Chapter 487 Without My Permission, No One is Allowed To Die! (Two in One)
“Big Brother Hu, based on our observation, they leave the city once every three hours. It has been…fifty-six minutes since they last left the city!”
Liu Peiqiang was afraid to be spotted by the eye on the wall, so he was extremely cautious with his body movements. Unlike normal animals, humans were adept at recognizing patterns and making use of them. The enemies were out in the open, while they were hidden in the dark. Hence, it was even more important for them to recognize any patterns that might lead to opportunities. “In which direction did they last head out?” “To the northwest. However, they are using a line formation that is at least 30 meters long, and there are approximately 50 of them.”
This time, Li Hu did not reply. Instead, he quickly lowered his head and s.h.i.+fted his sights.
Within everyone’s field of vision, the dwarf that first left the gates suddenly appeared.
Visually, the dwarf was as previously described. Its height was approximately between sixty to eighty centimeters.
The creatures they were riding on were not tall either, being only around 110 centimeters in height.
The creature bore a close resemblance to bipedal dinosaurs from Earth’s prehistoric age. Its skin was green in color and it had pointy fangs.
“This is ridiculous. Don’t they look like Kled from the League of Legends game?”
With the binoculars, Chen Shen observed the dwarves and the creatures from head to toe, and came to that conclusion.
The youngsters among the team nodded in agreement, while Li Hu and the rest who were middle-aged were completely clueless regarding Chen Shen’s words.
“Big Brother Hu, what do we do? They are heading in the northwest direction, but our position here is not an optimal one for an ambus.h.!.+”
“Should we circle around and position ourselves ahead of them?”
Li Hu shook his head and replied, “Don’t panic. Let’s first a.s.sess their formation this time around. If there are too many of them, we’ll give up and wait at the front for the next opportunity. If there are only a few of them, then we’ll speed up and catch up with them. Anyhow, they are carrying goods with them, so they won’t move very fast!”
The dwarves began to pour out from the gate one by one. Behind them, six carts were once again transported out of the city.
The carts were gigantic in comparison to the tiny dwarves. The carts were three meters long and two meters wide.
From behind the slope, they could make out that the carts all contained coal rocks. Black dust trailed behind the carts as they traveled.
Each cart was pulled along by six lizards as it moved at a ridiculously slow speed.
The a.s.sault squad still had the Rapid March movement speed bonus. Even if they gave the lizards a half an hour head start, they would still be able to catch up to them with ease-as long as they were still in range.
Due to the slow speed of the dwarves, they waited and waited until an hour had pa.s.sed.
Like seasoned hunters, they waited until the final cart was sluggishly pulled along by the lizards out of the gate. As the gate closed, they once again got ready and a.s.sembled while half-squatting.
However, the dwarves did not seem to be afraid of an ambush, As soon as they exited the gate, they carefreely started heading north without even bothering to form ranks or get into formation.
“Fifteen, twenty, twenty-five…forty-five!”
“Six carts of coal. One cart is roughly carrying 600 to 800kg.”
“Get up, get up. Quick, we need to capture them and the coal as well. If we can get our hands on the coal, we can use it during the heavy blizzard disaster!”
They observed as the team of dwarves finally left the fortified city and headed northwest in a line that was forty-five meters long. The group of men, who had been laying on their stomachs this entire time, could not wait anymore.
If they were only armed with cold weapons, they might have been slightly afraid to face the dwarves and their hundreds of lizards.
However, they were armed with rifles, so defeating these dwarves seemed to be a foregone conclusion.
They half-squatted and moved slowly along the slope. After leaving the range of the red eye’s sight, they began to gleefully break out into a run.
In less than five minutes, they overtook the dwarves and gathered ahead of the long line.
“Big Brother Hu, don’t the weapons the dwarves are carrying look familiar?”
“Eh, now that you mentioned it. It does look like…”
Chen Shen pondered and said, “Are they similar to the dagger that I received from that trade back then?”
“Yes, yes, yes. It’s that dagger that can shoot out blades of light. Looks like we got ourselves a big haul.”
“I’ve counted. There are forty-five of them. In total, there are twenty daggers and a… machete!”
With the binoculars, Wu Feiguang excitedly examined each of the dwarves as he murmured his findings.
This scene was similar to before, when their army had been excited at the sight of the well-equipped opponents.
They pa.s.sed the binoculars to one another as they spied on the dwarves.
Everyone’s eyes became green with envy!
Hope Village and the basin area… they were really too poor.
In terms of food, they had acc.u.mulated enough food to feed everyone for half a year. However, in terms of other aspects, they were still extremely poor.
They only had thousands of rounds of ammunition left and a limited number of firearms; it was barely enough for a medium-scaled battle.
In terms of natural resources, all they possessed were petroleum and the Iron Rock mountain. They were literally the poorest territory in the New World.
Given these circ.u.mstances, the only way for them to become rich overnight was to…
“Hold the guns in your hand tight. Don’t shoot unless they are in range. None of these dwarfs shall escape us today.”
“The dwarves, the coal rocks, the lizards, and their weapons. I want them all!”
Everyone firmly nodded in response to Li Hu’s ruthless instructions.
The next second, just like they had practiced in the virtual dimension, they scattered and arranged themselves into a fan-like formation, surrounding the dwarfs and their carts within.
The dwarves who were approaching them were like innocent sheep sent to the slaughter —completely unaware that they had been surrounded.
At least not until…
One hundred and fifty meters!
Buzz!
A piercing siren rang out!
A siren abruptly wailed from the waist of the dwarf that led the team. When that dwarf came within that range, it was as if some sort of trigger had been activated.
“Gu ji ji, ji gu!”
The next second, the dwarfs that were carefreely strolling about immediately raised their guard and swiftly grouped up. Seeing this, Li Hu knew that the dwarves had realized that they had been surrounded.
Fortunately, the dwarves were already within the lethal firing range of their rifles.
As the first gunshot rang out, a bloodbath began!
Bang!
Bang bang!
Bang bang bang bang!
They were reminded of Su Mo’s instructions as they shot with restraint. Most of their shots were aimed and directed at the lower half of the dwarves’ bodies.
Despite that, the rain of bullets snuffed out the lives of half of the dwarves within a mere five seconds.
As for the other half of the dwarfs, except for the leader who had summoned a white barrier, the rest of the dwarfs laid flat on the ground, hiding behind the bodies of the lizards to avoid the flurry of bullets that rained over their heads.
There was a crackling sound as the bullets were stopped by the barrier.
“Stop shooting. Switch to your melee weapons and begin advancing!”
“Stay wary of their attacks and don’t get too close. Be careful of the leader’s machete!”
The moment they began their attacks, even though none of the a.s.sault squad had suffered any damage, they still inevitably lost the Rapid March buff.
They could feel their movements slowing down. Li Hu’s face turned somber and, at the same, he also had a bad feeling about the situation.
However, they had already come this far and had invested too much.
If they chose to leave now, it meant that they had done all that for naught.
However, if they stayed, there was still a chance!
Ten Disaster Points were spent and, at the same time, everyone retrieved the various weapons from their storage s.p.a.ce. These weapons had been previously crafted by Su Mo for practice.
The blades, longswords, and spears that they held looked somewhat crude, but the truth was that these weapons were exceptionally st.u.r.dy.
Armed with their weapons, the seventeen of them stood up and charged-their formation changing continuously.
However, their charge revealed their position to the dwarves.
The dwarves now knew the location of the enemy. Moments ago, they were still lying on the ground; now, they were suddenly emboldened to fight.
They drew their daggers, stood up, and began to howl.
Fifty meters.
Forty meters.
Twenty meters!
One side held their ground while the other charged fervently. The two sides were rapidly closing in on each other.
However, it was also at this distance that, when the dwarfs raised their daggers and charged, all the members of the a.s.sault squad stopped in their tracks.
Something awkward happened…
The dwarven daggers’ maximum attack range was only ten meters.
Currently, the a.s.sault team stood three meters beyond that ten-meter range.
These three meters seemed like an impa.s.sable moat, as the blades of light weakly stuck the ground between the two sides.
“Three!”
Li Hu roared as everyone advanced again. After baiting the dwarves to attack, they immediately retreated to avoid the attacks.
“Two!”
It was the first time the two sides met, yet the skillful tactics of the a.s.sault squad left the dwarfs stumped.
The combat tactics of the a.s.sault squad were so polished. It was as if they had fought against this team of dwarves countless times. Even their facial expressions when they charged were remarkably synchronized.
They seemed ruthless and evil, almost as if they wanted to feast on the dwarves.
It was this exact expression that fooled the dwarves into believing that their charge was genuine.
The a.s.sault squad charged once again. As they were not given any time to think, the dwarfs could only once again brandish their weapons.
This time, however, a few of them were wary of the a.s.sault squad’s tactics and only released 10% of their weapons’ energy.
Unexpectedly, the a.s.sault squad members that attacked this time did not stop.
Resignedly, the dwarves had to attack once again as the energy in their daggers was completely depleted.
“One!
“Ha ha ha, these fools. They thought that they could fight us with that weapon. Little did they know that our Shelter Leader had already made preparations for it!”
Everyone was ecstatic when Li Hu shouted the number one, as Li Hu mocked the dwarves gleefully.
Previously, during their final two days of training in virtual reality, all the enemies they encountered had been armed with such weapons. Initially, everyone suffered at the hands of such a ridiculous melee weapon that had a long-range attack option.
Some of them even died twenty to thirty times before barely making it through the enemy’s gates.
However, in the end, as everyone’s deaths gradually piled up, they too gained more and more experience.
They shared their experience with one another.
The thousands of villagers all shared their experiences and came up with strategies to deal with the weapons. In the end, even the women that were physically weaker were able to exhaust the energy of their enemies’ weapons without suffering any damage at all.
These dwarves were far weaker than the kobolds that were simulated in the virtual reality training session. Naturally, the dwarves were not a match for the villagers.
After the last attack was once again launched to no avail, the dwarves began to panic.
“Oo oo chi ji!”
“Wa oo oo ji!” The dwarf leader, who was still protected by his barrier, shouted to rally the others. Despite that, the dwarves inevitably scattered.
“This is a good opportunity. Everyone, pick a dwarf and fight. Let no dwarf escape!”
There were only fourteen dwarfs that could still run and fight.
Their strategy was to pair one man against one dwarf. This would leave Li Hu, Liu Peiqiang, and Qi Qin-the strongest among them—to fight the dwarf leader. Armed with sabers, they stared into the dwarf leader’s eyes. The three of them split and charged from three different directions.
Their footsteps were nimble as they floated like b.u.t.terflies; they attacked and protected one another in synchronized tempo.
However, the power of the machete strapped on the dwarf leader’s waist was still unknown to them. Therefore, they remained cautious of any long-range attacks.
The dwarf leader was still hiding behind his barrier. However, he knew that he was surrounded and had no way out.
With that knowledge, his gaze intensified and his expression turned ruthless.
Buzz!
The white barrier was shattered as the dwarf leader grabbed his machete from his waist.
The dwarf leader was riding a creature that was significantly larger than the rest of the lizards. He began to charge and launch his counterattack.
“He’s going all out to fight us. Don’t answer his challenge. Try to delay him!” Li Hu roared as he watched the dwarf leader charge. The three of them instantly scattered. The first call to attack was filled with vigor and drive.
The second was not as fervent as before, yet still somewhat strong. By the third time, the morale would be completely spent.
When a cavalry unit attacked an infantry unit, the first charge was the most lethal.
After the first charge, it would be difficult for the cavalry unit to gain the distance required to build up another charge. The infantry unit would then be able to take the opportunity to counterattack.
This was plain and simple logic that everyone understood.
Unfortunately, the lizard creature that the leader rode was far stronger than anyone had expected
Amid the chaos, the dwarf leader, along with the large lizard, found Liu Peiqiang’s position.
The two sides were evidently not heading in the same direction, yet this large lizard did not slow down. Instead, the lizard made a sharp 70-degree turn. This instantly exposed Liu Peiqiang and left him at the mercy of the dwarf leader’s machete.
“This isn’t good. Qi Qin, quickly use the rifle to cover him!”
“Shoot the lizard!”
Li Hu instantly reacted to the situation, and Qi Qin quickly took action.
Just as Qi Qin raised his rifle and aimed, the dwarf leader raised his machete and swung it; his blade clashed with Liu Peiqiang’s saber.
Thud!
Splat!
A stream of light with a purple hue flashed from the machete as it was imbued with daunting power. The saber was an excellent quality weapon crafted by Su Mo, and was only given to the captain of the scouting unit. Even so, it stood no chance of withstanding the tremendous impact.
The instant it made contact with the machete, the saber fractured and split apart from the middle. Liu Peiqiang’s right arm was now exposed to the cold light of the machete.
Whoos.h.!.+
Thud!
Dat dat dat!
The severed arm fell to the ground just as the sound of bullets erupted.
Without the white barrier, the three successive shots from the K-1 rifle, which spit out 5.56 caliber bullets, instantly sent the large lizard to its grave.
Before dying, the lizard thrashed about and sent the dwarf leader flying. He was knocked to the ground and was stunned dizzy, seemingly with birds circling over his head.
Li Hu, who ran over, immediately slashed and severed the right arm of the dwarf leader that was still holding the machete-eliminating the potential threat.
“Peiqiang, are you okay? Hang on.” “Big Brother Hu, Big Brother Hu, save me. I don’t have my arm anymore. I don’t want to die. My daughter is still in the village. I don’t want to die!”
Liu Peiqiang’s arm had been severed cleanly from the shoulder onward.
At that moment, adrenaline coursed through him, so he barely felt the pain.
Even so, a pool of blood gushed out from his shoulder. Like a person drowning, Liu Peiqiang was frantically grabbing Li Hu’s hands as he shouted.
“D*mn, this d*mn b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
Qi Qin also rushed over. However, he was carrying a tiny 300ml bottle of psychic energy water.
“Quick, onen your mouth and drink this!”
The psychic energy water in Qi Qin’s hand was the enhanced psychic energy water that had been upgraded twice.
It was a reward that Su Mo had given him previously in appreciation for his achievements.
In this instance, Qi Qin willingly gave the liquid to Liu Peiqiang.
Glug glug glug…
The refres.h.i.+ng and sweet psychic energy water flowed down his throat. The shoulder that was spurting blood stopped. It was visibly healing as fleshy scabs began to form on his shoulder that sealed the open wound.
“Don’t worry about your arm. Take the arm with us. Perhaps Shelter Leader will be able to think of something.”
“Yes, Shelter Leader will think of something!”
They picked up Liu Peiqiang’s severed arm. Hearing the dwarf leader’s howls, Li Hu’s eyes were instantly filled with the flames of fury.
He took two steps forward and slapped the dwarf’s face. The dwarf instantly flew and spun three times in mid-air before finally landing on the ground again.
Engulfed by his anger, Li Hu’s slap was harder than usual. This slap instantly knocked the lights out of the already small-sized dwarf.
“Can you walk?”
Liu Peiqiang feebly nodded his head: “I can still walk. But the fight after this…”
“As long as you can walk, it’s fine. Don’t worry about the fight. Anyone who dares to challenge us today will die!”
After the loss of their leader, the other dwarves were swiftly dealt with.
Among the fourteen dwarfs, eight were killed
-hacked to death as they had resisted capture. The remaining six were all captured alive.
Chen Shen grabbed some hemp rope that he had prepared earlier from the inventory s.p.a.ce. Like stringing a fis.h.i.+ng line, Chen Shen neatly tied all of the dwarven captives up, including the dwarf leader—and threw them onto the coal carts.
“There’s been a change of plans. Everyone, quickly empty your storage s.p.a.ce, except for the weapons. Store as much of the coal as you can inside.”
“We don’t have the movement speed bonus anymore, and I’m afraid the enemy has been alerted by the siren. Be quick with your actions!”
Li Hu moved forward hastily. He instructed the others while he threw items out from his storage s.p.a.ce.
However, the next second, he was stunned.
(Record): This item has been detected to have been imprinted with another player’s mark. The item temporarily cannot be stored into your storage s.p.a.ce. Please remove the mark before attempting to store the item again.
An ordinary coal rock was actually imprinted with another player’s mark and couldn’t be put inside the storage s.p.a.ce?
This was the first time that humans had encountered such a situation since arriving at the wasteland.
Chen Shen saw that Li Hu was stumped and walked up to him. “What’s the matter?”
“d.a.m.n it, we can’t store these items. This is a big problem!”
Chen Shen attempted to store it as well to no avail. The color on his face changed as he said, “What do we do now? What if we abandon the coal rocks, take the dwarves… and just leave?”
“No, we’ll use the carts. Without these coal rocks, when the upcoming heavy blizzard comes…”
“Yes!”
They discussed it briefly and, after confirming that the lizards were not intelligent, they made them pull the carts.
Instead of going back the way they came, they switched up the route and the carts began to move.
Their mission to chase and slaughter the dwarves had suddenly now turned into a mission to escape.
The lizards were too sluggish and slow.
Unwillingly, they had to abandon two of the carts and redistribute the lizards to the other four carts. It was only then that their pace picked up slightly.
The twenty or so kilometers that they had traveled earlier ironically felt much longer as they were escaping.
When they reached the final three kilometers, the lizards began to behave abnormally. Li Hu took a deep breath and moved to the back of the group of carts.
The next second, a pale big hand grabbed tightly onto his shoulder.
“Big Brother Hu, is the enemy catching up?”
“No…”
“Big Brother Hu, don’t lie to me. Let me go instead. You take the coal back. I don’t have my arm anymore, so I’ll be a useless person even if I manage to return. Why don’t you let me…”
“I won’t…”
“Big Brother Hu! Without the coal, it will be difficult to survive the heavy blizzard and extreme cold disasters. These coal rocks are literally our lifeline. If you don’t bring it back, it would be the same as losing lives!”
“Let me go!”
Liu Peiqiang had suffered substantial blood loss. His lips were pale and the color of his face was appalling. Only moments earlier, this man had been terrified at the thought of dying.
However, at this juncture, this same man now had an unparalleled desire to sacrifice himself.
Seeing this, Li Hu went silent for a few seconds before firmly nodding his head.
“Very well, as for your daughter, we will…no, Shelter Leader will take care of her. Don’t worry about her!”
“You are our…”
“Hero!”
They fled while the pursuers chased them from behind; the distance between the two parties had now narrowed to one kilometer or
so.
The distance to the borders of the basin area was now less than 1200 meters.
However, they had changed their direction of escape.
There would be no reinforcements waiting at this location.
They finally were out of the woods; the distinct and clear borderline of the territory was now in sight. Seeing this, the group attempted to whip the lizards again. The lizards sped up and sprinted three hundred more meters.
Unfortunately, those last nine hundred meters were so close, and yet so far!
“It’s time, Big Brother Hu. Let me down!”
The carts stopped, and Li Hu helped Liu Peiqiang down off the coal cart.
Chen Shen came over as well. He slowly waved his hand at the void and retrieved a package wrapped in paper from his storage s.p.a.ce.
“Village Chief. You understand me so well!”
Liu Peiqiang took the pack of explosives from Chen Shen and loaded his weapon with his remaining arm. With a smile, he turned around and lay on the ground.
In his field of vision, a large group of dwarves on their lizards had emerged from the woods.
He roughly scanned their numbers—there were less than three hundred of them.
“Go, quickly go!””
“Liu Peiqiang, take care of yourself!”
Slam!
Crack!
The carts began to move again. The lizards were trembling but, under the threat of the whip, they could only move forward.
Watching the carts of coal rocks escaping, the three hundred dwarves went into afrenzy and rushed to catch up.
However, the next second, once Liu Peiqiang pulled the trigger, the dwarves were immediately stopped in their tracks.
Brt brt brt…
Brt brt…
Even in the last moments of his life, Liu Peiqiang remained level-headed-unlike the idiots in TV series who would go on a rampage and shoot indiscriminately.
He was clear about his mission; he could only buy time as long as he had ammunition.
If he fired everything in one go, it would barely even have an impact.
Thirty-five rounds—With the first thirty rounds, he managed to kill seven and injure four with his non-dominant arm, which was nothing short of a miracle!
The fleeing carts were now three hundred meters from the border of the territory.
Liu Peiqiang turned and saw that the carts were about to enter the territory. With a sense of gratification, he smiled.
The next moment, he supported himself with his remaining arm and shakily stood up.
“Come, come at me, you animals. Come and let me see!”
“Oo chi chi ji!”
It was one against three hundred, and yet both sides were equally tenacious.
This was a middle-aged man who had aimlessly muddled through the forty years of his life in the peaceful era.
Yet, in the last few moments of his life, he chose to burst with “brilliance”.
If the doomsday had not happened, he would perhaps have been a gratified elderly father. He would go and come back from work, pa.s.sing the days watching his daughter grow day by day, while spending time with his significant other as they aged and lived happily ever after.
Instead, he became a warrior in his last moments on the wasteland. One that was destined to be written in the history books, forever remembered as a courageous warrior!
Bang!
Seeing that the dwarves did not react, Liu Peiqiang picked up his rifle and fired another round at the dwarves.
Sadly, he did not hit any of the dwarfs. He was even knocked back by the recoil of the gun, deflecting his aim.
“Oo oo chi!”
“Chi chi ji ji!”
This was an opportunity that the dwarves immediately pounced on.
The dwarfs decided that Liu Peiqiang could not retaliate anymore. They once again revealed their bloodthirsty gaze and charged.
Three hundred meters.
Two hundred and fifty meters…
Two hundred meters…
Liu Peiqiang, who was still on the ground, watched as the enemy got closer and closer. Filled with relief, he turned and glanced at his team that was now meters away from safety.
The next second, he lifted the explosive package and exposed the fuze.
“These animals… One day, Almighty Su will lead humankind, the basin area territory, and Hope Village to crush and flatten all of you!”
He placed the fuze into his mouth and watched as the dwarfs approached the last hundred meters. The hideous faces of the dwarves were now clearly visible. Their grin was equally hideous as they charged.
At the sight of this, Liu Peiqiang broke out into a laugh instead.
“Farewell to this human-devouring era!”
Brt!
Brt brt brt brt!
Brt!
Brt brt brt brt brt!
The next second, just as Liu Peiqiang was about to bite the fuze, a faint but familiar sound made him tremble.
Then, the sound crackled continuously like a firecracker.
“There are reinforcements?”
He heard the shots in the distance. Liu Peiqiang regretfully shook his head as he lifted his head.
“I?!
“???”
Liu Peiqiang had shot seven dwarves dead with thirty bullets.
He had thought his feat was impressive until he raised his head; he now realized there was someone else better than him.
er
The dwarves that were charging fiercely had already stopped; their avaricious expressions had been replaced by fear.
US
Every second, two or three dwarves would drop lifelessly from atop the lizards and fall to the ground.
Within ten seconds, a tenth of the dwarves had fallen off their lizards; they were being slaughtered at a frightening speed.
“s.h.i.+t, this distance is eight hundred…no, nine hundred meters away. How can a rifle shoot so accurately from that distance?!”
Stunned, Liu Peiqiang quickly turned his head.
This time, however, what he saw was not the sight of his team fleeing back to the territory, nor was it the location where the gunshots had originated.
It was…
A crowd charging in his direction!
“Kill them, charge! Our brother is in front. Run faster!”
“Everyone, don’t waste your bullets and start running!”
Li Hu, who had fled with the carts, was now charging ahead of the crowd. He was even riding on the lizard that was pulling the cart earlier.
Behind him were the familiar faces of the villagers. Their numbers easily exceeded the dwarves.
However, the villagers behind him still had the Rapid March buff active. Li Hu and the rest of the a.s.sault squad were instantly overtaken by the villagers.
The eight hundred meters between them instantaneously narrowed.
“Brother, you did well!”
Liu Peiqiang was still in a daze at this sight when someone pulled him up and took the pack of explosives from him. His brain was still spinning in circles; he did not recover his senses for a while.
However, the next second, the person next to him placed a walkie-talkie by his ear and a familiar voice could be heard from it.
“Liu Peiqiang, you better f*cking remember this. Even in this small basin area…”
“Without my permission, no one is allowed to die!”