Scorched Earth

Boulder City. At the trading post by the East Gate, two-headed oxen laden with packs and bundles stretched from the city gates all the way to the elevated highway bridge across from them. Weapons worth a total of fifty million chips would be delivered to the northern outskirts of Qingquan City in batches over the course of a week. This included ten thousand Drone assault rifles, ten thousand sets of body armor, helmets, and other protective gear, as well as three thousand sets of KV-1/2 exoskeletons. Beyond small arms, there were also 80mm mortars, light and heavy machine guns of various models, and more. It was no exaggeration to say that as long as there was enough manpower to support it, this equipment alone was enough to arm an entire infantry division! Faced with the threat of the Legion, Boulder City's City Hall had practically thrown open the doors of its armory, sending all these weapons originally prepared for the Tide straight to the northern outskirts without hesitation. What delighted Chu Guang most was that Boulder City had sent over the incendiary and high-explosive warheads meant for countering the Tide. These warheads were primarily carried by aircraft and launched via laser guidance or unguided methods, typically used to clear fruiting bodies of mutated slime mold across an area. If they were effective against slime mold, they were naturally effective against humans as well! With just a few modifications, these warheads could be mounted on Goblin Technology's rocket trucks, unleashing a massive deluge of firepower onto the Legion's positions in a short time. As for their destructive power, that went without question. Back when they fought against the Tide, Chu Guang had spent tens of thousands of chips to purchase an airstrike, so he knew very well just how lethal those things were in physical destruction! As for how to board the airship... Boulder Military Industries' response was that while they had some decent ideas, they needed a bit of time. Aerospace landing craft had indeed existed during the People's Federation era, but those were usually designed for space stations and massive starships. As for aerospace landing craft for atmospheric environments... They had only ever dropped them from high orbit down to the surface; no one had heard of launching from the ground to board something in the sky. Wouldn't that just turn into an "antique" like a rocket? Still, Chu Guang was in no rush. Facing a behemoth like the Legion, he didn't expect this war to end quickly. What took him by surprise, however, was that just as he was racking his brains over how to breach the airship's defenses, Goblin Technology presented him with an unexpected shock... ... North of Dawn City, at the firing range. Resting before Chu Guang was an aluminum cylinder as thick as a thigh and as long as an arm. Its design somewhat resembled an oxygen tank worn by a diver, with multiple connecting rings distributed around the body, seemingly built for multi-person use. Chu Guang stared at it for a long while without making heads or tails of it, so he simply asked, "Could you... introduce how this is used?" Mosquito chuckled proudly. "Of course! I was just about to introduce our newest masterpiece from Goblin Technology! I call it—the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear!" Hearing that phrase, Chu Guang nearly lost his composure. He gave a dry cough and said, "Can you change the name?" Mosquito gave the Administrator a puzzled look. Though he had no idea what was wrong with the name, he still strained his brain cells, scratching his head and ears to come up with another one. "Uh, how about Skyrocket?" "..." Sighing in defeat, Chu Guang continued, "Just tell me about its functions first." Failing to notice the helplessness in Chu Guang's eyes, Mosquito nodded excitedly. "You got it!" The structure of the whole setup was very simple: it consisted mainly of a launch tube housing a built-in winch and a "rocket projectile" trailing a line. The operating principle was very similar to a recoilless rifle. The only difference was that the propellant charge and the exhaust plume temperature had been adjusted, and the rocket trailed a cord spun from devil silk. The entire setup was single-use, with a maximum effective range of seven hundred meters. The tip of the warhead was fitted with an impact fuze. Upon striking the target, it would trigger a secondary detonation, using a shaped-charge effect to drive the grappling anchor deep into the target. After that, the winch inside the cylinder would begin spinning, driven by an electric motor to pull the user from the ground up toward the high-altitude target. It was basically a giant grappling hook launcher. However, because it sustained acceleration like a rocket, its launch distance far exceeded an ordinary grappling hook. Moreover, since the hook's flight speed wouldn't be excessively fast, the interference from deflection shields would be minimized. His throat parched from talking, Mosquito paused and suggested, "Talking about it isn't as good as trying it out. Why don't I give you a demonstration!" Chu Guang thought that made sense; he was baffled by the explanation anyway, so he nodded. "All right. Here?" "Of course not. We need to go south to find a tall enough building, and..." Mosquito's eyes swept across the firing range, locking onto the little apprentice he had taken on not long ago. "Gegeda, come over here! I've got an honorable mission for you!" Targeted by Mosquito, Gegeda instinctively sensed trouble. "What do you want?" "Testing the Alliance's new equipment, of course!" Mosquito said with a smirk. "This is your chance to show off in front of the Administrator. Make the most of it!" Hearing this, Gegeda instantly balked. "Holy crap, no way! I just respawned the day before yesterday! You want to send me straight back down again? Pick someone—" "Six hundred silver coins!" "Deal!" When he blurted out those words, Gegeda didn't even bat an eye. Grinning from ear to ear, he sprinted toward the "Omni-Directional Mobility Gear." Not a trace remained of the reluctance he had displayed just seconds earlier. Standing to the side, Chu Guang was dumbfounded. Good grief. What kind of capitalist was this? Glancing at the overjoyed newbie, Chu Guang hesitated for a moment and said, "Is it really fine for an Intelligence-type player?" Mosquito chuckled and patted his chest. "Don't worry, Lord Administrator, I promise you! Even an Intelligence-type can use Goblin Technology's equipment just fine!" Seeing his confident expression, Chu Guang had an ominous feeling. The group left the firing range and headed to the northern district of Qingquan City, where they found a relatively sturdy hundred-story skyscraper. Gegeda clipped the nylon harness around his body onto the oversized Skyrocket, then hoisted it onto his back and dropped into a squat. "...The reason for this posture is mainly to keep the canister touching the ground, stabilizing the launch angle." "No need to explain to me," Chu Guang said with a light cough. "Just hurry up and start." "Right on!" Gazing at the skyscraper hundreds of meters high, Mosquito raised his binoculars to glance at the rooftop, then called out: "Elevation angle 79 degrees, target due south—" "Fire!" At his command, the device strapped to Gegeda's back erupted with a loud bang. A slender rocket shot out from the canister, trailing a plume of white exhaust and a tether as it soared into the sky. Aside from the smaller caliber, it really was just like firing an RPG! Chu Guang looked up, dumbstruck, watching the rocket slam squarely into the top of the skyscraper. Upon impact, it detonated in a puff of dust, driving the anchor inside the warhead deep into the wall. A cord woven from devil silk now connected the skyscraper firmly to the ground. It... actually worked?! Surprise filled Chu Guang's eyes. He genuinely hadn't expected equipment cobbled together from pure, unhinged whimsy to actually function. Gripping his binoculars, Mosquito shouted excitedly, "Hit confirmed! Prepare to ascend!" "Got it, Master!" Though he had been a little frightened at first, seeing that the gear wasn't as shoddy as he had feared, Gegeda's face began to show a hint of anticipation. However— The moment he pressed the switch, disaster struck after all. The winch engaged with sudden violent force, yanking him toward the rooftop while simultaneously hurling him forward. "Aaargh—!" Gegeda let out a brief, sharp wail. In the next instant, swinging like an airborne pendulum, he slammed splat against the wall together with the launcher on his back. It happened so fast. There wasn't even a moment to react. Looking up at the launch tube smeared with flesh and blood being dragged toward the rooftop and the horrifying mark left on the wall, Chu Guang felt no shock at all. Instead, he felt a sense of 'as expected.' Deep down, he had probably never expected Goblin Technology's products to succeed on the first try. "Uh... my bad, my bad. This thing is better suited for launching straight up and down, not at an angle. I made an amateur mistake," Mosquito said with an awkward expression. "But I promise you, the design logic is definitely sound!" "Once our players get close to that hunk of iron, the rest is easy! Whether we climb in through the bomb bay or use a cutter to slice an opening and slip inside, we can take it down no problem!" Watching Mosquito spin his grand promises with absolute conviction, Chu Guang gave a subtle nod. "I believe you." Whether he believed it or not, he had no better alternative than this terrible idea for the time being. The road to success was always winding, and expecting to achieve it in one step was unrealistic. Still, Chu Guang hoped Mosquito would use a test dummy next time. Goblin Technology's weapons rarely let him down. But this R&D method cost entirely too many lives... ... Three days had passed since the majestic, imperious airship had unleashed apocalyptic fire upon the earth. And for three days, the survivors living in the surrounding area had been enduring a state of constant dread. The Legion requisitioned grain everywhere, drawing bitter resentment from the populace. Fortunately, a group of soldiers wearing exoskeletons had stepped forward to teach those bastards a lesson, beating their patrol squads and transport convoys into headlong flight, which gave the locals some sweet revenge. These soldiers usually operated in four-man fireteams, specifically targeting isolated patrols. They occasionally interacted with locals, though their exchanges were brief, mostly limited to refilling fresh water and asking about the Legion's movements. These soldiers claimed to be from the Enterprise, but their People's Federation speech was not very fluent, and their grammar was quite bizarre. The local survivors didn't think too much of it. Perhaps that was just how people from the East Coast spoke; none of them had ever been there anyway... At dusk. The northern gate of Kating Post welcomed an uninvited group of visitors. Looking at the line of black-cloaked, heavily armed soldiers at the gate, Village Chief Mudeka's heart sank straight to the bottom. The Legion had just come yesterday, taking away five oxen and one thousand kilograms of green wheat. He hadn't expected them to return today. And this time, their numbers were ten times greater—over two hundred men had arrived... Though he knew nothing good would come of this, the old man dragged his leaden legs forward, steeling himself. "My lord... I am the village chief here. We met yesterday." His heavily wrinkled face was plastered with a fawning smile, yet the officer in the lead didn't even look at him. Scanning the camp, Colway narrowed his eyes slightly and said in an unhurried voice, "Yesterday, one of our patrols was attacked nearby." Hearing this, cold sweat instantly broke out on the old man's forehead. He had indeed heard gunshots last night, but it had been quite far from here—at least three or four kilometers away. Such things were not uncommon on the wasteland; either two groups of wastelanders were shooting it out, or they had run into mutant species active in the forest. He hadn't paid it any mind at all. "Th-that had nothing to do with us... It must have been—been done by the Enterprise! I think I saw those guys wearing exoskeletons!" Those people had said that if any danger arose, the villagers could pin all the blame on them; after all, a little more trouble didn't make a difference to them. Mudeka certainly wasn't going to hold back, immediately blurting out their identities. Having zero interest in this intelligence, Colway continued expressionlessly, "Regardless of whether it has anything to do with you, this area has become a combat zone." "Before we root out and eliminate those vermin, you must relocate with us to a designated location to set up camp." As the words fell, an immediate commotion spread through the surroundings. The survivors standing beside the camp wore looks of shock, surprise, and even sheer terror. "Relocate?" Mudeka stared blankly at the officer before him, his voice trembling as he asked, "B-but why—" Colway cut him off mercilessly. "There is no why. This is an order." "We are protecting you. I advise you not to be ungrateful." This was the plan formulated by General Macklen. The Legion would construct a large camp near Falling Leaves Ridge northwest of Ruigu City to accommodate survivors from a hundred-li radius. That location sat at the junction of mountains, forests, and plains, rich in water resources, and the planned camp was projected to hold a hundred thousand people. Once everything was ready, they would push east, dismantling survivor settlements along the way and relocating the conquered populations and spoils here. Controlling the western exit of the Southern Corridor was equivalent to seizing the throat connecting Luoxia Province to the eastern provinces. General Macklen's ambitions were not satisfied with being ordered around by that General Griffin. Capturing a runaway Enterprise employee and holding off reinforcements from the East Coast hardly counted as a major achievement. He wanted to expand the Legion's sphere of influence another five hundred kilometers to the east, laying the groundwork for the Legion's next expedition. Since there were no vassals in this region worth propping up, they would simply create one themselves. That was not difficult for them. They didn't need to worry about how so many people would survive. Humans were just like weeds across the ground; no matter how harsh the conditions, as long as living standards and moral baselines were continually lowered, some would always survive as the fittest. They would prop up obedient individuals to act as chiefs over the survivors, leading them to farm, scavenge, and labor. And those figureheads pushed to the front, in order to avoid being hanged by the slaves, would have no choice but to do everything in their power to curry favor with the masters holding the guns. As the masters of these lackeys, they wouldn't need to lift a finger, and could requisition supplies from them even more efficiently. It truly killed two birds with one stone. Mudeka's lips trembled, too terrified to speak. Instead, a young man beside him stepped forward, gathering his courage to say, "We don't need your protection. We've lived here for years... and everything has been fine." Having no interest in wasting words on such a nobody, Colway didn't even spare him a glance. He merely checked the time on his wristwatch, then looked back at Mudeka. "You have one hour to pack your belongings." "Whatever is left behind, I will burn for you." ... The next morning. Three players arrived at the entrance of Kating Post. The densely packed tents that once filled the camp were gone; all that remained was total wreckage. From the wooden palisade gate to the center of the camp, the ground was strewn with torn rags and broken crates. Everything that could be taken had been carried off, and everything that couldn't had been burned. Across the entire camp, not a single trace remained to show that humans had ever inhabited it. "Holy crap... these sons of bitches are ruthless." Looking at the grim sight before him, Battlefield Atmosphere Group couldn't help but click his tongue. Behind him, I'm the Darkest and Kakarot wore equally stunned expressions. "Is this the legendary scorched earth strategy?" "Damn... they really didn't leave a single thing." "There don't seem to be any signs of battle here, though, and no blood either." It wasn't just here; another camp they had passed earlier had been the exact same. Battlefield Atmosphere Group pondered for a moment and said, "Let's search the area first." The two players nodded. "Roger." Maintaining radio silence, the three agreed on a rendezvous point and time, then fanned out, cautiously venturing into the camp to investigate. At this moment, their attire was indistinguishable from scavengers commonly seen across the wasteland: straw hats on their heads and patched rags draped over their bodies, completely concealing the exoskeletons underneath and the gear strapped to them. Forests, mountains, and urban ruins made it easy to conceal their tracks, but survivor settlements were mostly distributed across the plains bordering the forests. Furthermore, they were likely a focus of attention for the lookouts aboard the Heart of Iron. No matter how much they dispersed, as long as the enemy wasn't blind, they wouldn't miss exoskeletons walking across open plains. Though this disguise wasn't pretty, it helped them avoid that watchful eye in the sky. Even if the Legion never cared about collateral damage to bystanders, they weren't so extravagant as to waste shells on a few passing scavengers. If they did that, even two more airships wouldn't be enough. Ignoring the airship floating in the distance, Battlefield Atmosphere Group picked through the camp, occasionally tossing a couple of charred pieces of charcoal into a burlap sack. First, it helped sell the disguise; second, it would come in handy for boiling instant noodles later. They had come to this survivor settlement for two reasons: to gather intel on the Legion, and to fill their canteens. Unfortunately, neither goal could be achieved. Battlefield Atmosphere Group noticed that the only two wells in the camp had been filled in with garbage. With the water source plugged, this village was essentially ruined. "...No corpses found." Kakarot walked back from the side, looking at Battlefield Guy as he continued, "The Legion took everyone here—men, women, elderly, children... and their two-headed oxen." Battlefield Atmosphere Group nodded, deep in thought. "Looks like they're getting desperate..." Over the past three days, they had launched over a dozen raids according to plan, specifically targeting weaker patrols, strictly capping each engagement at three minutes. Regardless of the outcome, the moment three minutes were up, they retreated immediately—never bogging down in stalemates, and giving the enemy zero opportunity to call in fire support. This tactic proved remarkably effective. In fact, most ten-man squads couldn't even hold out for three minutes against a four-man player team. Ammunition consumption? That wasn't an issue at all. Once their LD-47 ammo ran dry, they simply scavenged off the land, picking up the Legion's weapons. Though the airborne marines' Blade assault rifles weren't as finely crafted as the Youth Army's Falcons, their firepower was by no means inferior. Sustaining this live-off-the-land combat model, while wearing down the Legion's effective strength, their ammunition didn't dwindle; instead, it multiplied, leaving them with more firepower than ever. Faced with the guerrillas' ceaseless harassment, the Legion had been forced to shrink its patrol radius and expand the size of each patrol unit. What he hadn't anticipated, however, was that the Legion was ruthless enough to dismantle every survivor settlement within its force-projection range. They truly came from the same military doctrine: the strategy adopted by the Heart of Iron was almost identical to what the Bone Chewer tribe had done in Xizhou City. I'm the Darkest couldn't help but ask, "Where will those survivors be taken?" Kakarot shook his head. "No idea, but I doubt they'd take them onto the airship. They'll probably set up something like a concentration camp, make them work, scavenge supplies from nearby urban areas, that sort of thing." The Legion was still slightly different from marauders; at the very least, they didn't eat people. Hearing Kakarot's guess, I'm the Darkest paused. "Will the survivors really be that obedient?" Kakarot rolled his eyes. "Traveling merchants and mercenaries are one thing, but local survivors have families. Making them fall in line is all too easy." Whether by using rations and other necessities as leverage, or hiring marauders and mercenaries as overseers, he could think of over a dozen methods off the top of his head. Not to mention those "professionals." The simplest way was what lay before their eyes: tear down the survivors' homes. With no home to return to, and unwilling to sleep in the wilderness only to end up as mutant dung, they had no choice but to stay in a camp controlled by the Legion. Survivors capable of surviving alone in the wild were, after all, a tiny minority. Once cut off from a stable settlement, most people's fate wouldn't be much brighter than losing their freedom. "...Still, this might be an opportunity for us," Battlefield Atmosphere Group murmured, rubbing his chin. "If we find the camp where they're holding the survivors, we might be able to sneak in and stir up trouble." Kakarot's eyes lit up. "Not a bad idea." He hadn't expected this reckless brawler to occasionally come up with a decent plan. I'm the Darkest hesitated, then offered cautiously, "I suggest we head back to the base twenty kilometers away first and report the situation here to Brother Spring." "Besides... our supply convoy should be arriving today. It's time to regroup with them anyway." "Makes sense," Battlefield Guy said after a moment's thought. "How about this... we split up. You and Kakarot head back first, and take my exoskeleton with you while you're at it. I'll track their footprints, and as soon as I pinpoint the camp's location, I'll head straight back to regroup with you." While the tracks were still fresh, following them shouldn't be difficult. If they waited any longer, say until it rained, it wouldn't be so easy. Though hesitant, I'm the Darkest nodded. "Be careful, then." Battlefield Guy grinned, giving his comrades a reassuring look. "Relax. Don't you know what I'm capable of?" I'm the Darkest gave a subtle grimace, while Kakarot flat-out rolled his eyes. "Quit your damn bragging. Strip off your gear and get lost already." Battlefield Guy chuckled. "I can't very well strip right out here, can I?" With that, he glanced toward the small grove of trees nearby. "Wait for me a minute."