The psychic wave made all the beasts on the planet rampage, and Forest City was just one part of it. There were countless beasts killing each other in different areas; nowhere was safe. One of the reasons causing the wave of beasts was that weaker beasts instinctively felt the pressure from beasts at the top of the food chain, so they actively left the territory of the strong beasts in groups and were directed toward Forest City. As the beasts were killed on a large scale, it attracted stronger beasts.
The aim of scouting the wild was to discover the species of the attacking beasts and warn Forest City. This was a very dangerous task as meeting the beast herd in the wild meant almost certain death. This wild scouting team had already sent the message back, and now, they were running for their lives.
Feeling the cold and darkness that was inches away, the three of them were horrified.
Fumay clenched his teeth, his heart filled with regret.
“Turned out this way again… this is not the first time!”
He had experienced three Catastrophes, and all three times, he had been chosen for the wild scouting team. He had wandered near the gate of death countless times, and the scars on his body still hurt sometimes.
As he sprinted, he could not help but think that he was just about done with such a life.
Back when the Catastrophe first came, Supers came back from the galaxy willingly to protect the race, and Fumay did too. However, now, he only felt tired of the resistance; boiling blood would cool down sooner or later. He kept giving but never received anything in return. After all those years, Fumay’s patience had long worn out. He did indeed love his home, but it did not mean that his race could use him however they wanted to and see them as tools. Their reasoning of ‘for the continuation of race’ had long become a tired excuse in Fumay’s ears.
It was way too unfair! Fumay’s patience had reached its limit. He had to give up his reward as a mercenary to the race, and he had to give his life in times of danger. What gave his race the right to ask so much of him?
Just because it was his own race, could he not ask for anything in return‽
What gave them the right to make someone strong like him take so much responsibility!
Fumay’s mercenary career in the galaxy had broadened his knowledge, and he felt more and more against giving his life for his race. Life was precious; he had only one.
Many warriors had firm beliefs, but there were also many warriors that had the same thoughts as him. After giving so much to the race, he felt that he had given enough.
If I can stay alive this time, I will never return or bother about this Catastrophe anymore! thought Fumay as he clenched his teeth.
Suddenly, a tail shot out from the forest like a whip, ensnaring a scout. The end of the tail was a sharp bone sting. It punctured into the scout’s abdomen. The scout snarled, and Pugilist flames appeared all over his body. He tore the tail apart, and black liquid splashed on his face.
The counter-attack caused this person to lag behind for a moment, and that moment decided his life.
Swoosh!
Dozens of tails shot out from the darkness and tangled up this pugilist, dragging him into the forest in an instant. Fumay turned around immediately and saw an even stronger pugilist flame light up in the forest, displaying his grade C Pugilist strength.
However, this flame only lasted for half a second before it exploded and shattered, just like the person’s body.
Fumay felt a sense of warmth on his face. After touching it, he confirmed that it was the warm blood of his comrade.
In less than one second, a grade C Pugilist had been torn to shreds!
The Night Moth’s frightening growl echoed in the forest, not just from behind, but from ahead as well, surrounding the two of remaining scouts. Thousands of wobbling whip-like shadows appeared in the dark forest, all Night Moths’ tails.
…
Tuk-tuk-tuk!
The long-lasting explosions from the cannons lit up the night sky. This beast wave lasted for five hours. The battle had reached the heated stage, and the third defense circle was filled with the carcass of the burrowing beasts. The Iron Defense Team had been battling for way too long and had to change shift—everyone’s armor was more or less damaged.
It was night, and Han Xiao carried a large box of repair tools and moved around the back of the tired defense circle, repairing the defense team’s armor one after another. Time was scarce, and the mission was crucial—they had to go back to battle right after the repairs were finished.
There were also other Battlefield Repairs Teams, but Han Xiao’s skill was the best. His name had already spread to everyone in the defense teams, and every team hoped to meet Han Xiao during their repairs. Only then would their safety have the best guarantee.
Welding steel plates, fixing circuits, resetting systems, Han Xiao’s repairs flowed like water. The Battlefield Repairs Team gave him the internal communicator to make giving him missions easier. Just as he was finished with the repairs of one team, a new command came from the headset. “B12 Defense Team is requesting in-battle emergency repairs!”
B12 was Neville’s team, so Han Xiao rushed to the location. Neville’s team did not change shift to rest—they were still battling, and repairing during battle had the highest risk. One soldier saw Han Xiao and said hastily, “Quickly, this way!”
Han Xiao rushed over to find Neville lying on the floor. A beast claw mark had penetrated the armor between his chest and abdomen, giving off electric sparks. The broken pipes were showing, and the energy device had shut down. Neville could not get up from the ground, so a group of soldiers guarded his surroundings.
“F*ck, all of you new recruits, get away from here! You’re not allowed to leave your positions!” Neville shouted furiously, but the soldiers did not listen, determined to protect him.
Due to them contracting their formation, a gap had shown up at this camp, and a small wave of burrowing beasts had broken through. Such a situation required the standby Quick Reaction Team to backup. The backup was already on the way, so it was not be a huge problem—it was a normal process.
However, in Neville’s eyes, this was an absolute dereliction of duty, so he struggled to stand up in a fit of rage.
“Don’t move.” Han Xiao pressed Neville down, took out materials and tools, and started his work.
Neville felt that Han Xiao’s hand was like a mountain pressing on his body; he could not move no matter how he struggled. In the end, he could only clench his teeth and give in. “Quickly!”
“Shut up,” Han Xiao said expressionlessly.
_____________________
[Sunil—Defensive NCO Class Armor] Derivation Progress: 27%
_____________________
He had mostly repaired Enlistee Class Armor during his few days on the team, and he had already spent millions of experience to derive the blueprint. However, there had been very few chances to repair NCO Class Armors. Thus, he was only at 27%. He also guessed that the NCO Class Armor required [Heavy Machine Modification] as a prerequisite, so the progress might be stuck.
Other than armor, he had also been fortunate enough to repair some vehicles and batteries, and he had gotten the Hovering Turret blueprint.
Although Neville was in a hurry to get back to the battlefield, he could only wait for the repair, and although he hurried Han Xiao, Han Xiao’s speed made him feel relieved. It would not take long before he could get back in the battle.
Chapter 343 - The Split in the Dark
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As he was repairing, Han Xiao looked up at the space fleet above Forest City. “Why is your spaceship still not joining the battle?”
“It is the city’s barrier from the sky, and it also has the strongest weapon. There’s no need to employ it against these small beasts,” Neville replied.
Han Xiao suddenly changed his tone. “I heard rumors about the trump card that you guys have called Commander Class armor, which is way
more powerful than the NCO Class armor. Why don’t you guys use that?”
“Commander Class armor was lost a long time ago, back when we were first attacked on our home planet,” Neville said with a sigh. “We lost the technology to make the armor. Now, we only have four sets of heavily damaged Commander Class armor in our warehouse, and all of them were damaged by seventy percent. So, we can’t reverse-engineer the technology.
“Even though anyone can wear the Commander Class armor, only the Supers can maximize its full potential. When our home planet was being attacked, we send out all the Commander Class armor that we had, and they broke one by one, while the soldiers wearing the armor sacrificed their lives. Without them, the survivors would only have been half of our current size. In the end, we only retrieved four of the damaged sets of Commander Class armor. Those four sets were the key to our survival, and we keep them under maintenance.”
Commander Class armor was on a different level compared to Enlistee Class armor and NCO Class armor. The latter two were standard equipment, but Commander Class armor was the highest tier equipment and on the same level as elite equipment and the Supers’ equipment. The materials needed to produce one set of Commander Class armor could be used to produce a few hundred sets of Enlistee Class armor.
The loss of Commander Class armor technology meant that the downfall of this civilization was inevitable. If they still had the technology for Commander Class armor, then they could employ that equipment to fight off dangerous beasts, and the threat of the Catastrophe would decrease.
Boom!
The ground shook violently, and the two armored soldiers got knocked to the side. Neville saw something behind Han Xiao and shouted, “Move!”
An Underground Crustacean Beast that was the size of a bull knocked the soldiers into the air and charged directly at Han Xiao. There were a lot of Underground Beasts, and this type tended to charge at their target. Their defensive status was high with their dark armor that was as hard as steel. It could block off machine gun bullets, so it was an extremely difficult creature to deal with.
Han Xiao turned around and took out a golden ball from his pocket. The ball expanded into the Wrath of Garrett, and without delay, he activated Flaming Will on top of some critical damage skills while triggering true damage at the same time.
A bright light beam shot through the air and directly penetrated the armor of the beast. Only a burn mark was left on the body of the beast.
The defense troops needed to use more than ten seconds to take down the beast, but Han Xiao did it in one attack. With its momentum, the corpse slowly slid next to Han Xiao’s feet while leaking a gluey liquid.
“Don’t be so surprised. I am stronger than you all.” Han Xiao withdrew his weapon and continued with his repairs as if nothing had happened.
“… I forgot.” Neville’s mouth was wide open. He had thought that Han Xiao was just a logistics worker without any combat power, and he just remembered that Han Xiao was a Super.
Within a few minutes, Han Xiao put down his tools and said, “It’s fixed.”
The armor worked again. Neville stood up, double checked that the armor was fixed, and ran straight back to the battlefield, yelling at his troops for leaving their posts.
Even though they were being yelled at, the soldiers did not complain. They were actually happy that they had been able to save their boss’s life.
Neville stopped scolding the soldiers and focused on the battle. He continued to yell and command his troops.
Just as Han Xiao was prepared to move to the next repair point, a sharp alarm rang from the base. Han Xiao stopped his steps and looked around.
Level two warning. The Catastrophe is now in the middle stage.
A mysterious cold atmosphere spread, and a group of black shadows flew out of the forest. They were covered in black fog and flew across the field a few meters above the ground. They easily avoided the minefield and dodged the majority of the ranged attacks with their agile movements.
A bright light soon showed the appearance of these creatures. They had dark gray flesh without any hair. They were at least three or four meters tall and did not have any facial features. They had two antennae on their head to sense the environment. Four long claws extended from their body, and they had strong beast legs and a pair of dark bat wings. In addition, there were three whip-like tails filled with spikes.
“The Night Moth!” Han Xiao recognized this beast from the initial briefing. The appearance of these beasts meant that the Catastrophe had moved past the first stage and reached the middle stage. With the first stage being so threatening, and the later stages being at least a dozen times more dangerous, the deaths and damage would clearly intensify.
The retreat order was sent through the earphone. “All maintenance staff, fall back to the fifth defense line and enter the base!”
Han Xiao naturally followed the order and headed back to the metal base. The doors and windows were locked tight, and no exit could be found. It was the required safety measures, so the staff could only watch the battle outside through the window.
Pa!
Suddenly, the defense lines all turned on powerful full-beam headlights and pointed them to the sky. The dark night became as bright as day. The approaching Night Moths screeched as the light shone on them, and they lost all sense of direction as they collided with one another, rolling on the ground as if they were drunk. Then, quite a number of Night Moths landed on the minefield and exploded into pieces.
A Night Moth’s antennae were sensitive to light, so they could only move in the dark.
The Sunils had prepared specific plans for certain types of beasts. After reaching the middle stage of the Catastrophe, the mission was not as simple as just shooting bullets. Now, the troops had to use specific tactics to deal with certain beasts. The tactics had been obtained from all the blood shed of previous Catastrophes, and they would surely reduce the damage.
In the end, there were also a lot of enemies that were hard to handle. The toxic bugs were an example. Those things were the sign of the final stage.
Every single Night Moth was on the same level as a class D super. They were very agile, and their tails could easily penetrate armor. Because of that, a lot of turrets were destroyed, and the defense troops and mercenaries were in a predicament. The number of deaths kept on increasing.
…
The intense battle dragged on until dawn. The remaining Night Moth finally backed off, and the battle reached a temporary peaceful stage. At least a few thousand soldiers had died in the span of a single night. It was the deadliest battle so far.
Countless corpses had been put into corpse bags and sent to the backline. Many family members of the soldiers lived in the city. Their glorified sacrifice was not only because of their pride but also for their families. Their corpses would all be identified by the families, and the night was filled with painful wails echoing from the city.
The soldiers that had still been well and alive the night before turned into corpses in a few hours. The morale of the base hit rock-bottom. The soldiers were exhausted after last night. They could not even take off their armor in case of an emergency attack, so they scattered and sat on the ground, staring into the sky without thinking of anything.
Hearing the cries of the families, the soldiers realized that they could be one of those corpses in the next few days.
In such an atmosphere, the mercenaries could only stay quiet and prepare their equipment.
This scene reminded Han Xiao of Planet Aquamarine. No matter where one traveled in the universe, the suffering that war brought was the same.
Suddenly, there was some movement on the side. A large group of scouts had returned to the base. They were well respected by the Sunils. A lot of soldiers stared at them, and some saluted out of respect.
The scouts had a logical schedule. There would always be troops to replace the team for them to come back and rest. The players were the troops that had been sent out to replace this
team.
Han Xiao recalled a conversation with Lerden. Lerden had mentioned that there were two strong soldiers who had reached class B. They were working as mercenaries in the galaxy, and every year, they would earn large sum of money. They were the idols of the entire civilization.
The leader of the returning scouts was one of those two—Fernas.
All the high officials from the military showed up and welcome the returning troops.
Fernas waved his hand and said, “We have lost a lot of brothers. We brought back as many corpses as we could.”
The crowd spread out and put down twenty or so corpse bags on the ground. They were all Sunil Supers. Fumay was also one of them.
Han Xiao looked around and did not see Lerden’s corpse. He looked into the crowd and saw that Lerden was still standing in the team. Although he had lost another leg and two arms, at least he was still alive.
“They are all heroes,” the military officials said. “We will take care of the rest.”
“I hope so,” Fernas replied.
The Sunil Supers all looked at the corpses at their friends and showed sorrowful expressions.
The atmosphere dropped another notch.
Han Xiao kept on observing the expressions of the Supers, and he found out that one group, including Lerden, only showed a despairing expression and mourned for the loss.
As for the other group, other than sadness, they also showed rage and anger.
Chapter 344 - Meeting the Liar Again (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The returning team split up to rest, while Lerden was jumping on one leg, planning to find the ‘doctor’ to repair him. Han Xiao whistled, signaling for Lerden to go over.
“It’s you, can’t believe you’re still alive.” Lerden hopped in front of Han Xiao.
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