This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 581 "Into the Net

Chapter 581: Chapter 581 "Into the Net

The Mind Interference Device disrupted long-distance communications equally for both sides, and as the output power of the Mind Interference Field peaked, the entire manor seemed to turn into a quagmire, trapping all information within it.

Only at very close ranges could communication devices function marginally.

However, this interference was not a big deal for players; those who had previously died had already shared the situation on the official website, and after logging off, Fang Chang quickly learned from the mission page on the official website that reinforcements were on their way.

But at this moment, the Executioner’s Squad inside the manor was unaware that the Alliance’s Steel Heart was en route to the Brocade River Province, let alone that the apostles of this settlement had already contracted mutants to clear the area.

Otherwise, these executioners would definitely be cursing.

Trying to make bloodthirsty mutants differentiate between friend and foe was harder than teaching a pig to talk—sharing a trench with those beasts was extremely dangerous.

Thus, even though the Torch Church had formed an alliance with the Qi Tribe, they seldom operated together, usually responsible for their own battlefields.

Watching the transport plane leaving the villa, a flicker of annoyance crossed Li Jie’s eyes. Just then, a crimson flare suddenly rose from the direction of the annex, hanging in the dark center of the sky.

"It’s from the annex." Watching the crimson incendiary bomb, an executioner standing not far behind Li Jie spoke in a low voice, "Wu Zhe is probably in trouble!"

Hearing this, expressions of surprise appeared on the faces of the executioners as they exchanged glances.

It was just about dealing with a little rat that had slipped into the lab...

Given Wu Zhe’s skills and the equipment on him, they really couldn’t think of any reason why there might be an accident.

Just then, the Alliance transport plane, which had originally been flying away from the settlement, suddenly turned around in the sky and headed towards the annex.

Seeing the plane returning, a look of surprise firstly appeared on Li Jie’s face, followed by a slight cold smile curving at the corner of his mouth.

"Seeking death!"

Touching the side of his helmet, he spoke in an icy tone.

"All units be advised, our enemies are moving towards the annex; Group A handles the plane, and groups B, C, D, and E follow me to attack the annex, we must at all costs keep them there!"

Amidst the crackling of electric static, a noisy chorus of replies came through.

"Roger!"

As the battle command was given, the Executioner’s Squad hidden in the forest swiftly mobilized.

Twenty-five soldiers clad in exoskeletons formed five squads, carrying various weapons and moving in three directions towards the annex.

The first team reached the garden in front of the annex’s main entrance ahead of the transport plane—seizing the lead.

The square-shaped annex resembled a prison, with four large doors facing outward onto an open lawn, and the closest cover was the fountain garden to the north.

However, there was still a hundred meters to the main entrance.

For the Executioner’s Squad equipped with optical camouflage, however, this was not a problem at all.

The optical camouflage plugins mounted on their exoskeletons could collect image information from the surrounding environment, and by adapting the colors and brightness of its armor coating, perfectly blended the wearer into the surroundings.

When stationary, they could even achieve total invisibility.

"Group B has reached the combat position."

"Ready to move in."

The team leader, crouching with a rifle next to the fountain in the garden, made a hand signal, and then, like a chameleon, he and four soldiers behind him blended into the surroundings.

Five executioners left their cover and advanced towards the annex. The dark muzzles exuded a grim killing intent, like five invisible daggers slowly tightening around their prey’s throat.

According to the information provided by Bishop, there was only one person on the other side.

They didn’t know how Wu Zhe got into trouble.

But five against one—

They simply had no reason to lose!

Just then, the lead squad leader suddenly heard a swooshing sound like a cold breeze blowing from afar.

Without time to ponder the source of the sound.

Next, a piercing pain drilled through his forehead, brutally severing his consciousness before he could even grunt, falling back like a kite with its string cut.

"Bang—!"

By the time others heard the gunshots, a second man had fallen.

"Two."

Atop the roof of the annex.

Laying next to the railing, Night Ten positioned himself with a sniper rifle, his finger on the trigger, and his right eye close to the scope, he continued to aim at the next target.

The flare he had fired earlier wasn’t for calling reinforcements, but to lure Wu Zhe’s companion here.

Rather than engaging in a game of wits with an enemy hidden in the darkness, he preferred to be the one taking the hidden shots.

He could lock onto the killing intent in the darkness.

Knowing roughly the direction of the murderous intent, finding a target hidden in the shadows wasn’t difficult.

Optical camouflage wasn’t invincible.

Especially when moving...

In an instant, two teammates were killed, and the remaining three executioners were startled and saw the optical camouflage was compromised. They no longer bothered to hide, scattering and rushing toward the villa.

With the assistance of the exoskeletons, a hundred meters could be crossed in the blink of an eye.

However, that hundred meters of open space now seemed like an insurmountable chasm before the three.

The optical camouflage unfastened as they shook violently.

Then the third and fourth gunshots followed quickly, one hit in the chest and another shot in the head, reducing the five-man squad to just one person in a flash.

As he nearly reached the door,

A flicker of post-disaster euphoria crossed the executioner’s face, but just as his front foot crossed the north door of the villa, he felt a slight touch at the front of his boot.

It was as if—

He had stepped on a kite string.

"Boom—!"

There was no time to react. Small plastic pellets the size of glass beads shot at him like rain, followed by a burst of firecracker-like explosions.

Fragmentation mines were generally ineffective against soldiers in exoskeletons and mutants, but these plastic explosives, fused with X-4 fiber and N10 azide compounds, had unexpectedly impressive effects.

Each sub-explosive had an explosive yield of 100g TNT equivalent. Fifty sub-explosives detonating in a confined space were more than enough to challenge even those in power armor.

These large-yield tripwire mines were originally designed for mutants.

Using them against humans was somewhat cruel.

As the dust from the explosion cleared, the Executioner lay on the ground like a torn piece of cloth, armor and flesh mixed together, indistinguishable as a human form.

Watching the smoke curl up from below in the north gate, Night Ten, lying on the rooftop, clicked his tongue and silently mourned for the unfortunate fellow for half a second before quickly evacuating the rooftop and retreating to a room downstairs.

At the same time, on the grass in front of the north gate, the hiss of static echoed through an unanswered communication channel.

"B Squad! If you receive this, respond! Repeat, if you receive this, respond!"

"Damn it!"

After a long lack of response, Li Jie cursed angrily, cut off the communication, and stared murderously at the mansion just a stone’s throw away.

B Squad was beyond help.

From the first gunshot, he had sensed something was wrong, and the final explosion had plunged his mood instantly into a deep trough.

They had been discovered too quickly!

It was as if the enemy had been waiting for them, waiting for them to walk into the line of fire.

Room by room, dark windows shaded by curtains; it was impossible to see inside from the outside. The position of the sniper could be roughly determined by the direction of the gunshots, but at this moment, there was nothing on the rooftop.

Although their scouts were equipped with thermal imagers, these devices had limited effectiveness against exoskeleton-clad targets. Many sophisticated exoskeletons had cooling units located in their lower limbs or even in the soles of their boots, leaving little heat difference between their upper limbs and the surrounding environment.

The game of cat and mouse seemed to have turned into a battle between hunters and a pack of wolves.

A single engagement had cost Li Jie a squad, and he had become more cautious, ordering the drone operator to release the reconnaissance drones they carried.

Two disc-shaped drones launched from a massive drone pack, drifting toward the mansion.

However, due to the interference from the Mind Interference Field, as soon as the drones approached the vicinity of the mansion, they became sluggish and dull, and the screen connected to the drone’s control terminal flickered with white noise.

"The electromagnetic interference ahead is too strong; we can’t get any closer..." the drone operator said, sweating profusely as he looked at the grim-faced captain while crouching nearby.

Li Jie clenched his teeth and waved his right hand forward.

"Smoke grenades for cover!"

"Roger!"

At the same time as the order was received, the support troops waiting in the forest deployed the "Destroyer Type I" exoskeletons’ support racks, planting their hands on the ground as they raised the 120mm heavy mortars on their backs.

Four Executioner’s Squads, crouching behind makeshift cover at the edge of the lawn, were prepared for the assault.

Just then, three short explosions sounded in the distance, followed by plumes of smoke falling from the sky and bursting into a wall of milky-white smoke on the open lawn.

Another round of mortar fire pushed the smoke wall closer to the edge of the mansion.

"Goodness, they’re using mortars now?!"

Noticing the thick smoke, Night Ten, hiding in a room on the third floor, clicked his tongue and couldn’t help but feel a chill.

From a distance of three to five hundred meters, especially since the enemy was not in his field of vision, the sensation of murderous intent was somewhat blurred, but he could still sense that there were at least a dozen people hidden in that patch of forest.

At the same time, another squad had flanked to his side.

In such a situation, the sniper rifle had lost its effectiveness.

Setting aside the sniper rifle, Night Ten took a deep breath, chambered his LD-50 carbine, and prepared for close quarters combat with the group outside.

It was at this moment that a familiar voice suddenly came through his headset.

"...Night Ten, can you hear me?"

The voice was faint and accompanied by a scratching noise like sandpaper on the wall, but still discernible. Night Ten’s face lit up with surprise.

"Fang Chang?!"

"It’s me... We’ve evacuated from the main building and are not far from you. I need to confirm your current location."

Without waiting for Fang Chang to finish, Night Ten quickly said.

"Wait, let me tell you first... The Torch Church has hidden a laboratory underneath the mansion. The Mind Interference Device is in there! That thing is the culprit driving those survivors mad!"

A hiss filled the communication channel.

Night Ten wasn’t sure if Fang Chang had heard him and was about to repeat himself when Elder Brother Fang’s voice continued.

"...Just as I suspected. Is there a way to turn that thing off or blow it up?"

Night Ten swallowed and rapidly responded.

"It’s useless; I’ve looked at the experimental logs. The Mind Interference Device has completed the brainwashing of the survivors in this settlement. The current output is only maintaining their ’God Travel’ state. If we turn off the Mind Interference Device, they won’t wake up simultaneously but will gradually awaken within 24 hours and then have sporadic episodes..."

Fang Chang: "Tsk, that’s tough. Does the experimental log mention any solutions?"

Night Ten immediately said.

"There is... We just need to input another wave signal to override the brainwashing of the local survivors by the device. But I’ve run into a bit of trouble here. A group has already found me, and their equipment is quite extraordinary."

Hearing this, laughter echoed through the communication channel.

"Isn’t that perfect?"

That was Old White’s voice.

Of course, not just Old White, but others too.

"Brothers, explode their gold coins!"

"Aroo! Aroo! Aroo!"

...

As Team CDE entered the villa at the same time, Team A, which had been ambushing outside the villa, finally saw the Alliance transport plane hovering around the perimeter enter their view.

"Enemy plane within range."

"Fire!"

An Executioner swiftly stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and set up a rocket launcher; the semi-transparent lens locked onto the arc of light flickering in the night sky and, after taking a photo, he simultaneously pulled the trigger.

"Boom—!"

A missile dragging a tail flame was launched, speeding toward the aircraft once more.

Just as the missile was about to catch up with the rear of the Alliance plane, a sudden anomaly occurred.

For some reason, the missile, as if suddenly blinded, shot past the aircraft, exploding into a ball of fire hundreds of meters away in the air.

Seeing this inexplicable scene, the Executioner carrying the rocket launcher launcher was dumbfounded, completely unclear about what had just happened.

Meanwhile, squatting at the edge of the cabin, Fang Chang pocketed his "Dawn" longbow.

Seeing the distant explosion of flames, Quit Smoking, squatting nearby, also widened his eyes.

"Damn... that actually worked!"

Next to him, Falling Feather was equally stupefied.

"Holy shit... shooting a missile with a bow and arrow?!"

That was just too absurd!

"How is that even possible..." Watching Falling Feather’s amazed reaction, Fang Chang chuckled and said, "This thing is just an EMP arrow equipped with a proximity fuze, the warhead made from an EMP grenade."

It was mainly used against drones.

But it turned out to work pretty well against missiles.

Surely no one would design an EMP protection device specifically for shoulder-fired missiles that had a firing range of only a couple of kilometers; that one arrow directly disabled the missile’s tracking device.

A momentary malfunction was enough for the missile to barely miss the plane.

And that was more than enough!

The pilot in the cockpit was soaked with cold sweat; when he had seen the missile lock on, he thought he was finished, but unexpectedly, he survived!

Barely getting a chance to catch his breath after this narrow escape, he lessened the engine’s thrust while looking back at everyone, shouting.

"How are we going to land? Should we touch down on the roof, or on the lawn outside—"

Before he could finish, Old White, who had just communicated with Night Ten, tapped his helmet and immediately said,

"Let’s drop down from the skylight!"

The pilot was stunned.

"Sky, skylight?!"

Old White replied without hesitation,

"Yes! The central skylight of the villa! We will descend directly inside the villa!"

Seeing that this guy wasn’t joking, the pilot’s eyes widened in shock and he blurted out,

"Are you crazy?! This is a transport plane, not a tank!"

"Trust me!"

Old White placed his hand on the back of his seat, staring into his eyes seriously, "The width of the skylight is definitely enough for us to land... even for two planes!"

"We don’t know how many more anti-air missiles they have; we can’t be lucky every time. Using the villa’s walls as a cover is the safest option!"

The pilot bit his lip, stubbornly pushed forward on the control stick.

These madmen!

He swore, this would be the last time he’d indulge their recklessness.

He wouldn’t take on this job ever again, no matter what they said!

...

As the Alliance’s "Viper" transport plane moved toward the upper part of the villa at the same time, fifteen fully armed Executioners had already entered the villa through the northern gate.

With the lessons learned earlier in mind, this time everyone was much more cautious, carefully checking every corner that might hide a trap; they dared not be negligent.

The group quickly reached the skylight.

The ground was a mess with limbs and bodies everywhere.

There had been a fight here before their arrival; the entire villa was slaughtered cleanly, and the thick plasma made the place look like hell.

Li Jie’s gaze fell on the side of the skylight, where he immediately noticed Wu Zhe, who was tied to a pillar.

His body was covered in blood, looking like a blood-soaked person, his limbs securely tied, and a blood-stained garment over his head obscured his face.

Seemingly hearing the footsteps from outside, Wu Zhe suddenly struggled violently, making muffled noises.

Seeing his comrade in such a dire state, Li Jie felt a surge of anger rise to his head, especially thinking of the five brothers who had fallen earlier; he wished he could mince the sniper hiding in this building and feed him to the dogs.

"Go and untie him..."

"Yes!"

An Executioner carefully approached, making sure there were no booby traps nearby, and then reached out to remove the garment covering Wu Zhe’s head.

However, upon removing it, he froze completely.

Wu Zhe’s mouth was stuffed and a black box hung around his neck, connected by a string of wires.

The moment he saw himself, his bloodshot eyes reflected not a shred of the joy of a narrow escape, but deep despair instead.

Although he couldn’t recognize what hung on his brother’s neck — the thing bore no label — his instinct told him it was nothing good.

There was no time to react when he faintly heard a "click," followed by a flash of white light that severed his consciousness.

"Boom—!"

The deafening noise spread outward, and the blast wave swept over the entire courtyard.

The two standing at the very center of the explosion were killed instantly, their bodies thrown outward along with those of the nearby dead.

The scorching airstream, carrying dust, charred flesh, and debris, pounced on the surrounding Executioners like a raging beast, forcing them to retreat clumsily with their arms raised.

It seemed as if a rain of blood had begun to fall in the courtyard!

Even the dust was tinged with the scent of blood.

"I’m going to kill you!!"

Li Jie roared furiously.

He was certain that the sniper was hiding in a corner of this building, silently watching them walk into the trap, then pressing the detonator attached to Wu Zhe.

He was so furious he almost crushed his own teeth.

Just then, a hot wind suddenly blew over their heads.

Two arcs of flame appeared at the edge of the smoke, like two long swords piercing the night. Before anyone could discern what the flames were, a broad fuselage came into view.

Li Jie’s pupils instinctively constricted.

An Alliance plane!

But how could—

Before he could ponder how the plane had breached Group A’s shoulder-fired missiles, streams of orange tracer bullets rained down from the aircraft’s side hatch.

Along with that barrage came excited shouts.

"Hahaha! Die!"

With both hands on the mounted machine gun, Good Dog desperately pulled the trigger, firing wildly. His face, twisted with excitement, was lit red by the flames of the gun.

The Executioners, who hadn’t yet regained their footing from the initial explosion, were caught off guard by the sudden barrage, resulting in instant casualties.

Several soldiers wearing exoskeletons jumped from the other side of the cargo bay to the ground, splitting into two groups, and encircled the Executioners trapped in a corner of the courtyard.

Like fiery pincers on a red-hot iron!

An Executioner raised his rifle to retaliate, only to meet a swinging axe head-on.

Panicking, he instinctively raised his rifle to block, but a hot spark effortlessly cleaved his rifle in two, followed by the blunt edge of the axe crashing into his face.

"Bang—!"

Feeling the sensation of the shattered helmet through the axe handle, Old White retracted his thermal cutting axe, expertly switching to his rifle to continue firing at the hiding Executioners.

The final blow that landed on the man’s helmet, he hadn’t activated the charge and had instead chosen to knock the man out with the unsharpened blade of the axe.

The captive Night Ten had grabbed was already dead.

They needed to capture two more!

Fortunately, there were plenty of people here, more than enough.

These guys had confidently emerged from the shadows, and if they hadn’t presented themselves, entrapping them all would have been somewhat difficult.

As the accumulated dust inside the courtyard cleared, the fighting inside the villa was more or less over.

A total of fifteen Executioners — eleven were killed, three severely injured, and one lightly injured surrendered. There was probably another squad outside the villa, but they were still some distance away.

If they dared to come over, it would be perfect.

But Old White thought, they probably didn’t have the nerve to keep sending themselves to their doom.

Hearing the gunfire cease outside, the pilot hidden in the cockpit breathed a sigh of relief.

Sitting upright from his reclined chair, he opened the side window of the cockpit and shouted down to the group of army brothers cleaning up the battlefield below.

"Hey, are you guys pulling out?"

Old White turned and smiled at him, saying,

"I forgot to mention, there’s been a change in plans, the Manager asked us to locate the Mind Interference Device hidden in the mansion. If we find it, we’ll defend our position and wait for backup."

"The Iron Heart is on its way, and soon a group of reinforcements will arrive here by glider... why don’t you go back for supplies first, and bring some more brothers and ammunition."

The pilot was stunned for a moment, and Night Ten, who had just come down from upstairs, was also taken aback and blurted out,

"Ah... Is that so?"

Fang Chang nodded his head.

"If you log out and check the taskbar, you’d know."

Under normal circumstances, being in a communication blackout area would prevent them from receiving mission updates, but players could confirm their tasks via the official website besides VM.

However, this might be considered exploiting a game BUG.

Thinking this, Fang Chang couldn’t help but be curious whether the NPC issuing their missions knew they could exploit game BUGs.

If they knew, that would be interesting.

The pilot, not understanding their conversation or how they had received the Manager’s orders, simply grumbled and started the engine.

"Let me know in advance next time!"

Old White apologetically smiled and replied,

"I will."