Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 61 Mongolia

Chapter 61: Chapter 61 Mongolia

Half an hour later, inside the 7025 fortification.

The 7-member squad finally reached the stronghold safely, and the Holy Blood behind them had been shaken off.

From the drone surveillance footage, their indiscriminate barrage of firepower had frightened the Holy Blood, and after the ceasefire, no one dared to follow, even when they deliberately circled several times in sparsely vegetated areas, they didn’t find any hidden watchers.

The crisis was temporarily lifted, and the group finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After entering the fortification, Chen Jian immediately asked Shen Yue to further treat Li Shi’s wound, while he rearranged the perimeter defenses with Lei Jie and He Shuo, using drones on standby to set up a makeshift early warning system.

It wasn’t until all this was done that he returned inside the fortification to check on the status of the squad members.

The good news was, apart from Li Shi, only Zeng Yi had sustained minor injuries among the 7.

For someone like him, as long as proper disinfection and handling were done, there wasn’t much of a problem.

But there was bad news too.

Through this conflict, Chen Jian profoundly realized the issues within his squad.

In short, too aggressive, lacking in defense.

This time, by utilizing overwhelming firepower, electromagnetic control, and informational advantage, the squad barely gained the upper hand.

But what about next time?

If luck is not as favorable, if the Mechanical God Sect’s shell hadn’t missed, if Zeng Yi’s throw had gone astray, the result would be totally different.

In the most extreme case, the squad could have been wiped out entirely.

After all, they don’t have the robust bodies of the Holy Blood that can withstand a bullet through the heart and keep moving.

There are still too few people.

The risks can’t be distributed, and without spare members to fill the line, only a few limited people can face the impact head-on.

This is definitely not a wise choice, so in the short term, expanding manpower becomes a top priority.

---- But the problem is here.

The best source of manpower was Han Shui City, but that route has been cut off by local managers, and there seems to be no hope of restoration in the short term.

Not only that, but they also need to be constantly on guard against threats from Han Shui City.

After all, those brainwashed lunatics won’t give up easily, even after suffering heavy casualties, Chen Jian has reason to believe they will continue harassing and attacking for some time.

Very troublesome.

Chen Jian frowned, and the others did the same.

But in the somewhat heavy atmosphere, no one spoke.

Until Li Shi’s wound was treated, until the naturally optimistic Shen Yue wiped his hands clean and handed out candy from sealed cans, the dopamine-triggered few finally perked up a bit.

"....Damn it, we nearly fell into those maniacs’ hands this time."

Lei Jie let out a long breath and said:

"Han Shui City is indeed not simple, the Mechanical God Sect and the Holy Blood Temple are indeed not simple."

"These people have survived in the wasteland for so long for a reason, I think they have a unique process for discussing affairs."

"They react so quickly to issues and can organize personnel swiftly..."

"Such mobilization ability is really quite astonishing."

"Religious organizations are always like this."

Chen Jian waved his hand and said:

"Nothing special. We have the Yellow Turban Army internally, and in the West, there are the Crusaders. Their combat power aside, their mobilization capabilities were strong in their times."

"I don’t have questions about that, my biggest question is why they react so strongly to the ’Mimic Heretics’."

"We must find a way to acquire further information.... but any direct approach into the city is no longer an option."

"Is there a way to change our appearance and bypass their inspections?"

"Not likely."

Xie Liu shook his head in response:

"Once Han Shui City enters a state of martial law, inspections are very strict."

"Not only strangers, even familiar merchants, travelers, or even people from the Holy Blood Temple and the Mechanical God Sect themselves, will face strict scrutiny before entering."

"To sneak in, you’d have to wait until martial law is lifted."

"But I feel that, before they completely eliminate the ’threat’ from our side, they won’t lift martial law."

"So there’s no way?"

Chen Jian couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed, while Zeng Yi on the side chimed in:

"There is a way, but it relies on luck."

"What way?"

Chen Jian immediately asked.

"Find the Circle Merchants."

"Circle Merchants?"

Chen Jian asked in confusion:

"What is that?"

Zeng Yi took a light breath and answered:

"It’s hard to explain what they are, in fact, no one can precisely define them."

"They are the keenest information brokers on this land, notorious war intermediaries, formerly the wealthiest merchant organization, and also researchers of ancient technologies."

"They operate in secret but are also very powerful."

"Especially in terms of ancient technology, it’s said that some technologies used by the Mechanical God Sect now, especially the radio communication, were found and restored from relics by them."

"It’s said they’re the third major force in the world besides the Mechanical God Sect and the Holy Blood Temple."

"But in reality, over the decades, their influence has weakened----at least from the records I can see, they haven’t sold ancient technology in over a century."

"Perhaps these technologies have been lost to them as well."

"Now they’ve almost entirely become an intelligence organization, one obsessed with intrigue, hoping to gain power through conspiracy."

"So if you want to get information, finding them is the best option."

"The problem is... you can’t find them."

"They appear more frequently in certain cities, but even if you know where they are, it’s hard to identify them."

"That’s why I said... it relies on luck."

"Then let’s rely on luck."

Chen Jian nodded, biting down the sugar in his mouth, and said:

"Information is important, but it may not necessarily be the top priority."

"If we can’t find it right now, that’s fine. Anyway, we can already ascertain that the armed forces in Han Shui City are our enemies."

"So next, our plan mainly consists of two points."

"First, acquire food, expand manpower, and grow our force."

"Second, find ways to deal with the continuous harassment and attacks from Han Shui City in the future."

"The former is manageable, if Han Shui City is not an option, as Xie Liu previously suggested, we can look for other settlements and develop in other directions."

"But the threat from Han Shui City... is imminent."

"We can’t constantly fend off their attacks, and to completely eliminate them we face the problem of lacking manpower."

"This is almost a paradox, and the only solution is...."

Chen Jian didn’t finish his sentence as the other three simultaneously looked towards the lead box in the corner, and after a pause, Chen Jian continued:

"Forget it, let’s not resort to that unless absolutely necessary."

"Civilians are also valuable resources, they can be educated, and it’s taken years to reproduce these thousands of people, they shouldn’t be wasted."

"...In hindsight, we shouldn’t have killed that Level 3 monster, if it were alive, it could at least serve as a temporary shield."

"Now...."

Saying this, Chen Jian couldn’t help but sigh.

Yet, Xie Liu beside him brightened up and tentatively suggested:

"If that’s the case.... what if we find another monster?"

"Where to find one?"

Chen Jian asked, perplexed.

"The idea is fine, but we don’t have any."

"And even if we did, we probably couldn’t control a new monster..."

"Not necessarily."

Zeng Yi suddenly spoke, seemingly understanding what Xie Liu meant.

He then continued:

"40 kilometers south of the Han Shui Relics is Han Shui City, and 70 kilometers to the southeast is Yellow Stone City with about 2000 people."

"Between Yellow Stone City and the Han Shui Relics, there’s a place called Huangzhou, and there’s actually a Level 4 monster active there."

"This monster has coexisted peacefully with the residents of Yellow Stone City for decades, and the residents even regard it as a means to block the Level 3 monster from the Han Shui Relics."

"If we lead this monster between the Han Shui Relics and Han Shui City... the effect would be the same, wouldn’t it?"

"Except we wouldn’t be blocking monsters but the enemies from Han Shui City."

"Think about it, a Level 4 monster suddenly appearing at their doorstep, no matter what, they wouldn’t have more strength to deal with us then, right?"

"At least in the short term, we could gain valuable time."

As Zeng Yi finished speaking, Chen Jian was dumbfounded.

He never imagined, not only do monsters coexist with monsters, but humans and monsters could too!

If according to Zeng Yi’s statement, it is indeed feasible.

Thinking this, he hurriedly asked:

"Do you know about that monster? What are its characteristics?"

"I don’t know."

Zeng Yi shook his head and then added:

"But the people of Yellow Stone City definitely do, as far as I know, they even gave it a name."

"What’s it called?"

Chen Jian asked.

Zeng Yi shook his head to indicate he didn’t remember, but Xie Liu, without hesitation, answered:

"Mongolia."

"That monster is called Mongolia."