Xizhou City, shrouded in silence, was like a dead city, with only scattered lights twinkling in the Sixin District where the lake was pouring.
In the simple sentry, the greyhound wrapped in animal skin yawned, threw the wet wood into the brazier aside, and then walked slowly to the side of the observation hole.
Although the weather has turned warm in April, there is still a dampness and coldness in the air in Xizhou City.
Especially the Fourth New District.
The entire city is submerged in water.
The water was sparkling on the street not far away, and black things were floating on the water. It was hard to tell whether they were rotten wood entangled with algae or the shells of split-claw crabs.
Although there are many changes in life here, it is still the best choice for setting up camp.
The backflow of lake water has paralyzed all underground facilities in the entire city. There is no need to worry about the elusive guerrillas here.
In addition, the split-claw crabs active in this area are natural enemies of all living creatures, so anyone who is not familiar with this area will have trouble getting around here.
so……
What exactly does it mean to stand guard by yourself?
Looking at the silent streets, Greyhound yawned and couldn't help but miss the time in the middle of the River Valley Province.
That period was probably his happiest time.
They were unstoppable along the way, turning everything they went into scorched earth, burning and looting everything, and doing whatever they wanted to the captive slaves... No one could stop them, and no one was their opponent.
However, ever since they reached the south, unfortunate things happened one after another.
First, they stumbled in Qingquan City, and then bad news came from Qingshi County. Not only were their steps southward blocked, but they were even pushed back by a group of blue gophers.
I don't know if I see hope in those blue gophers, but guerrilla attacks have become more and more frequent recently.
The group of survivors who hid underground were like rats, using homemade iron pipe rifles and crossbows to sneak attack their patrols, and throw cans filled with black powder into their workshops and garages where bullets and explosives were processed.
Greyhound was driving for a while, and at this moment, the sound of a creaking door suddenly came from downstairs.
Hearing the movement under his feet, the predator subconsciously grabbed the rifle in his hand and called out towards the dark corridor behind him.
"who!"
"I'm here to change the defense!" The dark corridor responded, and a thin, monkey-like man walked up from the direction of the stairs.
Seeing that it was one of his own, Greyhound breathed a sigh of relief.
"Change defense? Isn't there still two hours left?"
The man replied.
"Sir Jinya's order is that starting tonight, the six-hour rotation will be changed to four hours, and one shift a day will be changed to two shifts."
The greyhound was dumbfounded.
At first he was very happy when he heard about the changing of the guard and could go back to bed, but now he was told that he would have to stand for another four hours.
"That means...I still have another shift?"
The man obviously didn't want to work overtime and said with an irritated look.
"Yes, it's probably that Dillon who came up with another bad idea. He said to beware of sneak attacks by blue gophers. In the future, the range of night patrols will be expanded from the surrounding areas of the Fourth New District to the entire urban area."
He had respect for the man a few months ago, but that was a few months ago. A few months ago their forces were unstoppable, but now?
He cowered in the garbage like a sick old dog. He hated the humid air here, hated the endless attacks, and hated the filthy rats even more.
Now think about it carefully, even without that person's idea, they would still be able to beat up the survivors' settlements that stood in their way.
If they hadn't been so damn cautious, they would have lived in the house of those blue gophers in the northern suburbs last winter.
The gray dog looked surprised.
"Sneak attack? This place is twenty kilometers away from the front line."
There is a pass called Songlinyu in the middle. How do those gophers plan to get here?
You can't just dig a hole through it.
"I don't know, this is the order," the man pressed the wrinkled map into the Greyhound's arms, and urged impatiently, "Don't ask, just go! Wait until the guard changing team sets off later, and you will be alone.
People go over there!"
Although he was deeply reluctant, Greyhound took the map and rushed downstairs with his rifle.
The position of the guard rotation is outside the Fourth New District. They have to go out on a raft and have to undertake patrol duties on the way to the guard change.
Many survivors came out to look for food when it was dark, and most of the guerrillas came out at this time. Walking alone at night at this time was equivalent to committing suicide.
The raft is already waiting downstairs.
The Greyhound, who got on the raft, followed the nine brothers on the raft on the road. When he passed the alley, he finally saw clearly what was floating there.
It's a billboard covered in algae.
Greyhound couldn't understand what was written on it, but he thought the long shape looked like a coffin.
Dismayed by this fleeting thought, he looked away from the billboard and started chatting with the brothers on the raft.
At this time, no one noticed that a few imperceptible black spots flashed away with the swaying of the water in the moonlit stinking ditch.
An aviation formation composed of twenty-five aircraft had arrived directly above their heads...
…
Night sky.
Holding the joystick with both hands, Mosquito, who was driving the W-2 to attack the ground, shouted excitedly toward the communication channel with a voice that almost roared.
"This is the Goblin Corps aviation team. The cargo has been delivered to the target area and can start action at any time!"
The height here is a full three thousand meters, and coupled with the high-altitude air currents, as long as you don't fire or drop bombs, you don't have to worry about being heard by people below no matter how loud the noise is.
At this moment, Ye Shi, who was firmly tied behind the pilot's seat with nylon buckles, had almost lost consciousness in his ears and cheeks due to the whooshing air outside the cabin.
His whole body is numb now.
Otherwise, he would definitely have a few words of protest with the mosquitoes about calling them goods.
In fact, Ye Shi's current state is indeed no different from that of the goods.
The W-2 glider is a single-seat aircraft, with no extra space for passengers.
But this is obviously not a problem for "completely realistic virtual reality games".
There is enough space between the rear of the cabin and the pilot's seat, so the BUG can still take off with more than one person in it.
Players themselves do not have to press F to enter the plane. Even if there are no seats in the cockpit, they can create a seat themselves.
As for why Ye Shi is here?
Then it’s a long story.
In the morning, they were still fighting passionately against the marauders in the trenches on the front line. They originally planned to hold on until 48 hours later, but before noon, they were transferred back to the rear and ordered to perform a special mission.
Ye Shi was quite excited at first, thinking that their outstanding performance in the battle triggered the hidden mission, until he heard the specific content of the mission.
According to the combat plan formulated by the headquarters, they need to fly into the urban area of Xizhou City on the glider of the Goblin Corps, destroy the enemy's strategic facilities, and buy time for the frontline troops.
Their equipment has been packed in an airdrop box and thrown down first. In the box is a locator removed from the VM, which can be searched even when offline.
Although the Mouse Brothers built a simple communication tower when they made their nest in Xizhou City, due to the transfer to Qingshi County, the communication tower has been without power for more than a month.
They need to use the radio in the airdrop box to build a new stronghold, or repair the communication tower of Brother Mouse.
Since they are airborne behind enemy lines, the operational risk factor is very high. They can only carry light weapons and a small number of support weapons, and the use of equipment such as Type 5 and Type 6 exoskeletons is restricted.
But they are not alone, planes drop supplies every night.
Thanks to the sales of black silk in Boulder City, New Alliance's chemical factory has long ago introduced the technology of "using biomass oil to produce nylon" and solved the material problem of parachutes.
When Goblin Technology was developing gliders before, they had actually produced a batch of parachutes, but considering that aircraft were more expensive than people, they did not issue them to the brothers in the Corps.
But here comes the problem.
He has never skydived before!
Ye Shi felt quite panicked at this moment.
As we all know, parachuting alone without training is an extremely dangerous thing, no less than slipping in Russian roulette and shooting yourself twice in the head.
Especially when skydiving at night, you can't see clearly what's going on on the ground, and there are many ways to die.
But I want to ask if I can jump?
Of course that's not impossible.
The biggest difficulties in skydiving are stacking the parachute and landing. As for pulling the rope to open the parachute and controlling body balance, as long as you are not encountering bad weather and can stay calm under special circumstances, although it is difficult to return, it is not as difficult as imagined.
Disaster.
When it comes to folding umbrellas, knowledgeable players help to fold them, which solves 50% of the problems.
As for the remaining 50 percent?
Just be more careful next time.
The operation is codenamed "Warriors", and the players participating in the operation are all members of the Burning Corps. The Goblin Corps' aviation team will airdrop them in batches.
Ye Shi thinks there is nothing wrong with changing the word "warrior" to "free".
In the communication channel, a noisy current sound beeped.
Then the manager's voice came.
"……do it according to plan!"
"receive!"
The communication channel switched to the team voice, and Mosquito continued to shout excitedly.
"Brothers of the Burning Legion, this flight has arrived. Remember your mission! Remember to open your umbrella before you fall into pieces!"
"Xiaoyu will pray for your safety, the manager will remember your loyalty, and wish you good luck!"
"Now, jump-!"
Black dots were dropped from behind the cabins of the gliders, just like Shet dropped by seagulls hovering in the harbor.
This metaphor is obviously not appropriate, but it is vivid enough.
If the parachute bag fails to open successfully and falls from an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, the shape will not be much better than the seagull's Shet.
After untying the nylon buckles on his legs, waist, and shoulders, Ye Shi grabbed the edge of the cabin with both hands, feeling his calves trembling all the time.
The mosquito sitting in front couldn't help but urge.
"Fuck! You're really jumping! If you keep going on for a while, I'll almost run out of gas!"
Ye Shi couldn't help but squirted back.
"You damn electric plane has some damn oil!"
"The main office is out of power! Hurry up, don't beep, you jumped, I have to go back and get the next one!"
Ye Shi swallowed.
"I'll just ask one last question... What happens if the parachute doesn't open?"
When the mosquito heard this, he immediately became happy and said with a smile.
"It's okay, I'll be a good man again in three days!"
"Depend on!"
Seeing that this guy was still lingering, the mosquitoes got impatient.
"I'll give you 10 seconds. If you don't jump, I'll help you."
"Damn it, don't mess around!"
"nineteen……"
The mosquitoes are already counting down.
Seeing that his teammates were all jumping, Ye Shi was too embarrassed to be cowardly anymore. He gritted his teeth, turned over and jumped out of the cabin.
The moment his body left the cabin, he felt that his heart was about to stop.
But that was only for a moment.
As the reference object left his side and he began to fall freely, his instinctive fear disappeared in an instant.
Ye Shi felt like he had turned into a bird.
One thing to say, this feeling is quite pleasant, but the eardrums are not very comfortable and feel like they are exploding.
The predators had no radar or high-altitude searchlights. Although they could not see what was happening on the ground, people on the ground could not see them either.
Counting the seconds silently in his mind, Ye Shi suddenly pulled the rope around his shoulders, and with a soft pop, a huge force grabbed his back.
At the same time, the speed of his fall was also rapidly decreasing...
The pull ring that controls the direction of the parachute is on the edge of the parachute rope. However, Ye Shi, who has only received 2 hours of theoretical training, has no idea how to control this thing. He can only adjust the direction based on his feeling, and his nerves are tense in his heart.
pray.
Maybe the dog planner heard his prayer.
He was lucky enough to land on the roof of a garage next to a three-story villa. If it had been a little further to the side, he might have hung it on the wall.
His feet hit the ground hard, and Ye Eleven staggered and almost fell off the roof of the garage. Standing firm with a grin on his face, he cut the parachute rope with a dagger, carefully avoiding the rusty shed at the door of the garage, and fell from the garage door.
The side slid down.
"Safe landing... Damn, I was scared to death."
Almost gave it to me for nothing!
After confirming that the surroundings were safe, Ye Shi immediately checked his equipment.
In addition to the VM strapped to his arm, he now only has a Pu-9 submachine gun, two 9mm magazines, a few pieces of dry food and a water bottle.
As for his sniper rifle and other equipment, they are all packed in airdrop boxes.
Just when Ye Shi was about to confirm the location of the airdrop box and his teammates from the VM, there was a rustling sound from the side.
Because his ears kept buzzing, the sound was almost close before he heard it.
When Ye Shi reacted, his whole body trembled. He immediately pointed the muzzle of the gun and even opened the safety.
"Don't shoot, it's me! Lao Bai."
Lao Bai called out in a low voice.
Hearing Lao Bai's voice, Ye Shi's racing heart finally calmed down a bit, and he breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall.
"Damn...I was almost scared to death."
"Relax, don't be so nervous," Lao Bai chuckled, walked over and patted him on the shoulder, "Let's go, the airdrop box is nearby. Let's go and recover the equipment and radio first, and then join Fang Chang and the others.
."
After saying that, Lao Bai took the initiative to walk in front.
Although he wanted to take a moment before leaving, Ye Shi also knew in his heart that they were now deep into the heart of the bone-chewing tribe, and now was not the time to rest.
The two moved along the edge of the ruins, carefully watching for dangers in the dark. Soon, they came to the entrance of the abandoned community.
The street opposite was quiet.
Not to mention the slightest movement, not even the sound of a mouse grinding its teeth could be heard.
Lao Bai did not go over immediately, but carefully observed the situation on the street.
After Qianqiao squatted down next to Lao Bai and took a breath, Ye Shi finally regained his composure and lowered his voice and asked.
"By the way, why did you land so quickly?"
Lao Bai replied casually.
"...You were too lazy. I waited on the ground for a long time before I saw you come down."
Ye Shi asked curiously.
"Why don't you panic at all?"
"It's unrealistic to say you don't panic. After all, it's an umbrella made by someone else. But it doesn't matter in the game. You won't really die if you die anyway."
Seeing that Ye Shi kept picking his ears with his fingers, Lao Bai paused and said, "If you feel that your ears are blocked, you can try pinching your nose and breathing out, but don't make any noise."
"Let me try……"
Ye Shi, whose ears were clogged, immediately tried Lao Bai's method, pinching his nose and blowing air out.
He couldn't find the trick at first, and he tried for a long time to no avail. However, after he found the trick, his eardrums suddenly felt like they were being pushed open by the air.
"...What the hell?! Is this really okay?"
His hearing finally returned to normal, and Ye Shi looked at Lao Bai in surprise.
"Have you skipped before?"
"That's right... stop talking nonsense and follow me closely."
When he was talking before, Lao Bai had already confirmed the safety of the street, gestured to Ye Shi, took the lead in getting out of the bunker, and moved quickly towards the opposite side.
Without any delay, Ye Shi followed immediately.
The two of them moved quickly towards the airdrop box, but at this moment, rapid gunshots suddenly came from the street not far away.
"The voice of Pu-9!"
Lao Bai's heart tightened, he cursed secretly, and immediately turned into the building next to him with Ye Shi following him.
There were cries of chirping in the distance, followed by gunshots, and soon a green signal flare rose into the sky.
Ye Shi took a deep breath, skillfully integrated his consciousness with the surrounding environment, and felt the weak fluctuations.
"There are about twenty people...about 400 to 500 meters away from us!"
This is already the limit of his active perception of distance.
Looking at the signals on the VM map, Lao Bai frowned.
"It's because they quit smoking! They probably bumped into the patrol!"
The location where they landed was eight kilometers north of Sixin District. According to the information provided by Brother Qiangren, the Ya clan's night patrol team should not be able to visit here.
Is it adjusted?
Ye Shi looked at Lao Bai.
"Are you going to help them?"
"...Go to the airdrop box first. We have to recover the equipment and radio before the raider reinforcements arrive!" Lao Bai only took three seconds to make a judgment.
It's early in the morning and it's dark outside. It's not a good idea to rush over for reinforcements before communications are restored.
Just looking at the flashing marks on the map, they didn't even know how many teammates were left alive.
The top priority now is to rush to the airdrop box, get their equipment, and then deploy the radio at a high place to restore communications with the area and the headquarters.
As for quitting smoking brothers...
Lao Bai decided to trust his teammates.
"good!"
Ye Shi nodded and immediately followed Lao Bai, stepping on the construction debris on the ground and leaving the abandoned building.
Just as they were moving quickly away from the firefighting area, the entire nearby city had turned into a mess.
The Greyhound, holding an assault rifle, fired at the alley ahead, with a look of shock written on his face.
a few minutes ago.
On the way to the rotation, Greyhound was still thinking about how the group of blue gophers could sneak up on them. However, before they could reach the place where the defense was changed, they saw a black shadow fall from the sky and hit the ground.
on the ground.
There were only two flashlights in the whole team, and the rest of the people were holding torches. The place a little further away was completely dark, and nothing could be seen.
Everyone was startled when they heard the noise. Greyhound quickly turned the flashlight on, only to see a puddle of meat.
On the cracked concrete road, red and white pieces were broken into pieces, and it was impossible to recognize a person unless you looked carefully.
The greyhound, who was calm at first, was suddenly confused and didn't understand what was happening.
However, there was no time left for him to think.
Almost as soon as the flashlight came on, flames burst out from the alley directly opposite.
Sparks from the shooting jumped on the street. They were caught off guard by the sudden fire. The brother who was walking at the front was beaten to pieces and fell down on the spot. The remaining people immediately threw away the torches in their hands and looked for bunkers to fire back.
There was chaos on the streets.
It's not just gunshots.
There were also shouts from teammates.
"Damn it, I got shot in the arm!"
"It's Pu-9's voice! Those people are not guerrillas!"
"New Alliance?! How is that possible?! Blue, the Blue Jackets are already here?!"
Who are the attackers?
Where did the person opposite come from?!
Rumors spread, and the patrols that were attacked were frightened.
"Quick! Call for reinforcements!"
Listening to the hurried shouting of the captain hiding in the street window, the greyhound lying behind the car wreckage was also panicked, but he still mustered up the courage to crawl over, picked up the flare gun thrown by the captain, and fired it towards his head.
One shot.
Only a long "chirp" sound was heard, and a flashing green signal flare shot up into the sky.
Although the weak light was not enough to illuminate the street, it restored some morale of the surrounding brothers.
At the same time, after discovering the signal flare, the camp stationed two kilometers away immediately dispatched trucks and a team of 100 people carrying long guns and short artillery quickly rushed to the area of firefighting.
Not only the Greyhound and the predator beside him were confused, but also the quitter squatting in the alley opposite.
He originally planned to rendezvous with his teammates nearby, but just when he met [Lost and Newcomer] and was about to go find [Corner Six], he bumped into a predator patrol.
I felt something was wrong when I quit smoking. The sixth brother was too calm. The predator patrol almost came to his face, and the coordinates still stopped in the middle of the road without moving.
However……
By the time he felt something was wrong, it was already too late.
The flashlight on the opposite side was directed toward them. The lost brother who was following him thought his position was exposed, so he pulled the trigger without saying a word and swept over.
The gunfire, like an old-fashioned typewriter, directly ignited the entire street's powder keg.
The opponent was caught off guard for a moment, but quickly reacted and leaned behind the bunker to shoot at them.
"You're so crazy! We only have four magazines in total!"
After being pulled back from quitting smoking and yelling, Lost Mengxin gradually realized that he had stabbed Lou Zi and said nervously.
"Then, what should we do now..."
Quitting without saying a word, he pulled the fuse of the grenade, counted the seconds, and threw it out, forcing back the predators who were about to leave the bunker and press on him.
Then he quickly raised the muzzle of his gun and glanced at the shop window on the street, knocking the plunderer who had almost reached the entrance of the alley to the ground.
The scene was chaotic.
With the light from the torch that fell on the street, he finally saw clearly the pile of rotten meat on the street, and couldn't help but smack his lips.
Good guy.
My head was smashed!
Recalling the thrilling experience of landing before, I can roughly guess what the sixth brother encountered a few minutes ago.
Or the umbrella was not opened.
Or it was opened too late...
"What else can we do," he said while changing the magazine, quitting smoking and cursing, "Let's withdraw first!"
Going to the meeting point is definitely out of the question.
By luring those marauders over, not only would you be tricked, but your teammates would be tricked as well. Even if they were able to fight, they wouldn't be able to fight ten of them one by one.
All they can do now is to escape as far away from the landing area as possible and lure the predators away from here.
After their teammates recovered the airdrop box, set up the radio, and restored communications in the area, they could hope to organize effective resistance or even call for air support.
In fact, they were not the only players to engage in firefights with the Marauders.
Near the ruins of a power plant about three kilometers away from them, the two unlucky guys deviated from their course when they fell, and landed directly near a guard post of the Ya clan in the south of the city.
Both sides were confused.
The body also instinctively pulled the trigger.
At this moment, the Goblin Corps aviation formation has just returned to the north of Dawn City.
Standing at the edge of the airport, Chu Guang was flipping through the player list and was slightly stunned.
"Another one died?"
There were 22 players in the first batch of skydiving, and only 14 were still online at the moment, with a survival rate of only 63%.
But the one who died just now...
It's not like he fell to his death while skydiving.
Since the connection to the morphological field is not based on electromagnetic waves, even if communication has not been restored, Chu Guang can still grasp the general direction and login status of the players.
Players with the Agility system have the highest survival rate, followed by the Constitution system, and then Perception.
Looking at the silent night sky in the north, Chu Guang whispered to himself.
"It's probably a fight."
Although it's a little earlier than expected, it doesn't matter.
The goal of this operation itself is to create chaos for the Ya clan, and the method and means are not important.
Xizhou City should have turned into a mess now.
I believe that for the predators stationed in Xizhou City, tonight is destined to be an unforgettable night.
Not far away, under the guidance of lights, the planes of the Goblin Corps landed on the runway of the airport one after another.
Withdrawing his gaze from the north, Chu Guang looked at Wrench standing aside and ordered.
"Let the ground crew and the second echelon of airborne troops prepare, and the second round of airdrops will begin in half an hour!"
Wrench stood at attention, performed a military salute, and answered neatly.