Fatal Shot

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Silvermoon City North. Inside the Veteran Tribe’s headquarters, which was set up like a military camp.

“Just what the hell happened?”

The Scout leader of the guild, Black Rose, clad in her combat uniform, asked a player wearing a Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group’s badge on his chest. Black Rose spoke in a serious tone.

“Big Sis! Something major has happened!” said the player wearing the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group’s badge. He actually called Black Rose his big sis as he answered her in a panic. “The rebel army used a lethal biological weapon, a virus, on Silvermoon City just now. If infected, a player can only obtain the antidote after joining the rebel army’s camp. Otherwise, there’s a high probability of dying and losing levels! Moreover, based on my sources, the virus was released by some players under the instructions of Roaring Dragon Light Wind. The operation was very secretive, and I’ve only just found out!”

“A lethal biological virus?” said Black Rose. “What is Roaring Dragon Light Wind thinking? Even if Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group is the number one guild in Silvermoon City, doing something like this would make them the enemy of every other player! Do they really want to get kicked out of Silvermoon City?”

Black Rose frowned. She didn’t panic and only seemed confused. “Judging by the information I managed to obtain, Roaring Dragon Light Wind has already decided to have Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group join the rebel army. He has been preparing for this since before the war storyline began!”

“That’s right,” said the player. “He has also said that the biological virus is very powerful. It’s highly infectious, and before long, Silvermoon City will become an empty city of death! After that, the city will be completely occupied and taken over by the rebel army. It will become a subordinate city of the rebel army. By then, the only legal player entity will be the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group. They would own the entire city!”

“What?” Black Rose’s expression turned ugly in an instant. “Humph! This Roaring Dragon Light Wind sure is ambitious. It’s no wonder even Roaring Dragon Invincible was kicked out of the guild!”

In regard to Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group’s internal strife between the founders, Black Rose, as the Scout and intelligence team leader, naturally kept a close watch on it and even enjoyed surveying it. What she hadn’t expected was that Roaring Dragon Light Wind would be secretly planning something like this!

Joining the rebel army camp and then helping the rebel army to attack Silvermoon City? If Silvermoon City really fell to the rebel army, then Veteran Tribe’s losses would be too great to bear! After all, 80 percent of the Veteran Tribe’s assets were within Silvermoon City. If Silvermoon City really fell to the rebel army, the Veteran Tribe would suffer unimaginable losses!

More importantly, with 35 percent of its members being retired soldiers, the members of this guild of veterans would never agree to join the rebel army side, which had a history of performing evil deeds. As such, even surrender wasn’t possible.

The only option right now was to stop Roaring Dragon Light Wind’s plan. It wasn’t to prevent Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group from joining the rebel army; it was to prevent Silvermoon City from being occupied by the rebel army!

“All right,” said Black Rose. “I understand the situation now. I will immediately convey the message to the leader. Continue your undercover mission inside the group. Immediately notify me if you discover any further developments!”

Black Rose disconnected the communicator. As she heard the sounds of battle and wailing outside, her expression gradually cooled down.

“Silvermoon City won’t be taken so easily. Don’t forget, apart from thousands of City Guards, Silvermoon City is surrounded by several military bases filled with soldiers! Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group… Since you want to play this game, we’ll take this opportunity. We’ll see just who will be forced out of Silvermoon City.”

Black Rose’s well-trimmed and pretty brows furrowed as she showed a strong-willed expression.

Because the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group’s leadership was currently embroiled in internal conflict, the alliance between the Veteran Tribe and several other smaller guilds had formed and stabilized under the expansion of the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group. If an all-out battle between the two sides were to occur…

Though the alliance would be at a slight disadvantage, at that moment, Silvermoon City was still under the control of the Federation. Since the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group had joined the rebel army, they would have to fend off both the offensives of the NPCs as well as the players. As such, the alliance would actually have the advantage!

However, Black Rose, who didn’t understand the T-virus, did not notice that she had missed an extremely crucial piece of information.

City of Death! This was not simply a metaphor!

******

Ten miles outside of Silvermoon City, in the Federation’s 15th Storm City defense base.

Due to the deteriorating situation with the rebel army recently, the Federation army had stationed over 5,000 military personnel in the base. In addition, they had also stationed multiple mechas, battle tanks, missiles, stealth fighters, and other types of weapons!

Inside was the NPC military command center, filled with hundreds of NPC soldiers seated in front of screens. This center, situated within the underground facility inside the military base hidden deep within the mountains, was equipped with strong defenses. An NPC with a Colonel military badge pinned on his chest shouted at the projected virtual image of a nervous-looking NPC guard standing in front of him.

“What? Mutated monsters and adventurers are attacking guards?” After a while, he nodded with a solemn expression and said, “All right, understood. I’ll immediately dispatch the air force. You go… What?”

However, before he could finish his sentence, the virtual image of the NPC guard standing in front of him shook. Then he disappeared.

“Warning! Warning! Warning!”

Multiple warning images and sounds popped up on the virtual screens across the entire base.

“Sir… Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”

In the night sky, red dots indicating threats were closing in on the base at high speed! And on the scouting screen, equipped with night vision function, multiple advanced-level mutant monsters were moving over the ground!

The rebel army really was attacking the city!

******

Bang!

−2455

A deflagration armor-piercing bullet wreathed with electricity accurately struck the head of a giant 50-centimeter rat with incredibly tough red fur!

Feng Luo finished off a Level-45 Mutant Red Commander with red lethal damage inside the main hall of a building that appeared to be a laboratory within the ancient ruins.

You’ve killed Mutant Rat (Level 45, Commander). Contribution: 34%. Obtained Experience: 2,400. Obtained Merit Points: 2.

After the Mutant Rat Commander died, a chip bearing a white glow and a piece of an item that seemed like a bracelet, emanating an orange glow, fell to the floor in front of everyone.

Exclaimed Chairman Jiao excitedly picked up the two items. “As expected. It’s another blueprint for the soundwave weapon and a broken piece of a Legendary-grade piece of equipment! It looks like our guess was correct. The reward for the exploration of the ancient ruins is indeed Legendary-grade items!”

Everyone smiled after seeing the attributes of the two items sent to their party channel.

The Mutant Rat Commander, however, was capable of releasing a neurotoxin that affected a large radius. The team had almost been annihilated trying to defeat it, but the end result was satisfactory. By now, they had collected two broken pieces of Legendary Grade equipment!

“Good thing it’s a soundwave weapon,” Rose Thorns said, laughing. “I was worried that the Mutant Rat would drop part of a blueprint for a poison weapon. If that were the case, it would really take a lot of hunting to really get all the parts for the soundwave weapon blueprint!”

In War, most monsters dropped items associated with their own abilities. That was why, when the Mutant Rat Commander dropped something related to a soundwave weapon, everyone knew that it was a setting related to the overall mission!

“But there’s no further path over here. What should we do?” Mu Zi frowned as he looked at the signal source on his recon meter that signified the mission objective.

The location of the signal source was only about 10 meters straight ahead of the group. The problem was that there was no path in sight to take them there. The only thing in front of them was a silver metal wall with no gaps at all!

Bam!

Mr. Meng slammed his golden broadsword against the metal wall. Sparks flew everywhere, but only a not-so-deep slash was left on the silver metallic wall. Clearly, it was impossible to forcefully break through it!

Everyone surrounded the wall and searched the hall, but, in the end, they didn’t manage to find any clues.

“In a situation like this, it’s likely that we have to find another way,” said the frowning Mr. Meng, carrying his sword on his shoulder. His tone spoke to the experience of his middle age. “We have to take care of the other two Commander-grade monsters that might exist along the other route before we can find the clues to get inside.”

“Judging by the items dropped by the two Commander monsters, this is quite likely,” Chairman Jiao agreed while holding his chin. “I think we should go back and try the other route!”

The two old game hobbyists, who rarely agreed with each other, had the same opinion. After that, several others also sounded their agreements.

Firstly, they had searched the hall thoroughly and had found nothing. Secondly, apart from the final objective of the mission, everyone was very interested in the two broken pieces of Legendary equipment! They only needed two more pieces!

While everyone else stated their opinions and discussed the matter, Feng Luo said nothing.

Because, at that moment, for some unknown reason, Feng Luo was feeling uneasy.

“Is the system hinting at something?” asked Feng Luo with a frown.