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 was at least 500 meters away from the place where he was attacked by a sniper.
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 eyepiece, which startled him.
"Oh shit.……"
Looking at the belated signal, Malik cursed, reached out and quickly turned off the signal interface, entering radio silence.
The signal disappeared within less than two seconds of recovery.
Looking at the gray icon, Malik finally breathed a sigh of relief, and his worried heart was 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 in his heart.
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 beyond his expectation. 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 opponent 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 to confirm 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 thick cheeks undulating slightly.
Facing that slightly provocative gaze, Malik suddenly felt an ominous premonition in his heart.
Almost subconsciously, he loosened the grip of the rifle 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 solve 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--" He subconsciously bent his knees after being stabbed in his right leg, 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 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 that weather-beaten face, and the hatred in those eyes was deeper than the scar. When he met the 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. He just stepped forward and closed the distance between the two parties again. "Seeking 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 came out, 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 grabbed 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 clumsy elephant, and the woman in the cloak was like a mouse scurrying over him, biting him 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 pulled away from him. distance.
Malik's heart wrinkled with alarm, and an ominous premonition crept into the back of his head. At this moment, the explosion of fire suddenly exploded from behind him.
The bomb seemed to be attached to his back, and the flames boiled instantly so that he had no time to react. He stumbled forward as if he had been hit by a sap on the back of his head, and was pushed to the ground by the hot shock wave.
[Alert! The power components are seriously damaged!]
A yellow alarm flashed on the helmet's eyepiece, and Malik felt as if all the parts in his body had been blown out of place. Whether they were mechanical parts or fleshy parts.
Shaking his groggy head, he put his hands on the ground and was about to stand up, when he felt something like a brick "pop" on the back of his head.
Cold sweat broke out from his forehead in an instant and poured into his collar along the connection between the helmet and the armor. Without thinking much, Malik immediately gave up the resistance and lay down 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 did not speak, but turned her gaze to 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, fluttered its wings and flew into the sky, circling in a circle.
Flying to the north. Watching the eagle owl leave, the woman withdrew her gaze from the sky, and then looked again at the disciple of the Enlightenment Society who was lying on the ground with his body prostrated.
In a calm voice, she slowly said, "Take it off yourself."
On the other side, under the half-collapsed skyscraper, a "Xia Guang" powered armor emerged from the shadow of the ruins.
I saw that the breastplate made of ceramic steel was covered with pitted bullet holes, and the messy scratches almost covered the light gray paint. A pair of alloy-forged mantis knives were almost curled when cutting!
He looked miserable, as if he had just crawled out of hell.
Only knowledgeable veterans can see that those injuries are all skin injuries, and most of them are concentrated on the detachable breastplate.
Not to mention the Mantis Knife, that thing is a consumable item, especially when it encounters an opponent who is also wearing armor, curling the blade is a normal thing.
Rather, it is even more incredible to be able to use these two mantis knives to the end! This guy is a master!
Seeing the powered armor coming out from under the building, the [Talan Raider], who was standing in front of the prisoners to show off, opened his arms with a smile on his face and took the initiative to greet him.
"Well done, brother! Do you want to consider joining our sand--"
The player grinned, took off the two mantis knives and threw them on the ground, then decisively extended his right hand. "You're welcome! Let's settle the wages, brother."
"Gan! Are you so heartless?" The player chuckled.
"Not necessarily, it mainly depends on the situation." Tallan Raider: "...&￥#＠!" Gan!
Who are you looking down on!
But my mouth stinks, so I will still get the promised wages.
Moreover, the money has been paid to the alliance's mercenary guild in advance, and you don't even need to pay it on the spot. After you click on the confirmation button, the money will automatically go to the other party's account.
After getting the bounty, the player was not in a hurry to leave. He walked outside the city and stood guard with a smile on his face. The mission was not over yet. The previous encounter was a temporary arrangement. He received it from the Desert Corps.
The task is to cooperate with the latter to complete the connection with the key NPC. After the entire task process is completed, he can get the remaining money based on the degree of completion.
As a professional individual player, he still has this professional ethics.
Looking at the gloomy-looking commander of the Desert Corps, Junichiro Sakigawa, who was also doing odd jobs, tossed the combat knife in his hand and walked over from the side with a playful smile.
"Old Baldy is seducing retail investors again."
Hearing this presumptuous name, Taran Raider almost choked on his spit, turned around and cursed. "Fuck you, my name is Taran! You are the only one who is fucking bald, your whole family is bald!"
The comedian rolled his eyes and said with a smile.
"Tch, who can remember such a serious name? It sounds like an NPC." Tallan Raider chuckled.
"Then you look like a corpse?" The comedian rolled his eyes to the sky. "Go, go, go."
Although this guy is not from the Desert Corps, Taran is familiar with him, including the sand sculpture that often hangs out with this guy.
Since they always did missions together, Taran seduced the two of them more than once to join the Desert Corps, but the latter never agreed, and the former didn't bother to mention it anymore.
Not everyone likes to join an organization.
And after Taran thought about it, his Desert Corps was indeed unattractive. It had no generous benefits, and rarely appeared at the center of the wasteland stage. Occasionally, it might mess up even if it did some side work.
To be honest, he was a little flattered to receive a task personally issued by the manager this time. After all, the original operation in Yongye Port should be regarded as a mess...
After chatting with a few casual players, Taran turned and returned to the open space where the prisoners were being guarded. The brothers in the regiment should have finished interrogating them.
Just as he expected, [Medical Miracle] who was in charge of the interrogation came over. "After asking, they are from the Desert Scorpion."
"Desert Scorpion?" Tallarn Raider frowned and muttered thoughtfully, "What the hell." The medical miracle reported succinctly.
"According to their own explanations, 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-inducing expression drugs."
Tallan Raider's eyes lit up and he said with a smile. "Awesome, we killed a special forces unit!" Medical Miracle said with a delicate expression.
"If I remember correctly... there should be no regular troops in the Enlightenment Society. In theory, all troops are "special forces." Tallan 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 group leader's plan, he was filled with 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, 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."
Tallarn Raider glared.
"Damn it, he ran away?! What does this loser do for food-" "Who the hell are you calling a loser!?"
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 look of embarrassment on his face and was tied tightly with a rope. "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 long. I've done all the work for you, so you made me the leader!" 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, you caught him?"
The originally aggressive sand sculpture blushed for some reason, coughed dryly, and said hurriedly, "Well, I picked it up... it's not important. By the way, I killed his adjutant, with a single shot in the head!"
"The soft voice 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 the 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. And it is even rarer to see a woman traveling 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. "You are Zhuang Lan?" Zhuang Lan nodded and said slowly.
"Yes, survivors of Vault 68, organizers of the Watchmen organization.\n.\n.\n.\n.\nBefore you extend your tentacles to the desert, we have already contacted the forces related to the Enlightenment Society.
It was a struggle for a long time.”
After a pause, she continued.
"...In addition, the signal you received was the one I sent to you."
The Tallan Raider frowned slightly and stared at her intently, trying to see the flaw 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 in the Enlightenment Meeting here, Taran couldn't help but reach out and touch the bridge of his nose. Seeing that a certain fool group leader was still doubting the identity of the NPC next to him, he 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 by heard this, his eyes almost bulged out of his head, and he looked 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 some accidents happened, 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 had made any progress over the years.
nothing."
"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 found 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 manager's log and dug out the bloody truth with her own hands. Sure enough, managers know managers best.
It was true that the Enlightenment Society was the one who saved her from hell. But they also set the fire... Facing Malik's hateful gaze, she said in a voice that did not waver too much.
"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 diary...if you still have this chance." Malik 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, nor did he 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... Actually, I wanted to tell your manager that I had completed the bet I made. 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. The Taran Raider solemnly took the card and inserted it into the VM on her left arm to complete 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 another. 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.
"In addition, there is one more thing that I think it is necessary to tell you." Tallan 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 Taran Raider looked at her intently and spoke hastily.
"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, but shelter 13 should be relatively large due to its special location. It is said to be able to 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 been to that paradise." Seeing the pairs of eyes looking at him, Malik felt panicked, but still had a cold face.
Smiled. "Do you think I will tell you?"
"I can't say, but I think that gentleman can make you 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, or 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 asked 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 me! 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 they held him firmly down.
Looking at Malik, who had panic written all over his face, Zhuang Lan's lips curled up in a playful arc. "How will you know if you don't try? I'm still somewhat confident in my disguise skills."
She heard that the Enlightenment Society would always regard Vault 13 as its rear area. She had wanted to sneak in there for a long time, but unfortunately she had 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 access some things that ordinary disciples cannot access, 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. She may betray others by imitating others, but she cannot imitate this guy.
She was even confident that her secret would not be revealed even if she slept in the same bed with his wife. The miracle of medicine suddenly reared its head.
"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.
, if you go back alone, if no one suspects it, then it will be called a ghost."
Zhuang Lan said cautiously.
"Being suspected is a sure thing, 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 achieve this, right? How about this, let's 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? This is no joke..." Those guys don't care about 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 after hearing the idea, the latter not only didn't feel anything wrong, but instead touched his chin thoughtfully. After a moment, he thought in his mind
After finishing, Taran raised his head and said with a rather surprised expression. "Hiss... you guys can occasionally come up with some useful ideas."
A hearty smile appeared on the face of the medical miracle.
"Hey, if you had listened to me earlier, our corps would have become TO long ago." The Desert Eagle curled his lips disdainfully.
"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 full of TO strong people. Zhuang Lan: "...?"
Although she didn't understand what they were communicating, she could tell from their tone and demeanor that it didn't mean negative. Are these guys serious?!
Zhuang Lan looked at the few people with a worried look and said, "I can't let you take risks."
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 I came up with this idea, let me have a medical miracle——"
"Just let me, the leader of the regiment (the Sanren boss), be the prisoner!"
Before the words of the medical miracle could be finished, Tallan Raiders and Desert Eagles shouted impatiently. How could such an interesting mission be taken advantage of by teammates?
And when they found out that there was actually someone competing with them, they immediately stared. "You are not from our Corps, so why do 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 grab it. As expected, I still have a medical miracle -" "Ganggun, go ahead and play while you're new."
"Damn it! I've been playing for more than half a year, and I'm still a newbie?!"
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 one who survived would be their comrade, and the one who would die would be them.
What a 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. You can just pretend to be a corpse.
His face was indifferent, but he was sneering in his heart. "Haha, you are looking for death!"