Number of Words: 3090Update Time: 09: 36: 00, 12-03, 2012-12
In the underground base, in area C1 of the warehouse area, gunshots and flames were constantly coming out.
In an abandoned warehouse, several containers were pushed to the front entrance as a temporary barrier. Relying on this simple but effective defense, Rankin and the rest used the windows of the warehouse to reach out the barrels of their guns to call out to the living corpses that were rus.h.i.+ng towards the warehouse.
In the midst of the intense gunfire, the bullets pouring out from the direction of the warehouse formed a metallic torrent, attacking the swarm of living corpses that was rus.h.i.+ng towards the warehouse. The battle lasted for half an hour before the last living corpse was. .h.i.t by the bullets.
"F * ck!" Rankin cursed, sat down on the floor under the window without a care for his image.
After the intense battle, Rankin"s face was no longer rosy. Instead, it was a sickly white color. Not only him, but the rest of the soldiers had also suffered from physical exhaustion. Even moving their fingers would cause them to tremble.
However, they were all soldiers who had gone through rigorous training. After repelling the wave of zombies, everyone silently took out some nutrients from their equipment. This was a special nutrition that only the army had. It was several times more than what ordinary goods contained. At the same time, the smell was much worse. If ordinary nutrients taste like chewing wax, then the taste of army nutrients is no different from the faeces of the Scythe Worm.
However, whether it was Rankin or the other soldiers, they did not frown and swallowed all the nutrients in the tube. They knew that even though the nutrients were horrible to eat, as long as they ate them, they would have a chance of survival!
In addition to the nutrients, there was also a small amount of water, which eased the throat of the group. Rankin swallowed hard, then pushed himself up against the wall and sat down next to Smag. "How are you, man?" he asked.
"He won"t die." McGonagall smiled weakly and tied a strip of cloth around his thigh. The cloth had been dyed red, and if the cloth was removed, it would reveal a hole the size of a pocket in McGonagall"s leg.
It was from the attack of the armor piercing bullet. Lanken looked at the wound on his leg and said fiercely, "Who the h.e.l.l wants to drag me down?"
"Who else would it be, if not Zero, then Anthony and the others." McGonagall took a deep breath.
"It must be Anthony!" Rankin slapped him across the thigh and said, "Zero and the others are in front of us. There"s no reason for them to come back and fight us. So it can only be Anthony, this despicable, shameless fellow! "
"Captain, do we consider giving up this exam?" McGonagall whispered.
His voice, though soft, attracted the attention of the other soldiers, and faces turned to Rankin. In these faces Rankin saw fear of death and confusion about the future. They had not even pa.s.sed the second floor of the base yet, but they had already lost nearly half their manpower, and their ammunition was almost depleted. If they kept going, G.o.d knows if anyone would survive.
"But if we give up, we"ll have to live under the cover of cowardice for the rest of our lives!" Rankin said in a low voice.
"We know that too, but captain, sometimes you choose to give up. Isn"t that also a form of courage?" McGonagall emphasized.
Rankin was speechless. Finally, he said, "Vote. If everyone chooses to go home, then I have nothing to say."
The result of the vote was obvious. Apart from Rankin, everyone else expressed the wish to give up the a.s.sessment. However, the final decision was still Lang Ken"s decision. Thus, everyone looked at Lang Ken. Rankin looked at them and finally said heavily, "Rest for ten minutes, and then we"ll go home!"
He didn"t want to give up just like that, didn"t want to let down his uncle who was supporting him, but right now, Rankin couldn"t make up his mind. Even if he had to persevere, the soldiers would still follow, but the morale would definitely be low. A team without any morale was no different from courting death.
In a low bungalow, 450 meters southwest of the abandoned warehouse, Ben"s office s.p.a.ce was occupied by Anthony and others. They encountered a minor interlude while following Rankin, and the butcher, who had followed Rankin and the others, retraced his steps and attacked them in a frenzy. The blood aura of the higher ranked Adepts had attracted the attention of this living corpse. In the end, Anthony and the others had cleaned it up.
Although no one had been sacrificed, a b.l.o.o.d.y wound had appeared on Lucca"s back, and a piece of flesh was missing from Anthony"s feet. Right now, there was a piece of sterile cloth tied there, but the wound was not light.
Betsy, who was in charge of monitoring Rankin"s movements, said from the window, "Captain, the Blasting Squad has left the warehouse."
Anthony, who was resting on the ground, immediately said, "Very good, let us follow him …"
"Wait, they seem to be planning on going back the way they came."
Betsy"s voice interrupted Anthony, who stood up and walked over to the window himself and activated the remote viewing mode on his helmet. As the screen widened, Anthony could clearly see Rankin"s team leaving the warehouse one by one, but they did not move in the direction of the safe pa.s.sage. Instead, they moved towards the upper exit.
"You actually intend to give up, coward!" Anthony cursed in a low voice, not sure if he was angry at Lancaster"s team for their cowardice or for having lost their bait.
Next to him, Betsy said, "Captain, there"s a situation." "500 meters to your left, someone is approaching."
Anthony heard this and immediately looked in the direction Betsy pointed in. In the Night G.o.d Mode, a skinny man was running in the direction of Rankin"s group. When Anthony"s gaze fell on him, the man seemed to have sensed something and looked in Anthony"s direction. However, Anthony observed him from 500 meters away, and with the darkness of the underground base, the man did not reap any rewards.
However, Anthony broke out in a cold sweat. To be able to sense his gaze in the darkness meant that the other party was definitely an expert on his side. Furthermore, that man was emitting a slightly hostile aura. This clearly showed that he didn"t come with good intentions.
Anthony gave up on the man for the first time and pulled Betsy away from the window.
"What is it, Captain?" Lucca noticed that something was wrong and hurriedly asked.
Anthony whispered, "Quiet down and control your heartbeats and temperature, gentlemen. There"s some amazing guy getting closer. "
Those who were able to make Anthony give such orders were naturally not simple. The rest of the people did not waste any more words, and focused all their efforts on controlling their heartbeats and body temperature, not allowing them to be too fast or too high, exposing their own existence.
However, Rankin"s team was not as lucky as Anthony"s. When they left the warehouse, they all looked relieved. Although he gave up the test, it still saved his life. In this world, there was nothing better than to live.
Rankin"s team had cut a b.l.o.o.d.y path through the entire second floor of the underground base. If they continued to follow the same route, the resistance they would face would be minimal. But Rankin and the others didn"t know that the greatest obstacle had already moved in their direction.
Rankin walked at the back of the line, carrying more responsibility than the rest of the team. After all, a small portion of the clan"s honor and honor was placed on him. Since he was unable to join the army, he was of no value to the clan. Rankin could already imagine that his uncle, a councillor, would leave him in the lurch.
Perhaps Rankin could keep this troop and take on some tasks from the Asgard military as the leader of the mercenary group. They could even leave Asgard and go to other cities in the wilderness to earn a living. With Rankin and McGonagall"s strength as Rank 5 and their average rank 3 soldiers, if they gathered some Wilderness Mercenaries, they would be able to complete most of the missions or become a resident mercenary group of a city.
In a few more years, Rankin would be able to set up a family or something.
However, all of this was not what Rankin wanted. But what could he do? Reality was right in front of him, and he had no choice but to give in.
A thought came to his mind as Ron softly sighed. At the same time, a scream rang out from the front of the line. Lanken raised his head to look, only to see McGonagall fly into the air. Something wrapped around his neck and flung him up.
With a grunt, Rankin pulled out his pistol and pointed it at the thing that had wrapped McGonagall. However, when the bullet hit the object, sparks flew out along with the sound of metal hitting metal. Lang Ken was stunned. With such a small distraction, McGonagall had already been brought to the s.p.a.ce ten meters above. Without waiting for the other soldiers to rescue him, Rankin saw several black lines piercing towards McGonagall under his night vision!
Those things instantly pierced between McGonagall"s legs. Suddenly, a mournful howl sounded from the darkness.
In the next moment, an unknown object split apart inside McGonagall"s body, ripping the guerrilla hit man into two. A flower of flesh and blood bloomed in mid-air, showering down with bits and pieces of flesh, organs, intestines, and fresh blood. The brighter soldiers were immediately covered in McGonagall"s blood and bits of meat.
Everyone was stunned, including Rankin. But he quickly regained his senses and roared as he raised his pistol and fired again and again through the crowd in the direction of the unknown. The other soldiers reacted as well. One by one, they raised their machine guns to suppress the trigger, venting their anger through the intense barrage of bullets!
However, 200 meters away from them, there were sparks flying and the sound of metal being hit could be heard. In the midst of their frenzied howls, the Blasting Master Squad"s firepower was completely blocked. When Rankin and his men opened the magazine, it was so quiet in the darkness that it was hard to breathe.
In the midst of this maddening silence, a sharp whistle suddenly rang out. Rankin didn"t have time to warn him. A black line was drawn from the distance. It coiled around the neck of a soldier, and Rankin could see that it was a th.o.r.n.y vine. Rankin could not believe that the vines of this plant had blocked all the bullets.
In an instant, the vines retracted, throwing the soldiers into the darkness. In the darkness, the screams of the soldiers could be heard for a moment before they stopped. Following that, the sound of water droplets could be heard incessantly. Moments later, the soldier"s head, which was filled with shock, slowly rolled down from the darkness to Rankin"s feet!