Behind him, half-crouching, was another person, holding a short sword less than a meter away.
Brother Ni was a bit speechless. With his stealth level being the highest, why did he always seem to get into trouble?
Once discovered, he couldn’t be bothered to hide anymore. He just drew his sword and hacked at the opponent’s neck, sending a massive head flying high.
Brother Ni even performed a one-handed catch to prevent the head from hitting the ground and making a sound.
Besides the brawl going on in the basement, players who noticed the commotion at the stronghold launched an assault first.
If they couldn’t use rocket launchers, then they’d use grenade launchers.
They attached modified grenade tubes to rifles and launched grenades with blank rounds, just like using a mortar.
The value of equipment lies not in its advancement but in its suitability and usage.
This new trick was something Brother Ni came up with after reading some dubious posts on the official forum. Unfortunately, he couldn’t really use it himself, so he charged others 300 Eurogold for modifications.
Though they launched grenades, thanks to the explosive charge, the power wasn’t small at all.
Six or seven grenades were fired into the stronghold, exploding with flames and blasts that caught the scavengers off guard, flipping countless sheets of metal. The small steel balls packed inside scattered like raindrops, riddling two scavengers outside the blast zone with holes, a mist of blood bursting forth.
Hong Tong charged out of the debris pile, wielding a machine gun, unleashing a storm of bullets on the stunned scavengers.
"Scavengers? I’m beating the damn scavengers. I fucking hate it when I run into you garbage while fishing by the construction site river. Damn, you’re ugly and disgusting."
He was taking the opportunity to settle some personal grudges.
In some sense, Jianxue and the other’s predicament was quite like fishing, only to catch scavengers instead.
"Still daring to steal kidneys and scam people in 2075? Must have smuggled from Northern Myanmar; all descendants of phone scammers must die!"
Over a dozen players in groups of three to four, yelling all sorts of strange cries, charged like wild boars into the scavengers’ disrupted stronghold.
If they charged normally, they’d get shredded, but now, having just regrouped to suppress some cyber psychos, and then getting hit hard again, many scavengers were still confused when the players were already in their faces.
The players formed squads of three, two providing cover while one charged forward. Upon reaching the next cover position, the charging player would hold position and provide suppressive fire, allowing the others to advance, attacking in rotation, maintaining constant fire.
Bullets rained fiercely against the reinforced cover iron sheets; the scavengers in charge of watch were either shot dead, blown up, or too suppressed to lift their heads.
"Someone’s fucking attacking us!"
Gang warfare in the city differed from outside. Each had its pros and cons; for instance, outside, heavy firepower or illegal gear was common, whereas inside, weapons exceeding light machine guns were rarely used unless necessary.
Consequently, fighting within the city, players acted more unscrupulously, with a greater variety of gear.
Players hurled several canisters into the stronghold, filling it with pungent smoke, causing tears to stream from the scavengers’ eyes, making them blind. Even with high eye modifications, their noses and mouths couldn’t stand the acrid smoke.
But players disregarded the smoke, storming in and killing whoever they encountered. Many scavengers died in confusion, with some unlucky ones accidentally shooting their allies.
Brother Dao, with a shotgun, charged at the front. Blasting any shadow he saw in the smoke without hesitation, scavengers were blown away. For those he missed, Hong Tong carrying a machine gun or Natural Curl would help finish them off.
"Team One here, pathway cleared, switching direction."
"Team Two is breaking through."
"Team Three has more people and firepower; someone got injured but it doesn’t affect combat effectiveness."
From the early Phoenix Club with a four-person dungeon, to the Road Song’s ten-person one, and later twenty-person ones, though only the initial four-person one was still being completed, players frequently cleared the other group challenges multiple times, gaining mutual understanding. Even unfamiliar with the terrain here, coordinating smoke grenades and a progressive advance was unstoppable.
"Brother Ni, did you find them yet?"
"Almost, the guards got drawn away by you all."
With Lucy guiding via camera, they weren’t worried about losing their way.
The sound of gunfire and explosions was audible even in the basement’s deepest corners.
Jianxue had long since lost strength from hopping around until his legs went numb, switching places with the one-armed mercenary to jump around while he sat catching his breath. The young men and women curled up in the corners began realizing something was amiss.
After a while, the mercenary also exhausted all his energy, collapsing sideways.
"I... dammit... I can’t jump anymore."
After a brief rest, gathering his scant energy, Jianxue shouted toward the skylight, "Hey, anyone there? Get over here already!"
Perhaps even the heavens couldn’t stand it anymore; a head peeked over the iron grate.
"Yelling, huh? Your old man crawled all the way through this stinking sewer only to listen to this grandson bitching?"
Sitting, Jianxue recognized him, "Oh, fuck, isn’t that Brother Ni?"
"Dad! You’re my dad, okay? Hurry up!"
Brother Ni: "Hey, good son."
Water Moon Cave Heaven: "I’m your second dad."
Egyptian Beauty: "I’m your third dad."
"Dad dad dad, just hurry up and get your son out."
The other people in the cellar listened in stupefaction at this frankly absurd exchange, sensing an utter lack of urgency from the group.
Brother Ni told those inside, "Move aside a bit, I’ll blow this open."
Soon, a bang echoed in the cellar, shattering the steel-reinforced skylight, followed by retrieving the stunned crowd with the scavengers’ prepared ladder.
"Do you still have any fight left in you?"
"No need to ask them," said the mercenary, stepping forward and raising his left hand. "Is one good enough?"
Brother Ni handed him a pistol.
"As long as a man has one hand, it’s enough."