chsdbacks Chapter 81: A Self-Inflicted Defeat, War Breaks Out
Chapter 81: A Self-Inflicted Defeat, War Breaks Out
Chapter 81: A Self-Inflicted Defeat, War Breaks Out
"When will this wartime security measure end? It's been over a month already."
Inside the office, Zhuang Yi sat in a chair with his legs stretched out casually, his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling and sighing.
For more than a month, he spent most of his time cooped up at his base. Although he could still go to the training building to avoid getting bored and wasting time, he felt like he was going to have health problems after being cooped up for so long.
Pei Xuan frowned upon hearing this and said, "I haven't used up this month's dungeon challenge attempts yet. If the wartime alert continues into next month, they'll be wasted. I wonder if we can apply to retain them?"
"When will this end? I want to take a vacation," Zhuang Yi sighed.
Tang Wangshu, who was standing nearby, casually remarked, "Didn't Captain Pan say that the restrictions would be lifted once the situation stabilizes?"
"Stable? I think if things continue like this, Blood Eagle will soon have swallowed up the entire Northern District. That would truly be stable."
""
Zhuang Yi pursed his lips, a look of dissatisfaction on his face.
"The best opportunity was clearly in the days immediately following the destruction of Gangfist and Blackrock, but Bloodhawk was a coward, hiding in headquarters and not daring to show his face. Yet, the higher-ups did nothing but watch."
"Now that the people from the Cliff have arrived, Blood Eagle is like a man possessed, expanding its territory everywhere. The territory left by the Fist of Steel and Black Stone, as well as the remaining small guilds, have all been swallowed up by them. At this rate, it probably won't be long before Blood Eagle unifies the North District."
"I just don't understand. Even if the cliffside intervenes, our team shouldn't be this cowardly, right? Are we afraid of them?"
Zhuang Yi complained incessantly.
Tang Wangshu pursed her lips and did not reply.
She could roughly guess the detachment's plans.
From the perspective of the detachment, the higher-ups' plan wasn't necessarily flawed; it's just that things clearly didn't go according to plan.
The opportune moment has completely disappeared during this period, as if it has vanished without a trace.
The detachment is probably in a dilemma now.
"It's good this way. We don't have to go on missions, so we have plenty of time to train. Otherwise, you wouldn't have advanced to level 3 so quickly," Tang Wangshu said.
"That's true." Zhuang Yi chuckled.
Pei Xuan also smiled.
Just a few days ago, they almost immediately advanced to Level 3 professionals, finally catching up with Tang Wangshu.
Lin Ze leaned against the window, never participating in the conversation, but calmly wiping the black steel sword in his hand.
This is a high-quality longsword that he acquired through a trade on the internal forum.
Forged by Legion weaponsmiths using extraordinary materials such as Blackthorn Iron, Abyssal Corrosion Stone, and Darkflow Steel, it combines sharpness, hardness, and lightness, making it ideal for Sword Souls.
He used a full nine common-level cards to get it.
But it's well worth it.
With the Black Steel Sword, his attack power can be further enhanced.
Drop drop!
A sharp, urgent sound suddenly rang out.
The four people in the office were startled at the same time, and then looked at the watches on their wrists without prior arrangement.
It was, however, an emergency assembly notice.
There was a moment of silence in the office, then Zhuang Yi suddenly jumped up.
"It's coming! It's finally moving!"
Pei Xuan and Tang Wangshu also immediately stood up, their expressions solemn.
Lin Ze turned off his watch, understanding dawning on him.
It seems the detachment can't sit still any longer.
The four quickly packed their gear and left the office.
In the plaza in front of the office building, figures in star blue quickly converged from all directions.
In wartime alert conditions, the special operations team can assemble much faster than in peacetime.
Within just two or three minutes, all twelve special operations teams had arrived and formed neat square formations.
At the same time, the three walked out of the office building.
At the very front was a middle-aged military officer, around forty years old, with a square face.
Luo Du and Pan De followed closely behind, one step behind the middle-aged officer.
Everyone present immediately understood what was going on.
This is clearly the advisor who came down from the branch.
The consultant seemed to be in a bad mood, and although he tried his best to hide it, the gloom between his brows could not be concealed.
Just then, Luo Du stepped forward and raised his hand in a gesture.
The square fell silent instantly.
"Everyone," Luo Du's voice was steady and resonated clearly across the square, "this is Advisor Fan Zhenyue, sent by the branch. Advisor Fan will be in full command of the following operations."
Fan Zhenyue stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the crowd below, and slowly said, "I won't waste any more words."
"I believe everyone has heard about what has happened recently and has their own guesses."
"That's right, our target today is Blood Eagle headquarters."
"The entire North District branch will be mobilized to eradicate this malignant tumor and restore peace to the North District!"
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable air of authority.
As soon as the words were spoken, a unified response rang out from the square: "Yes!"
Fan Zhenyue nodded slightly and waved his hand forcefully.
"Set off!"
For a moment, the sound of footsteps and commands echoed across the square.
Military vehicles drove away from the base, forming a mighty stream of cars, and sped towards the Blood Eagle headquarters.
The atmosphere inside the command vehicle was somewhat tense.
Fan Zhenyue leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes to rest, and frowned slightly.
Luo Du and Pan De sat on the other side, exchanged glances, and both knew perfectly well why Fan Zhenyue was in a bad mood.
Fan Zhenyue's previous plan was to have Tian Shi fight Duan Ya and Xue Ying to the death, but Tian Shi didn't play by the rules and just went silent.
Not only did their scheme to reap the benefits fail, but it also led to Blood Eagle's growing power and Cliff's forces penetrating deeper into the Northern District, making the situation even worse than before.
Fan Zhenyue shot himself in the foot, and naturally lost face.
Fortunately, no matter how much he cared about his reputation, he didn't lose his mind and knew that he couldn't let Blood Eagle continue to expand.
Otherwise, once Blood Eagle has absorbed all the territory and resources and its power has further expanded, the situation will only become more difficult to manage.
More importantly, if Blood Eagle were to completely side with Cliff and allow Cliff's influence to expand into the Northern District, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Therefore, even if it meant losing face, Fan Zhenyue had to send his team to attack the Blood Eagle headquarters.
"I'll deal with Qin Lie later."
After a long silence, Fan Zhenyue broke the silence by opening his eyes and looking at the two people opposite him.
"Captain Luo, I'm leaving Tong Linyuan to you."
"As for Captain Pan, you will select a few special operations teams to lead and deal with the other two cliff-side cadres, as well as those elite members."
"The remaining special operations team will deal with Blood Eagle's men."
"Yes, Consultant Fan."
Luo Du and Pan De responded in unison.
"We must take down Blood Eagle!"
Fan Zhenyue looked out the window at the scenery rushing past and said decisively.
Since Tian Shi has backed down and dares not confront Blood Eagle and Cliff directly, then he can only rely on their legion.
Bloodhawk's headquarters are located in the northwest corner of the North District.
From a distance, the entire headquarters resembles a small military fortress.
The entire complex is surrounded by a five-meter-high dark red wall. The wall is not smooth and uniform, but is covered with protruding ridges and reinforced steel plates, reflecting a cold and rough light in the setting sun.
The top of the wall is densely packed with searchlights and automatic machine gun turrets, and multiple sentry towers stand like fangs at the four corners of the wall, with their thickened alloy shields and sniper rifle muzzles clearly visible on top.
Within 500 meters of the wall, there is only flat, open ground with no cover. Any attempt to approach will be exposed to the absolute coverage of crossfire.
At this moment, the wall was already crowded with people.
The Blood Eagle members, densely packed and fully armed, stared at the slowly approaching legion convoy with the look of impending doom.
Clearly, Blood Eagle had received advance notice of the detachment's attack.
Lin Ze was not surprised by this.
The fact that Jiang Lei, a member of the Holy Priests, could serve as the leader of the special operations team and secretly collude with the Blackstone Society shows that there are significant internal problems within the North District branch.
It's likely that all the guilds in the North District have planted spies within their respective branches.
Bloodhawk has been operating in the North District for many years, and it is no exception.
Fan Zhenyue and Luo Du seemed unsurprised by this, calmly issuing instructions through the communicator.
The convoy stopped about 700 or 800 meters from the wall.
The soldiers quickly disembarked and used the vehicles as cover to build a defensive line.
The rapid-fire machine gun on top of the military off-road vehicle was adjusted to an angle, its dark muzzle aimed at the wall.
The rear doors of the armored personnel carriers opened, and soldiers holding metal shields filed out, forming an iron barrier in front of the battle line.
Immediately afterwards, several armored vehicles equipped with heavy weapons slowly drove out, the machine guns on their turrets gleaming with a cold, hard luster in the setting sun.
The entire encirclement was formed in just ten minutes, completely surrounding the Blood Eagle headquarters like an iron barrel.
Seeing that the encirclement was complete, Fan Zhenyue gave the order to attack.
"Proceed!"
Commands are relayed through communicators.
The soldiers in the front row raised specially made alloy shields, the surfaces of which were engraved with intricate patterns.
As the soldiers slammed their shields into the ground, the patterns on the shields instantly glowed with a faint light, which quickly spread and expanded.
In an instant, semi-transparent walls of light condensed and formed in front of the shield, connecting with each other to form a giant barrier covering the entire forward line.
Following closely behind, the soldiers pushed the giant barrier forward slowly.
When the troops approached within 500 meters of the wall, the guards on the wall immediately pulled the trigger.
Bang bang bang!
A barrage of gunfire erupted like a torrential downpour, bullets raining down on the legion's lines like locusts.
However, when the bullet struck the translucent wall of light, it was as if it had hit an invisible wall, making a crisp "clanging" sound before falling limply to the ground.
Lin Ze gazed at this scene from afar, his eyes flickering slightly.
Fortify the walls!
The Shield Guard's signature skill is to form a shield to block attacks from the front.
It was obvious that the soldiers in the front row were all professional shield guards.
Generally speaking, the defensive area of a fortified wall is not this exaggerated. Lin Ze guessed it was related to the shields in the hands of these soldiers.
That's most likely some kind of man-made artifact that can greatly enhance the effects of the Fortified Barrier skill.
This is the difference between military forces and civilian forces.
It's not just about the quality of personnel, but also about a complete and overwhelming advantage in equipment, training, and resources.
Only legions can be equipped on a large scale with standard weapons incorporating extraordinary materials, or even equipment with quality grades.
Only a legion can cultivate so many professionals who have mastered coordinated tactics.
Guilds might be able to acquire some equipment through plunder and trade, but it's virtually impossible to arm an army in a structured and systematic way like a legion.
Therefore, no matter how arrogant and domineering the guilds are, they can never shake the dominance of the Federation and the Legion.
The legion's lines advanced steadily under the protection of the light wall, getting closer and closer to the perimeter.
When the distance closed to 200 meters, Fan Zhenyue, inside the command vehicle, coldly ordered: "Fire cover."
The moment the order was given, the entire front line seemed to come alive.
The soldiers set up their rifles and fired in unison.
The rapid-fire machine gun on top of the military off-road vehicle also began to roar wildly, with bullets pouring out like a torrential rain.
Blood Eagle headquarters was clearly prepared.
Just as the bullet was about to hit the wall, a light red energy shield suddenly unfolded, enveloping the entire headquarters.
The bullets struck the shield, creating ripples, but failed to penetrate it.
"It's a barrier."
Luo Du murmured, his face showing little surprise.
It's perfectly normal for a guild of Blood Eagle's size to have a barrier master.
However, it is certain that there will not be many barrier masters, and their level will not exceed level 5, so they will not be able to hold out for long.
The deafening sound of gunfire echoed across the battlefield.
Both sides unleashed a hail of bullets at each other.
Ordinary firearms and bullets have negligible effect on solid walls and barriers. Therefore, both Blood Eagle and the Legion use enchanted firearms and bullets mixed with extraordinary materials.
However, it is clearly visible to the naked eye that the Bloodhawks' firepower is far inferior to that of the Legion.
In fact, the legion's firepower doesn't stop there.
Wheel!
The sound of wheels rolling over the ground rang out.
A group of soldiers pushed out three oddly shaped metal gun carriages from the rear of the off-road vehicle.
These gun mounts look like mortars, except that the gun barrels have a dark metallic luster, and the surface is engraved with dense and strange patterns. There are also faint energy fluctuations flowing at the muzzle.
Clearly, this is not a conventional weapon, but some kind of strange object.
"Load!"
The soldiers loaded the specially made shells into the cannon barrel.
Boom boom boom!
Three deafening explosions rang out almost simultaneously.
The shell traced three arcs in the air and accurately hit the energy barrier at the Blood Eagle headquarters.
A blinding white light burst forth instantly, accompanied by a crisp sound like shattering glass. The pale red shield trembled violently, and countless spiderweb-like cracks appeared on its surface.
The next second, the shield shattered!
The unprotected walls were instantly exposed to the legion's firepower.
Bang bang bang!
The rapid-fire machine gun's ammunition belts lashed against the wall like whips, sending concrete fragments flying everywhere.
The three mortars fired again, and the shells landed precisely on the wall and the watchtower.
Boom boom boom!
The explosion sent flames shooting into the sky, blasting several huge gaps in the wall, and a watchtower was completely destroyed, burying the guards on it under the rubble before they could even scream.
"Oh My God..
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Zhuang Yi, watching this scene from behind, couldn't help but swallow hard, his face filled with shock.
"That firepower is too intense."
Tang Wangshu and Pei Xuan were both visibly surprised.
Lin Ze didn't speak, he just watched quietly, his eyes reflecting the distant firelight.
Without the protection of the barrier, the Blood Eagle headquarters' defenses quickly collapsed under the Legion's intense artillery bombardment, and the towering walls and watchtowers were swiftly reduced to ruins.
After another round of artillery bombardment completely dismantled Blood Eagle's defenses, Fan Zhenyue issued another order.
"Regular troops, move out!"
The soldiers, who were already prepared, surged toward the breach in the wall like a tide, rushing over the ruins into the interior.
Intense gunfire, screams, and explosions soon erupted inside.
Fan Zhenyue stared expressionlessly at the ruins until the regular troops suppressed the counterattack forces in the outer area before issuing another order.
"Special Operations Team, deploy!"
"Ignore the fighting in the outer areas, attack the core area directly, and eliminate the Blood Eagle's core members!"
The twelve special operations teams shot out of their positions like arrows, bypassing the two sides engaged in combat in the outer area, and sped towards the depths of headquarters.
Lin Ze and his three companions followed closely behind the main force and stormed into the Blood Eagle headquarters.
The scene before my eyes was one of utter devastation.
The ground was covered with craters and ruins, with broken concrete blocks and twisted metal fragments scattered everywhere, and bullet holes and charred marks visible everywhere.
The air was thick with the pungent smell of gunpowder and blood. Many corpses lay scattered on the ground, some wearing Blood Eagle badges and others dressed in star-blue military uniforms.
Fierce battles erupted in every corner.
Bloodhawk members held out against the rubble, while Legion soldiers systematically cleared out the enemy in small groups.
Although the ordinary members of Blood Eagle were brave, they were no match for the well-trained and well-equipped soldiers of the Legion, and it was only a matter of time before they were wiped out.
However, whether it was Fan Zhenyue, Luo Du, Pan De, or the rest of the special operations team, their expressions remained solemn, showing no signs of relaxation.
Everyone knew that the battles to come would be the key to determining the outcome of the war.
Of the twelve special operations teams, the eight teams that had recently experienced the loss of all members and the replacement of their team leaders had the fewest members.
In Group 8, Tang Wangshu, Zhuang Yi, and Pei Xuan all looked somewhat nervous.
Although they had experienced many battles, this was the first time they had participated in such a large-scale, high-intensity military operation.
During the last attack on Gangquan's headquarters, the battlefield had already been cleared in advance, so they didn't have a chance to make a move.
"Maintain formation, watch out for stray bullets."
As Lin Ze whispered a reminder, he casually swung his sword to deflect a stray bullet that came from the corner.
Tang Wangshu and the other two nodded quickly, took a deep breath to calm themselves, and looked around warily.
Along the way, some Blood Eagle members, lacking common sense, launched attacks on this main force, but before they could get close, they were riddled with bullets by the team's ranged professionals, such as sharpshooters and magic gunners.
The main force, like a rampaging beast, swept into the core area with unstoppable momentum.
Soon, a relatively open square appeared ahead.
At the end of the square stands a five-story main building.
At this moment, the square was already full of people.
Blood Eagle Guild Leader Tong Linyuan was among them, followed by hundreds of Blood Eagle's main members.
Beside them stood the men and horses of the cliff.
The leader was a tall, upright man, nearly 1.9 meters tall, with a rugged face, bronze skin, and exceptionally sharp eyes.
Just standing there, it exudes a ferocious and oppressive aura, like a prehistoric behemoth.
They are clearly not to be trifled with.
The two men standing behind him also exuded a powerful aura.
Further back were a large group of people dressed in uniform black combat suits, who looked quite well-trained.
"Qin Lie".
Fan Zhenyue raised his hand to signal everyone to stop, his gaze falling on the tall man, and coldly uttered two words.
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