Chapter 398.2: Bait

As soon as he spoke, movement could be seen on the distant street.

A team of fully armed soldiers cautiously approached the blast zone, covering each other as they advanced past the collapsed walls.

Leading the way were soldiers who were dressed in random equipment. They were clearly cannon fodder who were forced by the black robes behind them enter the buildings first.

Watching the shadows move suspiciously, Ghostbuster mumbled in amazement, “Damn, they really came."

"With such a strong signal... If I were the commander on the other side, I'd send someone to check it out too." Spring Water Commander sighed.

They probably thought that the communication base was their headquarters.

As he thought about his next steps, Spring Water Commander kept his eyes fixed on the street, carefully observing their equipment and personnel deployment. Based on the reconnaissance over the past few days, he had pretty much figured out the Army's deployment patterns.

If it were a regular deployment, they would deploy a small squad of 10 marines along with 100 members of the reserve army. The former often supervised the battle and provided support, while the latter were responsible for charging, clearing buildings, scouting, and covering the rear... In short, those of the reserve army were in charge of the tasks with high mortality rates.

If they were dealing with the guerrillas of the ‘Enterprise’, they would deploy three 100-men teams of marines. They could coordinate their attack with five 100-men teams of members in the reserve army.

According to Battlefield Cheerleader's information, the number of survivors in Falling Leaf Camp had reached nearly 20,000, and the scale of the reserve army had expanded from the initial 500 to 2,000.

If not for the incomplete organizational system of Falling Leaf Camp's reserve army, the Army would love to hand a cleaver to every able-bodied young adult.

Due to a lack of willing lackeys who could fight, the promotion speed of the reserve army’s junior officers was skyrocketing.

Speaking of which, Battlefield Cheerleader was now a strong contender to be promoted once again, from a centurion to a captain of 1,000 men!

After all, he was promoted to centurion by General McClennan himself. Not only had he hunted a Deathclaw, but he was also the only person who had fought and won against the Enterprise’s guerrillas on the battlefield.

The players of the Death Corps who sneaked into the enemy’s camp with him had also reached positions of decurions.

Confirming that Battlefield Cheerleader wasn't among those scouting the battlefield, Ghostbuster eagerly suggested, "Should we give them a surprise?"

"We're too close to the airship here, their barrels are probably already trained on this location." Spring Water Commander looked up at the sky, thought for a moment, and then continued, "Let's wait for nightfall."

Just a moment ago, he thought of a great idea.

He heard that the brothers of the Death Corps had recently captured a lot of Garbage kuns. They had also received a new batch of equipment crafted with the help of Goblin Technology.

It was a good opportunity for them to test them out...

...

Deep into the night, a group of soldiers wearing black robes advanced in the darkness.

About 10 hours ago, they had just destroyed a communication base located within the city. Just as the sky began to darken, a new high-power signal source appeared.

There was no hesitation. As soon as the coordinates were delivered to the gunners, the standby artillery crew immediately fired three rounds of 100mm guns, sending nine shells into the area where the signal was detected.

Risking the lives to set up the communication station, the Army felt that their opponent clearly had something important to communicate with their rear.

Whether it was to request reinforcements or report news on the front lines, they had no intention of giving the other side a chance to speak.

Richie conveyed the command from the headquarters to Falling Leaf Camp.

Soon, a 100-men team composed of wastelanders was assembled. Along with a squad of marines, they set off into the city that was covered in darkness.

"Why don't we just feed them artillery shells? Why do we need to go take a look?" Surveying the pitch-black buildings around him, a soldier in a black robe cautiously advanced. He couldn't help but whisper to his officer.

It wasn’t a good idea to enter the city in the dark.

A gun muzzle could be poking out of any window.

The officer in the group simply repeated the command expressionlessly, "The artillery has already bombarded once but the signal source is weakened but not completely interrupted. It’s suspected of being a blast shelter. We need to go and see where the shells landed and if there are any survivors."

After he spoke, the officer stared at Pangolin. "Take a few men and scout ahead."

"Yes!" As a professionally trained cannon fodder, Battlefield Cheerleader crisply responded while walking up in front.

Not only that, but he also brought along a few of his trusted subordinates, including the young man named Li Ba he met at the very start.

Battlefield called out while walking ahead. "Follow me!"

The ones called to lead the way all had bitters expressions, but they followed ‘Pangolin’ nevertheless.

Seeing their expressions, Battlefield Cheerleader smiled inwardly but offered no explanation.

There was no need for explanations, they would naturally thank him later.

As for the others...

Goodluck mates. There can’t be no casualties in war...

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

...

Leading his subordinates, Battlefield Cheerleader quickly approached the building that had just been baptized by artillery fire.

It was probably a shopping mall before. It was only five stories high, with a steel structure dome entwined with lush vines. However, all that was left was broken steel bars.

Looking at the open-air mall, Li Ba grabbed his rifle and his legs trembled uncontrollably.

Gulping nervously, he glanced at Pangolin beside him. "... Are we going in?"

Battlefield Cheerleader didn't bother to explain. "Stick close to me."

Li Ba immediately nodded.

Although he couldn't say why specifically, his instincts told him that as long as he stuck close to Pangolin, he could survive.

Crossing the security checkpoint at the main entrance, Battlefield Cheerleader entered the interior of the mall, holding his gun and looking around briefly. He couldn’t help but click his tongue. "Damn. Those big noses bombed pretty accurately."

The previous rounds of shells had almost precisely passed through the mall's curved dome, landing right in the center of the spacious atrium, thoroughly shattering the nearby area.

The information verified by the Storm Corps with their lives showed that the Army could locate the position of radio signals, but the precision of their location was unclear.

Now, Battlefield Cheerleader was almost certain that for radio signals within a specific range of 20 kilometers, these big noses could pinpoint them down to the exact coordinate.

Walking toward the center of the blast zone, Battlefield Cheerleader carefully searched and quickly found a backpack that had fallen from the fifth floor among a pile of scattered shopping carts.

The backpack was made of ordinary burlap, containing a radio and a solid-state hydrogen battery. It also had a walkie-talkie tied with tape, which intermittently repeated a pre-recorded message with a faint sound.

That was the source of the signal. It was also the radio decoy prepared by Spring Water Commander.

Approaching to take a closer look, Li Ba couldn't help but ask, "What's it saying?"

Although the walkie-talkie kept making noise, he couldn't understand a word of it.

Battlefield Cheerleader casually replied, "Don't know."

As a double agent for the New Alliance, he of course understood. All it was playing was Spring Water Commander repeating a comedic sketch.

The only thing they were uncertain of was whether the Heart of Steel could listen in on the specific content.

If they could, he could probably imagine their expressions.

A group of officers sitting at a table, intently listening to the sketch, racking their brains to analyze any possible intelligence hidden in it.

Nah, nah, nah... I can’t afford to break character now...

Unable to hold back, Battlefield Cheerleader covered a laugh that leaked from his mouth by coughing. He grabbed the walkie-talkie hanging from his shoulder, and recited the lines he had memorized long ago to the officer outside. "First floor secure. Found enemy radio... It was in a backpack. Must have fallen from upstairs. Do we go up?”

The expected response quickly came. "Continue searching!"

"Roger!"

With a smirk tugging at his lips, Battlefield Cheerleader cut off the communication. He turned to look at a few trusted subordinates behind him, cleared his throat, and ordered, "Start searching from the second floor. Check every corner carefully. Don’t miss anything!"

"Move out!"

As Battlefield Cheerleader was leading his men towards the second floor, the streets outside were completely silent.

Seeing no activity inside the building, the officer outside could probably tell that the people inside were either dead or had already retreated.

Seeing that there was probably no battle tonight, he casually took out a cigarette from his pocket and struck a match to light it.

The spicy smoke burrowed out of his nostrils.

He was just about to glance at his wristwatch when he caught a glimpse of amber-colored pupils hidden in the darkness.