Chapter 983 "Handle" (1/2)

The streets were filled with wind and sand, and only the barking of dogs was left in the light red mist. The noisy gunfire in the distance had stopped.

Hiding in an abandoned shop along the street, Malik looked nervously at the street outside the window, his heart beating hard.

This place is at least 500 meters away from the place where he encountered the sniper attack.

If nothing else, the sniper probably didn't catch up, and didn't even notice that he had quietly changed his position.

But even so, Malik still did not dare to take it lightly and was still carefully observing the situation outside.

At this time, the [Resume Communication] icon suddenly popped up on the helmet's eyepiece, startling him.

"Oh shit……"

Looking at the belated signal, Malik cursed, reached out and quickly turned off the signal interface, entering radio silence.

It took less than two seconds for the signal to disappear.

Looking at the gray icon, Malik finally breathed a sigh of relief and felt relieved.

In this way, even if the Alliance captured his teammates, they would not be able to locate his general location.

Thinking of Warren who died tragically, Malik couldn't help but feel frightened.

no way.

The impact of shattering a car-load of brains was so powerful that even after all this time, his stomach still couldn't help churning.

Malik, who judged that he was out of trouble, took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

To be honest, he didn't expect that the alliance would send fighter jets, and the signal jamming bomb was even more unexpected.

There is only one explanation——

From the moment they entered this area, all of them had been targeted.

Even before they started taking action, the other party had already planned every step to ambush them.

Thinking that his group had sneaked into the sacks that the other party had arranged in advance under their noses, Malik couldn't help but feel an unbearable heat on his face.

This is too stupid!

"...We have to find a way to get out of here."

With a silent thought in his mind, he stuck his head out of the window and confirmed the direction of escape.

However, at this moment, he noticed a mutated eagle owl standing on the broken street lamp across the street.

The eagle owl stared at him intently, looking at him, its plump cheeks undulating slightly.

Facing that slightly provocative gaze, Malik suddenly felt an ominous premonition in his heart.

Almost subconsciously, he loosened his grip on the rifle grip and reached for the silenced pistol at his waist with his right hand.

In order to prevent the alliance from being alerted when escaping, it is the best solution to resolve this hidden danger in advance!

However, before his right hand could reach the pistol at his waist, a huge force suddenly and silently struck his hip.

"clang!"

There was a dull dull sound, followed by Malik's growl of pain.

"ah--"

Having been stabbed in the right leg, he subconsciously bent his knees and touched one knee to the ground.

Fortunately, he was wearing a power suit, otherwise this knife would have definitely chopped off his calf.

Before Malik could recover from the severe pain, the feeling of the sharp instrument being withdrawn from his popliteal fossa made every neuron in his body tense up!

Almost subconsciously, he swung his right fist and struck behind him, and his arm hit the dagger that was coming across from the side.

"clang--!"

The sound of metal clanking echoed in the abandoned shop. Malik turned around and finally saw the attacker clearly.

It was a woman wearing a cloak.

There was a deep scar on the weather-beaten face, and hatred deeper than the scar was printed on those eyes.

Meeting those eyes engraved with hatred, Malik's pupils shrank unconsciously.

"……who are you?"

His intuition told him that this guy was not from the alliance!

The man didn't answer, but only took a step forward, closing the distance between the two parties again.

"court death!"

Seeing the man rushing up with a knife, Malik smiled coldly, raised his rifle and fired.

However, less than a second after the burst of gun flames erupted, half of the receiver was cut off by the flickering light of the sword.

So fast!

Malik was startled, and reflexively pulled out his pistol and fired. However, as soon as he fired two shots, he was grabbed by the man who was nearby and held his arm. Several shots hit the ceiling.

Large pieces of gravel and dust shook off from the ceiling, showering Malik in the face.

Shocked and angry in his heart, he raised his foot and kicked forward. Unexpectedly, he stepped on the cloak and was easily dodged by the man.

"Buzz——"

The turning sword light made a buzzing sound that broke through the air, and with the help of the body turning in the air, it struck the outside of his left knee with the force of thunder.

This time, both legs were stabbed.

Although the blade only left a shallow scratch on the power armor, it still made Malik couldn't help but let out a stinging growl.

The distance between the two sides is too close!

Almost shoulder to shoulder, nose to nose!

Malik felt like a lumbering elephant, and the cloaked woman was like a rat scurrying over him, biting left and right.

Although the attack was like scraping and could not damage his powered armor at all, it was not an option to continue fighting like this!

Just when he was trying to stabilize his body, the man suddenly jumped back and distanced himself from him.

Malik's heart wrinkled with alarm, and an ominous premonition crept into the back of his head.

At this moment, the flames of the explosion suddenly exploded from behind him.

The bomb seemed to be attached to his back, and the boiling flames made him have no time to react. He staggered forward as if he was hit by a club on the back of his head, and was pressed to the ground by the hot shock wave.

[Alarm! Power components are seriously damaged! ]

A yellow alarm was jumping on the eyepiece of the helmet, and Malik felt that all the parts of his body were dislocated by the explosion.

Whether it was mechanical parts or flesh parts.

Shaking his dizzy head, he supported the ground with both hands and was about to stand up, but felt something like a brick "snap" on the back of his head.

Cold sweat instantly drilled out from his forehead and poured into his collar along the connection between the helmet and the armor.

Malik didn't think much, immediately gave up resistance, and honestly lay on the ground.

He was completely convinced.

After a fight, he was sure that he was no match for this guy, even if he was wearing power armor.

"I surrender..." The woman didn't say anything, but cast her eyes towards the street lamp not far away, and looked at the eagle owl standing on the street lamp. The eagle owl seemed to understand her eyes, and flew into the sky with its wings fluttering, circled a circle, and flew to the north. After watching the eagle owl leave, the woman retracted her sight from the sky, and then looked at the disciple of the Enlightenment Society who was lying on the ground with his five bodies prostrated. She spoke slowly in a voice without any ups and downs. "Take it off yourself." ... On the other side, under the half-collapsed skyscraper, a "Xiaguang" power armor walked out of the shadow of the ruins. The ceramic steel breastplate was covered with pits and bullet holes, and the messy scratches almost covered the light gray paint. The pair of alloy forged mantis knives were almost bent! The appearance looked embarrassed, as if he had just crawled out of the gates of hell. Only experienced hands can see that the damage is superficial, and most of it is concentrated on the detachable chest armor.

As for the mantis blade, it is a consumable, especially when it hits an opponent with the same armor, it is normal for the blade to curl.

It is more incredible that he can use these two mantis blades to the end!

This guy is a master!

Looking at the power armor coming out from the bottom of the building, the [Taran Raider] who was standing in front of the captives and pretending to be cool opened his arms with a smile on his face and took the initiative to greet him.

"Well done, brother! Would you like to consider joining us Sha——"

The player grinned, took off the two mantis blades and threw them on the ground, and then decisively stretched out his right hand.

"You're welcome! Pay me the wages, brother."

"Fuck! So ruthless?"

The player laughed.

"Not necessarily, it depends on the situation."

Taran Raider: "...&￥#x-on:!"

Fuck!

Who are you looking down on!

But even if he was foul-mouthed, he would still pay the agreed wages.

Besides, the money had been paid to the mercenary guild of the alliance in advance, and he didn't even need to pay on the spot. After completing it, he just needed to confirm and the money would automatically go to the other party's account.

After receiving the bounty, the player didn't rush to leave. He walked to the outside of the city with a smirk and stood guard.

The mission was not over yet.

The previous encounter was a temporary arrangement. The mission he received from the Desert Corps was to cooperate with the latter to complete the connection with the key NPC. He could only get the remaining money according to the completion of the entire mission process.

As a professional individual player, he still had this professional ethics.

Looking at the leader of the Desert Corps who looked frustrated, Junichiro Shokawa, who was also doing odd jobs, threw the combat knife in his hand and walked over with a smirk.

"Old Baldy, you are seducing individual investors again."

Hearing this presumptuous name, the Talan Raider almost choked on his saliva and turned his head to curse.

"Get lost, my name is Taran! You are the one who is bald, your whole family is bald!" The comedian rolled his eyes and said with a smile. "Tsk, who would remember such a serious name, it sounds like an NPC." Taran Raider chuckled. "What about you, you look like a corpse?" The comedian rolled his eyes to the sky. "Get lost." Although this guy is not from the Desert Corps, Taran is familiar with him, including the sand sculpture who often hangs out with this guy. Since they always do tasks together, Taran has seduced the two of them to join the Desert Corps more than once, but the latter has never agreed, and the former is too lazy to mention it after talking too much. Not everyone likes to join the organization. And Taran thought about it, his Desert Corps is really not attractive. There is no generous benefits, and it rarely appears in the center of the wasteland stage. Occasionally doing some marginal work may mess it up. To be honest, he was a little flattered to receive the task issued by the manager himself this time. After all, the operation in Evernight Harbor was a mess...

After chatting with a few casual players, Taran turned back to the open space where the prisoners were being held.

The brothers in the regiment should have finished the interrogation.

Just as he expected, the [Medical Miracle] in charge of the interrogation came over.

"After the interrogation, they are from the Desert Scorpion."

"Desert Scorpion?" Tallan Raider frowned and muttered thoughtfully, "What the hell."

Medical miracles are reported succinctly.

"According to their own explanation, they should be the special forces of the Enlightenment Society. The key members are all residents of the shelter, and several of them are awakened people who have been injected with gene expression-inducing drugs."

Tallan Raider's eyes lit up and he smiled happily.

"Awesome, we defeated a special forces unit!"

Medical Miracle said with a subtle expression.

"If I remember correctly... there should be no regular troops in the Enlightenment Society. In theory, all troops are 'special forces'."

The Tallarn Raider coughed.

"It's not important! What's important is that we stood up!"

Looking at the overly optimistic leader, Medical Miracle sighed, paused for a while and continued.

"Judging from the results of separate interrogations, they were attracted by radio signals just like us. At least this shows that they and the NPC named 'Zhuang Lan' should not know each other."

"In addition, their commander is a talented person. He and you came together and planned to use the signal base station in the ruins of the building as a bait to catch us off guard... and then hit our guns."

To be honest, when he first heard about the leader's plan, he was full of pessimism and was even prepared to eat sand in the desert for a month.

Given the communication conditions in the desert, the other party may not be able to receive the signal, and if it does, it may not care, and if it does, it may not send a group of people over with great fanfare.

Unexpectedly, the other party actually received this clue, and also took this line seriously and sent a whole company of troops over.

It can only be said that we have met our opponent.

"Hahaha, he's such a talent, but it's a pity that he's still half a step behind me," the Taran Raider burst into laughter, stroking his chin and urging, "Where is this talent? Where is he?"

When Medical Miracle heard this, his expression suddenly became awkward.

"Well, there are no prisoners... Sha Diao said that he seemed to have seen a guy wearing power armor, but he let the guy run away. I don't know if he was the leader of the gang."

The Tallarn Raider glared.

"What the hell, he ran away?! What does this loser do for food-"

"Who the hell are you calling useless!?"

Before Taran could finish his words, an angry voice came from the side.

The two of them turned around and saw the [Desert Eagle] carrying a sniper rifle walking towards them.

There were two people following behind him.

One of them was wearing a desert-colored cloak, and the other had a embarrassed look on his face and was tied tightly with ropes.

"Here he is! That commander of the Desert Scorpion."

Pulling the rope and driving Malik forward, the sand sculpture cursed at Taran.

"MMP! I've been bragging all day, and I've done all the work. You can make me the leader of the group!"

Tallan Raider's old face turned red, he wanted to refute but couldn't, and finally suppressed his words.

Medical Miracle looked at the sand sculpture in surprise.

"Okay, brother, did you catch him?"

The originally aggressive sand sculpture turned red for some reason, coughed dryly, and spoke in a hurry.

"Well, I picked it up...it doesn't matter. By the way, I killed his adjutant with one shot in the head!"

The small sound made Medical Miracle wonder if there was something wrong with his ears.

At this time, Taran suddenly noticed the stranger in a cloak, and cast a questioning look at the man.

"Who is this?"

Seeing the two people standing opposite looking at him inquiringly, the guy in the cloak reached out and took off his hood.

Looking at that weathered face, an unexpected expression appeared on the Taran Raider's face.

woman?

In the dangerous desert, it is rare to see a solitary traveler.

It is even rarer for women to act alone.

The man nodded slightly and introduced himself.

"My name is Zhuang Lan."

Medical Miracle and Tallan Raider looked at each other, the expressions of surprise on their faces became more obvious.

"Are you Zhuang Lan?"

Zhuang Lan nodded and spoke slowly.

"Yes, survivors of Vault 68, organizers of the Watchmen organization... before you extended your tentacles to the desert, we had been fighting against the forces related to the Enlightenment Society for a long time."

After a pause, she continued.

"...In addition, the signal you received was the one I sent to you."

The Taran Raider frowned slightly and stared at her intently, trying to see any flaws in her face.

"I don't understand, since you sent the signal, why didn't you come out to see us."

Zhuang Lan was silent for a while and looked at the half-collapsed skyscraper on the side.

"Because...this is not the place to talk."

"You can receive the signal, and people who shouldn't receive the signal will also receive it. I wanted to wait for you to leave before following me, but I didn't expect that you never came out and stayed here."

There was a subtle awkwardness in the air.

Thinking that it was his idea to ambush the people of the Enlightenment Society here, Taran couldn't help but reach out and touch the bridge of his nose.

Seeing that a certain idiot group leader was still doubting the identity of the NPC next to him, Sha Diao hesitated for a while, and finally he coughed dryly and spoke.

"I don't think there is any need to doubt her identity... To be honest, she actually caught this guy."

As he spoke, he pointed at Malik who was tied into a rice dumpling.

When the medical miracle standing on the side heard this, his eyes almost bulged out, looking at the woman who didn't seem to be very good at hitting with disbelief.

Just this guy?

Can you kill an awakened person wearing power armor?

In fact, it was also because he entered the game late and only got the helmet in the past year, so he didn't know much about what happened in Vault 0.

However, Zhuang Lan was very modest and did not emphasize that he had captured the prisoner himself.

Seeing a pair of eyes falling on the prisoner, she paused for a moment and cast her gaze over.

"Although there were some accidents, it was a blessing in disguise. Unexpectedly, we caught a big fish."

Looking at the guy tied into a rice dumpling, Taran raised his eyebrows slightly.

"You mean this guy?"

Zhuang Lan nodded slowly and said.

"Malik, the captain of the Desert Scorpion, a senior disciple of the Enlightenment Society... I had heard of his name before I left the Enlightenment Society. He was already somewhat famous at that time, but I didn't expect that he would make any progress over the years. No."

"You are indeed one of ours..." Malik turned his head, stared at Zhuang Lan, and squeezed out a harsh word from the gap between his lips with a gloomy face, "You are a traitor, you betrayed the shelter, betrayed Everyone..."

The corner of Zhuang Lan's mouth curled up into a playful smile, but the playful smile soon turned into self-deprecation.

She burned herself with the idea of ​​"burning out a new era", but it turned out that she was just a hopeless evildoer... Wasn't she the same as before?

She didn't believe it at first either.

Until she found the lost administrator's log and dug out the bloody truth with her own hands.

Sure enough, managers know managers best.

It is true that it was the Enlightenment that saved her from hell.

But the fire was also set by them...

Facing Malik's hateful gaze, she said in a voice that didn't have too many fluctuations.

"If you are interested, I can tell you the story of Vault 68. Once you understand the full history, you will know who the real traitor is."

"However, I think this is a meaningless thing. Even if you understand what we are going through, you may not sympathize with us. People will only believe what they want to believe, and they will only empathize when it hurts. I used to be like Same for you. I don't know which shelter you come from. You need to find your own journal...if you still have this chance."

Marik said with a sneer.

"...What do you want to say? Is it a lie those wastelanders made up to frame us?"

Perhaps because he thought that sentence was too stupid, Zhuang Lan did not answer his question or look at him again. Instead, he turned his attention to the friend from the alliance in front of him.

"To make a long story short, I sent you that signal... I actually wanted to tell your manager that I had completed the original bet. This is the manager's log of Vault 68. In addition to the log, the hard drive also comes with Map, you can use the map to find its ruins, although there is nothing left there.”

As she spoke, she took out a thumb-sized card from her arms and handed it to the hand of the person in front of her.

Tallan Raider solemnly took the card, inserted it into the VM on his left arm and completed reading the data.

"Our manager asked me to bring you a message. I am glad that you have abided by the agreement. Your freedom is no longer borrowed from him. From now on, it is your own."

After a pause, he continued.

"Of course, one code equals one code. The Eastern Empire is still looking for you. After all, you killed one of their people."

"Thank you... As for the Eastern Empire, I will use my own way to atone for my sins."

Zhuang Lan nodded slightly, raised his head and continued.

"Also, there is one more thing that I feel the need to tell you."

Tallarn Raider said immediately.

"Please speak!"

Zhuang Lan continued.

“Our watch organization’s intelligence network in the desert discovered that the Enlightenment Society has recently stopped expanding its sphere of influence in the desert, and instead moved people and materials scattered in the desert to the area of ​​Vault 13. "

Medical Miracle was stunned for a moment and asked in confusion.

"Gathering people and supplies? What do they want to do?"

The main reason why the Alliance can't do anything about the Enlightenment Society is because these guys are so good at hiding.

After all, the Southern Legion's factory still has coordinates, and the weapons and ammunition of these guys are all made in black boxes, which highlights a flexible deployment and is not easy to transfer.

Now that they have gathered people and materials, aren't they afraid of being dumped in one fell swoop?

"I don't know," Zhuang Lan shook her head, thought for a while and continued, "Shelter No. 13 is located near the wreckage of the orbital elevator base, and the depth is said to be one thousand meters. According to unreliable information, it seems that it was once used as a 'handle' Preparatory options... If you don’t know what a ‘handle’ is, please pass this sentence on to your managers for me.”

The Tallarn raider looked at her intently and spoke quickly.

"I know about the Torch Project...you mean, can it withstand the strike of a neutron-killing strategic weapon?"

Zhuang Lan shook his head.

"Theoretically, all shelters can withstand it. However, due to the special location of the shelter, No. 13 should be relatively large. It is said that it can accommodate millions of people? Of course, I don't know the specific conditions inside. Even the coordinates of this shelter were kept secret before... However, I believe Mr. Malik must have visited that paradise."

Seeing the pairs of eyes looking at him, Malik felt panicked, but still smiled with a cold face.

"Do you think I'll tell you?"

"I can't say, but I think that gentleman should be able to change your mind."

Zhuang Lan glanced at Malik meaningfully, and then looked at the alliance soldier in front of him.

"I'll leave this guy to you. I hope you won't change hands and let him go. At least let him disappear for a while."

"We will," Taran nodded solemnly, looked at her and continued, "What about you? What are your plans next?"

Zhuang Lan said without thinking.

"I plan to use his identity to sneak into Vault 13 and have a look. Maybe I can figure out what Enlightenment is doing inside."

Hearing this crazy idea, Malik couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"Pretend to be me?! You, what the hell are you kidding! There's no way you can get in!"

He, who was quite honest at first, suddenly started struggling, but the two strength beasts holding him down would not let him move around and held him firmly down.

Looking at Malik, whose face was full of panic, Zhuang Lan's lips curved in a playful way.

"How will you know if you don't try it? I'm still somewhat confident in my disguise skills."

Hearing that the Enlightenment Society has always regarded Vault 13 as its rear area, she has long wanted to sneak in and have a look, but unfortunately she has never found a suitable opportunity or a suitable partner.

Fortunately, when she was worried, Malik came to the door.

Although he is a disciple, he is a senior disciple after all. He can have access to some things that ordinary disciples cannot have access to, and he will not be as conspicuous as a "guide".

The most important thing is that she, who has been engaged in intelligence collection work in the Enlightenment Society, has his resume and personal information. If she imitates others, she may be a gangster, but imitating this guy will not.

She was even confident that her secret would not be revealed even if she slept in the same bed with his wife.

Medical miracles suddenly reared their heads.

"Ah... I have an idea."

Before Zhuang Lan could speak, the Taran Raiders had already looked at him alertly.

"What bad idea did you come up with again?"

"What do you mean by a bad idea? Can the ideas I come up with be as bad as those of yours?" Medical Miracle glanced at him sideways, looked at Zhuang Lan and continued with a smile, "I think your subordinates are either dead or captured. , Just go back alone, if no one suspects it, then it’s a ghost. "

Zhuang Lan said cautiously.

"Being suspected is a given, but it actually doesn't matter. I have been engaged in intelligence work before. I know very well how they will interrogate me and how to gain their trust."

Medical Miracle said patiently.

"Having said that, it must still be difficult to do this, right? How about this, we pick someone here to be your prisoner, so that you can go back to work."

Zhuang Lan looked at him confused.

"This... do you know what you are talking about? Being captured by the Enlightenment Society? This is no joke..."

Those guys don't know how to use tricks.

For enemies - especially prisoners who have no use value, they will directly use the memory extraction device to squeeze out every memory in their heads.

As she spoke, she looked anxiously at the soldier's superior, but she didn't expect that the latter, after hearing the idea, instead of feeling anything wrong, actually touched his chin thoughtfully.

After a moment, Taran, who had finished the calculation in his mind, raised his head and said with a rather surprised expression.

"Hiss... you guys can come up with some useful ideas occasionally."

A hearty smile appeared on the face of the medical miracle.

"Hey, if you had listened to me earlier, our corps would have become T0 a long time ago."

The Desert Eagle curled her lips in disdain.

"Take a few handfuls of eggs, please."

He admitted that this idea was okay, but if he wanted to be T0 with this little cleverness, then the streets would be filled with strong T0 players.

Zhuang Lan: "...?"

Although she didn't understand what they were communicating, she could tell from their tone and demeanor that it wasn't negative.

Are these guys serious? !

Zhuang Lan looked at several people with a worried look and said.

"I can't let you risk it."

The medical miracle smiled and waved his hand.

"What a big deal, it's not like we didn't go to jail when we were in Yongye Port. Well, since this idea is mine, let me have a medical miracle——"

"Just let me, the leader of the regiment (the Sanren boss), be the prisoner!"

Before the words of medical miracle could be finished, Tallan Raider and Desert Eagle shouted impatiently.

With such an interesting mission, how can you give your teammates an advantage?

And when they found out that someone was actually competing with them, they suddenly stared at each other.

"You're not even a member of our corps. How can you have anything to do with it?!"

"Smile, I am also a member of the alliance, why does it have nothing to do with me? But you, you are the leader after all, do you have the nerve to rob us civilians?"

"What the hell do you have to do with civilians?!"

"Don't rob me, you can still let me have a medical miracle——"

"Go, go, go play."

"Damn it! I've been playing for over half a year, and I'm still new to this?!"

Seeing the people arguing over "who is going to die?", Zhuang Lan was speechless, but she couldn't help but feel awe in her heart.

Although she couldn't understand their language, she could feel that they sincerely hoped that the person who survived was their comrade, and the person who died was herself.

What loyalty...

Unlike Zhuang Lan, Malik, who was tied into a rice dumpling and thrown aside, had a different feeling when he saw the noisy group of guys.

It's okay to pretend to be a prisoner...

It's too much to look down on their interrogation methods.

Just pretend to be a corpse.

His face was indifferent, but he was sneering in his heart.

"Haha, looking for death!"