This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 428 - 429: Never Fought Such a Wealthy Battle Before!

Chapter 428: Chapter 429: Never Fought Such a Wealthy Battle Before!

Flames rose in the darkness.

When they saw the rolling smoke rising in the direction of the military base, the soldiers of the Revival Army crouching in the trenches all opened their eyes in surprise.

Including Yard.

Including his subordinate, Kraf.

And including those centurions struggling in desperation.

The scout vehicle in the distance began to retreat, turning its head back towards the military base.

But the four trucks coming towards them remained where they were.

The infantry who had already disembarked could neither advance nor retreat, so they simply dug makeshift dugouts on the spot, lying down inside them, and opened fire against the soldiers of the Revival Army relying on the trenches.

It turned out that these high-nosed demons were not invincible.

After losing the fire support from the rear, they quickly became embroiled in a tough fight against the Revival Army soldiers, who outnumbered them, suffering continuous casualties.

Looking at the column of smoke rising to the north, surprise filled Yard’s face, which soon turned into wild joy.

He tore off his scarf and tied it around his injured arm, excitedly shouting to the soldiers behind him,

"It’s the reinforcements!"

"Our reinforcements are just ahead!"

"I told you, they wouldn’t go back on their word!"

To the due north.

The military base of the Army was a billowing mass of smoke.

Especially the artillery positions, being given special attention, were a complete mess from the firepower that had rained down from the sky!

Piman, hiding in the anti-battery shelter, was desperately shouting into the communication channel, but apart from the sizzle of the electric current, there was no response.

Not only could he not communicate with the air command center 100 kilometers away.

He also couldn’t contact the hundred-team outside the military base, and the communications with the other combat units were intermittent, with each report unanimously indicating heavy losses and requesting reinforcements.

Piman’s face turned slightly pale as he hung up the phone and slumped helplessly in his chair.

Anthonite looked at him with an iron-blue complexion, with nervous sweat oozing from his forehead.

"What the hell is that?"

"It’s metallic hydrogen... Not just metallic hydrogen, but also EMP," Piman stammered, his lips trembling and a trace of panic written on his face, "Our communications have been cut off."

Hearing those words, Anthonite’s eyes bulged.

"EMP??? Metallic hydrogen?! How could a guerrilla team have that kind of thing?!"

Piman swallowed and said with difficulty, "It’s not any guerrilla team... It’s likely a corporation’s aircraft."

The moment he heard the word ’corporation’, Anthonite involuntarily held his breath, and fear started to show in his eyes.

Half a month ago, at the strategy meeting, he heard General Griffin speak.

The eastward strategy of the Army had caught the attention of the East Coast, including the occupation of the Pioneer; clearly, it couldn’t be hidden from those people.

If they couldn’t end this war in a short time, the corporation might get involved.

And by then.

This war would turn into a direct confrontation between the Army and the corporation, and the ancient treaty would be shattered to dust.

For a century...

Such a thing had never happened.

Meanwhile, right above Piman and Anthonite, a drone with a bulbous head was circling high in the sky.

Its name was Seagull, hailing from the distant East Coast, with a price tag of 1.5 million Cr, capable of carrying 8 guided missiles and one 20mm aviation cannon with a reserve of 600 rounds.

The communications equipment at the ground military base had been completely paralyzed by an EMP missile, and the Army’s command system was severely impacted.

Although they had prepared for the event of communication equipment failure, they clearly hadn’t anticipated an EMP strike; the sudden attack threw the camp into chaos.

Tank crews rushed to the garage, intending to drive out the tanks and anti-aircraft vehicles.

However, before they could get close to the garage, another missile fell from the sky.

The air-burst incendiary, like fireworks towards the ground, poured down streamers of glowing smoke from the sky, quickly turning the entire area near the garage into hell on earth.

A soldier instinctively raised his hand to block out the intense white light, but his arm was accidentally grazed by a flying spark.

Like a match dropped into a barrel of oil, the faint flame instantly turned into a raging fire, expanding several times in a matter of breaths, engulfing him in flames.

He fell to the ground, trying to rip off his clothes, rolling in agony, but no matter how he struggled, he couldn’t shake off those glowing flames... At that moment, any experience and skills were useless, and he could only wait for death in torment.

Screams rose from every corner as the unquenchable flames burned on dozens of tank crew members.

Next to the garage lay a scattered collection of charred corpses, and soon, even the screams could no longer be heard.

Observing the ground from the drone’s perspective, Debt Giant Eye couldn’t help but cluck his tongue.

"Damn... That’s just brutal."

That last missile had killed at least 50 people.

Unless they had awakened some special power, even Awakeners would probably find it hard to survive this hell.

Unable to bear the sight of their suffering, Debt Giant Eye sighed inwardly and launched another missile.

White flames bloomed again, this time turning the northeast corner of the military base into a sea of fire.

The machine gun positions camouflaged with nets turned into an inferno; several gunmen escaped from the flames, only to be shredded by the cannon fire from above.

Under the thermal imaging view, each moving head glowed like a light bulb, unable to escape the fire raining down from above.

Meanwhile, the Death Legion, pedaling tricycles forward, finally reached their new combat position.

The support teams set up mortars and, guided by the Seagull drone, began to suppress the fire near the military base garage, preventing Army vehicle crews from boarding the tanks.

On the other side, team A, serving as the vanguard and peddling tricycles, advanced toward the northeast corner of the military base under the protection of the Seagull drone.

They needed no batteries or engines.

The Strength Type beasts wearing "Pioneer" exoskeletons were natural humanoid motors; each of the hard-pedaling men was nearly smoking the tires.

"Brothers, follow me up!" Edge Shoveling shouted excitedly at the sight of the burning white light ahead, then he slapped Construction Lad’s shoulder hard, "Go! Faster!"

The Constructions Youth and Brick complained.

"I’m gonna wear out my damn shoes at this rate! Shit, can’t we get a motorcycle or something?"

Even a tricycle would do!

Hearing his good buddy’s complaint, Edge Shoveling, who was on an excited high, let out a hearty laugh.

"Those things take up too much space! Better to bring more ammo. The Manager did ask me, but I flat out refused!"

Construction Youth with a Brick: "#@%$!"

Holding his breath, the Construction Worker with the highest attributes sped ahead, leaving everyone else in the dust.

Team A, led by Edge Shoveling, broke through the outermost defensive line on the northeast corner of the Army like a sharp spearhead.

"Roar—!"

A muffled roar echoed.

Next to the sandbag bunker, a gray-black Mutant, towering at the height of a person, stepped out with a huge club in hand.

His eyes were blood-red; a thick steel plate hung on his chest, making him resemble a baseball batter taking meteoric strides towards the direction of the Death Legion.

However, before he could get within ten meters, a 37mm Armor-Piercing Incendiary Bullet hit him square in the chest. Sparks from the explosion blew clean through him.

That was the Alliance’s Heavy Cavalry Gun!

A rifle retooled for anti-material purposes, using an anti-aircraft cannon barrel and ammunition of the same caliber!

The massive recoil nearly threw the player who fired the shot off the tricycle, but fortunately, the strength of the beast pulling the trike was strong enough to counter the recoil from the anti-material weapon with wildly pedaling legs.

"Haha, nice shot!" shouted Edge Shoveling, unable to contain his excitement, but he quickly sobered up and focused intently.

The outer defensive line might have been breached, but the real fight was just beginning!

The soldiers still alive inside the military base were all battle-hardened veterans.

They were crouched behind cover, ready to launch a counterattack at any moment!

Not to mention the Mutants!

These monstrously strong beasts, akin to human tanks.

A hundred-strong team of Mutant Mercenaries had been eager to fight, and upon seeing people rushing into the camp, they let out feral roars and charged towards the Death Legion.

"Tear them apart!"

"Twist their heads off!"

"Roar—!"

That pair of pupils flashed with a craving for flesh.

These beast-like monsters were not just adept with primitive weaponry; they could shoot, use thrown objects, and various small devices they’d crafted themselves—although their aim was a bit off, they still caused considerable trouble for Team A, the vanguard.

Luckily, this was when Team C, responsible for covering fire, finally got into position on the north side of the dune slope. They set up heavy machine guns and 37mm Heavy Cavalry Guns, the dark, menacing barrels aimed at the Mutant Mercenaries.

"Fire!"

The owner of the rolling drum hair salon on the sand dune bellowed, launching the attack first.

As soon as the team leader gave the order to fire, everyone pulled their triggers; bursts of flames spewed from the muzzles.

Thick tracers tore through the veil of night, drifting like willow catkins blown by the wind.

The Mutant Mercenaries who rushed out of their shelters, intending to engage in close combat with the Death Legion, were instantly slaughtered, their armor shattered to pieces along with their flesh and brains, leaving a slippery mess of gore everywhere.

Although their wounds could heal at a visible rate, it didn’t mean their heads could regrow after being blown to bits.

Under the command of the Roller Hair Washing Machine system, Team C, manning the mounted weapons, poured a relentless barrage into the blazing military base, covering the breakthrough of Team A and the two following hundred-man teams as they continued their advance inside the base.

"All out of the vehicles!"

Yelling this, Edge Shoveling led the charge by jumping off the tricycle, signaling the vanguard players to form up, covering one another as they stepped forward over the sticky trails of blood.

Meanwhile, above in the night sky,

Just after Team C had successfully completed a handover of fire support, the "Seagull" drones in the sky had run out of ammunition and began to withdraw from the battlefield to save battery life.

Now it was the ground forces’ time to shine!

Five "Hellhound" unmanned vehicles, robust as young calves, followed Team A over the sandbag walls.

Although these Hellhounds couldn’t match the size and load of the "A-1 Ground Weapon Platform" drawn by Wild Wind, their arsenal of 1,000 rounds of 12mm machine gun ammunition and 24 60mm aerial burst grenade rounds still allowed them to unleash firepower comparable to an armored vehicle.

Controlled by the Intelligence System players, these five "Hellhounds" were like wolves diving into a flock of sheep.

The triangular gun barrels spun like windmills, spewing fierce firepower that, like a waterfall of bullets, wove an impenetrable net within the camp, sheltering the following infantry squads as they pushed forward.

Not just that, supporting the advancing infantry was the Alliance’s domestically produced Y-2 "Butterfly Knife" quadrotor drone.

Compared to the "Spring Knife" equipped with explosive charges, the "Butterfly Knife" with its improved power and control systems offered much stronger sustained support capacity, not only was there an adjustable camera slung underneath the aircraft but also a 5mm caliber caseless coaxial rifle.

These drones could perform close observation missions and coordinate with frontline troops to launch pincer attacks against fixed cover, or swarm like locusts from multiple angles to strike the enemy line.

Their uses were incredibly diverse.

Faced with the Death Legion dragged into the military base, the Army soldiers attempted to organize resistance but were overwhelmed by the enemy’s ferocious close-range firepower.

Especially devastating was the saturation bombardment of the hangars by the drones, which decimated the crew members, resulting in more than 50 tanks failing to even start their engines before being left stranded in the hangars.

Moreover, the preemptive strike by EMP weapons caused a communications blackout.

Not to mention that High Command had no idea of their situation, even Centurion Piman himself had no clue how many of his men were left alive, where each hundred-man team or ten-man team was, or who they were exchanging fire with.

Not just Piman was taken by surprise; even the Centurions and Centurions in the front lines were caught off guard by this sudden and disorienting change of events.

There was no helping it. The previous gas canister bombs were too misleading, causing them to mistake the attackers for mere Guerrilla Teams, and so they had only dispatched one "Yellow Weasel" reconnaissance vehicle and four transport carts. Heavy equipment such as Conqueror tanks hadn’t even been activated.

Faced with the heavily armed Death Legion, the disordered Army units couldn’t even organize a full hundred-man team; they were forced to fight in groups of ten or even smaller, each desperately holding on around the limited cover available.

Their ammunition and morale wouldn’t last very long, especially after seeing the four-legged walking "Hellhounds" and the "Spring Knives" zooming overhead...

The fragile defense line kept retreating, finally scattering like a sand castle washed away by the tide...

An Army soldier carrying a rocket launcher had just aimed at a Hellhound and was about to pull the trigger when an aerial burst grenade exploded in his face, shattering half his head.

Edge Shoveling, leading from the front with his LD-47 rifle, fired a sweeping barrage that turned the soldier attempting to pick up the rocket launcher into a sieve.

Two Agility system players quickly flanked to the side and with several "tut-tut-tut" bursts, swiftly cleared the rest of the gunmen behind the cover.

In the distance, flames blazed.

Edge Shoveling could feel it—the thousand-man team garrisoned here was at the end of its rope.

His finger pressed on the communicator and he shouted loudly,

"B Squad, seize the garage! Stop the enemy crew from entering the tank!"

"D and F Squads, continue to advance and capture the southern position! To the south, we also have a full hundred-team. After taking the machine gun fortress, immediately support our allies!"

"A Team, follow me to attack the command post! Capture the enemy officers!"

"Move out!"

The location of the command post had been marked on the map.

This was intelligence that Brother Battlefield had literally swapped his ass for; it couldn’t be squandered!

Edging Shoveling led his brothers straight to the military base’s command post.

Inside, the hastily constructed command post was deserted, clearly having been moved to a nearby artillery bunker.

A ten-man team crouched behind a low wall at the entrance of the bunker, trying to make a last stand using the cover.

But the players responsible for the assault didn’t give them a chance to even see who was coming, let alone waste words, and simply called in a "Hellhound."

An airburst shell slammed behind the cover and with a loud bang, followed by the whirring of a triangular rifled barrel, the ten-man squad crouching at the entrance of the artillery bunker was instantly ground into a pulverized mess by the fierce firepower.

Under the cover of supporting fire, Edging Shoveling personally led a ten-man squad closer to the target.

A shock bomb was thrown into the bunker, and amidst a burst of white light, he led several players into the bunker, an LD-47 rifle with bayonet raised in front.

"Don’t move!"

"Surrender immediately!"

"Drop your weapons, and you won’t be killed!"

It was the same old three lines, shouted loudly by the construction worker beside Edging Shoveling.

One of the bodyguards clearly didn’t buy it; before his eyes even opened, he raised his gun to counterattack.

But before he could aim, a burst of gunfire swept towards his chest.

He grunted and slumped to the ground like a torn ragdoll, not even having the chance to scream in pain.

Anthony reached for his pistol to end his own life, but before he could turn off the safety, an engineer shovel smashed his wrist, causing him to cry out in pain and drop the pistol.

"Fuck—"

Edging Shoveling stepped forward, kicked the gun away, grabbed Anthony’s arm, twisted it behind his back, and pressed his head against a nearby table.

Struggling desperately, Anthony was about to curse, but before two syllables could escape his mouth, an engineer shovel chopped down next to his neck with a "Duang," like an axe.

The cold touch and the blade’s proximity made Anthony’s heart freeze.

Pinned on the table, his chest heaved wildly; the courage he had gathered to face his end was smacked away by that dark shovel.

Sometimes, courage needs a little bit of blood rushing to the head.

He wasn’t afraid to die, and was ready to sacrifice himself for the Marshal, but these people clearly wouldn’t allow him to die easily. They would surely use that shovel to torture him bit by bit until every piece of intelligence was extracted from his head...

With this thought, Anthony shivered involuntarily, and before he knew it, his pants were soaked.

Thinking he was still resisting, Edging Shoveling glared at him, gripping even tighter.

"Stay still!"

Centurion Piman stood by the entire time. He hadn’t moved and watched the throng flood into the command post with its guns, feeling a sense of utter desperation.

"Pioneer I Type" exoskeleton.

He recognized the equipment.

There was no doubt; these were the corporate people!

"Shackle these men!"

Edging Shoveling turned to his teammates and ordered, and the young construction worker and Brick handcuffed the centurion without saying a word.

Facing the soldier marching towards him, Piman offered no resistance, calmly extending his hands.

"I surrender."

Losing to those guys from the East Coast wasn’t shameful.

These people’s gear was so strong, it was as if they were cheating; it was just short of using tactical nuclear bombs.

Moreover, these people had a sense of moral cleanliness. Being captured by them usually didn’t end too badly...

Meanwhile, the battle to the south had also concluded.

After clearing the machine gun positions and the watchtower adjacent to the army soldiers, Squad D swiftly occupied the fixed weaponry, unleashing fire at the four trucks in the distance.

Caught in the crossfire from both the front and back, the army thousand-team rapidly suffered more than half casualties, losing their ability to fight.

Seizing the opportune moment, Yard immediately ordered a hundred-team to charge forward, capturing all the remaining enemies who had lost their will to fight.

On the other side, the "Yellow Weasel" reconnaissance car returning to the military base to support the infantry was also struck by players’ RPGs, immobilizing it in the middle of the road as the turret raised a white flag of surrender.

With that, the military operation, spanning thousands of miles, could be declared virtually complete. The chaotic military base was left with only sporadic gunfire and faint flames.

The Death Legion had killed a total of 652 army soldiers and 121 mutant mercenaries in the fight, taking more than 470 combatant and non-combatant prisoners.

As for the losses, for the first time ever there were only 31 dead.

Additionally, that number even included those severely wounded and disabled who had willingly let their teammates "finish them off."

Hearing the battle reports and losses from various squads, Edging Shoveling couldn’t help but feel a sense of wonder.

Is this the power of the silver coin?

With the right equipment, it’s hard even to die!

Raising his rifle above his head to signal as an ally, Yard approached the direction of the military base, meeting Edging Shoveling, who was escorting prisoners from the command post.

He extended his calloused right hand and firmly shook the hand of the young man before him.

"Thanks for your support!"

"Don’t mention it, we’re allies on the same front," Edging Shoveling said back, giving Yard’s hand a shake before letting go and continuing. "But I still have to say, you guys were an hour ahead of the original plan. We almost missed it."

Good thing the army was overconfident and didn’t deploy the tanks, otherwise tonight might have been a tough battle.

Yard was momentarily startled, then promptly said,

"Impossible, the message we received was to launch the attack at the strike of midnight. The messenger sent by Prince Wenter even specifically reminded us to adjust our watches to the Alliance time zone..."

Saying this, he pulled out a crumpled map from his chest pocket and handed it to Edging Shoveling.

The map was marked with pencil, noting brief intelligence including the timing and steps of the operation.

Edge Shoveling had a slightly odd expression on his face after taking a photo; then he returned the map to him.

"...Maybe it’s a misunderstanding."

From his standpoint, it wasn’t quite appropriate to stir up trouble, yet it was impossible to rule out that within the Lion Kingdom, there might be those who wished for their demise right here.

Yard had also thought of this, but he didn’t show any anger on his face; instead, he nodded calmly.

"Alright, let’s just consider it a misunderstanding."

After all, now was not the time for internal conflict; even if there were disagreements, they should wait until the war had ended.

Moreover, this had nothing to do with the Alliance that was supporting them; it was entirely an internal issue of the Lion Kingdom.

"Let’s talk about something more pleasant, we’ve acquired the intelligence we needed, including testimonial and physical evidence... in short, things that can cause trouble for our enemies."

While saying this, Edge Shoveling glanced at the boxes being moved out from the nearby command post and the officers who were being escorted out of the anti-cannon shelters by the players.

The Alliance had already dispatched a delegation, waiting for them at the bordering area between Luo Xia Province and River Valley Province Northern Part, to take over.

After the handover, these officers and the armory orders would be sent to the Grand Canyon; after which, the Bugra Free State was likely to face a purge.

That was the most optimistic scenario.

Even if things weren’t so optimistic, the Alliance might still gain goodwill from the North, or even friendship.

Speaking of which, the Grand Canyon was counted as one of the "Degenerate Empires" in the backdrop. Its ancestors had even been the headquarters of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, although it didn’t have the same presence as corporations, armies, or academies did.

Edge Shoveling was actually quite curious about what their map looked like.

He wondered if Ah Guang had finished it.

Yard glanced at the dismayed Piman and Antonite beside him. Though unfamiliar with these two faces, their ranks indicated they were at least Centurions.

"...What about the other prisoners?"

"Dealing with them is up to you, including the spoils of war in this military base. I hope you take as much as possible, and destroy anything you can’t carry, especially the Conqueror tanks."

With that, Edge Shoveling looked at the pale blue text on his VM and continued.

"By the way, according to the intelligence we’ve just recovered, the total commander of the Army in Luo Xia Province, General Griffin, seems to be planning a new offensive from the North. It’s coordinated with the western front forces to encircle the Royal City of the Lion Kingdom."

Yard’s expression grew increasingly serious.

"I will inform Prince Wenter of the Lion Kingdom’s Marshal."

Edge Shoveling nodded.

"Yes, if you have a faster way of spreading the news, it’s better to tell him as soon as possible."

The battle entered the phase of clearing the battlefield.

Although the mission required leaving the equipment for the local armed forces, Edge Shoveling, spurred on by his buddies, couldn’t help but take a look at the firepower they possessed.

This casual glance made several players instantly fixated.

Enthralled by the tanks in the garage, a construction youth spoke with a dreamy expression, saying,

"Imagine if we could drive these tanks away ourselves, wouldn’t we be able to form our own armored formation!"

There were fifty of them!

Including heavy tanks, anti-aircraft vehicles, and self-propelled guns—definitely enough for an enhanced battalion’s strength!

Debt Giant Eye glanced at him.

"Do you know how to drive them?"

The construction youth retorted without hesitation.

"No! But I can learn, can’t I? And do those NPCs know how?"

Hearing their banter, Edge Shoveling smiled and said,

"Since the Desert Kings have Dinar in reserve, it’s clear they’ve imported the Army’s equipment, no matter through which channels. Since Yard is taking over these armaments, they evidently have a way to put these machines to use... but, let’s not worry about that; it’s time to hit the road."

Patting his buddy on the shoulder, he turned and walked towards the north side of the camp.

The Death Legion’s trikes were all parked there.

They would continue heading north on those trikes, traversing the desert to meet with the Alliance delegation waiting at the province’s border to complete the handover of prisoners and evidence.

On the other side,

Beside the army’s armory, Revival Army soldiers were busily loading ammunition, fuel, and weapons onto trucks, preparing to move them out.

Those soldiers with driving experience were getting into tanks, familiarizing themselves with the controls.

Standing next to Yard, a Revival Army Centurion named Kraf asked in a low voice,

"Should we pass that message on to Prince Wenter?"

Yard was silent for a while before finally nodding.

"Of course."

The bigger picture took precedence.

The Lion Kingdom had shown them kindness after all, and they couldn’t negate that kindness due to the presence of some petty individuals.

Kraf nodded, relieved, feeling that his Highness hadn’t let anger cloud his judgment.

Then, he looked towards the group of prisoners squatting not far away.

"What about those prisoners?"

The Alliance hadn’t demanded their lives but had left the decision of their fate in their hands.

Yard looked at the prisoners, with their hands clasped over their heads, feeling utterly indifferent.

Killing them would be satisfying, but beyond that, it was pointless.

And...

It might bring suffering to the civilians in the occupied areas.

After pondering for a while, he made his decision.

"Let them live."

"We need to use these people to exchange for our fellow countrymen."

-

(Don’t sleep with headphones on... My ears have been buzzing all morning; I’ll go to the hospital to check in after lunch – a lesson for all of us T.T. If you guys spot any typos, let me know in the comments; or you can call them out—comments should be working again, and I’ll make corrections as soon as I see them!)

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