Chapter 302.1: This Clearly Isn't Something Done By A Human....

If he hadn’t been sure he had the right map, Urron would’ve thought he was in the wrong place.

He was silent for a moment, then said with an uncertain tone, “... This is the West Continent?”

“Probably.” Demeter nodded, squinting into the distance. “The southern suburbs of the West Continent City used to be called the Bluestone County prior to the war.”

The county faced many mountains in the east and west, nestled beneath the ridge of a mountain and surrounded by vast vegetation and trees.

There were no high-rise buildings, only gardens, terraces and villas. It was clear that people who lived there before the war highly pursued pleasures of life.

In the west there was a highway and a maglev station, which connected the West Continent City and Clearspring City. However these basic infrastructures have long since been consumed by the wild growth of plants. They were reduced to a mixed pile of mud, trash, and wreckage.

In the Prosperity Era, where transportation was easy to access, this was only a small and unassuming county. But nowadays, it has long since become the southern gate of the West Continent City.

Clearly, the Fang Clan situated in the West Continent City also realized the situation. If they could not sort out their neighbors in the south, the least they could do was watch their front door.

Looking out through his binoculars, Urron noticed that there was no small number of marauders stationed here, probably at least 1 to 2 brigades.

Not only that, they had also reinforced their positions.

Wood and boards were used to seal gaps on half collapsed terraces and villas. Cement buildings of three stories and above were converted into bunkers and artillery towers. The streets were piled with barricades made of concrete stone and wooden stakes, and every window seemed to conceal the shadow of a guard.

The whole town had been transformed into a fortress.

He didn’t expect the rabble he was facing to be capable of this.

Demeter couldn’t help looking at them in a new light.

“How do we contact them?”

“With this.” Urron replied succinctly, taking out a flare gun and firing a shot into the sky.

The red-colored flare quickly painted the sky with a dull fiery glow.

Not long after, a dozen figures appeared in front of them.

These people wore animal skins clothing and many of them were even bare-chested, giving off an uncivilized look. But each of them carried civilized weapons without exception. They were holding either automatic or bolt-action rifles.

They warily looked at the group of soldiers wearing pitch-black exoskeletons. The leading squad leader stared at Urron, who was at the front of the group, and cautiously asked, “Who are you people?”

The goggles of the helmet faced him, and Urron took out the iron plate that identified them and waved it, expressionlessly giving his answer, “Torch.”

Torch?

The marauders behind the squad leader stirred, their faces showing looks of shock as they whispered with each other.

The squad leader’s face was also full of surprise, but an ecstatic look quickly replaced it. “Please follow me!”

After the groups linked up, they continued their way.

The squad leader led the way in the front, and soon took Urron and Demeter’s group through the sentry post at the county’s entrance.

Upon entering the fortress, Demeter instantly redacted his previous evaluation of their ‘allies’.

The sanitation was extremely horrible. It was like a downright garbage dump.

The streets reeked with the smell of decay, corpses and excrement was carelessly strewn on the ground, and rats the size of a fist darted through the streets as they wished, treating the place as if it was their home.

Demeter lowered his voice, murmuring through the communication device, “There was probably a rodent infestation here.”

Urron’s gaze flickered across the streets. He softly replied, “That should’ve been obvious.”

Noticing Urron’s gaze lingering on a corner, the leading squad leader grinned in an attempt to butter them up. “Don’t mind them, it’s just a few rats... We’re almost there.”

The Fang Clan’s center of command was located on the west of the county, in the Bluestone Store Department Store. The five-story, cylinder-shaped building stood out from the rest of the buildings in the county.

In terms of being covert, it definitely wasn’t a good idea to use the place as a command post, but the building’s exterior wall was made of a large amount of steel structures. Moreover, there were 2 floors of an underground commercial area and vehicle terminal that connected straight to the surface. From a defensive standpoint, it turned out to be the most appropriate choice.

In the department store’s first floor, Urron and Demeter met the top commander, Lion Fang.

“Welcome, friends from afar! I am the brigade commander of the Fang Clan, Lion Fang. You can make yourselves at home here.” Lion Fang greeted them with delight, opening his arms in an attempt to hug his allies. However, when he saw how unmoving and indifferent they were, he quickly went to shake their hands instead.

Urron extended his hand and shook hands with him. “Urron, apostle of His Highness, the Holy Child.”

“I pray for the Holy Child’s good health, please give him my regards...” Sensing a tint of animosity in the eyes of the man in front of him, Lion Fang quickly halted his insensitive words and hurriedly ended the conversation with a light cough. “Then, Sir Apostle, may I ask the reason you came all the way here?”

Not minding his previous offense, since it wasn’t the time to make a scene, Urron said simply, “The blue coats from Clearspring City’s northern suburbs took something from us. We need your aid to retake it.”

“Took... something from you? From the Death Coast? That’s quite far.” Lion Fang looked at him confused, and continued, “May I ask what that something was?”

“A box and an exoframe set. We are in need of the former, as for the latter, you can keep it.”

Exoframe!

Greed flashed through Lion Fang’s eyes, but he quickly calmed down. “They have the exoframe?”

“Yes.” Seeing the hesitation in the marauder’s eyes, Urron continued, “Don’t worry, that exoframe has no shields, it’s just a sitting duck with slightly stronger defense. If it appears on the battlefield, just let us deal with it.”

Hearing that, Lion Fang finally released his breath and a smile appeared on his face. “That’s great, my friend. Although we’ve caught a few monsters and brown bears with the equipment you provided, against an exoframe... We’re not sure if we can take that on.”

“What you need to worry about isn’t the exoframe, but the fact that those blue coats possess planes.”

“Planes?!”

Those blue coats have planes?!

Did Boulder Town sell them planes?!

Lion Fang’s eyes were filled with bewilderment, his face full of disbelief.

But that's impossible...

Those things were like exoframes. Since it was an object from times before the war, then they were considered precious treasures to any survivor settlement.

Not to mention, it was the batch of equipment Boulder Town’s people inherited from the post-war reconstruction committee.

“Correct.” Seeing Lion Fang's shock, Urron gnashed his teeth and forced the words out his mouth, “It’s just a mere propeller plane, but it has 2 machine guns installed on it, so you better be careful.”

Lion Fang was baffled.

He didn’t know what a propeller airplane was, but it was clear these people weren’t joking around. Those blue coats from Clearspring City’s northern suburbs were going to be trickier to deal with than he’d initially thought.

“Thank you for the warning. I’ll discuss countermeasures with my advisors in a while about... about how to reinforce our defenses.”

“Reinforce your defenses? How else do you plan to reinforce them? It’s basically already a turtle shell.” To the side, Demeter looked at him strangely. “Are you guys still planning on expanding south or not?”

“Of course we do, this piece of meat is basically in the corner of our mouths, but we didn’t think the situation in the West Continent City would be this difficult.” With a frustrated expression on his face, Lion Fang carried on, “The survivors here are no match for us, but those cunning fools snuck into the underground subways and rely on their familiarity with the terrain to play guerilla warfare with us. Plus there’s been another recent outbreak of rodents, those rats are everywhere! We even have to put our shoes in a locker when we go to sleep now... We simply don’t have excess energy to continue south.”

Urron’s face looked a bit twisted. “How long do you need to sort out all these problems?”

With an uncertain tone, Lion Fang said, “By this year’s winter, perhaps.”

“That’s too long!” Urron shook his head. “We can’t possibly wait that long! Those blue coats are currently gathering nearby refugees. If we wait for them to get a foothold in the area, the situation will become harder to deal with! Focusing all our efforts on eliminating them right now is your only opportunity. You can’t wait until winter.”

A hint of displeasure flickered on Lion Fang’s face.

Ultimately, they were only allies, not superior and subordinate. The only reason he treated them so respectfully was because the missionaries of Torch could control mutants, and those monsters, brown bears and even deathclaws charging at the front had helped them deal with quite a lot of difficult enemies.

In exchange, the Bonechewer Clan allowed them to preach their teachings in their territory, spreading their belief to the marauders in the River Valley Province and even its surrounding areas.

However, that didn’t mean he had to follow their commands.

Can’t wait until winter? What a joke.

What was there to fear from a group of refugees?

He could admit the fighting strength of those blue coats wasn’t weak, but in the end, they had a limited number of people.

In just a few months, the marauders who had come to join them had doubled the size of the Fang Clan.

By the time autumn came, they would have an army of tens of thousands soldiers marching in unison. One mouthful of spittle per person would be enough to drown that pack of blue gophers!

“We have our own plans. I can’t possibly lead my men to their deaths just for some damn box. It’s been just a few months since winter, so their wheat has only grown a handful of seedlings. What are we going to eat if we storm over right now? Chew on grass?”

“What’s more, Black Snake has already fallen at their hands. I can’t deal with them alone. If you’re in such a hurry, you can talk to our chief, Lord Gold Fang is inside the West Continent City. I’m stationed here on his orders, and only he has the right to command me!”

Negotiations failed.

Lion Fang didn’t hesitate to reject the Church of Torch Apostle’s advice of immediately going south. He would continue to reinforce the defenses here and, with his advisor, turn this entire county into a fortress as solid as gold.

However the brigade commander also expressed that, if he were to receive an order from the chief, then he would send out 1 company to support them.

1 company...

Urron only laughed after hearing the suggestion.

What can 100 barbarians do?

These people were just cannon fodder on the battlefield, and they didn’t even seem to be self-aware of this fact.

Nevertheless, after learning that these men only stopped their march because of their orders, Urron knew he would have to meet with their chief if he wanted to convince them to continue their advance south.

After leaving the department store, Detemer glanced at his teammate. “So, now we’re going downtown?”

“Mhm,” Urron nodded. His finger swiped a few times in the air. “It’s only about 30 kilometers from here to West Continent City. We’ll go forwards following the path below the mountain ridge... We should be able to arrive there by tomorrow evening if we’re quick.”

Raising his foot and stomping on a rat that scampered near his feet, Urron scuffed the sole of his shoe in disgust. His brow furrowed into a deep frown.

These damned rats...

Where did they even come from?

...