Chapter 381.1: Scorched Earth

Boulder Town.

At the eastern gate's trading post, two-headed oxen laden with large and small bundles were lined up from the city gate all the way to the opposite overpass.

Weapons worth 50 million chips were scheduled to be delivered to the northern suburbs within a week.

That included 10,000 Hornet assault rifles, 10,000 sets of bulletproof vests, helmets, and other protective gear, and 3,000 KV-1 and KV-2 exoskeletons.

In addition to light arms, there were also 80mm mortars and various models of light and heavy machine guns.

It was no exaggeration to say that as long as they had enough soldiers, they could arm and entire division!

Faced with threats from the Army, the city hall of Boulder Town almost threw open the doors of its arsenal, sending all the weapons prepared for the Tide to the northern suburbs.

Particularly thrilling for Chu Guang was that Boulder Town sent over incendiary rounds and high-explosive warheads intended for use against the Tide.

Those warheads, typically carried by aircraft and launched either by laser guidance or just fired as unguided rounds, were generally used to clear the spores of Mutant Slime Mold in an area.

Effective against Slime Mold, they would naturally work on humans too!

With minor modifications, those warheads could be mounted on goblin-engineered rocket carts, unleashing massive firepower on Army positions in a short time.

Naturally, they possessed undeniable might.

When initially combating the Tide, Chu Guang had spent tens of thousands of chips on an airstrike and was well aware of the devastating physical annihilation effects of those devices!

As for how to board the airship...

Boulder Town's military engineers responded that they had some good ideas but needed a bit more time.

Indeed, there were aerospace landing crafts in the Federation Era, but those were usually designed for space stations and large starships, not for use on their world...

They only ever dropped from high orbit to the ground; launching from the ground to the sky was unheard of.

Wouldn't that be like the old-fashioned rockets?

However, Chu Guang wasn't in a hurry.

Facing such a behemoth as the Army, he didn't expect this war to end quickly.

But unexpectedly, while he was fretting over how to penetrate the defenses of the airship, Goblin Technology provided him with a pleasant surprise...

...

At the firing range north of Dawn City.

What lay before Chu Guang was an aluminum canister as thick as a thigh and as long as an arm, somewhat resembling the oxygen tanks carried by divers. The canister was surrounded by multiple connection rings, indicating it could be used by several people at once.

Chu Guang studied it for a long while without understanding what the hell he was looking at. In the end, he asked, "Can you explain how this is used?"

Mosquito chuckled proudly, "Of course! I was just about to introduce you to the latest pride of Goblin Technology! I call it a 3D Locomotive Device!"

Chu Guang nearly choked when he heard the strange name. He coughed as he asked, "Can we change the name?"

Mosquito stared at the administrator with a strange look. Not understanding what was wrong with the name, he still racked his brains for a moment and came up with another. "Uh, how about 'Sky Monkey'?"

With a resigned sigh, Chu Guang continued, "First, tell me about its features."

Unaware of Chu Guang’s annoyance, Mosquito nodded in excitement. "Right away! ..."

The equipment's structure was simple. It mainly consisted of a launcher with a built-in winch and a rocket carrying a rope. The operating principle was similar to that of a railgun.

The only differences were adjustments in the charge amount and the tail flame temperature, and the rocket trailed a rope made from Devil's Silk.

The equipment was of single-use, with a maximum effective range of 700 meters.

The warhead at the front was fitted with a trigger fuse, which would activate a secondary explosion upon hitting the target, using a shaped charge to drive a hook into the target.

When it was done, the canister's winch would start to turn, pulling the user from the ground towards the high-altitude target under the drive of the motor.

This device was essentially a super grappling hook.

However, since it was continuously accelerated like a rocket, the launch distance far exceeded that of regular grappling hooks, and because the speed of the hook was not very fast, the effect of the directional shields was minimized.

After talking himself dry, Mosquito paused and suggested, "Talking about it is one thing, but a demonstration is better!"

Chu Guang thought it made sense, especially since he was confused, so he nodded. "Should we do it here?"

"Of course not, we need to find a tall enough building to the south, and..." Mosquito's eyes roamed the firing range, locking on a recently acquired apprentice. "Gugu Bro, come here. I've got an honorable task for you!"

Feeling a bad premonition, Gugu Bro instinctively sensed trouble. "What are you planning?"

"Testing the New Alliance's new equipment, of course!" Mosquito grinned. "This is your chance to impress the administrator, make it count!"

Hearing his ‘grand’ speech, Gugu Bro immediately started to protest, "Damn, I just resurrected a couple of days ago! Are you really planning to send me back down again?! Go get someone else, you...”

"600 silver coins!"

"Deal!" Gugu Bro didn't even frown when he agreed. He ran cheerfully to the Sky Monkey.

No one would have guessed that he was complaining about dying again just a few seconds ago.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Watching from the side, Chu Guang was dumbfounded.

What’s with this ultra-capitalist behavior?

Glancing at the delighted newbie, Chu Guang hesitated before saying, "Is it okay for intelligence type players to use it?”

Roaring with laughter, Mosquito continued, "Don't worry, administrator, I assure you! Goblin Technology's equipment can be used normally even by those of the intelligence type!"

Seeing his confident expression, Chu Guang felt a sense of dread welling up in his heart.

It didn’t take long for the group to leave the firing range. They quickly arrived at a sturdy hundred-story building in the northern part of Clearspring City.

Gugu Bro fastened the nylon buckle tied around him to the large Sky Monkey before assuming a squatting position.

"This posture is mainly to stabilize the launch angle by allowing the canister to touch the ground."

"No need to explain the principles," Chu Guang coughed lightly, "Fire away."

"Alright!"

Looking up at the hundreds of meters high building, Mosquito held a telescope and glanced at the rooftop, then commanded, "Elevation 79 degrees, target due south..."

"... Fire!"

At his command, the device strapped to Gugu Bro's back erupted with a huge blast.

A slender rocket shot out, dragging a white plume and a rope into the sky. Aside from being smaller in caliber, it really did launch like an RPG!

Chu Guang watched with his jaws agape as the rocket slammed into the top of the building, blasting a cloud of dust and driving the hook into the wall.

A Devil's Silk rope, firmly connecting the building and the ground could be seen.

Holy shit... It actually worked!

Chu Guang was astonished, mainly because he hadn't expected Mosquito’s rubbish to actually work on the first try.

Holding the telescope, Mosquito screamed in excitement, "Hit confirmed! Prepare to ascend!"

"Okay, master!" Though initially frightened, seeing that the equipment wasn't as shoddy as he imagined, Gugu Bro finally showed some anticipation.

However... Just as he pressed the switch, the unexpected still happened.

The winch suddenly powered up, pulling him toward the rooftop and also dragging him forward.

"ARGH!!!" Gugu Bro let out a brief cry of despair, then, like a pendulum suspended in midair, slammed into the wall with the launcher strapped to his back.

Everything happened too suddenly and there wasn't even time to react.

Looking up at the bloody mess of the launching tube being dragged to the rooftop, and the shocking mark left on the wall, Chu Guang’s eyelids twitched. However, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of disappointment. In fact, he even felt that it was inevitable.

Perhaps in his mind, he never really expected anything made from Goblin Technology to succeed on the first test.

"Uh... My bad, this thing is really suited for straight launches, not angled ones. I made a rookie mistake," Mosquito chuckled awkwardly, "But I assure you, this design concept is absolutely sound!"

"Once our players get close to that iron hulk, the rest will be easy! Whether it's climbing in through the bomb bay or using a cutter to make an opening and drill in, they'll have it under control!"

Watching Mosquito confidently pulling his bullshit excuses out of his ass, Chu Guang nodded subtly. "Yup, I believe you."

Believe it or not, apart from Mosquito’s nonsense, Chu Guang had no better idea!

The road to success was always twisted. Expecting to get there in one go seemed a bit unrealistic.

Anyway, Chu Guang hoped that Goblin Technology would actually develop dummies rather than using live targets as their test subjects. Whatever the case, Goblin Technology's weapons rarely disappointed him.

It was just that the method of development was a bit too costly...

...

Since that awe-inspiring airship had unleashed apocalyptic flames towards the earth 3 days ago, the nearby survivors had spent several uneasy days worrying about their fate.

The Army was everywhere collecting food, causing widespread complaints.

Fortunately, a group of soldiers in exoskeletons came out to teach those beasts a lesson, beating the patrol and transport teams into a hasty retreat, giving the locals some much-needed relief.

Those soldiers usually operated in 4-man teams, specifically targeting isolated patrol teams.

They occasionally interacted with locals, but not much. They mainly replenished their water supply or gathered information on the Army’s patrols.

The soldiers claimed to be from the Enterprise, but their language use was not very fluent, and their grammar was quite strange.

Anyway, the local survivors didn't think much of it.

They thought that that was how people spoke on the East Coast. They had never been there anyway.

As night fell, the north gate of Katin Station welcomed a group of unwelcome visitors.

Watching the team of black-robed, fully armed soldiers at the gate, Mudka's heart sank instantly.

Just yesterday, the Army's people had come, taking away 5 cows and 1,000 kilograms of green wheat from them.

He hadn't expected them to return again.