Where Are My Men? They Were Right Here a Moment Ago!

The northern front. Beneath an endless, clear sky, an imposing steel airship parted the sea of clouds, revealing the bridge pod suspended beneath its bow. Looking down at the sunken wasteland and the undulating mountain ranges, Myriarch Lium curled his lips into a faint smirk from his seat inside the bridge. Tossing his Popsicle stick to the attendant standing nearby, he placed his hands on the armrests, rose to his feet, and walked to the bridge's floor-to-ceiling viewport, squinting down at the Ten Peaks Mountain looming close at hand. An eighty-li road of white bones? Laughable. In their own territory, opponents of this level required nothing more than a round of bombardment followed by a charge. If that wasn't enough, they simply repeated the process. While this might not work well against slime mold that multiplied the more it was fought, it was more than sufficient against mutants. "...Too slow. If we wait for those snails to inch their way forward, this war won't end until next year. I say we fly straight over Ten Peaks Mountain and wipe out the cultists' nest in one fell swoop." Hearing his superior's remarks, the adjutant standing behind Lium gave a soft cough and hurriedly cautioned, "General, it would be best not to stray from the main force." Lium chuckled dryly. "Do you honestly think a handful of mutants could bring down our airship?" This was not a reckless, unthinking decision. No matter what high technology the Church of the Torch possessed, the mutants on these mountains needed food and ammunition, and all of it had to be shipped from Haiya Province. As long as their logistical supply lines were severed, hunger alone would starve most of them to death. The adjutant understood his reasoning, but still offered a prudent warning. "Earlier, the Alliance encountered a group of flying mutants in Jinhe City that they called bat-wing men. Even with aircraft providing cover, those bat-wing men managed to board the airship, plunging them into a bitter struggle." "Hmph, didn't those fools know how to turn on their radar?" Lium curled his lip in disdain. His face showed utter contempt, but inwardly he grew a degree more vigilant, dropping the idea of flying the airship straight over Ten Peaks Mountain. He knew the Alliance would certainly have had their radar active, but in this world, where there was a spear, there was always a shield. There were many ways to lock onto a target, and just as many ways to counter radar. After all, the people of the Torch had emerged from Shelter 117 and had been developing for a considerable time. They specialized in biotechnology, but that wasn't all they knew. Returning to his seat, Lium looked toward his adjutant and barked an order. "Inform General Modlin of the 31st Myriad that we've arrived. Have his men assemble in the drop pods." The adjutant's expression snapped to attention, and he rendered a crisp military salute. "Yes, sir!" *** North of Weifu Military Base, an anchor chain dropped from the airship *Loyalty* slammed heavily into the dirt, throwing up billowing plumes of dust. Immediately afterward, a pod was lowered from the airship's belly, descending slowly like a swing lowered from the heavens until it came to rest against the earth. Roughly a hundred tall, high-bridged Wilante soldiers marched out of the truck-sized pod in orderly ranks. They wore uniform gray-black military fatigues and matte-finish steel helmets. Slung across their backs were standard automatic weapons, and ballistic plates hung over their chests. The gunners carrying ammunition crates and machine guns were even equipped with full-coverage exoskeletons! Compared to the ragtag forces the players had encountered in the desert, these troops were undeniably vastly more elite! Beside the military base, In Debt God and Construction Site Boy and Bricks watched the group from a distance. Seeing the Wilante soldiers' exoskeletons, Construction Site Boy and Bricks widened his eyes in surprise. "These Wilante guys have exoskeletons too?" In Debt God was surprised as well, but feeling it beneath him to make a fuss like the strength-build brute beside him, he offered a rational analysis. "Nothing strange about that. Even Boulder City has them, not to mention their own domestically developed cybernetics. The Legion is one of the three major superpowers of the wasteland, after all; it's not like they can't even produce exoskeletons." Construction Site Boy and Bricks scratched his head. "I just wonder... why haven't we seen them before?" In Debt God replied, "Ummm... maybe they burned through them all fighting the Great Rift Valley?" Of course, faction support and local logistical efficiency were also factors. Back then, the Legion's Eastern Expansion faction had already reached the end of its rope. The front lines had to be handed over to auxiliary forces and clone troops, and they could barely scrape together ammunition. Exoskeletons were naturally a luxury for them back then. If not for facing a complete disruption in supplies, they wouldn't have been so desperate to push into River Valley Province to find settlements like Boulder City that could resolve their logistical and equipment woes. Naturally, the more reasonable explanation was that back then, most players had only just left the beginner village. Spawning a dozen airships and a swarm of fully geared bosses under those conditions would have been the trash dev entirely abandoning his humanity. While In Debt God and the bricklayer were sizing up the legendary regular army of the Eastern Legion, another train chugged into view from the north. The train stretched for a full thirty-two carriages, and the crowd packed inside was an extraordinary, motley crew. There were people from the Academy, personnel from Enterprise, and even the expeditionary force of the Xilan Empire. The latter were particularly numerous; thirty of the thirty-two carriages were packed with them. Although the Xilan Empire had fought an undeclared war against the Alliance not long ago and hadn't even signed a formal ceasefire agreement yet, as a member of the Slime Mold Community, the Xilan Emperor had still generously waved his hand and dispatched thirty thousand troops. Of course, this was not out of some noble dedication to the shared destiny of human civilization, but entirely out of deference to the Wilante. After all, compared to the death of a few inconsequential lowborns, an eternal, unbreakable friendship was far more valuable. In the very last carriage of the train, the front half was occupied by a group clad in exoskeletons, tactical helmets, and gas masks. They gave off an aura that warned strangers to stay back, sitting motionless inside the carriage. Occupying the rear half was Enterprise's 7th Air Fleet. Their carriage had originally been near the front, but they had been forcibly shoved back here by the rabble from Bolo Province. Who knew whether the commander of the Xilan Expeditionary Force was out of his mind, but he had insisted on stuffing two hundred men into a carriage rated for a maximum of a hundred and eighteen. And so it had turned out like this. Chewing gum, a pilot in the back row glanced at his comrade beside him and muttered in a low voice, "I bet they're androids... and not very bright ones either." As everyone knew, the Academy's androids were the most boring creatures on the wasteland, just as dull as their researchers. His comrade chuckled, about to crack a joke, when their superior, who had been resting with his eyes closed nearby, glanced at the two restless men, shut his eyes again, and spoke slowly. "The Alpha Mobile Task Force. They aren't androids; they're genuine special forces, hunters of the marshlands. The Academy has fitted them with almost every cybernetic imaginable, with an average modification rate exceeding thirty percent. On top of that, virtually all of them are Awakened, albeit through chemical enhancement... Don't underestimate them." Hearing this, the pilots wore looks of astonishment—though not because of their cybernetic rate or special forces status. "Chemically Awakened?" "Why would anyone use that stuff?" At least in Ideal City, Awakening was not seen as a good thing; rather, it meant losing many of life's pleasures. The random expression of non-coding genes could lead to hereditary diseases, and worse still, drastically reduced the chances of conceiving offspring. Though most residents of Ideal City had little interest in having children, wanting them and being physically incapable of having them were two entirely different matters. You only lived once, and Awakening was irreversible. Most people would never dare gamble with their lives. After all, if you truly pursued power, cybernetics and exoskeletons were more than enough. There was no need whatsoever to push organic flesh to its extreme limits. Opening his eyes, the officer crossed his arms and looked at the rows of backs of heads facing away from them, speaking with mixed emotions. "The Science Committee is a completely different place from Ideal City. Those people proved through action that high technology doesn't necessarily mean a high standard of living, and that as long as scientific management methods are applied, keeping the majority of the population at a low standard of living doesn't stop them from building spaceships. In fact, it allows limited resources to be funneled into critical areas..." "For ordinary people who can't become researchers or even prospectors, joining the Alpha Mobile Task Force offers another way out. At least the equipment and serums are free, and it helps improve their families' lives." The pilot beside him couldn't help clicking his tongue, unable to imagine such a life. At least in his case, he had joined the 7th Air Fleet because he loved flying planes. "What a terrifying bunch of people..." The officer went back to resting his eyes. To be frank, he had virtually no experience executing bombing and extraction missions in mountainous terrain, even if their airbase beside the Tianshui tributary was situated in the mountains. Yet compared to his own safety, he was actually more worried about the 100th Mechanized Mountain Division from Ideal City. Those guys were supposed to arrive today as well. He and his men at least had fighter planes, but he heard that many of those young lads had never set foot on a battlefield before... Would they really be all right? *** What the pilots didn't know was that the men wearing gas masks weren't lacking in intelligence; they had simply shut down redundant plugins and cybernetics during transit to conserve power. Certain bionic cybernetics required bioelectric currents to activate, and the computing power demanded to drive them put a strain on both the brain and the neural chips implanted within it. Wastelanders who lacked self-control often collapsed into comas or went insane from computational overload, but such an issue never plagued the soldiers of the Alpha Mobile Task Force. Unless necessary, they could maintain only the most basic bodily functions and the communication modules within their implants, lowering their metabolism and neural activity to minimal levels. While Enterprise's pilots were pointing fingers at the backs of their heads, they were listening meticulously to their team leader's briefing across their comm channel. "Sitting behind you is Enterprise's 7th Air Fleet. Though they aren't Awakened, they have undergone rigorous training and selection, chosen as the elite among millions." "Ever since the Reconstruction Committee dissolved, Ideal City has been controlled by cartels led by Ideal Group. For an ordinary person to survive, they must constantly hone their skills. That hardship is no less grueling than digging potatoes in the Wandering Marsh. Like you, they are battle-tempered aces... Do not underestimate them! Stay sharp!" A commanding voice echoed silently through their thoughts. Sitting upright, the masked soldiers responded without a sound in their minds. *"Understood!"* *** At the same time the armies of the Legion, Enterprise, and the Academy were arriving on the front lines one after another, deafening war cries and intense gunfire raged across Ten Peaks Mountain! Before dawn, a band of goblins had snuck up toward the positions on Mount Fu, launching a surprise attack on the sleeping players. Back when the server had first opened, this tactic might actually have worked, since many players only played part-time and had to wake up and go to work during the day. Now, however, not only the Death Corps, but even solo players had shifted their main focus to the game. Virtually none of them went anywhere without their phones and helmets. The moment an "@everyone" ping popped up, they snapped on their helmets one by one and logged back online. The players patrolling with deathclaws were the first to spot the raid. In less than a minute, all two hundred players garrisoned on the mountain were online, and under the leadership of Brother Edge, they turned the tables on the attacking goblin force. In just one short hour, more than half of the two-thousand-strong goblin force was wiped out, and the remaining thousand or so fled in disarray, casting aside their weapons and armor. Because the battle went so smoothly, Brother Edge didn't even bother calling up the brothers resting at the base of the mountain, mopping up the trash entirely on his own. The only thing that surprised the players was that "goblin" had originally been a nickname they gave these green-skinned runts; who would have thought the creatures would start screeching "Goblin! Goblin!" themselves? Wiping the blood from his entrenching shovel, Roller Washing Machine muttered with a face full of regret, "We were too hasty. If I'd known the trash dev would let us name them, we should've called them Gnoblars." Laplace started in fright upon hearing that, rushing forward to clap a hand over his mouth before even wiping the blood off his hands. "Holy crap, are you trying to get yourself killed calling out the trash dev like that?!" Midnight Umbrella Without a Knife scratched his head. "The problem is, mutants don't look like Ogres either." Madam, You Wouldn't Want That Either rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "They're pretty similar when it comes to eating people." Midnight Umbrella Without a Knife: "Uh, fair point." He couldn't tell if it was an illusion, but today's goblins felt noticeably tougher than yesterday's. Not only were their tactics fiercer, but they were far more troublesome to deal with, even strapping explosive barrels to their backs and charging in for suicidal hugs. Most baffling of all, these creatures, who had previously fought only as disorganized individuals, had actually grouped together this time. Who knew whether those lunatics had used some outrageous black technology again. If they let them keep raving like this, this "War in Heaven" was going to turn into a "Chaos Invasion"... "Damn, looks pretty lively down the mountain," a player peering down the slopes shouted in surprise. During the brief time they had been fighting, the Wilante airship had arrived over the battlefield. Those big-nosed folks had even brought a massive war machine that bore a striking resemblance to an Imperial AT-AT walker! Seemed to be called the "Bison" or something? Not just the Legion. The Academy and Enterprise had also arrived at Weifu Military Base one after another, bringing both their personnel and their vehicles! Seeing the curious looks on everyone's faces, Brother Edge knew what they were looking forward to and chuckled. "Hold on a bit longer, guys, rotation is coming up soon!" Laplace pointed at the corpses strewn across the ground. "What do we do with these bodies? Bury them?" Digging into the earth on this mountain was no easy feat; the soil under their boots was frozen hard as iron. Though their constitutions prevented them from catching plagues, nobody enjoyed sitting beside a petri dish of bacteria. Besides, their teammates were down below. Even if they didn't care for themselves, they had to consider the others. However, the problem wasn't particularly difficult to solve. Midnight Umbrella rolled his eyes and quickly came up with an idea. "Feed 'em to Dayan. His wives have monstrous appetites." "Hahahahaha, fuck!" Roller Washing Machine, still wiping dirty blood off his face, burst out laughing. The crowd erupted into chuckles, and even Brother Edge couldn't help smiling, giving him a thumbs-up. "You're a fucking genius!" *** At the Mount Fu Military Base, the camp that had been utterly barren yesterday was now teeming with people. A full eight Orca transport planes sat on the tarmac, their towering hulls resembling whales resting on the ocean. Beside them were twenty Cloud Dragonfly ornithopters, their flexible, blade-like wings gleaming with a chill glint in the sunlight. Beyond that, nearly a hundred gleaming silver-white heavy trucks stood neatly arranged across the open field, looking like sharp-edged rectangular blocks! The logo of Ideal Group was prominently emblazoned on the bumper beneath each truck's cab. This was Enterprise's 100th Mechanized Mountain Division. They had flown directly across the mountainous eastern regions of Jinchuan Province via Orca transports, deploying in waves across the eastern plains before assembling and advancing here en masse. This was likely the very first time Enterprise had dispatched troops to such a distant theater of war. Enterprise wasn't the only one flaunting its toys. The Academy was doing the same. In addition to the Alpha Task Force arriving by train, nearly twenty spindle-shaped aircraft measuring around twenty meters in length touched down on the eastern side of Weifu Military Base. Though these aircraft utilized plasma thrusters, judging by their leisurely descent, their lift was clearly not provided entirely by plasma engines, but rather by anti-gravity systems similar to those on research vessels and Legion airships. The Alpha Mobile Task Force, armed to the teeth in exoskeletons, stepped out of the cabins in perfect synchrony. As if to show off, they deliberately looped to the north as they approached the camp, marching straight between Enterprise's 100th Mountain Division and the Legion... Meanwhile, the "Hound" Special Forces of the Bugra Free State kept a lower profile, quietly waiting behind the Legion alongside several dozen military trucks. Paying no heed to their posturing, In Debt God and the bricklayer, who were watching the spectacle by the base, were utterly dumbfounded, their mouths hanging wide open. The Legion, Enterprise, the Academy, the Free State, the Empire... Plus a whole host of survivor factions they hadn't even heard of, all gathered right here. The entire camp was as bustling as a massive military expo or a military parade, with an endless array of strange, exotic equipment that left onlookers dazzled. In Debt God swallowed hard. "Bricklayer..." Construction Site Boy and Bricks: "What?" In Debt God: "Nothing, just wanted to ask... does this kind of feel like a military parade?" Construction Site Boy and Bricks froze, then cried out, "Damn! Now that you mention it, it really does!" Alliance Leader of the Wasteland, huh... not bad at all. Even if the foundation of this alliance leader felt a bit hollow. Still, it didn't matter. As long as their Administrator wasn't hollow, that was all that counted. At this moment, he just wanted to yell at the top of his lungs: *The Administrator kicks ass!* Right then, as the two stood marvelling, they suddenly spotted a familiar face in the crowd. "Su Ming?!" Hearing someone call his name, Su Ming, who was walking toward the camp, stopped in his tracks and looked in confusion at the two who had halted him, unable to recognize them. "...Do we know each other?" "We've met, we've met, hehe! We ran into each other once back in Sunset Province," In Debt God walked up with a smile, patting his friend beside him as he introduced them. "This is Construction, and I'm Dayan." "Oh, oh! Comrades from back then!" Su Ming nodded in sudden realization. He was about to joke about how bizarre their names were, but thought better of it and swallowed his words, smiling instead. "Long time no see! It's been a whole year, hasn't it?" "Yeah, a year in the blink of an eye!" Without waiting for the NPC to comment on their names, In Debt God smiled and pressed on, "By the way, weren't you with the 26th Strike Team?" "I was," Su Ming nodded, looking at him inquisitively. "Is there a problem?" Construction Site Boy and Bricks stared straight at him. "Did you get promoted?" The young man gave an open laugh. "What promotion? I'm an NCO, a professional sniper. If transitioning to an instructor counts as a promotion, then I guess maybe I was." In Debt God scratched his head. "But... weren't you with that strike team before? Do Enterprise's security department and regular army share the same system?" It wasn't that he was fishing for intelligence. It was just too bizarre. It was like a security guard suddenly switching over to the regular army, and becoming an instructor at that. Sensing their confusion, Su Ming smiled and explained, "We don't really look at it that way over there. The 100th Mountain Division was actually expanded directly from the 26th Strike Team... Not to make a joke of it, but we don't actually have a standing army. The Council pulled these troops together just so we could train them up and prepare for the future. There are plenty of rookies in our ranks; we might even need your help showing them the ropes when the time comes." They were allies, after all, so he spoke without much reservation. Construction Site Boy and Bricks froze, his mind failing to make the turn as he fixated on the detail. "Wait... aren't you the 100th Mountain Division? If there's a 100th, shouldn't there be a 99th? How could you not have a standing army?" Su Ming scratched the back of his head and chuckled awkwardly. "Ahem... Truth be told, when we first mobilized, our designation was actually 001. Later, our Captain Yun felt that didn't sound right and made a proposal to the Council. So they changed it to 100 to make it sound more imposing." Suddenly remembering something, an expression of regret flashed across his face. He quickly glanced toward the airship not far away, lowering his voice to add, "Oh, right, don't go spreading this around... And if you accidentally let it slip, definitely don't say you heard it from me." Looking at him, In Debt God and Construction Site Boy and Bricks were thoroughly stunned. "Holy shit?!" "Awesome!" *You can do that?!* Still, to be completely honest, when they had first heard the designation, they really had been intimidated by it... *** While the two were reeling in shock over the secret they had stumbled upon, a noisy commotion broke out by the train station beside the camp. Soldiers of the Xilan Empire had bunched up in a chaotic mass beside the station, as if something had gone wrong. Receiving a report from his subordinates, Li Jinrong, who had just finished receiving Enterprise's contingent, rushed over without stopping for breath. Survivor factions from across the wasteland possessed vastly different cultural backgrounds and customs that had diverged over two centuries; friction was bound to occur. Although the Administrator had specifically instructed him to keep a close eye on the folks from Bolo Province, he never expected an issue to arise on the very first day. Upon arriving, he quickly found the man roaring and looking to pick a fight with the stationmaster. "I am the officer in charge here, Commander Li Jinrong of the Southern Construction Corps. And you are?" The tall man raised his nostrils and held out his right hand. "Babita, of the Horse Clan, Baron, and Myriarch of the Xilan Expeditionary Force!" Ignoring the long string of titles, Li Jinrong stared at him and asked seriously, "So, General Babita, what seems to be the problem?" "What's the problem?!" Babita bellowed indignantly. "I can't find my troops! You ask me what the problem is?!" "You... can't find your troops?" Li Jinrong stared blankly, then glanced at the dense, teeming horde of soldiers behind him, his expression turning odd. "Aren't they right here?" Seeing him playing dumb, Babita's temper flared even higher, and he roared furiously, "This isn't all of them! There are thirty thousand in total! Several trains have pulled in, but no matter how many times I count, there are only two myriads! You lost our men!" Li Jinrong nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood. "How could we possibly lose an entire division?!" "How the hell should I know?! They were riding your trains! You agreed to handle the logistics! Now my men are gone, and you're telling me you bear no responsibility?!" Feeling his words lacked sufficient punch, Babita roared again at the top of his lungs, "We paid good money for this!" That was certainly true. The Alliance hadn't paid out of pocket to handle their logistics; they had merely bundled transit capacity and resources at a discounted price and sold them for currency. Losing ten thousand men... This was indeed a massive incident. If ten thousand militarily trained refugees suddenly appeared inside the Alliance's borders, even if they hadn't been carrying weapons aboard the trains, it would still cause enormous trouble. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Li Jinrong's face darkened. He dared not delay, telling the man to wait while he hurried to the station's communications office. Before investigating where those troops had gone missing, he needed to find out the train numbers that had carried those soldiers and every station they had stopped at along the way... Meanwhile, over a thousand kilometers away. Off the picturesque shores of French Fry Port, cargo ships floated upon the sea. A throng of soldiers, sweating profusely in the heat, stared at the shore in complete bewilderment. Standing at the stern, an officer swallowed hard. Looking at the people waiting in full battle array on the shore, he turned to his adjutant with a dumbfounded expression, swallowed nervously, and asked, "Did we..." "...board the wrong ship?"