47: Chapter 47 Tower Defense Gameplay

While the heavy shield squad was locked in a brutal melee with the Bloodletter in the mines of the Mountain Tribe.

Deep underground at the Gaobo Food Factory, southwest of the Shelter, another battle was raging just as fiercely.

But the style of the battle here was completely different from the one in the mines.

Deep within the giant metal sewage pipes.

[Nicotine Truth] and [Wang Shouyi 13-Spice] were sweating profusely as they firmly secured the last heavy, crudely-designed heavy ballista to the sewer surface.

"Old Wang, tighten the fixing bolts! The recoil on this thing is no joke!"

Nicotine Truth wiped the sweat from his face and turned to look to the side.

[Use Fire Punch] was leaning against the pipe wall in an extremely flashy manner.

Ever since he awakened his fire-type Psionic powers, this kid had spent a small fortune at the base with the life-skill player [Daidai Jiaobu] to custom-make an incredibly cool black leather trench coat, complete with a wide hood.

Wearing this leather coat now, with his arms crossed and his face often bloodied from overexerting his Psionic powers, he really had the air of a mysterious wasteland mage.

"Flame Fist, the position here is set."

Nicotine Truth curled his lip, feeling a bit sour as he looked at Flame Fist's posturing.

"Pi She went ahead to lure the monsters, is that okay?"

"Minor issue."

Flame Fist coolly flicked the collar of his leather coat and only replied with those two words.

Nicotine Truth rolled his eyes, too lazy to bother with him.

These four guys had essentially mastered this Food Factory dungeon.

They discovered that although the Mutant Rat-men here were extremely fast and had astonishing attack power, their defense was like paper, even more fragile than the Bloodletters in the mines.

Moreover, these monsters had no brains and would only charge in a straight line based on instinct.

Therefore, these four hardcore players didn't choose to fight head-on, but instead utilized the narrow terrain of the sewers to come up with an insane tower defense tactic.

Wang Shouyi did a final check of the setup ahead.

Thirty meters from their position, barbed wire scavenged from the ruins was strung up in a chaotic mess.

Behind the barbed wire were three rows of sharp scrap-metal Czech hedgehogs.

And in front of the two of them were two cocked heavy ballistae.

The firing pouches of the ballistae weren't loaded with giant arrows, but with full bags of steel balls and nuts scavenged from old bearings!

"They're here! Quick! They're all here!"

From deep within the sewer, [Player Pi She]'s desperate roar suddenly rang out!

Pi She rushed out of the darkness like a gust of wind, his lungs feeling like they were about to burst from running.

Dozens of meters behind him, a dense swarm of glowing green eyes was rapidly approaching, accompanied by ear-piercing shrieks that made one's scalp tingle!

"Get into position!"

Pi She rushed to the Czech hedgehogs, performed a fierce sliding tackle, and squeezed through the gap beneath the barbed wire.

He did a kip-up to flip into the position, grabbed the Heavy Stubber placed nearby, and immediately pulled the bolt.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak—!"

Dozens of Mutant Rat-men poured into the tunnel like a tide!

Facing the dense barbed wire and Czech hedgehogs ahead, this group of mindless monsters didn't care at all and charged straight into them!

The sharp wires instantly sliced through their fragile skin; the front row of Rat-men were left hanging dead on the wire, while the ones behind trampled over their companions' corpses and continued to squeeze forward frantically.

Their speed was forcibly reduced!

"Now! Fire!"

Wang Shouyi and Nicotine Truth simultaneously slammed down the firing levers of the heavy ballistae with extreme violence!

"Boom—! Boom—!"

Two thick leaf springs snapped back, emitting a deafening roar!

The two large bags of steel balls and nuts, driven by immense kinetic energy, acted like two nets of death, slamming into the pile of Rat-men crowded in front of the barbed wire in a fan shape!

"Splat, splat, splat!"

Flesh and blood flew everywhere!

Severed limbs and broken arms splattered about, accompanied by shrill screams!

With just a single volley, the twenty-plus Mutant Rat-men crowding the front were instantly turned into sieves of rotten meat!

But the monsters behind were still pouring in endlessly!

"Reload! Flame Fist, it's your turn!"

Nicotine Truth roared, and he and Old Wang immediately gave their all to crank the ballistae winches to reload.

"Witness the wrath of a mage!"

Flame Fist thrust both hands forward, and a violent, pale, Psionic flame instantly gushed out!

That flame ignored the laws of physics entirely, spreading directly across the clumped-together Rat-men.

A dozen or so Rat-men turned into burning fireballs amidst their screams, rolling frantically in the tunnel.

Taking advantage of the gap while Flame Fist was unleashing fire.

Pi She held the Heavy Stubber and calmly began firing in short, three-round bursts.

Specifically targeting the stragglers attempting to climb over the Czech hedgehogs with headshots.

"Rat-tat-tat!"

The gun barrel began to glow slightly red, so Pi She immediately dropped this one and grabbed the spare one beside him to continue firing.

Reloading the ballistae, unleashing Psionic fire, and using the machine gun to mop up!

This tacitly coordinated triple-kill method alternated, and the number of Mutant Rat-men was decreasing at a visibly frantic rate.

"Awesome! This is what you call farming mobs! I can feel my experience bar shooting up!"

Nicotine Truth shouted excitedly while cranking the winch.

After a few waves, no more monsters poured out from the depths of the tunnel.

Pi She stopped firing, the muzzle of his gun emitting wisps of blue smoke.

"Cease fire. Count how many we took out. This number is definitely not all of them inside."

Pi She's eyes were calm.

Wang Shouyi wiped his sweat and looked at the empty ammunition box beside him:

"Out of ammo, and the bearing steel balls are all used up. We need to head back to resupply, and clean up the corpses while we're at it, otherwise it'll smell even worse tomorrow."

"We really bled out on this run."

Nicotine Truth said, feeling the pinch,

"To build these two ballistae and buy ammo, we emptied our entire stash. If there isn't anything good deep inside this Food Factory, we're going to be absolutely screwed. I heard the big team fighting in the mines next door made a fortune today."

"High cost, high reward, what are you panicking about."

Pi She confidently patted the gun barrel,

"Let's go, clean up the corpses and hide the ballistae. We'll come back to push the line tomorrow!"

The group busied themselves for a while, roughly piling up the disgusting Rat-man corpses, dousing them with low-quality fuel, and burning them in a fire.

Then they boarded the rented wood-gas powered tracked vehicle and slowly made their way back to the Shelter.

...

When the mage squad returned to the surface camp, it was already seven or eight o'clock in the evening.

It was morning over on Earth right now, and the vast majority of players had already logged off.

The camp appeared somewhat empty.

Lin Li was standing outside the eastern wall of the camp, directing Black Rat.

"Right here in this open space, tamp down the ground for me. Tomorrow, use the bricks produced by the Shelter to build six large barracks here. If I catch you cutting corners, the rations for those fifty slaves will be halved."

Black Rat nodded repeatedly, agreeing, and led the remaining one hundred mine survivors to work through the night, clearing the ground under the dim light.

Although they were tired, at least they didn't have to worry about being whipped or eaten by demons at any moment.

Flame Fist and the others parked the tracked vehicle and were preparing to find a safe place to log off.

Suddenly.

Flame Fist stopped abruptly.

"Huh?"

He touched his head in confusion, his brows furrowing tightly,

"That's strange... The voice in my head that's been buzzing and chanting since I entered the game, why did it suddenly disappear?"

Unconvinced, he closed his eyes, attempting to communicate with the violent Warp energy within his body.

However, the next second.

Flame Fist stood there dumbfounded, his eyes staring straight at the stars under the night sky, his mouth wide open.

"What the f*ck... I can't cast fire?! My Psionic powers failed?!"

Flame Fist screamed in his squad channel, having a breakdown.

Not far away, Lin Li watched this guy freaking out on the spot, a secret smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"It seems the Blackstone Silence Field Matrix set up by 73 has officially taken effect. In this area, Warp energy is completely isolated. This kid is just a normal player now."

But as a cold and aloof NPC, Lin Li naturally wouldn't take the initiative to explain such core secrets to players.

He couldn't be bothered with Flame Fist's breakdown and turned around, preparing to return to the underground control room.

Just then!

"Hum—rumble!"

From the night sky in the far distance, a low engine roar, clearly distinct from the junk of the wasteland, suddenly rang out!

Lin Li suddenly looked up.

He saw a military-green flying shuttle with a heavy design and rugged lines, spewing blue exhaust flames, domineeringly tearing through the night sky and slowly landing on the empty wilderness a few hundred meters outside the camp!

Flame Fist, who was still wailing about losing his Psionic powers, snapped back to reality upon seeing this scene!

"Holy crap!!! A military aircraft?! I've triggered a hidden quest!"

Flame Fist shouted excitedly, tossing all thoughts of Psionic powers to the back of his mind. He hurriedly grabbed the Logging Gun on his back and trotted eagerly to hide behind Lin Li, poking half his head out to watch the show.

Black Rat, who was working, also saw the commotion. Terrified, he dropped the shovel in his hands and ran to Lin Li's side in a few strides, his face deathly pale.

"M...Master! That's the livery of Coastal City in the east! It's people from the Governor's Mansion!"

Black Rat's voice was trembling.

Lin Li's eyes instantly became vigilant.

"Coastal City?"

Lin Li's brain was whirring at high speed.

Coastal City was the largest human city on this fringe wasteland planet, and nominally the only branch of the Imperium of Man here.

Although this planet had long since lost contact with Holy Terra due to the outbreak of the Great Rift, the Planetary Governor still effectively controlled the most powerful armed forces here.

"In the face of absolute power, I must absolutely not fall out with them right now."

Lin Li calculated inwardly,

"I just don't know why they suddenly ran to this godforsaken place? Could it be that old fox Ockham sold us out before he died?"

Just as Lin Li was lost in thought.

The shuttle's hatch in the distance opened.

Three burly guards, wearing complete and high-quality carapace armor and holding large Bolters, walked over with arrogant strides.

One of the leading guards swept his gaze over Lin Li and the others with a casual, almost patronizing look.

"Hey, who's in charge here? Call him out." The guard said with an arrogant tone.

Lin Li walked forward expressionlessly, his tone flat:

"I am."

The guard looked Lin Li up and down, seemingly disdainful of his ragged trench coat, and just nodded coldly:

"Come with me. Someone wants to see you."

Lin Li secretly gave Flame Fist a look, signaling him to follow, and then, taking Black Rat, followed the guards toward the shuttle.

"They didn't open fire immediately, which means they aren't here to wipe us out."

Lin Li analyzed calmly as he walked,

"As long as they aren't here to seize territory, everything is negotiable."

Upon arriving near the shuttle, several military tents bearing the Imperial double-headed eagle emblem had already been quickly erected.

Clearly, this group intended to station themselves here for a while.

The guard leading the way lifted the heavy military windproof curtain, signaling Lin Li to enter.