Chapter 919 - This Game Is Too Realistic

Chapter 919: We're Here to Solve This Problem The order to head to Settlement Ten wasn't an official directive. The main force of the Storm Legion was still stationed near Dawn City, guarding against threats both inside and outside the Alliance while also training newcomers, so Springwater didn't bring many people along. Among the legion members who had already arrived at Settlement Ten, aside from the 300 veteran players, there were about 200 newcomers who hadn't been in the team for even two months. After meeting with the manager, Commander Springwater returned to the save point, planning to secure his progress before logging off to discuss the next steps with everyone. For instance, how to stage the act of luring the snake out of its hole. At this moment, he unexpectedly ran into "I Am the Darkest," who had just returned from a mission outside. Springwater's eyes lit up, and he quickly stopped the unfortunate fellow. "Old Black! I've got an incredibly awesome power armor here, want to try it on?" Caught off guard, "I Am the Darkest" was clueless about what sort of madness Springwater was up to this time. Still, seeing the eager expression on Springwater's face, he instinctively grew cautious. “...No, thanks.” Seeing Old Black had wised up and wasn't taking the bait, Commander Springwater quickly tried to persuade him. "Come on! It's the same power armor as the manager's! It's not for sale and a rare opportunity you shouldn't miss!" "I Am the Darkest" chuckled, cursing, "MMP! When do you ever think of me for something good? It's definitely some bull***t scam." Commander Springwater pretended to be heartbroken, "You're wronging me here. When have I ever not thought of you for something good?" Unmoved, "I Am the Darkest" smiled and said, "Really? When?" The air went silent for a moment. Commander Springwater scratched his head awkwardly, ultimately forced to let out an embarrassed smile. "I Am the Darkest" sighed, held up two fingers, and offered him a chance. "...2000 silver coins." Commander Springwater didn’t hesitate to reply, "Deal." "I Am the Darkest": "..." MMP! Feels like I should have asked for more! ... In Rocky City, inside a partially collapsed building, several Velanteans in urban camouflage were diligently working at their terminals. After Wyatt stationed himself in the Rocky City area, the Southern Army Corps General Staff moved in more people along with equipment and transformed this abandoned building into a temporary base for the "Guillotine" operation group to draft more detailed battle plans. With the support of local raiders, the entire plan proceeded smoothly. However, that wasn’t enough. They needed not only to arm these thugs with iron pipe rifles but also to teach them how to use them and how to fight more effectively. For these tasks, they had to rely on the help of "professionals." Fortunately, the Eastern Army Corps' eastward expansion faction left hidden agents in the Free State, which proved useful. With funding from the Southern Army Corps, Condra Vanyuzhuram easily met their demands, providing experienced instructors along with weapons. Some of these people were Eastern expansionists who had participated in the Battle of Sunset, while others were officers from the expeditionary forces who had drifted into the Free State. While it was unrealistic to expect raiders to gain regular army combat capabilities in such a short time, they could at least serve as proper cannon fodder. If these means could eliminate the Alliance manager, it would be ideal. If not, they also had weapons of mass destruction as a last resort. For this, the General Staff prepared two sets of operation plans. The first plan involved having raiders disguise as refugees, infiltrate the settlement with a nuclear warhead, and then have two battalions launch an attack on Settlement Ten. The second plan was to strike when the manager left Settlement Ten, using portable anti-air missiles to shoot down his transport aircraft. Both plans had their respective strengths and weaknesses, yet Wyatt still felt unsatisfied. He aimed to make the plans as foolproof as possible, leaving no hidden threats. The operational meeting lasted the entire morning. After the meeting, Wyatt walked over to a broken window, lit a cigarette, and kept it in his mouth. At that moment, an intelligence officer seated at the terminal suddenly pushed back his chair and exclaimed excitedly. "We have news!" Hearing the commotion from behind him, Wyatt immediately extinguished the barely smoked cigarette and rushed to the intelligence officer's side, urgently asking. "What is it?" The intelligence officer, with an excited expression, handed the headphones to his superior while reporting. "We intercepted news from the radio station of Settlement One! According to the report, Settlement Ten plans to establish a new outlying district in the northern forest region! The Alliance manager plans to personally visit the area, and the visit is scheduled for tomorrow at 9 AM!" Standing beside Wyatt, the heavily armored adjutant Og frowned. “A new outlying district? For that settlement with just over 2,000 people?” The intelligence officer eagerly nodded. “That’s right! The report stated that the new outlying district is meant to resolve the ongoing influx of Poro and Velantean refugees… I’ve recorded the content! Please put on the headphones and I’ll play it for you!” Settlement Ten didn’t have its own radio station; the signal came from Settlement One, hundreds of kilometers away. While speaking, the intelligence officer tapped the touch screen twice to replay the recording he had just heard. Wyatt donned the headphones, furrowing his brow as he listened to the entire recording. His stern expression gradually turned into joy. Shortly after, he handed the headphones to Og with a smile on his face. “It seems even heaven is siding with us... The previous two plans are obsolete. Assemble our operatives immediately. I’m calling another meeting!” Og received the headphones with a slightly hesitant expression. He didn’t immediately put them on but looked at the exuberant Wyatt and said in a low voice. “I still think something's off... We’ve monitored the news from Settlement One before, but never heard anything related.” “Nothing strange about it—a story about Settlement Ten wouldn’t usually make it to Settlement One’s news channel.” Noticing the worry etched on Og's face, Wyatt smiled and said. “Besides, that pompous fellow has been wandering around aimlessly since Wufu City. It's logical to assume there's nothing interesting at Settlement Ten, so local officials might be trying to please him by fabricating something for funding… It makes sense logically.” Og forced a smile. Based on what he knew of the Alliance, this indeed felt more like something the Southern Army Corps would do. But seeing how confident his superior was, he decided not to argue further. After all, the same doubts arose back in Xifan Harbor. He constantly worried about betting on a group of ungrateful rabble, yet the outcome wasn't bad. Even though they hadn’t bet on Abusai correctly, they still secured Xifan Harbor and gained legitimate grounds for combat in the Borough Province. Perhaps he's just overthinking it… Seeing his uneasy deputy, Wyatt placed his hand on Og's shoulder. “...Listen, Og, we can’t wait for 100% certainty before acting. If you’re worried about letting a golden opportunity slip by, we can assign an air defense unit to the west of Settlement Ten, setting an ambush along the only path to Settlement Nine, keeping their transport planes under surveillance.” Og chuckled helplessly, nodding as he replied. “As you command.” ... The following morning, just as dawn broke, the northern gate of Settlement Ten suddenly opened. A total of six military off-road vehicles emerged from behind the gates, quietly heading north into the wilderness. Despite their low-profile departure, the convoy did not escape the eyes of the raiders who had kept watch outside the settlement all night. A kick from a fellow lookout jolted the drowsy observer awake. Quickly grabbing a pair of binoculars, he looked towards the convoy. The off-road vehicles were filled with soldiers in exoskeletons, even the spots on the roofs with mounted machine guns were occupied. The heavily armed appearance was enough to instill fear. Under normal circumstances, this ragtag group would never dare target such a convoy. But these weren't ordinary times—they had the Southern Army Corps backing them up. As long as they won! All those vehicles and equipment would be theirs! Two greedy pairs of eyes fixated on the convoy, as the raiders hidden behind the dirt ridge whispered to each other. “The one in the middle! Fourth from the front! Do you see it?” “I see it... blue power armor!” “That’s the one! It’s him!” “Quick, call the boss!” Having confirmed their target, one of the raiders quickly grabbed a walkie-talkie and babbled his findings to their leader lying in ambush. Meanwhile, about twenty kilometers away near the forest area. Hiding in an abandoned small town, Claw Hunter sported a sinister grin on his face. Just as he set the ambush here last night, he came across a few mutated tigers and effortlessly slaughtered them all with his modified combat prosthetics. At this moment, he was like a humanoid Deathclaw, eagerly anticipating the upcoming battle. If it weren't for the Southern Army benefactors insisting on a battle plan, he would've charged into the settlement with his men last night for a glorious massacre! “...That guy is mine. Nobody better try to take him from me.” Seeing their boss's bloodthirsty demeanor, the subordinates standing nearby involuntarily shivered, quickly forcing smiles and responding. “Don’t worry, boss, we won’t fight you for him!” “We’ll hold his arms down for you!” Claw Hunter sneered, speaking in a raspy voice. “No need for you to interfere, I’ll take him on myself!” This was destined to be the fight that would make him a legend. Clenching his right hand and watching the claws extending from the back of his hand, a content smile appeared on his face. Meanwhile, in the off-road vehicle speeding northward, dressed like a tin can, “I Am the Darkest” struggled to move his neck and indignantly muttered to himself. “Damn… does the manager really wear this crap? No damn way!” This wasn't the manager's armor at all! No, to be precise, this thing shouldn't even be called power armor! It was merely a reskinned exoskeleton! And, indeed, that was the case. The hallmark of power armor is a nuclear-powered battery, which this disposable hunk of metal definitely didn’t have. Moreover, given the frugal nature of a certain someone, it was unlikely he’d use his equipment in this bait operation. Though power armor has tri-proof capabilities, there's no armor known to withstand a nuclear blast. Even with money, one wouldn’t waste it that way. Back during the Wufu City incident, Chu Guang knew someone had set their sights on him and had arranged for Boulder Industrial to replicate a downgraded version of the P-10A "Order" power armor using the K-10 "Iron Wall" exoskeleton as a framework. As for this so-called replica, it basically just copied the appearance. The four "Raptor-1" turbojet boosters and the "Hippo-1" portable fusion reactor—essential power components—were all removed. These were replaced with metallic hydrogen batteries, topped off with Klein blue paint, and considered done. The armor’s appearance was indistinguishable from what Chu Guang usually wore, but in terms of performance, they were nowhere near comparable. Listening to “I Am the Darkest” complaining over the communication channel, Commander Springwater replied with a mocking grin. “Who cares if it’s real or not, they can’t tell from the outside.” As the bumpy ride wore on his backside, “I Am the Darkest” grimaced and asked. “So what exactly is our mission?” Springwater fell silent for a moment before sighing. “…You’ve already gotten this far in the mission, and you still don’t know?” Just as he spoke, “I Am the Darkest” suddenly noticed that all his comrades in the vehicle were wearing the Alliance’s classic "Type 5" exoskeletons, complete with the Guards Corps paint and insignia. Hold on a second— Guards Corps insignia! Before, his attention was entirely on this shoddy armor, so he hadn't noticed what others were wearing. It was only now that he suddenly realized. “Holy crap! Does this mean—” Seeing he’d figured it out, Commander Springwater chuckled and revealed the plan. “Not much, when the shooting starts, just draw some of their fire. Don’t die too quickly, that’s all. Of course, surviving would be even better.” “I Am the Darkest”: “…@#%!” Hearing the curses, Springwater felt a little ashamed, coughed, and said. “Alright... We're nearing the combat zone. We've already scouted raider activities nearby, so let's start radio silence.” “Good luck!” With those words, Springwater cut off communications, and “I Am the Darkest”’s cursing suddenly fell silent. Meanwhile, at the action base a hundred kilometers away in Rock City, an intelligence officer seated at a terminal suddenly furrowed his brow. He stood up and reported to Og standing by the window. “We’ve intercepted a radio signal…” Og immediately responded. “Can you parse the contents?” The officer looked troubled. “I can, but… I don’t understand what they’re saying.” “…” Og was momentarily speechless, casting a glance outside the window. A sense of foreboding loomed over him, but at this critical juncture, there was no time to make adjustments. Wyatt had already taken all combat personnel to the vicinity of the ambush point. Including the nuclear bomb they purchased from an arms dealer. Simultaneously, a cargo ship carrying 20,000 soldiers was en route to Fries Harbor. Whether or not this “Guillotine” operation they orchestrated would proceed as planned, a new war was imminent. He hoped it would be successful. He prayed silently in his heart. Meanwhile, on the coastline to the west of Settlement Ten, a man who should not have been there was inspecting the area with a group of Guardsmen. This was none other than Chu Guang. After leaving the bandit suppression task to Springwater, he set out with Lu Bei early in the morning, heading outside the settlement. After all, there was no guarantee that the settlement didn’t have spies from the raiders or the Southern Army. Before the success of the “lure the snake out of its hole” tactic, it was best for him not to show up. And truthfully speaking, Settlement Ten was so small there wasn’t much to see, but there were several landmarks outside worth noting. For example, not far from the settlement's wall on the beach was a stranded, seaweed-covered derelict ship. The ship was surprisingly intact, with its anti-rust paint still intact and only a large breach at the bottom. The ship’s name was "Golden Coast," the very vessel sunk by the Torch Church in the South Sea Alliance. Back then, the ship intended to land in the northeastern coastal region of Haiya Province to set up a research station to study the so-called “Heaven” of the Torch Church, but it had been sunk by aquatic mutants before reaching the shore. Later, as the Alliance developed the Death Coast and salvage operations began, this derelict was recovered by scavengers from Settlement Ten and dragged ashore. The South Sea Alliance previously planned to buy it back and turn it into a museum to educate future generations, but considering the island's limited space, they decided to establish the museum at Settlement Ten instead. In a sense, it fulfilled the wish of the Golden Coast and its crew. Currently, workers at Settlement Ten were cleaning the seaweed and shells off the derelict, expecting to begin museum construction once that task was completed. Aside from the Golden Coast expedition ship’s remains, another site worth noting was the glowing coast, several kilometers southwest of here. Chu Guang had previously learned from Li Jingrong that the place was called Luminous Sea, said to have been formed by a radioactive weapon’s strike on a mutant slime mold mother nest. It was said that two hundred years ago, the luminescent ocean was even more spectacular, with light filling the entire Death Coast. However, not much radioactive material remained there today. According to scientific surveys, the glow was mainly caused by mutated shellfish species that thrived on radioactive elements gathering in the area. Research on these mutant organisms had already been initiated at the Alliance's bio-research institute. When Chu Guang first heard the news, he was somewhat disappointed. He initially expected to find pre-war equipment or helium-3 fuel there, but it turned out to be just a bunch of shells. Perhaps someday in the future, the bio-research institute led by He Ya might bring him new surprises. But that was a tale for another time. Walking further along the beach, Chu Guang spotted a small wooden cabin nestled on the shore. The cabin’s owner had constructed a rain shelter and a makeshift dock for a small fishing boat. This seems to be a local fisherman's storm shelter or something similar. Beside the wooden hut, Chu Guang noticed an old man drying fishing nets. Just as Chu Guang spotted him, the old man also saw Chu Guang and appeared momentarily stunned. Since he had been noticed, Chu Guang decided not to hide and approached directly. Though the expression on the old man's face was somewhat nervous, it was also filled with excitement and curiosity. “Are you... the Manager, sir?” Chu Guang smiled and replied, “I didn't expect you'd recognize me.” The old man smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head with his dry hand. “You must be joking. Who around here doesn't know you?” Chu Guang continued with a smile. “Are you from Leaping Horse Province?” The old man nodded, smiling as he replied, “From Liu Creek Town in Leaping Horse Province, also by the sea. About half a year ago, while fishing, I fiddled with the radio, heard the broadcast, decided to come and have a look, and then moved my family here.” Chu Guang casually asked, “How have you found it since arriving? Compared to your previous home?” The old man sincerely expressed, “This is so much better. At least the fish I catch are mine, and I don’t have to share with the town mayor's family. Trucks regularly come to collect from the market by the roadside, so there’s no worry about sales.” “It’s not just the fish. My two grandsons and granddaughters go to the settlement's school, where teachers teach them arithmetic and writing daily without charging a fee. Sometimes, I feel a little embarrassed... surely textbooks cost something, we're not short on money.” Seeing the sincere look on the old man’s face, Chu Guang smiled and said, “No need to feel embarrassed. Your grandchildren are future pillars of the Alliance. The Alliance's future depends on them. If we charged them, we’d be the ones without a conscience.” “Oh, you're joking again," the old man laughed, his face flushing. “Those little ones of mine aren't that promising. I'd be happy if they don't cause trouble for the Alliance in the future.” “Well, you never know. The road ahead is long,” Chu Guang chuckled, continuing, “By the way, old man, are there any areas where life is inconvenient for you?” “Inconvenient areas... I can't think of any,” the old man pondered seriously. “But I did hear drivers at the market complain. Recently, quite a few raiders have migrated from Leaping Horse Province, so now they have to bring two guards when they drive.” Chu Guang’s heart stirred as he asked, “Do you know where they’re hiding?” The old man shook his head. “To be honest, these guys are like cockroaches, everywhere and not just in one place... Finding their exact hiding spots is no easy task.” At this point, the old man smiled again, somewhat embarrassed. “But speaking frankly, bandit gangs are scattered across the wasteland; it's not just here... Compared to other settlements, ours is already quite safe!” Seeing the satisfied smile on the old man’s face, Chu Guang smiled and said, “You might think it's sufficient, but I feel it’s not enough. Don't worry, old man, we're here this time to solve that very problem!” As Chu Guang spoke, Lu Bei suddenly approached, reporting in a deep voice. “Sir, we’ve spotted a group of unidentified armed forces to the west... they're equipped with unrecognized exoskeleton models and an off-road vehicle fitted with a missile rack. Judging by the missile launcher’s radar configuration, it's likely an anti-air missile.” Chu Guang’s expression turned slightly peculiar. “How many are there?” Lu Bei answered solemnly, “There appears to be a company’s worth.” Chu Guang thought briefly and said, “Take me to see it.” Lu Bei hesitated but seeing that Chu Guang wasn’t in the mood to discuss further, he ultimately nodded. “Yes, sir!” Meanwhile, about 20 kilometers north of the settlement, the off-road vehicle carrying "I Am the Darkest" finally reached the edge of the ambush site. Players from the Storm Legion had arrived at their combat positions, and “I Am the Darkest,” clad in makeshift armor, grumbled as he disembarked unsteadily. Observing from the shadows, Wyatt frowned. He had heard that the Alliance's manager often traveled with a distinctive blue power armor, and he should be accustomed to operating it. However, the person in the blue power armor in the distance was walking with an uncoordinated gait the moment he got off the vehicle. Moments earlier, Wyatt had been excited. Now, an ominous feeling crept in. Yet, there was no time for contemplation. Simultaneously with the Alliance manager’s appearance, an impatient individual couldn’t hold back and sounded the charge. Staring at his prey in close proximity, Claw Hunter suddenly erupted with excitement, shouting loudly. “That’s the one!” “Charge! Crush them!” “Except for that blue tin can, leave it to me!” — (To be continued...) (Thanks to "Li Huo Ah" for becoming a sponsor!!!)