Chapter 1 Reporting to the Wild

Relton went to report to the wilderness reconnaissance unit. For the next few days, Han Xiao could only stay in the military base, but since the secondary class goal was complete, he didn't need to go into the city for the time being.

As the date of the Calamity approached, the influence of the Tide became increasingly obvious. Everyone noticed the anomaly. A vague whisper always echoed in their minds, very distant, like a language never heard before, yet there was a strange feeling of being able to understand it. But when they tried to listen closely, it would disappear, weird and abnormal.

The frequency of the mind whisper matched the brain's electrical waveband, affecting emotional fluctuations. As a result, the mercenaries' actions gradually became more irritable, but the Sunil soldiers were used to it, their minds resilient and unmoved.

This was the low-intensity mental undercurrent formed by the Strange Whisper Stones. Intelligent creatures had more resistance, so they were not easily affected under normal circumstances. But whenever the "Tide" burst forth, the intensity of the mind whisper increased, and everyone could experience what the beasts felt every day. Living in a brainwashing whisper for a long time, only a small spark was needed to lose all reason and follow the instinct to kill. The "Tide" was the spark, and this was the source of the Calamity.

"Woo—woo—" That day, the shrill siren echoed throughout every corner of the military base. Everyone was familiar with the meaning of this sound—the enemy was attacking!

The atmosphere in the military base changed abruptly, becoming solemn and grim. Sunil soldiers ran to their positions. The mercenaries had received training in the past few days and quickly found their locations.

Various combat vehicles and defense tanks started up one after another, and dense arrays of floating turrets rose into the air.

Buzz!

Rings of airflow rippled out, stirring up dust. Nine starship-class warships slowly floated into the air, like nine aerial fortresses, guarding the skies above Senyuan City, occupying nine directions.

Han Xiao suddenly looked down. A few pebbles were bouncing on the ground.

First, there was a slight tremor, then it grew stronger and stronger. Finally, a thunderous sound of running echoed from all directions. The forests in every direction were swaying, and loud, shrill, and ferocious roars of beasts turned into sound waves, shaking the sky!

The swaying of the forest was like a snake slithering through grass, rapidly approaching the edge of the forest and plain.

Something was about to come out. Countless people swallowed their saliva at the same time, their foreheads sweating with tension.

"Roar—"

The roar was like rolling thunder, trees fell, and countless beasts burst out of the forest!

The beast horde was crowded, frantically stampeding, with bodies large and small, like a rapidly spreading black tide filling their vision.

Just looking at this scene, many people felt a suffocating sensation from the bottom of their hearts.

"Fire!" An officer roared ferociously.

Boom boom boom!

In the next moment, dense cannon fire echoed from the defensive perimeter, deafening. Positioned in the middle of the battle line, the sound of cannons from all directions made eardrums buzz, almost causing deafness.

The Calamity had arrived!

...

Senyuan City had a total of five defensive perimeters. The first was a deep impact zone, with a large number of minefields and automated turrets. According to the strategic plan, in coordination with rear fire support, the first line of defense could significantly reduce the density of the beasts. The second line of defense was a buffer zone composed of bunkers, trenches, traps, ground spikes, and high-voltage electrified walls. Floating turrets, war vehicles, and the starships in the sky would launch a head-on attack against the beasts here.

The third was the Iron Defense Line, garrisoned by armored defense teams. If the beasts reached this defensive perimeter, they would enter close combat, and the defense teams would unleash a storm of angry metal on the beasts. Nivelle was stationed on this line.

The last two lines of defense were artillery positions, providing fire support to the front. The second to last line was garrisoned by reinforcement troops, listening to orders, ready to support gaps at any time. And the last line of defense was the final barrier that could not be moved, responsible for logistics, repairing a large number of machines and treating the wounded during the short buffer period after each battle.

The Black Star Mercenary Group's position was on the second to last defensive line in the north, assigned to a long-range heavy tank artillery position, designated "G7." Three fortress-class defense tanks served as the core, able to deploy their bases, embed themselves into the ground, and turn into super-large turrets, equipped with eighteen mobile heavy defense cannons, as well as a certain number of ground escort troops, moving with the tanks, raising their angles to fire at the distant beast horde.

As a mechanic, Han Xiao's job was to operate a heavy defense cannon. There was only one task—shoot! Mechanics were basically assigned as gunners in this type of positional warfare. Mechanical bonuses could increase firepower, and Han Xiao was no exception. In such a grand disaster, unless one was unbelievably strong, individual strength seemed insignificant.

Boom—

On the defensive perimeter of Senyuan City, countless burning arcs were launched, flying into the distance, covering the sky and earth, exploding in the beast horde into plumes of smoke and fire mixed with red and black. Beasts were blasted into the sky, limbs and broken bones flying, blood and brains splattering everywhere.

The front line of the black tide encountered resistance. The beasts behind advanced without fear of death, stepping on corpses and blood. The rain of steel pierced through flesh and blood, and the scene was extremely bloody.

The smell of gunpowder and blood mixed with hot air rolled into the position.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Each time Han Xiao fired a cannon, he could feel the strong recoil, clearly seeing a burning flame trail spitting out from the muzzle, exploding in the beast horde several kilometers away, creating an orange wave in the endless black tide.

It felt great to control a heavy cannon and fire at will—just blow it all up!

The interface constantly refreshed with experience points. Using Sunil weapons, the experience gained from killing monsters was somewhat reduced. Han Xiao mainly used this to judge how much experience the players could gain by killing monsters. However, judging from the excited faces of the players when they fired the cannons, the rewards and fun were not bad. Being in such a large-scale unit gave each player a special feeling, as if they were participating in a major event, very novel and exciting.

The black tide was blocked outside the first line of defense, unable to advance against the overwhelming artillery fire, leaving behind a ground covered in blood and minced meat.

Next to him was another birdman mercenary operating a heavy cannon, casually operating it, very relaxed, saying, "The Calamity isn't as terrifying as the Sunil people say. The beasts can't get in at all."

Han Xiao glanced at him and said nothing. This birdman mercenary definitely hadn't listened carefully when the Sunil people explained the Calamity. This was only the first wave of the Calamity, just a group of small beasts, the largest of which was no more than ten meters in size. According to the illustrated guide, these were just appetizers. The beasts that appeared later would be the real nightmare.

The artillery fire lasted for a full four hours before a hard-won vacuum period appeared. The logistics unit hurriedly replenished ammunition and dispatched a disinfection unit armed with flamethrowers to burn the blood and corpses on the battlefield. At the same time, the soldiers rotated shifts. Every position had several rotating candidates. No one could work continuously under high-intensity combat.

Han Xiao also stepped down from the turret to rest. The roar of aircraft engines passed overhead. A new batch of reconnaissance planes took off. The wilderness reconnaissance team and the wilderness combat unit had already penetrated deep into the forest. Their work was dozens of times more dangerous than positional warfare. They could die at any time, like a small boat in a turbulent storm.

Before long, the wilderness reconnaissance intelligence came back. The next wave of beasts was about to arrive. The relief troops took their positions, ready and waiting.

The previous scene was repeated. However, this time the black tide began to slowly advance, gradually approaching the first line of defense. At this time, fighter jets took off, projecting missiles from above, covering the area with fire, once again blocking the beast horde. The Sunil fighter jets were small and flexible. The wings were like the Teng Snake Mecha's rotating propellers. Han Xiao knew at a glance that this structure was very good at flexible aerial combat.

The enemies were far away. Even though the beast horde was boundless, the mercenaries around him showed no sign of tension. It seemed that the distance brought a sense of security, and being surrounded by steel fortresses gave them the illusion of "I'm safe."

In contrast, the Sunil soldiers' expressions were solemn and worried, like dark clouds gathering between their brows.

Just then, dark shadows appeared on the distant horizon. Flying beasts were spotted, rapidly approaching. Among them were small flying beasts less than a meter in size, as well as medium-sized flying beasts with wingspans of several meters. They looked extremely ferocious, all creatures they had never seen before, looking like dung beetles that had become immortals.

"The illustrated guide said that flying beasts usually appear around the third day. This time, it's earlier." Han Xiao had just flashed this thought when he heard the G7 formation officer roar.

"Switch to high-explosive shells, raise the muzzles, and fire at the sky!"

One artillery formation after another did as they were told, and fireworks exploded in the sky, with one blood-soaked flying beast after another falling from the sky.

The fighter jets gained altitude, shaking off the entanglement of the flying beasts, swaying their bodies, and the orange trajectory of the machine guns was like a swinging whip.

The fighter jets were equipped with simple energy shields. The only means of attack for this wave of flying beasts were their sharp teeth and claws, which could only scrape out crackling arcs on the energy shields. The tail ends of the fighter jets continuously burst with sonic booms, cutting in and out of the flying beast horde, like armored heavy cavalry repeatedly piercing through infantry formations.

This was already the scale of a large-scale ground war, and time passed quickly in the fierce battle.

At first, the mercenaries' faces were full of ease, but after only three days, the strength of the beast horde grew rapidly, and gradually no one could laugh anymore. Continuous high-intensity combat left everyone exhausted.

Han Xiao did his best to fulfill his duty, playing the role of a cog in the chain.

On the fourth day, enemies that threatened the safety of the rear positions appeared.

The ground rose and fell like waves. A group of burrowing beasts crossed the first two lines of defense and collided with the alloy walls underground the third line of defense, bursting out of the ground. This was the first time the rear positions had seen the beast horde up close.

The appearance of the burrowing beasts was the signal that close combat had officially begun. The Supers waiting behind the third line of defense finally had a chance to be useful.

On the third defensive perimeter, the silent steel battle line finally roared with gunfire.