Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 242 - 242 22 Luck

242: Chapter 22 Luck 242: Chapter 22 Luck Fraser Ling Demay’s senior executive assistant, Mr.

Hamuki, received the intelligence report immediately.

“Suspected heroes breaking out from the northern line?

The northern line?” He looked at his staff group in confusion, “What do you think?”

Originally, the Protectors had an even more luxurious online staff team.

Many high-level combat staff officers would participate online in commanding various frontline forces.

Through a unified command system, they would provide suggestions to the military officers of the armed forces, and then the commanders would adopt them as appropriate.

However, due to the sandstorm, this luxurious online staff team was now unable to connect.

Mr.

Hamuki could only consult with these staff officers accompanying the army.

“The sequence of explosions is… three hundred meters north of the blockade line, two hundred meters north, one hundred meters north, and blockade outpost F06,” said one staff officer.

“Moreover, judging from the interval between explosions, it is probably not one person throwing bombs in succession, but rather timed explosives.”

“Piecing together this intelligence, we can assume that only the bomb beyond the blockade line to the north by three hundred meters might have been manually detonated by a hero.

The rest would be timed explosives.

They deliberately created an illusion to make us believe that there was a group of heroes entering from outside the encirclement.”

“Additionally, they attempted a breakout at the same location yesterday.

I think it’s logical for them to rest and attempt a second breakout at the same location,” another staff officer analyzed.

“I suggest we dispatch a high-level Martial Artist with a squad of about thirty Martial Artists to conduct a search in the north.

Plus, we need a battalion of a thousand men to follow for safety,” another staff officer said.

Mr.

Hamuki appeared somewhat skeptical, “We have already repeated this approach… twelve times?

Only seven of those were outside the encirclement where we found valid targets.

In contrast, the forces we dispatch indeed significantly weaken the encirclement.”

“According to the intelligence, that hero can no longer engage in high-intensity martial arts combat.

Therefore, he cannot personally breach the blockade,” said another officer.

“Mr.

Fraser’s strategy is correct.

We just need to surround the area and continuously reduce the encirclement within the sandstorm.

Once the sandstorm stops, we can overwhelm them with our absolute advantage in numbers.”

“That hero’s life is already flickering in the wind.

Even if someone breaks out with his brain, he won’t live much longer.”

“To maximize our victory now, we need to conclusively eliminate all the heroes that break out.

After all, that exceptional hero from beyond might carry technical information.

Preventing him from disseminating the technical data he holds—or at least delaying this process—is crucial.”

Mr.

Hamuki nodded and approved the staff officers’ opinions.

A Martial Artist squad led a compound battalion from the reserve camp on the west side of the blockade line toward the north.

The staff officers excitedly watched the live map displaying these movements.

This was an essential element of modern warfare.

A highly informative command system could present all information on the map similar to a real-time strategy game (RTS).

The staff officers eagerly anticipated the map lighting up with the golden glow of victory.

For them, it signified honor and recognition.

Mr.

Hamuki added, “Additionally, the Cold Blooded Ranger Tom 9 and Gao Shan@ from the northern patrol have not returned on schedule.

I think we can’t rule out the possibility of a hero coming from the north, can we?”

“Indeed,” another officer nodded.

“However, the Rangers’ memories are specially encrypted.

Without specific Inner Strength training, it would take a long time to extract the intelligence from them.

According to the intelligence log, their last contact with us was thirty-one hours ago.

Such a short time likely wouldn’t be enough for a hero to extract precise intelligence and then assault the blockade line.”

“Could it be heroes breaking out from the western or eastern lines taking a detour to the north?”

Listening to the officers’ analysis, Mr.

Hamuki gradually felt reassured.

Indeed, it would not make sense for a hero to come from the north, kill two Rangers, then decode their memories in an extremely short time, and still breach the blockade line!

“Indeed, we should just wait calmly for the sandstorm to pass,” he concluded.

………………………………

Xiang Shan wandered through the sandstorm, far away from the first blockade line.

According to the intelligence he extracted from the memories of the three Rangers, the distance between the two blockade lines was about 1.5 kilometers.

For modern warfare, this was not considered a great distance.

Yet between the two layers of blockade lines, a small number of Life-Chasing Cavalry and Cold Blooded Cavalry were sweeping back and forth, forcing out any remaining heroes.

Within these mere hundreds of meters, Xiang Shan saw several craters and a hero’s DIY wind vehicle that had been destroyed.

To be precise, Xiang Shan and Jader first found the craters and then, after walking a hundred meters along the heavily cratered area, they encountered the wreckage of the vehicle.

The destroyed vehicle, under the high temperatures of the explosion, was reduced to a twisted metal shell, nearly devoid of any actionable intelligence.

It was only because of the vehicle’s distinctive External Armor, which was clearly not characteristic of the Protectors, that Jader determined the thing belonged to a hero.

“Rough times,” Jader said.

“Even in this kind of weather, they would bomb any suspected targets.”

The craters couldn’t have been there for more than a day.

Otherwise, the sandstorm would have filled them in long ago.

“Has another hero reached this place within a day, aside from us?” Xiang Shan was a bit surprised.

But he quickly came to a realization.

“These guys were trying to break out,” he said.

Jader was somewhat in disbelief, “Did we arrive too late?

Has the breakout already begun?”

Xiang Shan thought for a moment and then shook his head, “I’m not sure.

But these fellows had it really rough.

They were only four hundred meters from the final blockade line.

Just four hundred more meters, and they could have made it out successfully.”

“`

It seemed that this group of heroes had broken out from the inside, and only when they were crossing the inner circle blockade line did they alarm those Houndhawks, and were chased by bomb-carrying intelligent drones, eventually being hit only 400 meters away from the outer circle blockade line.

Since the Protectors weren’t sure whether they had really hit their target, the bomb-carrying drones continued to bombard along the trajectory of the heroes’ escape for another hundred meters or so.

The bombing didn’t continue; it probably meant, “Let the blockade line of the outer circle take care of the rest.”

“But in that case, we can determine the position of that blockade line,” Jader said.

“Do we still need to look for the Mobile Cavalry, or shall we just charge through this iron-dust-laden wind?”

Xiang Shan thought for a moment, “Let’s still try to find the Mobile Cavalry, just to be safe.”

Xiang Shan indeed thought this way.

Although relying on the vague spark in his memory, and the advanced Martial Studies theories introduced by Jader, he had mastered the more advanced principles of “No Vision combat,” he was, after all, an old-timer from a bygone era, and in this respect, he was still slightly inferior to the high-level Martial Artists of this era.

The reason he could easily assassinate a seven-person squad was by cleverly exploiting his Inner Strength.

Xiang Shan collected the bodies of two Cold Blood Rangers and one Life-Chasing Cavalryman.

He spent some time studying them and discovered a universal vulnerability in the network interface controllers used by these cavalrymen.

So, as he sneaked past them, he used a weak wireless signal to hack into this vulnerability, silently making those Protectors’ prosthetic bodies report their positions to each other.

However, this tactic was less effective in areas covered by Iron Dust.

If Xiang Shan wanted to replicate his earlier feat, he would have to wait for the wind to blow away the Iron Dust for about ten minutes or more.

Extracting information by force from the Guerrilla troops was actually a faster method.

“Moreover, witnessing this scene, any hero would feel irritated,” Xiang Shan tapped on the wreckage of the vehicle.

“If you’re irritated, then you have to kill a few Houndhawks.”

Speaking, he gently tapped on the wreckage.

A crisp sound arose.

This sound was faint, barely discernible a few dozen meters away.

However, within thirty meters, a Martial Artist could still distinguish this subtle “discordant note” from the ambient noise.

And then reveal their presence.

Meanwhile, the sandstorm mixed with Iron Dust continued to rage.

For at least ten minutes, the Protectors wouldn’t be able to use wireless signals to call for help.

In this timeframe, the Rangers nearby couldn’t use wireless signals to summon the army.

And if he were to sense this sound and show the slightest hint of movement…

“Shhh…”

It was an extremely slight, but undeniably real sound.

As apparent as a flash of light.

Xiang Shan lowered his body and dashed out at a reduced speed.

……………………………………

Minutes ago, Tan felt desperate.

While roaming the outer layer, searching for any possible remaining heroes, he had actually been spotted by a Life-Chasing Cavalryman, who then clung to him.

It was a matter of minutes.

He had a brief encounter with that Life-Chasing Cavalryman.

He was certain that at least in this environment, his Martial Arts skills were on par with those of the Life-Chaser.

But what was fatal was that during close combat, the Life-Chasing Cavalryman would surely shout loudly, hoping to attract his comrades.

After all, when engaging at close quarters, there was no need to conceal oneself.

But, luckily…

An explosion occurred to the north.

Yes, to repeat, an explosion occurred.

Perhaps the Protectors were all distracted by the explosion, for the shouts of that Life-Chasing Cavalryman didn’t attract the attention of any Houndhawks.

Even more fortunately, at that moment, a thick cloud of dust hit.

The Life-Chasing Cavalryman seemed to have completely lost signal.

Yes.

At the start of the fight, there were strong electromagnetic signals from the Life-Chasing Cavalryman.

But the moment the blast wave of the explosion hit, those signals vanished.

It wasn’t that the Life-Chaser had given up, but that the dust had blocked the signals.

—He was incredibly lucky.

“`