Near the east gate of the Wetland Park.
The firefight between the players and the mutants was still ongoing.
After bagging a kill, Edge Slacker led his squad in a fighting retreat. Following the withdrawal route marked on their VM maps, they quickly fell back to an extraction point on the adjacent street.
Normally, an ordinary FPS game would be just about beaten by this point.
However, for an open-world game like Wasteland OL, a monster's aggro seemed to depend not on how far it was from its lair, but quite literally on how desperately it wanted to tear you apart.
The mutants chasing Old Edge didn't just charge blindly into the ambush circle in a single swarm; instead, they had split into three squads to outflank them.
As a result, aside from the first mutants to rush into the street, who were caught completely off guard by the ambushing players, the other two squads entered the battlefield practically at full health and full rage.
Fifteen against thirty.
Even with a two-to-one numerical advantage, the players found that numbers alone were clearly not enough to bridge the gap in levels and attributes.
The battle quickly turned desperate.
"Fuck! How damn thick is this mutant's health bar?!"
"Took two shots to the chest and didn't even go down! Do we have to hit them in the head for them to die?!"
"This is disgusting! There's no way to fight them without an anti-materiel rifle!"
"An anti-materiel rifle probably wouldn't even cut it! It's not about whether it can penetrate—it's that even if you punch through, they act like nothing happened! I say we need at least a recoilless rifle or a TOW missile!"
"Holy crap, bro, you play Squad too? After we wipe here, let's team up!"
"Uh, I play Arma 3 more... I don't get what you're talking about."
"Dog devs, wake up and do your job! This health regen is fucking ridiculous!"
After a few rounds of arrows and potshots, the mutants gradually began to realize that besides a few peashooters, these humans seemed to have no other tricks up their sleeves.
There didn't appear to be any other reinforcements around either.
Grins gradually twisting their savage faces, the nearest mutants hoisted car hoods and doors salvaged from vehicular wrecks to use as shields, drew axes and daggers, and prepared to engage these scrawny humans in melee combat.
Watching his teammates fall around him and remembering a man's promise, Edge Slacker's face twisted with grief and indignation. He ripped the VM off his arm and shoved it into the hands of the comrade beside him.
"Brother, this is my VM. Take it back for me!"
The player froze, staring blankly. "Holy shit? What are you doing?"
"I said I'd bring all the boys back alive, and here I am, the only damn one left again."
The more he spoke, the more humiliated and despondent Edge Slacker felt. He thrust his beloved gun—rubbed smooth until it practically had a patina—into his teammate's hands, then picked up a spear from the ground.
"You guys fall back! I'm going to take these motherfuckers down with me—"
Before his words had even finished, a loud crack exploded.
A mutant soldier charging out from cover had his head instantly burst into a spray of bloody mist, crashing to the ground to the side.
Seeing this sudden turn of events, the players crouching behind cover and firing were completely stunned.
Holy crap?
What just happened?
Did the dev bro actually wake up and get to work?!
The mutants, who had only charged halfway, were also dumbfounded. They stared in bewilderment at their fallen comrade, falling into sudden confusion.
Where was his head?
How did it just disappear?!
Time did not halt just because both sides were bewildered. Sonic booms tearing through the air crackled like popping beans!
Metal projectiles accelerated to Mach 5 by electromagnetic rails erupted from gun barrels, pouring from one side of the street like a torrential squall.
The mutant warriors charging down the street were instantly thrown into disarray by this sudden hail of firepower, severed limbs flying through the air.
Some mutants didn't even have time to scream before the converging mass driver rounds shredded them into sieves, collapsing into pools of blood and ceasing to breathe.
To say nothing of flesh and blood, even homogeneous steel plate under twenty millimeters thick would be like tissue paper before such terrifying kinetic energy.
Watching four suits of power armor emerge from the shadows to the side, the electric arcs flickering at the muzzles of their weapons, the players crouching behind cover stared with wide eyes.
"Holy shit... what the hell is that?!"
"Power armor! Holy crap! That's the power armor from the official website's lore book!"
"Are they friendlies?!"
"Probably? Looks like they're here to mess up the mutants!"
"Dev bro is awesome!"
"This is way too badass..."
Envious expressions surfaced on the faces of many players.
The streamlined ergonomic design and the sharp, angular breastplates and pauldrons perfectly matched their ideals of violent aesthetics.
And those horrifyingly powerful Gauss rifles!
Before them, these green-skinned muscle-heads were practically made of paper.
To sum it up in one phrase: fucking awesome!
"No cap, no hate—I bet these guys are at least level thirty!"
"Not necessarily. The gear's what's strong, not the person. Give me a set and I could do it too!"
"Keep dreaming! But come to think of it, does gear in Wasteland OL even have level requirements?"
"I read in the lore that some weapons seem to have attribute requirements. Like the Administrator's hammer has a pretty high strength requirement... at least in the lore."
"What do you think would happen if you hit power armor's breastplate with the Administrator's hammer?"
"Uhhh... go ask the devs."
The battlefield became a one-sided massacre.
The players had already ceased fire, hanging back to spectate and completely ceding control of the battlefield to these friendlies who had barged in out of nowhere.
Their peashooters couldn't help anyway.
Better to save some ammo and enjoy the cutscene.
Caught in the center of the storm, their ferocity thoroughly provoked, the mutants didn't retreat; instead, they roared and charged at the four suits of power armor. Their muscular arms swung forward, hurling stones, javelins, and axes all at once.
Yet against thick armored steel plates, these attacks were no different from tickling, producing only clattering scrapes against the armor.
Like cavalry charging headlong into tanks, the mutants' reckless actions only accelerated their doom.
"Did these beasts grow muscle for brains? It's one thing to rush those survivors, but they dare charge power armor?"
Watching an axe bounce off his chest, a marine grinned. He pulled the overheated barrel out of the magnetic rails, slotted in a fresh one, squeezed the trigger, and continued firing.
"Hahaha, agreed! At least the green skins on the East Coast know to slap a couple of useless steel plates on their chests!"
Less than three minutes after they entered the fray, more than half of the mutants were killed or wounded. The street was strewn with severed limbs and bloody corpses.
It was a scene of utter carnage!
The fighting essentially came to a halt.
Lu Yang raised his right fist to signal his squadmates to cease fire, just about to step forward to check on their allies.
Suddenly, an unexpected turn of events!
From the shadows beside the street came an enraged roar.
A bare-chested green-skinned brute rose, lifting an iron barrel with both arms, and hurled it violently forward.
With raw, primal strength, he hurled the iron barrel along with his fury toward the iron lumps slaughtering his comrades.
The fuse burned out!
The iron barrel packed with explosives detonated with a deafening boom in midair!
Although the mutant who suddenly lashed out was instantly riddled with bullets as the soldiers reacted, billowing thick smoke and shrapnel still engulfed the nearest suit of power armor.
The flying shrapnel naturally failed to penetrate the armor in the slightest, leaving only superficial scratches, but due to the angle, the explosion's shockwave still jolted the marine's shoulders.
"Cough, cough—"
A chaotic fit of coughing broke out over the comm channel.
Dazed by the blast, the marine staggered out of the smoke, propping his Gauss rifle against the ground while pressing his right hand against his pristine helmet, violently shaking his groggy head.
Seeing this, a squadmate stepped up to steady him.
"Fuck... brother, you good?"
"He's fine, probably just choked on laughter."
"Piss off... fuck you! Cough, cough... I think I need to see a doctor."
"A dentist?"
"Maybe a proctologist. I bet he got startled and swallowed the gum he was chewing."
"Shut up!"
Scolding his bantering squadmates, Lu Yang grabbed the soldier caught in the explosion, gripping his shoulders to face him, and stared intently at his helmet.
"Can you keep going?"
Taking a deep breath, the soldier nodded. "I'm... good!"
"Good!" Patting his pauldron, Lu Yang gave a firm nod, then thrust his right fist forward in an offensive gesture.
"Keep advancing!"
"Let's clear out all these pests before sunset."
"Leave none alive!"
...
In the distance.
Monitoring the feed through the drone, Chu Guang instructed Xiao Qi to capture the highlights while passing judgment on their combat capability.
"...Looks like this power armor isn't completely invincible after all. I thought it'd at least have a nitrogen shield or something installed."
"Still, withstanding dozens of kilograms of explosives at point-blank range is impressive enough. A walking tank might be an exaggeration, but it's definitely a walking armored vehicle."
The mutant tech tree basically peaked at black powder, and the explosive yield of an equivalent mass of black powder was only about one-fifth to one-seventh that of TNT.
Disregarding variables like detonation velocity and burn rate, that blast just now was probably equivalent to five to ten kilograms of TNT.
That was no small explosion.
"If a conflict ever breaks out, let me think... ten kilos might not cut it, but fifty kilos of TNT equivalent definitely will."
For these honeymooning allies, Chu Guang held a very high evaluation in his mind.
With the battle reaching this stage, the outcome was no longer in doubt.
Under the cover of a spotter, the four suits of power armor advanced down the alleys between abandoned buildings, cleanly wiping out the mutants lying in ambush among the ruins and alleyways.
Perhaps it was just wishful thinking on his part, or perhaps the soldiers were showing off without realizing it, but Chu Guang couldn't shake the feeling that they were flexing for his benefit.
Not that it mattered.
Chu Guang would love nothing more than for them to show off even harder—ideally pushing the power armor to its absolute limits—so his promotional game cinematic would look that much more explosive.
"Xiao Qi, move in closer. Skim right past them from their upper left. Have the camera advance alongside them—capture that charging fullback momentum!"
"Huh? Get even closer? But I'm worried about stray bullets..." And what in the world was "charging fullback momentum"?
Xiao Qi scrambled to hop the firewall and search the other world's internet, only to pull up hundreds of gigabytes of data.
She couldn't understand it at all!
"It's fine, just film as you see fit. If it gets shot down, we'll make them pay for it!" Chu Guang said without hesitation.
"O-okay..."
Watching the power armor use vortex thrusters to leap five meters into the air, clear obstacles effortlessly, and land with complete stability, Chu Guang was consumed with envy as he directed Xiao Qi to capture several close-ups of the big boys.
That mobility was truly insane!
It was like a Humvee flying down a narrow alleyway.
With that kind of jumping ability, who feared an RPG?
They could probably run after the RPG!
Sigh, I really want one!
In just five minutes, the fighting outside the mutant encampment had concluded. The little scattered resistance that remained was nothing more than death throes.
Directing Xiao Qi to pull the camera higher again, watching the power armor breach the mutant encampment, Chu Guang—having captured plenty of footage—wore an expression that suggested he still hadn't had his fill.
"If only we could top it off with a long-range tactical nuclear strike."
Xiao Qi said meekly, "B-but wouldn't that kill your players as collateral damage?"
By this time, the players had already entered the alleys near the mutant encampment.
Not to support their allies, of course, but primarily to scavenge kills.
A mutant corpse could be traded for quite a bit of money!
Did it matter whether they had gotten the kill themselves?
It wasn't like the NPCs would compete with players for credit.
Chu Guang didn't mind the players' behavior; mutant corpses could be put to good use, and they yielded quite a large amount of active substance.
At the same time, a pale blue pop-up window appeared before Chu Guang's eyes.
[Quest Complete!]
[Objective: Eliminate the mutant tribe on 76th Street]
[Reward: 200 reward points]
...
"Area clear."
"Confirmed forty-seven mutants neutralized... considerably more than our ally's intel indicated. Plus, these brutes scrambled one of our guy's brains. I think they owe us some compensation."
"Fuck off... if you mention my brain one more time, I'll shove my fist down your throat!"
"Hahaha, calm down, just kidding."
The soldiers occupying the encampment joked and bragged over the comms channel. This time, Lu Yang didn't stop them; having just come through intense combat, they indeed needed to blow off some steam.
Every mutant had been eradicated, leaving not a single survivor.
Rather, the mutants hadn't given them the chance to take prisoners.
From the moment they breached the stronghold, the oddly dressed green-skinned monsters inside the camp had charged them like lunatics.
Yet it did not do a damn bit of good.
Before the Gauss rifles, never mind their muscles—even their wooden palisade was like paper.
They drove the remaining mutants to the eastern side of the camp, which seemed to be the chieftain's lodge or something similar, then poured fire inside until the barrels between the magnetic rails glowed red-hot, only ceasing fire to go in and finish off any survivors.
No mercy was needed when dealing with mutants.
Over the past two centuries, they had never done a single good deed.
"Captain, come take a look at this..."
"What did you find?"
"Something interesting... Come see for yourself."
Hearing his comrade's voice, Lu Yang, who was reporting the frontline situation to the Pioneer ten kilometers away, immediately walked over to the marine.
Before them stood a spacious wooden longhouse. Its doorway was wide at both ends and narrow in the middle, lined with barbed spikes under the eaves like a beast's maw. Inside, severed parts taken from various prey were on display: bear paws, deer heads, two-headed dogs, and human hands.
Mutants possessed a peculiar tribal culture; they not only worshipped blood and violence, but also held unique feelings toward the mutant creatures roaming the wasteland.
They did not consume an entire kill. Instead, they preserved parts of their prey, smearing half with juices containing copper sulfate and nitrite to keep as trophies, while casting the other half outside the camp gates or perimeter walls as offerings to their gods... though most of these offerings ultimately ended up devoured by rats, roaches, and other scavengers.
This place seemed like a shrine for trophies.
"Is there anything noteworthy here?" Lu Yang glanced inside, a look of disgust crossing his face.
If possible, he didn't want to stay here for another second.
"Yes, Captain... I found something strange here."
With that, the marine shone his helmet light onto the floorboards.
Lu Yang followed the beam of light and saw a very deep trail of blood staining the wooden floor.
From its shape, it looked like a drag mark left by a corpse.
"This looks like a sacrificial site where the mutants butchered their prey and dismembered them—"
"All right, you don't need to elaborate. I know how they operate."
His brow furrowed, Lu Yang stepped forward and tapped his right foot against the floor made of solid logs.
The sound from underfoot seemed hollow.
A thought struck him. Applying sudden force, he stomped his right foot down, snapping the log clean in two.
As expected!
The space beneath the floor was hollow.
Following the same method, Lu Yang broke through several more logs and shone a beam of light downward. What met his eyes was a tunnel whose walls were etched with strange symbols.
"...There's actually a tunnel?"
The marine stepped up beside him, comparing the scene with the pre-war maps in his database.
"Your current position should be the residential compound's central flowerbed... Judging from the concrete structure down there, this underground passage was built before the war."
So the symbols on the walls were left by the mutants?
"Where do you think this tunnel leads?"
"Sir, I have no idea. But based on past experience... only certain special shelter facilities needed to be hidden beneath flowerbeds."
Lu Yang pondered for a brief moment and quickly made up his mind.
"Let's go down and take a look."
Chapter 136