Chapter 129: Close Quarters Combat
The Ring Man habitually twisted his ring, hesitating, “According to company rules, can we run now?”
The young man twitched the corner of his mouth, “Run? The fight has already started, where to run?”
“How about we reveal our identities? Anyway, they said life comes first when we set out.”
“I’m fine, but if you’re caught on your first task, do you think you can continue being a collector?”
“……Might get reassigned, forget it, we’d better stay put honestly, or a stray bullet will take us out without even a chance to reassign.”
Just as the two were discussing, the car door opened.
Seeing that the situation outside was temporarily not dangerous, some bold ones and those wanting to seize a chance for riches charged out.
At first, just a few dozen people.
But there were over fifteen hundred people on the vehicle in total. With these dozen or so leaders, the people behind thought to fish in troubled waters, and over eight hundred more poured out.
Some smart ones wanted to watch for opportunities from on the train.
Soon, the first ones who went down picked up the servant army’s old-fashioned rifles, and the remaining people on the train couldn’t sit still anymore, another batch went down.
Finally, just over five hundred real cowards remained.
The two collectors naturally wouldn’t get off; they weren’t planning to be any kind of captain.
Mix for a while, collect some data, and go back.
Who’s risking their life?
The Ring Man lay by the car window watching for a bit, clicking his tongue, “The Steel Council’s foundation is pretty solid too, a team of over twenty evolvers, all well-trained soldiers, several with professions, a Tier 1 ‘Firepower Specialist’, Tier 1 ‘Doctor’, Tier 1 ‘Sentry’, but why are they all Gunfire Lineage?”
The young man also climbed to the window side, activating his ability to shield their presence while saying, “Cheap, that’s why. Besides their Gunfire, who else could sell complete profession potions so cheaply before the apocalypse.”
The Ring Man was stunned for a moment, “How do you know more than me?”
“After all, I’ve carried out one more task than you.”
“Oh, but isn’t the company worried about us getting caught and spilling secrets under torture?”
The young man thought for a moment and said, “No need to worry about that.”
The Ring Man looked surprised, “Why?”
The young man looked at him meaningfully, “Where do you think I heard all this?”
“Your partner told you?”
“Not wrong to say that. More precisely, he volunteered it out of fear of torture, and I was right there listening.”
“……And then?”
“Reassigned, of course. Actually, the other side didn’t want to know that much, but he said too much.”
The Ring Man: “…”
“Don’t worry, although the company is rich and powerful, the cost to cultivate a Tier 1 evolver isn’t small, they won’t casually kill or discard us.”
The two fell silent for a moment, the battle outside growing more chaotic.
Steel Council fighting the armored train, servant soldiers fighting zombies and mutated beasts, passengers fighting servant soldiers and mutated beasts.
Zhang Tie led the elite soldiers to madly press toward the armored train amid the chaos.
One by one, like nimble monkeys shuttling through buildings.
Very faint light blue beams occasionally flashed in the sky, suppressing the snipers on the opposite side so they couldn’t raise their heads.
Stray bullets and gravel flew chaotically, corpse roars and wails rising and falling.
Everyone was fighting desperately, just that evolvers’ methods were more novel, ordinary people’s more outdated, and He Jie’s caliber more brutal.
Never seen such a chaotic battle.
The Ring Man couldn’t help asking, “The company pays us salary and keeps us fed, but we’re here chatting gossip, isn’t that a bit inappropriate?”
“Didn’t your supervisor pick you because you like watching the excitement?”
“Eh? Then why you?”
“I like hiding in corners quietly watching the excitement.”
“……True, that’s the money we’re earning, but I’m concerned about which side will ultimately claim victory.”
“What do you think?”
The young man tossed the question back.
The Ring Man considered, “Steel Council. Though they look a bit ragged, their main evolvers have almost no losses so far, and their tactical composition is reasonable. Gunfire Lineage evolvers are notoriously strong in the early stage.”
“Intelligence suggests the armored train is backed by a major force too, not to mention a few ability users whose details we haven’t figured out yet.”
“His two squads that often carry out tasks are amateur outfits, no systematic coordination at all, not even a single Tier 1 evolver, and that points exchange system feels like something ordinary people brainstormed on the spot, many exchange rates are off. Any salesperson from the company could bankrupt him. I suspect the armored train isn’t a major force, or maybe only the train conductor comes from a big company and borrowed some models, but the details management is too sloppy, like an amateur outfit.”
When it came to analysis, the Ring Man was dead serious.
In just a few sentences, he laid bare the armored train’s foundations.
“Makes sense, but I feel this battle might not go as you say.”
“Reason?”
“Intuition!”
“You’re not a combat profession, what intuition do you have.”
……
Zhang Tie exhaled, took out an observation sphere from his tactical pouch, connected it to the monitor screen, and tossed it out.
The small sphere hovered in mid-air, its two cameras sweeping in a cross pattern, quickly observing the battlefield situation, then transmitting the information back to the screen via wire.
Seeing that the snipers’ target on the train was still not himself, and that bastard He Jie was still hunting a few Night Demons lunging onto the train, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
A roll out from cover, grabbed the observation sphere and stuffed it back in his pocket.
Hugging the light machine gun, he quickly ran forward.
Even with no one noticing him, he still executed tactical movements to the most standard.
A few breaths later.
Zhang Tie hid by a tile-covered guard shack.
At this point, his position was less than three hundred meters from the railway track.
For an evolver, three hundred meters was just an accelerating charge.
Standing behind cover, he quickly adjusted his breathing.
Soon, figures of his subordinates were visible in various positions. He made a few hand signals, counted down three numbers in his mind, and suddenly turned and charged out.
In an instant, his whole body was like a cheetah hunting on the African savanna, all muscles mobilized to the extreme.
Even the bulging veins on his neck and frantically pulsing muscles were visible.
The other few Tier 1 ‘Sentries’, that is, assault troopers, launched a charge alongside him from different angles.
Faster than their body reactions were the grenades mounted on their assault rifles, launching almost the instant they turned.
“Boom boom boom——”
Explosions suddenly rang out on the train body.
A violent but brief vibration came from inside the train, with clattering breaking sounds echoing in the carriage.
