Planet of Sand and Oasis of Iron

Chapter 189 188. When you meet someone you know during a mission, you have to ask
It turned out that what Seifer thought was right, and by the way, Leica's choice was also right. The mission was indeed just to find the large autonomous machine that moved to the passage.

But neither of them figured out that the thing was able to safely "move" here mainly because... the mercenaries next door couldn't defeat it.

This thing is huge in the passage. The chassis is a thick quadruple track, and the entire front is as thick as a city wall. Usually, the body will be bounced away if it is hit by armor-piercing bullets.

Not only that, this thing also has two high-speed armor-piercing guns as its main firepower, and a bunch of rocket magazines on the vehicle body, with extremely strong close-range locking and tracking capabilities.

Even the back, where the firepower is weak, has two large machine guns used as close-in firepower. Overall, it is a very tough nut to crack.

Not to mention that this thing's fighting style is also simple and crude. It only needs to "ram" hard, and there will always be unlucky people who get hit because they don't push forward enough.

Then they will be able to experience what it means to be a bloodthirsty sprint of an 18-wheel truck... of course, the premise is that they can survive.

The reason why Seifer knew it so clearly was mainly because he had just arrived at this floor when he heard the sound of fighting. Apparently, someone had come here by unknown means.

So Seifer was not in such a hurry and stood behind the elevator. With a few jet propulsion movements, he rose to the roads in the passage used for transport vehicles.

Then he calmly watched the two machines below. All the weapons were provided by the Abian Company, and the bodies were also mercenaries of their company. They were knocked to the ground by that thing and supported each other.

The two people driving the machine were obviously novices. Although they coordinated well, their operation was really tricky. Not only did they use quick evasive jumps to consume the engine energy reserves, but they also sprinted randomly.

Specifically, they intended to attack from the front and back, but they were impatient to wait for the right opportunity to do so, so they attacked rashly and were forced back by close-in machine guns and melee bullets.

It was quite nice, so Cypher watched it for a while longer, and only opened the communication when the two men were at a loss as to how to deal with this siege machine that was sprinting back and forth on the ground and could not fly at all.

"Need some help? The price is negotiable."

The two machines quickly withdrew slightly from the battlefield and immediately found Cypher. One of them continued to attract the creature's attack while the other asked cautiously, "Who is it?"

"Mercenaries, who else could they be? And strictly speaking, this area is the mission I accepted. You are the intruders."

When speaking, Seifer had already prepared himself for the other party's bad attitude, but in the end... the mercenary who spoke suddenly said in surprise: "You are Red Crossbow, right?!"

Huh? Am I already that famous?
Sever paused: "...Yes, it's me."

"It's us! We, I'm Shaogu!"

Wait, who is it—one of those two newcomers? When he saw their extravagant equipment before, Seifer was still wondering how they were making money so quickly. Now, wow, it was even more exaggerated.

I haven't seen it for a few days, and you're already driving the aircraft? Not only did you drive it, it doesn't look like an outdated model, but it looks like a model that has been put into service.

That's what the now speechless Laika said, and Sefer believed it.

"...I remembered you guys, but why are you here, and where's the other one?"

"over there."

The one who is being chased and is about to leave this area must be Luo.

"I won't ask how you got the machine so quickly, or where you had the surgery. First, why are you here? I'm the only one who's accepted the mission here right now. That's what's written on the mercenary system."

"Um..." Shaogu stammered, finally sighing before someone could even hold on. "We chased this thing from the next door through the barrier. As you can see, we couldn't defeat it, so we could only hold it off until it ran out of ammunition." Cypher asked from the cockpit, arms folded. "So, did you guys use up your ammunition?"

"No, we're running out of ammunition, and that guy has autonomous machines to replenish it..."

Then you're just waiting to die. Cypher assessed the situation and put the weapon system online: "Go help him draw fire. We'll talk later."

With the addition of experienced mercenaries, the morale of the two men was boosted, and their movements were no longer as vague and timid as before. After they fired the remaining ammunition without hesitation to attract the firepower of that thing, Seifer moved.

Leaping down from a high place, while surging forward, the fire control system locked onto the enemy's frame—not using the lock provided by the machine, but using the lock of his own body.

In this world, there are two types of fire control used in battles between machines. One of them is to let the fire control maintain the lock state, regardless of whether the machine can keep up with the action.

The other is that the machine moves first, locking onto the direction that only the machine's gun muzzle can face - each has its advantages, so there's no need to elaborate here.

What to do with an enemy that can only run on the ground and has an open door? Without any instructions from anyone, Cypher raised the grenade launcher and fired a shot.

The moment it was fired, the machine body also moved forward. The roar from the nozzle even made the two unlucky children who were attracting fire think that this person was coming for them.

How did such a coward get on the plane?

As the grenade exploded and flames surged, the autonomous machine was suddenly damaged. Its tracks spun around at high speed, and when it was about to aim at Seifer head-on, he had already advanced and sprinted over the other party's head.

The nozzle adjusted its posture in an instant, and the particle generator (light sword) that had been prepared long ago was lit up, falling from top to bottom at high speed, fiercely piercing the thing's crown and the body itself.

It struggled to emit a few low roars, but could not stop its own collapse. Seifer made a quick decision and kicked out, then quickly retreated after creating some distance.

Stopping on the edge of heat sink overload, the tracked siege vehicle that had just been showing off its might, with obvious and head-on invincibility, suddenly stopped in a burst of brilliant flames.

Then, after the ammunition depot was detonated, the chain explosions caused by the chaotic missiles and weapons explosions came together and exploded at once. The moment they all exploded, everything in the entire passage was blown away by the blast.

Cypher stood firm at a safe distance. When the blast hit the machine, all the messy metal fragments covered the two unfortunate children, causing all kinds of problems to the machine that was originally slightly injured.

Repairs are probably going to cost a fortune.

Let's ignore all that for now. After the explosions and other things subsided, Cypher immediately called the two of them over. The three machines hid in this passage to avoid the autonomous machines coming from behind, and finally found a secluded area for material exchange.

Then, Cipher got straight to the point: "How did you two get on the machine? Who performed the surgery on you? Or did you think you weren't dying fast enough?"

"This... uh..."

The two young men thought about the three questions stiffly. Shao Gu was about to give a tough talk, but then he remembered that the 'Red Crossbow' in front of him was much better than the other mercenaries...

He hesitated for a moment before answering, "It's Abian. We signed a contract with them. After three missions, we will carry out a combat landing mission."

"They said that if the surgery is successful, they'll give us better treatment, and they can also increase the number of installments of the interest-free loan for the cost of the surgery and the body..."

I thought it was a direct gift as compensation, what is this interest-free loan?
(End of this chapter)