45: Light armor nemesis (Please add to your collection)

Under the cover of the armored vehicle's heavy machine guns, Li Xiao saw a platoon of Imperial Soldiers entering the forest, seemingly beginning their assault.

The forces in the woods, of unknown affiliation, likely had less than a company's worth of firepower, with only a few squad machine guns as their main strength; faced with the Black Hawk Empire's suppressive fire, they could only retreat step by step.

"It looks like we need to step in, or once our allies in the woods collapse, we'll be the ones in trouble! Di Yun, drive up and ram them right in the face!"

"Huh? Boss, if we ram them, we won't be able to blow up these armored vehicles anytime soon! Instead, we'll be the ones getting blown up; there are over a dozen heavy machine guns there."

Li Xiao said irritably, "I'm not telling you to rush to the side and take all the fire. Just pull up right in front of the lead vehicle. That way, at most two machine guns can hit us."

"What if they send the vehicles behind to flank us?"

"Then we bail! We have 120,000 durability; even if we just sit there and let them spray us, it'll take a while. If we keep harassing them, only then will our allies in the woods have a chance to counterattack!"

"Alright! Here we go!"

Seeing that Li Xiao had made up his mind, Di Yun stepped on the gas without hesitation and charged toward the Black Hawk armored unit.

As the car rounded a bend and appeared in the armored convoy's sight, the lead vehicle spotted Li Xiao and the others immediately, and 12.7mm machine gun rounds rained down on the front of their vehicle.

The vehicle was a large target, making it difficult to dodge bullets, but Li Xiao and his team were completely fearless with 120,000 HP to back them up.

"Company Commander! A military off-road vehicle is charging at the front of the convoy!"

A voice came over the radio again. Looking at the opposite woods through the observation port of the command vehicle, the Captain said somewhat angrily, "Why report a single off-road vehicle! Just blow it up if it opens fire!"

"But... but... we can't blow it up! We can't blow it up at all!"

Bang!

With a heavy metallic crash, the fierce tiger h9 slammed right into an Armored Personnel Carrier. The machine gunners on the roofs of both vehicles immediately opened fire on each other.

The machine gun position on top of the off-road vehicle had no steel plate protection, and the APC only had steel plates on the sides and rear, with no protection at the front. Thus, the moment they exchanged fire, both sides were hit several times.

The machine gunner, Leng He, had 19,000 HP; being hit by a dozen heavy machine gun bullets dealing over a hundred damage each meant nothing to him. However, the machine gunner opposite him wasn't as tanky, and five machine gun rounds killed the Corporal.

The second Armored Personnel Carrier saw things were going south and quickly turned its gun to support, but the result was the same—after only a few shots, it was silenced by Leng He.

Two more soldiers climbed up onto these two APCs in succession, trying to man the machine guns again to blow up the fierce tiger h9, but they were gunned down before they could even pull the trigger.

For a moment, no one came to attack them. There were still soldiers inside the two Armored Personnel Carriers, but none dared to jump out or man the machine gun positions.

"Company Commander! Requesting reinforcements! That off-road vehicle is too strange. The machine gunner simply won't die, and we can't even blow up the vehicle!"

A soldier's panicked shout came over the radio.

"An unkillable machine gunner?"

The Captain's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't help but recall the words of the defeated Major who was a battalion commander yesterday; hadn't they encountered enemies that were just as difficult to kill?

Realizing the danger, he quickly grabbed the radio and roared, "M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicles, reinforce the lead vehicle! We're in big trouble!"

The two fighting vehicles that had been spraying the forest area received the order and quickly turned around, rushing to the front of the convoy.

Li Xiao, who had been waiting for Zhao Feipeng's unit to arrive, immediately ordered Di Yun to turn around and flee the moment he saw the two armored fighting vehicles approaching.

Just as Di Yun finished a fishtail to adjust his direction, two heavy machine guns and four light machine guns opened fire on him. Bullets clattered against the vehicle, and its durability plummeted by hundreds to thousands of HP per second.

Leng He was also dumbfounded as he stared at the fighting vehicles. The light and heavy machine guns on these vehicles were encased within the turret, with only the muzzles exposed; his machine gun bullets couldn't hit anyone inside at all.

Seeing this, Li Xiao ordered Di Yun to accelerate their retreat while telling Leng He to return fire.

But after firing only a few dozen rounds, Leng He was immediately suppressed by the enemy's light machine guns. Unable to withstand being hit by over twenty bullets, he had no choice but to duck back into the vehicle.

"Damn it! What do we do?"

Leng He asked nervously while applying a bandage.

Li Xiao was also a bit panicked seeing the fierce tiger h9's HP drop by 30,000 in just twenty seconds. He grabbed his headset and shouted, "Zhao Feipeng, where are you guys!"

After a few seconds, Zhao Feipeng replied breathlessly, "Still nine hundred meters away!"

Upon receiving the reply, Li Xiao casually restored 30,000 durability to the vehicle.

Seeing Li Xiao's off-road vehicle retreating in a panic, the Captain shouted coldly into the radio, "Fighting vehicles, continue the pursuit! All other units, push the Tian Yu Forces back!"

Likely because the suppression from the two fighting vehicles was gone, the pressure on Tian Yu decreased sharply, and they showed signs of breaking out again.

However, the M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicles the Captain mentioned were, after all, armored support vehicles; they couldn't keep up with the speed of the meng hu off-road vehicle.

But they had received a death order to maintain the pursuit. Even as the off-road vehicle drew further away, they could only follow, using their superior firepower to continuously whittle down the enemy vehicle's durability, hoping to blow it up before losing it.

"Damn it! How can a military off-road vehicle be so tanky? We've clearly hit it with hundreds of rounds!"

"Should we keep chasing? I'm worried they have reinforcements ahead!"

"How can we not chase? If they come back later, we'll all be in for it!"

But just then, the machine gun turret of the lead fighting vehicle suddenly exploded with a bang. Screams followed from inside the vehicle as the gunner operating the machine gun in the turret was turned into a bloody mess, tumbling into the lower cockpit like a ball of fire.

Before anyone could react, a second, third, and fourth shot followed. Almost every shot left deep impact marks on their seemingly solid armor, and from time to time, a bullet would pierce the steel plate and enter the cockpit.

Of course, that wasn't all. Their target had turned back to open fire on them, and even more rifles and light machine guns were spraying them from the surroundings.

"Retreat, quickly! There's an ambush ahead!"

After chasing for a kilometer, the two fighting vehicles turned around to flee. Seeing this, Li Xiao had Di Yun stop the car and swapped in Yan Yizhou, who was holding an M101 anti-materiel sniper rifle.

Now that it was the off-road vehicle's turn to chase the fighting vehicles, it was much easier. Yan Yizhou fired frantically at the damaged fighting vehicle from the narrow angle Di Yun provided.

Although the powerful recoil of the anti-materiel rifle made Yan Yizhou's shoulder ache, no discomfort showed on his face; instead, he looked ecstatic.

"Holy crap! This fighting vehicle's HP is way too high. I've emptied three magazines and it still hasn't exploded!"

Yan Yizhou reloaded a magazine and lined up the bullet-riddled fighting vehicle, which was about to duck back into the armored convoy, in his crosshairs.

Bang!

Another armor-piercing explosive incendiary round was fired. In the next second, the fighting vehicle exploded violently while in motion. Amidst a burst of flames, the vehicle turned into a chariot of fire, lost control, and flipped off the shoulder of the road.