The 20 kilometer journey back and forth did not stop the player’s determination to complete the mission. The heavy snow floating in the sky could not quench the boiling blood in their hearts.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

The Army?!

Who the fuck cared who they were?! Anyone who had the guts to bomb them had to be killed!

Blood calls for blood!

A group of people returned to the shelter menacingly.

In addition to picking up their rifles, all the players who took the mission also went to the warehouse to pick up a woven bag as required by the mission.

When searching for abandoned construction sites before, there were a lot of bags made of woven polymer in the warehouse.

For a long time, scavenging players usually used it instead of backpacks to carry the rubbish they picked up. Now, it would be used to carry their loot!

If there was no loot, those bags would carry them instead.

The atmosphere in the shelter was unexpectedly solemn for a while. Looking at their inventory, many players started hesitating. They didn’t know what they should bring to the battlefield.

Ample Time also fell into a similar dilemma.

There was no doubt that Daybreak was his best choice. The explosive arrows could kill targets behind cover, and the armor-piercing arrows could even shoot through some light armor.

However… There was another problem. The battle wasn’t going to be easy.

Even if he bound his equipment, there was no guarantee that he would be able to bring it back intact.

Old White, who was standing by to check the equipment, saw the hesitation in his partner’s eyes. He put his right hand on his shoulder, and said with a smile, "Don’t worry, just take it if you want."

Ample Time shook his head and said cautiously, "It was bought with everyone’s money. To be honest, this battle will definitely be more difficult than the fight with the Bloodhand Clan. I’m not sure if I will be able to bring it back."

The death penalty in Wasteland Online was a bit severe.

In the past, when everyone’s pockets were cleaner than their faces, they didn’t feel the pain of death too much. Now, as the game progressed further, Ample Time felt that compared to losing silver coins and waiting three days for a resurrection, losing equipment was a bigger punishment.

As such, he had to carefully calculate the benefits and risks, and the equipment he could bring for each mission.

Knowing what Ample Time would say, Old White grinned and patted his shoulder. "The point of buying equipment is to use it. The point of playing this game is to do things that you want to do but dare not do in reality. Don’t think too much about it. Although it was bought with everyone’s money, we told you that it was our gift to you, so don’t mind it too much! If you don’t want to bring it because you think you won’t need it, then I don’t mind. But if it’s because you’re afraid of losing it, then what’s the point of buying it?"

Night Ten smiled and walked over. "That’s right, since when did you become such a coward?! Are you planning to die there? Anyway, I don’t want to die! This bug has not been dealt with, so if I die, I don’t know how many days it will take to respawn. If those newbies want to die, I won’t stop them, but I have to live to the end! No matter what, I have to bring back some loot!"

Gale coughed lightly. "Let’s not talk about whether you will die or not, don’t forget, we have to avenge Quit Smoking."

Old White laughed and said, "That’s right, avenge Quit Smoking! I almost forgot about that."

Night Ten said, "That’s right! Quit Smoking was finally able to log into the game, but they actually killed him, we have to avenge him!"

Seeing the encouraging eyes of his partners, Ample Time was moved, a smile appeared on his face, and finally, he no longer hesitated.

"Mhm, we’ll avenge him!"

...

In the shelter.

Ample Time was no longer hesitating, but Mosquito wasn’t exactly the same.

After thinking for a long time, he finally sighed and went down to level B2.

Garbage hasn’t left the shelter since winter started, but he would still go online regularly, doing push-ups and squats in the hall.

According to him, he could level up in that way. Anyway, the exercise in the game was not as tiring as in reality, and he couldn’t sleep if he didn’t play. At least he could find something to do.

Many people didn’t believe him at first.

However, he actually leveled up once, proving all the haters wrong!

After increasing his level, Garbage was so excited that he actually went to the forum to release a guide, creating a fitness style gameplay, and became the first gym instructor in Wasteland Online. With the Tree Cutting Madman, Midnight Pubg, they were like a pair of Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon.

Speaking of which, since he didn’t do any missions, he couldn’t afford to buy food, so it was Mosquito who fed him.

Of course, just like buying land, Mosquito only lent him the money.

Looking at the lizard practicing squats in the corner, Mosquito said with a light cough, "Are you planning to do squats all the way to level 99?"

Garbage looked up, surprised. "Huh? Why are you back?"

Mosquito sighed, "It’s a mission. I’m back to get the equipment."

"Oh, I got it too," Mr. Garbage nodded with an envious look on his face, "I really envy you guys, being able to roll in the snow. The last time I went out to fight…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Brother Mosquito comforted, "Don’t worry, we are all normal people. Even if we can go out, we won’t roll in the snow. At most, we will do missions, eat barbecue, have a bowl of mushroom soup when we are thirsty, listen to the Weapon Shop Owner’s trash talk, watch the cute and serious Xiaoyu count money…"

"Screw you! Are you here to show off?!" Mr. Garbage looked sad and angry, but because his face was too ugly, the sadness and anger were not obvious.

Mosquito chuckled and said, "No... In fact, I’m here to tell you one piece of good news."

"... No bad news?"

"Yes, there is. But it’s not important."

"???"

Ignoring the alert expression on Mr. Garbage’s face, Mosquito coughed lightly and continued with a serious expression, "Some time ago, didn’t I help Teng Teng design the steam engine?"

Mr. Garbage nodded vigorously. "I know, I saw Teng Teng complaining about you on the forum, saying that you only cared about having fun, and the things you made were not what she imagined!"

"That’s not the point!" Mosquito interrupted him without hesitation. "The point is, after I exchanged experiences with Bathroom Goer, I improved the steel-making process, so we can now cast lighter and more durable boilers! Speaking of which, what’s your strength level now?"

"I’ve reached level 4 now... I have 14 points of strength," Mr. Garbage said with a slightly hesitant expression. But then as if he suddenly understood something, his eyes widened. "Wait, are you trying to…"

Seeing that his good brother understood him so well, a smile appeared on Mosquito’s face. "I need you to carry 40 kilograms of heavy armor, a 10 kilogram boiler, and 60 liters of boiling water, then rush into the forest in the most ferocious posture you can think of, jump into the trenches, and shred the enemy in front of you! Spray the boiled water on their faces! In short, kill them in any way you can think of!"

Mosquito stared at him with bright eyes.

"Explosion is an art!"

"I used to think that if the power of the explosion is not strong enough, it will not produce effective damage... but now I have a new idea!"

"Would you like to be my spark?"

...

7:00 at night.

Next to the steel platform of the Pioneer, 10 exoframes have been assembled.

In addition to this, there were 15 light infantrymen wearing exoskeletons, and 5 mechanical dogs carrying dual-carry drone hives.

All of them were in high spirits.

Even the four-legged mechanical dogs were rubbing their metal paws, ready for some action.

Lu Yang stood in front of them while holding a Gauss rifle and wearing a burly alloy heavy armor, giving the final pre-battle speech.

That was almost all the ground force that could be dispatched on the Pioneer.

They didn’t bring the four-wheeled off-road vehicle since it couldn’t play a big role in the complex mixed-terrain of jungle and ruins, and it would easily be caught by the enemy when it got stuck in the snow pit.

Anyway, with the exoskeletons, the light infantry could carry enough ammunition to finish the battle while maintaining their mobility.

Although compared to the Army, they were indeed a bit inferior in number, but that was not a big problem.

In addition to the ground force, there was also a light fixed-wing drone in the sky, carrying 600 rounds of electromagnetically accelerated mass bullets, two 50 kilograms metal hydrogen high-explosive bombs, and a tactical nuclear bomb with an adjustable yield up to 10 tons on standby.

Air dominance was entirely on their side!

At the same time, in the forest more than ten kilometers away…

Sitting in a dark temporary command post, Vanus was quietly facing an old paper map. There were dense dots on the map, like chess pieces on a military sand table.

Nothing could be seen because there was no light source available, but it didn’t matter.

Although the communication channel was silent and the information about the enemy was not available, Vanus didn’t panic at all.

It was not the first time he had fought an unbalanced warfare. In the year he fought the Great Rift Valley, he and his men had already experienced the power of technology.

So what?

They themselves were the crystallization of technology.

In short, if they had an absolute advantage in quantity, nothing else mattered!

All deployments had been completed.

He believed that his subordinates would bring him the glory of victory.

At this moment, a light lit up in the distance, the mushroom cloud rose from the ground, and the shock wave of the explosion rushed to the door of the tent.

The communication signal in the radio was like a candle light in the wind, appearing intermittently. Under the influence of an electromagnetic pulse, it emitted a noisy electric sound.

His lake-like calm pupil finally showed a hint of zeal. He stood up from the chair and propped his fist on the map.

"They’re finally here!”

The sound of explosions came one after another, and the flames of the muzzles and the explosions ignited the edges of the forest and ruins.

At the order of the squad leader, the cloned light infantry crawling in the trench pressed syringes with their thumb and injected anti-radiation agents into their blood vessels.

The scorching light scorched their backs and burned their side faces. Their skin began to rot, their bone marrow underwent necrosis, their organs gradually failed, and their mouths seemed to hold a lump of rusty iron… Even so, it wasn’t enough to make them die instantly.

Even if they had lost hundreds of people earlier, it was still not enough to shake them. The stinging pain like many ants biting on the backs of their necks kept reawakening the memory of fear in their brains.

Don’t look back!

Don’t retreat!

"Fire!"

The orange-yellow ballistics wove a net over the forest and the ruins, and the collision of steel and flesh played an overture under the snowy night.

Under the cover of the drone, exoframes, exoskeletons-clad infantrymen, and quadrotor drones stabbed the Army’s flank like a sharp spearhead.

The line of defense was torn apart instantly, like a toppled snowman.

However, the Army was obviously not some weak marauders.

The cloned light infantry rushed forward one after another as bazookas shuttled between the silent forest and the ruins. Accompanied by the fragmentation grenades thrown by the grenade launchers, gravel and rubble flew everywhere.

The snow was dyed red by fire.

The night was ignited by the northern wind.

Lu Yang looked solemn and turned off the night vision function of his helmet while changing his barrel because it was no longer needed.

What no one knew was that at that moment, a group of blue coats with guns and cannons were taking advantage of the night as their cover to approach silently from the east of the battlefield...