This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 425: The Pangolin Achieves a Great Feat

Chapter 425: Chapter 425: The Pangolin Achieves a Great Feat

From the moment Teresa boarded the airship, she began to sweat nervously in her palms, trying to make herself seem smaller.

However, even though she put considerable effort into making herself appear more diminutive, that person’s gaze still landed on her.

"Teresa."

The moment her name was called, Teresa instinctively straightened her back, struggling to squeeze out a composed smile, but her stammering voice still betrayed the panic in her heart.

"Manager, sir, may I ask if you have any instructions?"

"It has been two weeks, and I want to hear what you think about the work."

Watching the lady stutter in finding her words, Chu Guang patiently continued,

"Don’t be nervous, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have any thoughts, just briefly summarize what you do every day."

"Fir... first thing in the morning I will —"

"About your work."

Her thoughtless words interrupted, Teresa’s face flushed red as she hastily corrected herself.

"Yes! Well, Mr. Ma Ban had me assist with checking the inventory of Warehouse No. 3, mainly to make sure the outflows and inflows of the supplies balanced out..."

Although she was somewhat inexperienced at first, she quickly became adept. She provided a detailed but concise description, including the problems she encountered at work, the friends she made, and some ideas for improvement.

Chu Guang gave her an approving look.

It seemed Ma Ban had trained her well; warehouse management is one of the most challenging roles, as it involves dealing with almost all frontline positions.

From a single broom, to a bag of bricks and a tuckload of cement, managing these trifling details laid a foundation for managing larger organizations in the future.

Of course, what he most looked forward to was her exposure to the masses through participation in grassroots labor.

As he had said before, this knowledge and experience would eventually be put to use.

Chu Guang then turned his gaze to Prince Samo.

"You should have achieved your desired result by now. Before the war ends, I will provide a place of respite for you and your subordinates. If you’re interested, you can participate in the refugee camp’s work. If not, I won’t insist."

Samo promptly replied with respect.

"Thank you for offering me this opportunity. I’m willing to do it; I want to learn how you rebuild your homeland."

Whether it was to understand the purpose of the Alliance or to please the Secret Country, he felt it was necessary to accept.

Looking at the young prince, Chu Guang nodded approvingly.

Not bad, the lad shows promise.

In fact, since the Alliance had accepted the Honey Badger Royal Family as refugees, they were guests in principle, and he should have provided them with basic living materials.

However, wouldn’t it be a pity to waste free labor?

Ma Ban always complained to him about not being able to recruit culturally enlightened staff for the refugee camp, and here was a ready-made candidate.

Moreover, for the young man himself, this was also an excellent opportunity for development.

"Teresa, you take him with you," Chu Guang looked towards the utility tool of a queen.

"Yes, sir."

Teresa bowed obediently. However, Prince Samo standing beside her frowned slightly.

"Sir, I would like to know in what capacity the queen of the Falcon Kingdom remains here."

"I am his captu—"

Teresa began to speak unconsciously, but her words were cut off before she could finish.

"She is a person liberated by the Alliance."

Hearing that voice, her face showed a surprised expression.

Including Samo, standing next to her, who turned to Chu Guang, equally bewildered, and asked subconsciously.

"Liberated means..."

"It’s literally what it says. In the eyes of the Alliance, whether it’s the residents of Oasis No. 3 or those of Oasis No. 2, they are all victims of this chaos."

Chu Guang glanced at the floor-to-ceiling window outside, where the yellow sand floating against the skyline looked like boiling flames.

"We will liberate them."

...

Deep within the Luo Xia Province, the yellow sand sweeping over the horizon was like lava churning in hell.

The sky was darkened, allowing no light to pass.

Mclen could no longer remember how many times he had encountered this ghastly weather; he only knew that this cursed day was finally coming to an end.

Here was the western frontier of Oasis No. 9, where the Army’s frontline headquarters was located just ahead.

He and his subordinates were only a short distance away—

"Halt, the person ahead!"

A shout came from afar as a soldier, holding a rifle, stepped towards them through the sandstorm from the Army camp’s gate.

"Idiot, put your gun down, old man! Recognize who I am!"

Staring at the bewildered sentry, Mclen cursed as he pushed the rifle aside and grabbed the soldier by the collar.

"Find Griffin for me!"

"I am right here."

A voice came from a distance, and Mclen let go of the sentry’s collar, narrowing his eyes at the man standing in the camp’s gateway.

Black boots and a navy blue military overcoat, with the shoulder insignia bearing three stars, there stood the Army’s General in charge of the Luo Xia Province — General Griffin.

Those chiseled jaws and hawk-like features didn’t resemble those of a seasoned warrior but rather a cunning fox.

McCullen loathed that face.

Especially that person.

"You still have the nerve to come back?"

Griffin looked at the disheveled man in front of him, with raised eyebrows that betrayed no hint of whether he was surprised or scoffing.

Before McCullen could continue speaking, Griffin, in a calm and measured voice, pressed on.

"Against a bunch of natives, a bunch of wild men from the woods, you’ve managed to lose The Steel Heart. I thought you’d be so ashamed you’d have committed suicide by now."

A flicker of annoyance passed through McCullen’s eyes, but he bit back his anger and spoke with a steady voice.

"They were no mere natives! We encountered reinforcements from The Enterprise! I know what you want to say, but the fact is, there wasn’t just one batch of reinforcements from The Enterprise. We ran into the second one! Don’t think you can shirk responsibility. It was YOU who issued the order to send me to the Southern River Valley Province!"

"Yes, I issued the order, I told you to intercept that injured employee, not to go toe-to-toe with The Enterprise’s men. And now, you’ve really done it. You’ve provoked the cowards on the East Coast. My informants from The Free State tell me they’ve built an airbase on the south shore of The Tributary of Tianshui, with planes landing there every now and then."

Griffin stared at McCullen, his eyes narrowing into slits, almost poking into his nostrils.

"...And I’ve been trying to figure out for two nights, even if you ran into The Enterprise’s reinforcements, how on earth did you let them take down such a huge airship, especially one equipped with shields?"

McCullen’s face stiffened, yet he wasn’t overwhelmed by Griffin’s imposing demeanor. His eyes narrowed just as fiercely, unapologetically retorting.

"Don’t pin this crap on me. We had already taken The Pioneer. Was there ever a half chance for peace with The Enterprise? Save your breath, the war had begun long ago! What happened in the Southern River Valley Province had nothing to do with my tactics, and if you really want to start counting, it’s your superflous orders to blame!"

"You still haven’t answered me how you lost that airship."

"Such matters I will naturally explain to the Air Force Command. I have no obligation to submit a battle report to the Army!"

The two argued fiercely, albeit with only one showing a red-faced ire.

The adjutant and staff officers who followed General McCullen, along with other military officers, just stood there silently, trapped in awkward silence.

Similarly, the officers behind General Griffin remained silent without a word as if they hadn’t heard anything.

"...Enough already, stop talking about me. What about Oasis No. 9? Haven’t you taken it down yet?" Unable to withstand any more grilling, McCullen forcibly shifted the topic, trying to use the other’s incompetence to justify his own failure.

However, Griffin just gave a light laugh and with a sarcastic voice sneered.

"If you had relocated your airship as I instructed, we would be parading in the palace of The Lion Kingdom right now."

Not waiting for McCullen to explode, Griffin allowed the pitiful clown some dignity, swiftly ending the subject and continued in a nonchalant way,

"The situation at the front is tense. Our military presence in Luo Xia Province is a bit weak, which limits our support for The Falcon Kingdom. Although the Retinue Army’s combat power is noteworthy, they need to allocate personnel to seize Oasis No. 3."

General McCullen spoke dismissively.

"We have no need for those lowlifes from Oasis No. 3. I suggest we lock them up and dispose of them in a mass, and then move in more obedient slaves from the west to fill the labor shortage. That way we can free up more personnel and concentrate forces to take down Oasis No. 9!"

"The Army does not need your command; you should just stick to commanding your airship," Griffin looked at him with mocking contempt, "We certainly do not need the lowlifes from there, but we do need the food produced there. With food, we can supply a larger army, and more reinforcements can be sent from the far west of the Great Desert."

Mass disposals?

It’s not that simple.

Don’t talk about 1 million people; it would take slaughtering until next year even for 1 million pigs.

As for bringing some slaves over from the west, of course, it’s not impossible, but large-scale population migration also takes time.

Though also part of the main warring faction, there was internal disagreement about how to deal with the residents of the occupied territories.

Some supported killing those who resisted and domesticating the compliant into slaves. Others supported using local forces for indirect control, such as fostering puppets.

Under the same educational conditions, a slave maintaining the lowest living standards typically generates value only 0.1 to 0.3 times that of a freeman, based on their work. It often takes a dozen people to sustain one military personnel.

But vassals are different.

They can guarantee productivity of more than 0.5 times at maximum exploitation.

This isn’t based on scientific data but on the army’s practical experience in various occupied areas.

Griffin truly looked down upon those noble factions that supported slavery.

The system he implemented in his own territory was a mix of employment and slavery, where those poor paid people worked far harder than the servants in his estate.

However—

He only had command authority, at most, he could shoot a subordinate officer who didn’t follow orders, but he had no right to deal with this idiot who had obeyed his commands.

And just as McLenn said, as the one issuing the orders, he would equally bear the joint responsibility when the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the military tribunal came asking for accountability.

Thinking of this, Griffin felt even more annoyed.

"Tomorrow, I will arrange a vehicle for you; you and your subordinates can stay at Oasis No.2 for now."

Oasis No.2 was Falcon Kingdom’s territory, as well as the army’s playground in Luo Xia Province.

There, endless wine and fruits awaited, along with the Falcon Royal Family’s provided slaves.

Griffin didn’t want to see this guy anymore; he just wanted him to roll far away from his sight.

However, what he didn’t expect was that the man who fled back with his tail between his legs did not agree.

"The war isn’t over yet. Don’t think about driving me away," staring intently at Griffin, McLenn enunciated every word, "Don’t try to send me away. I’m not going anywhere."

Once sent to the rear, he would no longer have any chance to make up for his mistakes, only to wait for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to slap an order on his face.

Moreover, he had made a vow.

He would personally reclaim this battleground.

He planned to use the blood of all the Waste Land Wanderers from Southern River Province to appease the souls of the fallen soldiers.

Griffin squinted at McLenn.

"Your forces have already been wiped out, what use is there in staying here?"

McLenn’s expression remained unchanged as he said,

"The Steel Heart is now in the hands of the Enterprise faction. If they’ve already mastered the use of that airship, you’ll have trouble. I’m the only one who knows how to deal with it."

Hearing this, Griffin’s expression slightly changed, he quickly glanced at the officers behind him, and asked frantically.

"You were leading the retreat, weren’t you?"

Facing that murderous gaze, McCullen had a slightly embarrassed expression, but he steeled himself and said,

"... We’re missing a Finod. The incident happened suddenly, he was outside the airship, and he didn’t catch the last flight. That guy is a logistics officer, and he probably knows how to operate that thing."

That guy wasn’t a front-line soldier to begin with, and his personality was almost the opposite of Rachel’s. If he could surrender, he definitely wouldn’t resist.

McCullen was more than 90 percent sure that as long as the Alliance got their hands on him, they would find a way to pry out how to pilot the airship from his mouth.

Griffin took a deep breath, and it took quite a while to stabilize his emotions.

He was already prepared to face the Enterprise’s aircraft, but he hadn’t expected to have to face not just the Enterprise’s aircraft but also their own 400mm main gun.

"... I’ll give you a thousand team. You’re responsible for containing that airship, and I’ll request more support from the rear," McCullen said bluntly.

"Not enough. Assign me ten thousand men and the equipment needed to counter the airship. I know you don’t like the look of me, but right now we’re grasshoppers on the same string if you catch my drift."

Griffin stared at him for a while before squeezing out a response through clenched teeth.

"Fine..."

...

At the same time, at the front line on the northern side of Oasis No. 9, a howling sandstorm had just swept past.

The sky-darkening yellow sand was like the roar of the Spirit of the Desert Sea.

"Damn... I thought I was going to die."

Crawling out of a pile of sand, Old Soldier struggled for a while before finding an arm buried in the sand and pulling Coleway out from underneath.

Spitting out the sand in his mouth, Coleway wiped his mouth with a look of relief.

"Thank you."

"No worries, glad you’re okay," Old Soldier said with loyal sincerity.

Almost a week had passed since they left the territory of the Golden Lizard Kingdom. In these three weeks, his role as an undercover agent had become more and more proficient.

Pattin on his good brother’s shoulder, Coleway looked ahead, his furrowed brows briefly giving way to a hint of joy.

"We’ve arrived!"

Up ahead was the encampment of the Army’s frontline troops. Although he didn’t know the designation of that particular troop, the flag flying there could not be mistaken.

Those who were separated from him in the sandstorm, including Ah dan and his group, also gradually caught up.

From their disheveled appearance, it was clear they had also suffered quite a bit.

Even one of the merchandise carts being pulled had been destroyed, with disassembled rifles now hanging on the camels.

"Are you all okay?" Ah dan, leading the camel, called out to them.

"We’re fine, haha! Thanks to the protection of the Spirit of the Desert Sea!" Coleway laughed and waved, signaling for them to come closer.

As the sandstorm dispersed, the nearby encampment clearly noticed them.

Under the leadership of a Centurion, a ten-person squad approached them.

"I’m a Centurion under Rachel, captain of the Steel Heart’s marine corps; my name is Coleway. Here are my credentials and dog tags." Coleway, eyeing the leading Centurion, voluntarily revealed his identity and produced the items that verified who he was.

After exchanging looks, the soldiers in front frowned slightly. The Centurion took the credentials, glanced at them, and then looked back at Coleway with some suspicion in his eyes.

"Steel Heart? Shouldn’t you guys be on a mission in the Southern River Valley Province?"

As a frontline unit, they were at war with the Lion Kingdom and weren’t aware of the situations in other sectors.

Coleway didn’t answer his inquiry but responded with an official tone.

"There was an accident over there. For details, you’d have to ask your superiors. Right now I need to see your commander."

The Centurion didn’t keep questioning but nodded, returned the dog tags to him, and kept the credentials.

"I need to verify your identity. Do you wait here, or do you come back to camp with me?"

"Of course I’m going to your camp; what else? Stand here eating sand?" Coleway said impatiently.

After checking Coleway’s credentials, the Centurion proceeded to inspect the documents of the accompanying Merchant Ah dan. Upon seeing the order form, they quickly gave them clearance.

Following the ten-person squad, the group headed toward the nearby encampment.

From the moment they entered the camp, Old Soldier had been quietly observing the layout here.

The layout was slightly different from what he had seen in Luo Xia Province. There was little use of concrete formulas; instead, walls of neatly stacked sandbags had been erected.

Such field camps were quite common in reality. The sandbags had decent resistance to explosives and blasts and could serve as a substitute for concrete, and they could also be redeployed conveniently.

Nearly every wall had dug-out foxholes behind it, and the shooting shelters and watchtowers were covered in desert-colored camouflage nets. Under the camouflage nets sat a pitch-black heavy machine gun, which looked to be the 20mm model based on its type.

It was a by-the-books military base that could house roughly between 500 and 1000 people.

What surprised Old Soldier was not the layout of this place but that he actually saw a Mutant in the camp!

That was undoubtedly a Mutant.

Although his skin wasn’t green but a dull grey-black, and his chin was covered with a beard, that ugly face was exactly like those Mutants he had seen on Street No. 76 in Qingquan City...

If the previous Mutants were like orcs, the appearance of these ones resembled trolls...

The Mutant glanced at him, showing his blood-red gums, and then, with a lumbering stride, wobbled toward the direction of the camp gate.

These Mutants didn’t seem to live with the Army troops; they had set up a separate camp next to the military base.

Understandably, nobody would want to live alongside those man-eating creatures.

Watching the figure disappear at the entrance, Old Soldier furrowed his brow and asked,

"...Mutants?"

Following his line of sight, Coleway said with a smile,

"Mutant mercenaries, from the Great Desert. These beasts might not have sharp minds, but they fight fiercely in war—they can charge through machine gun fire, and they can regrow a leg even after it’s been blown off. They’re thick-skinned and not fussy with food, literally natural-born Cannon Fodder."

To think that the Army managed to get the services of mutants...

"But why is their skin gray-black?" the Old Soldier asked in confusion. "The ones I’ve seen on the border of River Valley Province with Brocade River Province all had green skin."

Coleway said in a nonchalant tone,

"The local saying in the Falcon Kingdom is that they’ve been cursed by the Spirit of the Sand Sea, but really, it’s just a subspecies branch, probably mutated by radioactivity in the Great Desert. Who cares how they came to be? They’re useful, and that’s what counts."

The Old Soldier nodded woodenly, his heart filled not only with amazement but also with a secret thrill.

Gray-black mutants...

This piece of intelligence was incredible!

But then again, this undercover role didn’t feel challenging at all.

Essentially, all he had to do was feign ignorance with a question, and this guy would spill the beans boastfully.

Frankly, with this level of candor, he was starting to feel a bit embarrassed.

Following Coleway toward the depths of the military camp, the thoughtful Old Soldier soon made another discovery.

In a warehouse with its doors open, a few engineers were squatting in front of a tank they’d never seen, twisting screws.

With a curious expression on his face, the Old Soldier looked at those tanks in the warehouse and asked,

"What tanks are those?"

"The Conqueror No. 10 model II, fitted with a 150mm heavy howitzer. It’s a self-propelled gun. That one next to it is the model III, the gun tower’s been changed to an eight-barreled anti-aircraft machine gun. It’s meant for air defense, but since the Lion Kingdom doesn’t have an air force, they’re usually pushed to the front line to support infantry."

Looking at the tanks in the warehouse, Coleway narrowed his eyes, pride twinkling in them.

"... This time our opponent includes The Enterprise faction. I’ve heard that the Army plans to send over a batch of No. 11 tanks."

The Old Soldier immediately seized the lead in his reply,

"What’s that now?"

Coleway didn’t suspect a thing, but he glanced at the distance from the merchant Ah Dan and spoke very softly,

"A new model of heavy tank designed by Triumph City Army Equipment Research Institute to counter Gauss weapons. I’ve only heard a few things about it. Don’t spread word... It’s said its armor is really hard, the usual hard-core armor-piercing rounds and electromagnetic mass bombs have a hard time getting through it, but they’re expensive, that’s for sure."

"Including pre-war stockpiles, the ’Wanderer’ tank equipped with Meissner effect armor, these are all presents we’ve prepared for The Enterprise faction... They’d probably never guess that the equipment from 200 years ago would still be operational."

Your average Survivor Settlement could at best cobble together an armor-piercing bullet, but the spaced armor of the No. 10 tanks is perfectly designed to defend against the metallic jets from armor-piercing rounds.

However, for the ultra-fast steel darts fired by Gauss weapons, this spaced armor might not be sufficient.

General Coleway talked animatedly, while the Old Soldier felt a chill running down his spine as he memorized the discussion.

It’s always too late for regrets.

Ordinary conversation wasn’t too difficult, but when it came to jargon, he had no clue what it meant and couldn’t exactly ask to clarify, so he’d make a note of the onomatopoeic words to share later on the Forum with other players.

Thinking of this, the Old Soldier couldn’t help but feel remorse.

Lack of culture is a disadvantage. Had he known, he would have learned a few more words, just like that damned Fang Chang!

Seeing that Coleway seemed tired of talking, the Old Soldier quickly provided a prompt, allowing him to continue.

"Then do our tanks have any weakness?"

"Every machine has its weaknesses. The primary vulnerabilities of the Conqueror series are in the roof and the undercarriage, so those areas must be carefully protected. Especially the undercarriage, the armor near the escape hatch is thinner and close to transmission parts."

Coleway suddenly changed his tone and continued with a laugh,

"Speaking of which, I’ve heard that the Alliance has a kind of drone that specializes in going for the underbelly of tanks, which gave the Chewing Bone Tribe a hard time."

The Old Soldier tensed up and nodded slightly.

"Yes... I think I’ve heard of that too."

Seeing his good buddy’s nervous expression, Coleway laughed and patted him on the shoulder,

"Don’t worry, those kinds of gadgets are only effective against unintelligent Looters. We just need to hang a curtain under our tanks’ bellies, to catch the drone’s propellers, or a shield would suffice."

A bomb is only effective if detonated right under the undercarriage.

If it just explodes on the gun tower or car body, that minor shockwave might just tickle our tanks.

The Old Soldier nodded as if he understood, but in his heart, he quietly took note of all the details.

The group waited for a short while in the Open Space.

Just as the Old Soldier felt he had gathered plenty about this place, an officer approached from not too far and stopped in front of Coleway.

"We’ve confirmed your identity. We’ll arrange a vehicle to take you to the command post."

The relief bloomed into a smile on Coleway’s face as he returned a military salute.

He caught up with Ah Dan, who wasn’t too far away, to congratulate him,

"Congratulations, Mr. Coleway. You’ll be rejoining your troops soon."

"Thanks for your help; I’ll remember this favor," Coleway shook his hand, adding, "What plans do you have next?"

Ah Dan thought for a moment and answered with a smile,

"After the logistics officer here finishes transferring the materials, I’ll probably continue on to my next trade. The Lion Kingdom probably won’t last another two months; while the war’s still ongoing, I’m thinking of making a few more deals."

"It seems we must part ways," Coleway said, extending his right hand with a smile, "but I believe that you will have your place in this land graced by Xiaguang. Until we meet again."

Surprise flickered across Ah Dan’s face as he smiled and shook Coleway’s right hand.

"I hope your words prove true. Until next time!"

As Coleway and Ah Dan were saying goodbye, the Old Soldier was looking around, trying to find a place to disappear offline.

The new equipment on the way and the mutant mercenaries from the Great Desert...

Such explosive intelligence.

This was definitely going to be big!

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.