23: Chapter 23 Bloodbath at the Factory
When Scarface opened his eyes, he found himself amidst ruins.
He saw others' lips moving as if they were shouting something, but only a buzzing sound reached his ears.
He looked down at the Auspex.
The screen was distorted.
"Fuck!" Scarface used his still-functional right hand to swing the Auspex and smash it against the ground.
He smashed it once, twice, three times.
The machine spirit seemed to respond; the screen flickered and recovered slightly.
But Scarface felt it would have been better if it hadn't.
Because the enemies shown on the Auspex were so dense they filled the entire screen!
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Just how many Drones do they have?!" Scarface's voice trembled.
Suddenly, a more violent explosion came from the roof. A Drone crashed into a Laser Cannon position, igniting the energy cells. The entire cannon was blown into a twisted hunk of metal that rolled off the roof and crashed down.
The gunner inside passed away peacefully, not even having time to let out a scream.
"Quick! Get the Manticore Tank out!" Scarface roared into the communicator.
Soon, a roar echoed from the underground passage as two gang members drove a Manticore Missile Tank out.
But soon, the two gang members discovered a thorny problem.
"Which one should we hit?" one of them asked.
This Manticore Missile Tank was the gang's trump card. Usually, the leader treated it like a precious treasure, never bringing it out unless absolutely necessary.
But the problem was, there were only four missiles!
Look at how many Drones were on the Auspex!
What the hell were four missiles going to do!
Even if it were equipped with a Heavy Bolter, it wouldn't do a damn thing.
The two gang members looked at each other and made the wisest decision: to run away!
As for the gang's important property... like they said, it belonged to the gang, but their lives were their own.
...
On the other side, Scarface never saw the anti-air missiles he was longing for, nor did he hear any report.
Just as Scarface was wondering what happened, the communicator rang:
"Boss! The enemies are in the sky! It's all small planes! Too many! We can't hold them off much longer!"
Soon, there was only harsh static and continuous explosions in the communicator, without even a single response.
Scarface wanted to curse them for being useless, but then he saw a dull gray Drone diving down, crashing into the crowd not far away.
All twelve sentry towers had exploded, the Laser Cannons on the roof were now scrap metal, and the heavy machine gunners were either dead or had fled.
The remaining lackeys were either dazed by the Drone explosions, huddling behind cover and trembling.
Or they were running around like madmen, having no heart left for battle.
Occasionally, a few laser beams were fired toward the bridge, hitting the armored vehicles, but they only kicked up a few sparks without even leaving a mark.
In the next second, even more Drones dived down, specifically targeting those fire points that still dared to resist, completely snuffing out the flames of defiance.
Scarface slumped to the ground, looking at the Drones flying all over the sky, the armored convoy crossing the bridge, and the burning corpses and ruins around him with hollow eyes.
"It's over, it's all over..." he muttered to himself, his gaze vacant.
Suddenly, a Drone dived down again. He didn't dodge; he didn't even close his eyes.
The Drone crashed by his feet and exploded violently. The shockwave sent him flying, and the agonizing pain of a severed leg followed.
He wasn't dead, but he was in a state worse than death. He could only crawl on the ground, watching his territory being completely crushed.
Fleeing gang members swarmed past. Someone stepped on his hand, someone crushed his lower leg; no one spared him a second glance.
Finally, a piece of concrete blown into the air smashed onto his back. Scarface's wails came to an abrupt end, completely submerged in the chaos.
...
Inside the factory's main control room, the leader of the Iron Hand Gang, "Iron Fist" Jack Norton, slammed a fist onto the control console.
A dent appeared in the metal surface.
Jack Norton looked up at the monitoring screen, his face ashen.
He grabbed another communicator and dialed the Silver Thorn Family directly.
It connected, but only a disgusted voice came from the other side: "Useless. You must hold the factory. If you can't, you know the consequences."
The communication was cut.
"Fuck!" Jack Norton threw the communicator to the floor.
"Boss, what do we do now?" the deputy asked.
Jack Norton stared at the screen for a long time before gritting his teeth and ordering:
"Withdraw everyone into the factory buildings. The space inside is large enough for us to fight another round with them."
"What about the perimeter walls...?"
"Forget them." Jack Norton gritted his teeth. "I don't believe they won't send people in to finish the job!"
"The interior of the Promethium Factory is massive with wide roads, but it's definitely not enough for Drones to fly freely."
"As long as we drag them into street fighting, the combat effectiveness of these regular army armored vehicles and Drones will definitely be greatly reduced."
However, Jack Norton had overlooked one point: what he could think of, Fu Haoran could naturally think of as well.
At the bridgehead, Wade gripped the steering wheel, staring dumbfoundedly at the factory ahead.
One moment he was still hesitating whether to order the attack; the next, the sentry towers in the factory were being destroyed one by one. The explosions of the Laser Cannons lit up the roof, and Drones circled, dived, and exploded like a swarm of bees, the firelight dyeing half the sky red.
The soldiers looked at each other. No one spoke, but their eyes all held the same question: Is this the signal the Governor spoke of?
Wade had also been curious before why Fu Haoran didn't specify what the signal was. Now he understood why the Governor hadn't elaborated.
This signal was something even a blind man could see.
He took a deep breath, pressed the communication button, and shouted, "What are you all dazing for! Everyone get ready, charge in with me!"
Leading the way were 5 Buffalo Heavy Armored Personnel Carriers, followed by 52 modified Humvees.
However, to be precise, only the chassis of the Humvees remained. Fu Haoran had long since used the STC to reprint a new set of shells.
Therefore, even though Humvees belonged to the "outdated" technology of 2K, with ceramite shells, they could easily withstand direct hits from low-power Laser Guns.
The bridge was clear. There was no machine gun fire, no Laser Cannon bombardment, not even a decent bit of resistance.
Wade caught sight of a gang member on the roadside trying to set up an individual rocket launcher. As soon as half a head peeked out, two Drones dived toward him.
One knocked away the rocket launcher, and the other crashed directly into the person. The exploding fragments sent all the surrounding gang members flying.
"Melta Cannon ready!" Wade roared.
The Buffalo armored vehicle leading the charge was equipped with a Melta Cannon. At the moment it approached the gate, it fired.
The intense heat of the melta blast melted right through the ceramite gate, which was then smashed open.
The vehicle didn't slow down, charging straight into the factory. Its tracks crushed the firearms and corpses on the ground, making a piercing grinding sound.
The vehicle-mounted Bolter was the first to open fire. The shells punched through concrete cover, and the gang members hiding behind were blown apart along with the walls, flesh and blood splattering across the surfaces.
The Twin-linked Heavy Bolter swept across. Those hit were instantly blown into fragments; not even a complete corpse could be found.
A small gang leader hid behind a thick iron door, clutching a Laser Gun and trembling, thinking he could escape the disaster.
In the end, the Buffalo vehicle crashed straight through the iron door. The tracks rolled over him, the crisp sound of shattering bones mixing with the roar of the vehicle, gone in an instant.
The interior of the factory was in chaos. Gang members ran like headless flies, wailing and screaming. Some tried to organize a counterattack, but as soon as three people gathered, three to five Drones would dive down from the sky in a saturated explosion, turning them into meat paste.
However, Wade soon noticed something was wrong.
"Why are there so few people? Did they all escape?"
Soon, Wade got his answer.
"Colonel, the remnants of the Iron Hand Gang have all hidden inside the factory buildings. What should we do?"
Wade's expression instantly turned grim.
The interior of the factory buildings was more than enough to accommodate over a hundred thousand people. If they went in with their small numbers, they would have no advantage and might even be going to their deaths. What should they do now?