They glanced at the woman in the cage a few more times as they left, shaking their heads with some sentiment.
The game actually didn’t need to be so realistic, it sapped the excitement of beating the BOSS, casting a shadow on an otherwise good gameplay experience.
Besides joy, it seemed like there was more in the game that they hadn’t noticed before...
So when they left, each of them stepped over Winston’s face on their way out.
After the players left, the cave plunged into a deathly silence for about half an hour.
A gunshot echoed through the tranquil cave, reverberating against the stone walls, unable to be quelled.
"Awesome! Damn satisfying!"
At the other end of the tunnel, Adcardo easily tore through the Night Wanderer’s outer defenses using a convoy of dozens of vehicles.
With automatic cannons, rocket hives, and 40mm vehicle-mounted artillery, Adcardo’s weaponry and personnel were actually superior to the Night Wanderers, just always at a disadvantage in numbers.
Even Panam, who was always battle-ready, hadn’t expected a day .
After breaking through the defenses, they seized the high ground on the tunnel’s outskirts, blocked the tunnel entrance, and cornered the unsuspecting Night Wanderers inside for a fight.
Surviving Night Wanderer reinforcements, coming in small groups, were greeted one by one with artillery that had been set up in advance, exploding into sparks.
Lying on the hillside, Panam shot the Night Wanderer sticking his head out behind a car.
"How come we never thought of this method before... surround to intercept reinforcements... good name!"
Half-crouched next to Panam, Dakota observed the surrounding routes with binoculars and said,
"Even if you thought of it, it’s useless. You need a bunch of crazy fighters who don’t care about dying to seal off Stone Ridge Mountain tunnels from another end, have the locations of other secret passages and blow them up, and ensure that none of the three lines falter. If one side falls, everyone pays the price."
This Evil Land middleman had a type of tenacious temperament unique to Adcardo women, yet was much more composed than Panam and Carol.
To fight this battle, Sol used all his connections in Adcardo and gathered a group that was against Night Wanderer, forming a combat team of over a hundred.
Watching the Night Wanderers struggle against their fierce firepower inside the tunnel, "Where did you recruit these lunatics? Looks like there’s quite a commotion inside..."
When Dakota learned that Adcardo planned to strike Night Wanderer, she, like the startled Panam who heard the news from Lin Miao, was shocked.
She thought Panam had taken out Sol and was leading Adcardo into a suicide assault on Night Wanderer.
It was only after Sol personally explained to Dakota did things become clear.
Yet, Dakota still didn’t hold much hope for this operation; not only did she not trust any corporation, but she also had some doubts about this strategy.
But what could she do? Though a middleman, she was really just a bridge of communication between Adcardo and Night City.
If Adcardo fell, she’d fall too, and she loved Adcardo.
The current situation was still alright, not much deviating from expectations, perhaps even a bit easier; ordinarily, there should have been more Night Wanderers coming, not sure what happened.
What puzzled Dakota was that among the battle lines, the greatest pressure was on the corporate dogs who made a deal with Sol; twenty men were holding the entire tunnel against the Night Wanderers, though the terrain was narrow, the pressure was immense.
More and more vehicles from afar began advancing towards the defense line composed by Adcardo, evidently knowing there was an ambush ahead, assembling mid-route for the assault.
"Still gotta be careful though, the number of Night Wanderers is starting to increase."
"How did you end up looking ? Did you meet Godzilla?"
Mantou clicked her tongue in disbelief at the exoskeleton Wildman took off; she thought this thing was unrivaled, yet it seemed outdated already.
As she spoke, she began using drills and saws to dismantle the damaged parts, the vehicle full of prepared spare parts meant for this purpose.
Brother Ni: "We encountered a BOSS inside, tough as hell, even harder than those two big guys at the Phoenix Club, but still, our skills won in the end, beat him with one life."
The BOSS had issued two sets of temporary exoskeletons to each squad, with eight rockets and other equipment half-off temporarily. If they couldn’t win under these conditions, they might as well hang it up.
Had it been ten days ago, even combined, the five of them wouldn’t have been enough for others to kill.
"Seriously, but be careful at least, you ruined my gear ."
More than being worried about the players’ injuries, Mantou lamented her creations.
Replacing the front chest steel plate, attaching the spare power arm, replacing the damaged hydraulic oil lines and deformed stainless steel frame, installing a new battery.
Meanwhile, doctors sent by Adcardo checked on their injuries; after patching up, four of them headed to support the frontline while only Wildman stayed back for bandages.
Medic: "I don’t recommend you heading to the battlefield now. You’ve fractured two ribs and sustained multiple muscle bruises. Heavy exertion might worsen the injuries."
But players care little; they’ve got Resurrection Coins, what’s a life?
Wildman just stood up, put on his coat, and asked Mantou to help him gear up with the repaired exoskeleton.
"Not a chance, so what if I die? I’d lose out if they snatch all the kills, besides, these guys have to be wiped out clean."