This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 440: The Arrow is on the String

Chapter 440: Chapter 440: The Arrow is on the String

Petra Fortress.

Under the escort of two light pickup trucks, Count Roskin, riding a motorcycle with a servant, drove out of the city with a pale face.

The chief bodyguard, sitting beside the driver in the pickup truck, leaned his arm on the window and waved, signaling the driver to speed up. He smiled at Count Roskin through the window,

"If you need help, remember to shout a little louder. We are not petty, we will come to help you."

"I don’t need your help! I’d be thankful if you keep your distance!"

Glancing at the machine gun at the back of the pickup truck, Roskin’s brows twitched, and he turned his face to roar against the howling wind, "Can you put that thing away? We are not going to war... Do you want to kill me?"

What if those distant friends misunderstood?

The chief bodyguard and the driver exchanged strange looks, not quite understanding his intention, but eventually, they complied with his odd request.

He reached out of the window, patting the roof of the truck.

"Put the machine gun away."

"Yes, sir!" Upon hearing the chief’s order, the gunman standing at the back of the pickup truck skillfully dismantled the 10mm heavy machine gun mounted on the rack.

The same happened with the other pickup truck.

Meanwhile, both pickup trucks slowed down and maintained a distance from Count Roskin, who was leading on the motorcycle.

Watching the pickup trucks fall behind, Roskin finally breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed slightly.

Although he had reservations about Lord Sain’s orders, although he knew those jackals mercilessly devoured everything to the bone, a sliver of hope still lingered in his heart.

What if there were some misunderstandings between the parties?

If he could neatly resolve these misunderstandings, turning artillery into bread, he would undeniably become a hero of Petra Fortress, even a savior of the kingdom.

The nobility of Petra Fortress had always dreamed of acquiring republican autonomy like Silver Moon City to the south, freeing themselves from feudal contracts.

The Petra family, loyal to the royal family, was the biggest obstacle.

If he could use this opportunity to reach a friendly agreement with the army, perhaps his family’s longstanding wishes could be fulfilled!

Of course, it was fraught with risks.

But it was also an opportunity.

"Speed up!" Count Roskin, regaining his courage, became spirited again. He looked at the motorcycle’s dashboard and urged the riding servant, "Have you not eaten? Or did you not fully refuel the motorcycle? It’s only doing forty!"

"My lord... the road conditions here only allow for forty. Any faster and we’ll take off," said the servant with a wry smile.

"Useless thing."

Roskin cursed and, realizing that urging was pointless, he did not speak further.

The convoy, consisting of two pickups and a motorcycle, soon approached the region near Lost Valley.

Crossing over stacks of sand dunes and gazing at the distant valley that was faintly visible through the sand, Roskin felt his heartbeat accelerating.

"Up ahead! It’s right ahead!"

He shouted at the top of his lungs.

The two pickups behind him moved closer, and the chief bodyguard stuck his head out of the window and yelled,

"Do you want us to follow?"

"No need! You wait here for me! I’ll be back soon!"

With that, Roskin urged the servant to accelerate and continued forward.

Although the thought of approaching an Army camp made the servant’s shoulders tremble incessantly, he dared not disobey the orders of Lord Ross Gold, forcing himself to twist the throttle.

The tires kicked up a cloud of dust, quickly drawing attention from the opposite side.

In no time, two three-wheeled motorcycles came from a distance.

Seeing the flag of the Army, a look of relief washed over Ross Gold’s face. Just as he was about to wave and shout, two gunshots rang out from the opposite side.

The bullets whizzed past, landing in the sand beside them, frightening the motorcycling servant who hastily turned and fled back the way they had come.

Ross Gold was equally startled, not expecting the other side to shoot without warning. He quickly shouted to them.

"Don’t shoot! I am Count Ross Gold of Petra Fortress! There might be some misunderstanding between us! Let’s sit down and talk—"

However—

The only response was gunshots.

The people didn’t say a word and just opened fire upon seeing someone, and as they approached within a hundred meters, the gunman seated next to the driver on the three-wheeled motorcycle pulled the trigger.

"Ratatat—!"

A thick blaze of gunfire sprayed out, bullets wildly flying over the sand dunes. Although lacking precision, the sheer number of bullets was overwhelming.

A sharp pain in his leg made Ross Gold shudder all over, nearly fainting, and he collapsed onto the servant’s back.

"Sir? Are you alright—"

Looking at his heavily bleeding left leg, Ross Gold uttered in a trembling voice, brokenly.

"Run... fast!"

The off-road performance of the three-wheeled motorcycle was somewhat inferior to that of two-wheeled ones, but thankfully, the Chief of the Guard who had come with him heard the gunshots and arrived just in time with reinforcements.

The machine gun was repositioned on its mount.

Two pickup trucks stopped on the nearest sand dune, the gunmen expertly pulling back the bolts, unleashing the heavy machine gun’s wrath on the three-wheeled motorcycle crossing the dunes.

Dust plumes burst across the desert, and the leading three-wheeled motorcycle was instantly turned into a sieve.

The driver was killed on the spot, and two passengers jumped down from the vehicle, using the motorcycle as a shield to return fire at the pickups on the sand dune, but they couldn’t withstand the ferocious firepower of the heavy machine gun and soon followed in their driver’s footsteps.

The other three-wheeled motorcycle was lucky enough to have escaped back behind the sloping side of the dunes.

Taking advantage of the momentary suppression of their pursuers, Lord Ross Gold’s servant, with his master on his back, raced toward the two pickups like the wind.

The master lying on his back was now silent.

Just now...

He had seemingly taken another gunshot to the back.

A flare rose over the sloping side of the desert, and the Chief of the Guard, sitting in the passenger seat of the pickup, frowned and stretched his right fist out of the window, waving it backward.

"Retreat!"

...

In the nearby camp.

Watching the flare ascend into the sky and listening to the distant staccato of gunfire, General McCullen who stood on the airport runway furrowed his brow, lifted his binoculars to look west, but saw nothing.

The distance was too great.

He turned to the officer standing next to him and asked,

"What’s going on over there?"

The officer was clearly also unaware of the situation but reacted promptly and immediately responded.

"The area is under the responsibility of Centurion Weiss. His men should be patrolling that region today."

General McCullen put down the binoculars.

"Call him here."

"Yes!"

The officer turned and left.

Not long after, a robust man approached and stood at attention, giving a military salute.

"Report! There are two pickup trucks and one motorcycle to the west, likely a Merchant Guild from a nearby oasis. They have killed three of our attendants... I have already sent people to chase them."

Hearing that only a few attendants had died, General McCullen did not inquire further. Over the past couple of days, oblivious merchants have been heading this way.

"Don’t bother with the merchants; tell your men not to chase too far and pay attention to patrolling the defensive area. A plane is coming soon."

"Yes!" Weiss stood at attention, gave a salute, and turned to jog away.

Watching him leave, General McCullen slightly furrowed his brow.

For some reason...

A strong sense of unease kept creeping into his heart now and then.

However, this baseless emotion quickly dissipated as a sleek silver shape appeared in the distance.

The temporary tower beside the runway received a landing request.

The silver plane, tens of meters long with a wingspan of several tens of meters, approached the runway and soon lowered its landing gear, swallowing up clouds of sand as it touched down on the runway.

The plane stabilized at the side of the runway, the boarding stairs were lowered, and ground personnel hurriedly surrounded it with forklifts and fuel trucks.

Such a precious jet aircraft could not possibly be entrusted to the attendant army for piloting; the pilots were all noble Weilante People.

Two pilots descended the boarding stairs and walked up to General McCullen to salute, one of them lifting his head and puffing out his chest.

"Captain of the 11th Naval Aviation Squadron of the Ten Thousand Truops and chief pilot of the H-55, Kolun, reporting to you!"

General McCullen raised his hand in return salute, his eyes shifting to the plane nearby, his mood visibly brightened.

The H-55 "Hurricane" bomber!

Twin jet engines were powered, built from a special alloy steel, and it could reach a maximum speed of two Machs!

Although Army Command classed it as a tactical bomber to support frontline troops, due to its heavily armored and durable body, along with the high-powered engine’s formidable breakthrough ability, it also could undertake strategic bombing missions.

It was called the flying tank!

Or, the butcher’s scalpel!

Descending alongside this Hurricane bomber, designated to escort or rather to draw fire, was the wingman—an H-44 "Peidao" fighter plane.

Compared to the "Hurricane," it was undoubtedly much smaller, not only sporting a single jet engine but also constructed from lighter titanium alloy.

Although this fighter plane was designed primarily to contend for air supremacy and tackle high-threat targets unmanageable for propeller-driven planes, because this equipment was developed by research institutes under the Army Command, its ground support capability was equally formidable.

Mounted on the nose was a 20mm cannon, astonishingly equipped with two thousand rounds of backup ammunition, and under the wings dangled two expensive TV bombs.

As for why no air-to-air missiles were hung?

Because Luo Xia Province didn’t even have propeller aircraft.

Had they known earlier about an alliance in River Valley Province, had they known earlier that Pioneer intended to head to the Great Desert in search of No.0 Shelter, the Corps might have prepared something from the west.

Unfortunately, there are no ifs.

General McCullen reached out his right hand and shook it firmly with two towering pilots, his face beaming with joy as he spoke.

"The stage is set for you! Let those bugs see what a living hell is!"

Colin grinned and shook the unlucky general’s right hand in return.

"That’s exactly what I’m here to do."

Although Griffin had not informed McCullen about the full extent of the plan in advance, McCullen, having collaborated with him for many years, could tell what that cunning skunk was up to just by the way he set his ass.

Undoubtedly, what was loaded on the "Hurricane" bomber was a nuclear bomb—

That million-ton three-phase bomb!

At that moment, several sporadic gunshots came from the distance, and Colin, still shaking hands with General McCullen, instinctively turned his head to look west.

"What’s going on?"

General McCullen asked with a smile.

"Probably just some Waste Land Wanderers nearby, we’re close to Oasis No.4. Don’t mind them..., those cowards wouldn’t dare meddle in our affairs. Oh, by the way, before I came here, I got a few bottles of red wine from that stinking... old chap Griffin. Want to try some?"

Colin quickly waved his hand and declined with a smile.

"No, thanks... I have a mission tonight. Let’s save the victorious wine for after we return!"

Leaving the River Valley Province was the perfect timing for the bombing run.

But this didn’t mean the mission was without risk.

In Southern River Province was an old survivor force, Giant Stone City, reputedly part of the Alliance.

There, equipment left behind by post-war reconstruction members was deployed, and the combat power was a question mark, making it hard to say whether they would pose a threat to the "Hurricane" bomber.

The nuclear bomb transported from tens of thousands of kilometers away was the only one, and to ensure full success, they planned to wait until nightfall and carry out their bombing under the cover of darkness.

Nuclear strikes, unlike tactical bombings, didn’t require precise coordinates or visual observation of the ground, just flying to an approximate position, pressing the switch, and then flooring the throttle was enough.

Hearing that the mission was set for nighttime brought a thrill to McCullen, who chuckled understandingly.

"I’ll look forward to your good news then!"

The thought of those bugs who had climbed onto his airship soon being turned to ash by a nuclear blast wave pleased him immensely.

What a pity.

He wouldn’t see their faces tremble before the apocalypse.

...

On the other side.

At the heavily guarded entrance of Petra Fortress’ prison.

Accompanied by several guards, a muscular man with a grimy face passed through the tall stone gate and was released.

"Remember to watch your mouth, you won’t be so lucky next time."

The bearded guard captain gave the burly man a warning look, waved his hand, and left with his subordinates.

The gate closed with a heavy thud.

Once the footsteps faded, the man spat on the ground and cursed as he turned around.

But as he turned around, he saw two people and a bear standing at a nearby intersection, his expression immediately turned awkward.

After hesitating,

he touched the back of his head and finally mustered the courage to approach the employers, greeting them in a muffled voice.

"Sorry boss, I messed up..."

"It’s okay."

Seeing his disheveled appearance, Si Si couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows, looking towards the prison behind him, "Did they give you a beating?"

The man said sheepishly,

"Uh... That was from before."

Si Si’s expression slightly fell.

It was a pity that the bruises, a mix of green and purple, weren’t acquired during detention, otherwise, they could have swindled some compensation from the Lord of the City.

But it didn’t matter anymore.

A contented person lives a long life.

Nodding in understanding, Si Si continued,

"Do you have any plans for the future?"

The man replied with a bitter smile,

"I’m thinking of trying my luck in Silver Moon City down south... I probably can’t stay here anymore."

After he was sent in, several brothers from the Mercenary Group quickly exposed his role as the main culprit, definitely ending his possibilities within the brotherhood.

Actually, they weren’t really brothers.

They were just a group gathering to make a living, the Mercenary Group was only six or seven people in total, easy to gather, easy to disband.

Si Si nodded, not surprised, and continued,

"If you have nowhere to go, why not work with Old Buma? The base of the White Bear Knights needs security... Hmm, if you are interested, you could be the chief of security there."

Lord Petra planned to allocate a base for the White Bear Knights to help them more conveniently carry out their charitable acts of rescuing refugees.

To be honest, a big part of this was a misunderstanding. She actually wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to help everyone make a fortune.

But what’s said is said, and spilled water can’t be recovered.

"They are here under the guidance of the gods to rescue those poor people"—she herself had said this.

At that moment, the man was stunned, his face incredulous as he looked at the lady in front of him, excited to the point of breaking his voice.

"You... you still want me?"

As the man stepped forward, Si Si disdainfully stepped back, glancing at him,

"Don’t say such weird things, or I might change my mind."

"No, no, I didn’t mean any disrespect to you!"

The chance at a job almost slipped away due to his verbal slip, and the mercenary leader hurriedly explained, his voice becoming confused,

"I just... don’t really understand. I clearly messed up the task you entrusted me with—"

"Everyone has their first time, everyone goes from skilled to unskilled," Si Si interrupted, looking at the grateful man continuing, "Of course, you’ve already used up one chance. If you mess up again—"

"You can just finish me off! No, no need for you to do it, I’ll bury myself in front of you!"

The mercenary leader said earnestly and respectfully, "You might have forgotten my name, I’m Jody! I am honored to continue to serve you."

Whether that loyal expression was feigned or from the heart, Si Si nodded, satisfied.

The regional reputation of the White Bear Knights was most likely going to hit its peak after this war, they had already earned the trust of the local lord.

But, they couldn’t stay here forever to manage those immovable assets and they had planned to travel to far more distant places.

Thus, the best choice was to find a reliable local to help manage things.

For instance, Old Buma was a good choice—honest, capable, devout, and indebted to them.

Regardless, she still didn’t want to test human nature with interests and entrust everything to one person.

It was better to separate the responsibilities of money and firearms.

She was also going to hire an NPC from the Merchant Guild in the City of Dawn to handle the accounting, which would make it easier for her to keep tabs on everything.

Since this game claimed to be one hundred percent real, she naturally had to make sure everything was foolproof.

Hearing the mercenary’s name, Tail suddenly spoke up,

"Oh! Jody! Ever thought about changing your name?"

The mercenary immediately said,

"Please, miss, bestow a name upon me!"

Just waiting for that, Tail’s eyes gleamed as he raised his thumb.

"From now on, you’ll be called Jojo!"

The mercenary looked puzzled but still nodded,

"Alright, miss... from now on, I’ll be Jojo."

Meat Meat: "..."

Si Si said with a subtle expression,

"Ah Wei’s naming skill is on par with the Manager."

Tail looked at Si Si in surprise,

"Eh?! Am I that good at naming?"

Si Si raised her hand,

"Oh! Super good!"

Meat Meat urged with a wry smile,

"Anyway, we’ve finished the task. Let’s go back, Sesame Paste is too pitiful being left alone there."

Whether the Lord and those nobles fully believed Si Si’s bluff or not, at least the old man in a white robe had been completely fooled.

It’s said he was planning to write to the Royal City, informing the revered High Priest and His Majesty the King.

A miracle from the Silver Moon Goddess to protect her people!

What could be more exciting than this?

For the followers of the Silver Moon Sect, this was indeed thrilling, but for them, perhaps not so much.

She always had an ominous premonition.

The trouble was still to come...

...

At the same time, Count Roskin, who was dispatched to Lost Valley, was carried back by the Chief of the Guard from Lord Saen’s domain.

He had been shot in the leg and the back, and as he lay on the stretcher, Count Roskin was breathing his last, his face even paler from excessive blood loss.

The palace of the Lord.

The gathered nobles remained silent, even the usually loudest among them stunned by the gruesome sight they couldn’t bear to look at.

Sitting on a stone chair, Saen savored the expressions of these cowards with a cold smirk curling the corners of his mouth.

Look.

This is the fate of cowards.

Count Roskin’s lips trembled, squeezing out a voice filled with fear and anger.

"Army... they don’t plan to negotiate with us at all! Those barbarians! No, beasts! It’s impossible to communicate with them using the language of civilized people!"

Rising from the stone chair.

Saen walked down the steps, glanced at Count Roskin lying on the stretcher, and said indifferently,

"You should thank that young lady for giving you the chance to still be alive."

Had it been a horse he was riding.

He would have had no chance to escape.

Humiliation was written all over Count Roskin’s face as he turned his head to look at the woman standing in a corner of the crowd, squeezing out the words through clenched teeth.

"Thank you..."

Si Si shrugged her shoulders without speaking, her expression unchanged.

In fact, she simply didn’t want to waste time on such an insignificant NPC, whose life or death would clearly have no impact on the upcoming game storyline.

But if they had gone by horse, it would have taken a lot more time, and by the time the Petra Fortress discovered his body, it would likely be two or three days later.

"What did you see there?" Saen asked his Chief of the Guard.

The reason for assigning him to follow Count Roskin was less about monitoring the fool to see if he handled his tasks well and more about spying on the situation in Lost Valley.

As soon as Count Roskin had left the city, he had already ordered the troops in the fortress to be ready.

The Chief of the Guard saluted.

"The stationed force is approximately ten thousand troops; construction on the northern side of the camp has ceased, seemingly complete. Before I left, I noticed a plane coming from the northwest direction, it seemed to land there."

"A plane?" Saen furrowed his brow.

A murmur of agitation spread through the surrounding crowd.

Faces filled with panic, outrage, and even those who were skeptical of the prophecies before, now showed expressions of astonishment.

"A plane...are they building an airstrip there?"

"Those people really intend to attack Petra Fortress!"

"Has the Lion Kingdom fallen already?"

"Spirit of the Sand Sea above... those greedy barbarians are indeed insatiable!"

"We shouldn’t have waited this long! We should have acted earlier!"

Listening to the indignant conversations around them, the faces of the White Bear Knights also showed surprise.

Tail whispered to Meat Meat standing beside him.

"Did the official website say they were building an airport?"

She had been busy posting.

She hadn’t looked carefully at those posts.

Meat Meat, however, who was seriously flooding the forum but after thinking carefully for a while also had no recollection, shook her fuzzy head.

"I don’t think so..."

Tail was shocked.

"Giao! Could it be... they have found the treasure?"

Meat Meat said with a wry smile.

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

Tail solemnly gestured with his hands.

"Think about it, the Armor of the God of the Sky... must be huge, right! Such a big thing, they can’t possibly transport it by truck, can they? Maybe they built the airport to take the treasure away..."

Listening to this reckless analysis, Meat Meat’s face showed a dawning comprehension, and her expression turned serious too.

"Hiss... It’s very possible!"

Standing nearby, Sesame Paste said with a wry smile.

"I think if it really were the Armor of the God of the Sky, not even a plane, but not even a train could haul it away..."

Si Si, who did not hear her teammates’ whispering, slightly furrowed her brow.

Although she had not seen discussions about that airstrip on the forum, she always felt that there was something more to that airstrip.

Oasis No. 9 hadn’t fallen yet.

And in the last two days, the Manager had also taken the Iron Heart and the Storm Corps to aid the Lion Kingdom; although the Army and Falcon Kingdom were powerful, they were unlikely to engage in a war on two fronts.

Unless...

A realization dawned in her eyes, vaguely thinking of something.

"That ’Scepter’... Maybe they really found it."

Pairs of eyes turned toward her.

Si Si looked at Lord Saen, her expression serious as she spoke.

"The Scepter that fell from the sky sealed the evil god and also destroyed the Oasis. The nefarious ritual may have already advanced to its final step... We have no time to hesitate, you must make a decision immediately!"

A kind smile appeared on Saen’s face.

"It seems we were thinking along the same lines."

After he spoke, he looked toward the courtiers inside the palace and suddenly, his light-hearted demeanor vanished, replaced by a solemn and serious expression.

"I have heard the call of the yellow sands, the great will is summoning us, our kingdom is facing its most severe test in history. Whether our enemies are the Army or ancient devils, Petra will be the kingdom’s most solid shield!"

Saying this, he drew the military saber at his side, looking toward the Chief of the Guard and the similarly solemn officers nearby.

"Gather your men—"

"Prepare for battle!"

—

(Thanks to the alliance leader from the East Sea Fishing Village for the reward!!!)

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