48: Chapter 48 Hand-to-Hand Combat: A Symphony of Flames and Steel

"Bang! Bang!"

The entire carriage was shaking violently.

The surveillance screen displayed it.

Several [Mutant Scythe Beetles], over three meters long with forelimbs like giant grim reaper scythes.

They were crawling on the roof, waving their forelimbs—capable of slicing through ordinary steel plates—and madly hacking at the train's titanium alloy armor.

Sparks flew everywhere.

Although they couldn't cut through the TC4 titanium alloy for a while, the grating sound of metal friction made the girls in the carriage feel their scalps tingle.

If they destroyed the roof's ventilation system or the external wiring, it would be big trouble.

"It's time."

Lin Xiao took a deep breath, his eyes turning extremely cold.

He pressed the button for the internal communication channel.

"Valkyries, listen up."

"Clear the roof."

"Leave none alive!"

...

"Copy that!"

Three crisp, metallic-sounding female voices rang out simultaneously in the communication channel.

The No. 3 armored skylight on the train roof slid open slowly.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Three silver-gray steel gods of war, like three missiles ejected from a launch silo, trailed blue exhaust flames and landed steadily on the wide train roof.

It was Su Qingqian, Zhao Xiaotang, and Chen Yuanyuan.

The wind howled, and the screeching of the insect swarm was deafening.

But standing inside this cold metal armor, the three women felt no fear at all.

Only a thirst for power and boiling fighting spirit!

This was the live-combat debut of the exoskeleton power armor.

"I've been dying to do this!"

Zhao Xiaotang's wild voice came through the helmet's loudspeaker.

She didn't use any of the mech's thermal weapons at all.

Relying solely on that thick metal armor, like a runaway humanoid tank, she charged directly at the nearest Mutant Scythe Beetle!

The beetle had also spotted this "little thing."

It let out a shrill screech, waving its two two-meter-long sharp scythe forelimbs, and hacked down at Zhao Xiaotang!

If it were before, Zhao Xiaotang might have had to dodge using footwork.

But now?

"Is that supposed to tickle me?"

Zhao Xiaotang didn't dodge, instead raising her titanium-wrapped arms to meet the two deadly bone scythes head-on!

"Clang—!!!"

A loud noise.

Sparks flew.

The insect scythe, capable of cutting through steel, struck the Valkyries mech's arm armor without even leaving a white mark!

Instead, it shook the beetle, making it sway.

In the blink of an eye.

Zhao Xiaotang's already terrifying triple super-strength, amplified by the hydraulic thrust of the micro cold fusion reactor, erupted completely!

She grabbed the beetle's thick forelimb joints with a backhand grip.

The thrusters on the back of the mech spewed blue flames instantly, providing her with a terrifying backward pulling force.

"Break! Apart!"

Accompanied by Zhao Xiaotang's roar.

The hydraulic devices on the mech's arms emitted a grating roar.

"Crack!!!"

Amidst a shrill, extreme insect screech.

That two-ton Mutant Scythe Beetle was actually ripped in two by Zhao Xiaotang!

Green insect blood and internal organs sprayed out like a waterfall, landing on the silver-gray armor, only to be quickly evaporated by the high heat.

Violence!

Pure, extreme aesthetics of violence!

The girls watching this on the surveillance screens all gasped.

Is this still the Zhao Xiaotang who usually likes to giggle?

She is simply a violent demon god from hell!

On the other side of the roof.

The style was completely different.

Su Qingqian, wearing her streamlined Valkyries mech, didn't go head-to-head like Zhao Xiaotang.

She was more like an assassin dancing on the tip of a blade.

"Shhh—"

On the outside of her right arm, the high-frequency vibration blade emitting a ghostly blue light ejected.

She moved her mind.

Her own ice-type ability perfectly attached to the vibration blade along the mech's energy-conducting channel.

The blade, already sharp enough to cut iron like mud, instantly condensed a layer of extremely deep, cold frost sword energy.

"Frost: Swallow's Return."

Su Qingqian's cold voice rang out.

The micro vector nozzles on the mech's legs spewed a stream of air.

Her graceful figure instantly turned into a silver-gray afterimage on the roof, sliding and weaving through the three Iron-Armored Fairies surrounding her at an incredible angle.

Too fast!

With the mech's assistance, her speed broke the limits of the human body.

Every swing of the vibration blade in her hand left a beautiful ice-blue arc in the air.

There was no intense collision sound.

Only a chilling freezing sound.

When Su Qingqian stopped her figure and slowly retracted the vibration blade into her arm.

The three Iron-Armored Fairies that had been showing off just moments ago suddenly stiffened.

Their joints were covered with a thick layer of frost.

Under the dual destruction of extreme deep cold and high-frequency vibration.

"Bang!"

The three giant bugs, like three exquisite ice sculptures, shattered into a pile of ice slag with a crash!

Cold, elegant, yet deadly.

This was the strength of the strongest sword.

Compared to these two big bosses slaughtering everything.

Chen Yuanyuan, who was wearing the mech for the first time, seemed a bit flustered.

Although she had practiced in the virtual training room, she still felt a bit dizzy when it came to this real-life, blood-soaked battlefield.

Several poison moths that spat strong acid spotted this seemingly weaker target.

They flapped their wings, hovering in mid-air, green acid already condensing in their mouthparts.

"Don't... don't come over!"

Chen Yuanyuan closed her eyes in fear.

But with the assistance of the system's holographic UI interface, her body made the most instinctive reaction.

The mech's fire control radar instantly locked onto the targets in mid-air.

"Warning: Enemy biological unit detected and locked."

"Left shoulder micro high-explosive missile nest, activated."

The mech's intelligent auxiliary system prompted.

Chen Yuanyuan didn't need to aim at all; she subconsciously pulled the launch button on the joystick.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Accompanied by four sharp whistles.

Four micro-missiles, only the size of cigars but loaded with highly concentrated explosives, shot into the sky trailing long smoke trails.

Under the precise guidance of the fire control radar.

These missiles drew several strange arcs in mid-air and drilled precisely into the mouths of those poison moths!

"Boom!!!"

A violent explosion rang out in mid-air.

Those poison moths were blown into clusters of green fireworks.

Not even a scrap remained.

"Wow..."

Chen Yuanyuan opened her eyes, looking at the fire in the sky, her little mouth wide open in surprise.

So... am I this powerful?

This feeling of just moving a finger and having missiles carpet-bomb everything... it actually feels pretty good?

The once timid and weak girl seemed to have opened the door to a new world at this moment.

...

The powerful performance of the three Valkyries.

Through the surveillance screens inside the carriage, it was clearly displayed before every girl's eyes.

The atmosphere, which had been a bit fearful, was instantly replaced by a fanatical fighting spirit.

The power of example is infinite.

Even that little girl Chen Yuanyuan could slaughter everything on the roof.

What were they afraid of?

"Sisters!"

Shen Man stood in the corridor, holding a flamethrower that had just been converted.

Her gentle and intellectual face was now stained with a touch of resolute crimson.

Although she couldn't go outside to melee like Su Qingqian, she had to protect this home!

"The squad leader and the Valkyries are fighting for their lives outside."

"We cannot be cowards!"

"Pick up your weapons!"

"Roast all these disgusting bugs into charcoal for me!"

"Kill!!!"

Dozens of girls from the combat and mobile groups let out deafening shouts.

They thrust the barrels of their flamethrowers through the specially modified firing ports.

"Fire!"

Liu Ruyan gave the order.

"Whoosh————!!!"

Dozens of scorching fire dragons, over ten meters long, instantly spewed out from both sides of the Black Iron!

That was napalm converted by the system!

The temperature was as high as thousands of degrees, and it was extremely adhesive.

Those bottom-level bugs that were preparing to climb the train let out shrill screams the moment they touched the fire.

The carapaces on their bodies crackled as they burned, and their green body fluids boiled instantly.

The entire Black Iron, at this moment, seemed to have turned into a flaming hedgehog sprinting across the Gobi Desert.

Any creature that dared to approach would be ruthlessly burned to ashes.

On the roof.

Three mechs were killing crazily like meat grinders.

Inside the carriage.

Dozens of fire dragons wove into a death web of fire.

The electromagnetic cannon in the sky still let out a roar from time to time.

Fire and steel.

Under this dark red firmament.

Composed a most violent, most gorgeous doomsday symphony!

Lin Xiao stood on the command platform.

Looking at the sea of fire and mountains of insect corpses outside.

The corners of his mouth curled into a proud, cold sneer.

Insect swarm disaster?

It's just a stepping stone for this war machine of mine on its way forward.

This hellish slaughter had been going on for a full forty hours.

The Gobi Desert around the Black Iron had long been burned into a scorched, glassy land.

The mountains of insect corpses emitted a nauseating burnt stench.

Even the gene-enhanced girls, whose physical strength far exceeded ordinary people, were now so tired that their arms were numb, relying entirely on a will to survive to mechanically pull the triggers.

The dark red on the horizon seemed to have dimmed a bit.

The attack density of the insect tide finally dropped visibly.

"Phew... is it finally ending?"

Luo Yao slumped in front of the console, rubbing her sore eyes; the data streams on her tactical glasses had become a bit blurry.

However, just when everyone thought dawn was coming.

"Beep beep beep beep————!!!!"

The highest-level red alarm on the Black Iron's main console suddenly screeched like crazy!

The piercing alarm sound instantly tore through the brief relaxed atmosphere in the carriage.

Luo Yao sat up straight abruptly, staring fixedly at the radar screen, her little face turning pale instantly.

"Squad... Squad Leader!"

"Underground! Directly beneath us!"

"There is a terrifying high-energy biological reaction surfacing rapidly!"

"Energy level... Tier 3! No! It's the peak of Tier 3!!!"

Luo Yao's voice cracked from extreme fear.

Before the words fell.

The entire Black Iron suddenly jolted violently.

It was like a lonely boat sailing in a storm.

"Rumble————!!!"

On the Gobi Desert less than a hundred meters in front of the train, the ground suddenly bulged upward without warning.

Countless gravel and soil mixed with acid shot into the sky, like a volcanic eruption.

Immediately after.

In the eyes of everyone, filled with horror.

A terrifying giant beast, over thirty meters long and resembling a small train, burst out from the ground with suffocating pressure!

It was a giant centipede, commonly known as a "money stringer."

But it was too big!

So big that one look made people's scalps tingle and their sanity crash.

Its body was covered with a layer of thick carapace shimmering with dark golden light, refracting a chilling metallic texture under the searchlights.

On both sides of its body grew hundreds of blade-like legs several meters long!

This was a true king commanding the sea of insects in this Gobi—a Tier 3 peak boss monster, the Golden Giant Centipede!

"Hiss————!!!"

The insect king raised its hideous head and let out a shrill screech.

The sound even formed a visible sound wave, making the Black Iron's explosion-proof glass shake wildly, and the girls in the carriage covered their ears in pain one after another.

With its appearance, the remaining insect tide that had begun to retreat seemed to have been injected with a stimulant, falling into madness once again.

The insect king's thousands of blade-like legs swept across the ground in unison.

The several abandoned pre-war armored vehicles blocking its path were like tofu, instantly cut into countless pieces of smooth scrap iron!

And its huge body was rushing straight at the front of the Black Iron at a terrifying speed that defied logic!

Thirty meters long, combined with that terrifying speed and tonnage.

Once hit head-on, even a medium-sized armored train would definitely derail instantly, or even be overturned!

"Da-da-da-da-da!"

The machine gun turret on the roof, having just cooled down, fired automatically.

Dense bullets hit the insect king's dark golden carapace, but apart from splashing a series of powerless sparks, they couldn't even leave a white mark!

Even the napalm burning at thousands of degrees, when it fell on it, only made it slightly annoyed.

Conventional weapons were completely ineffective against such a Tier 3 peak monster!

And on the roof.

Su Qingqian, who was just about to swing her blade at the other Iron-Armored Fairies, also sensed the terrifying vibration beneath her feet.

She turned her head to look at the monster rushing over like a moving mountain of gold, her pupils shrinking violently under the mask.

Even wearing the Valkyries mech, in the face of such absolute size suppression, she felt so small.

"Qing Qian! Xiao Tang! Yuanyuan!"

"Abandon the fight immediately!"

"Get back here right now!!!"

Lin Xiao's overbearing roar, which brooked no argument, exploded directly in the three women's helmets via the internal communication.

Without the slightest hesitation.

Su Qingqian kicked the bug in front of her away, fully opened her back thrusters, and slid rapidly toward the entrance of the skylight.

Zhao Xiaotang also threw away the torn insect corpse in her hand, grabbed Chen Yuanyuan, who was still in a daze, and threw her into the skylight like a chicken.

The three mechs had just jumped into the carriage when, with a "bang," the thick titanium alloy skylight locked instantly.

Lin Xiao didn't look at the three women who had retreated.

He strode across the command platform and pushed away the autopilot module.

This man, at this moment, displayed the absolute control a wasteland warlord should have.