Late at night.
Xizhou City, shrouded in silence, is like a dead city. Only in the Sixin District, where the lake water is flowing back, are there sporadic lights.
In the simple sentry post, a greyhound wrapped in animal skins yawns, throws wet wood into the brazier beside it, and then walks slowly to the side of the observation hole.
Although the weather in April has warmed up, there is still a damp chill in the air of Xizhou City.
Especially in the Sixin District.
The whole city is soaked in water.
The streets not far away are sparkling with water, and clumps of black things float on the water, making it difficult to tell whether they are rotten wood wrapped in algae or the shells of cracked claw crabs.
Although life here has many unchanging things, it is still the best choice for camping.
The backflow of lake water has paralyzed the underground facilities of the entire city, and there is no need to worry about the elusive guerrillas here.
In addition, the cracked crabs active in this area are the natural enemies of all living things. Anyone who is not familiar with this area will have difficulty moving here. .
So...
What is the meaning of standing guard?
Looking at the quiet and silent streets, Greyhound yawned and couldn't help but miss the time when he was in the central part of the River Valley Province.
That time was probably the happiest time for him.
They were unstoppable all the way, turning everything into scorched earth, burning and robbing everything, and doing whatever they wanted to the captured slaves... No one could stop them, and no one was their opponent.
However, since they fought to the south, bad things happened one after another.
First, they fell in Qingquan City, and then Qingshi County came with bad news. Not only was their southward steps blocked, but they were even pushed back by a group of blue gophers.
I don't know if they saw hope from the group of blue gophers, but the guerrilla attacks have become more and more frequent recently.
The group of survivors hiding underground were like rats, using homemade iron rifles and crossbows to sneak attack their patrols, throwing cans filled with black powder into their workshops and garages where they processed bullets and explosives.
Greyhound was slacking off, when suddenly there was a creaking sound of a door being pushed open downstairs.
Hearing the movement under his feet, the predator subconsciously tightened his rifle and called out to the dark corridor behind him.
"Who!"
"I'm here to change guard!" The dark corridor responded, and a thin man who looked like a monkey came up from the direction of the stairs.
Seeing that it was his own people, Greyhound breathed a sigh of relief.
"Change guard? Isn't there still two hours?"
The man replied.
"Lord Gold Tooth's order is to change the six-hour shift to four hours from tonight, and change one shift to two shifts a day."
Greyhound was dumbfounded.
He was originally very happy to hear about the change of guards, so that he could go back to bed and sleep, but now someone told him that he had to stand for another four hours.
"That means... I still have one more shift?"
The man obviously didn't want to work overtime, and said with an irritated look.
"Yes, it's probably another bad idea that Dillon came up with, saying that we should be wary of the sneak attacks of blue gophers, and the scope of night patrols will be expanded from the periphery of the Sixin District to the entire city."
A few months ago, he respected that man, but that was a few months ago. A few months ago, their troops were unstoppable, but what about now?
Like a sick old dog, he was hiding in the garbage dump. He hated the humid air here, the endless attacks, and the dirty rats.
Now think about it carefully, even if that man didn't come up with the idea, they could still beat up the survivors who blocked their way.
If it weren't for that damn caution, they should have moved into the house of the blue gophers in the northern suburbs last winter.
Greyhound was surprised.
"A surprise attack? This place is 20 kilometers away from the front line."
With Songlinyu Pass in between, how are those moles going to get here?
They can't dig a hole to get here.
"I don't know, that's the order," the man impatiently urged, stuffing the wrinkled map into Greyhound's arms, "Don't ask, just go! Wait until the shift change team sets out, and then you can go alone!"
Although he was very reluctant, Greyhound, who took the map, still rushed downstairs with a rifle.
The shift change location was outside the Sixin District, and they had to take a raft out, and they had to take on patrol tasks on the way to the shift change.
Many survivors came out to find food when it was dark, and most of the guerrillas also came out at this time. Walking alone at night at this time was equivalent to suicide.
The raft was already waiting downstairs.
Greyhound, who was sitting on the raft, set off with the nine brothers on the raft. When passing the alley, he finally saw clearly what was floating there.
It was a billboard wrapped with algae.
Greyhound could not understand what was written on it, but he thought that the long shape looked like a coffin.
Frustrated by this fleeting thought, he moved his eyes away from the billboard and chatted with the brothers on the raft.
At this time, no one noticed that on the stinking ditch sparkling in the moonlight, a few imperceptible black spots flashed with the shaking of the water.
An air formation consisting of 25 aircraft had arrived directly above their heads...
...
In the night sky.
Holding the joystick with both hands, the Mosquito, driving the W-2 ground attack aircraft, shouted excitedly to the communication channel with a voice that was almost roaring.
"This is the Goblin Corps Air Force. The cargo has been delivered to the target area. We can start the operation at any time!"
The altitude here is 3,000 meters. With the high airflow, as long as we don't open fire or drop bombs, we don't have to worry about being heard by the people below.
At this moment, Ye Shi, who was tied tightly to the back of the pilot's seat with nylon buckles, had almost lost consciousness in his ears and cheeks due to the whistling airflow outside the cabin.
He was numb all over now.
Otherwise, he would definitely protest to Mosquito about calling them cargo.
In fact, Ye Shi's current state is really no different from cargo.
The W-2 glider is a single-seat aircraft with no extra seats for passengers.
But this is obviously not a problem for "completely realistic virtual reality games".
There is enough space between the rear of the cabin and the pilot's seat, and it can still take off even if a bug is used to squeeze in one more person.
The player himself does not press F to enter the plane. Even if there is no seat in the cockpit, he can create a seat for himself.
As for why Ye Shi is here?
That's a long story.
In the morning, they were still in the trenches on the front line, shooting passionately with the marauders. The original plan was to hold out for 48 hours, but before noon they were transferred back to the rear and ordered to perform a special mission.
At first, Ye Shi was quite excited, thinking that their outstanding performance in the battle triggered the hidden mission, until he heard the details of the mission.
According to the battle plan formulated by the headquarters, they need to take the glider of the Goblin Corps and airdrop to the urban area of Xizhou City to destroy the enemy's strategic facilities and buy time for the front-line troops.
Their equipment has been thrown down in the airdrop box first. The box contains the locator removed from the VM, which can be searched even when offline.
Although the mouse brothers built a simple communication tower when they made their nest in Xizhou City, the communication tower has been out of power for more than a month due to the transfer and deployment to Qingshi County.
They need to use the radio in the airdrop box to establish a new base, or repair the communication tower of the mouse brothers.
Since they were airborne behind enemy lines, the risk factor of the operation was very high. They could only carry light weapons and a small amount of support weapons, and equipment such as Type 5 and Type 6 exoskeletons were restricted.
However, they were not alone. Every night, planes would drop supplies.
Thanks to the popularity of black silk in Boulder City, the chemical plant of the New Alliance had long ago pointed out the technology of "using biomass oil to produce nylon", which solved the material problem of parachutes.
When Goblin Technology was developing gliders, it had actually produced a batch of parachutes, but considering that airplanes were more expensive than people, they were not distributed to the brothers in the Corps.
However, the problem came.
He had never jumped with a parachute!
Ye Shi was panicking at the moment.
As we all know, parachuting alone without training is an extremely dangerous thing, no less than slipping in Russian roulette and shooting yourself in the head twice.
Especially for night parachuting, you can't see the situation on the ground at all, and there are many ways to die.
But if you ask if you can jump?
Of course, it's not impossible.
The biggest difficulties of parachuting are folding the parachute and landing. As for pulling the rope to open the parachute and controlling the body balance, as long as you are not in bad weather and can stay calm in special situations, although it is difficult, it is not as difficult as imagined.
Having knowledgeable players help fold the parachute solves 50% of the problem.
As for the remaining 50%?
Just pay more attention next time.
The code name of the operation is "Warrior", and the players participating in the operation are all members of the Burning Corps. The aviation team of the Goblin Corps will airdrop them in batches.
Ye Shi thinks there is nothing wrong with changing the word "Warrior" to "Free".
In the communication channel, the noisy electric current sound is beeping.
Then the voice of the manager came.
"... proceed as planned!"
"Received!"
The communication channel switched to the whole team voice, and Mosquito continued to shout excitedly.
"Brothers of the Burning Corps, this flight has arrived. Remember your mission! Remember to open the parachute before you are smashed into pieces!"
"Xiaoyu will pray for your safety, and the administrator will remember your loyalty. I wish you good luck!"
"Now, jump!"
Black dots were thrown behind the cockpits of gliders, just like the shells thrown by seagulls hovering in the harbor.
This metaphor is obviously not appropriate, but it is vivid enough.
If the parachute bag is not successfully opened, it will not look much better than the shells of seagulls when it falls from an altitude of more than 3,000 meters.
After untying the nylon buckles tied to his legs, waist, and shoulders, Ye Shi grabbed the edge of the cabin with both hands, feeling his calves trembling all the time.
Mosquito, who was sitting in front, couldn't help but urge him.
"Fuck! You fucking jump! If you keep dawdling, I'm almost out of gas!"
Ye Shi couldn't help but spray back.
"You have no oil to charge the plane!"
"It's okay if there's no electricity! Hurry up, don't talk nonsense, if you jump, I have to go back to pull the next one!"
Ye Shi swallowed his saliva.
"I'll ask one last question... What if the parachute doesn't open?"
When Mosquito heard this, he was immediately happy and laughed.
"It's okay, I'll be a brave man again in three days!"
"Damn!"
Seeing that this guy was still dawdling, Mosquito was getting impatient.
"I'll give you 10 seconds. If you don't jump, I'll help you."
"Fuck, don't mess around!"
"Ten, nine..."
Mosquito has already started counting down.
Seeing that his teammates have all jumped, Ye Shi was too embarrassed to be a coward. He gritted his teeth, turned over with his head held high, and jumped out of the cabin.
When his body left the cabin, he felt that his heart was about to stop.
But it was only a moment.
As the reference object left his side, when he began to fall freely, the instinctive fear also disappeared in an instant.
Ye Shi felt like he had turned into a bird.
To be honest, this feeling was quite pleasant, but the eardrums were not very comfortable, as if they had exploded.
The predators had no radar or high-altitude searchlights. Although they could not see the situation on the ground, the people on the ground could not see them either.
Counting down silently in his heart, Ye Shi suddenly pulled the rope on his shoulder. With a light sound of "puff", a huge force grabbed his back.
At the same time, his falling speed was also decreasing rapidly...
The pull ring that controls the direction of the parachute is right next to the parachute rope. However, Ye Shi, who had only received 2 hours of theoretical training, had no idea how to control this thing. He could only adjust the direction by feeling, and prayed in his heart with his nerves tense.
Maybe the dog planner heard his prayer.
He was lucky enough to land on the top of a garage next to a three-story villa. If he had moved a little further to the side, he might have been hanging on the wall.
His feet hit the ground hard, and Ye Shi stumbled and almost fell off the roof of the garage. Standing firm with a grin, he cut the parachute rope with a dagger, carefully avoided the rusty shed at the door of the garage, and slid down from the side.
"Safe landing... Damn, I was scared to death."
It was almost a waste!
After confirming that the surroundings were safe, Ye Shi immediately checked his equipment.
In addition to the VM tied to his arm, he now only had a Pu-9 submachine gun, two 9mm magazines, a few pieces of dry food and a water bottle.
As for his sniper rifle and other equipment, they were all in the airdrop box.
Just when Ye Shi was about to confirm the location of the airdrop box and his teammates from the VM, a rustling sound came from the side.
Because his ears were buzzing all the time, the sound was almost close to him before he heard it.
Ye Shi, who had reacted, shuddered all over and immediately pointed the gun at him, even opening the safety.
"Don't shoot, it's me! Lao Bai."
Lao Bai called out in a low voice.
Hearing Lao Bai's voice, Ye Shi's pounding heart finally calmed down a little, and he breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall.
"Fuck... I wasn't almost scared to death."
"Relax, don't be so nervous," Lao Bai smiled, walked over and patted him on the shoulder, "Let's go, the airdrop box is nearby, let's go and recycle the equipment and radio first, and then go and meet up with Fang Chang and the others."
After saying that, Lao Bai took the initiative to walk in front.
Although he wanted to slow down before walking, Ye Shi knew in his heart that they had already penetrated deep into the heart of the Bone Chewing Tribe, and now was not the time to rest.
The two moved along the edge of the ruins, carefully alert to the dangers in the dark. Soon, they came to the entrance of the abandoned community.
The street opposite was quiet.
Not to mention any noise, even the sound of mice grinding their teeth could not be heard.
Lao Bai did not go over immediately, but carefully observed the situation on the street.
Ye Shi finally recovered after squatting down next to Lao Bai and taking a breath, and asked in a low voice.
"By the way, how come you landed so quickly?"
Lao Bai replied casually.
"...You took too long. I waited on the ground for a long time before I saw you come down."
Ye Shi asked curiously.
"Why aren't you panicking at all?"
"It's not realistic to say that I'm not panicking. After all, it's someone else's umbrella bag. But it doesn't matter in the game. Anyway, you won't really die if you die."
Seeing that Ye Shi had been picking his ears with his fingers, Lao Bai paused and said, "If you feel that your ears are blocked, you can try pinching your nose and blowing out, but don't make any sound."
"I'll try..."
Ye Shi, whose ears were blocked, immediately tried Lao Bai's method, pinching his nose and blowing out air.
At first, he didn't find the trick, and he tried for a long time but it didn't work. However, after finding the trick, the eardrum suddenly seemed to be pushed open by the air.
"...Fuck?! It really works?"
His hearing finally returned to normal, and Ye Shi looked at Lao Bai in surprise.
"You jumped over it before?"
"I guess so... Stop talking nonsense and follow me."
When talking earlier, Lao Bai had already confirmed the safety of the street. He gestured to Ye Shi, got out of the bunker first, and moved quickly to the opposite side.
Without delay, Ye Shi followed immediately.
The two moved quickly in the direction of the airdrop box, but at this moment, rapid gunshots suddenly came from the street not far away.
"The sound of Pu-9!"
Lao Bai's heart tightened, and he cursed in his mouth. He immediately took Ye Shi who was following behind him and turned into the building next to him.
There were shouts in the distance, followed by gunshots, and soon a green flare rose into the sky.
Ye Shi took a deep breath, skillfully integrated his consciousness with the surrounding environment, and sensed the weak fluctuations.
"There are about twenty people... about four hundred to five hundred meters away from us!"
This is the limit of his active perception distance.
Comparing the signal on the VM map, Lao Bai frowned.
"It's Quit Smoking and the others! They probably ran into a patrol!"
The location where they landed was eight kilometers north of the Sixin District. According to the information provided by the Qiangrensunan brothers, the night patrol of the Ya clan should not be able to visit here.
Could it be adjusted?
Ye Shi looked at Lao Bai.
"Are you going to help them?"
"... Go to the airdrop box first. We have to recover the equipment and radio before the reinforcements of the predators arrive!" Lao Bai made a judgment in just three seconds.
It was early in the morning and it was dark outside. It was not a good idea to rush over to reinforce before restoring communication.
Just looking at the flashing marks on the map, they didn't even know how many teammates were left alive.
The top priority now was to rush to the airdrop box, get their equipment, and then deploy the radio at a high place to restore communication in this area and with the headquarters.
As for the Quit Smoking brothers...
Lao Bai decided to trust his teammates.
"Okay!"
Ye Shi nodded and immediately followed Lao Bai, stepping on the construction waste on the ground and leaving the abandoned building.
Just as they were moving quickly in the direction away from the crossfire area, the entire city nearby had become a mess.
Greyhound, holding an assault rifle, fired at the alley in front of him, with a frightened expression on his face.
A few minutes ago.
On the way to the rotation, Greyhound was still thinking about how the group of blue gophers could sneak attack them, but before he reached the place where he was changing guards, he saw a black shadow falling from the sky and hitting the ground.
There were only two flashlights in the whole team, and the rest of the people were holding torches. The place a little further away was dark and nothing could be seen.
Hearing the noise, everyone was startled, and Greyhound quickly shone the flashlight in his hand, but he saw a pool of meat paste.
On the cracked concrete road, red and white pieces were shattered into pieces. If you don't look carefully, you can't recognize a person.
Greyhound, who was originally calm, was suddenly confused and didn't understand what happened.
However, there was no time for him to think.
Almost at the moment when the flashlight was lit, the alley opposite began to burst into flames.
Sparks jumped on the street. The brothers who were walking in the front were caught off guard by the sudden strafing. They were shot into a sieve and fell on the spot. The others immediately threw away the torches in their hands, found cover and fired back.
The street was in chaos.
Not only the sound of gunfire.
There were also the shouts of teammates.
"Damn, I got shot in the arm!"
"It's Pu-9's voice! Those people are not guerrillas!"
"New Alliance?! How is it possible?! Blue, blue jackets have already hit here?!"
Who is the attacker?
Where did the people on the opposite side come from? !
Rumors spread everywhere, and the patrol team that was attacked was like a frightened bird.
"Quick! Call for reinforcements!"
Listening to the captain's hurried shouting in the window on the street, Greyhound, who was lying behind the wreckage of the car, was also panicking, but he still mustered up the courage to crawl over, picked up the signal gun thrown by the captain, and fired a shot at his head.
With a long "chi" sound, the signal flare flashing green rushed into the sky.
Although the weak light was not enough to illuminate the street, it restored some morale to the brothers around.
At the same time, after the camp stationed two kilometers away found the signal flare, it immediately sent out a truck, and a team of 100 people carrying long guns and short guns quickly rushed to the area of the exchange of fire.
Not only Greyhound and the predator beside him were confused, but also Quitting who was squatting in the alley opposite.
He was originally planning to meet up with his teammates nearby, but just as he met [Lost Newbie] and was about to find [Corner Old Six], he ran into the Predator patrol.
Quitting Smoking felt something was wrong at the time. This Old Six brother was too calm. The Predator patrol was almost right in front of him, but the coordinates were still standing in the middle of the road.
However...
When he felt something was wrong, it was too late.
The flashlight on the opposite side was directed at them. The Lost brother next to him thought his position was exposed, so he pulled the trigger without saying a word and fired a burst of bullets.
The gunshot, like an old typewriter, directly ignited the gunpowder barrels on the entire street.
The opponent was caught off guard for a while, but quickly reacted and leaned behind the cover to shoot at them.
"Are you crazy! We only have four magazines in total!"
After being pulled back and yelled at by Quitting Smoking, Lost Newbie gradually realized that he had made a mistake and said nervously.
"Well, what should we do now..."
Quit Smoking said nothing, pulled the fuse of the grenade, and threw it out after the countdown, forcing back the predator who was about to leave the bunker and press forward.
Then he quickly raised the muzzle of the gun and fired a burst of bullets at the window on the street, knocking the predator who was almost at the entrance of the alley to the ground.
The scene was in chaos.
With the light from the torch that fell on the street, he finally saw the rotten meat on the street clearly, and couldn't help smacking his lips.
Good guy.
His head was broken off!
Recalling the thrilling experience of the previous landing, Quit Smoking could roughly guess what the old sixth brother had encountered a few minutes ago.
Either he didn't open the parachute.
Or he opened it too late...
"What else can we do," Quit Smoking said swearingly after changing the magazine, "Let's retreat first!"
Going to the assembly point is definitely not an option.
Leading those predators over not only pitted themselves, but also their teammates. No matter how good they were at fighting, it was impossible for one person to fight ten.
Now all they could do was to flee as far away from the landing area as possible to lead the predators away from here.
After their teammates recovered the airdrop box, set up the radio station, and restored the communication in this area, they would have the hope of organizing an effective resistance, or even calling for air support.
In fact, they were not the only team of players who had engaged in a firefight with the predators.
Near the ruins of the power plant about three kilometers away from them, the two unlucky guys deviated from their course when they fell and landed directly near a sentry post of the Ya clan in the south of the city.
Both sides were confused.
Their bodies also instinctively pulled the trigger.
At this moment, the Goblin Corps Air Force had just returned to the north of Dawn City.
Chu Guang, who was standing on the edge of the airport and flipping through the player list, was slightly stunned.
"Another dead?"
There were 22 players in the first parachuting group, and only 14 are online now, with a survival rate of only 63%.
But the one who died just now...
It doesn't look like he died from parachuting.
Since the connection of the morphogenetic field is not based on electromagnetic waves, even if the communication is not restored, Chu Guang can still grasp the general direction and login status of the players.
The survival rate of players with the agility system is the highest, followed by the physical system, and then the perception system.
Looking at the quiet night sky in the north, Chu Guang whispered to himself.
"It's probably a fight."
Although it's a little earlier than expected, it doesn't matter.
The goal of this action is to create chaos for the Ya clan, and the methods and means are not important.
Xizhou City should be in chaos now.
I believe that for the predators stationed in Xizhou City, tonight is destined to be an unforgettable night.
Not far away, under the guidance of lights, the planes of the Goblin Corps landed on the runway of the airport one after another.
Retracting his sight from the north, Chu Guang looked at Wrench standing beside him and gave an order.
"Let the ground crew and the second echelon of paratroopers prepare, and the second round of airdrops will begin in half an hour!"
Wrench stood at attention and saluted, answering neatly.
"Yes!"