Ark Journey

Taking out the operating terminal, Xue Zhi rushed back while sending a message to Hedley.

"Hedley, pack up and be ready to retreat at any time."

"Now?"

"Yes. The Military Committee's counterattack has begun. Did you see that in the sky? Those are the explosions from the howitzers I just intercepted. They are landing on Hill 415! They intend to cover us with direct firepower. We cannot defeat them."

"Row."

Chapter 58: The rear guard, triggering a natural disaster

Hedley is not a pedantic person. The power of the Military Committee is stronger than that of the Tower of Babel. This time, the two sides have advanced too far, and it is still a question whether they can hold on. If the regular army retreats, then their retreat is not unacceptable.

Before the mercenaries on the ground who heard the explosion could figure out what it was, Hedley's order was passed on to every team leader.

The mercenaries didn't really like fighting, and it would be a good thing to be able to retreat later, so even though they had doubts, they quickly started packing up.

While they were preparing, Xue Zhi intercepted several waves of shells fired from who knows how many kilometers away at high altitude. The flashes that broke out from time to time in the clouds were worrying, but his efficiency and interception rate could not be compared even with the S400.

The dark clouds that had gathered above their heads since last night were not blown away by the storm of the explosion, but became even thicker. Perhaps it was because a lot of Originium was mixed into the shells, the energy field inside the entire cloud layer changed very strangely, which was slightly different from what Xue Zhi felt last time.

Looking at the clouds that were getting lower and darker, Xue Zhi couldn't help but feel worried.

[Hope it’s not a natural disaster]

There are no Scourge Messengers within the mercenary group. This profession requires a great deal of knowledge and is not something that mercenaries who have little time to study can do. It is difficult to find someone knowledgeable to talk to, but some veterans can still rely on their experience and keen intuition to judge the arrival of danger.

"Hurry up, even if the enemy's counterattack hasn't arrived, we can't stay here for long!"

"Natural disasters are no joke, and the people of the Military Commission don't dare to gamble!"

"All packed, Captain, when do we evacuate?"

"Wait for orders."

The mercenary group, which had been well-ordered, suddenly became noisy after noticing something was wrong in the sky. A large amount of baggage was left behind, and each mercenary only carried some necessary supplies with them. In order to facilitate retreat and deal with possible battles on the road, they could carry any extra weight.

After a brief period of chaos, they were ready and waiting silently.

In a clearing in the forest, W and Xue Zhi stood side by side, hand in hand: "Xue Zhi, do you think this is a natural disaster?"

Under the gray sky, the increasingly strong wind blew her white hair into a mess.

Holding W's somewhat cold hand tightly, Xue Zhi focused most of her energy on the sky: "I don't know, I have never seen a natural disaster, so I haven't recorded its characteristics, but judging from this situation, even simple bad weather can cause a great impact."

As he spoke, Xue Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly. High in the sky, another wave of artillery shells was blocked by him, and the flames of the explosion could no longer penetrate the thick clouds.

Just as he continued to monitor the energy changes in the clouds, Hedley suddenly received a communication: "Xue Zhi, come here!"

Hearing his anxious tone, Xue Zhi threw an Ender Pearl directly to the top of the mountain, then smiled at W: "I'll be back soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure disappeared from the spot and appeared on the top of the mountain.

Xue Zhi suddenly appeared and as soon as she landed, she saw a mercenary lying on a stretcher with wounds all over his body, looking like a bloody man, and he was about to die.

"Hurry, hurry, heal him, he brought crucial information!"

"give it to me."

Without further ado, Xue Zhi walked quickly over and placed her hand on the mercenary's chest.

Yep! The core rotates and the cells reorganize!

After a burst of dazzling light, the mercenary, who had been breathing out more than breathing in, finally returned to normal.

The first thing he did after recovering was to grab Hedley's clothes, and then shouted in a hoarse voice:

"Captain, retreat quickly! The troops ahead are surrounded, and the enemy is annihilating them. I escaped at the cost of my life!"

Hedley patted his shoulder, signaling him to relax, and then issued an order:

"Well done. Inform everyone to retreat!"

Xue Zhi, who was listening on the side, breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he didn't know that Theresa was dead.

The mercenary group, which had been prepared for a long time, set off directly. Xue Zhi, who led the vanguard troops, changed from being the pioneers to the rear guard this time. However, he was still confident that he could protect the group with such a small number of people. He also asked the mercenaries to drive over those simple green-skinned vehicles to facilitate the transfer.

Looking at the rough road and thick trees ahead, the mercenary in charge of driving began to murmur:

"Deputy Captain, this thing can't be driven in the woods, right?"

"Don't worry, if there's no road, I can just make one."

At this moment, Xue Zhi was playing with the artillery support flare she had received from Hedley. This item was a limited-edition item for the event, and it would be a shame not to use it.

A large number of figures appeared at the edge of spiritual perception. Xue Zhi aimed at the right angle and fired a flare.

The bright orange light rushed into the clouds and disappeared.

"Let's go."

Hopefully we can get some spare artillery support to slow down the enemy's advance, otherwise he would have waited so long in vain.

The driver who received the order immediately stepped on the accelerator, and the entire flatbed truck carrying the two teams quickly left.

The originally rugged road ahead was instantly flattened, the ground began to move, along with the trees on it. Xue Zhi used magic to pave a road, and after they passed, the forest closed again.

Then, after thinking for a moment, Xue Zhi raised her hand and sent a large amount of magic power into the clouds above her head.

At this moment, the nature of the evil demon from outside the domain was revealed to Xue Zhi. He wanted to see what a natural disaster looked like. As for the consequences? The mercenaries had already gone far away, and there were no irrelevant civilians here, so there was nothing for him to worry about. So he set off some big fireworks.

As more energy poured in, the reaction within the clouds became even more indescribable. Lightning and loud noises continued to emerge in the black clouds, as if a huge light snake was cruising in the clouds.

The mercenary who noticed the change in the clouds looked back and asked, "Deputy Captain, are you guiding the thunderclouds again?"

Xue Zhi nodded: "Yes, there are people from the Military Commission chasing us, I tried to scare them with this thing."

A thick lightning bolt fell, and it was a snake in the cloud that stretched out its tongue and began to lick the ground. The mercenary who happened to see this scene shuddered. Although the vehicle was moving very steadily, he still held on to everything in the vehicle that could secure himself like his companions: "You don't look like a simple threat."

While they were chatting, Xue Zhi suddenly looked up and saw several streaks of light quickly passing over their heads. The bright flames looked extremely dazzling under the dim sky.

Support is coming.

Just when he thought that one wave of bombing was enough, more lights began to appear on the horizon. Nearly saturated attacks filled the sky, and shells whizzed past with sharp sounds every moment.

Chapter 59: Rampage

Not far away, to the north of Hill 415, bright lines fell almost vertically from the sky and then disappeared among the mountains and forests. Then, a muffled sound louder than the thunder in the sky came from that direction.

The mercenaries were already somewhat stunned. Xue Zhi, who was seeing long-range firepower coverage in reality for the first time, was also somewhat shocked:

"'Dongda Foul Words', are you making such a big deal? No one on the front line called for artillery support, but they all came to us?"

The truth was pretty much what he said. The Military Commission's sudden counterattack caused most of Babel's frontline troops to be caught in a tough fight or wiped out in an instant. There were large amounts of artillery shells stockpiled in the rear, and the artillery that finally saw a target they could attack immediately launched a saturation bombing on this place and the surrounding areas.

The forest road continued to extend, and their speed was fast, almost catching up with the large group in front, but from here they could still see the terrifying thundercloud in the distance.

Away from the danger zone, with Xue Zhi in charge of the car, the mercenaries couldn't help but relax and chat.

"After finishing this job, the money we'll save will be enough to take a break. Whoever is willing to work on the edge of a knife can do it."

"Yeah, I finally have time to ask Daisy to marry me."

"Haha, kid, but I can finally find a place to settle down and farm."

Xue Zhi felt a little uncomfortable listening to the mercenaries in the car talking like an old general on the stage with flags behind him.

[Fuck, don't set a flag, this level of stacking is almost catching up with the 2000th time man! ]

Then, part of the flag came true. Suddenly, someone appeared in the woods on both sides of Xue Zhi's perception, and was heading towards the direction of the large group in front.

Xue Zhi reminded the mercenaries who were almost talking about having children: "Okay, prepare for battle. There are enemies from the Military Committee on the side who want to bite our main force's tail. Drivers, follow the route I've set. Let's go and take a bite of their tail!"

When they learned that there was an enemy, they immediately responded, "Got it!"

The Military Commission troops, unaware that someone had already set their sights on them, were still chasing the mercenary group, and their movements were clearly one step faster.

However, Xue Zhi believed that they would not be defeated by such a simple attack. The dark clouds here were already very thin, and all the drones were left behind, so it would not be difficult to detect this group of people in advance.

The mercenary group was indeed prepared for the battle. Now they just had to wait for Xue Zhi and the others to eat the mantis.

The accelerator was pressed all the way down, and the Originium engine began to make a wheezing sound from nowhere, obviously reaching its limit.

Xue Zhi, who could already hear the explosion, narrowed her eyes:

"Just run into them and finish them off."

"Yes!"

The mercenaries in the car also picked up their weapons and prepared to jump out of the car.

The trees spread out to both sides, revealing a group of people who were fighting. The driver aimed at the magicians and shooters gathered together and stepped on the accelerator, which increased the speed of the car to a higher level.

Faced with the speeding vehicles and the enemies on the vehicles who looked tough, these noble ranged units chose to shoot two arrows and then flee in all directions, which gave Xue Zhi and his team the opportunity to kill them.

The vehicle crashed to a stop and the people who had already jumped out of the car started killing. Before the guards who were responsible for guarding these remote personnel rushed over, more than half of them had already been killed.

Just as Xue Zhi rushed forward with a knife in hand, a well-dressed Sarkaz who seemed to be the commander in front of him suddenly stopped, widened his eyes and let out a terrified scream that almost broke his vocal cords, then threw his weapon on the ground and ran away without looking back.

"What happened?"

This made both sides at a loss, but the commanders on the Military Committee's side ran away, and the soldiers immediately lost the will to fight. They fired two arrows and ran away even though they were doing justice to Theresis.

The defeat was like a landslide. The entire Military Commission's troops, who had finally chased this place, suffered a chain reaction. Some fled, and some died.

The mercenary who was preparing for a big fight put away his weapon and asked, "Deputy Captain? Did you scare that guy... to the point of collapse?"

Xue Zhi was also confused: "How is it possible that I am that scary?"

He would not remember that some people escaped from his knife when they first arrived in Terra, but the tragic situation was deeply imprinted in the minds of all the survivors.

W, who had crossed the battlefield to see him and didn't understand why the enemy suddenly retreated, asked him, "Xue Zhi, did you defeat those people here? No, there are too few corpses on the ground."

Xue Zhi spread her hands and said nothing, he didn't know either.

W didn't care much: "Okay, as long as it can be solved, we have to hurry up. We have encountered many infiltrating Military Committee troops and Babel's fleeing soldiers along the way."

The troops gathered together again, and the elite soldiers who had been working hard had to continue to serve as vanguards, but no one cared because they were paid a lot of money.

The car that had crashed and stopped was towed out again. Xue Zhi, who had just jumped out of the car last, added some order elements to it so that it was not damaged but could continue to glow and emit heat.

The flatbed truck started up again with a humming sound. Their destination was the mercenary group's previous base, which was remote enough and far away from both sides' areas, making it ideal for stable development.

Passing the troops, Xue Zhi also saw some of the defeated soldiers of the Tower of Babel who had been gathered together. Most of them were wounded and in low spirits, but since they would not die in a short time, he did not need to worry about them.

They sped all the way, and thanks to several vehicles of the mercenary group, they finally arrived at the destination safely at noon the next day.

What surprised Xue Zhi was that he actually saw several villages and fields on the road, and they were even greeting the mercenary group. It was like entering a paradise right after leaving the battlefield.

The mercenaries in the car saw Xue Zhi's surprised expression and came out to answer his questions.

"Before the deputy captain came, we stayed here for quite a while and solved a lot of problems for them. We wiped out several bandit groups around them."

"And we also exchanged food from them with all the things they needed, so our relationship was pretty good. That's why the leader chose this place as the evacuation point."

Xue Zhi nodded, agreeing with Hedley's approach.

"I see."

[It seems that I was right about Hedley]

We parked the car, set up camp, explored the surrounding environment, made sure the water source was safe, and sorted out the harvest. We were busy until the afternoon when we finally settled down.

During this period, many older Sarkaz farmers came to visit, as well as some young Sarkaz girls in their prime. I don't know if Daisy, who a mercenary mentioned, is among them.

Chapter 60: New Equipment, Heading to the Tower of Babel

"Finally I can take a good bath."

After setting up the tent, he packed his clothes and toiletries, which had not been washed for several days, and went out with several women in the mercenary group. Before leaving, he even gave Xue Zhi a wink.

"Wait for me to come back~"

Xue Zhi turned her eyes away from the system panel and sighed when she saw that W had left. She didn't know how long she could be happy.

Now that things have come to this, let’s go shopping.

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Name: Xue Zhi

Race: Human [Spirit + Void Infection] (Stable)