Chapter 243 - 152: Ring City’s Trump Card

BOOM!!

Beyond the high walls of the city ring, the fires of war spread in every direction.

Grenades, bombs, armored vehicles, light tanks... Squad after squad of Wilderness Warlord forces from the upper Red River region emerged from all corners of the wastes.

Tens of thousands of troops advanced from all directions. Under the cover of artillery, small teams of warlords charged straight for the high walls.

Bullets rained down in a mad fusillade, while artillery shells, trailing flames, continuously tore through the air to slam into the city ring.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!

The explosions were relentless. Craters and depressions were blasted into the high concrete walls of the city ring, which shuddered from the constant impacts.

Below, the dirt ground and concrete roads were riddled with craters, and a web of cracks spread out in all directions.

And yet...

"Fire!"

The passages through the high wall were completely sealed. Three alloy gates, each over ten meters tall, blocked the way.

The inside of the wall held its own secrets; firing ports and grenade launcher muzzles dotted the outer layer of the concrete ramparts.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!

Muzzle flashes flared ceaselessly from the firing ports in the concrete wall. Intermittently, grenades and rockets were launched, bombarding the armored vehicles and mini-tanks that swarmed in from the wastes.

At this moment, the high wall of the city ring was like a giant military fortress encircling the entire city. Higher up on the walls, other fortifications had been completed. Figures from the City Defense Department could be seen moving among them, using the fortified cover to rain continuous fire down on the Wilderness Warlord troops below.

Both sides were fighting with bloodshot eyes; people had been dying every second since the battle began.

Flying shells shook the ground, and spattering blood stained the earth red.

Perhaps it was precisely this fury and grit from the City Defense Department that prevented the wilderness forces from breaking through.

"General, it looks like the Rebels are having some trouble. They haven’t managed to open the city gates for us."

In a camouflaged command vehicle far behind the front lines of the wilderness forces, someone reported in a grim voice over the comms channel.

This was a temporary mobile command post.

The interior was spacious, with seven or eight elite commanders sitting before various control consoles, maintaining communications and receiving all kinds of battlefield imagery and troop progress reports from the outside.

On a metal table in the center, a holographic sand table was projected, displaying a three-dimensional image of the entire battlefield and the high walls of Ring City.

"According to the intel they sent back, it seems the Superpower Bureau and the Patrol Department had other plans in place and have blocked them."

"Our casualties have also exceeded projections. If we can’t breach the wall and open the gates within ten minutes, then perhaps..."

The voice on the comms reported again, sounding slightly anxious.

Everyone in the mobile command vehicle had grim expressions. They turned their gazes toward the figures standing at the sand table.

They were all famous Superpower Level experts. The middle-aged man in the center, wearing a brown general’s greatcoat, was the great leader in their hearts—one of the most powerful warlords along the Red River.

"Nothing from the Rebels comes for free."

Lu Shan shook his head, his rugged face devoid of expression.

The others fell silent at his words, knowing what he meant.

If the Rebels hadn’t provided a massive supply of munitions and materiel—even weapons of war—they wouldn’t have wanted to go to war with Ring City so readily.

But now, the arrow was nocked and had to be loosed.

The war had already begun; a retreat was out of the question. Besides, if they left now, forget about the retaliation from Ring City—they would have the Rebels to answer to.

"Mo Li, Kui Wu..."

After a brief silence, Lu Shan spoke again, calling out the names of six Superpower Level experts in total.

"Each of you will lead a team. You must break through the wall and open the gates within ten minutes."

"Yes, sir!"

No one objected. The elite squads, long prepared for this war, assembled swiftly.

Using Superpower Level individuals as the tip of the spear to tear open a gap in the battlefield and break the stalemate—this was a common assault tactic used by all the major powers on Earth Star.

「In an instant.」

The Superpower Level experts in the mobile command vehicle moved out. They had already changed into special combat suits and were carrying their Fighting Weapons, their faces set with determination.

Outside on the battlefield, other teams began executing their tactics. The heavy-firepower weapons in the rear, like the light tanks and armored vehicles, opened fire one after another, preparing to provide them with covering fire.

Just as they were about to move out and break the stalemate, a commander inside the vehicle suddenly shouted, his voice betraying a loss of composure.

"General, someone’s here!"

The others were startled and frowned slightly.

Lu Shan narrowed his eyes and looked.

On the monitors, fed by drones and other armored vehicle clusters, a lone figure had appeared sometime behind the main wilderness forces.

Wilderness soldiers opened fire, and machine guns laid down a continuous barrage. The bullets fell like rain, a wall of lead with no gaps.

But somehow, none of the attacks hit their target. Every bullet just barely grazed past him.

"A Superpower Level?"

Someone in the vehicle frowned, seeing what this implied.

The image zoomed in rapidly. Aided by high-frequency computing, they managed to capture a still of the fast-moving figure.

It was a man who looked to be in his thirties.

He wore a sharp black suit, reminiscent of an old-era Zhongshan suit, had his hair in a three-seven part, and held a sheathed black tachi in his left hand.

As if sensing something, he suddenly stopped, turned his head, and looked directly at one of the camera drones.

His calm face had an air of solemn integrity.

Seeing all this, the faces of everyone in the vehicle stiffened.

The next instant, before they could even process it, the dense hail of bullets on the battlefield swept toward him, instantly enveloping him. Then, a rocket-propelled grenade flew out and swallowed him whole.

BOOM!!