Chapter 109 - Tragedy
Chapter 109: Tragedy
“Fire!”
“Roger!”
Dadada!
In the darkness, fire sparks suddenly erupted as the mutated humans rushing into the hallway were caught off guard.
The polyethylene tables and chairs were thrown into the hallway as the power armored soldiers used that to take cover and unleash their firepower at the mutated humans.
The weight of the mutated human’s armor was mostly focused in the front part; their intense firepower made it necessary to consider running away. But once the distance has been shortened, their fatal weakness was exposed. Although they were not completely unprepared, when they stepped on the stairs, their center of gravity leaning forward uncontrollably exposed their defenseless backs to the machine guns of the power armor soldiers. Almost instantly, they experienced heavy casualties.
“Fire at will!”
Jiang Chen carried the tactical rifle as he gritted his teeth and continuously pulled the trigger.
The mutated human’s charging momentum suddenly came to a halt. They began to lift their guns up to fire back, but shooting up was always a disadvantage as they were unable to return fire. Despite their muscle being able to carry the weight of the C-type plastic steel, it was too much for the spine. If they had to shoot up, that means their center of gravity must be shifted back, and all the weight will be concentrated on the spine.
“Nice job! How did you know their weakness?” Sun Jiao said in excitement while she continued to pull the trigger.
“Would you believe me if I said I guessed it?” He unloaded the empty magazine and smashed a new one into the cartilage. Jiang Chen aimed at the neck of a mutated human.
Dada!
The bullets penetrated through the neck of the mutated human, creating a splash of blood as the bullets broke his neck. He fell onto the ground like soft mud and stopped breathing.
Despite the incredible body, they were still human after all. Even if they surpassed the limitation of DNA, they could not overcome the barrier of life.
“They have entered Area A already; we lost control of the left wing on the second floor.” Noisy shouting was heard from the public channel.
“Retreat to the third floor.” Sun Jiao decisively ordered.
“Roger!”
They can’t allow the battle to take place in the hallway, once one wing lost control, the other wing had to retreat as well.
The revolving machine gun began to spin on the right hand, the left dragged the tactical rifle as the machine gun spat out a constant fire.
They kept their fire suppression as they retreated.
Once the defense line was compromised, they had to reestablish it on another floor. If they engaged fire with the mutated humans in the hallway, they would be the ones overwhelmed.
[Dammit, I should have brought some heat sensor grenades with me.] He saw the <Power armor 21% damaged symbol> on the full sensory screen as he cursed in his mind.
Who would have thought this crusade would be this problematic? Against the cold-blooded zombies and agile mutants, heat sensor grenades were practically useless.
At this moment, the floor violently shook. The explosion from the east side was audible even from the other wing.
“03 is down!”
“Dammit, it’s recoilless cannon!”
Jiang Chen watched with his own eyes as the 03 number became crossed and marked with <Heart Ceased> <Offline> symbol. Although he didn’t know the person’s name, seeing that his comrade has fallen, it was an indescribable feeling.
Although he was aware that there would be casualties in every battle.
“Retreat! Retreat to the roof!” Sun Jiao shouted in the public channel.
They couldn’t wait any longer. A T-3 power armor was worth over ten thousand crystal, and if it was busted, then there was one power armor less.
The mutated human saw that they gained an upper advantage as they began to shout out in joy. They attacked the stairs roaring. Even if they had ten people along the way, the 10 to 1 casualty ratio did not scare them because they firmly believe that once these metal junks were forced on the roof, they would turn into scrap metal under their firepower.
The armor in front of their chest was comparable to the T-3 C-type plastic armor. Technology? They didn’t need it!
“Dammit, why do they seem to be on drugs.” Sun Jiao clinched her teeth as the 72mm anti-tank cannon launched repeatedly. The AP bomb directly penetrated the concrete stairs and blew the mutated human into two pieces.
“Initiate final plans.” Jiang Chen met with Sun Jiao already as they took cover at the other end of the stairs. They leaned tightly against the wall as they shot with the tactical rifle.
Bullets flew and carried the trail of faint gray smoke.
“But, but that is 5400 crystals.” Sun Jiao’s face appeared as if she was about to cry.
“Enough! A T-3 is 13000 crystals.”
Sun Jiao clinched her teeth as she reluctantly made her last shot, and shouted in the public channel.
“Retreat! Initiate final plan!”
“Roger.”
The defense line could no longer hold on to the sixth floor, but there were still at least twenty mutated humans attacking. They already abandoned their plan of just piling on bodies and began to act more cautiously as they continuously fired the recoilless cannons and self-made grenades. The saving grace was that while they had almost an infinite amount of bullets, their grenades and bombs were limited, or else there was no way this battle could be fought.
Finally, the mutated humans rushed onto the sixth floor, it forced all the power armor soldiers into the hallway.
But at this moment, a scene the mutated human didn’t expect happened.
The metal junks all jumped out of the window as the turbine engine began to shoot out a blue trail of flames and carried them downstairs. At the same time, explosions began to erupt on the fifth and sixth floors. The hidden aluminum heat agent blew the stairs into pieces.
They could fly?
The stairs were destroyed?
However, they had no time to react.
<Backup fuel rod self-destruction program>
<Initiated>
Sun Jiao, in pain, pressed the confirm button, she regretted not carrying more explosives with her.
How wasteful was it to use the fuel rod costing 500 crystals, and 100 crystals to charge explosives?
Boom!!
The red flames began to blossom in the air, the almost liquefied fire waves instantly emerged the entire floor and erupted out from the previously black window.
He felt the waves of heat on the surface of his armor. Jiang Chen watched the blinding explosion, astonished.
Although it was not the first time he used fuel rod as explosives, it was his first time witnessing this effects of the explosion.
“Beautiful firework.” He subconsciously whistled.
“A firework worth 5000 crystals.” Sun Jiao was still bitter.
“Do you think that they haven’t considered that we could fly?” Jiang Chen asked as he watched the concrete begin to melt.
“Not all power armors are equipped with flying engines. Usually, only paratroopers would be fitted with the flying engine. The trade off for mobility is armor. The B-type armor used by land mobile armors are much stronger than the lighter C-type plastic armor. At the same time, it weighs much more than the 300 kg T-3, it usually weighs one ton. Also, the mutated humans are not known for their intelligence.”
The high temperature also ignited the plastic chairs placed in the hallway. The thick black smoke was quite visible even in the night. The power armors gradually landed, looking at the fire above them.
There was no doubt about their victory. Sun Jiao carried the anti-tank cannon on her shoulder.
“B-type armor? What are these things exactly.” Jiang Chen was curious.
“Material strength grade, SABCDEF, seven levels in total. It is also used in other industries. It is complicated to explain. You don’t know this after being here for this long?” Sun Jiao rolled her eyes.
“Seems like you know a lot,” Jiang Chen nonchalantly said as he glanced at the fire that was beginning to fade.
The building was well-engineered. Even after experiencing an explosion of this scale, the main structure remained intact.
“Common knowledge,” Sun Jiao mumbled and then opened the public channel. “Prepare to enter, group into 3s by number. Group A head to floor five and six to search for any mutated humans that have not died, only leave one alive.”
“Roger.” They saluted as 01,02,03 carried their tactical rifles into the building.
“Team B, go collect the power armor on floor three.” Although destroyed, a lot of parts were of high value.
“Roger.”
“Team C, clean up the battlefield at the experimental building.” After finishing her orders, Sun Jiao opened the helmet and playfully threw Jiang Chen a wink, and then closed the helmet and shouted in the private channel, “Follow your sister.”
“Is your butt aching?” Jiang Chen said fiercely.
He heard her giggling voice.
[This girl is becoming more naughty.]
-
Bullet holes were everywhere on the wall, Jiang Chen’s force left the ones on the north side. The south side should be from the encounter between the mutated humans and Huizhong Mercenaries.
It was evident that the mutated humans won.
There were bloodstains everywhere, along with severed limbs and flesh.
The pungent smell in the air and gruesome scene on the ground only made Jiang Chen slightly frown. Was it because he was used to death? Or only because it was too dark to see?
He would rather believe it was the latter.
Behind the back door, there were three modified trucks parked. They were bolted with thick steel plates along with a heavy machine attached to the top.
“Quite a gruesome battle.” Sun Jiao locked her eyebrows as she locked away a broken hand.
“Don’t those di*kless things want it alive?” Jiang Chen asked.
“Still alive, without a hand. Usually, normal people are just for breeding purposes.” As she said this, Sun Jiao walked behind the truck and opened the door.
Suddenly, Jiang Chen saw her stop.
His heart started to ache, but he didn’t have the time to open his mouth.
Like a bomb, the figure was blown away.
“Roar!”
The roaring sound came from inside the truck as it almost shattered Jiang Chen’s eardrums.
He couldn’t hear any sounds at that moment.
“C team encountered enemies! Requesting assistance!” 08 quickly pulled out the rifle and began to fire.
But the bullets seemed to have hit a metal plate as sparks popped up on the metal board, casting an unsettling feel.
Jiang Chen, who was still trying to recover from what had happened, saw, with the glimpse of his eyes, the explosive and agile figure get blown into the air.
Noise.
Color.
Everything in the world seemed to have escaped from his body.
<Heart Ceased>
Sun Jiao…
His head was empty.
In an instant, Jiang Chen’s eyes were covered in blood.