Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 447 - 400: A Moment in Command

Chapter 447: Chapter 400: A Moment in Command

Wei Shiyue hurried away, her mind already set on a plan: to annihilate the troops surrounding Shunzhou City in one fell swoop, leaving not a single survivor, thus preserving the city.

But she wanted to see the plans of the other commanders and staff officers before revealing herself too soon.

After all, wherever she appeared, the company would direct its dragon-hunting weapons there, which would be counterproductive. She had to save up her power and unleash it at the most opportune moment.

Watching Wei Shiyue walk away, Du Qianqian felt a sense of loss. She followed Wei Shiyue and found that she had returned to the Cyber Specter’s network site.

"Who are you really?" Wei Shiyue typed the question and sent it.

"I am the cause of everything."

Wei Shiyue stared at the mysterious and profound image on the screen, an unusual entity she hadn’t encountered before and couldn’t forget. She took a deep look at the dot matrix image before turning away to prepare for the battle.

Du Qianqian didn’t leave but kept watching the Cyber Specter’s image.

"Is Du Qianqian a good child?" She typed her question and sent it.

"Of course," came the quick reply.

Du Qianqian felt slightly reassured. But was that the truth or did he genuinely believe that every Witch was a good child?

Night fell on Shunzhou City.

Du Qianqian squatted in a service area beneath the highway, a can of kimchi in her left hand and metal chopsticks in her right, getting ready to stir and eat the spicy cabbage.

At this moment, the besieging K2 Legion began their bombardment, using 160mm howitzers to attack the outskirts of the city, interspersing the ordinary shells with a few distinct tracer rounds that left comet-like trails across the sky.

The shells screamed through the air, a continuous shriek like the wailing of restless spirits, while the city responded with shrill emergency alarms.

Boom! Boom!

The explosions shook the ground, tossing the chopsticks from Du Qianqian’s hand. She hurriedly picked them up, wiped them off with her hand, and finished eating the contents of the can. The spicy sensation traveled from her tongue to her throat, straight to her forehead through the back of her nose, making her more alert, aware that she was a Witch among humans and not a wronged soul lost in the flames of war.

Even more threatening than the shelling were the tactical ground-to-ground missiles. Modern Entertainment Company used the "Skylark-4" tactical missiles to bomb the city’s factories and military installations, smashing half-ton warheads into the earth, disrupting production, causing casualties, and even damaging supply depots.

The number of dead and injured continued to rise.

The company’s military was pinpoint accurate, as the management had deliberately sabotaged Shunzhou City’s anti-aircraft missile system before evacuating the city. Now the entire defense works were undergoing rush repairs, with the company’s military siege making their restoration an indefinite prospect.

Workers, in desperation, rushed into the inferno, trying to put out the flames, but met with nothing other than suffocation and burning. Their only recourse was to evacuate the terrified citizens, move as many bodies as possible, and deal with weeping relatives amid the war’s bloody reality.

The company’s military would shell Shunzhou City for 12 hours, then launch an offensive the next day. This information was also written on the magnetic disks that Du Qianqian had seized.

A real war!

Du Qianqian felt trepidation; in large-scale warfare, the impact of an individual was minuscule.

If anyone could change the course of the battle on their own, such a person would surely exist, but they would be in a command center devising strategies rather than shivering in the wilderness like Du Qianqian.

She couldn’t afford to lose her life. Du Qianqian wandered on the highway, looking back at Shunzhou City under the night sky.

Everything had changed; she had heard that the city was already on a knife-edge before the Righteous Army arrived.

With a half-year of economic downturn, Shunzhou City’s unemployment rate had soared to an alarming 40%, with more than half of the factories shut down or out of business. Violent protests occurred non-stop on the streets, accompanied by corresponding bloodshed.

Shunzhou City was replete with disturbingly polluted heavy industries. The common people engaged in low-end, labor-intensive outsourcing, manufacturing cheap industrial goods and food, struggling with poverty and hunger, competing desperately against efficient and capable robots for jobs. As artificial intelligence technology advanced, the fate of the lower classes became even more miserable, meaning there were no jobs left in the world for them.

The ones remaining in the city were those with nothing left to lose, willing to defend their homeland, unafraid of life or death.

"Are you scared?" Mizuiro Yoshioka approached.

"It is war, after all," Du Qianqian replied with a wry smile. "I came with high hopes, but now? No matter what, I just want to flee this cursed place."

"Come over here, they’re discussing military affairs," Mizuiro Yoshioka led the way, taking Du Qianqian to a glass-walled prefab.

A junior directive officer of the Silla Righteous Army named Yin Qihuan had arrived.

To support the city in unison with The Flying Birds Group, Yin Qihuan spread out a map of the city’s defenses on the table and spoke tirelessly about tactics, hoping The Flying Birds Group would provide full cooperation.

Kong Tai had been fighting wars for over a decade as a mercenary leader and was unfazed by the flames of battle. Now, he simply nodded frequently, occasionally offering astute insights that pointed out flaws in the other man’s setup. He had become an important adviser to the Righteous Army, providing a wealth of valuable suggestions that impressed Yin Qihuan.

This mercenary force was no ordinary group.

For Kong Tai, the Righteous Army was also very interesting, especially since they proposed the "two principles of anti-corporatism," which left a deep impression on him.

The first principle was to change the control of factories and business entities, transferring ownership to the residents who truly engaged in labor, allowing the "universal, tiered labor union" to grasp the economy.

The second principle was that if the uprising succeeded, the new state would eradicate the poison of corporatism, erase all of the residents’ current debts, break away from the corporatist order, establish a self-sufficient closed loop, and forbid all dealings with corporations, almost amounting to sealing off the entire Silla territory.

Shunzhou City was the largest city currently captured by the Righteous Army, and naturally, its defense was of utmost importance, but all the efforts of the Righteous Army would turn to ashes under the besieging firepower of the corporate troops.

"We need to take the initiative to strike," Kong Tai said, pointing to three locations outside the city, two being high ground that was easy to defend and hard to attack with a wide field of vision, one located in a ravine, perfect for concealment, "These are the places where the corporate troops are most likely to deploy missile launchers and self-propelled artillery."

"At present, the Righteous Army doesn’t have enough hands to attack proactively," said Yin Qihuan, with a look of shame, "Some of our commanders have proposed escaping and retreating, and many citizens are echoing them, saying it’s better to abandon Shunzhou City and go back behind Yaoyin Mountain. If we empty the city, it’s not like we won’t have gained anything at all."

"You all made a big move here, the citizens risked their lives to fight with you, and in the end, you couldn’t hold the city but just emptied it of its assets." Kong Tai disagreed, "This would also be a tremendous blow to your morale."

"The Righteous Army no longer has much morale to speak of," Yin Qihuan’s voice trembled, "Our ’totem,’ Wei Shiyue, has fallen, our ’Think Tank,’ Anberly, commanded us to go on a suicide mission. Now, we? We’re just a rabble led by lower-level commanders, relying on swift wits and some subjective initiative to get the work done."

"In the eyes of us mercenaries, fighting a war only consists of three parts: winning, losing, and making money," Kong Tai said calmly, "Calculate the city’s book funds now, give me 10 million right now, and I’ll take out those three points for you."

"...Thank you for your troubles," Yin Qihuan bowed to Kong Tai, then proceeded to scrape together the funds.

"Alright, time to get to work." Kong Tai beckoned his soldiers, preparing to send out a hundred-strong elite unit to launch a night raid on the corporate army’s fire points, forcing them to change positions, and ideally, directly damage their large-scale besieging weapons.

"Are you going?" Mizuiro Yoshioka turned to ask Du Qianqian.

Not wanting to risk her life, Du Qianqian hemmed and hawed.

Suddenly she caught sight of Wei Shiyue, who, unknown to her, had put on a bulletproof vest and tactical jacket, carrying a large axe and joining the rear of the assault team, blending in with the mercenaries as naturally as if she were born to receive the baptism of war.

"I... I’ll join!" Du Qianqian said.

Du Qianqian quickly transformed into the image of an inconspicuous mercenary and joined in at the rear of the line.

"I know ’little Wei’ is very important to you, but don’t be reckless," Mizuiro Yoshioka said earnestly to Du Qianqian, "I can’t afford to lose you either."

"Hmm!" Du Qianqian nodded.

"Remember, retreat immediately after taking out the fire points." Kong Tai admonished, "The artillery positions are definitely not far from their main forces. If you drag it out too long and their main forces surround you, the situation would become dire."

"We won’t drag everyone down!" the leader of the assault team, a robust man, replied with sharp efficiency.

Kong Tai nodded slowly.

Train troops for a thousand days, use them for a moment.

The assault team set out in the dark, carrying a high-powered signal jammer, chose a route to leave the city, entered the wilderness within Silla territory, quickly dispersed into combat formations, and proceeded to verify those three potential artillery positions.

Upon reaching the first hillock, they found only six corporate army logistics personnel building a signal station, apparently preparing to eavesdrop on and infiltrate Shunzhou City’s network system.

The members of the assault team approached stealthily, taking the personnel down from behind with neck slashes or silenced weapons, and Du Qianqian quietly finished the job with the King of Illusions to ensure there was no alarm.

Then, they heard another bout of artillery fire and patiently observed, finally confirming that the opposition had positioned their fire points on the opposite hilltop, one of the three suspicious locations Kong Tai had pointed out.

The assault team exchanged opinions and decided to head over as quickly as possible.

"They have heavy troops protecting them from behind." Scout soldiers confirmed through night vision binoculars, "Many heavy armored vehicles and combat robots, even if we take out the position, they could still crush us... It’s very dangerous."

"Let’s fight, stop with the demoralizing talk," another mercenary whispered, "I’ve bought a load of insurance just for this occasion, dying is more beneficial than living, my family’s even hoping for it."

"From the battles in Aizu City, I never flinched," another mercenary who came from the Suzuki Group, had been slashing Ratmen, eradicating stamp peddlers and gangs, later joining The Flying Birds Group, and now in the foreign land of Silla, he was ready for a good fight.

"I’ll take the lead," a gruff man with combat implants at the front used his mechanical eyes to measure distances, pointing the closest direction to his comrades, leading the mercenaries forward with bowed heads.

Heading towards the greatest pressure. Du Qianqian was sweating profusely, but in this intense environment, she suddenly realized her Magic Circuit was growing rapidly!

As if her body was adapting to the upcoming danger by nurturing Magic Power quickly, giving her the capacity to face the challenges.

Du Qianqian clenched her fists, becoming a High-Ranking Witch was happening today; wouldn’t she then be able to replicate part of someone’s abilities along with their appearance and voice?