The farmyard blanketed by the dark night, with gunfire as raucous as firecrackers, cast moonlight on the ground that showed no clarity,the illuminated areas filled only with grueso chunks of flesh and blood.
Like a tide of walking corpses, they rushed towards the Alliance soldiers stationed inside the manor.
In the flurry of tracer rounds, they fell like wheat being harvested, and like waves on the shore, one after the other, quickly filling the gaps.
The re firepower of twenty people was simply insufficient to hold back these fearless creatures.
The zombie-like believers soon broke through the barrage and smashed through the doors and windows of the villa, biting anyone they saw in a frenzy.
Moreover, so of them dressed in military uniforms also shot guns and threw grenades.
This was lethal!
"Fuck! Are these guys cheating?" exclaid a horrified man after shooting a zombie wielding a rifle.
He had played plenty of zombie-thed FPS gas, but this was the first ti he’d heard of zombies shooting guns.
"We can’t hold the first floor... Old White! How much longer?" Fang Chang gritted his teeth as he reloaded his magazine and retreated near the staircase, shouting into the communication channel.
Only the static sound of electricity ca from the communication channel.
After the Seagull drone crashed, the enemy didn’t bother hiding their actions anymore and directly initiated electronic warfare, first cutting off their communications.
However, Fang Chang always felt it wasn’t just that simple.
He faintly heard other sounds amidst that electrical noise... It seed it wasn’t just interference, but also involved so unintended disturbances from sothing else.
Regardless, the first floor was overrun.
The Alliance players had no choice but to abandon their position on the first floor and retreat to the second, engaging in close combat with those zombies in the narrow corridors, using barricades and doors for defense.
anwhile, in a hotel not far from the farmyard, in a room on the fifth floor.
Four n in lab coats sat, overlooking the Zhao Residence caught in a storm of chaos, conversing with smiles on their faces.
"The combat power of typical test subjects is still too weak; after all, they are just ordinary people, and Nago has not fundantally changed their bodily functions."
"Indeed, if they can’t make good use of tools at hand, humans have less fighting power than animals."
"Indeed, when it cos to direct combat, mutants are indeed a better choice... but those green-skinned monsters are a bit harder to control."
The four seated here were apostles of the Torch Church.
Unlike those apostles recruited from the Wasteland Wanderers, their status and authority were much higher than those re evangelizers.
They not only clearly knew what "The Torch" was but also understood very well that what they were doing actually had nothing to do with the faith they preached.
There were historical precedents for this.
So grassroots mbers far from the core of theocratic power were fanatically devoted to their faith, spouting various scriptures and theories, dedicating their lives to their beliefs diligently.
However, a few individuals close to the core of authority were very aware that faith and doctrine were essentially tools for manipulating their servants, and while this did not conflict with their devotion, they knew how to get the most out of these tools.
Thus, wars often fought in the na of gods were not actually for divine beings but for secular power and wealth.
This was true for those who truly were close to the core of the Torch Church’s power.
The only difference being that they did all this not for secular power or wealth, as there was none of that sought in the Wastelands.
What they were truly chasing was far nobler than what believers in the Classic Era sought.
It was all for the future of civilization.
Watching the life that sparkled amid the sparks and the blood that spilled onto the mud, one apostle displayed a rapturous smile.
Both the process and the outco of this experint were simply perfect!
As he quietly appreciated the experint, the other three engaged eagerly in conversation.
"Isn’t A-111’s performance quite passable?"
"Ah, you an Goliath... That thing is indeed passable, but it can only serve as a at shield. It’s a bit forced to expect it to perform the role of a ’tank’ on the battlefield. The Bishop had high hopes, but after this, he should realize the problem."
"Unless we equip it with so special weaponry, but the lack of operation is a big problem."
"Speaking of this, I must comnd the soldiers of this settlent. Although they are the farm owner’s trained hands, they are quite capable. Nago and the Gospel can just compensate for their lack of fighting will; this system seems tailor-made for them."
"Haha, you say that, but I feel the serf test subjects rather hindered them."
"Not exactly, at least using up so ammunition is feasible."
In front of the Alliance soldiers, most of the test subjects were no more than fodder, but those who had served as soldiers for the farm owner here were different.
They could use rifles, knew how to load and change magazines, and even aim, and although their aim was a bit off, their fearless way of fighting still caused quite so trouble for the Alliance soldiers.
Besides those operating rifles, so tech soldiers could even drive vehicles and operate fixed weaponry, which was an extraordinary discovery.
Thanks to the cooperation of this settlent, especially that of the farm owner, their research had taken a significant step forward.
And this was not just their progress!
It was also a step towards the glorious evolution of human civilization!
Surely, that farm owner, now lying beneath the sod, would feel greatly honored at this mont’s brilliance.
After all, without them, that antiquated and foolish man and his stupid, ignorant slaves would have never been able to contribute anything useful to human civilization, nor leave even a single word in this dark Chapter of history.
He and his settlent were like a rotten log forgotten in a corner of the ruins, capable of nothing but slowly decaying under the erosion of ti.
At least for now, these incompetent guys can still serve as kindling, as fuel to ignite the torches...
The apostles sitting in the room enthusiastically discussed and exchanged ideas.
"...Is it muscle mory? They can still operate anti-aircraft cannons and assault rifles."
"If a large number of trained subjects are injected with the ’Gospel’ at specific monts, maybe they can exert enough power on the battlefield."
"Given proper command."
"This actually reminds of the Army’s clones."
"The Army’s clones are no match for ours; those fast-growing fellows can’t do anything other than increase in size, but our believers are different."
"As long as we switch the different frequencies of the ’Gospel,’ we can manipulate their thoughts and emotions, inclining them to complete various simple tasks... Tsk, given this, the best place for them is still plantations and factories; sending them to battlefields untrained and wasting ammunition is a bit of a waste."
Just then, an apostle who had been staring out the window suddenly frowned and his lips curled into a cold smile.
"...We underestimated these guys."
The three stopped speaking and looked at him.
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing significant, just a little white mouse has slipped out of the cage and happened to find those things we left in the other house," said the apostle sitting by the window indifferently.
The other three apostles exchanged glances.
"Weren’t they headed for Zhao Tiangan?"
"What are they doing at the other house?"
"Could it have been leaked by Zhang Zhengyang?"
The apostle beside the window shook his head.
"Impossible, that guy is just a peripheral mber responsible for preaching; he doesn’t even know about the experint, let alone what’s stored beneath that other house."
With a cold smile turning to a hint of mockery, he continued nonchalantly,
"Either way, the Bishop has already noticed it; we don’t need to worry about the rest."
"The ’Executioners’ will handle the cleanup."
Although brute force is not a specialty of the Torch Church and they seldom achieve their goals through ard invasions, machines of violence are still indispensable for them.
The Tribunal is such an institution.
Unlike the Church’s various knight orders and unlike the regular army engaging in military operations on the frontlines, they are more akin to the role of special agents.
When factors arise within the diocese that could disrupt experintal progress and it’s inappropriate for the regular army to intervene, professionals from the Tribunal are dispatched for cleanup.
They are generally known as "Executioners."
These individuals possess the finest equipnt and are trained in combat; ordinary Waste Land Wanderers cannot last even one round against them.
Even the Awakeners.
Hearing the term ’Executioners,’ the apostles all revealed relaxed smiles.
Those fellows had a success rate close to 95% in their operations in Haiya and Brocade River Province. Based on the Tribunal’s past performance, dealing with a little mouse that snuck into the lab should be too easy.
However, what these apostles did not know was that the Executioner’s Squad they pinned their hopes on was currently encountering trouble...
By the Enclosing Wall of the estate, in the rustling woods, stood about a dozen figures wearing exoskeletons.
Their hands held uniquely designed weapons, and their streamlined armor ard them to the teeth, the black coating perfectly blending them with the night.
They moved like ghosts in the darkness, waiting for opportunities.
Watching the [Connection Lost] icon flickering on his Tactical Goggles, Li Jie, the captain of the Executioner’s Squad, gradually showed a trace of solemnity, and said to his subordinate beside him.
"Any news from Wu Zhe yet?"
The subordinate he addressed, his expression equally solemn, replied in a heavy tone,
"Not yet... he was too close to the Mind Interference Device."
Near the Mind Interference Device, radio signals face severe interference.
Typically, they contact the lab through a wired data channel, however, with the initiation of Project 03, the researchers in that lab had completely evacuated.
Hence, no one knew exactly what was happening there now.
"Dammit, what is that guy dawdling for!" a man holding a light machine gun cursed under his breath, "He better not have screwed it up."
Another man, his expression cold and detached, softly spoke,
"He probably didn’t; there’s only one mouse, and Wu Zhe isn’t new to missions, he usually handles small stuff just fine."
Small stuff, huh...
Staring solemnly in the direction of the other house, Li Jie said in an unguessable tone,
"Let’s hope so."
Truth be told, he had confidence in Wu Zhe.
That guy was also a veteran of the squad; they had collaborated many tis before coming to Brocade River City, and he had never let him down.
However, for so unknown reason, he felt uneasy, as if sothing unexpected might happen, even though it was just a simple cleaning job.
Perhaps he shouldn’t have let Wu Zhe go alone.
But about this matter, he actually had no other choice.
The Alliance’s reinforcents had arrived.
The Bishop had ordered him to keep all the Alliance people here.
Although this was not part of the experint plan, if they could leave the Alliance soldiers behind, they could easily pin whatever happened here on the Alliance.
The Alliance committing a massacre in the settlents of Brocade River Province...
Not only was this story convenient for them, but the local farm owners would surely love to hear it.
After all, compared to them, those "godn indifferent to secular power," the guys clamoring to eradicate slavery and oppression were much more hated!
Nearby, the Alliance transport plane had broken through the anti-aircraft fire network blockade and had finally managed to reduce altitude and speed, switching to a vertical takeoff and landing mode, heading toward the rooftop of the central villa of the manor.
The Alliance soldiers had retreated to the top floor of the villa.
Once that transport plane stabilized, those soldiers would imdiately board it to evacuate.
They must not be allowed to escape!
Li Jie’s eyes gradually turned cold, and he raised his right hand, clenched into a fist, then pointed at the hovering transport plane.
The Executioner next to him understood instantly, took the portable rocket launcher off his back, knelt on one knee, shouldered it, and aid at the nearby transport plane.
"Image locked!"
Li Jie shouted sharply.
"Fire!"
With a soft "bang," a missile as long as a forearm burst through the dust cover and ignited as it shot out of the launcher, trailing a thin tail fla toward the recently stabilized transport plane on the villa roof.
The hovering transport plane obviously detected the missile and tried to maneuver to evade it.
However, given such a short distance, evading was nearly impossible.
As the missile was about to hit its target, a smile appeared on Li Jie’s face. But almost at the sa ti, sothing he could never have imagined occurred.
"RPG!!"
Suddenly, a man wearing an exoskeleton yelled and sprinted out of the cabin, flung his arms open, and lunged at the missile, which was zooming toward the side of the transport plane.
The missile, already in the final stage of its flight, had no room to evade and collided head-on with the man, exploding into a burst of fireworks!
The explosion’s debris and flas montarily swept into the transport plane’s cabin, and the hot airflow gently shook the fuselage, but the transport plane itself remained undamaged.
Watching the man who caught the missile with his body, the Executioners lurking in the woods, especially Li Jie, twitched their mouths fiercely.
What the hell was that move?!
It was his first ti seeing soone catch a missile with their body!
"Old Six!!!"
As "Old Six" exploded into a ball of flas in midair, Sniper Bai stared wide-eyed and gripped his rifle while spraying bullets toward the section of the forest from which the missile had co.
However, the plane was shaking severely at that mont, and his burst of fire hit nothing but loneliness.
Realizing the attack had co from the forest directly east, the pilot in the Viper’s cockpit imdiately stomped on the left rudder and tilted the control stick to the right.
The hanging "Viper" perford a clean tail flick, swiftly moving from the east side of the villa to the west.
The players ready to evacuate inside the villa also moved, firing their rifles at the approaching zombies while shifting towards the west side of the building.
"Damn... what the hell was that missile all about?" panting, the pilot shouted back at the soldiers behind him.
He was a pilot from the Giant Stone City Militia Group aviation team, had been flying this plane for seven or eight years, but this was his first ti participating in such an exhilarating mission.
Thinking back to what had just happened, a wave of fear washed over him.
If it weren’t for that guy sacrificing himself, everyone on this plane would likely have been dead by now.
Unlike him, who was terrified, the man in the power armor was eerily calm to the point of being cold-blooded. Even with a comrade dying in front of him, his emotions remained completely unfluctuated.
Staring intently outside the cabin, Old White said in a deep voice,
"I’m not sure, but I guess... it must be the Torch people!"
The pilot was stunned.
"Torch?!"
"What else do you think brought all these ghastly creatures here?" Looking at the swarming heads outside the cabin, Old White frowned.
For the Alliance, the real trouble might still be ahead tonight.
However, now was not the ti to think about that.
Watching Brother Fang Chang and his party retreating to the west side corridor window of the villa, followed by the surging tide of corpses, Old White raised his assault rifle and shouted loudly.
"Open fire!"
Including the Lost Rookie supporting the machine gun, the five players squatting on the side of the cabin imdiately pulled their triggers, unleashing fierce gunfire at the swarm of zombies behind the windows.
Streaks of orange-yellow tracers flew like raindrops, overwhelming the dumbfounded fools who fell to the ground like reaped wheat, piling up in the corridor.
Looking at Fang Chang who had sprinted to the window, Old White shouted loudly.
"Get up here!"
Without a mont’s hesitation, Fang Chang raised his hand with his gun to smash the tightly shut window into pieces.
Next, he stepped onto the window ledge, and with the drive of his exoskeleton, he leapt violently out of the window and flew about four or five ters into the air, grabbing the right hand that Old White had stretched out and being pulled into the aircraft cabin.
They had finally escaped from danger.
Fang Chang sat down on the floor, breathing heavily and inhaling the fresh air.
It was only then that Old White noticed that Fang Chang was carrying soone on his back—or rather, a sticky, blood-soaked corpse.
Through a photo comparison in the VM, he barely recognized the face.
This person was Zhao Tiangan!
The target of their mission!
According to the original plan, they had intended to capture this farm owner to indirectly take control of the entire settlent and indirectly gather intelligence about The Torch Church. However, they had not anticipated that the fanatics from the church were already waiting for them.
Now, the Pinecone Wood Farm had beco a proverbial ghost town.
Whether this guy was dead or alive didn’t matter anymore to the Alliance.
"Electronic warfare has been waged; our communication is compromised, we’ve been unable to contact you since a while back..." Fang Chang said, trying to stabilize his chaotic breathing, and looked at Old White.
"It’s not just you; it’s the sa for us. Their jamming devices are probably covering the whole area..." Old White glanced at the corpse lying beside them and looked questioningly at Fang Chang, "Why did you bring this guy along?"
Fang Chang took a breath and said softly.
"This guy is a bit strange; I suspect that the ’Holy Land’ he described as absolutely safe... isn’t really a physical shelter or safe house as we understand it."
Old White furrowed his eyebrows.
"What do you an?"
"Simply put, that Holy Land might be a virtual space, and I wouldn’t rule out that the Bishop, Luo Gan, is virtual too... he doesn’t have a physical body, so he needs to use the bodies of believers to communicate with us, and only certain people can serve as vessels for his consciousness."
Old White stared at him blankly, unable to grasp the shocking conjecture Fang Chang had derived.
"You have quite the imagination."
Fang Chang took a breath.
"This is just my guess... As for what the truth really is, we’ll need Ms. Chen to dissect this guy’s brain to find out. Anyway, we need to take him back to the military base."
While the two were talking, Falling Feather also jumped onto the plane, pulled up by Sniper Bai who was waiting at the edge of the cabin.
Quit Smoking and Good Dog were with him, the only surviving players altogether totaling four of them.
As for Xiaoyu’s subs, they had been overwheld by the flood of Walking Corpses while trying to retreat from the first floor to the upper floors.
It’s actually okay for the subs, these things are like Xiaoyu’s hair, as long as there’s enough nutrients, it’s easy to grow a few more whenever you want.
But considering that too many subs sharing one consciousness can affect operational efficiency, and the recently promoted mother entity, Xiaoyu, was still not proficient in her duties, the number had been controlled at ten.
However, thinking about the loss of ten sets of K-10 "Iron Wall" exoskeletons, Falling Feather felt utterly depressed.
Fortunately, Elder Fang had promised him earlier that the Burning Corps would reimburse 90% of the equipnt loss, or this big break would have set him back several versions earlier.
As the last player jumped into the cabin, the "Viper" transport plane imdiately increased the distance from the mansion, avoiding the direction from which the missiles had previously co, and flew westward over the manor.
Glancing at the people inside the cabin, Old White suddenly showed a surprised expression.
"Speaking of which, where is Night Ten? Did that guy actually get killed?"
That didn’t make sense.
That kid was usually incredibly tough.
During the landing on the Iron Heart, he was the only one who survived.
"I don’t know, he was the first to lose contact, and there was no jamming back then; he might have been killed already..." As he spoke, Fang Chang suddenly paused, his expression changing slightly, "I see."
Watching his enlightened expression, Quit Smoking, crouching nearby, curiously asked.
"You see what?"
Fang Chang continued without even pausing for breath.
"The mansion! The Mind Interference Device is in the mansion!"
As he spoke, a red flare suddenly shot up into the sky.
That was exactly the direction of the mansion!
Seeing the flashing red light, Old White imdiately walked to the edge of the cockpit, grabbed the back of the pilot’s seat, and shouted loudly.
"We still have people not evacuated! Head to the location of the flare!"
Hearing this, the pilot was startled.
"Are you sure?! Those guys have anti-aircraft missiles!"
"I’m sure! We have to pick him up!" Old White stared intently into his eyes, "You just go there and pick up the person, we’ll figure out the rest!"
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