This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 328 Artillery Bombardment and Psychological Warfare

Chapter 328: Chapter 328 Artillery Bombardment and Psychological Warfare

At 9 PM.

At this time, the Ya Clan’s patrol team was in the midst of changing shifts.

"This place is up to you now."

The fatigued Grey Dog yawned as usual, hoisted his rifle on his back, descended the stairs to board a raft, and headed to the outpost on the outskirts of Sector Four to change guard.

Life had not been easy for them recently.

It seemed that the New Alliance’s airborne troops had made contact with the local guerrilla team, and the sound of gunfire in the eastern region was becoming more frequent.

He could clearly feel that the guerrillas’ combat effectiveness and firepower had improved significantly compared to before.

Previously, those rats only dared to take potshots at them with pipe rifles, but now they had progressed to spraying bullets at them from windows with automatic rifles.

Some even started using rocket launchers...

It was impossible to guard against!

Those airborne troops weren’t sitting idle either. In addition to training the guerrillas, they were also planning attacks, and the scale was growing day by day.

Although the apostles of the Torch Church were able to occasionally kill a batch, these men would quickly emerge again from other places.

Grey Dog even had a kind of illusion.

It seemed like their numbers increased the more they fought?

Due to a large number of armored forces and heavy artillery being redeployed to the front lines, the Ya Clan was quite passive in facing guerrilla attacks.

They had been forced to abandon a large number of checkpoints and outposts in the eastern urban district, effectively losing control over it.

Even though the patrol team had been increased to more than a hundred people, they only dared to patrol there during the day.

"I hope we don’t run into their paratroopers today..."

Boarding the raft, Grey Dog prayed silently in his heart and sat down next to other Looters.

The night was exceptionally quiet.

As the raft was about to leave Sector Four, it started to rain from the sky. Seeing this sudden rain, many breathed a sigh of relief.

It was well known that the New Alliance’s planes appeared only on sunny days.

Although rainy days were annoying, at least there was no need to worry about the sky.

"How much longer will this war last?"

"It should be over soon," the tattooed man flipped his rifle upside down, resting it on the ground as he looked at the rain above and said, "Our Centurion said the offensive would start when the heavy rain falls."

"The heavier this rain, the closer their end."

The New Alliance’s planes would be weakened during rain.

Usually, they needed only one tank to take down a survivor base of a thousand people. Now with so many tanks sent to the front lines, and with the one known as Lord Dylon, the God of War commanding, victory seemed as easy as breathing.

With this thought in mind, those who were harassed by guerrillas and paratroopers found some solace. Although the process was tough, victory would make it all worth it.

It was said that Qingquan City’s "North Suburb" was a fertile land flowing with milk and honey, filled with endless treasures and inexhaustible food.

As Grey Dog fantasized about the good days ahead, a sudden "whoosh" came from above his head. Before the people could react to what had happened, a six-story building meters away exploded into thick smoke.

Chunks of concrete were blasted into the air, splashing into the waterlogged streets and creating a series of splashes and ripples. Amidst the exclamations and curses, everyone ducked to avoid the debris.

A Crack Claw Crab, disturbed by the explosion, issued a grinding roar similar to the gnashing of teeth. It frantically scrambled around the shallow waters, agitated.

In the chaos, the Looters’ raft veered off to the side of the road.

"Damn!"

"Artillery shell?!"

"Motherf*cker, are those gunners asleep? How did they fire artillery shells here?" A Looter with a face full of horizontal scars cursed loudly.

Beside him, another shivering Looter said.

"No... I don’t think it would be so inaccurate as to veer off here."

As if to confirm his guess,

Another shell quickly landed, but this time it was farther from them, about a hundred or two hundred meters behind them.

Looking at the pitch-black water surface, Grey Dog tensely suggested,

"Let’s find a place to take cover first... there are quite a few Crack Claw Crabs here."

This suggestion was unanimously agreed upon.

Tying the ragged raft to the side of the road, everyone hurried into a nearby half-collapsed building for shelter and rushed up to the second floor.

Outside, explosions continued, with artillery shells falling one after another, the distant ones hundreds of meters away and the nearest ones on the street right beneath their feet.

Listening to the thunderous sound of explosions, pairs of eyes hidden in the darkness displayed fright and confusion.

No one knew what exactly was happening.

They were at least twenty to thirty kilometers away from Qingstone County, with nearly thirty tanks and five thousand-team troops in between.

All they wanted to know was where these artillery shells were coming from?!

...

And it wasn’t just the patrol teams scattered throughout various parts of the urban area enduring the agony of the cannonade. It included the goons finding entertainment in the cells...

Even their bosses and leaders.

"Where are these artillery shells coming from!?"

Inside the reinforced concrete and steel bunker, roars echoed.

Since the entire Fourth New Area was submerged in water, the anti-cannon bunkers were mostly constructed inside half-collapsed buildings rather than being buried underground.

Hiding in the dark and damp artillery tower, Golden Tooth’s face, which was blackish-green, was now filled with fury and horror.

Just minutes ago, he was still curled up in his cozy blanket, toying with a "toy" he had traded for dinars from a merchant in the Bugra Free State.

However, before he could really get into it, a shell landed in the stinking trench not far from his window.

Soon, the sound of artillery followed one after another.

The deafening blasts scared him out of bed, and without even remembering to grab his coat, he dragged his body—weighing over two hundred kilograms—to this place.

Also hiding in this artillery tower were his close confidants and trusted followers.

Everyone’s face bore the same expression of unsettled fear, unsure of what to do next.

Grabbing one of his confidants by the hand, Golden Tooth bellowed in his face.

"Go to the south side and check what the hell is happening!"

"Yes, yes!" The confidant quickly nodded his head, scampering out with a combination of rolling and crawling.

Watching the figure disappear at the doorway, Golden Tooth gradually managed to calm down, urging himself to be cool-headed... although his beady green eyes still spun with unsettled fear and suspicion.

After accepting clothing from a subordinate’s hands and getting dressed, he found a sturdy chair to sit on and started to ponder over what exactly was going on.

Honestly, when the shells first began to fall, his immediate thought was not of the New Alliance, but that the frontline troops had betrayed him.

That was his greatest concern.

Although the Army’s commanders had won him many victories, and Golden Tooth admitted that without Dylon’s help, he couldn’t have had such a smooth winning streak, he still never dared hand over command to those men, fearing that they would break from his control.

Even someone as dim-witted as he could sense it.

The bond that united the officers of the Army was far tighter than the one between himself and his Thousands of leaders and Centurions.

That kind of loyalty, he had never seen on the faces of his own people.

Should that Dylon take command, just by replacing the Centurions and Thousands of leaders with his own former subordinates, usurping him would be a matter of minutes.

After all, the Looters believed in the law of the jungle, with respect given to the strongest. Not to mention that two-thirds of the Ya Clan were outsiders who had joined them halfway through, with absolutely no loyalty to him.

However...

This thought remained in Golden Tooth’s mind for only two seconds.

He quickly realized that the frontline forces he had sent to Pine Forest Gully hadn’t been equipped with indirect firepower like 100mm cannons.

This left only two possibilities.

Either the New Alliance had come up with some super artillery capable of effectively striking targets twenty—or even thirty—kilometers away.

Or they had pushed their artillery positions to Pine Forest Gully, or even to the north side of it...

Whichever it was, it was undoubtedly bad news for him.

As hours of agonizing waiting went by, if not for the occasional sounds of artillery and the heavy burden on his mind, Golden Tooth sitting in his chair might have succumbed to sleep.

Just then, finally, the sound of footsteps came from outside—the confidant he had sent to gather intelligence rushed in.

Seeing the confidant’s expression and the way he dodged his gaze, Golden Tooth’s heart suddenly clenched, already vaguely guessing something.

But he still didn’t expect...

The reality was far worse than he had imagined...

"Pine Forest Gully has been taken by the New Alliance?!"

How is that possible?!

After hearing the confidant’s report, Golden Tooth abruptly stood up from his chair, wishing he could grab the man’s collar and ask again.

"What about the five thousand teams stationed there?!"

The confidant touched his forehead to the ground, his voice quivered as he spoke.

"They’re all gone..."

The chair let out a strained creak.

Slumping back into his chair, Golden Tooth’s bulging eyes momentarily flashed with terror, doubt, disbelief... a series of complex emotions almost too difficult to describe.

Twenty-seven tanks!

Fifty anti-aircraft vehicles!

That was nearly the entire fortune of the Ya Clan!

To fight those little planes, Golden Tooth had all the 10mm heavy machine guns that could be linked together given to the Tribe’s artisans for modifications.

Now, someone was telling him, all that was...

Gone?

"..."

Faced with this grim reality, Golden Tooth fell into a lasting silence, baffled.

He still remembered how, before the departure, Dylon had assured him, pledging that at most it would cost ten tanks to take the industrial area and fields of City of Dawn.

Trading limited equipment for limitless supplies, it was supposed to be a deal with guaranteed profits.

Yet now, to hell with City of Dawn, they hadn’t even caught a glimpse of Qingstone County, and shells were already falling into their nest!

Golden Tooth’s clenched teeth began to grind audibly; his chest heaved incrementally, and through gritted teeth, a string of resentful curses leaked out.

"This bunch of inept failures good for nothing but ruining everything!"

"Where is Dylon?!"

"Where is that idiot now?"

"Tell him to roll over and see me!"

Listening to the string of roars that sounded like thunder, the trusted aide kneeling on one knee trembled violently, not daring to breathe heavily for fear of incurring wrath, his voice trembling with speed.

"Sm-small doesn’t know... We were near the depression on the north side of the pine forest ravine when we saw the New Alliance’s Army. They have set up artillery there, and many people are stationed. There are also patrolling scouts in the nearby woods."

"Thinking that you were still waiting for us to return with the news, we didn’t dare to take the risk of getting too close, so we thought about scavenging for fleeing soldiers who had escaped back, but we didn’t find a single one."

Hearing this, Golden Tooth, who was furious beyond containment, suddenly felt a pang of fear.

A drop of cold sweat slid unconsciously from his forehead, extinguishing a bit of the blazing anger in his chest.

Not a single one made it back?!

This meant that in a short amount of time, the New Alliance had utterly annihilated his entire five thousand teams...

And under the protection of countless armors, no less.

The centurions and confidants surrounding him exchanged glances of shock and amazement in the silence.

At this point, a centurion spoke up.

"The fourth new district is a part of Ze Country; the underground area is all flooded. There’s no way to build anti-cannon holes here, and the surface shelters can’t withstand continuous bombing... I suggest moving a bit further north."

"North? Are you suggesting we fight with the guerrilla teams for the burrows?"

"The guerrilla teams are on the east!"

"What’s the difference? The underground tunnels in this city are all the same; they know the terrain there, and if we hide in them, it’s a dead end! Moreover, how can more than twenty thousand people hide?!"

Suddenly someone chimed in.

"Or... let’s just retreat northward. There’s not much left to gain in West State City anyway, so we might as well leave this rotten place to the New Alliance."

Hearing this, many people’s faces showed agreement.

"That makes sense..."

"Indeed, other than rats and the unending captures of guerrilla teams, there are ceaseless paratroopers."

"...and aerial bombardment."

"We might as well move eastward and join forces with the Snake Tribe and head to the eastern provinces..."

Some people remained silent and cautiously looked at their leader.

However, just then, Golden Tooth suddenly slammed his hand down on the table.

"Enough!"

"Shut your mouths!"

"Anyone who mentions retreat again, I’ll cut out his tongue and feed it to the dogs!"

The room fell silent.

As Golden Tooth watched his subordinates shut up, he slowly calmed his inner rage and heavy breathing.

He admitted that he didn’t have Dylon’s command abilities, but that didn’t mean he was stupid.

Retreat?

There was no possibility of retreat!

Not to mention that all the spoils and slaves would have to be abandoned here. Once he retreated, it would amount to an admission of the Ya Clan’s defeat.

The members of the other clans who had been drawn by his reputation would soon abandon him and go their separate ways, or return from whence they came.

Once they crossed The Tributary of Tianshui, of the twenty thousand people, at most just over ten thousand would survive. Either way, casualties would occur, so it would be better to reduce numbers on the battlefield, to fight a decisive battle with the New Alliance!

He still had over twenty thousand people.

If it really came down to street fighting, he might not lose!

Looking at his subordinates who dared not speak, Golden Tooth roared out his orders.

"Spread your troops around the city, and watch every window, every building like a hawk! Since those despicable, shameless Ground Squirrels dare to come knocking, let them come and have a try!"

"As for the artillery and bombing... Let them waste their ammunition as they please. I want to see just how many shells they actually have!"

Nobody dared to resist, let alone speak up.

Even if they were inwardly complaining, they could only lower their heads and accept the orders at this moment.

Watching the figures gradually leave and disappear through the door, Golden Tooth slowly relaxed his tensed muscles and shoulders, leaning back in his chair.

Looking up at the ceiling trembling under the bombardment, a hint of madness crossed his face.

Come on then!

Let’s see!

Who has more men, whose blades are quicker!

...

"The fireworks are really quite beautiful..."

Atop a half-collapsed high-rise.

Fang Chang, holding a telescope in his hands, was currently standing in the rain looking westward, a faint smile on his face.

Old White, not far from his side, was checking the map, keeping in touch with the Goblin Corps’ artillery team through a VM and an earpiece equipped with a camera.

"Correct the artillery landing point 500 meters to the northwest... Don’t worry, it’s all recorded; we’ll send it to you after we log off."

This afternoon, the New Alliance had advanced their artillery troops from Qingstone County to a depression five kilometers north of Pine Forest Ravine, bringing the entire southern and western districts of West State City within the range of indirect fire.

The artillery bombardment began at nine o’clock sharp.

The Goblin Corps’ artillery unit, in cooperation with the Burning Corps, launched round after round of firepower strikes on the key outposts and defensive structures that the Ya Clan had built in the Four New Zones.

However, shelling was a very tedious affair.

Especially since the "Hummingbird" wasn’t deployed yet, it wasn’t just the explosions that were not visible—even the sound of artillery shells exploding couldn’t be heard.

To know the effect of the hit, one either had to listen to players at the front line describe it over the radio, or wait until they logged off to have their buddies upload videos to the official website.

"These Looters are quite smart, to actually know to put out the lights," Night Ten said, somewhat surprised as he watched the lights extinguish in the distance.

Old White answered briefly.

"It’s normal, indirect gunfire at such long ranges requires frontline troops to guide, report the artillery coordinates and bomb impact points, and continuously correct the firing elements. They can guess that we’re reporting coordinates nearby, but they just don’t know where we are."

It would be better to say.

These people actually just realized this now.

It seems Dylon’s defeat has had a considerable impact on the "staff officers’" prestige within the tribe.

Normally, by the time the first artillery shell had landed, they should have realized the problem and extinguished all the visible fires at the positions.

"Stop talking and get to work," Wild Wind, laden with a bunch of wires and loudspeakers, patted Night Ten on the shoulder, "come and give me a hand."

...

A camp a dozen kilometers away.

Players standing near the 100mm cannons were discussing targets for the next round of bombardments.

In the past few hours, they had fired more than a dozen rounds, pouring almost two hundred 100mm shrapnel shells towards the Four New Zones.

At the same time, not far from the artillery positions, in a tent, a prisoner of war wearing headphones sat nervously in front of a recording device, reading from the script in his hands.

"...I am Vab, a Centurion under Bear Tooth, from the Bugra Free State. I had a proper job, became muddle-headed for a moment, blinded by greed, and was duped into coming here."

"I repent for the sins I have committed in the past, and I hope that those who, like me, come from the Bugra Free State or other regions, can wake up in time... ahead, there’s neither the fertile land where milk and honey flow, only rivers of blood and mountains of corpses."

"Wake up, how long have we stayed in West State City? How many brothers have died in utterly meaningless battles? We sleep with rats, cut meat from corpses to fill our bellies... How long has it been since we’ve had a decent lunch? How much longer will we be deceived by that fat pig sitting on a pile of human bones?"

Reading this,

Vab felt more and more aggrieved.

Back in the Bugra Free State, he had at least two drinks in three days, but ever since he came to West State City, not to mention drinks, he nearly lost his humanity in the struggle to survive.

Emotion overwhelmed him, and he raised his voice uncontrollably.

"...Looters of West State City, the grand army of the New Alliance has already descended upon your doorstep, last night’s artillery fire was the final ultimatum!"

"Your Chief of Staff, Dylon, has been killed, the Thousands of leaders like Bear Tooth have surrendered. Before the planes and artillery of the New Alliance, you stand no chance. The outcome of this war has been predetermined, surrender is your only way out!"

"The New Alliance does not kill prisoners of war, and treats those who surrender willingly with preferential treatment. As long as you hold this leaflet, whether you find the local Guerrilla Team or come directly to the New Alliance’s patrols in the south, the Alliance pledges on its reputation that we will ensure your safety."

"If there are those who remain deluded—"

"Then pay for your sins with death!"

After reading the script in his hands,

Vab, trembling with fear, turned around and looked toward the azure power armor standing at the entrance of the tent.

"Respected lord, I’ve finished reading the script you gave me... may I ask if you have any other orders? Your most loyal Slave is willing to serve you."

That face was covered in fawning and flattery.

However, Chu Guang paid him no heed but turned to the soldier standing on the side and said briefly,

"Take him down and watch him."

The soldier saluted solemnly,

"Yes, sir!"

There was also a tank commander for whom Chu Guang prepared a script, mainly to be read to those former military officers in the Army.

Once the news of Dylon’s grievous defeat in the Pine Forest Pass spreads, the status of those officers in the Chewing Bone Tribe would surely plummet.

These people were also targets for defection.

Even if they didn’t defect, it would at least serve as a warning to them.

After the H-1 airplane flies over and drops the leaflets tomorrow, the dozen or so loudspeakers deployed by the Burning Corps near the Four New Zones would broadcast the surrender recordings continuously during the intervals between artillery fire.

After Vab was taken away, a man wrapped in bandages was brought in.

His name was Bagro, a tank commander. Surprisingly, this guy had jumped out before his tank was destroyed.

Of course, what surprised Chu Guang even more was that this fellow was not one of Dylon’s subordinates, nor did he belong to the 21st Ten thousand troops.

But he came from the 14th Ten thousand troops of the Army’s Expeditionary Army—a Corps constructed of armored units with tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Looking at the recording device, Bagro guessed what the man in the power armor intended for him to do, so he said straightforwardly,

"Do I go off script or read from it?"

Chu Guang pointed to the table with his chin.

"The script is there, you could improvise first, then read the script again. But before that, I want to ask you something."

Bagro stopped heading toward the recording device.

"What’s that?"

Chu Guang looked at him with keen interest.

"Did you all plan this together?"

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