In the next second, she drew her tactical dagger, dug the bullet straight out of Qiaose's thigh, and wrapped the wound with a medical bandage.
Qiaose's injury was instantly stabilized, forcibly pulling him back from the brink.
"Damn it!"
Qiaose cursed under his breath. He pulled a pillbox from his backpack, took out a blue pill, and swallowed it. The bandaged wound began to visibly heal before their eyes.
Once his mobility was restored, he immediately rejoined the fight.
Just then, Dino and Wei Zhang charged out from either side of the truck, rushed straight to the riverbank ahead, and plunged into the water.
Seeing them dive into the river, Long Ming felt a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
These escort fighters were certainly going all out.
Up on the wall, Jiafei tensed the moment he saw the two leap into the river. He quickly turned to Aobi.
"Boss, those guys jumped into the river!"
"What are you afraid of? Do they think they're Supermen who can just swim across? The current is so fast it'll wash them away in seconds!"
Aobi snapped back irritably.
Even the water ghosts he had arranged were merely lurking near the riverbank; swimming across such turbulent rapids was practically impossible.
Hearing Aobi's words, Jiafei stared at the churning water. Seeing no trace of Dino or Wei Zhang, his racing heart finally settled.
Yet the situation before them was growing increasingly dire. So far, they hadn't taken down a single enemy, while their own side had already lost more than thirty men.
"Boss, it doesn't look like we can beat these guys..."
Jiafei swallowed hard and said to Aobi.
"Damn it! Even if we can't beat them, we have to block them in!"
Aobi snarled, eyes bloodshot as the fury rushed to his head.
Just then, Dino and Wei Zhang crawled ashore on opposite sides of the river and swiftly crept toward the bridge.
However, Aobi's subordinates spotted them almost immediately.
Wei Zhang raised his gun to aim at the enemy, but before he could fire—
Pssh!
A bullet tore through the air, killing the player instantly with a clean headshot.
Wei Zhang blinked in surprise and glanced back over his shoulder. Seeing Long Ming picking off targets with controlled single shots, a savage grin spread across his face, and he licked his lips.
Immediately after, he flanked around quickly, circling behind the iron crates.
"Quick! Kill them! Kill them!"
Seeing the two flanking their rear, Aobi panicked.
Unfortunately, Long Ming and the others maintained continuous long-range fire, suppressing Aobi and his men under heavy pressure.
They had no chance to concentrate fire on Wei Zhang and Dino, and the occasional player who tried to force his head up was instantly picked off by the flanking pair.
Soon, Wei Zhang and Dino closed in from both sides, pulled the pins on their grenades, cooked them for a second, and lobbed them behind the iron crates.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted.
Wei Zhang and Dino charged forward at once, raising their guns to spray rapid fire.
"Ah!"
Amid agonizing screams, the surviving players were cut down one by one.
Before long, the players at the bridgehead were completely wiped out.
Wei Zhang and Dino then crept toward the wall. Drawing close, they pulled out high-explosive grenades and hurled them up at the firing positions atop the wall.
"Boss, look out!"
Seeing the grenades flying up, Jiafei lunged toward Aobi.
Boom!
A massive blast swept across the wall.
Seeing this, Long Ming and the others broke from behind the truck and charged across the bridge.
Meanwhile, Wei Zhang and Dino stormed into the city gates, sprinted up the stairs to the top of the wall, and swiftly gunned down the surviving players.
Battered and dazed by the explosion, Aobi shook his head, fighting through ringing ears as he pushed himself up—only to find Wei Zhang standing right in front of him with a sinister grin.
Before he could react, Wei Zhang swung the butt of his rifle down, smashing him flat to the ground.
Shortly after, Long Ming, Qin Ye, and the others arrived.
Wei Zhang dragged Aobi over and tossed him before Qin Ye and the other benefactors.
Looking at the battered Aobi, Long Ming couldn't help but feel a quiet admiration. This crew was genuinely formidable—they had pierced straight through the bridge defense without taking a single casualty and forced their way into the Base City.
Qin Ye stepped forward and planted his foot onto Aobi's face, sneering arrogantly.
"Damn it, gave you an inch and you wanted a yard! A piece of trash like you dared to ambush us?"
"Fuck you! You better pray you never fall into my hands!"
Aobi spat back defiantly.
"Hmph, looking to die!"
Qin Ye drew an automatic pistol and fired into Aobi repeatedly.
Bang! Bang!
Aobi was instantly riddled with holes, as dead as could be.
Ptooey!
After emptying the magazine, Qin Ye spat on Aobi's corpse.
Aobi's body began to dissolve into points of light and dissipate.
Long Ming watched in silence, offering no comment.
Having vented his fury, Qin Ye grandly announced to Long Ming and the others:
"You did great. All the loot here belongs to you! You've got ten minutes—go clean it up!"
Hearing this, Long Ming and the others immediately fanned out toward the dropped backpacks.
As for the backpack Aobi had dropped, they tacitly left it for Wei Zhang and Dino, since the two of them had captured him.
A few minutes later.
Long Ming had looted nine backpacks, gathering two 5.56mm magazines and two high-explosive grenades.
He left behind everything else, including firearms; carrying too much weight would severely hinder his mobility in the battles ahead.
Long Ming glanced around. Seeing that the rest of the backpacks had mostly been looted clean, he walked over to stand by Qin Ye and wait.
He raised his head to gaze deeper into the city. Countless residential high-rises built of reinforced concrete filled his view; the entire Base City was magnificent.
Where Long Ming and the others stood was the Base City surrounding the exterior of the Observatory Base.
This place had once housed the families of the personnel working at the Observatory Base, while the Observatory Base itself sat atop the protruding peak at the center of the Base City.
By now, Xu Lie and the others were walking over one after another.
Seeing that everyone had gathered, Bai Xiu addressed Long Ming and the group.
"All right. We're about to enter the Base City. Let me brief you on the details."
Hearing this, Long Ming and the others turned to look at Bai Xiu.
Among the five benefactors, he seemed to be the only one who was relatively smart and dependable.
"You can all see the Observatory Base situated on that central peak, right?"
"Yeah."
"There are only two ways to reach the Observatory Base from the Base City. One is via the twelve steel elevator platforms ringing the perimeter. Unfortunately, those platforms are broken, so they're completely out of the question."
"And the other way?" Dino asked, looking coldly at Bai Xiu.
"The other way is to climb up via four massive staircases that lead straight to the Observatory Base. Naturally, I don't need to tell you how difficult that is. On staircases that straight and steep, anyone going up or down will be a sitting duck!" Bai Xiu replied in all seriousness.
"It shouldn't be that simple. If it were just an issue with the stairs, this instance wouldn't be challenging at all. Anyone could just rush it and be the first to reach the top," Long Ming questioned Bai Xiu in a low voice.
"You're right. It definitely isn't that simple. First of all, although the Observatory Base has fallen, its defensive weapons are still operational. The base, middle, and upper sections of the mountain are equipped with Point Defense Towers: Grey Raven as well as Kage turrets. But those aren't even the most terrifying part. The strongest defenses are the dome-shaped magnetic storm towers positioned across the peak. Anyone picked up by the hidden cameras and infrared sensors will be tagged as an intruder and subjected to horrific firepower," Bai Xiu explained in detail to Long Ming and the others.
Long Ming's brow furrowed tightly at this, but he remained silent, patiently watching Bai Xiu.
Since they dared to enter this instance, they were bound to have a strategy to clear it.
Chapter 72