Arknights, but the family has fallen again

"Come to think of it, the Babel Tower channel is still usable..." Hedley sighed, "It's almost like... No, it's nothing."

"Don't disgust me! I told her!"

boom!

W activated the bomb.

A luxurious car that was not adapted to the wilderness was instantly shattered to pieces.

Inès and Hedley shrugged.

Zoom out and look down from a high altitude.

As one of the gangs within the Sarkaz mercenaries, W and his group are now being dispatched by Garson to do a not-so-interesting job: driving out the refugees from Chernobog.

Considering the natural disasters, many of these refugees were suffering from Originium disease without knowing it—or were unwilling to know it.

In this case, they will become the first wave to impact Longmen's administrative capabilities.

One interesting thing is that not all nobles received the tip-off in time. A few less valuable people were left behind in the main area of Che City along with the common people they looked down upon. For example, the driver of the car that was just blown up belonged to this group.

The sudden explosion caused panic among the refugees. Fortunately, the group was spread out enough to avoid a stampede.

"Their psychological defenses have collapsed. Now they will listen to anything you say." Inès shook her head.

W pulled out his walkie-talkie and ordered, "Guys, it's time to intervene. Our goal is to squeeze all these refugees into the dragon gate and burst the dragon's back door!"

"No one should die! But you can have your money and belongings as you please! I only want 30%!"

Those demon mercenaries who were isolated from the crowd immediately joined the refugee group.

While maintaining order, they also wantonly exploited their wealth.

Hedley looked at the scene before him, sighed, and took out his notebook.

W kicked him lightly: "What's there to remember? Isn't it embarrassing?"

“History shouldn’t be all about glory.”

Hedley put away his notebook and said, "It is cold and bloody...it is the corpse of time."

On the other side, in Rhodes Island, in the combat meeting room.

"The Reunion Movement's intention to attack Longmen has become very clear." Kal'tsit said, pointing to some video footage on the screen.

Ott shook his head.

I can’t say.

According to common sense, the probability of an openly anti-Ursusian group of infected people having nothing to do after capturing a border city and then invading a neighboring country is almost zero.

Even if a natural disaster passes and the city is paralyzed and loses its value in the short term... anyone who wants to cross the border and attack another mobile city is either crazy or has bad intentions.

Perhaps after a few days, the evidence on the surface will be enough to support Kal'tsit's current point of view, but now it is only the second day after the fall of Che City, and under normal circumstances it is not enough to draw this conclusion.

You just communicated with W and the others, right?

"Doc Otter..." Amiya carefully tugged at Otto's other sleeve.

Now, everyone in the combat meeting room turned their attention to him.

Although it should have been more serious, the atmosphere in the war conference room was actually quite bright - the operation to rescue Otto was a complete success, and it could even be said that there were basically no casualties.

"Do you have any opinion, Dr. Ott?"

Looking at the ghost shark next to Otto, Kal'tsit slapped the table.

This sight was undoubtedly caught by the others present.

Ott said: "It's more of an attack than an impact."

"Drive the old, weak, sick and disabled to attack the defense line, and then the elite troops will press forward."

"This is a very classic and brutal tactic."

"Doc Otter, are you saying... the Reunion Movement is going to attack the city?" Ace was a little unsure.

"No, that's impossible. That's just a metaphor." Ott shook his head: "Last night... not long ago, I looked through their information."

"Although the predecessor of the Reunion Movement, the Iceborne Guerrillas, had a clear Ursus military background, as a whole, the current Reunion Movement is mostly composed of rogue infected who have not undergone formal training."

"This group doesn't have the necessary skills to run Chernobog, let alone mobilize the Ursus war machine and attack the city head-on."

"I would like to point out that although it did not have the ability to attack the city, all the evidence shows that it did have the intention of attacking Longmen."

Various evidences?

Kal'tsit must have it in her hand, but she didn't release it.

Scout said, "Since you have the intention to attack, but you don't have the ability to attack head-on..."

Ott nodded and said, "There will definitely be a large number of Integration Movement members hiding among the refugees, trying to blend in and enter Longmen."

“On the other hand, if the number of integration movements among refugees reaches a certain level…”

"Then their intention to attack Longmen has been positively confirmed," Kal'tsit said calmly. "To this end, we will launch a surprise rescue operation near Che City to target a group of refugees who have just left."

She began to lie with her eyes open. "We just left Chernobog. The members of the Reunion Movement won't take off their masks so soon. If too many Reunion Movement members are found during the rescue operation, this combat record will serve as irrefutable evidence to convince Lungmen."

Ott glanced at her.

Most likely W's information.

Because I speedrunned through Che City, W wasn't able to successfully take over the Sarkaz mercenaries, so the value of the intelligence she could provide has been significantly reduced. Furthermore, Inès likely won't be able to glimpse Tallulah's shadow during this process...

Now the Hedley family is completely in a state of being mute. If we don't consider their individual combat capabilities, it is hard to say what role they can play in this incident.

Ah, I see. Hedley and his group are still acting from the perspective of the Tower of Babel. Joining this mercenary group employed by Tallulah was a coincidence. From the very beginning, they wanted to use the mercenary groups scattered across Terra by Tracys to get closer to the Regent again!

As long as they could get close to Tracy again and find out his whereabouts, Hedley and his party did not care how they approached him.

And in W's eyes, the simplest and quickest reason... was Garson's death.

Yes, this is also another purpose of her deal with Scout in the original work.

Excellent tactical planning? But tactics and strategy are two different things.

However, Garson's death and the change of hands of the mercenary group are valuable in themselves.

Give them a push.

Ott knocked on the table and said, "This morning, the engineering department and I made some modifications to the near-ground aircraft and revised the tactical manual. The intensity of this battle will not be very fierce, so let the Bad Boy participate."

Bad Boy is the name that the pilot Dylan gave to the "Rhode Island Near-Earth Vehicle".

Ott doesn't mind using this name at the official level to further increase Dylan's sense of belonging to the Rhode Island community.

Chapter 24: Ugly Baby

It is worth noting that most of the technological progress of "This Land" to date has relied on the development of Originium.

For example, a "gun" is a weapon that looks basically like a firearm, but is essentially a staff that fires magic wands.

This leads to a simple fact: technical weapons such as artillery in this land require two rounds of screening for their users.

The first round of screening is at the knowledge level; the second round of screening is based on Originium skills.

Even the knowledge requirement can be replaced by experience if the Originium skills are met.

Even the technical weapons deployed by the military, the Originium skills required had already been simplified many times and could be mastered through learning...

If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't work.

This paradoxical yet natural situation undoubtedly influenced the design of certain weapons.

For example, the Terrans deployed many different types of drones on the battlefield and mounted huge artillery on high-speed warships... but they did not have any particularly strong desire to arm near-ground aircraft.

But then again, Ott remembered that in the history of the Earth, the earliest weapon installed on airplanes... seemed to be the pilot's small pistol.

Ignoring this awkward infancy, bombs and cannons quickly found their way onto the aircraft's weapon menu.

But in the magical Terra, both weapons require the user's Originium skills...

In other words, on a combat platform as small and far away as a near-earth aircraft... it is not realistic to rely on complex large-scale Originium equipment to lower the requirements for warlocks; those powerful warlocks who can accurately cast spells thousands of meters away are unlikely to belong to the same combat unit as such a useless thing.

War is both conservative and radical.

It will choose without hesitation anything that has been proven in actual combat, while at the same time it will despise those that have not been screened.

Armed aircraft are precisely the kind of weapons that have not been tested in Terra's brief modern history of warfare.

Because, on the Terra technology tree based on Originium, the armed near-earth aircraft is much further behind its half-brother and the armed helicopter on the Earth technology tree.

Not everyone on the Bad Boy was deployed.

"Jessica, the firepower on the left is too weak. Frost Leaf, the liquid nitrogen in the tank is unstable, cool it down quickly!"

Ott stared at the terminal, micro-managing the battle on the ground and giving commands casually.

"Ming...understand!"

"clear."

Meteor and Jessica pulled the trigger at the same time. The nitrogen that had been released from its liquefied state expanded rapidly, impacting the bullet in the narrow chamber. The onboard machine guns temporarily mounted on both sides of the Bad Boy made a series of muffled sounds.

In the end, this bloody weapon, which does not require any Originium skills from the user, returned to this world through the hands of Otto.

Even though it's now extremely ugly and deformed, and even relies on Originium technology to maintain the stability of the entire system...

Although there are still many follow-up issues, such as materials, gun design, and even which gas is more suitable...

But the feasibility of this technical route has been verified.

In fact, although another pneumatic weapon using the compressed gas route, the No. 1094 pneumatic pistol, has already come off the production line of Black Steel International.

But given the options available, Ott decided to go the cryo-liquefaction route for his prototype design.

He's greedy for the Yeti Squad, he's greedy for Froststar! He's honest! He's noble! He deserves praise!

Dylan drove the Bad Boy across the sky in an arc. Due to the simplicity of the prototype, the deaths it had caused so far were minimal, but it could be said that it had effectively undermined the morale of the Sarkaz mercenaries.

This already disorganized mercenary force had begun to disintegrate, but soon, at the end of the horizon, an elite marine squadron that had been dropped by the Bad Boy blocked their escape route.

“Protect the refugees!”

Lin Guang raised his war hammer high and stood between the fleeing Sarkaz and the refugees from Qie City.

This time, her team members raised their shields and held the Sarkaz's scattered lines. From afar, they looked like a wall emblazoned with the Rhodes Island emblem. Meanwhile, a large number of operators, using this living wall as cover, charged the Sarkaz.

In terms of absolute numbers, the Rhodes Island operators are undoubtedly at a disadvantage.

But in terms of organizational ability, this mercenary is not in the same league as the operators under Otto's control.

Through several brief assaults, Otto identified their commanders, and then ordered the Rhodes Island heavy operators, led by Rin Guang, to forcibly separate them from their own soldiers.

The soldiers no longer know their general, and the general no longer knows his soldiers.

Although the Sarkaz clearly had the advantage in numbers, they increasingly felt that they were the ones being surrounded.

Whoever attacks, two others will attack his flanks...

On the high ground in the distance.

W, who was wearing camouflage netting, put down her binoculars and exclaimed, "Not bad!"

Inès grabbed the telescope and said, "Let me see."

"That Kuranta... is she new? I haven't seen her in Babel before."

Hedley said, "When Rhodes Island 'broke through' W's defenses, she was in the rescue team."

He frowned: "I feel like I've seen her face somewhere."

Being able to let Hedley see her face in the wilderness, the Radiant Knight was indeed somewhat famous.

"This isn't good..." Inès said, "Rhodes Island's attack is a bit too effective..."

"If the remaining Sarkaz are too few, there's no way we can do anything about it... Hmm? They're getting up!?"

"What the hell is Rhodes Island doing!?"