Never Fought Such an Affluent Battle

"Fucking awesome!" Staring at the burning position five hundred meters away, Indebted Big Eye's face, bathed in the firelight, was painted with pure excitement. That salvo just now had slammed at least twenty rockets right onto the heads of Black Snake's thousand-man force. After coming under attack earlier, the marauders had surged forward in a chaotic swarm, compressing their long, narrow column into one giant clump. Consequently, when the rockets came screaming down, they had no time to scatter and could only welcome the fiery judgment in despair. This fire support deserved a rating of at least ninety out of a hundred! At the very least, not a single rocket had veered a kilometer off target, and none had landed on friendly heads. What surprised Indebted Big Eye most was that Mosquito's rockets weren't just sound and fury—their power was genuinely terrifying. On top of the shrapnel damage from the blast, an incendiary effect had been added, practically stacking damage buffs to the maximum! The results were plain to see. This rocket barrage was vastly fiercer than when they had besieged the ecological experimental base! Gazing at the distant sea of flames, Drum Washing Machine couldn't help marveling. "That siren was so badass! The rockets wailed like banshees as they flew. If I were on the receiving end, I'd have been scared out of my wits!" Edge Slacker: "A budget Stuka!" Indebted Big Eye: "A thumbs-up from your fifty-buck bro. No cap, Brother Mosquito really knows his stuff." Drum Washing Machine: "Once I log off later, I'm definitely hyping him up on the forum." Hearing that, Indebted Big Eye immediately urged him not to. "Don't you dare! What if it goes to his head? Did you forget all the bizarre junk he cooked up before?" Drum Washing Machine blinked. Realizing that made sense, he scratched the back of his head. "Uh, fair point... So what do you say we do?" Indebted Big Eye chuckled slyly. "Simple. We agree to hype up how badass the quad autocannon is and how No. 81 Mill is unbeatable, then pretend nothing else happened." Edge Slacker: "Holy shit, you're evil!" Old Wang Next Door: "Exactly! Even I can't bear to watch this!" Indebted Big Eye grinned sheepishly. "You flatter me, you flatter me." With reinforcements and fire support arriving at the same time, the battle on the front line was essentially over. The armored pickups stalled in the snow were brutally mowed down by the tracked AA vehicle that swept in from the flank, ground mercilessly into the drifts. The hundred-man squad that had charged aggressively toward them under covering fire broke completely amidst the screaming rockets. Especially after seeing the armored pickups they took so much pride in blown to pieces one after another by that four-barreled monster, they fled like madmen. Naturally, there was nowhere to run. Aside from the tracked truck mounting the quad anti-aircraft gun, two tracked troop carriers trailed right behind. The players behind the wheels were all seasoned drivers. They casually shifted into low gear, tailing the marauders at an easy distance. The gunners standing in the truck beds gripped the fixed machine guns welded to the roofs, peppering their heels with three-round bursts. They didn't stop until over half the marauders were killed or wounded, dropping their weapons and sprawling facedown in the snow with hands over their heads. In this brief clash lasting less than three minutes, the marauders before them had lost a quarter of their manpower and more than half their armor. Indebted Big Eye made a rough count: that quad autocannon on the back of the truck took out an armored pickup in four rounds on average. The riveted steel plates along the pickups' flanks stood no chance against bursts of 20mm autocannon fire. A hit to the cab left a mangled mess of flesh, and a hit to the fuel tank struck the jackpot directly. The crisp, rhythmic thuds sounded just like a bottle opener popping caps. Perhaps terrified by the gruesome deaths of their comrades, the crew of the last armored pickup abandoned their vehicle and fled on foot before the autocannon could even target them. Seeing this, Drum Washing Machine immediately mounted his light machine gun and cut the two men down with a quick burst. Looking at the marauders howling in agony in the snow, he didn't even bother finishing them off, merely spitting curses. "Damn bastards! Did you enjoy spraying us before? Huh? Having fun now?" Not far away. Whistle blasts signaling the charge sounded one after another. Friendly forces converging from other directions swept in from all sides as planned, storming Black Snake's convoy. The three tracked vehicles pressed forward in a line across the snow, their mounted machine guns unleashing fierce firepower to cover the infantry's advance. Watching the intense action ahead, Indebted Big Eye suddenly remarked, "We've never fought such an affluent battle." Edge Slacker nodded in deep agreement. "Yeah." Back at the Battery Factory, where had they had such awesome gear? The marauders had only needed two armored pickups and a pair of vehicle-mounted machine guns shielded by steel plates to pin them behind cover, unable to raise their heads. Even after giving it everything they had, they had only managed to take down one. Now, not only had their firepower received a comprehensive overhaul, it had also passed the test of actual combat. Whether it was Mosquito's Goblin Rockets or the "20mm cannon" produced by No. 81 Steel Mill, both demonstrated astonishing potential. Edge Slacker suddenly felt a wave of relief. He had expected a brutal, bloody slugfest, but to his surprise, not a single member of his squad had died throughout the entire engagement. It felt just like a dream. Whistles blew incessantly ahead, and the roaring war cries made Drum Washing Machine itch to join in. He couldn't help looking at his teammates. "Say, why don't we charge in with them? Things have already reached this point; it's not like they've got anything left to hit us with." Edge Slacker admitted it was an appealing proposal, but still shook his head. "Our mission is to hold our position. Until the quest updates, let's stick to the mission parameters." Having one more squad at the front wouldn't make much difference, nor would missing one. Rather than rushing over just to join the fun, they were better off holding their ground. Aside from the marauders right in front of them, six more hundred-man squads were dispersed outside. Even if those troops couldn't rush back anytime soon, they still had to guard against any surprises. Indebted Big Eye agreed. "+1. Besides, charging would be pointless. By the time we run over there, it'll probably be over anyway. Might as well stay here and AFK for points." Defense quests awarded points simply for standing within the defensive zone. Drum Washing Machine sighed. "Sigh, salted fishes with no dreams!" Ignoring him, Edge Slacker suddenly remembered the little robot and turned to Indebted Big Eye. "By the way, what about your robot?" Indebted Big Eye grinned. "No worries. The Administrator told me that if it broke, I could upgrade to the new model. The new one even has a camera—way better to use than the old version!" "As for the old one, if it blew up, it blew up!" The Crawler's load capacity wasn't high, able to carry about four kilograms of explosives at most—and that was at the expense of mobility. Four kilograms of TNT would have a hard time destroying a heavy tank. However, the metallic hydrogen battery powering the Crawler was an explosive in its own right, boasting an impressive yield equivalent to six kilograms of TNT. With the extra four kilograms of TNT, the combined yield was roughly ten kilograms—equal to two anti-tank mines in explosive force alone. That kind of power was plenty to blow up a tank. Even if it didn't demolish the tank completely, it would concuss the crew inside until smoke poured from their seven orifices. Of course, looking at it now, that worry had been entirely unnecessary. The blast damage had suffered severe overkill, not only reducing the tank to scrap metal, but detonating the fuel tank and ammo rack alongside it. Staring at Big Eye in stunned disbelief, Edge Slacker shook his head after a long pause. "That's just way too extravagant." ... Changjiu Farm Command Post. Once the operation began, Chu Guang had relocated here from the outpost. Looking down at the battlefield through the Hummingbird drone, he took in the entire frontline situation, sharing the video feed with everyone in the command post via a tablet modified from a VM. At the same time, a paper map lay on the command post table. Dozens of arrows of various sizes were drawn across it, marked with numbers that mapped out the attack routes for almost every ten-man squad. So far, the plan was proceeding quite smoothly. A total of twenty-one ten-man infantry squads served as the main assault force, launching their attack in tight coordination once supporting fire struck the battlefield. Although heavily outnumbered, this didn't stop the players from charging forward and encircling the marauders dazed by the rocket barrage. Under cover of the tracked vehicles, in just the first exchange of fire, the three hundred-man squads guarding the convoy were routed by player small-arms fire, fleeing like cornered rats toward the forest to the west. According to the original plan, these twenty-one squads were supposed to advance northward in three echelons in a concave formation, herding the marauders north where light vehicles would finish them off. Unfortunately, the speed at which the marauders' defenses collapsed somewhat exceeded Chu Guang's expectations. So much so that before the flank squads could complete the encirclement, the players attacking from the front had already torn through their defensive lines, shattering their will to resist and sparking a full rout. The offensives of the latter two echelons had been rendered pointless. Midnight Chicken Slayer, charging at the very front, was already leading his squad members in a bayonet charge against the marauders. Meanwhile, the steadiest group, Commander Spring's squad, quickly shifted tactics upon seeing the battle decided, mounting light vehicles to rapidly infiltrate behind the marauders' positions and cut them off. With the battle having reached this stage, how they fought hardly mattered anymore; the enemy's flag was practically white, their morale completely gone. Since it had turned into a points-farming phase, the players naturally racked up as many points as they could. Watching the aerial footage captured by the drone, Vannus suddenly spoke up. "Your opponent made at least two strategic blunders. Otherwise, this battle wouldn't have been this easy." First, their march was overly hasty and strung out over too long a line. The front and rear couldn't support each other, so the moment the vanguard was hit, the rear bunched up into a cluster. Second, they placed far too much faith in their armored superiority, underestimating the impact of weather on mobility. Once their only tank was immobilized, the remaining wheeled vehicles—no matter how fast they were on flat plains—became sitting ducks in the snow. Of course, there was actually a third mistake. Launching an offensive in the dead of winter was inherently foolish. Let alone staking all their chips at once, turning the whole war into a desperate gamble. If they won, they could spend the winter in Qingquan City's northern suburbs. If they lost—in another sense—they would still be spending the winter here. Wrench spoke with a solemn look. "There are still six hundred-man squads remaining in the northern suburbs, totaling seven or eight hundred men. If they fight to the bitter end, we might still have a tough battle ahead." Vannus shook his head. "On that point, I have a different view. We've already shattered their main force. Even if they muster the courage to keep fighting, they have no supplies left to sustain them. By contrast, what we need to watch is the north." Wrench frowned. "You mean... Lion Fang, stationed to our north, might take this opportunity to launch a surprise attack?" Vannus: "We can't rule it out, but the likelihood is slim. According to the intel we gathered from Gray Wolf, while they possess fire support, they lack reliable vehicles and march slowly—unless they intend to string out their column like their allies did and hand us an opening." Wrench asked, puzzled, "Then what do you mean...?" Vannus continued, "Once those six hundred-man squads lose organizational structure, they are very likely to head toward Yuanxi Town to link up with Lion Fang stationed there. For every man that escapes, that's one more we might face in the next battle." Chu Guang nodded. "I considered that problem. Before the battle started, I already sent people to intercept them, but our main force is here at the front, so it's hard to say how many they can stop." Vannus glanced at Chu Guang in surprise and nodded. "Stopping some is better than none. Far better than letting them slip away scot-free." Chu Guang smiled faintly. "That was never going to happen." Only a little over two hundred players were deployed at the front to ambush Black Snake, but the number of players he mobilized was far from just that. The remaining two hundred players were advancing toward the northeast. If those six hundred-man squads chose to double back and reinforce, they would be caught in a pincer. If they chose to retreat northwest, the two hundred reinforcements he dispatched would still intercept at least a portion of them. There was no suspense left in the battle at the front. The defenses around the convoy had collapsed into ruins, leaving only sporadic resistance scattered across the forest to the west and the rear of the convoy. By now, victory in this engagement was virtually assured; clearing out the diehards was merely a matter of time. Two hundred against five hundred. One tank destroyed, seven armored pickups destroyed, and one captured. Additionally, two 100mm howitzers were seized, along with more than twenty light trucks and the supplies loaded on them. On this expedition, Black Snake had brought virtually everything he owned, even including the spoils plundered from central River Valley Province. Soon, Chu Guang would find out what sort of treasures were packed inside those trucks. Moreover, according to reports from the frontline troops, hundreds of enslaved camp followers were also liberated. Without a doubt, this was an epic victory! Even before the battle reports were compiled, Chu Guang could state as much with absolute certainty. Furthermore, this was the largest battle Shelter 404 had launched to date. In troop strength, equipment deployed, and the number of enemy combatants faced, it set an all-time record since the server opened. If they didn't celebrate this, it would be almost impossible to call it a day. "The threat from the northeast has been eliminated." Chu Guang looked at the map, his gaze landing due north of Qingquan City—on Yuanxi Town, twenty kilometers from Changjiu Farm. The marauders there probably never dreamed that they would now have to face him alone. A faint smile crept onto Chu Guang's face. He really wondered what expressions they would be wearing. It was bound to be quite a sight.