Infinity, The Arcade Age

Rambosburg City—a town seized by the rebel forces—was a fortress close to the front lines, with its railroads serving as a crucial route for transporting weapons to the battlefield.

But today, rather than sending equipment to the front, the trains in the city were oddly transporting supplies in the opposite direction.

What was being transported this time was the wreckage of the Regular Army's aerial warship, the Zephyr.

The Zephyr's onboard giant energy cannon was immensely powerful and had always been an object of envy for the rebels.

After launching a costly surprise attack to shoot down the Zephyr, the rebels immediately began dismantling the energy cannon, preparing to bring it back for study and replication.

According to the original storyline, the Peregrine Squad was supposed to arrive just in time to disrupt the dismantling of the energy cannon, dismantling the rebels' plot and thwarting their plans at the last second.

However, with the adventurers' interference, the original storyline had undergone significant changes.

First, the rebels—who were originally supposed to have the upper hand—were crushed at the front lines when Qin Ming led his forces in a decisive assault, forcing the rebels to retreat to the city.

Second, with the assistance of the King of Fighters Squad, the energy cannon from the Zephyr, which was originally supposed to remain partially dismantled and be destroyed by the Peregrine Squad in their daring solo mission, had already been fully dismantled using special techniques and transported to the rear cities.

As a result, the Peregrine Squad, having followed the clues all the way to the city, found themselves engaging in direct combat with the rebels in the urban area.

With the support of the adventurers, the rebels' combat power had increased significantly, far beyond what was expected. Despite the full deployment of all four Peregrine Squad members—including Kasamoto Eri and Fio, who were not supposed to appear until Metal Slug 2—the squad found themselves in dire straits.

The city was now crawling with rebel soldiers conducting search-and-destroy operations, hunting relentlessly for the Peregrine Squad.

Among them were numerous adventurers, who were searching with even greater enthusiasm than the soldiers.

After all, the Peregrine Squad's four members were essentially boss-level characters. If they could be eliminated, it would be an incredible haul.

The King of Fighters Squad had been planning this operation for a long time and had spent a significant amount of points to execute it.

But after entering the mission, disaster struck repeatedly. The front line collapsed, and the units sent there were annihilated.

Then, their attempt to hunt down General Jamie Fox and crush the Regular Army's front-line forces fell apart when their ace weapon, the Sky Fortress, was taken.

Their plans had been completely disrupted, leaving them in desperate need of a comeback.

The isolated and surrounded Peregrine Squad seemed like the perfect hunting target to salvage their situation.

But even their seemingly perfect hunting plan hit an unexpected snag this time.

With the adventurers embedded in the Regular Army and actively providing intelligence, hunting the Peregrine Squad should have been a guaranteed success.

However, the moment the adventurers defected, Kasamoto Eri, who appeared to have been anticipating the betrayal, launched a ferocious counterattack.

Her weapons were absurdly powerful, her grenades unbelievably destructive, and her combat abilities vastly exceeded the intel previously gathered.

When the adventurers witnessed Kasamoto Eri charging into close combat with a hand axe and personally taking down four adventurers, they were completely stunned.

The sheer speed and strength she displayed were nothing like what anyone would expect from a character in a shooting game. Since when had Kasamoto Eri become this strong?

After single-handedly killing more than a dozen enemies, the Peregrine Squad broke through the encirclement and escaped the city's perimeter.

With their plans disrupted once again, the King of Fighters Squad became desperate and began scouring the city to track the squad's movements.

But the Peregrine Squad members weren't ordinary soldiers—they were either trained special agents or elite commando members, with exceptional counter-surveillance skills.

To make matters worse, the King of Fighters Squad's best scout, the blindfolded girl, had defected during the previous mission. Rumor had it that she had joined an opposing adventurer squad and had already become a mid-level officer.

Without her unique tracking abilities, the King of Fighters Squad was unable to locate the Peregrine Squad, leaving them stuck in a frustrating game of cat and mouse within the city.

But the real headache was yet to come, as another problem had just entered the scene...

At the city entrance, a squad of rebel soldiers stood armed to the teeth, vigilantly watching everyone entering and leaving.

While they scanned the crowd for any suspicious individuals, a figure in the line quietly raised his head.

That figure was none other than the Regular Army's frontline commander, Qin Ming.

Having come alone, Qin Ming was dressed in plain clothes and wore a pair of dinosaur-shaped sunglasses on his face.

Initially, after receiving the Peregrine Squad's distress signal, he had planned to mobilize his army and storm the city with overwhelming force. However, upon learning that this city was a heavily fortified stronghold with exceptional defenses, he immediately abandoned his original plan for a direct assault.

In terms of ground combat, Qin Ming's army of over 10,000 troops was undoubtedly powerful. The problem, however, was the lack of air support in his frontline forces.

Meanwhile, this fortified city had no less than three squadrons of aerial forces—over 200 fighter jets.

Faced with such overwhelming firepower and a highly fortified urban stronghold, launching a direct attack would have been suicidal. Even if they could take the city, it would come at an enormous cost.

Thus, Qin Ming decided to request aerial support from the higher-ups, particularly by contacting that old man Jamie Fox, who had left not long ago.

Among the four members of the trapped Peregrine Squad was Jamie Fox's only daughter, his one and only child. Qin Ming didn't believe for a second that Jamie could ignore such a situation.

As expected, after receiving the news, Jamie Fox agreed to dispatch aerial units to provide reinforcements. However, it would take two full days for the air units to arrive.

To prevent any unforeseen events, Qin Ming chose not to sit idle and wait for reinforcements. Instead, he decided to infiltrate the city alone and provide immediate support to the Peregrine Squad.

His plan was to wait for the air units to arrive, coordinate them with his ground forces for a full-scale assault, and work together with the Peregrine Squad from the inside to completely take control of the region.

Such a perfect plan, of course, wasn't something Qin Ming came up with on his own. It was the result of discussions between his two deputies and several staff officers.

Yes, Qin Ming now had staff officers under his command!

As for where these staff officers came from? Naturally, they were defectors from Major General Collins' command.

Having lost all authority, Collins' subordinates weren't going to stick around to share in his downfall. If they didn't pledge loyalty to the new leader now, how would they earn military merit in the future?

Especially when the new leader had a massive army but was sorely lacking in strategists, this was the perfect opportunity to defect!

While the Regular Army's senior officers were often seen as cowardly and useless, that didn't mean they lacked ability.

They were just afraid of death, not incompetent. If they were truly worthless, they wouldn't have been able to climb to such positions in the front-line command.

When they were stripped of real power and left to focus solely on providing strategies, their talents actually shone through.

As the saying goes: there's no such thing as a completely useless person—only people who haven't been put in the right place.

(End of Chapter)