Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 243 - 064. Player Volunteer Army

Chapter 243: 064. Player Volunteer Army

"Assemble!"

A curious sight unfolded at the hospital in Sipeya City, the capital of Grante, as doctors and patients peered out the windows, gazing at the crowd gathering below on the open ground.

Policemen, patients, physicians, ordinary pedestrians, engineers, construction workers—altogether 50 people from all walks of life, tall and short, fat and thin, and of different shapes, including Frost Plated People. Though these strangers had never met before, they now stood together, exuding a steely and imposing air.

"At ease, attention, stand at ease!"

A doctor with his hands behind his back, dressed in a white coat, in no way diminished the aura of a military officer emanating from him. He glanced over the neat ranks and picked out one person:

"Private First Class Liu Zhiguang, step forward."

"Yes, sir!"

A short-haired patient in green surgical attire stood with his chest out, marching forward to salute the doctor with a crisp and swift motion:

"Reporting! Frost Plated District experimental tactical unit, 50 personnel expected, 50 have arrived. Assembly complete, awaiting further instructions."

"Return to ranks."

The leading officer nodded, his gaze sweeping over the 50 Fiery Summer military gamers. Although they varied in appearance, they had all previously received a quick start manual from the Qiqiao Network Company, and upon logging into the game, they had immediately begun to activate their game systems, personal panels, and identities.

"Comrades, according to the commands issued by the combat headquarters: The nascent government of the Grante Republic was brutally suppressed and invaded during their resistance against the colonial rulers, resulting in a large number of civilians being wounded in airstrikes. Our task is to rapidly engage in battle, to confront Frost Plated, one of the four major nations of Azure Star. This is also to assess the military strength level of Azure Star thoroughly and provide detailed evaluations to aid the Grante military and civilians in resisting the invasion of the Frost Plated Army."

The officer began, speaking in a deep voice:

"We are not ordinary entertainment players. We must maintain strict military discipline in the game. No harassment of the public, no indiscriminate killing of the innocent, no mistreatment of prisoners, and we must uphold the good image of Fiery Summer soldiers. Do you understand?"

"Yes, crystal clear!" the soldiers shouted in unison.

"Good, our weapons and equipment have already been purchased and prepared in advance by the testers from Qiqiao Network. We will now go and retrieve our arms, and then immediately deploy to the battlefield."

The military gamers were highly efficient in their actions, and although they had no vehicles prepared, they left the city by various means. Whether pedaling bicycles or hitching rides, they did everything possible to blend into local society, leveraging the help of friendly civilians to quickly reach an abandoned factory in the northern suburbs.

Two employees from inside Qiqiao Network had been waiting for a while. They led the assembled soldiers into the factory and began dragging out several crates of weapons.

"We’re pressed for time, and since Grante has been sanctioned, we could only get these basic weapons."

The game’s official testers said helplessly to the soldiers with digital IDs:

"To ensure game balance, this is as far as we can go."

The officer from Fiery Summer nodded, "Understood, we’ll take it from here."

Upon opening the crates, they contained only automatic weapons and handguns, not even bulletproof vests, but fortunately there was enough ammunition. The soldiers didn’t complain, quickly arming themselves, and then hopping into several civilian cars and pickups to rush directly to the front line of the firefight.

"The troops sent by Frost Plated are female agents from the Fourth Rule Agency, totaling 20,000. With fierce combat abilities, they captured six cities of Grante in just two hours. Our objective this time is to retake a small town named Domat, eliminating the 5 Fourth Rule Agents and 25 Riot Control Troop members stationed there, along with 130 remaining armed forces of the Duchy Party."

"The enemy has three armored transport vehicles and an armed hovercraft. The good news is that the Riot Control Troop isn’t equipped with exoskeletons, so the gap in firepower isn’t large. Therefore, the focus of this operation is on covert infiltration..."

The military gamers watched attentively as they reviewed the tactical arrangements and intelligence on the enemy. Their levels were too low, their strength insufficient, lacking military implants, and could only equip basic firearms.

But their advantage was something the enemy could never imagine.

Qiqiao Network, in the interest of game fairness, only provided basic initial equipment to military gamers on each server, but when it came to mission intelligence, they gave as much as possible.

At the same time, every soldier had been previously informed and trained to quickly adapt to the game’s death mechanics.

The native Azure Star People might fear death, but the military gamers did not. They took the initiative to drag the fight into complex urban and CQB (Close Quarters Battle) scenarios, and in this regard, they had absolute courage and confidence.

After a two-hour drive, they arrived at the targeted location, the high ground beside Domat Town. Leaving four people to watch the vehicles, two sniper teams started observing and sniping, and the others quickly disembarked and proceeded on foot.

The soldiers charged into the cold wind and sandstorm of the Outer World. The lightless sky and harsh environment, akin to an apocalyptic scene for the people of Azure Star, became the soldiers’ camouflage. They used the in-game internal voice system for communication, maintaining radio silence. The vast snowstorm made it impossible for sentries in the distant town to detect their figures with any sighting device.

The soldiers crawled forward, letting themselves be buried by heavy snow. With the protection of natural conditions, combined with a combat will as cold as machinery, they successfully avoided the advantage of Frost Plated’s reconnaissance technology and stealthily reached Domat Town without anyone noticing.

The system alerted them that they had entered a danger zone, but the soldiers paid it no mind. They hid beneath high walls, and following the observations and instructions of their sniper, they quickly found a breach in the wall. Two soldiers knelt on one knee, cupping their hands to form a step and allowing their comrades to step on them and scale the wall. The wall-climbing soldiers carefully held their rifles in one hand and supported themselves against the wall with the other, slowly flipping over to the other side. After observing for a moment, they gently landed on the ground.

They didn’t have night vision goggles, but one soldier immediately thought of a solution—adjusting the exposure in the game settings, they could barely make out human figures in the dark.

"Two o’clock direction, a patrol soldier with a dog on guard duty, avoid them," said one.

"Understood, moving now," replied another.

"Four o’clock, fifty yards away, a precision rifle shooter on the second-floor balcony of a civilian house."

Thump—

The sniper pulled the bolt, and a scorching hot bullet casing was ejected, landing in the snow, where it was instantly cooled.

"Killed."

"Infiltration team, be aware. Two patrol soldiers will intersect with your forward path, please take care of them."

They advanced under the cover of darkness, moving between the houses of Domat Town. Members of the Frost Plated Suppression Troop on patrol yawned, holding their automatic rifles with little interest in the tedious conflict. They began to miss the cream cookies at home but immediately grew despondent when reminded of their spouses chiding them for not earning enough, and the monthly burdens of mortgage and car loans.

Right as one of them lowered his head in depression, two Fiery Summer soldiers pounced from the shadows—one lifted his hand to the soldier’s neck and squeezed the carotid artery with his knuckles, causing rapid unconsciousness from suffocation, while the other instantly strangled another with a wire from behind the fence. The two soldiers’ series of silent actions dragged the targets into the shadows.

The nearby military dogs could be alert to the smell of blood, so knocking them out was the best option. After disarming them, the two soldiers changed into the Riot Control Troop’s gear and boldly walked out of the alley. After circling around to get familiar with the terrain, they entered the Frost Plated military camp.

Creak—

The gate was pushed open, and the cold Frost Snow and gravel immediately attracted the attention of the Duchy Party members inside. But seeing the faces and equipment of the Grante, they raised no alarm and continued drinking and chatting as before.

"My family’s land was seized by those damn Bemudes, the despicable bandits. They took everything from us," complained a Duchy Party soldier over his drink.

Someone nearby chuckled upon hearing this, "Hey, it’s not just your land. My father is a viscount of the Duchy; it’s all because those scoundrels assassinated the Duke that our family has fallen to such a state."

"Life was good before. I don’t understand why they rebel. Those idiots from Bemudes only care about national dignity and don’t consider the consequences of rebellion—if they don’t have the means to immigrate to Frost Plated, they have to drag all the citizens down with them. Rebellion? What’s the use of rebellion, can it give them the chance to drink and whore with the Frost Plated People like us?"

Most of the remaining members of the Duchy Party were from the Elite Class, landlord, and nobility origins of Grante. They held the Republic in contempt: a bunch of lower-class Outcasts, why couldn’t they contentedly work for the Frost Plated People? Enjoying the protection of a powerful nation, using Frost Plated’s oil and energy, and living as obedient serfs, how comfortable that would be.

The two undercover soldiers concealed explosives in their arms as they walked into the basement. Under the pretense of turning in their weapons, they were able to find the armory where the others had placed their weapons legitimately. Before leaving, they overheard a man claiming to be the son of an earl from the Duchy Party arrogantly say:

"The commoners are always shortsighted; there must be financial support from Sky Ring, Red Arrow, and Zhengxu behind this. They think independence is a good thing? Frost Plated People bring civilization and wealth; without Frost Plated, who would buy Grante’s grain?"

"I couldn’t care less about national affairs; I just want to return to my old life, to my 24,000-acre plantation, reading poetry under the vine trellis, riding to the Duchy’s hunting grounds on Sundays, with my beloved custom Heberon bolt-action rifle in hand, the crosshairs aimed at the prey, a gentle pull of the trigger—pop, and a magnificent spray of blood bursting from the back of a commoner, staggering a few steps and then swaying and falling in the meadow. The scene was truly exquisite."

"That’s indeed a poetic vision. I’m a vulgar man; I love to race—driving a Balman sports car on city roads at breakneck speeds, with a beauty in the passenger seat holding my gun. Anyone daring to overtake my car would get a bullet in their trunk from my raised hand. There was even a woman who furiously demanded I compensate for her husband killed by a stray bullet—I casually gave her 30,000 Derby and she ended up spending the whole night with me. It serves those Outcasts right for daring to overtake a noble’s car; they deserve death," another boasted.

Clutching their warm beer, they discussed the good old days that had disappeared forever with the Duke’s death, completely unaware of the two Fiery Summer soldiers among them, whose eyes flashed with displeasure.

A moment later, the two soldiers who had turned in their weapons returned from underground. A Duchy Party soldier hollered, "Don’t rush back now, come have a drink."

The two undercover soldiers exchanged a glance, activated "Camouflage Mode," and with a natural tone and a smile, explained:

"Patrolling is too tiring; we’re going to sleep first. You guys continue to have fun."

"Ah, the drink’s really good," said the Duchy Party soldier nonchalantly, his discipline relaxed as they returned to their dice and chatting.

The two disguised soldiers calmly left and politely closed the gate behind them. After a short time, an explosion erupted behind them, blasting the ceiling of the building into the air. Intense flames instantly engulfed the entire military camp.

The Fourth Rule Agency, still resting, was instantly awakened. They scrambled to fasten their undergarments and jackets, grabbed their rifles, and were about to rush out when hand grenades bound with marbles and rocks were thrown through the windows.