This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 258: Sniping, Rampage, Unknown Identity

Chapter 258: Chapter 258: Sniping, Rampage, Unknown Identity

"North Suburb?"

Isn’t this the North Suburb?

A creepy atmosphere permeated the battlefield.

"Subtitles, subtitles..."

Worried about missing the key plot, Tail muttered as he considered opening VM.

Si Si crouched behind a nearby cover, her frown deepening, the Pu-9 in her hand already aimed at the armored monster.

Something felt off about this guy.

"It seems like it’s not human," Crow, clad in a can-like armor, stared at the creature for a while before suddenly speaking.

"Not human?" Si Si blinked in confusion.

What was it then?

At that moment, the group of Looters across them yelled towards the armor standing in the middle of the battlefield.

"Who are you?"

"Are you with those Blue Jackets?"

The armor didn’t respond.

Uu Chou muttered a curse under his breath but hesitated to make a move.

He sensed an unusual aura from the figure before him, an unknown fear preventing him from deciding whether to attack.

While his mind raced, his subordinate, crouched behind another cover, didn’t think twice and aimed the machine gun.

"MLGB! The boss is talking to you!"

"Wait—"

Uu Chou felt a shock of alarm, just about to stop him, but before he could finish, a burst of fire erupted from the gun.

Bullets whizzed towards the iron clump, striking against the steel and creating a ringing clang; the armor raised its arms in defense.

However—

The firepower was too fierce.

In just a few seconds, the iron lump had been hit by more than twenty bullets.

Though it did not penetrate the steel, the impact was severe, and without uttering a groan, it staggered and fell into a nearby ditch.

Uu Chou: "?"

Si Si: "??"

Tail: "Giao!"

Shocked.

Just like that?!

It fell just like that???

"Fuck your XX, trying to show off!"

The subordinate who fired the shots cursed loudly, spitting triumphantly outside the cover.

Half a sentence still stuck in his belly, Uu Chou quickly recovered, immediately shouting loudly.

"Fire at them!"

Gunshots rang out once more!

Bullets flew chaotically through the air.

Crouching and moving to another cover, Si Si raised her Pu-9 and fired a burst towards the opposite cover, temporarily suppressing the machine gun fire.

"Hand grenade!"

Seizing the opportunity, Crow shouted and threw a hand grenade.

The grenade, with its wooden handle, traced a parabola over a distance of fifty meters and crashed behind a concrete pit.

Boom!

The explosion sent shards of stone and flames flying, forcing the Looters who were about to charge forward, to retreat back hastily.

Although this set of armor made shooting inconvenient, it proved excellent for using throwable weapons. The exoskeleton carried a strength bonus, doubling the grenade toss distance from 20 meters.

However...

Grenades were not her exclusive weapons, and soon the enemies threw two back.

Although the distance was insufficient, exploding five meters from the cover, the shrapnel and shockwave still scraped across the steel armor, catching Crow unawares as she fell backward with a gasp.

"Someone, anyone, pull me up!"

"Damn... this turtle shell is too heavy!"

The shoulder and breastplates were welded too tightly together. She tried to push herself up with both hands, but her butt barely lifted an inch before getting stuck.

This thing really was like a turtle shell!

Crow’s face was livid with a killing intent, and she gritted her teeth fiercely.

Damn it!

I’d be a dog to ever trust those swindlers again!

It was proven that equipment not tested in combat often failed at crucial moments.

Especially those sold by "swindlers."

Xu Shun and Wang Zhong returned fire from behind another cover, not understanding what she was yelling about, as they couldn’t see the situation in front.

Sesame Paste did understand and hurriedly ran up.

"I’m coming to help you!"

Bullets whizzed past, grazing her cat ears, and she quickly ducked.

Right then, the sound of a sniper rifle rang out again.

With a snap, a Looter, just peeking from cover to advance, took a bullet to the chin; blood and teeth scattered everywhere.

The gunshot startled the surrounding Looters who then scattered to take cover, halting the assault they had just initiated.

Xu Shun and Wang Zhong, stationed by a half-window on the southwest side, were thrilled.

"Reinforcements!"

"That sniper is one of ours!"

Though they didn’t know who it was, they were grateful for the timely help that significantly eased their pressure.

Thanks to the deterrent effect of that sniper rifle, the Looters’ offensive became much more cautious, afraid to rashly leave their cover to advance.

Si Si put down his Pu-9 and picked up the sickle assault rifle he was carrying on his back, murmuring softly,

"If only I could get a P90 made, these people are wearing bulletproof vests... 9mm pistol bullets just aren’t piercing enough."

Tail turned his head in surprise.

"Eh? There’s a difference?"

Si Si spoke with a subtlety in his expression.

"It’s fine, you’ve always used that LD-47, which is great."

Tail boasted proudly.

"Of course, I’ve read the strategy guide! The sickle assault rifle has the most power!"

Si Si: "..."

Was this what they called a fool’s luck?

At least knowing to read a strategy guide was much better than not reading one at all.

Uu Chou glanced at the tall building on the southwest side and cursed loudly.

"Would you hurry up?!"

Hearing their leader’s urging, the five Looters immediately quickened their pace, moving around the large building’s toppled concrete wall to the high-rise where Night Ten was located.

Sensing the killing intent below, Night Ten, seeing no escape, simply stopped running and hid the thermal imager in a drawer of a cubicle.

Over two thousand silver coins worth of equipment!

It didn’t matter if a person died, but losing the equipment was a real loss!

Perception-type players did not have strong combat capabilities, barely stronger than the inherently deficient intelligence system, and while intuition might occasionally help them dodge a lethal blow, he couldn’t dodge when it mattered.

The perception of killing intent only helped to lock onto an approximate position and distance, from which he could make guesses about the possible direction of an enemy’s attack.

Talent was crucial in group battles, especially before entering the battlefield, as it could effectively determine whether the enemy was aware of one’s presence.

However...

In the midst of a melee where murderous intentions came from all directions, this talent was of limited use. Once a gun fired, even the blind knew where he was.

After all, he wasn’t Old White, whose skills were beyond that of an ordinary person and who also had rich wilderness survival knowledge and experience. Nor was he like Fang Chang and Wild Wind, one with flexible thinking and the other sufficiently calm and rational.

Perhaps...

Coming here alone was a bit hasty.

"MMP! I thought this bastard was powerful!"

Glancing at the heap of iron lying in the mud pit, Night Ten cursed and calculated the time for the mercenaries to ascend the building, then fired another shot out the window.

Just then, a gunshot from a distance startled Night Ten; he initially thought he missed a sniper, but quickly realized no murderous intent was locking onto him and the bullet wasn’t aimed at him.

Faint screams came from downstairs.

He approached the window and glanced down; a body lay at the main entrance of the office building.

Fang Chang?!

No...

That guy didn’t use a sniper rifle.

The gunshot was not far, about 600 meters away and northwest, sounding like an LD-47j.

Night Ten’s eyes lit up.

No matter who it was.

That gunshot must be from an ally!

The Looters were confused by the sound of the gunshot, probably not expecting two snipers to be hidden in such a small spot.

"F**k, will this never end!"

Uu Chou, crouching behind cover, cursed aloud, starting to entertain thoughts of retreating.

He outnumbered the enemy two to one, but in less than half an hour, they had already lost eight men in combat capabilities, while the enemy had only suffered a minor injury.

Especially that damned sniper!

Not only did he suppress his team on the left, forcing him to allocate five men to deal with him, but he also killed one of his top lieutenants!

Uu Chou felt a painful twinge, as if bleeding internally.

However, just as he hesitated about whether to retreat, gunfire suddenly erupted from behind them, pelting down like rain and hitting the ground behind their position.

Caught off guard, a mercenary leaning against the corner of the wall was killed on the spot, and a gunman shooting from behind cover was riddled with bullets, catching everyone by surprise.

The mercenaries at the rear immediately turned their guns to return fire, but the overwhelming cries of attack cast a shadow of fear on everyone’s faces.

"Damn!"

"It’s their reinforcements!"

The opposite side was in chaos.

Si Si quickly noticed something, a glint of joy flashed in her eyes.

Beside her, tail noticed too and excitedly shouted.

"Wow, reinforcements have arrived!"

Crow exclaimed in surprise.

"Eh?! It takes a few hours from Outpost Base to here, right?"

"It must be from Bet Street," Si Si listened quietly for a while, then nodded in confirmation, "Yes, it should be Bet Street, they’re shouting in United Human language."

Reinforcements arrived on the battlefield!

Both NPCs and players were buoyed in spirit.

Wang Zhong and Xu Shun exchanged glances, pulled out smoke grenades, and threw them, preparing to coordinate with the allies to launch a pincer attack on the Looters.

Xu Shun wrapped a bandage around his arm to stop the bleeding, attached a bayonet under the muzzle of his assault rifle, and readied himself for close combat.

And just then, the short-haired girl had already charged out, excitedly shouting something he couldn’t understand.

"Wow wow wow! Ula!"

"Ah Wei, wait—"

Watching the tail rush out, Si Si wanted to stop him, but it was too late; the nimble figure dodged the whizzing bullets and disappeared into the smoke pervading the battlefield.

Too fast!

Si Si sighed helplessly and lowered the visor of his helmet.

"Forget it, let’s go together."

Seeing two big bosses charging nearby, Sesame Paste nervously looked at Crow.

"Should we go too?"

"Let’s go!"

Crow tapped her distinctively angular breastplate and gave her a reassuring look before closing her helmet’s visor.

"Stick close to me in a minute, roar!"

Sesame Paste hesitated, then nodded seriously and tightened her grip on the Pu-9.

"Roar, roar!"

By this point, the fight was no longer in question.

Bet Street’s guards roughly numbered over thirty, all equipped with automatic weapons, wearing black coats issued universally by Shelter No. 404, having trained at Changjiu Farm.

Although it was their first time on the battlefield, their strength was far from weak.

Before becoming guards, they were experienced hunters, and the area from North Suburb toward the city zone was as familiar to them as their own homes.

Holding an LD-47, Yu Xiong, who led the charge, fired a burst at a Looter behind the enclosing wall.

"Surround them!"

"Don’t let these bandits get away!"

Faced with simultaneous attacks from the front and rear, the Looters’ advantage quickly turned into a disadvantage, not to mention the snipers pinning down both flanks of their position, leaving them no chance to escape.

Gunsmoke filled the air.

Gunshots were everywhere!

Surrounded and isolated, Uu Chou and his men could only fight individually.

Watching his followers fall one by one, Uu Chou’s eyes bulged with rage.

"I’m going to chop off your heads!"

Suddenly, consumed by rage, he bellowed, and his muscles burst forth, puffing up his leather jacket and bulletproof vest.

Hostages?

Missions?

All could go to hell!

Seeing their leader go berserk, his surrounding mercenaries scrambled to get out of the way.

They knew too well that once their boss got like this, he wouldn’t recognize anyone, and no one could restrain him.

"Oh, you are the BOSS!"

Rushing to the Looter’s ground, Tail’s eyes lit up, and she lifted her gun to fire, but unexpectedly, that man quickly grabbed a steel bar protruding from a concrete block, using it to block the incoming bullets.

Chunks of concrete peeled off the block, with full force rifle bullets hitting them, but the man didn’t even flinch.

"My giao! That strength is ridiculously over the top!"

strength?

No, it could well be 25 or even 30—

What surprised Tail even more was that this nearly half-ton chunk of concrete was suddenly hurled at her by him.

Luckily, she reacted quickly and dodged the deadly blow.

However, the man’s actions didn’t pause; he yanked a nearby lamppost, roared, and charged at her.

The whistling lamppost smashed into the concrete wall, and with no time to reload, Tail had no choice but to draw her pistol.

Despite firing several shots at him, all were blocked by his bulletproof vest; only one bullet hit his arm, but he acted as if it didn’t bother him at all!

"Damn! This BOSS is way too strong!"

Seeing there was no way back, Tail, her back against the wall, had to pick up the rifle hanging around her neck and aim its bayonet at the approaching monster.

"I’m warning you, roar, my bayonet is poisoned!"

Red-eyed Uu Chou couldn’t understand or hear anything, caught in a frenzy, all he wanted to do was crush everything he saw.

He glanced at the three-meter-long half-post of a lamppost, swallowed, and quickly looked around for a route to escape.

But there was none.

Urban combat differed from forests; obstacles were everywhere with very little room to maneuver. A few steps back, and there was nowhere to go.

"Damn it."

Everyone here was an Awakener, so why was this guy’s ability so bugged!

Was it because his level was higher?

Just as Tail was pulling out a hand grenade ready to fight to the death, a shout rang out from nearby, and armored Crow crashed out of the smoke like a tank.

"Ow ow ow!"

However, the BOSS clearly spotted her and, without even a glance, swung the streetlamp in his hand and struck her squarely on the chest plate.

A dull thud sounded, like a bell tolling.

Tail watched, eyes wide, as Crow, who had just charged out of the fog, was sent flying backward.

Lucky there was a steel plate in the way.

If that had hit a person, wouldn’t it have shattered all their bones?!

"Are you alright?"

"Cough cough—I’m, okay... Damn, got stuck."

"?"

The man withdrew the streetlamp, likely planning to deal with Tail first, the biggest threat, and took a step forward. Almost simultaneously, a dense burst of gunfire erupted from the thick fog.

"Ahhhh—!"

Holding a Pu-9 submachine gun, Sesame Paste yelled to overcome the panic while tightly pulling the trigger all the way.

Dozens of bullets emptied in mere seconds; though the shooting was pitiful, at this range a submachine gun was no different from a shotgun.

Uu Chou, his shoulder a bloody mess, roared in pain, and hurled the streetlamp at Sesame Paste.

Just then, a sharp blade suddenly pierced through his chest.

Instantly, blood spurted like a fountain!

Uu Chou’s eyes bulged, he retched blood, and as he was about to turn to deal with the person behind him, that bayonet twisted suddenly, stirring a hole right through him.

Awakeners, too, are flesh and blood and couldn’t block the soul-sucking pain.

Blood drained from Uu Chou’s eyes.

Weakening, he grasped the bayonet, struggled desperately for a moment, but ultimately lost his strength and fell heavily forward onto the ground.

Looking at Si Si behind the man, Tail exclaimed in surprise.

"Si!"

"Oh Ah Wei."

With a hand free, the gasping Si Si greeted her and checked her condition.

"Are you okay?"

"Heh heh, I’m fine, I’m fine," Tail embarrassedly scratched the back of her neck, "although I almost had to respawn!"

"Glad you’re okay. Thanks to Ah Wei for drawing fire, but... don’t rush in so quickly next time."

The Talent’s duration ended.

The overflowing strength gradually faded from her arms, Si Si took a deep breath, puckered her lips into a ’w’, and forcefully pulled the bayonet out of the man’s back.

Blood came out along with the bayonet.

Staring at the corpse bleeding profusely, Si Si muttered.

"This muscle is too solid."

Strength Type?

Or Constitution?

Or perhaps a completely different system.

Anyway, even with "Equilibrium" activated, she almost couldn’t penetrate this guy.

Unfortunately, the Game doesn’t display NPC levels, otherwise Si Si guessed that this guy must be at least level 20, or perhaps even level 25.

Although it seemed a bit like cherry picking...

But could this barely be considered leveling up by taking on stronger monsters?

...

Elsewhere, inside the building.

Squatting at the entrance of the corridor, Night Ten aimed his Pu-9 submachine gun toward the nearby emergency exit.

His enemy had lost sight of him, and the intent to kill had disappeared.

However, Night Ten could sense the rapid footsteps coming from downstairs.

"...Only four left?"

His index finger rubbed against the trigger.

Night Ten nervously awaited for his opponent to come upstairs.

Just then, sudden gunshot sounds burst out from inside the emergency stairway, followed by shouts in United Human language and explosions.

When everything subsided, footsteps moved upward again. Seeing the person appearing at the emergency exit, Night Ten’s jaw almost dropped to the floor.

"Holy shit! Old White?!"

He hid his gun behind him, and Old White approached with a smile, saying,

"Safety’s off, be careful of accidental discharge."

Night Ten sheepishly smiled and put away his gun, walking towards Old White.

"Damn... How did you end up here?"

"Wild Wind told me you didn’t go to save your game, so I guessed you probably followed them."

Emerging from behind Old White, Fang Chang glanced at the sniper rifle on his back and quipped with a smile,

"Yo, did you take off the attachments?"

"I didn’t want to damage it, plus I don’t need the scope at this distance," Night Ten quickly changed the subject, coughing. "Speaking of which, how did you find me? I remember I turned off my coordinate sharing."

Fang Chang said with a laugh,

"It doesn’t matter. You definitely followed the Commercial Team. Wild Wind was supposed to come too, but he has classes tomorrow morning, so I told him to go back and rest."

Suddenly remembering that there was still fighting downstairs, Night Ten hurriedly said,

"Right, there’s still fighting—"

Old White interrupted with a smile,

"It’s already over."

Night Ten paused,

"Over?"

"Yeah," Fang Chang nodded, "Almost as soon as the fight erupted, the guard team from Bet Street started moving this way, they should have arrived by now."

As they spoke, the gunfire outside intensified dramatically, and distant shouts in United Human language could be heard.

The guard numbers from Bet Street weren’t many, but that’s only relative to the scale of Changjiu Farm.

A group of experienced hunters, well-trained militarily, might not be weaker than those Looters.

Moreover, this was their home turf.

"So... you guys were already here?"

Fang Chang: "Pretty much, we were already observing from nearby by the time you started shooting."

Night Ten: "Damn! Then why didn’t you come out?"

Fang Chang chuckled.

"This was giving you a chance to show off, so you wouldn’t blame me for stealing your kills again."

Night Ten’s face flushed as he retorted,

"That’s not showing off! I was just concerned..."

"Understood," Old White patted his shoulder with a smile, "We were also worried about you, so we followed. Originally, Fang Chang and I didn’t plan to intervene, but in the end, he couldn’t help himself."

Fang Chang cleared his throat.

"It’s not that I couldn’t hold back, one of the four people who went up earlier is an Awakener, and quite strong at that. I always feel like these people don’t seem like Looters."

"Uh-huh," Old White nodded thoughtfully, "I think they might be mercenaries; their combat style is very similar to the group we encountered at the Garden Street Metro Station entrance."

"And they’re even stronger, with more people... But their organization is much poorer, not like the last group which split into three teams, coordinated closely, and even had radio contact," Fang Chang pondered for a moment, "Could it be that they’re targeting our operation? A gang from the slums?"

Old White said,

"Could you be overthinking it? Maybe Brother Guang just raised the difficulty."

"That’s a possibility."

"Right," Night Ten suddenly remembered something and asked, "Who fired that shot just now?"

"That shot?"

Old White and Fang Chang exchanged glances, their expressions peculiar as they turned to him.

"Which shot?" Night Ten asked anxiously.

"The LD-47j! Earlier, there were five Looters—or should I say mercenaries—below my floor, but some mysterious person took a shot and helped me out."

Old White thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"I didn’t notice, gunshots were everywhere."

Fang Chang spoke, "Speaking of which, should we go down and join them? The fight seems almost over."

Old White looked toward Night Ten.

"You decide."

Night Ten hesitated for a moment, then whispered.

"Uh... I just remembered I haven’t saved yet."

Old White: "..."

Fang Chang: "..."

Seeing that his teammates remained silent, Night Ten became anxious.

"Damn! What’s with that look on your faces?"

Fang Chang subtly glanced to the side.

"It’s nothing."

Old White, blunt as ever, sighed in their faces and turned away.

"That’s that."

Night Ten: "???"

A kilometer away, in another block.

A blue power armor quietly stood in the street.

A hyena emerged from the ruins, just shook off the snow from its body, and got startled by this giant, quickly hiding back in its den.

Chu Guang paid no attention to it, just silently watching the floating window projected in his field of view.

The green dots on the map had already surrounded each red dot hidden in the ruins, marking each one with a red cross for confirmed kills or captures.

The battle was over.

All that was left was the mop-up.

At that moment, the main entrance of the nearby bank building echoed with brisk footsteps.

"Done."

Xia Yan, descending the stairs, whistled towards that iron monster, a semi-automatic rifle slung over her shoulder, her face showing ease.

Chu Guang turned off the holographic floating window and praised her.

"Well done."

"Thanks for the praise."

Having not been away for a long time, Xia Yan seemed in high spirits and animatedly said, "Having said that, if you’re so worried, why not send someone more reliable?"

Chu Guang: "What do you mean by more reliable people?"

"Like that, uh, I can’t remember what it’s called, your players’ names are just too weird." In reality, Xia Yan didn’t know who was more reliable either, but her intuition told her there must be quite a few.

But.

These things can’t be decided by intuition.

Guessing what Boss Xia was thinking about, Chu Guang gave a faint smile.

"Mole and Edge, two squads, have already headed to Red River Town, with a total of twenty Awakeners. They’re mostly made up of T1 and T2 tier forces from the shelter, and they’re facing looters ten to even a hundred times their number."

"Midnight Chicken Killing and another 121 Awakeners are in the Elm District to Far Creek Town area. There, they need to deal with dangers worse than the mutants—monsters and Dead Claws—to firmly hold the northern position, which will protect the fertile land from Elm District to Rhombus Lake. Depending on the situation, they might be sent to Red River Town later."

"What you see is just a player encountering a minor difficulty, but there are more than a dozen much more perilous and important tasks. This route has already been traversed twice by the T0 squad, 2 T2 tier players, a high-ranking perception-type player, with guides, translators, and even a bear. The only risk is possible emergencies."

"They’re not weak; they handle difficult problems. Other T2 squads would struggle the same, and get wiped out just the same," Xia Yan exclaimed.

"Do you have that many Awakeners?"

Chu Guang nodded.

"Yeah, but... not all Awakeners are suited for combat. Our ’players’ may have a relatively easier time awakening; they can inherit abilities and experience well, but they still need to train harder to get stronger."

Like Makabazi.

Even though he’s a strength type, his basic talent is "Plant Speaker," and the talent he acquired after awakening is just an enhancement of his "Plant Speaker" talent.

Logically, this sounds more like a perception-type talent, but this world is not a real game after all. Perhaps, like the residents of Shelter No. 404, those who intensify only one aspect are the actual anomalies.

As for the fact that those players can "revive," Xia Yan did know a bit about it, but it didn’t surprise her too much.

Aren’t there plenty of strange things in the Wasteland?

Listening to those mercenaries brag, there are mutants on the East Coast that can revive, capable of being saved even with just a bit of their brain left.

There are even rumors that the lord of Giant Stone City is an immortal old monster, as most people know him as Fang Ming but have no idea what the previous lord was called.

But what does that matter?

These rumors neither prevent those mercenaries from getting up to work tomorrow nor affect that lord’s immortality.

The era when someone could be talked to death is long gone.

"So you plan to train them?"

"You can say that."

Chu Guang didn’t expect Boss Xia to understand concepts entirely alien to this world like "MMORPG," "players," "planning." Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses; doing well within one’s capability is enough.

Of course, what Chu Guang really meant to say was, "I’m just a little planner, not the players’ daddy. If they can’t handle this little difficulty, they might as well go play a puzzle game."

To accommodate most people’s gaming experience, he has already set the game’s difficulty within a reasonable range using levels and Contribution Points.

Let’s be honest, one can’t always blame the planner for a death, right?

Earth OL has many more unreasonable elements!

Xia Yan, smiling, said,

"Then why did you come?"

"Because I considered a second possibility," Chu Guang casually said, "The attack that Niu Ma Squad faced seemed more like a test, which is the conclusion Vanus and I reached after discussion. Logically, four Awakeners with zero combat losses, only getting a few injuries, should have made the enemy back off, but plans can’t always keep up with changes."

Xia Yan: "You know?"

Chu Guang: "Know what?"

Xia Yan joked with a quip.

"You look like an old father right now."

Have you seen what your own dad looks like?

Just spouting nonsense.

Chu Guang rolled his eyes and ignored the guy as he walked towards the battlefield that had just ended.

"Hey," Xia Yan caught up to him, chattering behind like a curious child, "Didn’t you say you weren’t going just to join the excitement? Why go after all?"

Chu Guang offhandedly replied, closing his helmet visor.

"There’s an iron heap causing a fuss; the guards didn’t know how to handle it."

"I’ll go see what that thing is."

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