Volume 1: The Wheel of Fate Chapter 12: Pursuit

  "Contact with the rapid response team has been lost. Later reports indicate that the target was a group of Brotherhood members, approximately three squads in size." Frieja's intelligence officer reported back.

  Although the main base 'Castle' had clearly stated in yesterday's capture mission that it was necessary to capture the target with all one's might and ensure it was intact, Freyja still did not expect the target to cause her such losses, wiping out the entire rapid response team. The loss of personnel was one thing, but the destruction of the hoverbikes and hovercars undoubtedly meant that her entire mobile unit had almost lost its speed advantage over the Killer Bees. Thinking about this, Freyja nearly went berserk - if things continued like this, she, as commander of the mobile unit, would probably be doomed to become a sacrificial pawn for Gale. Did everything have to be done personally by herself?

  "Is the target still within range?" Freya asked.

  "The scouts ahead have not yet reported back on the situation on the battlefield, but according to the intelligence gathered, it appears that the target is moving in the direction of Shacheng. If our judgment is correct, at the speed our troops are advancing, it's impossible for them to catch up with us before we reach Shacheng," replied the intelligence officer.

  "Have Wester take his squad on the remaining hoverbikes to intercept them, leave no Steel Iron Brotherhood alive except for the target." With the target about to enter Sand City, Freyja had no choice but to deploy her ace combat unit.

  The sandy city is already a de facto control area of the Iron Brotherhood. Due to the recent destruction of several killer bee bases by the brotherhood, attacking the sandy city is not feasible. Although the current sandy city is still an autonomous city and does not have a very powerful armed organization, with the current mobile forces of Freyja, it is still not easy to take down. Rash action would not only be taken advantage of by the brotherhood but also cause an autonomous city to thoroughly lean towards the brotherhood's embrace. Under duress, Freyja can only dispatch her own guard, a tactical squad consisting entirely of modified humans.

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  Li Ang is still very unaccustomed to the changes in his body. His vision and hearing are fine, but the sudden rapid reactions make him feel stiff all over and unable to keep up with the rhythm. Often, it's only after a moment of reaction and awareness that his body will move. Furthermore, last night he was too curious and greedy, hoping to understand why Lila had such abilities, and he fainted several times. Now, having lost strength multiple times, all the muscles in his body feel like they've been filled with lead, and his only hope is to return to his cozy little nest and sleep soundly.

  Suddenly, Li Ang, who had become well-off, had many purchasing plans. In Zhang's store, there were many soft small double-headed cow blankets and mattresses, which were previously considered luxury goods by Li Ang, but now he wanted to buy them - lying on the money was actually not comfortable.

  He couldn't help but turn his head back to look at Sakura in the back row, who was leaning against Gino's power armor and dozing off. Her long eyelashes were lightly trembling, as if she was dreaming of something. Liang had to admit that this made his heart flutter, especially in a world without mascara or false eyelashes. He didn't know if what he said earlier was just joking, but his heart knew he shouldn't be teasing her, yet his willpower was defeated by her enchanting curves and beautiful appearance. It would be better if it wasn't serious, Liang hoped so while thinking he was too shallow. Even more shallow than before he came here, that's how he evaluated himself. But now Liang clearly didn't know what it meant for him when some things weren't just joking around.

  The sky had gradually brightened, and the distance to Shacheng was no longer far. Toto's mouth was still chewing a stimulating product called "Burning Mouth Fragrance Gum", which made him still full of energy. Li Ang politely declined Toto's willingness to share the deliciousness, fearing that he would become addicted.

  The doomsday world is very popular with all sorts of addictive things. Almost everyone is addicted, and only cares about whether it's exciting enough to get high. This is probably why Li Ang rarely sees old people, even if there are older ones, they must be the type that gets stronger with age, robust and energetic. Everyone only thinks about whether today is happy enough, no one considers the future. In a certain sense, perhaps this world is more suitable for Li Ang.

  Although very tired, Li Ang couldn't sleep. His mind wasn't thinking about things, but rather was empty. How the future would be, he had never planned his life well before. Of course, looking at it now, this might not be a bad thing, otherwise, if he had suddenly arrived in such a world, he would have completely collapsed.

  The dawn of the wilderness was quiet and soundless, except for the hum of his own car's engine and Toto's humming of some sort of futuristic eighteen-wheelers. So Li Ang could quickly perceive the distant rumble of an air-cushion motorcycle approaching, this kind of vehicle noise was really too loud, too unsuitable for a surprise attack.

  Lai De might have discovered something unusual earlier, just as Li Ang was about to push open the steel louvered window on the side window to take a look, Lai De had already climbed directly from the back row onto the shooting platform on top of the Hummer.

  "Four hoverbikes, eight people! It's gotta be a Killer Bee squadron!"

  Lede's warning made everyone in the car wake up. Li Ang felt much more at ease after hearing that there were only eight people, after all, they had just repelled an attack by over a hundred people earlier (although this seemed to have nothing to do with him). Even if Blanke's men were useless, the others were high-level experts brought in by Jin. Even if he was a burden himself, it should be higher than the eight people of the Killer Bees. Li Ang thought that if there were only eight people, they wouldn't even be enough for Lede to fight alone. Because he now understood Lede's abilities and was full of confidence, he was a sniper with super observational equipment.

  "Full speed ahead! Toto, get them all. Redd, you take care of the rest. The patrol team from Shacheng is just up ahead, let's send those Killer Hornets to hell!" Jin shouted excitedly, knowing that there were not many people coming.

  The air-cushion motorcycle, which didn't need to be in contact with the ground, had very little requirements for road conditions and quickly approached Li Ang's Hummer. Red, who was already prepared, immediately opened fire. As long as the conditions allowed it, Red always took the first shot, hitting the head of the rider in front, causing him to lose control and flip over onto the ground. The other motorcycles immediately slowed down, dispersing in all directions and hiding outside of Red's rifle range. However, one of the motorcycles had a person sitting in the back who pulled out a large rifle from behind their back and started shooting at the Hummer. Even if Red had excellent eyesight and marksmanship, without professional weapons, he was powerless.

  "We've taken out one of them! Now I'm too far away from them, they have anti-materiel rifles, warn the vehicles to keep a safe distance!" Red shouted loudly after firing several shots.

  West also felt frustrated, not expecting the enemy to discover himself so quickly and take out one of his riders with a single shot. Although most of the vital parts of the modified human body had been reinforced or even remodeled, they still could not withstand a direct hit from a sniper rifle. Moreover, the enemy sniper was clearly using AP rounds, and the protective helmet he wore was also penetrated by a single bullet. This made West very angry, as his side's mission was to capture. Before the target was clear, he couldn't kill anyone, so he could only leave the opponent's rifle range and let his own sniper attack the vehicle's tires.

  The power of the anti-material rifle was indeed strong, and a shot to the rear wheel made the Hummer's semi-solid tire completely burst. Although it could still move with difficulty, the twisted trajectory caused the car's speed to slow down immediately.

  The loss of the tire made Jin very angry, why did the killer bees suddenly love to hit tires. Before that, it was still like this, and there were no spare tires left. It's hard to get a well-preserved Hummer from the brotherhood, and getting a Hummer tire near the desert is almost an impossible task.

  "Halt, find cover. Enemy has sniper." Jin ordered as soon as the speed slowed down. Even a Hummer couldn't withstand the enemy's anti-materiel weapon attack, and a slow-moving vehicle was undoubtedly a good target. But he didn't think that this was exactly the enemy's goal of only attacking the tires.

  The car stopped by the side of the road, and Li Ang hurriedly struggled to get out. Although his whole body was stiff, he still managed to exert his unlimited potential when his life was at stake, and rolled and crawled to the back of a rock that looked very solid. Rolling and crawling had become Li Ang's trademark, as if no matter where he went, he always ended up in a sorry state. Jin had long been pulling Sakura behind a withered giant stone next to Li Ang, watching Li Ang's pitiful appearance and couldn't help but think, "This kid won't start playing dead again, will he?"

  Apart from the injured Lock who could only hide behind the Hummer due to his limited mobility, everyone else also hid behind the car, rocks or bushes. Mackey, who no longer had any explosives, seemed confused and didn't intend to get out of the vehicle at all. Of course, considering Rock's size, it seemed that only this Hummer could block him in the vicinity. His large-caliber machine gun had been destroyed along with Car No. 1 earlier, and now he was holding a 249. This 7.62mm caliber machine gun was a spoil of war from last night's battle with the Killer Bees, and the originally very heavy machine gun looked like a toy in his hand.

  This time, the killer bee was obviously very patient and did not have yesterday's frantic fighting style. It stopped far beyond the range of Reed's rifle, seemingly wanting to rely on its own weapon's range advantage to slowly take out Leon and the others.

  In terms of Li Ang's vision, he could clearly see the enemies wearing black full-body combat suits made of unknown materials scattering around. Because they were outside the range of fire on Li Ang's side, they were not in a hurry to find cover and were discussing something instead. Each of them wore a helmet and had a small, unusually sturdy metal canister on their back, with two pipes made of unknown materials connected to the neck above the collarbone. Looking at their hands, their weapons were much more advanced than those of the killer bee warriors from yesterday, ranging from FN-P90 to Austrian Steyr, and one of them was even holding a multi-barreled Vengeance machine gun for fire suppression. Only one person did not hold a long-range weapon, instead holding a large-caliber revolver in his right hand and pulling a mutated creature about the size of a fist with a long rope tied around it, similar to the yellow bees from the previous world.

  "They're all modified humans, watch out for headshots." Redd apparently also saw the appearance of these people and reminded everyone.

  Only those who know their own affairs, Weist is still unable to determine who the target is. Obviously, some targets are within his sniper's range of attack, but he can't give orders to attack. He can only let the sniper attack the car and intimidate the enemy, and the frustration in his heart is only understood by himself. The enemy is not a fuel-efficient lamp, wanting to capture them is not easy, and it may even cost him his own people. He can only wait, at least suppress the enemy here. Once Freyja's main force arrives, these troubles will no longer be his concern.

  Apart from Sakura, probably no one on Li Ang's side understands what the killer bee is all about. At least Li Ang thinks that the enemy holding a large-caliber anti-material sniper rifle is either too clumsy with their shooting or has poor eyesight. After firing several shots at irrelevant places on the Hummer, don't they know there's already no one inside?

  First to take action was Lock, this rough fellow couldn't wait for the enemy to come and quickly became impatient. Even though he had lost a lot of blood and was still very weak, he stood up from behind the car, holding two machine guns and charged forward.

  The super mutant's actions indeed caused Wester and the others to be in an uproar, even though this distance was absolutely not within the range of the two machine guns' fire. Locke's extremely strong wrist controlled the machine gun's recoil very well, so the bullets fired out were both dense and accurate. The modified people who had been somewhat careless outside the enemy's shooting range were now frantically searching for cover, and even the air-cushion motorcycle that had been blocking Wester's way also exploded. Wester, who had jumped behind a rock in confusion, even lost his mutated bee.

  The out-of-control variant bee immediately flew straight to Li Ang, and the distance of several hundred meters was not far for it. In the gap where Luo Ke replaced the magazines for the two machine guns, the variant bee had already flown to Li Ang's side.

  The sudden appearance of the mutated bee next to him made Li Ang jump in fright behind a rock, it turned out that this was also a weapon and an automatic guided one at that. He had been curious about the guy holding the mutated bee, now he seemed to understand its principle. No wonder they called it the killer bee, looking at the mutated bee's fist-sized body, if you got stung once, even if you didn't die, you'd be half dead.

  Li Ang's current reaction speed is estimated to be several times faster than before. Even if his body hasn't fully adapted and is a beat or two slower, he can still use it in time to crush the powder. Poor male bee who was just looking for a mate, he didn't know that at some point he would become Li Ang's ghost bee under the gun.

  "Target confirmed, should be the Humvee's three o'clock direction behind the rocks." The sniper holding the anti-materiel rifle immediately reported, this unexpected turn of events allowed Wester's squad to successfully confirm their target.

  "Kill everyone except the target!" The difficult problem that had been bothering Wester suddenly disappeared and he made a quick decision.