Chapter 461.2: The Gas Canister Falling From The Skies Reminds Me Of Us Back Then...

Battlefield Cheerleader scratched his head with a sheepish grin. “Uh, not really. It just sort of happened... To this day, I still don’t get how.”

Penny was momentarily stunned. Only after some time did the smile return to her face. “That makes sense. Most awakeners only discover their powers by accident. Even non-Wislander survivors have a chance of becoming one.”

She paused and then asked, “So tell me... What makes you undefeated on the battlefield?”

He didn’t even think about it when he answered. “Loyalty to the Marshal, of course!”

Penny blinked once. “But... You’re from the Brocade River Province, right? You’ve probably never even met him.”

“That’s not important,” he replied with utter sincerity. “Though I’ve never met him or been to Triumphant City, his ideals deeply moved me.”

“This chaotic world needs order! And only when noble blood flows in every vein will true, eternal order be possible!”

Penny was visibly moved by his impassioned speech.

Such... unwavering loyalty!

“To continue, how do you view your commander, Cowley...?”

Before she could finish, a sudden explosion cut her off. A deafening blast roared from the frontline. Pebbles and dust shot dozens of meters into the air, some falling near the convoy.

Soldiers from the special engineer squad instinctively shielded their heads and their officer’s hat flew off from the shockwave.

Battlefield Cheerleader’s expression changed instantly.

Crap!

This isn’t the time we agreed on!

The vengeful newbies didn’t give him a moment to react.

After a brief pause, sharp whistles screamed overhead.

Gas cylinders with steel pipes jammed into their backs spun through the air, exploding across the battlefield in dazzling bursts of fire.

“Get down!” A giant gas bomb flew their way. Battlefield Cheerleader’s face twisted in panic as he yanked Penny to the ground.

She couldn’t die!

Not after all the effort he had put into looking cool!

Boom!

At the moment they hit the ground, a thunderous explosion rocked the earth. A shockwave flipped a nearby truck, nearly launching the officer into the sky.

The dust finally settled after half a minute.

Hearing no further explosions, Battlefield Cheerleader released Penny and got up.

“Fuck!” Spitting out sand, he wiped the dirt off his face, muttered curses, and looked at the terrified reporter.

“You okay?”

She wasn’t.

She hadn’t answered. Pale and frozen, Penny clung to the ground like her life depended on it. Fear filled her wide eyes, and a dark patch stained her trousers. After a long pause, she finally stammered in a trembling voice, “W-What... what was that?”

That sound...

It was louder than a 100mm cannon!

Battlefield Cheerleader chuckled. “Gas canister bomb. Packs a punch but not very accurate. It has a short range too... We’ve dealt with worse.”

Penny gulped.

Gas canister bomb?!

How... barbaric!

“You guys face this kind of shelling every day?” Her voice quivered as she retrieved her recorder.

“That’s standard procedure. It looks scary, but it’s mostly noise. There’s nothing to worry about!”

He grinned, picked up his fallen rifle and helmet. “Wait here, I’m gonna mop up those bastards.”

Before Penny could stop him, he charged straight into the smoke-filled battlefield.

Those newbies are crazy!

They even pulled off a targeted strike in his area!

As shocked as he was, panic also gripped him.

If he didn’t go bail out those clone idiots, they might actually lose their position!

Plan C was at a critical juncture. Defense zone G53 wasn’t even the New Alliance’s main objective. The Storm Corps and Skeleton Corps would probably open up a gap there for them to run away at the very end of the battle.

Taking his zone now wouldn’t help the overall strategy, it could backfire.

For the New Alliance!

For the administrator!

He would slaughter the brain-dead newbies if it was the last thing he did.

Back at the convoy, Penny sat dazed.

When Pangolin had grabbed her arm, her heart skipped, only to freeze completely at the sound of that explosion. Now, it thudded in her chest again, fast and wild.

His strong chest and secure arms haunted her thoughts.

Especially that final glance...

It wasn’t just a loyal fire that burned in his eyes... He looked so brave...

A trace of infatuation crept into her confused gaze, only to quickly turn into regret.

What a pity.

So loyal and brave... Yet not a Wislander...

No matter how many honors or how much wealth he earned, he would never enter their mainstream society. Even if his commander acknowledged him, he would never truly be accepted.

Her mind tangled in a web of thoughts.

The next second, she finally felt her damp pants and her face turned bright red.

She had never been so close to the frontlines. The sheer force of that blast had shaken her insides, causing her to lose control of her bodily functions.

Burning with shame, she tied her jacket around her waist, biting her lip until it nearly bled as she glanced toward where Pangolin had vanished.

Hopefully...

He didn’t notice?

...

A kilometer from sector G53-7, several tripod launchers stood under a dune, empty steel tubes aimed at the Army’s positions.

With the help of veterans like Spring Water Commander, Sideline Slacking, and Mosquito, the newbies had gone all out. Training drills, mass production, and even makeshift weapons... They had it all.

Turns out, left unchecked, the creativity of the laboring masses knew no bounds. Forget janky mortars. They even built some bootleg nonsense to shoot gas canisters.

After a test volley, twelve gas canisters had somehow simulated rocket fire, adding a real war vibe to the field.

“Hell yeah! Now THIS is war!” Pincher cheered and pumped his fist.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

“Way better than those crappy mortars!” Chessboard added reluctantly.

“Too bad they can’t aim.”

The blasts left a cratered mess, and who actually died was anyone’s guess. At least that machine gun position was gone.

The safest play was to fall back, grab more shells, and bomb them again, or at least throw some smoke.

However, at that point, the old players had abandoned them, leaving no food, water, or guides. Crossing 200 kilometers of desert on foot was suicide.

“Anyway, let’s dig in, ”

He hadn’t finished when I’ll Die First mounted the bayonet onto his rifle and howled, “Brothers!”

“Strike while they’re weak!”

“Charge!”

Then he blew a whistle he pulled from god knew where.

PEEEEEP!

The shrill blast echoed through the air and hearing the charge whistle, the trench erupted with battle cries.

Newbies, high on adrenaline, charged the smoke-covered battlefield.

“Let’s go!”

“Gold drops, baby!”

“RAAARGH!”

“Silver coins!”

“Hand it over!”

The traitor burdened with the administrator’s mission faced a wave of berserk newbies in a bloody, savage clash.

Both sides saw red.

One side couldn’t die because of his mission, and the other refused to die yet.

If it weren’t for the fact that they could respawn, it might’ve been a tear-jerking tragedy.

Meanwhile, far away in Dawn City, everything remained calm.

Compared to the fiery frontlines, life in the rear felt like retirement.

Due to overhunting and the popularity of dishes like crab cakes, monster steaks, and grilled mushroom risotto, there were barely any mutants left near the city.

Even the Cracklecrab nests in the Elm District nuclear pit had been emptied.

There was no doubt about it. They had been eaten to extinction. Anyone wanting exotic meat had to head north to the forests deeper in Clearspring City.

Well... Or deeper in the vast plains of the Brocade River Province.

To enrich the local menu, a lizard and a rat recently organized an expedition of players idling around and eager newbies into the Brocade River Province.

Their ultimate goal was the southern Death Coast!

Rumor had it that the area was the territory of the Torch Church, and it was great for finding high-tech gear.

Allegedly, Spring Water Commander’s famous ‘Blastoise’ set came from the region.

Even more amazing, a wandering merchant named Zhou Nan claimed the sea glows.

It was supposed to be way cooler than Silvermoon Bay!

Falling Feather had wanted to tag along, but unfortunately, he had baggage.

According to the administrator, to deal with the problem on level B6, they required Little Feather’s devouring trait.

He was thrilled that the developers had compensated him with a god-tier pet with a hidden quest, but raising it was pretty dull.

His daily routine resembled that of a dog-walker, taking Little Feather out to the northern suburbs, letting it eat a few Creepers or other Mutant Slime Mold.

Then they would stroll around the settlement to burn off energy and ease the nerves of the locals about the polite little kid he had been lugging around.

Actually, he didn’t really care if the locals warmed up to Little Feather. He needed to tire Little Feather out as much as he could.

If he didn’t tire the little critter out, it would stay up all night trying to wake him like a cat.

If it failed, Little Feather would mess with his nurturing cabin.

Like the one time he woke up and saw a giant bloody maw plastered to the glass and was nearly scared to death.

Little Feather looked like it wanted to eat him alive!

But once he woke, Little Feather always returned to its adorable self, squeaking like a dolphin and shaking its body like nothing had happened.

Help it to adapt to civilization and integrate with humans, Falling Feather taught it how to speak, even though he was barely fluent himself. Sometimes, he even fed Little Feather things he ate.

It still disliked cooked food, but had a real sweet tooth. It was especially so for lollipops from the NPC shop with stat buffs. It would happily chew up the plastic stick after licking the candy clean.

Even better yet was after some time together, Falling Feather discovered that Little Feather had learned how to hunt!