Edge of the Apocalypse
Chapter 785: Sneak Into The Base

It rained at night. Bean-sized raindrops fell to the ground, mixed with dust and turned into muddy water that flowed down the city's drains to the sewers. The rain wasn't heavy, but it was endless. As a result, the mud flowing into the underground sewers from the drains formed a few waterlines. This caused some residents in the underground tunnels to be troubled. A human-like creature that was walking upright in front of him, but covered in black fur, swinging a short, long tail. The muddy water will wet its hair and make it tangle, which will have a great impact on its movements.

This is an underground creature called the Ratman by the Federation.

Ratmen don't really look like rats, but they are officially named because they have very similar habits to rats. Ratman's intelligence was low, and he was afraid of the light. He liked to hide in the darkness the most. They have a wide recipe and eat almost everything. In the past, there were even rumors that Ratmen had stolen newborn babies, so both humans and planet natives hated creatures like Ratmen.

Gao Shan City didn't have a rat-man before, but as the city was abandoned, the complicated underground sewers here attracted a group of rat-men as their nest. The Federation had already discovered this, but the current negotiations with the Hulma had yet to come to an end, so they had no time to pay attention to these creatures for the time being.

The half-adult rat-man fished in the ditch and, with luck, could sometimes catch the carcasses of some animals. At this moment, a small red dot moved on its body and finally stopped on its head. Ratman slowly raised his head. Suddenly, his entire head exploded like a broken watermelon. His bones and blood sprayed all over the ground, leaving only the corpse below his mouth slowly falling.

"Clear it. What a disgusting thing. Do we have to go this way?" Adele put down her sniper rifle, which was muffled. She complained with her headphones.

Alan's voice came from his headset, "There's less than a kilometer to go. Adele, bear with it."

"You must pay me double," snorted Adele. Then he picked up his gun and headed to the next turning point. Behind her, two members of the Black Knights followed her and were responsible for protecting the snipers in the team.

Hiking in the underground sewer was not a pleasant thing. The team was still walking along the stone paths on both sides of the ditch and would occasionally bump into one or two reckless rat-men. In order not to attract the attention of the Hulma people, everyone's guns were already equipped with mufflers. Even if he was close to them, he had to hit them with a single strike to prevent the rat-man from making a strange noise and alarming the Scarlet Ghost on the ground.

They had now crossed the long street that served as a buffer and officially entered the street occupied by the Hulma. According to the infiltration route map provided by Lieutenant Colonel Shaw, they entered the underground passageway from a corner of the streets in the control area. According to the route map, they would eventually arrive at a transit platform at the base, through which they would cut into the base. After that, it would depend on Alan and the others' performance.

Right now, federal negotiators were stalling for time. Lieutenant Colonel Xiao had already surrounded the base with troops. Once the negotiations broke down, he could only use force. If the three Federation engineers were not rescued by then, even if the Hulma were eventually expelled, the Federation would suffer heavy losses.

Allen had already memorized the road map in his mind, leading the troops forward without stopping at all. In the meantime, Adele fired two more shots, and the rats she had locked onto were all the result of their heads exploding. When the group stopped, an alloy gate was placed in front of everyone. An electronic lock next to the door was covered in a large amount of dust. Alan reached out and wiped it. The LCD screen under the dust was still flashing with light. It was obvious that it was still working.

He typed in a set of passwords on the electronic keyboard on the screen. The alloy door shook slightly, then retracted a bit, then retreated to one side, and the door opened. The door was dimly lit, but it wasn't hard to see a stairwell. A row of red lights flashed on the wall of the well at a certain frequency. Alan looked up and saw a few white lights in the darkness.

"Let's begin." Allen said. As soon as he finished speaking, Reese should dive into the stairwell first. Two nimble-eyed brats followed behind him. According to Alan's previous arrangements, Reese and the others would be responsible for scouting and determining the route forward. Luma and Christine followed closely behind their Guild Leader and were responsible for their support and protection. Then there was Adele and the two black knights, and the hostages taken by the Hulma had been confirmed to be in the underground garage of the base, where the environment was open, if a sniper like Adele were to be deployed. It can play a huge role when necessary.

Allen and the others entered the stairwell. They were the backbone and would be responsible for the most difficult part of the stairwell. As for the lynx men, they stayed at the bottom of the stairwell, each taking out a row of time bombs from their backpacks. The bombs will be installed behind stairwells and doors, and will be the best present if the Hulma are chasing after them when the team leaves.

However, due to the narrow space in the stairwell, Hubble also stayed behind to act as a descendant. Nobody objected to Alan's actions when they saw the big guy with his head under his helmet. Apart from Hubble himself, he could not help with the bombing. After Ellen walked, the big man simply found a corner to sit down and dozed off with the beheading knife in his arms.

After leaving the stairwell, it was as planned a transit platform. This place was located near the material warehouse of the base. However, when the outsiders invaded, the warehouse had already been emptied when the base retreated. Right now, there was nothing valuable left here, so after occupying the base, the Hulma people did not intentionally strengthen the guards of this place. Alan and the others had already left the transfer platform ahead of time. They killed a few loose guards along the way and arrived at the underground garage adjacent to the warehouse area without any fright or danger.

At a corner, Reese unloaded his backpack and took out a suitcase. Open the suitcase. There are six reconnaissance robots in two rows. They were disguised as common insects, and after Reese tossed them out, the robotic insects entered the underground garage through air vents and other gaps.

At the same time, Reese took out the tablet brain and connected the images detected by the robotic insect to Allen's brain in real time. As a result, Alan, who was on the transfer platform, quickly received a picture from Reese.

The screen has been divided into six squares, each of which represents what a robot insect sees. Under Reese's control, the six robots arrived at several corners of the garage, forming a reconnaissance net that crossed without dead ends. From the screen, it wasn't hard to see that the two entrances to the garage had been sealed by the Hulma, leaving only one of the doors as a passage to enter and exit the garage.

"Looks like they're not stupid either." Alan said.

The sealing of many entrances and exits, leaving only one behind, undoubtedly increased the difficulty of the Federation's rescue. In such a situation, there are only two ways to carry out the rescue. One violently demolished the ceiling, while the other forcefully attacked from the only entrance and exit. Neither of them was the best solution, as could be seen from the arrangements made by the Hulma people.

In the scene, the underground garage was cleared out of a spacious space in the middle, where hundreds of federal hostages were held. A group of scarlet-skinned Hulma warriors were guarding the hostages. At the front gate, they used cargo boxes and flying vehicles to form a defensive line. On one of the abandoned flying vehicles was a rapid-fire cannon. The chain inserted into the gun and the ammunition boxes next to it showed that it was not decorative. These things were snatched from the Federation army, and during their battles with the Federation, the natives of these planets had clearly learned to use firearms as well.

The rapid-fire cannon was facing the gate, and the firepower could cover the gate area, posing a formidable threat to the aid workers who were attacking head-on.

"Reese, find the three engineers," said Allen as he observed the other party's troop arrangements.

"Leave it to me. Activate the Facebook analysis system and start comparing the data." Reese said in his headset, "Boss, these robotic insects are so useful. Tell me if there are any such treasures on the exchange list. I'm going to exchange them for some for my own."

"I remember when Lieutenant Colonel Xiao handed them over to me, he told me to return them immediately. They are so powerful, I don't think they can be easily exchanged for them, right?" Alan suddenly frowned and said, "Eh?"

"What's the matter?" Lucy asked.

Allen nodded at one of the scenes. "We found that the opponent is guarding an expert. The energy level detected by the robot is 23. However, this is only a normal energy level. If it is in a combat state, it will probably be one or two levels higher."

In the picture, several boxes were piled up behind the hostages. There were only two people sitting on it. The other Hulma warriors were almost all standing. Only the two of them were sitting. Clearly, their status was higher than the other warriors. The two of them, a man and a woman, were sitting in the middle of a high place, which was one of the things that Allen was more concerned about. The Hulma man's skin was scarlet and almost black, and his figure was very sturdy and strong. The naked upper body was painted with gray paint that resembled a totem. The Hulma people looked very similar to humans, but there were also some differences.

Like this man, a black horn protruded from the middle of his forehead, and a row of pitch-black teeth grew on the outer sides of his arms. The most obvious thing was that his waist was wrapped in a cloth skirt, and a lizard-like tail came out from the back of the skirt.

Black and long tails are common symbols of the Hulma people. As for the man sitting on the container, he was at least Level 25. Looking at his well-defined muscles, Alan sighed, "This should be Hubble's favorite opponent. Unfortunately, the big guy can't climb up."

Hubble, who was dozing off, sneezed in his helmet. The big man looked around and lowered his head when he saw nothing unusual.