219: Chapter 219 Drones and Loitering Munitions

"Finished the inspection?"

"Yeah..."

"I take it things aren't looking good."

"Yes. They've reinforced their defenses," Kate replied. "Although they don't really have the ability to launch an assault, but..."

"Look on the bright side, they're like a bunch of cowards. If we punch them once, they'll just run away wailing."

"What a strange analogy..."

"Let's go then..." Li Ming shook his head. "Let's take it easy tonight. I haven't slept well for two nights in a row..."

Kate stretched and handed the drone back to Li Ming, watching him put it away like a magic trick.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

"It's a secret," Li Ming replied. "I'll tell you if there's a chance in the future."

"Alright..."

"Why the long face all of a sudden?" Li Ming found it a bit amusing to see her curiosity left unsatisfied.

He reached out to pat her head, somewhat inappropriately for the situation, but she reflexively dodged, and he withdrew his hand.

It seemed he had gotten so used to patting her head that he was losing track of the setting...

"Alright, we should head back—"

"Buzz... buzz..."

"Another drone?" Li Ming was startled.

"Hide, quick!"

Li Ming and Kate hurried behind cover to observe the drone's movements.

"These drones are heading inside..." Kate narrowed her eyes, listening to the surrounding sounds.

"What do you think their target is..." Li Ming observed the drones from the shadows.

"Spying for intel, and..." Kate answered, only to be immediately interrupted by Li Ming.

"They're carrying shells," Li Ming said. "And there's more than one. It'll be a disaster if we let them fly in."

With that, Li Ming grabbed his G36C. "Run downstairs quickly, I'll find a way to shoot one down."

"You..."

"I have experience against drones, leave it to me."

"Fine, be careful. I'll wait for you below!"

Knowing her marksmanship was nowhere near the level required for anti-drone work, Kate could only agree and ran downstairs as fast as she could.

She was only halfway down...

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Then she heard the sound of explosions, likely caused by the fuzes of the mortar shells carried by the drones being triggered.

After she reached the third floor and leaped down, landing steadily on the ground, another explosion echoed above her. Smoke billowed from the floor she had just been on; it had clearly been hit by a drone.

Next, she heard a thud.

Li Ming crashed onto a car, then rolled off. "Run!"

"Oh!"

Next, Kate displayed incredible reflexes.

In the open terrain, her prepared running and jumping abilities were astonishingly good. She swiftly crossed the main road littered with abandoned vehicles, deftly dodging a drone's impact and ducking behind cover without a scratch.

In comparison, Li Ming was in a much more pathetic state.

With a desperate dive, he used an overturned car to shield himself from a shockwave, then scrambled to his feet to keep running, cursing up a storm in his head.

There were still at least three or four drones overhead.

How are there so many?! How much stuff is the Donkey Party hiding?! Why didn't they bring these out sooner?

At the critical moment, Kate saved him by tossing two smoke grenades to obscure their vision, allowing him to successfully escape for the moment as the drones lost sight of them both.

"Where did they get so many drones? Why only use them now?!"

"Our territory has localized full-spectrum jamming. They couldn't get close, so naturally, they couldn't use them!" Kate replied.

"Well, thanks a freaking lot! Now it's my turn to get bombed for you!" Li Ming howled. "You're fast! I'll draw their fire! You go find a jammer!"

"What about you?!"

"That doesn't freaking matter! All I know is if this keeps up, we're both going to end up dead here!"

"...Then be careful!"

Li Ming rushed out, sprayed a drone in the sky with bullets, and then continued fleeing with the drones hot on his tail.

By clinging to abandoned vehicles, Li Ming escaped death several times, but he inevitably ran toward a familiar route to find more reliable cover.

So, he unconsciously headed back toward his own hideout; at least there was plenty of cover there, and hiding in a building would make him harder to find.

After nearly an hour of struggle, the drones in the sky suddenly dropped straight down, crashing into corners and exploding.

The remaining drones met the same fate.

"Li! Are you here?"

It was Maria's voice.

"I'm here," Li Ming shouted, emerging from a nearby building. "The support was perfectly timed. Thank you."

"It was nothing." Maria gave a confident smile and a thumbs-up. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Indeed." Li Ming looked at Kate, who was fiddling with a Jammer Gun. "And you too, Kate. Good job."

"Hehe, you bet!" She put down the gun and stood with her hands on her hips, a 'look how great I am' expression on her face.

Even though it was Maria who had actually operated the Jammer Gun.

"Next..."

Whoosh—

"What the—"

"Loitering Munition!" Logic, who had been maintaining mental communication with Li Ming, suddenly shouted.

Boom!

Seeing the sudden explosion overhead, the three of them hurried toward another building to avoid being crushed by falling debris.

"Wait, that building..." Li Ming's expression froze, and once the debris had mostly settled, he ran out.

The building that got bombed was his own hideout...

"..."

Li Ming was silent for a long while, and then...

"My [beautiful Jiangnan dialect], you bombed my house, didn't you?!"

Well, it looked like the hideout he had spent so much effort building was completely ruined.

Kate and Maria looked at each other. Although they wanted to show some concern for Li Ming, seeing him act like a possessed Resident of Zaun, Kate couldn't help herself, and Maria joined in their heartless laughter.

"What's so funny, hey! My house is gone! It's gone!"

"Don't worry, Li... pfft, we're professionals, we usually don't laugh..."

"Unless we can't help it... pfft-hahaha..."

"..." Li Ming covered half of his face and sighed.

Maria and Kate calmed down after a moment and finally began to consider one thing...

What should they do next?

Li Ming was scratching his head downstairs. Although the threat seemed to be gone, his hideout had taken a devastating hit and was definitely uninhabitable.

Maria tapped her right hand against her left; she had an idea.

"Li."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"You can stay at my place."

"Huh?"

"I mean, stay in my garage," Maria said.

...

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