Chapter 876: Capital City!
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Han Qiong led 800 elite soldiers, with the Xue Luo guards in front, easily charging through the troops from Evergreen City. She deployed 200 Xue Luo guards to chase after those who were fleeing while sending another 300 to gather the scattered refugees.
Under her efforts, the refugees were gathered once more, reaching a staggering figure of hundred thousand. It was truly a difficult feat to perform.
One female warrior came up to Han Qiong and reported, "Captain Han, there's a troop about 20 li away. There're about 3,000 soldiers, and they're likely to be the reinforcements of Evergreen City.
One other commander beside Han Qiong asked out of concern, "What should we do? Captain, should we disperse?"
They numbered only 800, with 200 already sent to clean up the fleeing Evergreen troops. 300 were maintaining order, thus leaving behind another 300 that was available for combat.
Han Qiong's eyes flashed with a decisive look, "No! We cannot flee! I will take the troops to go fight it out with them. You guys stay here and maintain order!"
After the chaos and panic earlier, over 2,000 refugees had perished in the stampede, while another 8,000 were missing in the wilderness.
If panic was to break out again, the refugees would definitely be harder to control, and more people would suffer under the chaos.
When she made her decision, Han Qiong immediately kickstarted her motorcycle. She charged towards the front in her Type 3 Body Suit and Battle Spear, leading 300 Xue Luo guards as well as 2 Reapers.
The speed of the enhanced motorcycle was terrifying. The distance of 20 li was quickly passed, soon, Han Qiong caught sight of the 3,000 troops wielding ray guns and sitting in infantry vehicles making their way over.
The enhanced motorcycles were equipped with Type 2 Mutant Beast nuclei. It was not a means of transportation that was widely available. To ordinary soldiers, infantry vehicles were more than enough for their transportation needs.
"Attack!!"
The moment Han Qiong charged forward, she controlled her enhanced motorcycle to fire out laser beams at the infantry vehicles.
The battle-hardened Xue Luo guards also pushed their own enhanced motorcycles to fire laser beams at the infantry vehicles.
Faced with the assault of laser beams, many of the armored infantry vehicles were pummeled full of holes. Many soldiers within were also punctured, leaving them gravely injured or dead.
At this moment, the disadvantage of laser weapons was exhibited. Although laser weapons had high penetrating power, they were unable to annihilate an entire infantry vehicle with a single shot.
However, this disadvantage was covered by the 2 Reapers behind. The moment they opened up their shoulder flaps, a number of guided missiles shot out.
Every shot was able to cause a huge explosion when they struck the infantry vehicles, consuming the entire vehicle as well as the soldiers within in flames.
The 2 Reapers were like moving fortresses, crushing any armored vehicles under their feet when they got too near. Many soldiers were instantly crushed to death.
"Reaper!! Those are Reapers!! How is it possible for Reapers to be here?!" Damn it!!"
"Quick!! Run!!"
"..."
When faced with the sudden assault, the entire troop simply fell apart. Their casualty rate when Han Qiong slammed into them had instantly rose to 30%. They were just an ordinary troop that had not undergone many battles. Faced with such a toll of injured soldiers, their morale plunged.
Many of them threw away their equipment and hurried to get on their vehicles. As they fled, they left behind their weapon loads as well as the vehicles carrying their equipment that they were supposed to be guarding strictly.
Han Qiong saw this and relaxed slightly. With her force of 300, she had launched a sudden attack on these 3,000 soldiers, it was impossible not to feel pressure. Had she failed, the hundreds of thousands of refugees would suffer a terrible fate.
This time, Han Qiong had managed to succeed and gain the advantage of a sneak attack was partly due to the timing of her attack. Especially the 2 Reapers, which had instantly destroyed a large number of the transport vehicles. This caused a large number of casualties on the enemy's side while crushing their morale, thus forcing them to retreat.
When Han Qiong observed carefully, she suddenly understood, "They could not have been reinforcements, they were most likely escorts for the items in these trucks."
She opened the boxes, sucking in a cold breath when she saw what was inside. Her eyes lit up with excitement.
In each of those large transport vehicles, there were Reapers. In the 30 large vehicles, there were a total of 30 Reapers.
The might of Reapers were truly shocking, yet they were incredibly hard to manufacture. The runes and alloy parts of their frame were hard to produce, furthermore, many core parts were made out of parts of Type 5 Mutant Beasts.
In the entire Cloud Region, there might at most be a total of 5 Reapers manufactured a year. These 30 models being transported meant 6 years of Cloud Region's output already.
Han Qiong swiftly came up to one captive and asked him harshly, "Where were you guys intending to send these to?"
The captive replied obediently, "We were tasked to send them to the Capital!"
"Did any of your superiors mention that the goods were Reapers?"
"No, our superiors just told us to deliver them to the Capital."
"Do you know where they came from?"
"Not too clear."
Han Qiong gathered a few others to verify the information but did not receive much help. She gave up, instead, relaying what she had to Yue Zhong.
"There seems to be something brewing?"
When Yue Zhong heard the news, his gut feeling told him that there was something happening in the Capital. However, since he was still at the 20th Fort, he had no clue about what was happening there.
A sense of urgency overcame him, he did not know why he felt so anxious. However, he could feel it deep in his bones that if he stayed here, there might be an irreversible mistake.
"Seems like I need to take a look myself."
Yue Zhong made the decision quickly, and after relaying some orders, he quickly made his way in the direction of the capital.
The Capital was about a few thousand li away from Blood Red City. There were a few cities along the way. If the army was to be deployed, the journey would be long and arduous.
Yue Zhong disguised himself as an Evergreen soldier, and under the pretense of carrying out orders, he rode an enhanced motorcycle along the huge road, nearing the Capital after 3 days.
"Is that the Capital? It truly seems like a marvelous existence."
Now that he was up close, he could not help but sigh at the look of the place.
In the distance, the various peaks of the Capital were touching the clouds, the numerous structures, and buildings made out of reinforced-alloy concrete.
On the city wall, the various defense systems were set up with automation, while various bunkers littered around the city wall.
A number of heavy cannons were littered all around the city wall. With his eyes sweeping across, he could tell that there were at least 3,000 of such weapons.
A single round could devastate anything within a 1 sq km. If all 3,000 of them were to fire, even a Type 6 Divine Warrior would be blasted to smithereens.
Of course, while the damage was tyrannical, it had a shortcoming as well. That was the energy consumption. Every round required the emptying of a Type 3 Mutant Beast nucleus, at the same time, there was a limitation to the firing rate, 1 round per minute. If it was forced to fire out rapidly, then it would explode. The Capital would not dare to risk such a move as well.
Other than those energy cannons, there were bright, flashy laser weapons atop the city walls.
The range of these laser weapons was about 5km, a single shot could pierce the body of a Type 5 Divine Warrior. The frightening thing was their numbers. There were at least hundreds of thousands of them.
These were just one part of the arsenal. Within the city, there was even the Raytheon Cannon that could kill even a Type 7 Divine Warrior instantly, as well as other powerful weapons.
Because of these, Wei Ming Qing dared to slaughter the refugees and make use of their blood-honey to strengthen himself.
As long as he gained the Capital, then even if a million-strong army were to attack before the nuclei of the Capital ran out, it was nearly impossible for anyone to break through such a defense.
Yue Zhong eyed the Capital and thought quietly, "In order to attack the city, it's impossible to do so from the outside. I definitely have to sneak in there."
Although he knew the only way in, he did not dare to make any rash moves.
In these few days, under his careful observation, Yue Zhong had assessed the place to be entirely sealed. People were allowed in but not out. There had not been any exits out of the Capital at all. Such a strange sight was already ringing alarm bells in his head. If he forcefully sneaked in, the moment he was caught or captured, there was no guarantee he could escape unharmed.