Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 595 - 588: Speed up the Process

Chapter 595: Chapter 588: Speed up the Process

After spraying the disinfectant, the Temple Knights let the Advance Team members go. Although allowed to leave, Luo’er still felt that their procedures were amateurish. In such a widescale virus contact situation, all involved parties should have been immediately quarantined for observation. Luo’er noticed that the blood-soaked knights were merely sprayed and then dismissed, a process that was not nearly rigorous enough.

However, this was simply Luo’er’s wishful thinking. The Temple Knights only had a limited number of men, and they had to share manpower to protect the camp. Quarantine would have caused a severe shortage of personnel; thus, they could only carry on, recognizing that after all, it was not the Advance Team members who were infected.

In addition, Luo’er noticed that although their procedure was not standardized, their organizational structure was imitated well. After the simple disinfection and dispersal, the Temple Knights deployed a few people in silver sanitization suits; these were the Receiving Troops. They began transporting these exotic beast’s corpses and piled them into a previously dug pit before dousing them with gasoline and burning them.

Luo’er wasn’t concerned about the risk that the virus would spread with smoke, because despite its potential virulence, the virus remained a form of biological life; the act of being burned would simply render it harmless. There was little chance for it to resurrect from the fire.

The exotic beast’s blood along with the stained earth were shoveled away and thrown into the pit, to be burned with fuel. After the flames had completely died out, they refilled the pit with soil, burying the scorched remains of the exotic beasts then and there.

The attack had shown the potential of their newly issued weapons. While they initially felt that the recoil of these weapons was low and not threatening due to the structural lack of buttstock, their performance in the actual combat was surprisingly superior. The 7.62 caliber bullets were much more reliable as compared to small-caliber ones. A single round of concentrated firing had easily taken down two terrifying exotic beasts.

Simultaneously, Luo’er realized the fallacy in his rigid thinking, that he was stuck in conventional wisdom rather than being factual. He should have employed powerful firing to suppress the attacking exotic beasts. However, he did not consider this thoroughly enough, and out of habit, kept the weapons on semi-automatic mode, and therefore they almost let the beasts get away.

Don’t be fooled by the image of beasts being brutally beaten by the Temple Knights and Advance Team, these monsters inflict severe damage on ordinary people.

As previously mentioned, automatic and semi-automatic weapons from Otherworld can only be acquired through government or military orders placed with Earth’s arms dealers, and ordinary civilians are not qualified for such purchases. Although a case of illegal arms trafficking occurred two years ago, if you to look at the general picture, the proliferation rate of automatic and semi-automatic weapons in Otherworld is relatively low, with bolt-action rifles comprising the majority of the productions of most Earth’s arms companies.

Facing these monsters with automatic rifles is still a barely manageable task, let alone for ordinary people with bolt-action rifles, particularly as they are unable to equip the advanced Rune Armor. Thus ordinary people can do nothing but be slaughtered by these exotic beasts. It’s not uncommon to see two of these beasts ravaging an entire village.

After the exotic beast’s attack, Carter was no longer able to sit still. He personally sought Luo’er hoping to expedite their training regime. This was an idea Luo’er shared as well. The new recruits had already undergone two weeks of firearms adaptability training and had generally grasped the usage and daily maintenance of the weapons. It was necessary to speed up their training and get these soldiers to start firing training as soon as possible.

Otherwise, if the exotic beasts attacked again, they might not be so lucky. This time, there were fewer beasts, and the Temple Knights could handle them. But what if they attacked in hundreds or thousands? Then their hard-trained army would become an easy prey for the beasts.

Both parties reached an agreement immediately, and the very next day, all members of the new army unit donned new gear and prepared to begin their firing training.

The equipment of these soldiers was quite modern, or you could say, Earthly. Hu Daoke curiously looked over the equipment, which was a modified version of Earth’s riot gear. Complete equipment included a vest, helmet, shoulder armor, wrist guards, as well as upper and lower leg armor. The helmet had a large glass visor, appearing similar to the helmets of the French Military Police’s intervention squad.

However, this set of armor wasn’t like Earth’s bulky riot gear. It was a layer of reinforced plastic armor that was incredibly hard. While it couldn’t withstand bullets, it was more than enough to resist the teeth of corpse demons. After all, these soldiers’ primary enemies were corpse demons, not armed opponents.

Despite not being as heavy as riot gear, the soldiers’ movements became significantly awkward upon putting it on. Some typical tactical actions like lying prone were impossible. But that was inconsequential, as they were fighting against corpse demons and lying down didn’t offer any strategic advantage.

After all, this armor was personally commissioned by Headquarters. Although it had a modern style, it also incorporated many soft Otherworld decorative elements. There was none of the cheap feeling that commercial riot gear often had.

Upon completing their full gear change, Carter did not offer the soldiers any adaptation period. Instead, he urged them to commence firing practice immediately. In fighting corpse demons, the soldiers primarily practiced standing, crouching, and advancing shooting.

Indeed, fighting corpse demons, which was mainly carried out in the jungle, an SMG would be sufficient, as corpse demons were soft targets. However, reportedly, the higher-ups were hesitant to suggest this because SMGs had a bad reputation in Otherworld. They were afraid of angering the Church Court representative.

After one week of armored shooting training, the soldiers had to put on gas masks and continue the shooting training. Their gas masks were still the new type with large lens panels, not the traditional single-lens style.

When the Headquarters was providing gas masks to other troops in the Church Court, they had to consider the issue of cutting and trimming to fit within the knights’ helmets, hence their choices were limited. However, as the New Legion was a newly-formed force completely equipped with Earth’s gear, their selection range was naturally much broader.

The second day after the Exotic Beasts attack, the camp was filled with the constant sound of gunfire. The shooting training led to a surge in ammunition consumption, and carts began continuously transporting ammunition from the steam ships along the Roen River to the camp.

Luo’er wrote up their encounter into a long report, which he sent to Headquarters via several messengers, hoping to draw their attention. Presently, the Advance Team was the only reliance they had in Otherworld. Therefore, they certainly wouldn’t dare to ignore Luo’er’s words.

Three days after sending the message, Luo’er received a reply from Wang Xu. Headquarters agreed in principle with his report, believing it necessary to help the Church Court suppress the epidemic from their end. Currently, the airboat was about to return to Yazhi City; with the airboat’s assistance, they could bring Earth’s biological and chemical experts to the camp for inspection. Meanwhile, Murong’s team had managed to disengage from Ilanadale and was about to join the epidemic control mission.

It seemed Murong’s performance had been acknowledged by Headquarters, and there might soon be a second Advance Team officially recognized in Otherworld. On second thought, this could be a good thing. After all, with so many responsibilities on Headquarters, expecting Luo’er’s team to handle everything sometimes felt like he needed to split himself into pieces to accomplish all tasks; otherwise, they seemed impossible.

Currently, Headquarters was still in the planning stage, and the airboat was expected to arrive in about a week. The Church Court had also promised to send more personnel to protect the camp, aiming to make this location a frontline fortress against the epidemic and Exotic Beasts.

With the promise from the Church Court, changes began to take place around the camp. The Church Court mobilized labor from nearby towns and villages to the camp’s vicinity to construct permanent defensive structures. Of course, these were primarily earthwork structures. Things like concrete, a high-end good, weren’t affordable by average people. As to why Earth didn’t sell cement to Otherworld, it wasn’t because Earthlings were playing tricks, but simply because it wasn’t profitable, yielding much lower profit margins than arms trading and even food export trading.