174: Chapter 174 Artillery Barrage? Did you get my permission, K38?!

The Yang Country Commander felt it wasn't enough, and his heart was filled with trepidation.

He breathed heavily, pacing back and forth in the command room, the expression on his face looking particularly ferocious.

A long while later.

He stopped, a trace of madness flashing in his eyes.

"Since conventional methods can't catch you, then don't blame me for not playing by the rules!"

"Connect me to the artillery position!" he roared at the communications officer, enunciating every word.

"Order! The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Long-Range Rocket Artillery Battalions are to immediately conduct indiscriminate, saturation fire coverage on the D-7 area!"

"I want that Gobi Desert completely erased from the map!"

"General! Please think twice!" A senior staff officer, aghast, hurriedly stepped forward to dissuade him.

"That area has complex terrain, our personnel haven't fully withdrawn yet, and…"

"Execute the order!" The Commander refused to listen to his explanation, pushing him aside and roaring:

"I don't care what method you use! I don't care what price we pay! I just want him dead!"

"Yes!"

The order was quickly transmitted.

…

Inside the grotto.

Qin Feng, who was resting with his eyes closed, felt his heart skip a beat.

An unprecedented sense of crisis instantly enveloped him.

The bionic spider's alarm blared frantically in his mind.

It wasn't soldiers, nor vehicles.

It was… an overwhelming, all-encompassing death!

"Go! Quickly!"

Qin Feng pulled Lanna up. Without even having time to pack anything, he rushed out of the grotto and leapt onto his horse.

"What's wrong?!" Lanna was bewildered by his sudden actions.

"A bad premonition."

Qin Feng didn't explain, instead snapping the reins sharply.

"Giddyup!"

Chiyan let out a neigh, turning into a streak of red lightning as it bolted desperately into the depths of the Gobi Desert.

Less than thirty seconds after they rushed out of the grotto.

"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—!"

Countless ear-piercing shrieks tore through the night sky.

Countless small dots lit up on the horizon, like an inverted meteor shower dragging long trails of fire, screaming toward the area they had just vacated.

The next second.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!"

The apocalypse had arrived.

The entire earth was shaking and groaning violently.

The grotto they had just been sheltering in, along with the surrounding area for several kilometers, was instantly swallowed by a violent sea of fire.

A terrifying shockwave, mixed with millions of tons of sand and flames, erupted into the sky.

The ruthless blast wave scoured everything in the area.

Lanna glanced back, and with just that one look, the blood drained from her face completely.

That area had already turned into a purgatory of fire.

She didn't doubt for a second that if they had left half a minute later, they would have been blown to pieces—not even a single complete cell would be left.

"Lunatics! They're all lunatics!" her voice trembled, laced with tears.

However, this was only the beginning.

The artillery fire began to extend, creeping toward the direction of their escape.

Rocket shells, like hail, fell relentlessly around them, blasting out massive craters.

"Boom!"

A shell landed less than five hundred meters in front of Chiyan.

The violent explosion and the resulting blast wave nearly knocked them to the ground.

Chiyan, startled, let out a mournful neigh as its speed slowed.

If this continued, they would be caught sooner or later!

A flicker of ruthlessness flashed in Qin Feng's eyes.

He yanked the reins, deciding against a straight escape, and began to weave in a "Z" pattern through this death zone filled with incoming fire.

Relying on the wealth of combat experience from his past life and his precise prediction of the artillery trajectories, he sought a chance at survival in the gaps between the explosions time and time again.

This was no longer just riding a horse; this was dancing on the edge of a blade!

Lanna's heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would jump out of her throat.

She squeezed her eyes shut, not daring to look, and could only entrust her fate entirely to this man.

Just then.

Qin Feng's gaze pierced through the heavy fire and smoke, finally locking onto a ridge in the distance that stood out from the rest.

There, faint lights were flickering.

An artillery observation post!

They were the ones guiding the artillery fire!

Found them!

Qin Feng's mouth twitched, his eyes turning fierce.

He thrust the reins into Lanna's hands, his voice calm and decisive.

"Hold on tight! No matter what happens, don't stop. Keep running forward!"

Before he even finished speaking, he vaulted sideways like an ape!

The moment he landed, he rolled, sprang to his feet, and sprinted toward the artillery observation post.

"Chef! What are you doing? Come back!" Lanna screamed in disbelief.

However, Qin Feng didn't pay her any mind.

In an instant, he vanished into the night.

His military-grade bionic limb pushed to its limit, leaving a scorching trail on the ground.

Inside the observation post, someone spotted a dark shadow and grew puzzled.

"Report, I think I just saw something heading toward us."

"Regardless of what it is, report the coordinates and hit it with two rounds."

"Yes!"

Soon, the artillery adjusted its angle and began a new round of strikes.

But quickly, the observer discovered something even more bizarre.

That elusive shadow—how had it become two?

The Yang Country soldiers in the observation post were completely baffled.

One target had become two.

One large, one small, moving with ghostly speed.

Then, right before their eyes, the smaller shadow disappeared on the spot without any warning.

It was as if the TV signal had glitched and it had suddenly flickered out of existence.

"Report… report! The small target… has disappeared!" the observer's voice trembled.

He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was suffering from hallucinations due to high mental stress.

"What do you mean it disappeared?!" the Commander's roar came over the communicator. "Explain yourself!"

"It just… poof, like that, it was gone!" the observer stammered incoherently.

Little did he know that what he had seen was actually the "Ghost," intentionally deployed by Qin Feng to confuse the enemy.

It seemed the effect was quite good!

As the observer was reporting, the larger shadow performed an exaggerated aerial maneuver and also vanished into the blind spot of their night-vision goggles.

"The large one… the large one is gone too!"

"Sorcery! It must be sorcery!"

Another observer clutched his head, screaming as if he had seen a ghost.

Inside the command center.

The Yang Country Commander stared at the two vanished light spots on the screen, unable to hear any response from the frontline observation post—only the static of the radio remained.

An ominous premonition instantly gripped his heart.

Damn it! Something went wrong!

"Calling artillery observation post! Respond if you can hear me! Repeat, respond if you can hear me!"

The radio was dead silent.

Outside the observation post, Qin Feng, like a shadow, clung silently to the outer wall of the bunker.

Just a moment ago, he had pushed his prosthetic limb to its limit, coordinating with the Ghost's synchronized movements,

one responsible for attracting frontal attention, the other for an extreme flanking assault,

managing to pull off this incredible "stealth" surprise attack right under the enemy's nose.

At this moment, his K38 was ready, and the enemies were already within his sniping range.

K38 function mode: switch!

Through the scope, thermal imaging mode clearly outlined the three humanoid silhouettes inside the bunker.

One was facing the communicator, while the other two were huddled in the corner, shivering.

Qin Feng's crosshairs locked onto the load-bearing wall between the three men.

"Whoosh!"

A sound of air being pierced, so faint it was nearly negligible.

There was no muzzle flash, no loud bang.

A fist-sized hole instantly appeared in the reinforced concrete wall.

Inside the bunker, the three Yang Country soldiers were still reeling from the shock.

Suddenly, a hole erupted without warning in the wall between them.

"What…"

They didn't even have time to react.

The special armor-piercing round, having been slightly slowed by the wall, detonated within the confined space!

"Boom—!"

It wasn't just an explosion, but a more terrifying release of kinetic energy.

Countless tungsten steel fragments pre-loaded in the warhead sprayed in every direction at several times the speed of sound.

The entire interior of the bunker instantly turned into a high-speed meat grinder.

The walls, equipment, and ceiling were instantly riddled with countless bullet holes.

The three Yang Country soldiers didn't even have time to groan before they were torn into countless pieces in the dense metal storm.

Blood and gore splattered across the entire observation post.

[Ding! Successfully destroyed enemy artillery observation post x1, severed enemy artillery blockade. Received: Fixed military merit +800, Free military merit +200.]

[Ding! Detected host's extreme escape under saturation artillery fire and successful execution of a decapitation counterattack. Special reward granted!]

[Reward: K38 Electromagnetic Sniper Rifle - Portable Rechargeable Magazine x1.]

[Portable Rechargeable Magazine: Contains a built-in micro Controlled Nuclear Fusion battery, capable of providing one full energy recharge for the K38. Also equipped with a kinetic/light energy conversion module, allowing for slow self-recharging by absorbing external energy while in a non-combat state (Estimated charging time: 72 hours).]

[Host: Qin Feng]

[Rank: Second-Class Sergeant (10900/20000)]

[military merit: 535 points]

Good stuff!

Qin Feng's eyes lit up.

That single bullet had consumed 30% of his energy.

This K38 magazine was a godsend.

With it, the K38's endurance had taken a qualitative leap.

This meant he had gained one more means of survival.

"Ghost, clean up the battlefield."

Qin Feng issued the order.

A black shadow flashed by, slipping into the ravaged observation post.

A few seconds later, it returned to Qin Feng's feet, carrying a tactical communicator that was still blinking with indicator lights.

Qin Feng put on the headset, and the Yang Country Commander's frantic roar immediately came through.

"Answer me! Damn it! What the hell happened at the observation post?!"

"Artillery! Artillery Battalion! Are you all deaf? Why did you stop firing? Who told you to cease fire?!"

"Keep firing! Plow the D-7 area for me!"

Listening to the impotent rage coming through the headset, Qin Feng laughed.

He cleared his throat and replied slowly in fluent Yang Country language.

"Stop shouting. They can't hear you anymore."

"…"

The other end of the communication channel instantly fell into a deathly silence.

The Yang Country Commander's breathing seemed to stop at that moment.

That voice…

It was that Long Country devil!

He… he had actually wiped out his own artillery observation post!

"Who… who exactly are you?!"

The Commander's voice was far from calm.

No! He was completely losing his composure!

"Me?" Qin Feng thought for a moment and decided to introduce himself in a different way.

"I am the flagpole ornament reserved by your headquarters, designated 001."

"Pfft—!"

Inside the command center, the Yang Country Commander was so enraged that he spat out a mouthful of blood. His vision darkened, and he nearly fainted on the spot.

What humiliation!

"You just wait! I want you dead! Dead! Dead!"

"Fine, I'll be waiting."

Qin Feng tossed the headset aside and walked away with a flourish.