ocean-life Chapter 142 Blue Star Military's Firepower Bombardment!
Chapter 142 Blue Star Military's Firepower Bombardment!
"Buzz—"
A sudden, extremely muffled tremor rippled through the air.
The armored porcupine charging at the front had just stepped onto a broken engine hood when its massive body suddenly sank down.
"Snap!"
The hood, along with the engine underneath, was crushed into a flat iron disc.
The porcupine let out a bloodcurdling scream, its four thick legs carving four deep furrows in the asphalt road, and it came to a stop less than five meters from the armored vehicle.
Ten times the force of gravity.
The other two boars couldn't dodge in time and crashed directly into the one in front. The three monsters, each weighing several tons, rolled into a heap, creating a large crater in the ground.
Captain Zhou Feng had already put his finger into the grenade's pin and was about to pull it when a hand suddenly reached out from the side and pressed down on his wrist.
"Save your scraps," Jiang Ming's voice rang in his ear, tinged with disdain. "I still have a use for this pigskin. Who's responsible if it gets ruined?"
Zhou Feng froze completely.
He didn't even see how this person appeared next to him.
Before he could react, Jiang Ming had already let go, picked up the dark red greatsword, and strode towards the three still struggling boars in the pit.
"Watch out! That beast is bulletproof—" Zhou Feng shouted instinctively.
Before he finished speaking, Jiang Ming had already reached the edge of the pit.
He didn't even use any skills; relying solely on his terrifying strength exceeding 30 points, he gripped the sword hilt with both hands and slashed down at the neck of the topmost boar.
"Pfft!"
That layer of bone spike armor, which could even deflect armor-piercing bullets from heavy machine guns, was like a crispy roast suckling pig shell in front of [Hellfire Thunder Prison].
The dark red blade sliced through its neck without any resistance, and the huge pig's head rolled to the side of the armored vehicle's tires.
The scalding hot pig's blood sprayed more than three meters high.
The remaining two porcupines were terrified and desperately tried to break free from the oppressive gravity and get up.
Jiang Ming stomped on one of the heads, the immense force crushing its jaw to pieces.
Then, with a backhand thrust, he stabbed the sword into the middle of its spine and twisted it forcefully.
The second one died.
The last porcupine finally struggled to its feet, its eyes red as it charged at Jiang Ming.
"Bang!"
A muffled gunshot rang out.
Chen Qi held a rifle, smoke rising from the muzzle.
A specially designed armor-piercing projectile accurately blinded the porcupine's left eye.
The monster screamed and veered off course.
Jiang Ming didn't even look, using the momentum of its charge to sweep the giant sword horizontally.
"Sizzle—"
The porcupine's belly was cut open on the spot, and its colorful intestines and internal organs spilled out all over the ground.
It rushed forward two steps and then collapsed with a crash.
[Defeat 3 Ironclad Boars (Lv.15) to gain 4500 experience points.]
The intersection was so quiet that the only sound was the dripping of fuel from a car's leaking tank.
Zhou Feng and his team members hid behind the armored vehicle, their mouths agape, unable to utter a single word for a long time.
The three monsters that had cornered them were slaughtered like pigs in less than half a minute.
And with cold weapons?!
Jiang Ming shook the blood off his sword, then squatted down and began to loot the corpse.
[Received: 3 complete Ironclad Pigskins]
[Obtained: 12 sharp bone spurs]
[Obtained: Low-level Earth Attribute Crystal Core *1]
Jiang Ming stuffed everything into the storage card, stood up, and turned to Zhou Feng behind the armored vehicle: "Can I ask for directions?"
Zhou Feng snapped out of his daze, swallowed hard, and quickly circled around from behind the car.
He eyed Jiang Ming warily, his gaze lingering on Jiang Ming's strange equipment and the exaggerated greatsword in his hand for several seconds.
"Which war zone's Awakened Squad are you from?" Zhou Feng asked tentatively. "I'm Zhou Feng, the captain of the Third Special Operations Brigade of Dongjiang City. Thanks for your help, brother."
"An Awakened One?" Jiang Ming raised an eyebrow.
It seems that the official Blue Star has already developed a naming system for extraordinary powers.
At this moment, Chen Qi led his team over.
He glanced at the eagle emblem on Zhou Feng's armband, then pulled out an ID from his pocket and waved it: "We're colleagues. But we're not from Dongjiang City."
Zhou Feng stared at Chen Qi's tactical vest and the clearly modified rifle in his hand, his brows furrowing even more: "Your equipment... I've never seen it before? Also, why are there civilians and..." in your team?
His gaze fell on Marlowe, who was riding a dire wolf, and his hand unconsciously reached for the pistol at his waist.
"Put the gun away, or I'll chop off your hand." Jiang Ming's tone was calm, but the murderous intent in his words sent a chill down Zhou Feng's spine.
Zhou Feng gritted his teeth and removed his hand from the holster.
He knew that if the man in front of him wanted to kill them, they wouldn't be able to fire a single shot.
"Alright, enough nonsense." Jiang Ming planted his sword in the ground, took out a cigarette and lit it. "Where's your main force? How come there are only a few of you left here?"
Zhou Feng sighed, his eyes dimming. "Three days ago, a large area of space suddenly overlapped in the city center. Monsters surged out like a tide. Conventional weapons were completely useless against high-level monsters. The higher-ups ordered the main force to withdraw from the city and establish a defensive line outside the Third Ring Road. Our brigade was responsible for covering the civilians' retreat, but our retreat route was cut off."
"Where is the underground shelter you were talking about?" Jiang Ming asked casually.
"It's in the Yonghui Underground Shopping Mall, two blocks ahead. It used to be an air raid shelter, but now it's hiding nearly three thousand citizens who didn't have time to evacuate." Zhou Feng pointed to the north. "We were originally building a defensive line on the outside, but these three pigs scattered us."
"Three thousand people?" Lin Yu's eyes lit up when he heard this from behind, and he quickly caught up. "There must be food and water in the shelter, right? Brother Jiang, let's hurry over there!"
Jiang Ming glanced at Lin Yu but ignored him.
He was planning something else.
Three thousand living people gathered underground were like a giant, fragrant cake to those otherworldly monsters with a keen sense of smell.
"What kind of monsters are surrounding the shelter?" Jiang Ming asked, getting to the heart of the matter.
Zhou Feng recalled for a moment, his face turning extremely grim: "There were many, at least a thousand. Most were those green-skinned dwarfs, carrying rusty iron tools. But the troublesome thing was, mixed in were a few monsters over three meters tall, covered in red fur, and incredibly strong. There were also some riding large wolves..."
"Goblins, ogres, orc werewolf riders," Chen Qi chimed in, rattling off the monsters' names with practiced ease.
Zhou Feng was taken aback: "You know about these monsters?"
"We know them very well." Chen Qi grinned, patting the rifle in his hand. "We deal with these bastards every day back in our hometown."
Jiang Ming threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out, then drew his greatsword.
"Let's go check out that shelter."
Zhou Feng was overjoyed.
With a powerful figure like Jiang Ming joining the team, the thousands of people in the shelter will be saved.
"Great! Brother, as long as we can rescue him, my life, Zhou Feng's life, is yours from now on!"
"You're overthinking it." Jiang Ming glanced at him. "I'm not going to rescue anyone."
Zhou Feng's smile froze: "Then what are you going to do?"
Jiang Ming looked at the gray sky to the north and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
"Go and get the goods."
……
The distance is two blocks, which normally only takes a few minutes by car.
But in present-day Dongjiang City, this journey has been exceptionally difficult.
The streets were completely blocked by various abandoned vehicles and huge vines emerging from the ground.
Mutilated corpses were everywhere, and blood had dried into a dark black color on the asphalt roads.
Along the way, they encountered several more scattered groups of monsters.
Several goblins hiding in the abandoned shop had their necks snapped by Marlowe's dire wolves before they could even rush out.
Zhou Feng and his teammates followed behind, growing increasingly alarmed as they watched.
The composition of this team is too bizarre.
A leader with terrifying combat power and decisive killing ability; a team of well-trained special agents who act even more decisively than them; several ordinary students trembling with fear; and a... alien race that looks like a goblin from a Western fantasy novel, who is riding a giant wolf bigger than a tiger.
"Captain, who exactly are these people?" a team member asked Zhou Feng in a low voice.
Zhou Feng shook his head: "I don't know. But as long as they're willing to deal with the monster, that's fine. When we get to the shelter, follow my instructions and don't mess with the one with the greatsword."
The convoy stopped one intersection away from Yonghui Commercial City.
Jiang Ming made a hand gesture, and everyone immediately hid against the wall.
"Chen Qi, find a high vantage point to assess the situation."
Chen Qi nodded and quickly climbed up to the third-floor terrace via the fire escape of an office building next door.
Less than half a minute later, Chen Qi slid down the water pipe, his face turning pale.
"Brother Jiang, something's not right."
"How so?"
"The plaza outside the mall is teeming with monsters. They're densely packed, at least two thousand of them." Chen Qi swallowed hard. "The outer perimeter is filled with goblins, the middle with orc infantry, and I even saw a few wooden catapults! These bastards brought all their siege equipment!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Feng felt a wave of dizziness and almost lost his balance.
"Catapults? How is that possible... The ventilation shafts and security doors of the underground mall are no match for the bombardment of such heavy weaponry. Those three thousand people inside..."
"What's the panic?" Jiang Ming interrupted him, turning to Chen Qi. "Where's the commander?"
"In the very center of the square, there's a wooden platform with a half-orc in black robes standing on it, holding a glowing bone staff. He looks like a shaman."
Jiang Ming stroked his chin.
The presence of a shaman in command indicates that this was not an ordinary monster uprising, but a premeditated military operation.
An army from another world is turning Earth's cities into hunting grounds.
"Brother Jiang, shall we retreat?" Lin Yu's legs trembled as he listened from behind. "More than two thousand monsters! If we, a dozen or so people, charged in, we wouldn't even make a splash."
Jiang Ming slapped Lin Yu on the back of the head: "Shut up."
He pressed himself against the corner of the wall, carefully observing the formation on the square.
The outermost perimeter was swarming with goblins, these green-skinned dwarves carrying sharpened wooden sticks and rusty iron plates, purely cannon fodder used to consume ammunition.
In the middle were several hundred orc infantrymen dressed in rough leather armor, strong and muscular, carrying heavy battle axes.
The most troublesome thing was the several wooden heavy catapults directly opposite the square.
Dozens of laborers were pushing huge boulders, each as tall as a person, into the slingshot.
Zhou Feng followed Jiang Ming's gaze, his face instantly turning deathly pale: "It's over. They're going to collapse the ventilation shaft! Those catapults are aimed right below the shelter's load-bearing pillars! If they break through the ground, three thousand people will be buried alive!"
He was sweating profusely, grabbed the walkie-talkie, and roared, "Command center! This is Special Operations Brigade 3! A large number of heavy siege weapons have been discovered at Yonghui Plaza. Requesting immediate fire support! Requesting support!"
Only a piercing static sound came from the walkie-talkie. The magnetic field in the overlapping area was chaotic, and communication had long been lost.
"Stop shouting, save your energy for running away later."
Jiang Ming casually flipped his wrist.
With a flash of light, a heavy weapon with an exaggerated design, pieced together entirely from pale white bones and mechanical parts, appeared on his shoulder.
【White Bone Magic Rocket Launcher】.
Zhou Feng's eyes widened in disbelief.
He's a veteran; he can identify the model of any firearm with his eyes closed.
But what the hell is this thing?
The RPG's launch tube was covered in bone spikes, and a red-glowing crystal was embedded in its tail.
"This...this is a rocket launcher?" Zhou Feng stammered.
Jiang Ming ignored him completely, hoisted the rocket launcher onto his shoulder, and began to inject his mental energy into it.
"Chen Qi, listen up." Jiang Ming spoke very quickly. "I'll take out that shaman with one shot, and the monster formation will definitely be thrown into disarray. You take the special forces team to occupy the second-floor cafe terrace on the left and use crossfire to block the orc infantry. Ignore the goblins, focus on the big ones."
Chen Qi immediately pulled the bolt: "Understood!"
Jiang Ming turned to the goblin huddled behind him: "Marlo, send your wolves to bite those laborers pushing the catapults. Once the catapults are disabled, your mission is complete."
Marlowe nearly burst into tears, clinging tightly to the dire wolf's neck: "Boss! There are over two thousand monsters! My wolves charging in wouldn't even be enough to fill their teeth! This is suicide!"
"Stop talking nonsense. If you die, I'll go back to the other world and get you a kodo beast as a mount." Jiang Ming kicked him mercilessly. "If you don't dare to go, I'll chop you up right now."
Marlowe shuddered and nodded frantically.
Jiang Ming took a deep breath and aimed the rocket launcher at the shaman on the high platform in the center of the square.
It charges in three seconds.
The red light inside the crystal core grew brighter and brighter, and the violent fire-attribute magic energy was being compressed wildly inside the cannon barrel.
Just as Jiang Ming was about to pull the trigger...
"Boom—"
A deep, muffled rumble of thunder suddenly came from above the clouds in the far distance.
But the sound was too continuous; it wasn't thunder at all.
Chen Qi suddenly looked up, staring at the hazy sky, his face filled with wild joy: "Fighter jets! Our fighter jets!"
Before the words were even finished, two silver-gray fighter jets tore through the low-hanging clouds like sharp swords, sweeping over the city at supersonic speed.
The sonic boom cloud exploded in mid-air.
A terrifying sonic boom swept across the street, shattering the glass curtain walls into countless pieces, like a shower of glass.