81: I'll let you have 10,000 guns first

His Life Pool bug would likely not be factored in by the system; otherwise, it would mean the system was aware of his Life Pool's existence. Would the system allow a bug to violate the rules it had established?

However, the other party also frowned inwardly upon seeing Li Xiao's level 9 base, as the HP of a level 9 base command center was 3.5 million, a full 1.5 million durability higher than his level 8 command center.

[Now, drawing lots to determine who gets the first move!]

The system prompted again, and five scattered playing cards appeared face-down on the 3D sand table. The Brown-haired Man opposite him smiled and said, "Friend, after you!"

The other party's English was very authentic. Li Xiao's English had barely passed the CET-4, but he didn't intend to use it. In this situation, every word spoken could potentially expose his mindset and intentions.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony!"

Li Xiao, not caring whether the other party understood Chinese, reached out, grabbed the nearest playing card, and clicked to reveal it.

"It's an eleven!"

A Jack of Diamonds appeared in Li Xiao's hand. He felt a bit glum; war game simulations didn't prioritize the first-move advantage like Go. In fact, playing second was advantageous because the opponent could see all your deployments and counter them accordingly.

He had drawn an eleven, and it was highly likely the other party's card would be smaller.

Sure enough, upon seeing Li Xiao's card, the Brown-haired Man triumphantly picked a card at random and dragged it over—it was a six of hearts!

"Damn! Such good luck! 'Six-six,' smooth sailing?" Li Xiao felt like he was about to lose it.

[Red side has the first move!]

The system indicated that Li Xiao had ten minutes of deployment time, while the personnel and vehicles in the base were highlighted.

He surveyed the entire battlefield. The bridge was clearly the key contested area, as behind the opponent's bridgehead lay a plain, followed by a one-kilometer-wide forest, with dirt roads through the woods connecting to the base.

Needless to say, Li Xiao's side had even worse terrain; once the opponent pushed through, they would have a clear path.

Of course, besides the bridge, there was land on both sides that could lead directly to each other's bases, though it required a long detour around the river.

Furthermore, although the river averaged about thirty meters in width, some areas were only ten meters wide, and there were shallow shoals; while it might be difficult for off-road vehicles to cross, the opponent's 6x6 wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier could easily wade across.

"Damn it, it's just a higher-level base! Did they have to be so biased with the terrain? Plus, the opponent has an Armored Personnel Carrier!"

Li Xiao cursed inwardly, but his hands didn't stop.

He first set the march destination for nine meng hu off-road vehicles to the bridgehead and stationed a machine gunner there.

He couldn't see the soldiers' names here, only their military ranks and strength ratings, but he could see their equipment, so he had to rely on his intuition to drag those who were likely the original members of First Platoon over to defend.

The second step was to have four snipers take all-terrain vehicles to ambush behind the shoals on both sides, aiming to intercept the enemy and buy some buffer time.

He didn't set up defenses for the areas one kilometer away on the flanks that led directly into his territory; he figured that rather than splitting his forces to guard them, it would be safer to firmly defend the base.

If the two Armored Personnel Carriers chose to bypass the bridge instead of crossing it, he would at least have a chance to redeploy.

Additionally, there were dozens of anti-personnel mines around the perimeter of his base. These anti-personnel mines were marked as "hidden," which likely meant they wouldn't be directly visible to the opponent.

However, since his continuous operations on the sand table might alert the opponent to something fishy, he decided not to touch them.

Li Xiao still had nearly a hundred soldiers stationed inside the base, and among the ten standby meng hu off-road vehicles, four were equipped with heavy machine guns. Li Xiao believed the opponent would definitely not send the Armored Personnel Carriers to attack his base from the flanks, as that would be suicide.

With three minutes remaining, Li Xiao completed his deployment and confirmed it; the next ten minutes were the opponent's turn to lay out their strategy.

However, Li Xiao panicked at the opponent's very first move; he saw that they had loaded the two Armored Personnel Carriers with troops and set their march path directly to the shoals.

Li Xiao felt that his two snipers were definitely done for with this move. In war game simulations, once both sides finished deployment, the system handled the engagement automatically. Snipers facing an encroaching Armored Personnel Carrier wouldn't necessarily choose to retreat, and engaging it directly meant certain death.

Immediately afterward, the opponent deployed fifteen off-road vehicles carrying seventy-five men to occupy the other bridgehead as well.

Seeing this, Li Xiao could basically conclude that the opponent intended to flank and surround his main force stationed at the bridgehead.

"If the snipers are taken out, the main force will be surrounded next."

Li Xiao's heart began to pound, but the opponent's deployment wasn't over yet. They followed up by sending twenty-five men into the woods outside the base; only then was their deployment complete.

[Deployment complete. Simulation starting!]

After the system's five-second countdown ended, the soldiers from both bases on the sand table began marching along their preset routes.

Li Xiao's two sniper teams arrived at the left and right shoals first, followed by the opponent's twenty-five infantrymen entering the woods, and then both sides' main forces arrived at their respective bridgeheads and occupied the bunkers.

The opponent's Armored Personnel Carriers were the last to arrive, but as soon as these two combat vehicles were in position, the heavy machine guns mounted on them immediately opened fire on the snipers.

The snipers didn't show weakness either; they raised their rifles and fired at the Armored Personnel Carriers, but a 7.62mm sniper rifle could hardly penetrate armor, and shooting at the machine guns was completely futile.

The heavy machine guns, however, kept their fire fixed on the snipers, the triggers held down without letting up. The snipers' virtual characters had already been hit dozens of times, yet they still hadn't fallen.

Even after two hundred rounds of ammunition were spent, the snipers still hadn't died.

The Brown-haired Man's expression shifted from relaxed to anxious, but Li Xiao grew more excited the more he watched.

There was no doubt about it now; the system was actually factoring in the HP granted by his Life Pool!

Li Xiao was overjoyed. There was no exchange of fire on the bridge, but the Armored Personnel Carriers' barrage continued for several minutes—reload, fire, reload, fire—yet the snipers simply wouldn't fall.

So much so that after over ten minutes, one of Li Xiao's snipers finally fell, but the other remained standing, firing resolutely at the Armored Personnel Carrier.

One of his war game pieces had been taken out, but Li Xiao didn't panic, because both snipers were of Sergeant rank, which meant they likely represented Yan Yizhou and Xiao He.

Both of them had 200,000 HP; it would take nearly two thousand bullets from a heavy machine gun to kill them while standing still. Not to mention that the Armored Personnel Carriers were currently in "suppressive fire" mode—hitting four out of every ten bullets was already considered highly efficient.

Li Xiao had been tracking the Armored Personnel Carriers' reloads; the one that had been taken out first was just a new recruit with only 100,000 HP, while the ones still alive were Yan Yizhou and the other.

By this point, the Armored Personnel Carriers had fired nearly four thousand rounds of ammunition. He didn't believe that the red-haired foreigner could have loaded tens of thousands of rounds into the carriers—there wouldn't even be room for the crew!