to use the signal base station in the ruins of the building as bait to catch us off guard… and then ran into our guns.” To be
honest, when he first heard the leader’s plan, he was full of pessimism and even prepared to eat sand in the desert for a month.
With the communication conditions in the Great Desert, the other party might not be able to receive the signal, and if they did, they might not care, and if they cared, they might not send a group of people over with great fanfare.
Unexpectedly, the other party actually received this clue, and took it seriously, sending a whole company of troops over.
It can only be said that they met a worthy opponent.
”Hahaha, he’s a talent, but unfortunately he’s still a step behind me,” Taran Raider laughed out loud, stroking his chin and urging, “Where is this talent? Where is he?”
The Medical Miracle’s expression suddenly became awkward when he heard this.
”Well, there’s none among the prisoners… Sha Diao said he seemed to see a guy wearing power armor, but he let that guy run away. I don’t know if he’s the leader of that gang.”
Taran Raider glared.
”Fuck, ran away?! What does this loser do for a living-”
”Who the hell are you calling loser!?”
Before Taran finished speaking, an irritable voice came from the side.
The two turned around and saw the Desert Eagle carrying a sniper rifle walking towards them.
There were two people following him.
One of them was wearing a desert-colored cloak, and the other had a look of embarrassment on his face, tied up tightly with ropes.
”Here he is! The commander of the Desert Scorpion.”
Pulling the rope to drive Malik to the front, Sha Diao cursed at Taran.
”MMP! You only know how to brag all day long. I’ve done all the work. You can be the leader!”
Taran Raider’s old face turned red. He wanted to refute but couldn’t, so he finally held back his words.
Medical Miracle looked at Sha Diao in surprise.
”Okay, brother, did you catch the man?”
The aggressive Sha Diao also blushed for some reason, coughed dryly, and spoke hurriedly.
”I guess so, I picked him up… It doesn’t matter. By the way, I killed his adjutant, shot him in the head!”
The voice was so small that Medical Miracle couldn’t help but suspect that there was something wrong with his ears.
At this time, Taran suddenly noticed the stranger in the cloak, so he cast an inquiring gaze at the man.
”Who is this?”
Seeing the two people standing opposite him casting inquiring glances at him, the cloaked guy reached out and took off his hood.
Looking at the vicissitudes of life, Taran Raider’s face showed an unexpected expression.
Woman?
In the vast desert full of dangers, it is rare to see a lone traveler.
And women acting alone are even rarer.
The man nodded slightly and introduced himself.
”My name is Zhuang Lan.”
Medical Miracle and Talan Raider looked at each other, and the expressions of surprise on their faces became more obvious.
”Are you Zhuang Lan?”
Zhuang Lan nodded and spoke slowly.
”Yes, a survivor of Shelter 68, the organizer of the Watcher Organization… Before your tentacles extended to the Great Desert, we had been fighting with the forces related to the Enlightenment for a long time.”
After a pause, she continued.
”… In addition, the signal you received was sent by me to you.”
Talan Raider frowned slightly, staring at her intently, trying to find a flaw in her face.
”I don’t understand, since the signal was sent by you, why didn’t you come out to see us.”
Zhuang Lan was silent for a while, looking at the half-collapsed skyscraper next to him.
”Because… this is not a place to talk.”
”You can receive the signal, and people who shouldn’t receive the signal will also receive it. I wanted to wait until you leave and then follow you, but I didn’t expect you to not come out and stay here.” The
air was a little subtle and awkward.
Thinking that it was his idea to ambush the people of the Enlightenment Society here, Taran couldn’t help but reach out and touch his nose. Seeing
that a certain stupid leader was still doubting the identity of the NPC next to him, Sha Diao hesitated for a while, and finally coughed dryly and spoke.
”I don’t think there is any need to doubt her identity… To be honest, this guy was actually captured by her.”
As he said this, he pointed at Malik who was tied up like a dumpling.
The medical miracle standing aside heard this, and his eyes almost popped out, looking at the woman who didn’t seem to be very good at fighting with an unbelievable face.
Just this guy?
Can he defeat an awakened person wearing power armor?
In fact, it was because he entered the game late and only got the helmet in the past year, so he didn’t know much about what happened in Shelter 0.
But Zhuang Lan was very humble and didn’t emphasize that the prisoner was captured by herself.
Seeing a pair of eyes falling on the prisoner, she paused for a moment and cast her eyes over.
”Although there were some accidents, it was a blessing in disguise. We didn’t expect to catch a big fish.”
Looking at the guy who was tied up like a dumpling, Taran raised his eyebrows slightly.
”You mean this guy?”
Zhuang Lan nodded slowly and said.
”Malik, the captain of the Desert Scorpion, a senior disciple of the Enlightenment Society… I heard his name before I left the Enlightenment Society. At that time, he was already famous, but I didn’t expect that he didn’t make any progress in so many years.”
”You are indeed one of us…” Malik turned his head and stared at Zhuang Lan, with a gloomy face, he squeezed out a cruel word from his lips, “You are a traitor, you betrayed the shelter, betrayed everyone…”
Zhuang Lan’s mouth curled up a playful smile, but that playfulness soon turned into self-mockery.
Burning herself with the idea of ”burning a new era”, she found out that she was just an incurable idiot… Wasn’t she the same before?
She didn’t believe it at first.
Until she found the lost administrator’s log and dug out the bloody truth with her own hands.
Sure enough, the administrator knows the administrator best.
It’s true that it was the Enlightenment Society that saved her from hell.
But they were also the ones who set the fire…
Facing Marik’s hateful gaze, she said in a voice without much ups and downs.
”If you are interested, I can tell you the story of Shelter 68. Once you understand the full picture of history, you will know who the real traitor is.”
”But I think this is a meaningless thing. Even if you understand our experience, you may not sympathize with us. People only believe what they want to believe, and they will only empathize when it hurts. I used to be the same as you. I don’t know which shelter you are from. You need to find your own journal… if there is still such a chance.”
Marik said with a sneer.
”…What do you want to say? Are those lies made up by the wastelanders to frame us?”
Perhaps because she thought that sentence was too stupid, Zhuang Lan did not answer his question, nor did she look at him again, but cast her eyes on the friend from the Alliance in front of her.
”To make a long story short, I sent you that signal… Actually, I wanted to tell your administrator that I have fulfilled the original bet. This is the administrator log of Shelter 68. In addition to the log, there is a map attached to the hard drive. You can use the map to find its ruins, although there is nothing left there.”
As she spoke, she took out a thumb-sized card from her bosom and handed it to the person in front of her.
The Talan Raider solemnly took the card and inserted it into the VM on his left arm to complete the data reading.
”Our administrator asked me to bring you a message. I am glad that you have kept the agreement. Your freedom is no longer borrowed from him. From now on, it is your own.”
After a pause, he continued.
”Of course, one thing is one thing. The Eastern Empire is still looking for you. After all, you killed their people.”
”Thank you… As for the Eastern Empire, I will atone for my sins in my own way.”
Zhuang Lan nodded slightly, raised her head and continued.
”In addition, there is one more thing I think I need to tell you.”
Talan Raider said immediately.
”Please go ahead!”
Zhuang Lan continued.
”Our Watcher Organization’s intelligence network in the Great Desert has discovered that the Enlightenment Society has recently stopped expanding its sphere of influence in the Great Desert, and instead transferred the personnel and materials scattered in the Great Desert to the area around Shelter No. 13.”
Medical Miracle was stunned and asked in confusion.
”Gathering personnel and materials? What do they want to do?”
The reason why the Alliance can’t do anything to the Enlightenment Society is mainly because these guys are too good at hiding. The
Southern Legion’s factory at least has a coordinate, and these guys’ weapons and ammunition are all made in black boxes, highlighting a flexible deployment, and it is too easy to transfer.
Now that they have gathered personnel and materials, aren’t they afraid of being wiped out?
”I don’t know,” Zhuang Lan shook her head, thought for a while and continued, “Shelter No. 13 is located near the wreckage of the orbital elevator base, and the depth is said to be one thousand meters. According to unreliable information, it seems that it was used as a backup option for the ‘handle’… If you don’t know what the ‘handle’ is, please tell your administrator for me.”
The Talan Raider stared at her intently and spoke hurriedly.
”I know about the Torch Project… You mean, it can withstand the attack of strategic weapons at the neutron extermination level?”
Zhuang Lan shook her head.
”In theory, all shelters can withstand it, and because of the special location of Shelter No. 13, it should be characterized by a relatively large area? It is said that it can accommodate millions of people? Of course, I don’t know the specific situation inside. The coordinates of this shelter were kept secret before… However, I believe Mr. Malik must have been in that paradise.”
Seeing a pair of eyes looking at him, Malik was panicking, but he still smiled coldly.
”Do you think I will tell you?”
”It’s hard to say, but I think that gentleman should be able to change your mind.”
Zhuang Lan looked at Malik meaningfully, and then looked at the soldier of the alliance in front of him.
”This guy is handed over to you. I hope you don’t let him go immediately. At least let him disappear for a while.”
”We will,” Taran nodded seriously, looked at her and continued, “What about you? What are your plans next?”
Zhuang Lan said without hesitation.
”I plan to use his identity to sneak into Shelter No. 13 and take a look. Maybe I can find out what the Enlightenment is doing in there.”
Hearing this crazy idea, Malik couldn’t help but widen his eyes.
”Pretend to be me?! You, what the hell are you kidding! You can’t get in!”
He was originally quite honest and suddenly struggled, but the two strength beasts holding him down would not let him move around, and held him down tightly.
Looking at Malik with panic on his face, Zhuang Lan’s mouth curled up a playful arc.
”How can we know if we don’t try? I am somewhat confident in my disguise skills.”
Hearing that the Enlightenment Society has always regarded Shelter No. 13 as its rear base, she had long wanted to sneak in there to take a look, but unfortunately she had never found a suitable opportunity or a suitable person to switch.
Fortunately, just when she was worried, Malik came to her.
Although he was a disciple, he was a senior disciple after all. He could access things that ordinary disciples could not access, but he would not be as conspicuous as a “guide”.
The most important thing was that she had worked in the Enlightenment Society to collect intelligence and had his resume and personal information. Imitating others might be exposed, but imitating this guy would not be.
She was even confident that she would not be exposed even if she slept in the same bed with his wife.
The medical miracle suddenly raised his head.
”Ah… I have an idea.”
Before Zhuang Lan could speak, the Taran Raider had already looked at him alertly.
”What bad idea have you come up with?”
”What do you mean by bad idea? Can the ideas I come up with be as bad as yours?” Medical Miracle glanced at him, looked at Zhuang Lan and continued with a smile, “I think your subordinates are either dead or captured, and you are the only one going back. If no one suspects you, then there must be something fishy.”
Zhuang Lan said cautiously.
”It is certain that I will be suspected, but it is actually nothing. I used to work in intelligence. I know very well how they will interrogate me, and I know very well how to gain their trust.”
Medical Miracle said patiently.
”Having said that, it must be very difficult to do this, right? How about this, we pick someone out here to be your prisoner, so that you can go back and report.”
Zhuang Lan looked at him in confusion.
”This… do you know what you are talking about? Being captured by the Enlightenment Society? This is not a joke…”
Those guys don’t care about means.
For the enemy, especially the prisoners who have no use value, they will directly use the memory extraction device to squeeze out all the memories in their heads.
As she spoke, she looked anxiously at the soldier’s superior, but she didn’t expect that after hearing this idea, the superior didn’t feel anything wrong, but instead touched his chin thoughtfully.
After a moment, Taran, who had finished thinking, raised his head and said with a rather pleasant expression.
”Hiss… you guys can occasionally come up with some useful ideas.”
The medical miracle showed a hearty smile on his face.
”Well, if you had listened to me earlier, our regiment would have been T0 long ago.”
Desert Eagle curled his lips in disdain.
”What a bunch of bullshit.”
He admitted that the idea was okay, but if you wanted to be T0 with this little cleverness, then the streets would be full of T0 strongmen.
Zhuang Lan: “……?”
Although she didn’t understand what they were talking about, she could feel from their tone and demeanor that it was not a negative meaning.
Are these guys serious? !
Zhuang Lan looked at them with a worried look on her face and said.
”I can’t let you take risks.”
Medical Miracle smiled and waved his hand.
”It’s not a big deal. It’s not like we haven’t been in jail when we were in Evernight Harbor. How about this, since I came up with this idea, let Medical Miracle–”
”Let me, the leader (the independent player boss), be the prisoner!”
Before Medical Miracle finished speaking, Taran Raiders and Desert Eagle shouted impatiently.
How can such an interesting task be given to teammates?
When they found out that someone was trying to steal the show from them, they immediately glared at each other.
”You are not from our regiment, what are you doing?!”
”Laugh, I am also a member of the alliance, how can it have nothing to do with me? But you, you are the leader, how dare you steal from us civilians?”
”What the hell do you have to do with civilians?!”
”Stop stealing, it’s still my medical miracle-”
”Go away, newbie, go play somewhere else.”
”Fuck! I have been playing for more than half a year, and I am still a newbie?!”
Looking at the people arguing about “who will die”, Zhuang Lan was speechless, and she couldn’t help but respect them in her heart.
Although she didn’t understand their language, she could feel that they sincerely hoped that the one who survived was their comrade-in-arms, and the one who died was themselves.
What loyalty…
Unlike Zhuang Lan, Malik, who was tied up like a dumpling and thrown aside, had a different feeling when looking at the noisy group of guys.
Pretending to be a prisoner is fine…
but that’s too much of a disrespect for their interrogation methods.
Just pretend to be a corpse.
His face was indifferent, but he was sneering in his heart.
”Haha, you’re looking for death!”
(End of this chapter)
