Soon, a gunshot answered the middle-aged man's confusion.
Bang!
One of the people standing at the front of the group fell to the ground. Blood mixed with rainwater pooled around the fallen figure.
"Robbery!"
"Stay where you are!"
A few men wearing raincoats over bulletproof vests jumped off a fishing boat, brandishing guns and shouting orders at the group.
While most of the people stood frozen in terror at this unexpected attack, the robbers opened fire indiscriminately. Even those who obediently followed their commands were shot without hesitation.
The robbers' actions revealed that to them, this was not just about robbery—it was entertainment.
Twenty kilometers away, in the underground second level of the farmhouse shelter, the artificial intelligence detected the anomaly within a second of the robbers' gunfire. Through the survivors' mobile devices, it analyzed the situation and confirmed an armed attack.
The AI immediately redirected the nearest rescue transport team to the scene. At the same time, it flagged the event with high-priority alerts and sent the report to Su Wu.
"An attack."
Su Wu frowned. He realized he had overlooked a critical aspect. While the flooding posed a catastrophic threat to poorly constructed shelters, the environment was now much more conducive for humans to move about compared to the scorching heat of the previous months.
Armed groups, having run out of resources and unwilling to endure hardships, could easily emerge as bandits in these conditions.
"I was too careless. I should've anticipated this," Su Wu muttered.
By the time the nearest rescue transport team arrived six minutes later, only a few young women among the original 30 survivors were still alive. The robbers were herding them toward the fishing boat, likely intending to take them back for further exploitation.
"Take two captives. Kill the rest."
There was no negotiation, no warnings. When the transport vehicle came within 15 meters of the boat, three spider robots deployed silently into the water, surrounding the robbers.
Though these robots had been stripped of their weapons to accommodate rescue operations, their agile and powerful limbs remained lethal tools.
Within moments, gunfire erupted alongside panicked screams from the robbers. Three out of five robbers were killed instantly, their chests pierced by the robots' sharp limbs. The remaining two barely managed a couple of shots before having their weapons confiscated and their limbs snapped.
After swiftly interrogating and disposing of the two captives, Su Wu ordered a full-fledged spider robot unit to leave the farmhouse shelter aboard a large truck and head to the bandits' base for a complete eradication.
Simultaneously, Su Wu modified the rescue plans. He assigned armed security personnel from the Jingyuan Shelter or machine dogs to guard every temporary safe zone for survivors to prevent similar incidents from recurring.
But passive defense wasn't enough for Su Wu. Thinking it over, his gaze fell on the Bluebird-class transport drone.
This drone, upgraded with survival points, was built to withstand extreme heat, cold, and strong winds. Although it hadn't been specifically reinforced for waterproofing, it could still operate in heavy rain.
If he attached palm-sized reconnaissance drones beneath it for protection, the drone could safely ascend to high altitudes, enabling aerial surveillance once again.
The only real risk was lightning strikes.
"The risk is low," Su Wu decided. "It's worth a try for the potential benefits."
---
On the farmhouse shelter's surface, the dark-colored drone was lifted to the rooftop of a small bunker via an elevator platform. Its rotors spun to life, and it slowly ascended.
Countless raindrops pelted its body, causing slight tremors, but it maintained its flight path.
"Stability is good. Power consumption has slightly increased but remains manageable," Su Wu noted, watching the drone's data from the underground control center.
With no issues during its test flight, Su Wu set the drone to begin its reconnaissance mission.
At full speed, the drone reached the skies above Jianghe City's ruins in 20 minutes. It began its spiral search pattern, starting from the Zhou Xiwu Shelter and expanding outward, conducting a thorough ground scan.
Massive amounts of data streamed back to Su Wu, providing a clearer picture of the surface.
"So many people are still active on the ruins," Su Wu murmured, surprised.
Contrary to his expectations, there were hundreds of individuals not under his command operating across the flooded ruins. Their density was almost comparable to his rescue teams.
Some were engaged in their own rescue efforts, while others appeared to be transporting supplies. Most used makeshift vehicles like small metal or wooden boats, which were far less safe than Su Wu's rafts.
After some thought, Su Wu tapped on his control panel. Using his access to the internet, he locked onto the mobile devices carried by these individuals. He extracted their browsing histories and past communications, then fed the data into the AI for analysis.
The AI identified several dozen targets with violent or criminal tendencies.
Not all of these individuals were confirmed bandits, but the likelihood of finding hostile groups among them was high.
"Let's start with these suspects. We'll investigate them one by one."
The efficiency of Su Wu's mechanized forces was unmatched.
Within minutes of his decision, ten machine dog squads, reduced to small-team sizes, boarded Jingyuan Shelter rafts. Accompanied by two or three human auxiliaries, they set off to intercept the potential bandits and rogue groups.
--Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LegendaryTL
Thanks!