Chapter 593.1: A Damn Mutt... And You Dare To Dream Of Challenging The Administrator?

Although the exact position of that Mutant Human unit was uncertain, for the Heart of Steel, whose support gun pods had all been refitted with 155 mm cannons, a rough set of coordinates was already enough.

The moment Chu Guang’s order was issued, alarms warning of shockwave avoidance blared across the airship’s deck, and all the crew members immediately busied themselves.

Inside the main gun chamber, the hydraulic cradle of the loading machine was raised, pushing an orange-yellow 400 mm extended-range rocket shell into the breech.

At that moment, on the deck.

The massive short-barreled giant cannon gave a clattering sound and, under the pull of its motors, slowly rotated to aim squarely at the west of Pinecone Ranch.

The automatic fire-control system was fully operated by Little Seven.

Based on the propellant charge of this rocket shell, the quantum computer had already analyzed countless ballistic curves under different conditions of air density, wind speed, and humidity.

One by one, the players stopped what they were doing and looked curiously at the towering cannon, their eyes filled with anticipation.

As if in response to that anticipation, three seconds after the alarm ceased, a flame tongue as thick as a dragon spurted from the enormous barrel.

The wave of air and dust swept across the steel deck hundreds of meters long, tossed into the sky by the turbulent flow, and for a moment the flashing white light was nearly blinding.

Although the Heart of Steel had fought in many battles, not all the players had truly seen the industrial behemoth rear back and roar.

Witnessing that earth-shattering power, many newcomers boarding for the first time roared in astonishment, some even whistling in excitement.

“Awesome!”

“You call that a shell?! That’s a damn missile fired from a barrel!”

“That shockwave was insane!”

Seeing the clueless newbies, Little Ghost planted her hands on her hips, speaking in the tone of a veteran and teasing with a grin, “Heh, that’s nothing. If you were on the ground, you would feel it much better. That blast’s shockwave is way stronger than this!”

Lost Newbie gulped in disbelief. “How strong?”

“About this much!” Little Ghost spread her arms wide trying to demonstrate, then realized it was impossible to describe, clicked her tongue, scratched her head, and said, “Anyway, strong enough to blow Garbage flying a kilometer away!”

“Amazing!”

The look on Lost Newbie’s face made Little Ghost feel quite pleased. Though she herself had only played the game for a few months, as a regular on the deck of the Heart of Steel she had long treated it as her home.

Curling her lips in pride, she went on. “Anyway, pray for those green-skins. This is not a power carbon-based life can withstand. They’ll be vaporized in an instant, hahaha.”

Light Wind put on goggles, leaned over the edge of the deck, said nothing, and simply clutched her binoculars, staring excitedly at the ground.

Hurry up!

She wanted to see the explosion!

...

Meanwhile, several dozen kilometers away from the Heart of Steel, on a slightly rugged slope in the wilderness stood an abandoned wooden cabin.

Two stalled motorcycles leaned beside it.

Lying on the reverse slope, Li Jinrong and Xiao Yue exchanged glances, looking oddly at the New Alliance soldier dozing off by the bikes.

The Mutant Human army was advancing less than three kilometers away, and a patrol of about 10 had even just scouted this area.

Yet at the critical moment, their guy was actually sleeping!

“... Should we wake him?” Xiao Yue whispered.

Li Jinrong gave a wry smile. “Go ahead... If you can wake him.”

Xiao Yue grinned awkwardly and said no more.

When the scouts had probed this area earlier, he had indeed thought about waking the dude, but no matter what he tried, there was no reaction.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Honestly, he had never seen anyone sleep so soundly.

Being so close to those man-eating things... How could anyone sleep at all?

“I think we should at least send someone back to alert the settlement. With fog this thick, even if the airship flies high, it won’t see anything.”

“That many... Mutant Humans... What’s the point of alerting them?” Li Jinrong squinted at the commotion in the distance and said, “He already told us to leave it to him, so let’s leave it to him.”

Perhaps... The New Alliance soldiers really did have some special ability to speak to each other while dreaming?

They were in the wasteland!

Everyone knew, in the wasteland, anything strange could happen. Elsewhere, if someone told survivors that Mutant Humans in Brocade Lake Municipality were numerous enough to form a kingdom, smart enough to graft mechanical prosthetics onto themselves, few would believe it.

After all, in most other places, if those green-skins could even make a simple landmine, it would be impressive. With a few more in number, they would probably fight each other over food or females.

As for why they had come... Everything started with the ruthless Burning Corps man named Ample Time lying beside them.

When the fog had just risen, Li Jinrong had been on alert at the farm when the man suddenly approached, saying Mutant Humans were advancing and he needed to borrow their motorcycles to scout.

Li Jinrong hadn’t objected, only found it odd... Why borrow bikes when they had aircraft?

In the end, he offered to go along, and the man readily agreed.

Thus the trio left Pinecone Ranch and searched westward. Just as he had said, they found signs of a large Mutant Human mobilization nearby.

The mist was too thick to count the green heads, or even gauge the unit’s position.

Whatever it was, one thing was certain. They were at least a thousand strong!

Not only that, the force was unusually cautious, unlike the noisy mobs that had swarmed before.

They not only sent scouts to search along the route but carefully split their forces into waves.

For human armies, tactics like those were basic. However, they were extremely rare for mutants.

More than death, they despised cowardice and weakness. In their eyes, flashy tactics were cowardly.

The champions they admired crushed foes with sheer strength!

Now, they were willing to copy human tactics! Clearly, the New Alliance had hurt them badly in past battles.

That was no good sign for the New Alliance.

Feeling the killing intent and bloodlust through the gray-green fog, Li Jinrong felt his scalp tingle, a creeping sense of trouble filling his heart.

The next second, Ample Time, who had been in deep sleep, suddenly jerked to his feet.

Xiao Yue, startled by the sudden movement, lifted his head, glanced around to confirm no Mutant Human scouts were present, then covered his embarrassment with a joke. “Bro, you slept long enough...”

Ample Time, just awake, nodded, brushed grass and dust off his arm, and said casually, “Mm, just bragged a bit with the others.”

Xiao Yue raised his eyebrows. “?”

So did Li Jinrong. “...?”

What the hell?

Both were stunned.

He really could speak to others through dreams?!

“... That’s not the point.” Ample Time coughed lightly, glossing over the awkward topic. “Anyway... It’s already settled.”

The reason he had taken so long wasn’t entirely wasting time on the forum. Mainly, he was waiting for other players to carry the message back to the official forum and confirm when the bombardment would start.

Fortunately, the Heart of Steel’s NPCs were reliable and trusted them.

Almost as soon as Light Wind relayed the coordinates in-game, the airship’s guns were already preparing to fire.

Honestly, with that response time, Ample Time almost suspected that not only players. He suspected that the NPCs were also browsing their forums.

Whatever it was, he hadn’t reported that bug to his good brother Light.

A bug that enhanced gameplay experience... Fixing it would be a shame. It was better that everyone tacitly continued to use it.

Li Jinrong looked blankly at the calm man, not understanding a word.

How can sleeping fix anything?

What can that solve?

After a slight hesitation, he couldn’t hold his doubts. “... What do you mean done? How is it already settled?”

Ample Time knew exactly what he was confused about, but didn’t explain in detail. He only looked toward the marching Mutant Humans and said tersely, “The New Alliance’s support will arrive soon. We just need to stand here and watch. Of course, it's better not to get in front of those green-skin bastards.”

As he spoke, he checked his gear, especially the VM strapped to his arm, making sure it hadn’t been tampered with, and glanced a little longer at the two NPCs.

This outing with them alone was partly to borrow the bikes, but also a test.

The night before, Old White had spoken with Li Jinrong. The New Alliance would support the Iron Tower’s guerrilla work in the south, but that didn’t mean they fully trusted them.

The Sanctuary could be hidden in any NPC’s mind.

So when he logged off, he had turned on the VM’s recording and camera functions to see what the two would do.

Anyway, the coordinates of the Mutant Human army had been reported. If he got killed, it was only three days before he could come back online. Spending one life to scrutinize two NPCs was worth it.

As it turned out, they hadn’t done anything extra.

Though that didn’t mean they were completely trustworthy, it meant cooperation was possible.

Xiao Yue asked impatiently, “How long will it take?”

Ample Time didn’t answer, only said softly, “Listen carefully... Do you hear anything?”

Li Jinrong frowned slightly. “Hear anything?”

What on earth is this guy talking about?!