Chapter 602.1: The Meatgrinder

A formation of 12 Dragonfly transport aircraft swept over the bombing zone that had been marked over the map.

At the front was a veteran pigman acting as team leader, piloting the lead plane. The other 11 planes held formation on either side.

They calculated drop distance by plugging altitude, speed, entry angle, and wind into formulas. With a signal from the lead aircraft, bomb-bay doors opened, and bombardiers slid bombs off the rails one after another.

Using transport planes as bombers was reckless in every sense, but what they lacked in accuracy they made up with volume.

One after another, bombs tumbled down like dumplings into the marked city sector. Orange-red blossoms erupted between highways and towers.

Skyscrapers from the Prosperity Era were absurdly sturdy.

Even after two centuries of weathering, most buildings remained structurally intact after a full carpet bombing.

Only a single 100 meter tall tower, struck in its load-bearing section, began to tilt northward from the middle, collapsing slowly.

Watching the apocalyptic sight and the dust plume rising hundreds of meters, Ice and Fire clicked his tongue by the window. “Holy shit... All this for one sniper?”

Back on Earth, they would strike at a sniper, but usually it would be a single guided missile or a few grenades.

Never would they send an entire bomber squadron against a single sniper.

That was overkill.

Unprofessional Retort chuckled, “Use your brain. You think Mutant Humans can snipe in fog like this? Of course it’s the rats from the Torch Church.”

Ice and Fire smacked his forehead. “Damn... makes sense now.”

He had been thinking in real-world terms, but it was still a game.

Whatever sneaky trick those Torch Church vermin were pulling, slapping them with overwhelming force was the right move.

What surprised him was how sharp the NPCs’ thinking was.

Other pilots chimed in. “The Fog is too thick. We can’t see a thing on the ground.”

“Think that guy’s dead?”

“Then it’s up to the ground boys to confirm!” Unprofessional Retort laughed, tilted his stick, and led the bombers back to the Heart of Steel. After a pause, he added, “Better think about how we’re gonna land first.”

For him, landing in fog wasn’t a problem. But as for the rookies? It was another story.

Hopefully fewer of them crashed this time...

Hopefully, their ground crew wouldn’t curse too hard...

...

The 100 meter skyscraper snapped in half. From above, it looked like a block of tofu cleaved in two. From the ground, it was a square mountain collapsing.

Even hundreds of meters away, sand and gravel blasted off the wreck rained on both sides of the battle.

The violent airflow scattered spore clouds in the air.

Mutant Human soldiers stared wide-eyed, mouths agape, oblivious to the grit filling their teeth.

What the hell happened?!

The players, too. They stopped firing, awed by the spectacle.

“... Damn, if this were made into a CG cutscene it would be insane!”

“Holy hell!”

“Cutscene my ass!” Helicopter Shooke cursed while swapping belts. “How about we survive this fight first?”

Toy Car Beta lay nearby.

He thought the fog would cover him and went out to show off repairing his ride. He was sent back to the forums with a headshot.

Helicopter Shooke dragged his corpse back, but the man’s brain was gone. The guy was probably sitting at home, clueless as ti what just happened.

The Chimera sat dead in the road, still spitting shells at Mutant Humans to suppress them.

Those Mutant Humans weren’t too stupid. They learned not to face the New Alliance head on. They slipped through alleys, encircling from both flanks.

“Why don’t those bombers blast this spot too?” Piggy Shrimp wiped grime off his face, cursing.

Helicopter Shooke rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and then you can flame on the forums about friendly fire?”

Across the street, players of the Death Corps laughed.

“Just tell Mosquito Bro to turn off friendly fire before he drops!”

“Hahaha!”

“Does this game even have that option?”

Despite being trapped in a dead-end street, the players weren’t nervous.

The bombers taking out the sniper meant that central command knew their situation. Reinforcements would be on the way.

All they had to do was hold out a little longer.

The lull broke with gunfire.

With street fighting reignited, tracers ripped through alleys.

The green-skinned bastards weren’t stupid. Since they managed to cripple one Chimera, they weren’t about to let the New Alliance repair it.

A routed 100-strong Mutant Human unit was hurled in, howling as they charged.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

If they could crack the New Alliance’s offensive line, they would stabilize the collapsing defense.

But it wasn’t just a dead Chimera in their path. It was also an expanded 100-man-strong Death Corps unit.

Their gear wasn’t flashy and they had unimpressive ranks. However, every single one of them were killers. They were fearless in the face of death. More importantly... They were masters of urban street combat.

Each carried shotguns or SMGs, some even bayonet-fixed bolt rifles. They grappled with Mutant Humans in alley brawls.

One Mutant Human bashed a skull with a club. Before savoring it, a shotgun blew the creature’s head off.

Elsewhere, a player wrestled with a Mutant Human and detonated himself, both vanishing in red mist.

Even those savage Mutant Humans showed fear at such madness.

These men are lunatics!

The alley that was piled with limbs and gore, a swamp of blood and viscera. However, the gunfires never stopped.

When both sides were fighting englessly, from the street, urgent cannon blasts thundered.

Boom, boom, boom!

37mm fire shredded charging Mutant Humans into bloody chunks.

“Roar!” A berserk Mutant Human hurled a tarred satchel bomb at the Chimera.

The schoolbag-sized charge stuck to their armor plates.

“Shit!” Helicopter Shooke swore, dropped his gun, and sprinted to the side. He ripped it free and dived.

The blast tore him apart, fragments clanging off his armor.

Had it stuck, even a tank might’ve been ruined.

The Mutant Human gasped, shocked that the Chimera survived because of the short stunt.

Shame, there was no time for awe.

The explosion was followed by incendiary flames, reducing the player to ash.

“Shooke!” Piggy Shrimp howled, spraying his gun into the alleys.

The next moment, the Mutant Humans saw another armored vehicle rolling up, realizing they had lost their chance.

Their leader roared retreat, and the rest cursed as they pulled back south.

Only a few crazed brutes fought on.

Watching them fall back, Escaping Mole stomped on the accelerator, sending his Chimera forward to hose them down.

The rear hatch opened. Elf Wang, Irene, and others hopped out, spreading to cover the vehicle.

One repair-savvy player lugged a toolbox to the dead Chimera.

Shoving aside a fallen engineer’s corpse, he pried open the hood before putting his wrench and screwdriver to work.

From the turret, Escaping Mole glanced at the bombed district before calling out to the player. “How’s it look? Can you fix it?”

Without looking up, the player answered, “Engine casing’s pierced... I’ll try. It should run, but half power at best.”

“Good enough to limp back to base. Keep the car.”

“Hell yeah!” The player waved his wrench.

Escaping Mole was about to duck back in when Eye Owe Money from the Death Corps walked up with a rifle.

Before he spoke, Elf Wang grinned wide like spotting rare wildlife. “Well, if it isn’t our Brother Eye! What brings you here?”

Missing the jab, Eye Owe Money smirked. “

Pfft

, I’ve been here four days already!”

Irene glanced back with a smirk. “I thought you went missing.”

“Bullshit! You’re the one who went missing! Your whole family went missing!” Catching on to the joke that he died, Eye Owe Money rolled his eyes, then looked up at Escaping Mole.

“Bro, we picked up a new mission and are short on some people. Can you spare help?”

Escaping Mole, guessing Midnight Pubg was too busy going berserk to lead the Jungle Corps to care about what the Death Corps needed, leaned in curiously. “What mission?”

“Support the Burning Corps.”

“Hah?! Those monsters need support?”

“Mission brief says they hit trouble in the bombing zone. We lost contact with them. Central command thinks it’s the Torch Church messing around.”

Looks like they didn’t manage to bomb shit then...