The glow of the campfire disappeared.
The dark forest returned to silence.
Vito, crawling on a pile of rubble, shifted his right eye away from the scope of the sniper rifle, a fleeting look of surprise flashing across his brows.
Had they been spotted?
His eyes narrowed slightly.
He decisively put away the sniper rifle and, lifting his index finger to his ear, whispered to the two hunters approaching.
"Vito, Xiu, pay attention...the target is an Awakener with suspected enhanced hearing and vision. They’ve entered a state of alert, be careful."
Two responses ca through the earpiece.
"Understood."
"Received."
After giving the command, Vito didn’t hesitate to pull out the signal gun holstered at his waist and fired a shot into the sky.
A red flare flickered as it ascended, hanging in the night sky like a crimson lantern.
Five kiloters away, a patrol on a search mission would imdiately co to reinforce them upon seeing their signal.
At this mont, Vito’s earpiece transmitted Walter’s voice. The muscular fellow spoke with a teasing tone.
"Do we really need to call for reinforcents? It’s just three little girls, plus a half-dead casualty and a couple of dumb bears."
In his view, his captain was being overly cautious.
He admitted that the defeat of Marine Corps No.29 was a cautionary tale, but it was unnecessary to scare themselves.
Those poor souls who had their heads blown off were just a bunch of new recruits with less than two years of service—neither their abilities nor their experience was on the sa level as their elite Marine Corps team.
Hearing his teammate’s jest, Vito simply responded indifferently.
"Better safe than sorry."
Whether the enemy was old, young, a child, or a woman, he would never take a living adversary lightly.
He paused for a mont before adding.
"Also, I only saw two, not three as reported."
Low laughter and the grinding sound of bone ca over the communication channel.
"That’s perfect, Xiu and I can take one each."
Xiu, who had been silent all along, spoke impatiently.
"Stop the chatter, let’s get this done and go back."
Walter clenched his fist and grinned.
"Alright!"
...
As the campfire went out, the campsite was shrouded in darkness.
Eyes gradually adapting to the dark, Sesa Paste hunkered down behind a tree trunk, holding her breath, alert and focused, she listened to the wind passing through the forest and the whispers hidden within it.
Her Level 10 Awakening didn’t endow her with particularly powerful abilities, but it did grant her unparalleled hearing—within a hundred ters, not a single rustle could escape her ears.
Ti ticked by, second by second.
The enemy didn’t launch an imdiate offensive.
Just when she thought the standoff would continue, a bang sounded from afar, and a red signal flare rose into the sky.
The faint light scattered through the trees from the sky, and as Tail looked up at the red flare above, his expression shifted ever so slightly.
Almost simultaneously, a loud roar suddenly tore through the quiet of the forest. Accompanied by heavy footsteps, a towering figure ca crashing toward the direction of the camp.
At two and a half ters tall, the figure was as muscular as a bull, but what was truly astonishing was its exaggerated running speed—the creature had closed in on the edge of the camp in just a few breaths.
Sesa Paste was the first to pull the trigger. Amid the flash of gunfire, dozens of bullets poured out, creating a dense web of fire in the forest, which did nothing to halt his charge.
"It can’t be real, can it?!"
Without a mont to be shocked, she quickly changed the emptied magazine.
In the brief mont Sesa Paste ceased fire, Tail, who had been aiming coolly, finally saw his target enter attack range.
The magnetic slingshot, charged and ready, was suddenly launched, directing concentrated fire at his face. However, what followed left Tail wide-eyed with surprise.
The man raised his thick left arm and not only withstood the six magnetic-accelerated projectiles but did not slow his running pace in the slightest.
This guy—
Could he be a Mutant?!
"Haha! Useless—!"
With a defiant laugh, Walter fiercely hurled the short axe held in his right hand.
In an instant, the flying short axe was about to hit Tail’s chest when the steel-armored White Bear roared and, with a swipe of its paw, knocked the incoming axe away, then, with its legs powering forward, charged into the fray.
As the White Bear charged at him, Walter was far from panicked; instead, he unwaveringly t it head-on, engaging at at in close combat.
"Are you the bear that can talk?"
Being stared at by those ghastly green eyes, although at at felt incredibly anxious, she managed to emit an intimidating roar at him.
Walter smirked and suddenly exerted force with his arms. His muscles bulged like wriggling earthworms, forcing at at back half a step.
Feeling the pressure surge, at at cried out in panic.
"This guy is so strong... don’t just stand there watching, co help !"
"You’re too close to him, I can’t get a clear shot... and why did you charge at him in the first place?" Sesa Paste, holding her gun, was stuck between laughter and tears, unable to fire at the tangled figures.
The issue was, at at was just too big.
At this distance, if she were to fire, their teammate was more likely to beco a sieve before the enemy.
"I, I, I, I don’t know, I just went for it," at at stamred, as the force against her paw grew stronger, and she was on the verge of tears.
She admitted that seeing her friend in danger had made her rush in without thinking, but who would’ve guessed this guy would be so strong.
The opponents she had encountered before had all been smacked away by her with a single swipe, but this fellow was now overpowering her with pure physical strength.
Is this still a human being?!
It was then that Tail suddenly spoke.
"Sesa Paste, take Luo Hua and run east. Run as far as you can, and if worse cos to worst, hide him. At the minimum, bring back the card."
Sesa Paste was stunned for a mont.
"But—"
"Please."
Without any further explanation, Tail swiftly pulled out the dagger strapped to her thigh and rushed in to help. Yet soone—or rather, so bear—was a step faster than her.
Seeing at at in danger, Teddy, the bear almost dosticated to the point of losing its wild nature, finally let loose a long-absent roar of fury.
Seeing another Mutant Brown Bear rushing toward him, Walter’s previously overjoyed expression finally showed a hint of panic.
"Xiu! What the hell are you dallying for!" He bellowed urgently and angrily.
Through the communication channel, a calm voice replied at its own pace.
"I’m just worried about ruining your fun," he said.
As his words fell, a piercing chill flashed in the darkness, followed imdiately by the whooshing sound of sothing cutting through the air.
Struck by an arrow in the back, Teddy let out a pained roar, but he still charged toward Walter, who was in a standoff with at at.
Holding a short crossbow in his hands, Xiu showed a hint of surprise in his eyes.
The poison he had sared on the arrow was enough to bring down an elephant; how could this brown bear act as though nothing was wrong?
Just as he was about to fire another arrow, a tongue of fire suddenly leaped from the darkness, and bullets rained down on his now-exposed position.
"Damn it!"
He dove behind nearby cover, discarding the short crossbow and drawing the assault rifle slung across his chest.
However, as he was about to raise his gun to return fire, the whooshing chill forced him to abandon shooting and instead swing the butt of his rifle at the person who had charged in close.
The rifle butt made intimate contact with the dagger and unsurprisingly knocked it flying.
Yet, Xiu had no ti to feel elated. The girl in front of him sohow produced two more daggers, one in forward grip and the other in reverse, and with two swift slashes, aid straight for his vitals.
Frightened, he stumbled backward.
Not giving him a chance to catch his breath, Sisi quickly closed the distance, the dagger in her right hand thrust forward with a fierce stab.
As the dagger seed destined for his throat, a gunshot suddenly rang out from the woods.
The massive kinetic energy hit her in the abdon. Sisi grunted and uncontrollably fell backward, crashing into a tree trunk behind her.
The intense dizziness nearly made her lose connection then and there.
Sniper!
Roughly pinpointing the direction of the shot, she let go of the dagger in her left hand, pulled a smoke grenade off her bulletproof vest, and threw it, preventing the sniper from taking another shot and from threatening her teammates.
Smoke filled the air.
But a second and a third gunshot still sounded; though the bullets weren’t aid at her, her heart sank further.
She thought of Sesa Paste, who was retreating with Luo Hua.
Nevertheless—
At this mont, she couldn’t afford to worry about others.
Battling her wavering consciousness, Sisi mustered all her strength and threw the dagger in her right hand at the approaching figure.
But unfortunately—
The person rely tilted his head slightly and dodged with ease, aiming the gun barrel at her as she was about to draw her pistol.
"You’re strong, but still too green," said the gaunt man, chin nodding toward the man grappling with the bear. "I’ve never seen anyone last more than a week in his hands," he mocked.
The mutant brown bear ultimately lay sprawled on the ground.
Sisi didn’t speak, just glared at him fiercely.
"Heh, it seems you’re not ready to face reality," Xiu’s face twisted into a cruel smile. "Soone needs to help you."
He took a step forward, but at that mont, three muffled thumps echoed faintly from a distance.
Before he could regain his senses, the forest not far behind him exploded with three deafening blasts.
Heat waves drifted gently through the forest on the evening breeze.
Xiu was taken aback, his face a mix of bewildernt and confusion.
What happened?!
Si Si was equally baffled.
However, the three booming explosions seed to co from the sa direction as the earlier sniper rifle shots. Almost at the sa ti, a familiar voice ca from beyond the smoke screen.
"Die, bastards!!!"
A figure as swift as lightning burst through the smoke enveloping the forest, charging onto the battlefield alongside the fiery blast from a gun muzzle.
Xiu’s pupils contracted violently, and he caught a glimpse of a girl holding an assault rifle out of the corner of his eye.
But at such a close distance, even if he saw her, he had no ti to react.
Bullets rained down like a torrent, a mist of blood exploded from his body, and before he could even cry out, he was mowed down to the ground by the fierce gunfire.
"Si! Are you okay?" Tail rushed out from the smoke, hurrying over to where Si Si leaned against a tree.
"I’m fine, Tail, you ca just in ti! Thumbs up for you!"
A pale smile squeezed onto Si Si’s face as he gave her a thumbs up.
However, Tail did not pick up the conversation and was instead startled by Si Si’s blood-soaked clothes.
"Giao! How did you get so badly wounded!"
The bulletproof vest had been pierced.
Blood had almost completely dyed the entire garnt red.
Yet Si Si did not care, because this ga had no pain blocking chanism, and the fight would be over once he bandaged up with so gauze.
"It’s a minor issue, didn’t hit any bones. I’m a Body Constitution System user, these little wounds will mostly recover by tomorrow... stop wasting ti, hurry up and help at at—"
"Xiu!"
Through the dispersing smoke, Walter finally saw his fallen comrade, his eyes instantly filling with blood-red rage.
He let out a roar, forcefully breaking away from his scuffle with at at, and charged towards Tail and Si Si.
He was almost upon them.
Just then, suddenly a "whoosh" sound was heard.
An RPG with a thick tail fla streaked out from the darkness and hit the burly man’s left shoulder head-on!
It was an armor-piercing bullet.
The explosive tal jet was like a blazing spear of light, rcilessly piercing into his left shoulder and bursting out from the right side of his body.
Flesh was scorched and evaporated by the thousands-degree heat.
Even for a pure-blooded Mutant, it was impossible to regenerate half a burned body in such a short ti.
Walter let out a pained roar, but it quickly faded, and his huge body plunged to the ground with a dull thud.
Holding a smoking launcher, Sesa Paste’s chest heaved violently, her heart pounding as if it was about to jump out of her throat.
"Sesa Paste?!"
at at looked at her in surprise.
"You didn’t retreat with Luo Hua?"
Sesa Paste whispered.
"I...couldn’t leave you behind."
"Thanks, but even so... our mission is probably screwed."
Si Si looked up at the slowly descending red flare into the forest and sighed quietly to himself.
So be it.
"Ga, the key is that everyone has fun."
After all, they had tried their best.
What really made her feel regret was the cargo that Tail had lost.
After all, dying ant being out for three days, but losing goods worth over a hundred thousand silver coins would take a long ti to earn back.
However, at this mont, Tail said with an optimistic face,
"Don’t worry, our reinforcents have arrived!"
"Our... reinforcents?"
Sisi chuckled bitterly, just about to scoff at the idea that there would be such a thing, but at that mont, she suddenly rembered sothing and quickly opened the VM strapped to her arm.
Sure enough, in that pitch-black map,
a series of blinking green dots shined with hope!
"Um!"
Tail nodded excitedly, not stopping for a second as he continued, "It’s Brother Quanshui and the others! That was really close just now, I almost got hit by that sniper."
It turned out that the earlier gunshots were aid at Tail, who was rushing to their aid.
A trace of realization floated in Sisi’s eyes.
As for the explosion...
It was probably the Spring Water Commander’s 120mm heavy mortar.
If she rembered correctly, its na should be "Destroyer"—that exoskeleton that looked like a Squirtle.
But none of that was the point.
She couldn’t understand why the Storm Corps would appear here?!
They... had just officially set out yesterday, right?
Marching 150 kiloters across the Wasteland would take at least five days, even at the fastest pace; how could it be possible that they arrived from Qingquan City to Rui Valley City in less than forty-eight hours?
As they spoke, a dense firefight broke out in the distance.
The Army squad that rushed over after seeing the flare to reinforce them collided head-on with the elite of the Storm Corps, and the two sides imdiately unleashed a fierce exchange of fire!
Imdiately after, three ear-deafening explosions sounded.
Faced with the players’ fierce firepower, the reinforcing Army squad quickly suffered heavy losses, and after leaving behind twenty to thirty bodies, they fled westward in complete disarray.
The distant gunfire gradually subsided, and the Storm Corps players chose not to pursue.
After bandaging her wounds with a bandage, Sisi soon saw a group of people approaching from afar.
There were about twenty of them, and judging by the Type 5 Light Cavalry Exoskeleton they wore, these were the elites of the Storm Corps.
The one leading the group was a veteran player from the Battlefield Atmosphere Group within the Storm Corps, and also a tough player who had entered the ga in the early versions.
Looking at her familiar teammates, Sisi said in a daze,
"How did you guys get here?"
"Of course we ran over."
"...Ran?"
"Yeah."
Rifle slung over his shoulder, the Old Soldier cracked a smile and cursed.
"That bastard Quanshui is out of his mind again. He created a separate squad for the players equipped with ’Light Cavalry’ and said that cavalry should look like cavalry. Then he had us pair up, two to a team, taking turns being mounts, one runs while the other goes AFK, and we did forced marches for thirty continuous hours... Damn, my exoskeleton’s almost out of battery."
Sisi was stunned.
Taking turns being mounts, what the hell was that?!
She tried to imagine the scene in her head but felt her imagination was insufficient.
Though theoretically, with the performance of the "Type 5" Light Cavalry Exoskeleton, such an operation was indeed feasible.
It just seed sowhat inhumane.
"...Where’s I Max Black who often follows you?"
The Old Soldier laughed.
"Oh, him? He went to help Quanshui correct their firepower!"
"His awakening ability is unexpectedly useful in guiding artillery fire. He can not only broadly lock onto the general direction of the gunshots but can also predict where the shells will land. That old bugger who was sniping us from his hiding spot just now has already been blasted away by our 120mm shells!"
Tail raised his thumb.
"Whoa! Thanks, brother, that was really close just now!"
"Hahaha, don’t ntion it!" The Old Soldier said with a laugh, "You guys did pretty well too, to hold out for so long."
Tail boasted with a triumphant expression, "Just kidding, my Sisi is super brave! Of course, Tail is too!"
Sisi coughed lightly, changing the subject.
"Speaking of which, did you guys just abandon your supply train?"
"Pretty much. There are only 23 sets of Light Cavalry. Except for Quanshui who uses his own Destroyer, the other players are equipped with KV-1s, which have too little battery life... By the way, why didn’t you guys wear your exoskeletons?"
"Who brings those when trading... But speaking of which, you guys didn’t bring any supplies at all."
"No worries, aren’t you guys here?" said the Battlefield Atmosphere Group with a cheeky laugh, "Brother Quanshui said that he had a feeling when he flew back that day that you guys would definitely encounter trouble, and he kept urging us to hurry along. After rescuing the rich lady, we’ll just freeload off you."
"..."
Tail said enthusiastically.
"Oh! Make yourselves at ho, I brought lots of delicious things!"
The Battlefield Atmosphere Group laughed and said, "Haha, just kidding. We won’t take advantage of your supplies for nothing. Just calculate the cost at the market price for us, the Army’s fund Manager will reimburse it."
Sisi sighed.
"Let’s not talk about such formalities for now... With all this commotion, it’s ti for us to move. Tail, could you please pack up the luggage?"
"Okay!"
Tail went over to the truck, and Sesa Paste also went to help.
The Battlefield Atmosphere Group glanced at the bandage wrapped around Sisi’s waist.
"Are you okay?"
Standing nearby, "Kakarot" interjected.
"I’m Strength Type, I can carry you!"
Upon hearing this, the injured Kevin imdiately protested.
"Hey, aren’t you my mount?"
"Kakarot" rolled their eyes.
"Get lost! Who the hell is your mount!"
"It’s okay... I can manage on my own."
Taking a deep breath, Sisi picked up the dropped rifle to use as a crutch and, leaning on the trunk, stood up. Just as she was about to head back to the truck, she suddenly saw at at sitting silently in the corner of the camp, head drooping down.
"at at?"
The broad back didn’t respond.
Glancing downwards, Tail gazed at the Mutant Brown Bear lying on the ground and montarily hesitated, before falling silent.
Walking behind at at, she placed her hand on that fuzzy shoulder.
Finally, she couldn’t hold back any longer.
The broad shoulders shivered gently as at at, head drooping, said with a choked voice,
"Teddy... it has no heartbeat anymore."
Although she had originally kept that silly, dumb bear in the Army as a joke, after traveling together for so long, she had already considered it a companion.
The others from the White Bear Knights felt the sa.
The Open Space fell silent for a while.
Sesa Paste secretly wiped her eyes. Even Tail, usually the most optimistic and boisterous, was now voiceless, silently bowing his head.
The surrounding players also kept their silence.
Most of them were old players who had obtained the closed beta qualification with the Alpha version and understood that feeling of soone from their mories never returning.
The most realistic, yet worst, setting of the Ga might be that NPCs can’t be resurrected.
Players could be reborn with their mories, no matter how they die, they never really die, always having the chance to start over, always able to see the sun three days later.
However, the NPCs that accompanied them only had one life.
Sotis, those mories were more like a curse, also the only pain that the helt couldn’t block.
That’s why they always rushed to the frontline.
Old Soldier scratched his head.
Although he didn’t want to be talkative at this ti and wasn’t good at comforting others, they had to leave.
"Brother Quanshui said to et up with you as soon as possible and then move imdiately... The enemy might hit us with area firepower, and we don’t have much ti left," he said.
Tail nodded silently.
Gently patting that fuzzy back, he said softly,
"Let’s take it with us."
at at nodded complicatedly.
"Mhm..."
...
Steel Heart.
An officer sprinted through the corridor, a frantic expression as he charged into the bridge.
The door swung open.
His voice trembling, he shouted loudly,
"Report! Marine Corps No. 29 and 31 have both been completely annihilated! Soone intercepted our ground forces sent to the eastern suburbs for parachute recovery!"
Their first day in the River Valley Province.
And they had already suffered such a devastating loss.
"A bunch of waste!"
General McLennan cursed furiously and, almost roaring, ordered the crewman at the console,
"Load the 400mm main gun!"
"Turn those mongrels into shreds!"
He knew those people must have run away.
No one would be foolish enough to stand still and let themselves be shelled.
But he still had to do it.
Not for anything else.
He wanted those ants to feel the wrath rising from hell with their eyes, their ears, and their souls; he wanted them to tremble in front of the artillery fire, kneeling on the ground regretting their stupid decision.
No one could stop the Army!
No one could stop him!
The crew at the console responded loudly,
"Yes!"
...
In the silent night sky, a flare flickered, a thick column of air surged towards the sky, followed by thunderous cannon fire that shattered the clouds.
That night, all of Rui Valley City’s Waste Land Wanderers, whether they were survivors or Looters, heard that earth-shattering boom.
The shell fell twenty kiloters away, in a forest-covered valley.
The crimson firelight swallowed, billowing smoke surged skywards, and the scattering shattered rocks and the spread of the shockwave swept through the entire forest.
Standing many kiloters away on the hillside, the Spring Water Commander handed the binoculars to Old Soldier standing by his side,
"A normal mortar can’t fire that far; it’s mostly rocket-assisted... Judging from the shape of the gas column and the damage area, the warhead should be a cloud burst bomb."
The legendary sub-nuclear weapon.
It could instantly consu all the oxygen in an entire area.
After a pause, he continued,
"The War has begun."
Old Soldier didn’t speak.
It wasn’t until much later that he suddenly spoke as if coming out of a trance,
"Holy shit, that’s so serious power!"
"Why don’t we get one too?"
Hearing this, the Spring Water Commander rolled his eyes.
"What’s the use without air supremacy, beco a live target for soone to shoot?"
Old Soldier was stunned for a mont.
"What do we do then?"
He was good at charging, but that was all.
If you asked him how to fight a battle, he’d be clueless.
The Spring Water Commander chuckled and calmly said,
"Do what we need to do, we can still fight without air supremacy, just differently."
What’s the fun in bullying a bunch of monkeys playing with fire sticks?
This is a real Battlefield!
Looking at the persistent smoke that wouldn’t dissipate, excitent rather than fear flickered in the eyes of Quanshui.
It was ti to show off so real skills!
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