All right.
After listening to Lu Yang's explanation, Chu Guang realized that it was a false alarm.
Those two thousand people were all clones, and they were mass-produced.
According to Lu Yang, the black technology mastered by the Legion can produce a clone whose development speed is eight times that of normal humans. This kind of clone is not only low in maintenance cost and fast to leave the cabin, but also can form combat effectiveness in just two years after leaving the cabin.
Unlike other clones, they either stay in the jar for a year or two, come out after reaching the expected physiological age, or develop from the age of 0 like normal babies.
The clones of the Legion are almost impeccable when they are cannon fodder, and their morale is much stronger than that of ordinary predators. With the support of the Legion's industry, their equipment is not too bad, at least better than that of predators.
The only flaw is that two years is not enough for them to build a complete mind. These clones are usually driven by fear and pain and rely on the instinct of beasts to fight.
Most of them can only be used as light infantry, and only a few veterans can operate slightly more complex equipment, and their efficiency and hit rate are not expected too much.
Therefore, the legion usually needs a large number of junior officers to command or drive these cannon fodders, and occasionally enslaves ordinary survivors to act as coolies and build complex fortifications.
The real backbone of the legion is the huge number of junior officers, who are decapitations on the battlefield and small slave owners outside the battlefield.
On average, ten to twenty clone light infantrymen need a decapitation to command. Only a few legions that believe in the "human sea tactics" army doctrine can achieve a ratio of decapitations to clone light infantry of 1:50 or even 1:100, relying on huge numbers and sufficient weapons to crush the opponent's defense line.
No doubt.
1,000 clones are definitely cheaper than 1 power armor.
According to Lujan, even in the pre-war utopian society, there is no technology that can allow clones to have a complete and mature mind in a short period of time.
When Chu Guang asked whether there was a clone that "only takes one month to cultivate and has a complete mind", Lu Yang looked at him in disbelief.
"Impossible! Producing a clone with a complete mind in a month? If it really exists, wouldn't it be more convenient than a machine? I have come all the way from the East Coast to here, and I have heard of many strange things, but I have never heard of such a thing."
"People are the cells of society. You can't completely separate from society to create a person who can adapt to society. Even for us, we need to let employees receive basic education and on-the-job training, and select outstanding talents from lower-level employees and refugees and indigenous people through examinations."
"As for technology, at most it will speed up the process, from the original ten or twenty years to five or eight years. Mind must be built little by little during the stage of brain development. This is not as simple as inserting a memory stick into a computer."
"If someone tells you that there is a technology that can make a clone have a complete mind in just one month, he is either a madman or a liar."
After listening to Lu Yang's confident speech, Chu Guang couldn't help but fall into silence, and didn't know what to say for a while.
I understand the truth.
But what are my players?
...
Before leaving, Lu Yang solemnly promised Chu Guang that he would compensate the injured workers and the families of the dead, and would strike hard at the looters who claimed to be the legion at 8 o'clock tonight!
The First Pioneer Corps would never tolerate anyone who dared to provoke them and hurt their allies!
Perhaps to appease his allies, Lu Yang even told Chu Guang the specific time of the action.
To be honest, this helped Chu Guang a lot.
Two thousand people.
These people can't fight with fire sticks, right?
Even if the equipment is bad, active substances are good things...
After Lu Yang left, Chu Guang turned back to the center of the camp.
The dead and wounded had been sent away.
Old Luca, who had handled the corpses for him, knew some inside information, so he calmly covered the faces of the dead and seriously injured with something, so that the people on the Pioneer could not see their faces clearly, and let the guards carry them back.
The players were very sensible. They knew that they were on the stretcher and that the bug must have been caused. So they all pretended to be dying and did not move on the stretcher.
Later, the screen went black.
But those players who did not die stamped their feet in anger and yelled.
"Fuck! Why are two shrapnel in the stomach considered fatal injuries? He can still speak! It's not his head that was injured!"
Among the 11 injured, 3 died of serious injuries. Including the 2 who died on the spot, this round of shelling caused a total of 5 deaths.
This is not just a number. Behind it are 5 families and all the people who know them...
The medical staff of the logistics department around were silent.
They just thought he was venting his sadness and mistook the stones on the ground for the hateful villains ten kilometers away.
It's better to leave him alone for a while.
As for the other 8 injured, their wounds have basically healed after their treatment.
Seeing Chu Guang coming from the entrance of the camp, Witt took the initiative to find him and said that the captain had contacted him just now and would pay them the pension later.
At the same time, he also brought a piece of bad news
The collection plan for the afternoon was cancelled.
"The collection plan was cancelled? Why?" Looking at Witt with a dumb look on his face, Chu Guang immediately came to his senses and explained righteously, "I mean, aren't those predators who call themselves the Legion in the northwest? I heard that our construction site is in the north."
The more you want to fight, the more you can't stop production!
You can shoot out half a pound of fluid in one shuttle. Don't you have any idea of your fluid consumption speed?
When fighting mutants before, Chu Guang had people recover their warheads and calculated that they fired tungsten steel bullets with a mass of 9g.
A shuttle is calculated as 30 rounds, which must be half a pound!
Witt hesitated and said, "That's what I said, but the straight-line distance between Elm District and our resource collection point is only 5 kilometers, it's hard not to attract their attention... In order to reduce unnecessary casualties, our section chief's suggestion is that you can temporarily withdraw to avoid accidental injuries in the battle."
When he said this, Witt's mood was also very complicated.
Of course they hope to continue production.
But they can't expect that something like this just happened, and let their allies risk their lives to help them pick up garbage?
At least give people some time to grieve for a while and deal with the aftermath.
Even their stingy section chief can't do something like urging people to work after someone died.
Chu Guang had no objection to the pension, but when he heard that the afternoon collection plan was cancelled and his people had to withdraw, his mood was instantly not so beautiful.
mmP!
Is it easy for him to make some foreign exchange?
Without money, how can we improve the game experience for players? We can't let them move bricks and burn cement for a lifetime.
If he withdraws, his light industry wool-pulling plan that he has worked so hard to lay out will also be affected. This is just a small matter. The key is that his players will not be able to experience the content of the expansion pack.
What are you afraid of!
I am not afraid, so why are you afraid?
Isn't it just right for the other side to come out of the forest?
Drag them into the city to fight street battles, and it is not certain who will beat whom.
However, Witt misunderstood the expression on Chu Guang's face, thinking that he was sad for the residents of the shelter who died, and his expression could not help but carry a trace of self-blame.
"We are very sorry that this happened. No one thought... they actually hid two howitzers."
"It's not your fault. You don't have to apologize. The ones who should pay the price are those shameless people who suddenly fired at us."
Chu Guang's heart moved slightly, and his heavy expression did not change. He shook his head gently and walked away from Witt.
Under the latter's surprised gaze, he came in front of the players, raised his voice, and said loudly.
"A group of looters who call themselves the Legion invaded our homeland from the north. They launched an unannounced attack and tried to make us surrender with artillery shells."
"This is a shameful sneak attack!"
The players fell silent and looked in the direction of the manager.
Triggering the plot?
Mission coming?
Responding to the expectant eyes, Chu Guang continued in a loud and resolute voice.
"The residents of Shelter No. 404 will not surrender, and the blood of our compatriots will not be shed in vain."
"We will let them know the price of angering us!"
Almost at the same time, all the players holding VMs on the scene received a task pop-up window.
Mission: Blood debt must be paid with blood!
...
The south gate of the action camp.
Looking at the blue jackets retreating to the south, two employees of the logistics department whispered to each other.
"Have those blue jackets left?"
"I think so. I heard that in order to avoid casualties, our section chief asked them to leave first."
"Fuck... won't we have no buns tomorrow?"
"You only know how to eat!"
"You've eaten a lot! But come to think of it... why do some of them carry VMs and some don't?"
"I don't know. Not all blue jackets carry that thing."
"Well, I just think it's a bit strange, because those who left are those with VMs. Those who don't wear VMs are all left in the camp."
"Hiss... it's really strange when you put it that way."
The two logistics department employees were puzzled. After thinking about it, they didn't think it was something that needed to be reported, so they didn't take it to heart.
In fact, those blue jackets with VMs did leave.
But this was not a retreat.
Instead, they went back to grab weapons and prepare to beat him!
A 20-kilometer round trip could not stop the player's determination to complete the task. The heavy snow could not extinguish the boiling blood in their hearts.
Legion, huh?
Whoever you are, you must die if you dare to bomb me!
Blood debt must be paid with blood!
A group of people returned to the shelter in a rage.
In addition to picking up the bound rifle, all the players who took on the task also went to the warehouse to get a woven bag according to the requirements of the task.
When searching for abandoned construction sites before, the warehouse had a lot of these bags woven from high molecular polymers.
For a long time, scavenging players usually use it instead of backpacks to carry the garbage they picked up, and now it is just right to carry loot!
If not.
Then pack yourself!
In an instant, the atmosphere in the shelter was unexpectedly tragic. Looking at their inventory, many players were hesitating about what to bring to the battlefield.
Fang Chang also fell into similar troubles.
There is no doubt that Dawnbreaker is the best choice. Explosive arrows can kill targets behind cover, and armor-piercing arrows can even penetrate some light armor.
However, the problem is...
The difficulty of this battle is probably not small.
Even if you bind your equipment, there is no guarantee that you can bring the equipment back intact.
Standing next to him to check the equipment, Lao Bai saw the hesitation in his partner's eyes, stretched out his right hand and placed it on his shoulder, smiling and said.
"Don't hesitate, take it if you want to."
Fang Chang shook his head and said carefully.
"Everyone pooled their money to buy it. To be honest, this battle will definitely be much more difficult than the time when we fought the Blood Hand Clan. I'm not sure I can bring it back."
The death penalty in this game is a bit heavy.
In the past, when everyone's pockets were cleaner than their faces, they didn't feel much. Now as the game progresses further, Fang Chang feels more and more that compared with the deduction of those silver coins and three days of resurrection, the loss of equipment is the biggest punishment.
So he must carefully calculate the benefits and risks, and bring what equipment for what mission.
Expecting Fang Chang to say this, Lao Bai grinned and patted him on the shoulder.
"Equipment is bought to be used. What's the point of being timid? Isn't the meaning of the game to do things that you want to do but dare not do in real life? Don't carry so many burdens. Although everyone pooled their money to buy it for you, it's said to be bought for you, so don't think it belongs to us! If you don't use it because you don't need it, then I have no objection. But if you are afraid of losing it, you might as well fight with a bow and spear."
Ye Shi smiled and came over: "That's right, what's the point of being afraid! Are you planning to die there? I don't want to die! This bug has not been dealt with. If I die, I don't know how many days it will take to be out of service. Let those newbies give away the heads, but I have to survive to the end! I have to get some spoils back anyway!"
Kuangfeng coughed lightly: "Don't talk about whether to die or not, don't forget, we still have to avenge Brother Quitting Smoking."
Lao Bai laughed and said: "That's right, avenge Brother Quitting Smoking! If Kuangfeng hadn't mentioned it, I almost forgot."
Ye Shi: "That's right! We finally got the qualification to go online, but we were killed by the plot without experiencing anything. We must do it!"
Facing the encouraging eyes of his companions, Fang Chang was moved and smiled. He finally stopped hesitating.
"Well, do it!"
…
In the shelter.
Fang Chang did not hesitate. Although he was really nervous at this moment, he was still hesitating in his heart.
After thinking for a long time, he finally sighed and went down to the B2 floor reluctantly.
Since the end of the Winter is Coming expansion, Garbage has not left the shelter. However, he still goes online regularly to do push-ups and squats in the lobby.
In his opinion, this can help him level up. After all, exercising in the game is not as tiring as in real life. If he doesn't go online, he can't sleep, so he might as well find something to do.
Everyone didn't believe it at first.
In the end, he really got a level up.
After that upgrade, Garbage was as excited as a 200-pound child. He even went to the forum to post a strategy, created a fitness gameplay, and became the first person in "Wasteland oL" to lift iron. He and the "tree-cutting maniac" Midnight Killing Chicken Brother can be called a pair of crouching dragons and phoenixes.
By the way, since he didn't do any tasks and he had to spend money on food, Mosquito was supporting him during this period.
Of course, just like when he bought the land, the money was borrowed.
Looking at the lizard doing squats in the corner, Mosquito coughed and said.
"Are you planning to practice squats to level 99?"
Trash looked up with a surprised look on his face.
"Huh? Why are you back?"
Mosquito: "Mission, back to get equipment."
"Oh, I got it too," Jun Lazi nodded, with an envious expression on his face, "I really envy you guys, being able to roll in the snow, the last time I went out to fight"
"It's still the last time, right?" Brother Mosquito comforted, "Don't worry, we are all normal people, even if we can go out, we won't roll in the snow, at most we will do missions, eat barbecue, have a bowl of mushroom soup when thirsty, listen to the boss lady's trash talk, and watch the cute and serious little fish count money"
"Gan! Are you here to show off?!" Jun Lazi looked angry, but because his face was too ugly, the anger was not obvious.
Mosquito laughed and said.
"Not really... In fact, I'm here to tell you a good news."
"... No bad news?"
"Yes, but it's not important."
"???"
Without paying attention to the alert expression on Jun Lazi's face, Mosquito coughed lightly, put on a serious expression and continued.
"Didn't I help Teng Teng design a steam engine some time ago?"
Jun Laji nodded vigorously.
"I know, I saw Teng Teng complain about you on the forum, saying that you only care about yourself and what you make is not what she imagined at all"
"That's not the point!" Mosquito interrupted him without hesitation, "The point is that after exchanging experiences with Brother Ce Suo, I improved the steelmaking process. Now we can cast lighter and more durable boilers! By the way, how many points of strength do you have?"
"I'm now at level 4... I have 14 points of strength," Jun Laji hesitated, and suddenly understood something, his eyes widened, "Wait, do you want to..."
Seeing that his good brother understood him so well, Mosquito smiled.
"I need you to carry 40 kilograms of heavy armor, a 10 kilograms of boiler and 60 liters of boiling water, rush into the forest in the most ferocious posture you think, jump into the trench, and tear the enemies in front of you to pieces! Or just splash the boiling water on their faces! In short, kill them in any way you can think of!"
Mosquito stared at him with shining eyes.
"Art is explosion!"
"I often think that the power of the explosion is not strong enough, and it can never produce effective damage... and now I have a new idea!"
"Will you be my spark!"
...
7 o'clock in the evening.
Next to the steel platform of the Pioneer, 10 power armors have completed the assembly.
In addition, there are 15 light infantry wearing exoskeletons and 5 mechanical dogs carrying double-carrying drone hives.
Everyone is in high spirits.
Even the four-legged mechanical dogs are rubbing their metal paws.
Lu Yang, standing in front of the battle, holding a Gauss rifle and wearing a burly alloy heavy armor, is making the final pre-war mobilization for his men.
This is almost all the ground weapons that can be deployed on the Pioneer.
As for the four-wheeled off-road vehicle, since it can't play a big role in the complex jungle and ruins mixed terrain, it is easy to be concentrated by the enemy if it is anchored in the snow pit, it is better not to bring it.
Anyway, with the exoskeleton, the ammunition that the light infantry can carry is enough for them to finish this battle, and the mobility will not be too bad.
Although they are indeed a little inferior in numbers compared to the legion.
But it's not a big problem.
In addition to the ground running, there is also a light fixed-wing drone in the sky, carrying 600 electromagnetic acceleration mass bombs, two 50-kilogram equivalent metal hydrogen high-explosive bombs, and an adjustable equivalent, up to 10 tons of tactical nuclear bombs ready at any time.
The air supremacy is completely on their side!
At the same time, in the forest more than ten kilometers away.
Sitting in a dark temporary command post, Vanus was quietly facing an old paper map.
The map was dotted with dense dots, like chess pieces on a sand table.
Since there was no light source, nothing could be seen here.
However, it didn't matter.
Although the communication channel was silent and the information about the enemy was dark, Vanus was not panicked at all.
This was not the first time he had fought an asymmetric war. During the year of fighting with the Great Rift Valley, he and his men had already experienced the power of technology.
But so what?
They themselves were the crystallization of technology.
The ultimate quantity was also a kind of quality.
All deployments had been completed.
He believed that his men would bring him the glory of victory.
At this time, a light appeared in the distance, a mushroom cloud rose from the flat ground, and the shock wave of the explosion even faintly rushed to the door of the tent.
The communication signal on the radio was like a candle in the wind, intermittent, and under the influence of electromagnetic pulses, it emitted a noisy electric current sound.
The pupils as calm as the lake finally printed a trace of enthusiasm. Vanus stood up from the chair and propped his fist on the map.
"Finally!"
Explosions came one after another, and the flames from the muzzle and the flames from the explosions ignited the edge of the forest and the ruins.
Under the command of the centurion, the clone light infantry crawling in the trench pressed down the needle with their thumbs and injected the anti-radiation agent into the blood vessels.
The scorching light burned their backs and burned their side faces. The skin began to rot, the bone marrow was necrotizing, the organs gradually failed, and it was like holding a piece of rusty iron in their mouths.
But even so, it was not enough to kill them immediately.
Even though they had lost hundreds of people in the previous moment, it was still not enough to shake them. The stinging pain of the ants biting the back of their necks constantly awakened the memory of fear in their brains.
Don't look back!
No retreat!
"Fire!"
The orange-yellow ballistics weave a net over the forest and ruins, and the collision of steel and flesh and blood plays a prelude in the snowy night.
Under the cover of drones, power armor, exoskeleton infantry and quadcopter drones, like a sharp armored spearhead, pierced the flank of the Legion.
The defense line was instantly torn apart, like a snowman being pushed down.
However, the Legion is obviously not a dry meal.
Clone light infantry rushed forward one after another, and rocket launchers shuttled between the silent forest and ruins. With the fragmentation grenades thrown by grenade launchers, rubble was blown everywhere.
The snow was dyed red by the fire.
The night burned in the north wind.
Lu Yang looked solemn, and turned off the night vision function of the helmet while changing the barrel, because it was no longer needed.
What no one knew was.
At this moment, a group of men in blue coats carrying guns and cannons were approaching silently from the east of the battlefield under the cover of night...