Chapter 386: MCV: Damaged
Translator: Liu_Kaixuan Editor: Valvrave
'How could they be so many!?' Jiang Liushi controlled the missile boat and quickly approached the group of monsters. The speed of the missile boat was fast, and it was rumbling on the surface of the water. It was not yet close to the mutant pufferfish.
Many small water monsters squatting on the surface of the floodwater had been affected. Several strange fish jumped out of the water and rushed toward the missile boat. The missile boat stopped at a distance of 40 meters from the monster group, which was the safest. The mutant pufferfish's tentacles were more than ten meters long, so the distance of 40 meters was enough for them to react accordingly.
After all, the missile boat was a machine, which needed a few seconds to start the necessary maneuvers. However, the mutant pufferfish was quite flexible. A few seconds could determine life and death. Jiang Liushi should be as cautious as possible. Although the missile boat was very powerful, he did not blindly believe that the hull of this thing could resist the horrible mutant pufferfish's body.
'Open fire!' Jiang Liushi shouted in his mind. And then he pushed the artificial operating system's button in front of him. Originally, this kind of device required the electronic control processor to control the electronic pulse ignition node provided in the barrel. But now everything had become much simpler.
Jiang Liushi had transformed it into a manual ignition device with Starseed's help. The manual ignition device was activated, and sparks sputtered immediately. The propellant was quickly ignited.
'Boom!'
A deafening sound came, similar to drums of war, and the AK-630 gun barrel rotated at high speed.
Jiang Liushi could see how the barrel released the bullets, and the jet of fire following after, before landing where the mutant pufferfish was located.
The moment some of the rushing little monsters came in touch with the bullets, they burst into a cloud of blood. Compared to the little water monsters' provoking behavior, the mutant pufferfish lying in the depths of the floodwater was much more relaxed. In this flooded area, it was undoubtedly on the top of the food chain. Both mutant beasts and zombies were its preys.
In the past few days, it had become accustomed to having no natural predators. It was invincible. As a result, it had never expected that something would dare to go against it. Only when countless dense bullets covered the sky and landed on its body did it get a sense of danger. It finally felt intense pain.
'Roar!'
A wall of water rose, along with the mutant pufferfish's rapidly increasing body. It looked as if someone was inflating a hill-like balloon, which was waving eight ten-meter claws. Blood was dripping on the floodwater's surface from hundreds of dense holes on the pufferfish' dark and rough skin.
At the same time, from Wu Shui County's hillside, countless survivors who were observing the breathtaking battle cheered excitedly. The missile boat seemed to have injured the huge monster.
On the other hand, Xiang Xuehai kept frowning, and she didn't dare to relax at all. She knew better than anyone that the situation was not as optimistic as it was. She had just witnessed how powerful and lethal the missile boat was. But it didn't mean that the bloody holes on the monster's body were enough to bring it down. Looking at the missile boat in the water, Xiang Xuehai became more worried.
...
A pair of huge triangular eyes quickly locked on that missile boat. Through the observatory in the gunner room, Jiang Liushi saw that the mutant pufferfish was looking toward him. He was not a fool to believe that he could kill that mutant pufferfish with the first attempt.
He just wanted to get the mutant pufferfish's and anger it, which he achieved. The mutant pufferfish looked very angry, and its wounds were visible. From those wounds, Jiang Liushi knew that the AK-630 was capable of killing the mutant pufferfish if it were not for its defensive capabilities. Not even steel, or Starseed's special alloy, was comparable to its defensive power. It was indeed a level 2+ monster!
'Turn and move further away!'
Jiang Liushi gave the full control of the missile boat to Ying as he had to focus all his attention on the AK-630.
The missile boat seemed like it was flying on the water. Suddenly, it turned.
'Boom!'
After escaping for more than ten meters, Jiang Liushi was scared. The location in which the missile boat was previously had been hit by that terrible pufferfish.
'Open fire!' Jiang Liushi knew that the opportunity had come; the mutant pufferfish had exposed itself.
The six-hole metal machine gun barrel had completely locked on the mutant pufferfish's head. In general, the head was the most fragile part of most of the nerves located there.
'Boom!'
The bullets struck the mutant pufferfish's head! The closed gunner room was filled with a pungent smell of metal chips burning. The AK-630's firing rate was very scary. It could reach 3,000 rounds in one minute and had an effective range of nearly 4,000 meters.
The mutant pufferfish was exposed to this terrible firepower, and dense bullet holes quickly appeared on its head. Instantly, the huge fish head resembled a hornet's nest. The mutant pufferfish continued to roar in pain. Waiting for the firepower of the machine gun to stop, it dove into the water, and a wall of water was formed. The waves caused the missile boat to fluctuate violently.
'It should die after that!' Jiang Liushi thought, but he was not sure.
He felt that the metal gun barrel was very hot and needed cooling. Moreover, the half-minute shooting had consumed nearly a quarter of ammunition, which made Jiang Liushi very sad. The AK-630's gun bullets were 30mm ones, and he had about 6,000 or so rounds from the original boat. It was impossible for the current MCV to manufacture suitable gun bullets. With such a small amount of storage space, Jiang Liushi naturally used it with care.
At that moment, large clusters of bubbles appeared on the water's surface.
'Brother Jiang, the mutant pufferfish is still alive! It… it shrank its body, and it's coming to our side,' suddenly, Ran Xiyu's nervous voice sounded.
Jiang Liushi was shocked. Through Ran Xiyu's vision, he indeed saw a dazzling red spot under the water. It was quickly approaching the missile boat.
"Terrible!" Jiang Liushu's worst fear came to life. It was the worst case scenario. When the mutant pufferfish was in its inflated state, it could not swim as fast, so the missile boat had the speed advantage. However, once the mutant pufferfish released the gas from its body, its speed in the water had reached a frightening extent.
In just two seconds, the distance between them had been reduced to 20 meters.
'Accelerate! Retreat! Launch the Air Cannon!' At the critical moment, Jiang Liushi did not panic.
The missile boat's speed rose. Then from the missile boat's abdomen, a metal tube with a hole was extended.
'Boom!'
The Air Cannon opened a turbulent channel that was visible to the naked eye. Large pieces of underwater debris were washed away and swept up in the mud. The jet of water with everything else mixed with it hit the mutant monster's head. Although the power of the underwater Air Cannon was far less than that of the shore, the mutant pufferfish was full of wounds, so those wounds opened up again. The mutant pufferfish was in great pain, but its body swelled again, reverting to its massive form. It looked very miserable.
The missile boat was able to flee by launching the strong counter-propulsion and using the momentum brought by the Air Cannon. When it stopped again, the missile boat was more than 50 meters away from the mutant pufferfish.
Jiang Liushi secretly rejoiced in his heart. 'Fortunately, this monster kept the habit of a pufferfish, so that's it!' Jiang Liushi said in his mind.
The pufferfish's stomach was actually a large dilatable sac. If it felt threatened or in danger, it would inhale water or air so that its body would bulge. The mutant pufferfish apparently maintained that habit. After being provoked by Jiang Liushi, its flat body swelled again. That also led to a re-expansion of the area that Jiang Liushi could attack.
'Boom!'
Jiang Liushi concentrated and fired again. The place where the gunfire was set was its snow-white belly. Since the head was not the mutant pufferfish's weakness, the stomach had to be. Jiang Liushi thought that he had to shoot the balloon-like belly!
A round of dense and destructive bullets was shot, carrying strong penetrating power, and the mutant pufferfish was once again injured. But even so, the mutant pufferfish was still floating there. On the contrary, its eight claws were stirring the water fiercely, and when those claws emerged from the water, Jiang Liushi was shocked.
"Oh my god!" The mutant pufferfish's claws clutched a discarded car as well as street vending machines. It was obvious that the flood had carried those things there. Under the terrible power of the mutant pufferfish, those things were like cannonballs.
Jiang Liushi's reaction was fast enough, but even if the speed of the missile boat was faster, it still couldn't escape the attack's range. The missile boat was making all kinds of maneuvers on the water.
'Bang!'
A scrap car hit the hull and finally dropped to the deck. The entire missile boat was shaking violently, and a part of the deck even cracked. Even though Jiang Liushi was able to react fat, he still crashed heavily on the ground. If he were an ordinary person, he would have died. However, there was only a white mark on Jiang Liushi's skin. Although it was painful, he was not injured.
'What a good fish! Fortunately, my whole body's defenses have increased after consuming the gene fluid. Otherwise, my state would be really miserable.' Jiang Liushi looked in horror around the small gunner room.
'The MCV was damaged. The small-scale gunner room was damaged by 10%, and its durability was reduced...' Starseed's cold voice sounded in Jiang Liushi's mind.
Between the reminders, the mutant pufferfish threw several more things, resulting in continuous damage to the small gunner room, and the instantaneous damage was increased to 40%.
Jiang Liushi's heart sank. Because the mutant nuclei were limited, the boat's defensive power was not as good as the minibus'.
'Boom!'
With a loud sound, the top of the small gunner room instantly cracked, exposing the metal cannon, bullet chain, and other things. He exposed to the mutant pufferfish.
The mutant pufferfish flang a car!
'Fix the gunner room!' Jiang Liushi hurriedly said in his mind. If the small gunner room was not repaired, he might not be able to survive!
'Searching for materials... insufficient materials for repairing. Small war room can only be repaired to 80%! Will the host repair it?' Starseed continue to warn.
'Insufficient materials?' Jiang Liushi was deeply shocked. Although adequate preparations had been made, it was really difficult to search for some rare materials.
The third form's small-scale gunner room was a complex structure as many functions had been fused together. Several kinds of materials were needed, and most of them had already been used while constructing the MCV's third form. Unexpectedly, at this moment, when the small gunner room was damaged, he didn't have what he needed most.
'Continue repairing!' Jiang Liushi had no other ways. 80%, was better than a large gap above his head. That's too unsafe.
At that time, the mutant pufferfish in front of him used its fins as hands and feet, and spider-like rushed over to the missile boat. The missile boat rushed all the way through the water. It gradually moved away from the vision of the survivors on the hillside above Wu Shui County.
"Jiang Liushi, take care of yourself." Xiang Xuehai whispered. She stood on the roof of a house and looked worriedly at the direction in which Jiang Liushi ran away.