Chapter 503 Flame-Shaped Emblem (1/2)

Not far behind the Heart of Steel, a smaller airship followed closely.

Inside the bridge.

Staring at the modified Heart of Steel not far away, General McClung's face was filled with gloom.

He still remembered the congratulations that the guy in the tin can teased him when he got off the airship.

He swore.

The humiliation suffered here must be repaid tenfold in this body!

Standing not far next to him, Adria, the captain of the Arbitrator, frowned and pondered for a long time, and then suddenly spoke abruptly.

"I still can't figure out how to get that thing off."

Compared with his Arbitrator, that guy was like a hedgehog armed with artillery. Even if it faced an army of 100,000 people head-on, the latter would probably be able to just stare.

Although this sentence was not meant to be sarcastic, it was particularly harsh in McClun's ears, so much so that the latter's brow couldn't help but twitch.

"That was an accident..."

Seeing that this colleague didn't want to talk more, Adria shrugged regretfully and did not continue to ask.

Although he has one more star on his shoulders than McClung, he has to consider the background behind this guy.

Unlike Griffin, who was an officer from a civilian background, McClung was a noble officer with status just like himself. Although the officers who followed the eastward expansion movement were in bad luck, he would not lose his power because of this. His experience fighting on the Eastern Front might actually become his qualifications.

Political stance is one aspect, but in a place like Triumph City, identity stance is also something that cannot be ignored. We are all members of the Air Force system, so there is no need to offend others with a few words.

The silence on the bridge lasted briefly.

At this moment, McClun suddenly took the initiative and spoke.

"By the way, how did Griffin die?"

"Stroke." Adria responded reflexively, but McClun glanced disdainfully.

"Stop talking nonsense, I've never seen anything physically wrong with that idiot."

Adria was silent for a moment and sighed.

"Don't embarrass me. He is from the Army system. If you are curious, you should ask Joseph. He may know something."

McClun said nothing, nodded, and stared motionlessly at the Heart of Steel outside the bridge.

On the distant deck, planes were pushed onto the deck one after another. What was surprising was that those planes had neither propellers nor engine nozzles.

"A very bold idea," Adria said approvingly, "I heard from the captain of the Falcon Kingdom Guards that they put this kind of wooden aircraft on an airship and threw it down, and used the height of the airship to provide gliding power... …This kind of aircraft can save the propeller and engine and can be produced by two carpenters.”

"Although it seems that the inability to take off from the ground is a problem, it is quite interesting as a one-time use prop."

After returning home, he planned to talk to his acquaintances at the Air Force Equipment Manufacturing Bureau to see if he could come up with something similar.

But just a glider is useless.

This also involves the modification of strategic equipment such as airships. Not only does it need to convince the Air Force Command, but it also has to find a captain who is willing to cooperate.

This may be a bit difficult.

After all, Triumph City does not think that the indigenous equipment has any reference value, and it does not feel that this is a war with the Alliance at all, but a contest between Triumph City and Ideal City.

"Can you raise the height a little?" McClun, who was staring at the deck, suddenly said.

Adria nodded and waved his hand casually.

"Rise three hundred meters."

The adjutant standing aside stood at attention.

"yes!"

…

The Arbitrator climbed higher and reached the best viewing area. In the rolling dust not far away, a long shuttle-shaped aircraft also accelerated and flew over the battlefield.

Including Wu Changnian standing on the Heart of Steel.

Representatives from all parties are watching the alliance's next moves.

The league's performance did not disappoint the onlookers.

Thirty gliders took off one after another from the deck of the airship. Following the roaring and surging airflow, they all attacked the battle coordinates 20 kilometers away.

At the same time, under the billowing dust, the Enterprise's 26th Commando Force had been engaged in a fierce exchange of fire with the Blackstone Mutant Tribe.

Ten powered armor stations were spread out in the front row, followed by android soldiers, followed by soldiers wearing exoskeletons.

Stripes of orange-yellow tracers shuttled between the ruins, like dust flying from a forge.

The battle situation is extremely anxious!

Although the company has power armor and powerful Gauss weapons, the mutants have an absolute numerical advantage and physical superiority.

Unless their skulls were opened by hot metal projectiles, even if half of their mouths were blown open, they could still charge forward with chain saws and dangling jaws.

"Smash them!"

"Chop it into pieces! Throw it into the pan!"

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

After shooting more than a dozen mutants, one of the short mutants rushed closer.

Yunsong decisively abandoned the Gauss rifle in his hand, which was as wide as a big sword, pulled out the scimitar tied to the armor of his right leg, and split the hatchet that came towards him with a clang.

This was a gift from a certain general of the Lion Kingdom. It was said to be made from the "God-given alloy" given by the spirit of the Sand Sea - which was actually armored steel for starships.

The armored steel dismantled from the starship was nothing compared to the rubbish picked up from the wasteland, and the hatchet was so shaken that it cracked.

The mutant staggered back, with a trace of surprise written in his bloodthirsty pupils. He obviously didn't expect this iron lump, which was bigger than the big man, to be so sensitive.

But the surprise only lasted for a moment, and was soon replaced by the desire for flesh and blood.

"Roar--!"

With a roar, it continued to charge forward with the cracked ax in hand, but before it took two steps, its throat was cut by a white blade struck by flowing clouds and flowing water.

Looking at the flying head, Yunsong shook off the blood on his scimitar, picked up the Gauss rifle on the ground without hesitation, and calmly retreated while firing at the roaring mutants.

More than two hundred corpses were lying strewn on the ground, but there seemed to be no end to the gray-black mutants who were constantly being used from the ruins.

"Damn... these guys really only have two thousand?" Su Ming threw away the overheated barrel and inserted a new one while cursing and yelling.

"Probably? Who can say this kind of thing well... I can only make an assessment based on their rations and building scale. Maybe they grew mushrooms in the holes." The drone operator said with a numb scalp.

The mutants in the Great Desert are completely different from those on the East Coast.

Whether it's fighting style or living habits.

If it is on the east coast, they have already called for tactical nuclear warheads or air-dropped self-propelled heavy fire robots for support.

The first line of defense composed of power armor has been in direct contact with the mutants.

Three of the powered armors had drawn out their half-meter-long combat knives and were fighting with the mutants armed with giant hammers weighing 100 kilograms.

At this moment, the drone operator suddenly shouted loudly.

"Most of the enemy units have gathered around the bombardment coordinates! Now is the best time! Captain! How long is the Alliance's side?"

A calm reply came from the communication channel.

"Support request has been sent!"

Almost at the same time as he finished speaking, there was a loud bang in the distance.

The light flickering in the sand haze was like muffled thunder on a sunny day, and with a few whooshes piercing the air, streaks of white smoke fell like raindrops from directly above the battlefield.

The flames of the explosion soared into the sky, and the spreading fragments and thick smoke exploded between the two leaning buildings, instantly engulfing more than a hundred mutants.

One of the buildings was hit by several artillery shells. The twisted steel bars could no longer support it, and the entire building began to collapse downwards.

Looking at the collapsed tall building above his head, a pair of bloodthirsty pupils were finally filled with fear, but it was too late to escape.

Countless mutants could only subconsciously raise their arms to block the falling gravel and dust before they were smashed into a pulp by the mountain-like building.

The collapsed building created a chain reaction, and another building that was hit at the base also began to collapse.

The two tall buildings that fell sideways formed a huge wall that was intertwined and broken into several sections, directly dividing the battlefield from the middle.

The shock wave set off blew the stones and debris on the ground hundreds of meters away, creating undulating ripples on the surface of the quicksand not far away.

"Alas!"

Su Ming, who was carrying a Gauss rifle, shook his fist excitedly and cheered happily.

"Well done!"

The sound of gunfire in the distance has stopped.

However, the alliance's offensive did not stop.

The buzzing in the air got closer and closer, and desert-colored crosses appeared above the heads of the 26th Commando.

"What is that?" Gu Wei raised the muzzle of the gun and pointed it at the sky, then lowered the muzzle of the gun.

"The alliance's gliders, they took over the task of clearing out the mutant nests," Yun Song casually touched up the mutants who fell to the ground. Yun Song replied neatly in the communication channel, "Don't stand there stupidly. I won’t even be able to drink hot soup later.”

Su Ming suddenly spoke.

"Hot soup? You mean the ones in the mutant lair?"

The communication channel was deserted for a while.

"...I'm just making a metaphor, don't disgust me."

…

Cut off by the collapsed building, the attacking mutants instantly became orphans stuck in a corner.

The 26th Commando immediately turned from defense to offense and rushed towards the mutants who were blinded by the bomb. While the wounds of those mutants had not healed, they used short knives or secondary weapons to hit them at close range.

With alien species as opponents, there is no need to hold back.

Gunfire continued around the ruins, and in just a few minutes, nearly two hundred mutants died under the gunfire of the 26th Commando led by Yun Song.

"The company's strength is not weak. I thought their marines were just a bunch of soft-footed shrimps." Adria said with a hint of appreciation in her eyes.

Although the equipment advantage accounts for more than half, the combat effectiveness of the soldiers themselves cannot be underestimated. They chose an enhancement route similar to that of the academy, using a large number of intelligent weapons and bionic prosthetics. However, their performance on the battlefield was completely different from the gaudy equipment of the academy.

"After all, they are dealing with mutants, and they are considered experts." The deputy standing next to Adria gave an ambiguous evaluation.

"Haha," McClun smiled coldly and said with a hint of sarcasm, "After all, it was them who made the mess. Who is good at it if they are not good at it."

Compared to businesses.

He cares more about the wastelanders who defeated him once...

The defeat last time was too fast and too sudden. He didn't even see carefully how those airborne troops defeated his Marines who were armed to the teeth.

McClung stared outside the bridge intently, staring motionlessly at the gliders that were attacking the ground.

bring it on……

Let me see what great abilities you have.

…

In fact, the Burning Legion does not have any great skills in the landing phase, and the glider's landing posture can even be described as quite unskilled.

One after another, the planes plunged into the mutant tribe's stronghold like a goddess scattering flowers, and their strong wings and noses were like shovels, overturning the roofs of countless shacks.

A glider landed in the pasture, its belly straight up and knocking over a hot oil pan.

The mutant priest who had just delivered the baby was frightened and couldn't figure out where these two-legged animals came from.

It put the whimpering cub in a basket aside, took out the butcher's knife, and howled towards the nearest plane.

But before it could get within five steps of the plane, there were sudden bursts of gunfire and three heavily armed soldiers came out of the cabin and shot its head off.

"Gan! I almost fell into the frying pan!" After spitting blood, Ye Shi reached out to pick up the aircraft machine gun that fell to the ground and threw it to the quit smoking man next to him.

Fortunately, this plane has no fuel tanks!

Don't worry about it even if it catches fire.

"Hahaha! I called Lao Na." He joked with a smile while loading the heavy machine gun in his hand and quitting smoking.

"Get out!"

Ye Shi rolled his eyes.

While he was speaking, a strong omen of crisis came to his mind. He almost subconsciously moved the muzzle of the gun, pointing the LD-50 carbine in his hand at the metal partition not far away.

"Tu tu tu tu—!"

The muzzle of the gun sprayed with tongues of fire, and a series of tinkling explosions instantly marked the metal partition with dozens of bullet holes.

A cloud of blood exploded behind the pierced partition, and a mutant soldier holding a rifle was immediately beaten into a sieve and fell to the dirt with a cry of pain.

He knocked the tripod on the tilted iron bucket, set up the machine gun and immediately pulled the trigger.

The muzzle of the gun spurted out hot tongues of fire, instantly opening up an airtight network of firepower in the twisting and winding alley.

In front of the 12mm heavy machine gun, both the flesh and blood of the mutants and the garbage bunkers in front of them were as fragile as paper.

Although players do not have the advanced Gauss weapons and shellless rifles like the 26th Commando, the alliance's weapons are not inferior in terms of killing efficiency against soft targets.

The only difference is the shape of the wounds on the corpse...

Nearly a hundred players landed in gliders, causing a bloody storm in the Blackstone Mutant Tribe's village.

There was no expectation that there would be a surprise attack from the rear, and the mutants in the stockade were caught off guard on the spot. In particular, their large forces suffered heavy casualties in the shelling and had no time to return for support.

As the ranch area where the captives were held was occupied by Alliance soldiers, the Heart of Steel launched a second round of bombardment targeting the coordinates provided by the player.

Faced with strangulation from all directions and barrage after barrage, the mutant resistance was quickly disintegrated.

"What about Lao Bai? It's almost over, why haven't you seen anyone else yet?" Seeing that all the mutants in the village were almost dead, Ye Shi turned around and shouted.

"He parachuted down. It will probably take a while. Let's do our work first -" Before Guangfeng could finish his words, there was a loud "boom" not far away.

I saw a black shadow hitting a row of iron sheds, and its huge size actually crushed the entire shack that was more than ten meters wide.

Several mutants who had just reached adolescence crawled out of the shack in search of weapons. However, before they could even take two steps, they were pushed to the ground by the sound of gunshots.

Soon, that hearty voice came from the communication channel.

"What a coincidence. It seems I arrived at just the right time."

Ye Shi was stunned for a moment, then smiled and joked.

"Almost, if you float in the sky for a while longer, this umbrella will be in vain."

Quit smoking: “Hahaha!”

…

Although the mutants of the Blackstone Tribe are far stronger than the guys that players encountered on Street 76 during the pioneering period, today's alliance is different from the past.

The fierce battle lasted less than twenty minutes, and there were only sporadic gunshots and exhausting roars inside and outside the tribe.

In the very center of the village, in front of a strange altar.

Looking at the people walking down the steps, a mutant priest with a wrinkled face walked forward with rare panic and fear on his face, raising his hands.

It was wearing clothing made of animal skins, and a skull with a rope hanging around its neck.

"Wait a minute! Please let me meet your leader. There may be some misunderstanding between us-"

"boom--!"

A hot bullet penetrated its skull, interrupting the dying struggle for mercy.

Looking at the body lying on the steps, Ye Shi spit.

"I missed the hammer."

Meet the manager?

Are you worthy?

Storm glanced at the young man.

"You kill this guy, and we can find someone to get clues about the crew members."

Ye Shi was stunned for a moment, scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, and said with a guilty conscience.

"Didn't Lao Bai say that no one should be left alive..."

He admitted that when he landed just now, he was a little overwhelmed when he saw the same kind caught by mutants.

Lao Bai patted his shoulder and said with a smile.

"It's okay. There are a lot of those guys who haven't cooled down yet. Just grab any one and ask."

As he spoke, he walked up to the mutant priest and was about to inspect the guy's body. However, when his eyes fell on the mutant's clothes, he couldn't help but frown.

The patterns are woven into an upside-down triangle, like an upright torch and the swaying flames on the torch.

Lao Bai looked up at the altar in front of him and saw that the symbols carved on the stone wall were exactly the same as the symbols in his memory.

torch?

But this is a huge desert, thousands of kilometers away from the Death Coast.

Why does the Torch Church's logo appear here?

Lao Bai's frown deepened.

Is it a coincidence?

However, now is not the time to ponder this question.

He used a combat knife to cut a strip of linen from the priest's clothes. Lao Bai looked up at the altar in front of him and waved his right fist.

"keep going!"

The mutants on the periphery have been eliminated.

Not surprisingly.

There should be a BOSS battle ahead!

…

However, players regret that there are no legendary super mutants in the altar.

Not even an elite monster.

But think about it.

If there really was such a terrifying thing, General Klass would have definitely used it in the previous expedition, and there was no way he would have kept this trump card until the end.

After getting rid of several mutants guarding the altar with rifles, everyone successfully entered the hall made of concrete waste.

This place seemed to be a factory before. There was a backup generator with a nuclear battery in the factory, and it was still working.

Exploring along the wires, everyone soon found twelve upright cylindrical petri dishes in the side hall of the altar.

The petri dish was filled with dark green solution, and white bodies were soaked in it, with the ventilator blocking their faces.

There are bubbles floating upward from the bottom of the petri dish, obviously these devices are still working.

Lao Bai frowned and walked to the console. He was about to try operating it, but he was embarrassed to find that even mutants could operate the device, but he couldn't understand it at all.

If Fang Chang were here, maybe it would work...

He looked at the brothers aside sheepishly.

"……This is?"

Ye Shiyi said confused.

"Clone synthesis device?"

Recalling what he saw on Street 76, Guangfeng shook his head.

"It's not like..."

"That's the treatment cabin."

An unfamiliar voice came from behind, interrupting the conversation among the players. Although they are in completely different languages, there is surprisingly no sense of inconsistency when interjecting into the topic.

Everyone turned around and saw Yun Song, the captain of the company's 26th Commando Team, unhooking the visor of his helmet and walking towards the side with a rifle in hand.

"Treatment cabin?" Lao Bai asked in puzzled language.

"That's right."

Stopping in front of one of the culture tanks, Yun Song looked at the device in front of him with a complicated expression and slowly continued.

"They will throw human females that are fertile, have good sexual intercourse, and are suitable as mothers into the treatment cabin... and then reuse them after treatment."

"The mutants who can use these devices are usually priests or chiefs in the tribe...this is also the case on the East Coast."

"How did these guys learn these devices?" Lao Bai couldn't help but ask.

"These devices are not difficult to operate. Sometimes there are simple tutorials in the program, or even automatic AI..."

After a pause, Yun Song continued with a complicated expression,

"Of course, it's also possible that people taught them."

It is worth mentioning that although mutants are a completely different species from humans, they are not completely unable to communicate.

They even speak human-linked language, but most of them are stupid.

A few smart mutants will soon stand out from a group of fools and become priests or herders of the tribe. They know how to exchange things that humans like for what they need.

Such as slaves.

Such as the production of slave tools.

Mutants have no concept of medicine.

Either there's a healing chamber, a cloning chamber, or there has to be a mutant chief who is skilled in the art of captivity.

Otherwise, with their barbaric midwifery techniques and the harsh environment in this area, no matter how long the individual lives are, they will never be able to reproduce on a scale of more than a thousand people.

Yun Song seriously suspected that it was General Klass of the Legion who taught these mutants the technology of using the treatment cabin.

After all, those Weirant people are fully capable of this.

There is also an incentive to do exactly that.

"Let's not talk about this anymore. I'm glad to fight side by side with you..."

After staring at the burly power armor on Lao Bai's body, Yun Song stretched out his fist and touched his shoulder, saying in slight surprise.

"Is this the one from before? It's incredible... you actually fixed it."

Lao Bai grinned.

"The interior has been slightly modified. It's not that advanced, but it doesn't affect its use."

At first, Yin Fang helped him repair it. Later, a corporate delegation came to Qingquan City, and he bought some accessories from Changge Group.

Yun Song said in a rather emotional tone.

"The power armor of the Age of Prosperity is much better than the ones produced in the post-war years. It's a pity that we don't have the ability to completely repair it."

After a moment of pause, he looked at Lao Bai seriously and continued to ask.

"I just searched, and there's no one we're looking for here. What are you going to do with these and those... rescued survivors outside?"

Lao Bai glanced around and said casually.

"Probably the old rule is to send them to a homeless home after treatment is completed."

Yun Song asked in confusion.

"That is?"

"A place like an aid station."

Yun Song was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't expect that the alliance actually had such facilities. After being silent for a while, he spoke.

"But I think... it might be better for them to turn off the ventilator. Very few people come out of this hellish experience."

At first, they would also send the rescued survivors to nearby survivor settlements, but later they found that doing so would only increase their troubles.

Most survivor settlements will not accept those who have been captured by mutants. Even if they are willing to do a favor for the company for the sake of money, at most they will only give them a few mouthfuls of food and find a place where they will not get in the way. To fend for itself.

Most of the people who were rescued would not thank them, and would even hate them for not giving themselves a good time or taking themselves to the ideal city.

At first, he tried to help the "trouble" that unexpectedly increased during the missions, but after a few more missions, he realized that it was just making himself uncomfortable.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, not everyone was captured, and many were mistakenly produced by cloning devices.

It is a kind of kindness to send people away who came to this world by mistake and let them start a new life.

Lao Bai was silent for a while and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. Maybe you are right, but the choice is theirs, right? At least we did what we could."

They did not leave these rescued people alone.

Many of those who were rescued from the looters' dungeons could not get out and chose to commit suicide.

But there are examples of starting over and even finding happiness in that new life.

"Maybe." Yun Song nodded slightly to show respect, looked at Lao Bai and the alliance soldiers behind him and said, "I'll leave this place to you."

With that said, he turned around and walked outside.

The battle is over.

The entrances to the Pioneer and Vault 0 are not far from this camp.

Before welcoming the arrival of the company's top executives, he needs to lead the soldiers to carefully clean the battlefield and eliminate potential safety hazards in the area.

Watching the NPC named Yun Song leave, Lao Bai suddenly thought of something and looked at Ye Shi who was standing aside.

"By the way, bring in the rescued NPCs outside...if those survivors are still alive."

"receive."

Understanding what his good brother meant, Ye Shi made an OK gesture, turned around and walked out the door.

Lao Bai turned his attention back to the row of treatment cabins.

Looking at the survivors floating in the nutrient solution, these culture tanks should not be able to regenerate severed limbs, but they can speed up the healing of injuries on the body.

This is similar to the training cabins used by players.

The only difference is that the cultivation chamber used by players is only valid for matching gene sequences and cannot be used by others or even lent to other players.

As for the lower-cost "sleep cabin", it is only used as a save point for players and does not have the function of accelerating healing.

Although players probably won't use it, for NPCs who only have one life, this thing is still very helpful and can be recycled.

In the wasteland, as long as you don't die on the spot, even if you are seriously injured with a broken arm or leg, there are a lot of remedies.

Lao Bai suddenly discovered that there were really many treasures hidden in this vast desert.

Thinking of the legendary Shelter 0, he became more and more looking forward to it...