Chapter 123.1: To Battle

"Finally! Finally, it's here!"

"We're going to have a war campaign again? I'm so excited right now! It's been a long time since we fought one!"

"God damnit! Why only fifty people? And why are you all so fast?"

"You snooze, you lose!"

"I didn't get the mission, but can I follow you? I don't mind if there's no reward, I just want to watch the cutscene!"

"We are selling Goblin Bazookas![1] We’re having a big clearance sale. Just 5 silver coins a piece! If you don't buy, it's your loss! Come and take a look!" Mosquito's voice rang through the skies.

"Give me one first, I'll pay later!"

"Go away!"

At the west gate of the outpost.

A large group of players, armed with their weapons and ammunition, gathered at the clearing in front of the trenches.

It was so lively that they didn’t look like they were going to take part in a war. It looked more like a festival.

Mosquito even went to the warehouse to rent a cart, so he could load the gun barrel, gun mount, and shells on it. Moreover, he also hired a strength type newbie to help pull the cart.

"B-bro! Can... Can you let me fire it once?" The newbie asked excitedly on the side of the cart.

Mosquito couldn't help laughing when he heard what was said. He patted the player on the shoulder. "Of course! Just listen to my instructions later, and then you can fire as many times as you want."

"Okay!"

It was so lively that anyone with eyes could see that something big was about to happen.

The nomads who returned from the lake looked over in surprise. They looked at each other and started whispering among themselves.

"What are they doing?"

"Is there going to be a battle?"

"All of them are holding guns!”

"Who are they fighting against? Marauders? Or mutants?"

Carrying two plastic buckets full of water, Autumn Weed and Autumn Leaves looked curiously at the Administrator who came out of the west gate.

The eyes of the two fell on that impressive hammer on his back.

"It's so big..."

"That hammer must weigh at least dozens of kilograms, right?"

"That armor also looks heavy, is it made of steel?"

"Is he not tired?"

"Don't keep staring at him. It's rude to keep looking at other people."

"Oh, okay... Wait! Why are you tell me that? You were also staring at him."

Autumn Weed repeated with a blush. "You, you just shouldn't do it. It's disrespectful."

More and more nomads were attracted by the movement outside the outpost.

From a distance of dozens of meters, they watched the warriors who were gathered in front of the trenches curiously, discussing what happened.

Is it going to be a war?

People will die in battles.

But why do those soldiers look so excited?

Don't they fear death at all?

Many nomads couldn't help but feel awe in their hearts. The morale of these blue coats was even more impressive than the weapons they were holding!

Just as they were talking, their leader, Iron Axe Wu, walked out from the crowd with several hunters carrying bows and arrows and javelins.

In front of the administrator, Iron Axe Wu clasped his fists and said respectfully. "Sir, these people behind me are the elites of our tribe. As long as you give the nod, we will be the sharpest spear in your hand!"

Taking a glance at him, Chu Guang was about to politely decline his kindness when he suddenly had a new idea, "Just stay near me later."

"Yes! Sir!"

Signaling Yu Hu, Iron Axe Wu, and others to wait in place, Chu Guang walked over to the players. As they were waiting with bated breaths, he read out the line that took him ten minutes to come up with.

"For too long, the people of Baker Street have endured the town mayor's oppression. Under his tyrannical rule, they suffer from hunger and poverty. They are struggling to survive. The money extorted from those poor people by his tyranny has lined his pockets, satisfying only his insatiable greed.

“His list of crimes is endless. But now, he has crossed a line that we can no longer tolerate. He has not only targeted us but has also joined forces with our archenemies, the Bloodhand Clan. He forged secret alliances and had intentions to direct their aggression at us!”

“Justice may sometimes arrive late, but it will never be absent. The time has come to show that greedy old leech what the consequences for provoking us are. His actions have ignited a fire within us, a fire that will consume all that is unjust.”

“Everyone, follow me into battle!”

In the open space in front of the trenches, the roars of excitement were deafening.

"Liberate Baker Street!"

"For Xiaoyu!"

"

Awooo

!"

...

In the castle at the center of Baker Street.

With a forceful push, the guard, clad in a deerskin coat, flung open the study room doors on the top floor, and swiftly dashed through a lengthy row of bookshelves, arriving promptly before the town mayor.

"Sir! We’ve spotted a lot of people coming from the north! There... There are more than fifty of them!" The guard said urgently.

"How many?!" The town mayor instantly got up, his expression changed quickly. Before the guard could respond, he rushed out of the study, quickly running through the corridor connected to the tower, the highest spot on the castle.

The north wind whistled fiercely outside the tall tower.

He, who came out of the study without putting on his coat, was shivering in the cold. Ignoring the chill, he grabbed the binoculars hanging on the side and looked towards the north.

What he saw was a group of people wearing fur coats, carrying guns of different sizes while looking more like marauders than actual marauders. They were marching aggressively in the direction of Baker Street.

On the cold day with the north wind howling fiercely, a drop of sweat dripped from the forehead of the old town mayor.

Turning his head sharply, he grabbed the guard who had followed him to the top of the tower, and roared loudly. "Quick, gather all the guards! Ask them to pick up their weapons and go to the north gate!"

"Also, send someone to Old Charlie and ask him to mobilize the hunters on Baker Street! Gather all men over the age of fourteen at the door of the armory!"

"Go now!"

"Yes, yes!" The guard nodded repeatedly, his legs trembling.

Not long after, the castle's bell rang rapidly, breaking the tranquility of Baker Street.

The survivors standing on the street had no clue what was happening; they thought the marauders had arrived. In a flurry of panic, they dashed toward their homes, hastily gathering belongings, and prepared to flee. They were utterly bewildered and disoriented.

Hearing the bell, Old Charlie didn't panic. Instead, he heaved a sigh of relief.

If it was destined to happen, the only thing he could do was make it happen faster.

For example, if the bomb was ignited before the foolish town mayor did something more outrageously stupid, fewer poor people would be implicated.

If there were no accidents, that foolish town mayor would soon send someone to find him, asking him to mobilize the hunters of Baker Street to stand on the walls and fight those blue coats with their lives.

Drawing the curtain of the grocery store, the old man picked up his cane and hid into the panicked crowd.

At the same time, the door to the armory on the side of the castle was opened.

The guard wearing a deerskin coat took the iron-barreled rifle and ammunition from the captain and rushed to the north gate stand guard behind whatever cover he could find.

However, the cover made of scrap metal pieces and concrete garbage did not give them much sense of security.

Apart from a few aging veterans whose faces were lined with wrinkles, many young guards wore expressions of panic and unease, their hands gripping the guns moist with nervous sweat.

A big force like the Bloodhand Clan would not come after receiving the protection fee.

Normally, their adversaries were mutants, and the most dangerous among them were just a few mutated brown bears. Only in very rare cases would they encounter marauders who, out of sheer recklessness, came knocking at their door to extort them. Those individuals usually had dismal combat abilities, and they were so destitute that they didn't even possess a rifle. They couldn’t even be compared to the town’s hunters.

That was the first time the younger guards encountered anything like it!

Looking around at the guards around, a look of solemnity appeared on Old Walter's face.

Including him, they could only muster a total of eleven individuals, with half of them being the guards from the old mayor's residence. They might not even be able to fire thirty rounds against their enemies!

The guard captain scolded his subordinate. "Where's everyone? Is this all we have? What about the hunters in town? Give them guns and get them to scatter into the buildings outside!"

"Old Charlie went to gather them... They, they should be here soon," said a young guard with his gun trembling in his hand.

"It will be too late," Old Walter looked out of the cover and said, "Those people are already here."

On the snow-covered street.

A group of soldiers clad in fur coats, carrying rifles and handguns, had appeared at the end of the street. They were led by a heavily armored man. They quickly dispersed behind nearby cover along the street.

Both sides were only 200 meters apart, well within firing range! Yet, neither side made a move; they simply stood nervously locked in a standoff.

At this moment, Old Walter's brows frowned suddenly. He just spotted a jet-black gun barrel being pushed out from the street corner on the opposite side!

They have a cannon?!

...

1. Waht the fuck... ☜