Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 392 - 27 Blood and Fire

Chapter 392: Chapter 27 Blood and Fire

"I’m in." Dantai Zongqi put on a steel helmet and wore bulletproof protective clothing. Why wouldn’t he take part in a business that’s bound to make a profit? As a special agent, he didn’t concern himself with morality or kindness - what mattered was the gain. Moreover, he was fighting against Russians, so he felt no pressure at all.

"I’ll join too." Gao Yu was initially hesitant, but as soon as he saw others taking initiative and making their positions clear, even persuading Gao Wei, he chimed in, "Come on, Old Gao. It’s not like we’re fighting against our people. Besides, how can we go home without any bottle caps? We can’t compare to Tang Zheng."

Old Gao sighed, conceding at last.

Hearing these responses, a relieved smile spread across the face of the Wasteland-born man. Well, that’s how it is. If you try to play the good guy in a survival-of-the-fittest world, wouldn’t that be stupid?

The Wasteland-born man started to treat Dantai’s trio kindly, patting their shoulders in encouragement. It seemed to instantly bring the two parties closer.

"What’s your answer?" Luo Xiji aimed his gaze at Tang Zheng, only to see him leaving without any hesitation or the slightest look back.

The Wasteland-born men fell silent. Every footprint that the determined man left behind in the early spring snow seemed to radiate a faint warmth, causing their cold bodies to shudder slightly.

A man, looking taken aback, grimaced and cursed before cocking his gun, aiming it at Tang Zheng.

"Hold on." Luo Xiji stopped him and sneered, "Hmph, as stupid as my daughter. I’d like to see what sparks this negligible kindness of his can ignite in this harsh wasteland world!"

"Hey, let’s not waste any more time. Let’s get ready to attack." Looking at the departing Tang Zheng, Old Pavel had mixed feelings. He turned to the Dantai trio, "Are you coming with me? Or would you prefer to act separately?"

"Together!" Dantai was not a fool. He knew it was important to have allies by his side, avoiding any possibility of getting blindsided.

The adventuring group could not wait any longer. They were eager to take over the entire Mutant Tribe. Not even five minutes after Tang Zheng’s departure, a cacophony of gunshots, cries of alarm, curses and even explosions echoed through the air.

Tang Zheng ran through the fir tree forest, crunching the snow beneath his feet. After a few minutes, he rushed up a slope that he had been on earlier and took out his telescope to observe the battleground.

The battle was in full swing. The adventuring group had successfully breached the wall, leaving over twenty corpses behind. One member had blown up a huge gap in the three-meter-high wooden wall with explosives he had carried with him.

The adventuring group’s morale was greatly boosted. With a roar, Luo Xiji initiated a full-fledged attack. Along with Old Pavel, Dantai Zongqi and the two others also mixed in the crowd. Mutants would occasionally pop out from behind the wall with rifles, trying to resist. However, the impressive shooting of the adventuring group’s snipers would take them down, even if it took a few seconds longer.

Shifting his telescope towards the residential area, Tang Zheng saw panicked mutants. Some men picked up their weapons and ran to confront the adventuring group while others defended different positions. Women were also busy. After giving children shovels and sickles and shooing them into basements, they themselves took up sickles and joined the fight.

The mutants had more than three hundred guns, a not insignificant number, yet still not enough to arm everyone. Their combat skills were far below those of the adventuring group who had been robbing people every day, which meant the mutants were at a severe disadvantage.

Tang Zheng initially believed that the outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion. The only question was how many adventuring group members would die. However, when the thunderous sounds of an engine revving echoed across the wasteland and a well-maintained T-90 tank drove out of the warehouse section, he immediately reconsidered his initial thought.

"A T-90 tank, and it’s in such excellent condition. Half of the people out there might be done for," Tang Zheng sighed inwardly, reminding himself to never underestimate the Wasteland-born. They could turn the tables on you at any moment.

The tank’s treads crushed everything in their path as it drove through the yard. Clearly, the lack of extra diesel fuel for training had taken its toll. Nevertheless, they managed to get the tank to the battlefield.

When the steel monster with a thick 125mm cannon barrel entered the adventuring group’s line of sight, everyone was stunned. No one had expected them to possess such a powerful weapon. Panic set in instantly.

The turret’s right side had a savage-looking 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun. But instead of it, the mid-caliber co-axial machine gun fired first. As the adventuring group was charging in and they couldn’t spare the bullets, a tongue of fire belched out at the snow, causing pillars of mud to fly up.

With this steel beast providing cover, the mutants followed suit and worked in coordination to fight, managing to hold back the adventuring group.

A mutant popped out from the top of the turret, handling the anti-aircraft machine gun and firing wildly. However, thirty seconds later, his head was blown off. Still, another man jumped onto the tank and began operating the machine gun once more.

None of the adventuring group were foolish enough to mount a suicide attack against the tank. Even those ready to do so lacked the heavy firepower needed, they didn’t even have a simple Molotov cocktail.

"This thing’s just a showpiece!" After about twenty seconds of initial shock, Tang Zheng fist-pumped the ground and mentally berated himself for his stupidity. Though the tank was impressive, it wasn’t very practical. Apart from a machine gun, it wasn’t much use. Could the main cannon be used to break up infantry lines?

"Don’t stand there dazed, spread out, for God’s sake! Tanks are unwieldy and their drivers are incompetent. Just avoid a head-on clash, we’re not fighting trench warfare here," Tang Zheng grumbled. He set up his Gauss sniper rifle, loading it with a magazine filled with armor-piercing electromagnetic bullets.

Luo Xiji clearly lacked experience in dealing with tanks. Normally confronted with such situations, most would flee immediately. Dantai Zongqi, hiding behind a wall, shouted at him. Luo Xiji, suddenly enlightened, roared. Holstering his panic-stricken subordinates, within dozens of seconds, he dispersed them into squads operating separately.

"That’s more like it. Grab a bit from the loot and go if you have to, at least it wasn’t a wasted trip," Tang Zheng didn’t shoot, holding on to the hope of capturing the entire tank, which would fetch a good price.

This was the mutants’ homeland, where their wives and children resided. They obviously couldn’t afford to permit the wanderers to run wild. They had to abandon the tank and chase the wanderers. Even though they had lost their home turf advantage, by leveraging their extensive experience and seamless coordination, the group members managed to hold their ground against the mutants. After all, each squad was made up of familiar faces.

The battlefield was in a stalemate. Listening to the soft cries of the children, Tang Zheng wished he could treat them like NPCs and ignore them. This once hopeful home was now engulfed in raging flames, heavy black smoke billowing into the sky.

With nothing to do, Tang Zheng pulled out a bar of chocolate. As soon as he tore open the wrapper and took a bite, the sound of a propeller buzzed in his ears. He quickly looked up at the sky behind him.

A menacing grey helicopter flew out from the fir tree forest. Although it only carried two bombs on its weapon rack, the Gatling machine gun underneath was enough to raze anything in its path. The exterior was painted with a clenched fist insignia, clearly it was from the Steel Council.

Tang Zheng snatched his rifle and propelled himself upwards, putting all his might into dashing towards the forest twenty meters behind him. He definitely didn’t want to be targeted by the helicopter.

As soon as he entered the forest, the ’Doe’ roared above him, the snow stirred up by the propeller dusting over Tang Zheng. He was about to shoot when he heard the sounds of frantic footsteps.

"There is infantry indeed." Tang Zheng put away the Gauss sniper rifle and sprinted off to the northwest, hoping to leave the battlefield as quickly as possible and let the wanderers handle the fight.

Tang Zheng sprinted, and in less than twenty seconds had covered over two hundred meters, just barely managing to evade the route of the Council’s infantry.

With one hundred and fifty soldiers, this was a reinforced company. Without any observation of the battlefield, the commander led the soldiers straight into battle right after gasping at the discovery of a T-90 tank here. To him, any resistance would crumble like thin paper under the ’Doe’s’ attack.

After they ran down the hill, and Tang Zheng ensured that there were no reserve teams trailing behind, he ran back. By then, the ’Doe’ had initiated a massacre. Spewing fiery streaks, the Gatling machine gun cut the mutants around the tank to pieces.

The wanderers discovered the Council soldiers and shouted to alert their team. Despite their unwillingness, they were forced to retreat. Though they managed to grab some food, the weight encumbered them and they became easy targets for the helicopter.

The Council soldiers joined the fray, promptly dispersing the mutants and wanderers with their assault. Rather than rushing to snatch the supplies, they continued pursuing the escaping foes. The wanderers tried to escape east, but yet another reinforced company of over a hundred soldiers emerged, blocking their path.

Tang Zheng was now free from pressure. Through the high-powered infrared scope, he locked on to the ’Doe’, pulled the trigger, and a red bullet piercing the air struck the ’Doe’s’ belly, killing the driver. Bang! He fired again, destroying half of the helicopter’s propeller.

The ’Doe’ plummeted, exploding into a fireball. Tang Zheng felt slightly pained at the loss, but there was no other option. The helicopter was simply too powerful. He needed those escapees to tie up the enemy’s forces.

With the ’Doe’ eliminated, the Council soldiers were startled, and the two company commanders turned green as they realized that they’d lost a military helicopter. No matter how much loot they got, it wouldn’t compensate for this loss.

The furious company commanders issued a kill-on-sight order. Flee, or die. The mutants suffered heavy losses and began to flee. But many fought on, because their children were still hiding underground.

Tang Zheng put away all his belongings, took out his Thunderstorm rifle, then put on the Steel Armed Fire suit. In the next instant, he plunged onto the battlefield like a meteor.

Thud. Tang Zheng, still unskilled at flying, plunged onto the ground, leaving a deep furrow and churning up the soil.

The Council’s soldiers were taken aback, unsure what to make of this humanoid canned head. But when a triple-barrelled Gatling machine gun emerged from its shoulder and started to spin and warm up, everyone was aware of the impending danger.

In the next second, a barrage of 7.62mm bullets covered a one hundred and twenty degree arc in front of Tang Zheng. Amid flying gore and shrieking wails, the reaper descended! (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote and give monthly tickets at the QiDian platform (qidian.com). Your support is my biggest motivation.)