135. Flesh Grinder
Shortly after the warriors began slaughtering the Green Base, they were ambushed by players.
"These idiots," Li Aozi sneered as he observed the battlefield, "Does Tianhuan really think I care about the survival of the Green Base?"
Among the three major organizations of the external lands, the Green Base was the most deranged. If players were to dig up the roots of those greenhouse trees, they would immediately find flesh and viscera.
Fresh, perhaps.
The Green Base consisted of madmen on par with the Abyss Professors. They treated restoring greenery as a doctrine to spread to the outside world. For the sake of environmental protection and restoring nature's ecology, they directly defected to Lord Entropy in version 2.5, willingly corrupting themselves into monsters and turning against humanity.
As for those civilians—almost all of them carried bacteria researched by the Green Base. Later on, they would frequently blow themselves up in residential areas and transport ports in the name of "saving the forest," causing terrorist attacks.
Traitors of humanity fighting Tianhuan's devils—Li Aozi was happy to watch the two sides tear each other apart.
Rockets, grenades, swords, and spears clashed repeatedly. Players emerged from rooms and random corners, launching attacks frequently from alley turns.
With the adaptability of Tianhuan warriors, even a sudden attack wouldn't usually put them at a disadvantage. However, they quickly realized something was wrong.
These people... Their tactical awareness, movement, and marksmanship were far beyond the level of the external lands.
This group of beta players, aside from Caramel Snail, who was a complete rookie, were backed by extensive gaming experience and professional studios. Their training was top-notch, and with the game's in-game voice function added by the Qiqiao Network in the beta version, even random teams could communicate and coordinate, greatly enhancing their mobilization and organization capabilities.
Night Sword relied on the borrowed [Eye of Truth] to lock onto his target.
He activated [Gravity], bending light to cloak himself, and slowly infiltrated the Tianhuan warriors' support medics.
[Iaido]
Seizing the moment they were rescuing the wounded, Night Sword suddenly sprang up. His long blade, accelerated several times by gravity, sliced swiftly as he moved, cutting off the limbs and heads of lightly armored medics with graceful, fluid slashes. He shook the blood off his blade and vanished again.
[Explosive Reload]
[Qi Amplification]
Cumin's eyes burned with blue Qi flames as he held a 12.7mm heavy machine gun in each hand, with a stimulant needle in his mouth. Expressionless, he advanced while firing, providing players with reassuring fire cover. The infantry players charged without caring about friendly fire, howling as they engaged Tianhuan's regular forces in close combat.
Yu Tianxiao was sly—taking advantage of the Green Base being under attack, no one was guarding network security. Under the cover of his teammates' fire, he quickly hacked the building's electrical systems, causing short circuits and flickering lights. In this disorienting visual environment, Tianhuan warriors had to remove their night-vision goggles and rely on their eyes to fight indoors.
They had all borrowed Li Aozi's [Eye of Truth], allowing them to fight without hesitation in the shifting light.
Garidon, a professional player and substitute, was not inferior despite his lower level, playing as an ordinary infantryman. Fortunately, he was lucky—two main players from their 'Old Grandpa' team were among the 800 players in Li Aozi's suicide squad. Both had reached the level cap of 15, and Garidon handed all his gear to these two pros.
With the gear boost, the two main players unleashed terrifying power. They, along with Garidon, fought the Tianhuan warriors in hit-and-run guerrilla tactics among the complex ruins, using kiting strategies to wear down four Tianhuan warriors in a row.
The gap in raw strength couldn't be fully bridged by skills and awareness, but the machines bought from Du Zexin, the gear purchased from Lord Auckland, and the various Omega Energies rented from Li Aozi certainly could.
Besides everyone having an [Eye of Truth], Li Aozi fully opened the lease market, temporarily putting all his Omega Energies up for rent.
Interestingly, though, the highest-tier [Gravity] was scarcely rented, except by a few professional players.
Most people couldn't figure out the use of [Gravity], while the [Mechanics] loved it, turning their fixed turrets into floating cannons that chased enemies in the air.
Players had little interest in flashy skills. Most [Redemption] players chose [Armor of the Mountains], [Life Severance], and [Blood of Immortality] as they were responsible for healing and tanking damage.
The players' near-death mechanism allowed them to linger on the battlefield and even use suicide tactics, carrying 40 kg of explosives to die with enemies. If they could trade one life for one, it was a good deal. With the boost from [Blood of Immortality], they fought even more aggressively.
[Destruction] players had diverse choices; experienced players liked using [Gravity] combined with [Pegasus Force]. They needed extreme maneuverability and output. Although their [Charisma] wasn't high and couldn't boost Omega Energy as much as Li Aozi's, [Gravity] freed their movement.
They were no longer confined to rolling, sliding, or wall-jumping. Now, like mosquitoes, they moved unpredictably in the air, making the ceiling a new foothold. They could rapidly change directions and dive-bomb, turning the battlefield into a Titanfall-esque arena.
Many players chose [Natural Ignition] to enhance their damage output. Early on, spell-caster roles were scarce, and Tianhuan's armor was highly resistant to bullets. Thus, the high magic and true damage of [Natural Ignition] became the top choice for most players.
[Craft] players all rented [Eye of Truth] to enhance their accuracy and vision. Their early-stage energy was precious, used sparingly, opting for guns over spells whenever possible.
Li Aozi wasn't lying; choosing the right Omega Energy drastically boosted combat effectiveness.
A prime example was Caramel Snail. Despite his talent in martial arts, his main issue wasn't bad gear but lack of experience. His lack of operational fluency often put him at a disadvantage.
But after Li Aozi lent him [Soulmarked Sword Saint], he transformed into a formidable swordsman, his melee kills skyrocketing, almost catching up to professional player Night Sword.
The most puzzled were the [Mutator] players, who watched as others seamlessly combined Omega Energies with their skills, trading blows with Tianhuan warriors, while they quietly relied on Omega Energy and firearms, unnoticed by anyone.
Still, after buying accessory gear from Li Aozi, the [Mutator] players, whose Omega Energy power rapidly increased, gradually became the main damage dealers on the battlefield.
Being a class specializing in Omega Energy, other classes' main stats didn't boost their abilities much. However, with Li Aozi's accessory gear, every [Mutator] had over 20 points in [Charisma].
Gravity Compression—15 times!
The previously light and sturdy Tianhuan warrior armor instantly became a heavy burden, rendering them nearly immobile. [Mutator] players formed human walls, their eyes glowing with golden rings, casting an insurmountable wall of gravity in front of them.
The Tianhuan warriors, having scattered within the Green Base to slaughter civilians, found their expected fire support delayed and contested among different squads and units.
Many Tianhuan commanders watched in frustration as enemies that a single artillery strike could wipe out managed to butcher their comrades due to insufficient fire support.
What a disgrace! How could anyone swallow this?
Frontline officers erupted in fury over the communication channels, tearing into each other over priority fire support, arguing heatedly.
"What the hell are you doing? How did it turn into this?!"
Kanou cursed loudly, requiring the Onmyoji to cast several hypnotic spells to restore order to the troops.
"Commander Kanou! We've been ambushed by unknown targets. They have no uniform or identifiers, yet they display tactical coordination and command."
The existence of the [Eye of Truth] was a lethal blow to Tianhuan in close-quarters combat. With their own forces entrenched in the buildings, airstrikes were nearly impossible—surely, they wouldn't bomb their own troops along with the enemy?
The mobile armors still had to watch over the captured Green Base [Biochemists]. Though these old-timers weren't at full Gamma-tier strength like Tianhuan's, they were still Gamma-tier. Without the top Beta-tier crew's suppression, they could cause massive trouble in no time.
At this point, Kanou Asahi had sobered up:
"This is a trap. Li Aozi intentionally turned the Green Base into a battlefield."
In just thirty minutes, the war platform showed over 74 units offline, and according to weapon consumption and battle footage analysis, the command estimated a terrifying number:
"With this much weaponry, theoretically, we should have defeated 1,300 people."
Are you kidding? 1,300 people, nearly double the convoy's initial estimate.
Bunker-buster missiles had killed a batch, and the escape route was sealed. These survivors had no reinforcements, so their numbers couldn't possibly exceed 200.
Yet 1,300 people... Ha, did they think he hadn't gone to school? How could the enemy grow in number the more they fought? Did they think they were facing undead monsters that could resurrect after dying?
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