88: Chapter 88: A Flanking Attack from the Tail! 5,500 in Hand, White Bone Locked in

Second round of fragmentation grenades.

Lu Chen confirmed the reloading command on the holographic panel.

[Fragmentation Grenade Launcher Array: Consuming 50 Truth Points, ammunition generation in progress.]

Three seconds.

[Reloading complete.]

Three hundred meters ahead were the rears of another four chariots.

They had discovered something was causing trouble behind them.

The turrets of two vehicles began to rotate backward.

Too late.

Twelve fragmentation shells detonated above the four vehicles. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A rain of metal fragments fell from the sky, striking the rotating turret shells and sending sparks flying, completely disabling their aiming systems.

Without waiting for the blinding effect to fully unfold, the City Lord pushed the vehicle speed to sixty-five.

The Heavy Machine Gun opened fire.

Chichichichichichichichichichi!

A forty-round burst struck the drive wheel of the leftmost vehicle.

The drive shaft snapped, and the tracks loosened.

Paralyzed.

The second vehicle desperately turned its steering wheel, but the Polaris had already pulled up alongside it.

The mechanical arm ejected from the right side, its claws gripping the edge of the opponent's roof armor plate.

Hydraulics pressed down with full force.

Creeeeeak.

A corner of the armor plate was pried open.

The Steam Spray Gun aimed at the opening.

Hiss.

Two seconds later, there was no more movement inside the vehicle.

The third vehicle was driving at full speed a hundred meters ahead, showing no signs of slowing down.

Its driver ignored the threat behind them and continued charging toward the iron wall.

Lu Chen aimed the Harpoon Cannon at its rear.

Bang!

The fifty-pound harpoon shot out of the barrel.

The barbs embedded into the exhaust pipe area of the rear armor.

A three-second delay.

Boom!

The engine compartment suffered an internal sympathetic detonation, with black smoke and flames spewing out from the exhaust port.

The vehicle skidded for twenty meters before coming to a lopsided halt.

The fourth vehicle didn't get away.

The Polaris overtook it from the right, its manganese steel ram slicing diagonally into the front right corner of the opponent's nose.

Collision.

The opponent's chassis shifted five meters sideways, and the left track snapped.

He used the mechanical arm to rip off its exhaust pipe; engine exhaust flowed back in, and it stalled three seconds later.

Four vehicles, four minutes and ten seconds.

Through the communicator, Zhao Tiezhu's voice came through, mingled with the sound of distant cannon fire.

"City Lord Lu Chen, the third round of frontal volleys is complete. A total of fifteen hits, eight stopped, four damaged."

"Of the eight stopped, how many are still moving?"

"Three are smoking but still sliding forward; five have completely stopped."

"I told you, White Bone's people don't slow down."

"I see it."

Zhao Tiezhu lowered his voice.

"There are twenty-four more coming from the front, already within the three-kilometer range. My patrol cars are preparing to engage."

"Don't block them head-on when you engage. Clear the main road and target their tracks from the flanks."

"Understood."

The communicator cut off.

Lu Chen continued pushing toward the front of the charging array.

The Polaris's current position was in the mid-rear section of the Ice-Rift Swarm column.

He had already picked off eight vehicles from the tail.

There were more than twenty left ahead.

At least seven or eight of them were mixed vehicles from the Icebreaker Swarm.

The Icebreaker Swarm's vehicles had a different paint job than the Ice-Rift Swarm's.

The Ice-Rift Swarm's skull logo did not have honeycomb patterns next to it.

The Icebreaker Swarm's did.

"System, reload fragmentation grenades."

[Fragmentation Grenade Launcher Array: Consuming 50 Truth Points, ammunition generation in progress.]

Three seconds.

[Reloading complete.]

He extended the mechanical arm to decompose the wrecks behind him one by one.

Decomposing while driving, the mechanical arm directly processed whatever it could reach within an eight-meter radius.

[Lv.2 Chariot Wrecks x8, conversion obtained: 1623 Truth Points.]

Total ammunition consumption: 100 points for two rounds of fragmentation grenades, 7 points for 70 Heavy Machine Gun rounds, and 10 points for 1 recast harpoon, totaling 117 points.

Net income: 1506 points.

The current balance rose from 4039 to 5545.

The City Lord maintained a steady cruising speed of sixty kilometers, cutting in from the right side of the column's middle section.

This position was exactly at the base of the flanking pincer.

White Bone's pincer array was divided into a frontal pincer and a flanking pincer.

The frontal pincer was currently grinding toward the iron wall.

The flanking pincer was circling around from the north, attempting to outflank the iron wall's right wing.

Lu Chen cut into the middle of the flanking pincer.

The flanking pincer consisted of about fifteen vehicles arranged in a loose arc, with spacing twice as wide as the frontal pincer.

Because they needed to take a detour, the formation naturally spread out.

It was easier to fight once they spread out.

Fifteen vehicles were scattered across a six-kilometer fan-shaped area, in groups of three to four.

It was a replica of the Icebreaker Swarm's skirmish tactics.

These weren't Grey Bee's people; how could they know to scatter and harass?

They only knew how to charge.

He picked the nearest group of three vehicles.

Distance: three hundred meters.

Fragmentation grenades.

Puff puff puff puff puff puff!

Twelve fragmentation shells detonated.

Blinding.

Heavy Machine Gun.

Chichichichichichi!

One paralyzed.

The ram sliced into the second vehicle.

The Steam Spray Gun poured into the third.

Three vehicles, three minutes and twenty seconds.

He turned to the next group.

Four vehicles.

Fifty points per round for fragmentation grenades.

Lu Chen shook his head and switched to the money-saving combination of Heavy Machine Gun plus mechanical arm.

The Heavy Machine Gun targeted the drive wheels, the mechanical arm ripped off exhaust pipes and cannon barrels, and the Steam Spray Gun finished them off once close.

Four vehicles, five minutes.

The sounds of patrol cars engaging in battle came through the communication frequency.

Zhao Tiezhu's twenty patrol cars were exchanging fire on both flanks of the iron wall with the Ice-Rift Swarm chariots charging from the front.

75mm against 75mm.

Both sides had comparable firepower, but Zhao Tiezhu's patrol cars had the covering support of the iron wall's 105mm cannon.

The communicator rang.

Zhao Tiezhu's voice.

"Frontal situation report. iron wall has a total of twenty-one hits, eleven stopped, four of which are burning. Patrol cars are engaging on both flanks, two destroyed, one of our own lost."

"How many are still charging from the front?"

"Eleven. They've already entered the two-kilometer range; the iron wall is maintaining continuous fire."

"I've taken out seven from the flanking pincer, eight left."

"City Lord Lu Chen, where is White Bone's command vehicle?"

An interesting question.

Lu Chen scanned the surroundings through the periscope sight.

White Bone's command vehicle should be in the mid-front section of the charging array.

Records stated that White Bone personally led all deployed convoys.

His vehicle would be positioned at the spot with the best visibility.

"Mid-front of the frontal array, most likely the one with the unique paint job."

"My observation post reports that the paint job on the seventh vehicle from the front has an extra ring of golden skull patterns compared to the others."

"That's White Bone, then."

"Take him out?"

"Finish the flank first, then we'll deal with him last."

He floored the accelerator, and the diesel engine let out a roar.

The Polaris charged toward the remaining eight vehicles of the flanking pincer at a speed of seventy kilometers per hour.