"Fuck...are these bastards crazy?"
Inside a half-collapsed residential building.
Standing in the open-top bathroom without a ceiling, Ye Shi, holding a telescope in his hand, stared at the street 300 meters away in astonishment.
It was five o'clock in the morning, the sun had not risen yet, but the sky was already light.
I saw about fifty predators closely following a truck welded with steel plates, with a machine gun mounted on the carriage - no, to be precise, four machine guns!
I don't know if it was because the 12mm heavy machine guns were not enough, the predators of the Ya clan also connected the light machine guns in series, and they were connected in a row with iron wire, steel bars and screws.
This made Ye Shi think of the quadruple Maxim he had seen in the movie, which was exactly the same as this thing.
The only difference was that one was conscious water cooling, and the other was slightly more advanced air cooling.
However, Ye Shi's intuition told him that these predators probably didn't learn from movies and TV shows, but from the quadruple anti-aircraft cards of the Skeleton Corps.
"7mm machine gun anti-aircraft... Which genius came up with this idea?" Fang Chang couldn't help but complain.
Lao Bai, who was sitting next to him and chewing on a wheat cake, laughed and said. .
"You're right, if the supply of this thing can keep up, the firepower density may be scary. It only takes half a second for Mosquito's wooden plane to come down from the sky."
Kuangfeng touched his nose with his index finger.
"... In terms of effect, we may have really hurt them that night."
Watching the patrol disappear at the corner of the street, Ye Shi sighed and put down the telescope.
"That's what I said, but it's a bit uncomfortable now that they are all in a group."
The AI of this game is very smart.
Not only will it cut the leeks of players, but it will also adjust the AI's action strategy in real time according to the players' game behavior. The Marauders, who could only stare at the planes, have DIYed their anti-aircraft weapons.
What is that called?
Right!
Machine learning!
As expected of the world's only fully immersive virtual reality online game, the AI technology is also very strong.
Old White, eating a cake, said calmly.
"Don't worry, the Ya Clan is dispatching troops to the front line recently, we just need to keep an eye on their tanks."
At present, the Burning Legion has been broken up and scattered in the city. It is still a bit difficult for a four-man team to confront the Marauder's hundred-man team head-on.
But it doesn't matter.
They can call for air strikes.
Usually the Marauder's tanks are hidden in the underground garage, and now they are all moving to the front line. They don't need to go up and fight the tanks head-on. As long as they lock the approximate position of the tanks, the players flying the planes will naturally give them a surprise.
In just one week, the Burning Corps had called in airstrikes to scrap four Conqueror Xs, and one was not scrapped but was paralyzed.
Without the support of logistical supplies, with the hands-on ability of these barbarians, they could only repair the tracks at most. As for the damaged engine and even the oil pipe, they were basically the same as scrapped.
"It seems that no tanks will pass through this street today." Fang Chang glanced at the time on the VM, and the sky not far away had turned pale.
Lao Bai threw away the paper wrapped in the wheat cake and got up from the floor with a rifle.
"Let's find a safe place to go offline."
While talking, there was a creaking sound downstairs.
The four people immediately alerted.
Lao Bai quickly moved to the entrance of the living room and leaned out half of his body to hold the stairs. Then the strong wind released the "Firefly" drone, which flew out from the broken ceiling and landed outside the residential building.
Ye Shi said in a deep voice: "I didn't sense the killing intent... The other party should not have discovered us, or is not sure of our exact location."
"Searching..." Kuangfeng, who was operating the drone, suddenly paused and was stunned.
In the window downstairs, there was a slightly immature face, and it was difficult to tell his gender because of his disheveled appearance. Kuangfeng could only judge that he was not very old. Even considering the impact of malnutrition on development, he was only seven or eight years old at most.
The pair of black eyes stared at the drone outside the window motionlessly, and the pupils were full of uneasiness, tension and curiosity.
He probably thought he was hiding well, but he didn't know that the camera saw the situation in the room clearly.
"It should be a local survivor... a child." As he said that, Kuangfeng synchronized the drone's picture to his teammate's VM.
Fang Chang asked cautiously.
"Are there other people around? Or weapons?"
There are many young soldiers among the predators, and he did not relax his vigilance just because the other party was a child.
Kuangfeng shook his head.
"No... I haven't seen such a thin predator yet."
"Alarm is lifted."
At least temporarily...
Lao Bai breathed a sigh of relief, put away the rifle in his hand, and turned off the safety.
This game is too real in some places.
Even if the dream filter filters out most of the sensory stimulation that exceeds the limit, for players who have a strong sense of substitution, the behavior that exceeds the limit will still feel mentally uncomfortable.
For example, seeing the predator throw a living person into the oil pan...
If possible, he really doesn't want to treat people younger than him as opponents in battle.
Patting Fang Chang on the shoulder, Lao Bai said.
"Let's go, get ready to change places."
It's already dawn.
The predator's tank can't come out during the day, and it's meaningless to continue squatting. It's better to go offline and go to the official website to surf for a while.
But now the players are all online. From 6 pm to 12 am, the official website belongs to cloud players.
During this period, they had been fighting night battles every day, and their daily routines were completely disrupted...
Walking to the stairs.
Lao Bai suddenly remembered something.
"By the way, the airdrop box from last night has not been recovered yet. Let's go pick it up before logging off."
Ye Shi asked curiously.
"Didn't you say you were not in a hurry to recover it?"
Lao Bai did not answer this question, but took out a large bag of green wheat cakes left in his backpack and put it on the floor.
"I changed my mind."
Fang sighed.
"You'd better not take the game too seriously. According to the setting, there are at least five or six thousand survivors in this city, and the airdrop supplies can't help them at all. If you really want to pull them out of the dire situation, it's better to get rid of the predators as soon as possible."
Lao Bai smiled.
"I know, just take this as my self-satisfaction."
The group left.
The sound upstairs disappeared.
The boy tiptoed upstairs to see if the soldiers of the New Alliance had any garbage left that could be recycled.
For example, things like bullet shells could be exchanged for food at the base of the resistance organization.
However, the boy did not hold out much hope for bullet shells.
The whole night yesterday, these people did not fire a single shot, and it would be a miracle if there were any bullet shells left.
Since the arrival of the group of predators, the settlements of the survivors have been destroyed one after another, and the survivors have either been captured as slaves or hid underground. Since there is no farmland, they can only grow some fungi that do not require much light, or go outside to find wild green wheat and sheep's horn potatoes, or even eat soil and bark.
Originally, they could survive like this, but unfortunately, the plague broke out in Xizhou City recently, the mushroom fields have seriously reduced production, and wild crops such as green wheat and sheep's horn potatoes have almost disappeared from Xizhou City. The base of the resistance organization has encountered an unprecedented survival crisis.
Originally, everyone could get a small amount of relief food, but now even nutritional paste has to be exchanged for garbage.
The boy wanted to join the guerrillas because he heard that the guerrillas provided meals, but he was too young and the other side looked at him and didn't like him. He could only carry a sack and go to the street to pick up trash.
Fortunately, soldiers from the New Alliance have recently joined the battlefield. These people are not only better equipped than the guerrillas, but also have a good habit of wasting.
These people never pick up the shells that fall on the ground. Sometimes when there is a sudden encounter, they don't collect the half-eaten dry food and just throw it away.
The guerrillas encouraged them to recycle the shells on the ground. 20 copper shells can be exchanged for 100g of nutritional paste. Sometimes the boy couldn't help thinking, if there is a chance to go to the New Alliance, it would be great.
The people in the New Alliance don't even want the shells that fall on the ground. They must have endless garbage to pick up at home.
After going up the stairs, the boy was about to sneak into the next room.
At this moment, he suddenly smelled a fragrance.
Sniffing, the boy followed the fragrance and went over.
Seeing the green wheat cake on the ground, his black eyes widened instantly. He was so hungry that he immediately pounced on it, grabbed a piece and stuffed it into his mouth.
The feeling of happiness spread between his lips and teeth, and an incredible expression appeared on his waxy yellow face.
He couldn't tell what it tasted like, and he had never eaten such delicious green wheat cakes... By the way, is this really a green wheat cake? Why does it have the fragrance of oil, and there is no sour smell at all!
How did they do it?
Are these people the messengers of the giant horned deer god? !
Finally swallowing the food in his mouth, the boy looked at the bag of green wheat cakes on the ground with greedy eyes, and did not continue to eat, but carefully put them into the sack.
"I have to go back before dawn."
If I stay outside for too long, my sister will worry...
Silently thanking those generous people in his heart, the boy carefully put away the remaining wheat cakes, crawled into the narrow gap like a rabbit, and flashed out of the apartment.
He didn't know why the soldiers of the New Alliance left these delicious delicacies behind.
Just like he didn't know at this moment that four pairs of eyes were following him from behind.
"By the way... is it really okay for us to follow a child?" Ye Shi said with a strange expression.
Fang Chang didn't answer the question directly.
Or he didn't answer from the perspective of Ye Shi's question.
"Let's make a bold assumption. Suppose an NPC's behavior logic is to go out for food. Then, after collecting enough food, what is his next step?"
Ye Shi was stunned.
"... Bring the food home?"
"Correct!" Fang Chang snapped his fingers silently and said with a smile, "As long as we follow him, we can find his home."
Ye Shi held his forehead.
"I say you... you won't even turn over the boxes of other scavengers, right?"
Kuang Feng also said something.
"I don't agree with this behavior, and feel guilty for a few silver coins."
Fang Chang coughed.
"When did I ever say I wanted to rummage through other people's boxes? Am I such a jerk?! I'm just simply curious about where he lives. Aren't you curious?"
Ye Shi and Kuang Feng looked at each other.
"Didn't they say they lived underground?"
"Well... it's written in the background information on the official website that the survivors of Xizhou City hid underground to deal with the looters of the Bone Chewing Tribe, and established a resistance organization and guerrillas."
Fang Chang said with great sorrow.
"Yes! You also know that they have established a resistance organization. Let's analyze it rationally. If they have an organization, shouldn't they have a fixed base? A survivor settlement is right under our feet, and we have been in the new map for more than half a month, but we still don't know where it is! Aren't you curious about what it looks like?"
Kuang Feng was slightly stunned.
"Analyze rationally... it can indeed be analyzed this way."
"Hey, I just want to do a good thing, why do you have to make the problem so complicated..." Lao Bai scratched the back of his head with a headache, "Forget it, what you said makes sense."
If they can get in touch with the local resistance organization, it will definitely help them.
It's strange to say that they have been here for more than half a month, and the local resistance organization has never contacted them.
Is it because the program settings require players to discover it themselves?
"Are you going to recycle the airdrop box later?" Ye Shi asked.
"No, it's almost dawn, wait until dark... Let's go meet the resistance organization here first," Lao Bai reached out and took two bags of green wheat cakes from Fang Chang's tactical hanging bag, "give me two bags."
"Fuck! You took the ones in my backpack, I'm hanging them on my chest to block bullets." Fang Chang reflexively dodged to the side and covered his chest with his hands.
Lao Bai couldn't help rolling his eyes.
"This can block a damn bullet!"
Ye Shi: "Hahahaha."
Kuang Feng coughed dryly.
"Don't lose me... Let's go."
The group followed the boy, crossed two streets, walked about two kilometers, and came to the entrance of a half-collapsed subway station.
The boy stopped at the entrance, looked around carefully, and then slipped in through the entrance.
Fang Chang and his group followed him through the ticket gate of the subway station and entered the tunnel from the platform.
There were many rats here. The abandoned carriages were filled with countless rats. They were not afraid of people and even bared their teeth at people.
The boy pulled out a steel bar and waved it randomly a few times to drive the rats away, and then immediately ran deep into the tunnel.
"Are these not the brothers of the brothers in distress?" Ye Shi, who was following behind, muttered softly.
"You think he is too awesome... Don't worry about these rats, don't lose the target." Fang Chang's intuition told him that they were almost there.
The boy stopped in front of a green-painted iron door and reached out to knock on the door rhythmically.
Not long after, the door opened quickly.
The boy flashed in and disappeared from the tunnel.
As if he had never appeared.
"... That should be the entrance to the underground settlement of the survivors in Xizhou City!" Fang Chang's face was full of excitement.
New map!
A hot post with 100,000+ likes is in hand!
Lao Bai touched his chin.
"I'm wondering how we should greet them. Should we go up and knock on the door? Or should we say hello first?"
Kuang Feng pondered.
"I think it might be better to reveal our identities first."
Just as Lao Bai and Kuang Feng were discussing how to greet each other, Ye Shi's expression suddenly changed slightly, and he held the semi-automatic rifle in his hand.
"Someone is coming!"
As soon as the voice fell, footsteps came from the back of the tunnel.
A group of men in simple clothes and unkempt appearance appeared near the platform of the subway station. They carried iron tube rifles on their backs and woven bags in their hands. Judging from the shriveled bags, today's harvest should not be very good.
When they met Lao Bai's group's eyes, the group was obviously stunned, and then they immediately shouted in panic and loaded the iron tube rifles in their hands.
The tense atmosphere suddenly heated up.
With his index finger on the safety, Lao Bai glanced at the weapons in the hands of those people and gave his good brother Fang Chang a look.
Fang Chang understood, lowered the muzzle of the gun and stepped forward, shouting in the human language that he was not very familiar with.
"We are the paratroopers of the New Alliance! We came here with the purpose of peace, I hope you can calm down!"
Paratroopers of the New Alliance? !
Aren't they fighting with the predators?
How did they get here?
The group of people standing at the entrance of the tunnel were obviously stunned, obviously they didn't expect the people of the New Alliance to be here.
Maintaining the aiming posture, the leading man shouted nervously.
"... How can we trust you!"
Fang Chang said concisely.
"Letting you continue to stand is our greatest sincerity. If you continue to aim at us, don't blame us."
"Stop it!"
The green-painted door opened.
A man in a leather jacket walked out.
Two guards holding automatic rifles stood beside him, followed by a boy who was holding a bag in his hand and looking anxiously at the four people in the middle of the tunnel.
Lao Bai looked at the boy and then at the man in the leather jacket. His angular face seemed to be cut by a knife, and his sharp pupils easily reminded people of the jackals that can be seen everywhere in the wasteland.
He is a master.
Whether it is experience or strength.
Lao Bai made an evaluation in his heart.
While he was locking the man, the man was also looking at him with fearful eyes.
"Wu Chengyi, the mayor of Hope Town and the captain of the guerrillas, what is your name?" The man introduced himself.
"Lao Bai." Lao Bai didn't know how to say the idiom "white horse passing by" with people, so he used the nickname given to him by everyone.
Wu Chengyi didn't find it strange that this name obviously didn't look like a real name.
There are all kinds of names in the wasteland.
It doesn't matter what you call it.
"Are you from the New Alliance?"
Lao Bai, who was not good at human language, cast a look at Fang Chang for help. It was okay for him to guess the general situation by looking at his facial expressions and demeanor combined with the context, but it was a bit difficult for him to communicate normally.
'What should I say? '
'I'll do it. '
Fang Chang saw his good brother's embarrassment at a glance, took over the conversation, and spoke with the translation function of VM.
"Yes, we are loyal to the New Alliance, loyal to the administrators, fighting for the revival of civilization, and are currently fighting with the Bone Chewing Tribe... I heard that you are also, so we thought that the enemy of our enemy might become a friend, so we came uninvited."
The enemy of our enemy is a friend...
This may not be the case in the wasteland.
If the enemy of our enemy is evenly matched with ourselves, we may become friends. If the strength is very different, we may become the spoils of the other side.
Most of the survivors in Xizhou City have a good impression of the New Alliance, and even have an unrealistic vision, but Wu Chengyi knows very well that there is no free lunch in this world.
As the leader of the resistance organization, he needs to consider more things. Before figuring out the other party's motives, it is extremely dangerous to easily trust strangers.
Wu Chengyi stared at Fang Chang and continued.
"The last question, what do you think of us?"
"What do you think?"
Fang Chang was slightly stunned, then he understood what the man in front of him wanted to ask, and said after thinking for a moment.
"You are a group of...brave people, at least you didn't surrender. Of course, this is just my opinion. If you want to ask the administrator's opinion, you might as well go and ask him directly."
Wu Chengyi was slightly stunned.
"Do you have a way to contact him?"
Fang Chang looked at him strangely.
"Of course, our radio can contact the rear at any time."
Hearing this, the faces of the people around him showed joy.
After whispering a few words with the guards beside him, Wu Chengyi signaled the guerrillas to put away their guns.
He walked to the players alone and stretched out his right hand.
"...Thank you for helping us, and please forgive us for being wary. We have witnessed too many deaths of our compatriots in the past six months, and it is difficult for us to easily trust any stranger."
Fang Chang shook his hand.
"I understand."
After a pause, Wu Chengyi continued.
"I have considered your proposal just now."
"Please allow me to talk to your manager."
...
New Alliance Barracks.
Sitting in the command room, Chu Guang was looking at the report sent from Qingshi County.
The survey of the copper-molybdenum deposit has been completed, the construction equipment has been delivered, and the mining and smelting of the copper mine is currently underway.
As of last weekend, the copper mine, molybdenum mine, sulfur and other industrial raw materials of the New Alliance have been self-sufficient.
The railway for transportation has also been laid from Yuanxi Town to Qingshi County.
Chu Guang has paid special attention to the speeches of the professional players who were "sent to the geological park to explore the deposit" on the forum these days.
According to the photos they took and the discussions of other cloud players, the mining equipment left over from the early days of the Human Union era shocked everyone.
Especially in terms of industrial design.
Although more than three hundred years have passed, the mining equipment that was exhibited as antiques has long been unusable, but the design ideas of some equipment still gave them a lot of inspiration.
For those little players majoring in geology, the shock of sudden enlightenment from the professional field is much stronger than the feeling brought to them by solid hydrogen and X-4 fiber.
All the little players involved in the exploration work couldn't help but sigh.
The business of this game company is too extensive!
"Master, there is new news about the Burning Corps you sent to Xizhou City." Xiaoqi's voice came to my ears.
Chu Guang asked casually after putting down the report sent by the logistics department.
"What news?"
Xiaoqi continued.
"Your players have contacted local survivors. A man who claims to be the leader of the resistance organization hopes to talk to you."
The resistance organization in Xizhou City?
To be honest, in his initial plan, he had considered using the power of local survivors to deal with the Ya clan.
But that was a few versions ago.
With enough cards in his hand now, there is no need to support the local resistance organization. Raising them too fat will affect the subsequent recruitment.
However, since they took the initiative to contact him...
This may be a good opportunity.
Chu Guang tapped the table with his index finger, thought for a while, and said.
"Make an appointment with them for me."
"Okay, Master!"
As an assistant, Xiao Qi was as reliable as ever today. After the voice fell, he immediately helped him arrange a time for a conference call.
Picking up the tablet on the table again, Chu Guang turned to the last document.
[Xizhou City Industrial Zone Development Plan (Draft)]
After thinking for a while, Chu Guang added a line to the title.
[… and the reconstruction plan for the new recovery area and the survivor settlement]
There are a large number of survivors in Xizhou City, plus the captives of the plunderers, and the population capacity of Dawn City cannot digest them all at once.
The best way is to build a new settlement and settle the survivors on the spot.
It just so happens that he plans to transfer heavy industry from Qingquan City to Xizhou City, which is farther away from Giant Stone City.
Looking at the document in his hand, Chu Guang nodded with satisfaction.
"This cake..."
"Both players and natives should like it."