Chapter 231: Burning Money
"Awesome!" Looking at the burning position 500 meters away, Eye Owe Money’s face was filled with excitement.
In the salvo just now, at least twenty rockets hit Black Snake’s brigade.
After those marauders were attacked, they all rushed to the front in a swarm and crowded together. So when the rockets struck them, they had no time to disperse, and could only meet the judgment of the flames in despair.
The effectiveness of the bombardment support this time could score more than 90 points!
At least no rockets landed at a place more than one kilometer away, and no rockets landed on the friendly units.
What surprised Eye Owe Money, in particular, was that the rockets launched by Mosquito were not only loud but also quite powerful.
In addition to the fragmentation damage caused by the explosion, the burning effect was also added, which simply stacked the damage buffs to the maximum! The effect could also be clearly seen.
This round of rocket bombing was much more violent than when they besieged the ecological experimental base before!
Looking at the sea of fire in the distance, Drumhead Washing Machine couldn’t help but sigh. "That buzzer design is really clever. The sound it made when the rockets were flying through the air is really terrifying. If I were on the opposite side, I would’ve definitely shit myself!"
Sideline Slacking sneered, "Low budget Stuka!"Eye Owe Money couldn’t help but frown. "Honestly, Mosquito is really a genius. How does he know how to make all this stuff?"
Drumhead Washing Machine raised an eyebrow casually. "When I get offline later, I have to go to the forum to praise it."
When Eye Owe Money heard this, he quickly persuaded, "Oh please don’t! What if his ego became inflated? Have you forgotten all the weird things he made before?"
Drumhead Washing Machine was dazed for a moment. Feeling that it made sense, he scratched the back of his head and said. "Uh, you’re right... So what do you think I should do?"
Eye Owe Money said with a smile, "Simple, let’s all praise the quadruple-mounted autocannons instead, and tell everyone that Steel Plant 81 is the best, and then pretend that nothing happened."
Sideline Slacking snickered at the side, "Damn, this is so nasty!"
Neighbour Wang nodded slowly. "Yes! I also think it’s too much!"
"Thank you for your compliment," Eye Owe Money revealed an embarrassed smile as he said.
With the arrival of reinforcements and support fire at the same time, the battle on the front line was basically over.
The armored pickup trucks that were broken down in the snow were completely suppressed by the anti-aircraft crawler from the flank.
The morale of the 100 marauders that had rushed towards them under the cover of firepower also collapsed in the whistling sound of rockets.
Especially when they saw that their proud armored pickup trucks were destroyed one after another by the monster with 4 barrels, they ran away like headless flies.
Of course, they wouldn’t be able to escape.
In addition to a tracked vehicle carrying quadruple anti-aircraft autocannons, there were also two troop transporters that ran on tracks and wouldn’t get stuck in the snow.
The players who drove those vehicles were all seasoned drivers, and they unhurriedly switched to the low-speed gear and followed behind those marauders at a distance that was neither far nor close.
The gunners standing in the rear compartment, holding on to the fixed machine gun welded to the roof, kept shooting at them using the three-round burst mode until more than half of them were killed or injured, dropped their weapons, and lay on the ground with their hands on the back of their heads.
In this less than 3 minutes of confrontation, the marauders lost a quarter of their troops and more than half of their armored pickup trucks.
Eye Owe Money roughly counted, the quadruple anti-aircraft autocannons carried behind the truck could take out an armored pickup truck with 4 rounds on average.
Those riveted steel plates on the side of the pickup truck simply couldn’t stop the burst fire of the 20mm cannon at all. If the front of the pickup truck was hit, it would be a complete bloody mess, and if the fuel tank was hit, the truck would be blown up immediately.
The continuous banging sound was as crisp as bottles being popped open.
Perhaps frightened by the tragic death of other marauders, the crew of the last armored pickup truck abandoned the truck and ran away before they were even targeted by the autocannons.
Seeing this, Drumhead Washing Machine immediately set up the light machine gun and stopped 2 marauders that ran away with a quick short burst of the machine gun.
Looking at marauders, who were crying and howling in pain in the snow, Drumhead Washing Machine wasn’t in a hurry to finish them off. He simply cursed, "Get rekt! Were you having fun shooting at us just now? Huh? How does it feel now?"
Not far away, the whistle of the charge sounded one after another.
The friendly troops who came from other places for reinforcements surrounded Black Snake’s convoy from all directions as planned.
The three tracked vehicles continued to move forward in a straight line on the snow, the machine guns mounted on top released ferocious firepower to cover the advance of the infantry team.
Looking at the fierce battle ahead, Eye Owe Money suddenly sighed, "This battle is too expensive."
Sideline Slacking nodded in agreement. "Yes."
When they were fighting in the battery factory, they didn’t have so much powerful equipment, and those marauders could completely suppress them with just two machine guns mounted on two pickup trucks.
Even if they tried their best, they could only take one out at that time.
Now, their firepower had not only been improved in all aspects, but also passed the practical test on the battlefield.
Whether it was Mosquito’s Goblin Rocket or the Type 20 Cannon produced by Steel Plant 81, they showed amazing potential.
Sideline Slacking suddenly felt a little relieved.
He originally thought it would be a brutal bloody battle, but he didn’t expect that the whole battle would end without any of his teammates dying.
It was just like a dream.
The whistles from the front continued one after another, and the excited battle cries made Drumhead Washing Machine want to charge out as well.
He couldn’t help but look at his teammates. "Speaking of which, shall we charge as well? We’ve already reached this point anyway, and I doubt they have the ability to turn the tables."
Sideline Slacking admitted that it was a very tempting proposition, but he still shook his head. "Our mission is to stick to our position. Before the mission is updated, we should follow the mission’s instructions."
It made no difference if they joined other players on the front line. So instead of rushing to join in the fun, it was better to play their own positions well.
In addition to these marauders in front of them, there were still 6 companies of marauders scattering outside.
Even if these people couldn’t turn the tables for a while, they had to be prepared for all possible accidents.
Eye Owe Money also agreed. "Yeah, and I think it’s pointless to charge out now because when we caught up with other teams, most likely the battle would be already over. So it’s better to stay here to earn free points."
When doing defensive missions, as long as players stood in the defensive point, they would get points.
Drumhead Washing Machine sighed, "You guys are so boring..."
Ignoring this guy, Sideline Slacking suddenly remembered the little robot, so he looked at Eye Owe Money beside him. "By the way, do you really not mind that your robot was blown up?"
Eye Owe Money gave a smug face and said, "Not at all. The administrator told me that if it broke, I can just use the new model. The new model also comes with a camera, which is much easier to use than the old model!"
Reptile had a low load-carrying capacity and could carry up to 4 kilograms of explosives.
Naturally, it only managed to carry more at the expense of mobility.
Using 4 kilograms of TNT to blow up a heavy tank was still a little difficult.
However, the metal hydrogen battery used by the reptile itself was also an explosive product, and its explosion equivalent was not low, roughly 6 kilograms of TNT.
With an additional 4 kilograms of TNT, it was equivalent to 2 anti-tank mines in terms of the total explosives.
This power was definitely enough to blow up a tank.
Even if the tank was not completely blown up, the operators in the tank would definitely suffer injuries.
Of course, this worry now appeared to be completely superfluous.
The damage from the explosion was obviously strong enough, not only did the tank become scrap metal, but the fuel tank and ammunition rack were blown up together.
Staring at Big Eyes with a dumbfounded expression, Sideline Slacking shook his head and said after a while of silence, "That’s too extravagant."
...
Longevity Town Command Post.
After the operation began, Chu Guang stationed himself there.
Overlooking the battlefield through the hummingbird drone, he had a panoramic view of the situation on the front line, and shared the picture with everyone in the command post through the tablet computers converted from the VMs.
At the same time, there was a paper map on the table at the command post. There were dozens of arrows marked with numbers on the map, clearly displaying the attack route of every team of players.
So far, the plan went pretty well.
There were a total of 21 ten-man infantry teams that served as the main offensive force. After the support fire arrived on the battlefield, they launched the attack tacitly.
Although there was a huge gap in the number between marauders and players, it did not prevent the players from rushing up and surrounding those marauders who were stunned by the bombardment.
Under the cover of the crawler, the players easily broke the defense of the three companies guarding around the convoy with light weapons with just one round of attack, forcing them to flee towards the forest to the west.
Originally, according to the plan, the 21 teams should be divided into three waves, advancing northward in a concave-shaped offensive formation, driving the marauders to the north in a concentrated manner, and then wiping them out with light vehicles.
Unfortunately, the speed at which the marauders’ defense line collapsed was somewhat beyond Chu Guang’s expectations.
Before the flanking squads were able to surround the marauders, the frontal force had already torn apart the marauders’ defensive line, disintegrated their will to resist, and caused them to flee in terror.
Because of that, the offensive of the last two waves completely lost its meaning.
The team that rushed up to the marauders the fastest was Midnight Pubg’s team. He and his teammates were the ones that first engaged in close combat with the marauders with bayonets.
While the team that was the most steady was Spring Water’s team. After discovering that the outcome of the battle was already decided, he also quickly changed his strategy and took light vehicles to quickly interspersed behind the marauders’ positions, trying to surround as many marauders as possible.
At this point in the battle, it didn’t really matter how they fought anymore. After all, many marauders had already started to surrender themselves, no longer having the will to fight.
However, since it was the time that the players began to harvest points, naturally, they would try to earn as much as they could.
Looking at the picture captured by the drone, Vanus suddenly said, "Your opponent made at least two strategic mistakes, otherwise the battle will not be won so easily."
One was that their march was too hasty, their group was stretched too long, and the front and rear of the group couldn’t protect each other.
Another was the overconfidence in armor advantages and the underestimation of the impact of climate factors on mobility. Once the only tank broke down, no matter how fast the remaining wheeled vehicles could move on the plain, they would still become sitting ducks when they drove into the snowy area.
Of course, there was actually a third mistake, choosing to go on the offensive in winter was a foolish decision in itself.
What’s more, they went all in, making the whole battle a high-stakes gamble.
If they won the bet, they would spend the winter in the northern suburbs of Clearspring City.
If they lost the bet, in another sense, they would also stay here for the winter.
Wrench said solemnly, "There are still 6 companies left in the northern suburbs, roughly seven or eight hundred people in total. If they resist to the end, I’m afraid there will be a hard fight soon."
Vanus shook his head. "I have a different opinion on this. We have already defeated their main force. Even if they have the courage to continue to resist, there is no supply that can support them to fight. In contrast, what we need to pay more attention to is our north."
Wrench frowned and said, "You mean... Lion Fang, who is stationed to the north of us, will take this opportunity to launch a surprise attack?"
Vanus nodded. "It’s not ruled out, but it’s very unlikely. From what we’ve heard from Gray Wolf, they have firepower, but they lack reliable vehicles so they can’t march fast."
Wrench wondered, "Then what do you mean..."
Vanus continued, "After losing the main force, those 6 companies of marauders are likely to move towards Remote Creek Town to join Lion Fang, who is stationed there. The more they escaped, the more we may encounter in the next fight."
Chu Guang nodded. "I have considered this issue. Before the battle started, I had already sent someone to intercept them, but our main force was on the front line, so it is hard to say how many we can stop."
Vanus gave Chu Guang a surprised look while nodding along. "Even if it’s just some of them, it’s still better than letting all of them escape."
Chu Guang said with a faint smile, "That is impossible."
There were only more than 200 players deployed to ambush Black Snake on the front lines, but the players he mobilized were far more than that.
The remaining 200 players were heading northeast.
If those 6 companies of marauders chose to go back to rescue their people, they would be surrounded on both sides.
If they chose to retreat to the northwest, the reinforcements he sent to the front should be able to stop some of them.
There was no longer any suspense on the front line.
The line of defense around the convoy had collapsed, and only sporadic resistance remained, scattered in the forest on the west side and at the rear of the convoy.
By now, the victory of the war could basically be declared, and it was only a matter of time before those stubborn ones were cleared out.
It was a battle with 200 players fighting against 500 marauders, but players still managed to take out a tank, 7 armored pickup trucks, and seized an armored pickup truck for themselves.
In addition, they also seized two 100mm howitzers, more than 20 light trucks, and numerous supplies that were kept on those trucks.
It could even be said Black Snake had brought all his belongings, even including the spoils he plundered from the middle of the River Valley Province.
Soon Chu Guang would know what goodies were kept on those trucks.
In addition, according to the feedback from the front-line troops, hundreds of slaves kept by those marauders were also liberated.
Without a doubt, they obtained an epic victory!
Even if the battle report had not been calculated, Chu Guang could make such a judgment with a positive tone.
And not only that, this battle was also the largest battle that Shelter 404 had ever launched so far.
Whether it was the troops or equipment invested, or the number of enemy troops faced, they had all reached the highest in history since the game was tested.
It was hard to end this without a big celebration.
"The danger from the northeast has been lifted." Chu Guang looked at the map, and his eyes fell on the north of Clearspring City. He stared at Remote Creek Town that was 20 kilometers away from Longevity Town.
The marauders there would have never expected that now they would have to face them alone.
A smile appeared on Chu Guang’s face.
He really wanted to know what kind of expressions they would have on their faces.
It must be wonderful.