Love and passion, cutting up the wasteland

As he approached the throne room, Chai Shi became wary.

It was true that he had the intention to be the first to seize their supplies, but now because he had gone too smoothly under the guidance of the Skinner, he had gone deep alone.

Along the way, they also met many members of the Hound Gang, but they were not the main force. Most of them were laborers and supervisors living here, so it was easy to clean them up.

But, after all, this is the territory of the Hound Gang.

Now knowing that the entrance has been breached, the opponent's guards in the core area will definitely be prepared.

The hooded guard's thoughts changed.

"Go and take a look." He pointed at a skinned man.

Look, as a servant army, this is how these gang members should be used.

"I'll go." Their deputy commander stepped forward to stop them.

There is nothing wrong with Chai Shi.

Just as the leader turned the corner and leaned out of the bunker, a crossbow arrow came towards him, as if he had been waiting for a long time!

There was a clang.

He staggered and took several steps back.

Just when he was about to fall to the ground, a skeleton man stepped forward to catch him.

The skinned man covered his chest with both hands, still holding the arrow shaft tightly, blood seeping between his fingers - it seemed that he caught the crossbow arrow at the last moment.

At the same time, as if the enemy's nerves were triggered, a series of feather arrows struck, falling into rain. But everyone was prepared in advance, and not many people were hit by arrows.

Chai Shi only glanced at it.

With such force, if the person hit by the arrow was an ordinary gang member or soldier, he would have died on the spot.

While sighing at the other party's hard work, he laughed and said, "I will mark another achievement for you!"

Just rush forward with the soldiers first.

The enemy's crossbows were indeed powerful and could kill his men, but they did not pose any threat to him who was wearing heavy armor.

The soldiers charged like water, flowing past dozens of skinned men.

In this battle involving hundreds or thousands of people, their little strength seems like a pebble in the torrent, which may be washed away at any time, and not many people pay attention to it.

"Deputy leader." Sola helped Lu Meng up.

Lu Meng threw the arrow shaft to the ground, with a trace of blood on it.

He gathered his coat and said, "It's okay."

With that said, he followed everyone and bypassed the bunker again.

This time, the hounds no longer paid attention to him, but were busy fighting against the enemies who invaded the Iron Dome. They were obviously well prepared and had placed various bunkers and obstacles inside the originally wide throne hall, forming a Small position.

Through this, the gang members can persist in dealing with each other for a long time.

Of course, when the follow-up reinforcements from Union City arrive, there will be no suspense.

The Iron Dome was destined to fall.

And standing among them, the one in charge of command was still Ils.

This man was soaked all over, holding a steel crossbow in his hand. His arms were shaking slightly, rising and falling with his breathing, which was quite uncontrollable.

It can be seen that in order to reach the throne room in time and set up defenses, Ils was also very tight on time along the way.

Just now, he shot the first arrow.

However, after seeing Lu Meng appear, his expression was stunned.

"..." The second-in-command of the Hound Gang thought for a moment and laughed:

"I thought it would be a big black eyebrow coming!"

The hooded guard, who was wielding his saber and fighting wantonly, heard this and felt very proud - the big black eyebrow represented the faction of the lackeys of the merchant guild.

It seems that even the enemy did not expect that it was his own surprise attack.

However, just when Chai Shi wanted to uphold the tradition of the old aristocracy, he said a few harsh words.

Ilse stopped looking at him.

This made the hooded guard, who was full of blood, quite disappointed.

"Sir." Suddenly, a deep voice came from his ear.

Chai Shi turned his head, with a flash in his eyes, slightly surprised: "Is it handled so quickly?"

It turned out that at some point, Lu Meng had already passed through the fighting crowd and approached behind him - he was pressing the area just injured by the arrow with one hand and holding a knife in the other, as if he was rushing in.

"It's okay," he said.

…

…

"They're gone." Cang Cui put down the aiming scope.

"Hiss..." Seto wiped the rain off his face and sighed, "Sure enough, everything is as expected by the teacher."

"The entire Shark Village is in chaos."

"But because I was prepared, the skinned man is now the hardest bone to chew - tasteless and irritating."

The worker bee nodded in agreement.

At the moment, neither of them is in the Skinner's camp.

Just still within patrol coverage.

If the other party hadn't been afraid to get too close... it would have been possible to spot them.

The two men were followed by groups of soldiers wearing awnings - in such weather, any rain gear was useless, but the camouflage of the poncho was still the best cover in the jungle.

These warriors are all people from Shizhen.

"However, the departure of those people is only temporary," Cang Cui added. "The troops here are not enough. He probably wants to wait until the battle at the Iron Dome is over, then join together, and then attack or encircle them again. We must be I can’t resist it.”

What he didn't say was.

Through observation just now, he discovered many familiar faces on the opposite side.

But, this is a private matter.

"What we have to do is to prevent them from joining together." The little princess touched the straight knife on her waist and couldn't help but smile.

She turned to look at a thin figure next to her.

He is also wearing an awning, but if you look closely at his temperament and style, you can see that he is incompatible with the surrounding Shizhen soldiers.

When the figure looked up, what was revealed was a face wearing a breathing mask.

Swamp Ninja.

"The shadow man boss has given instructions, and everything will be at the discretion of Mr. Lu..." the backbone of the Water Tribe said, "Of course, the same goes for you."

He is not young anymore, so it always feels a little weird for him to obey a childish little girl.

However, since this person named Ase is that student...

That's different.

Ashamed to say, they are good at stealth assassinations. Under normal circumstances, it is not too difficult to sneak into the city. However, in the hostile background, Shark Village has long been prepared, let alone experts like the Hound Gang, who are responsible for the counterattack. Scouting guards, if they find any signs of suspicion that they may be swamp ninjas, they will dig deep into the ground and even proactively send troops to hunt them down.

The elite Water Tribe assassins are also able to carry out sporadic infiltrations.

However, the main force was never able to successfully sneak into the city.

As a result, the leader, Shadow Man, could only activate the secret line that had been lying in wait for more than ten years and enter the city alone.

Therefore, when Lu Meng took the initiative to contact them later, the Swamp Ninja was shocked.

Is there such an operation?

Instead of sneaking in secretly, enter the city openly.

This is not about assuming one's identity.

Instead, he forged a whole group and brought as many people as he wanted - of course, if there were more, it would arouse the vigilance of many parties.

The swamp ninjas are experts in technology, but they have also developed path dependence, and their ideas are far less flexible than Lu Meng's.

As a result, several high-level swamp ninjas accompanied them.

He immediately agreed with the boss’s judgment.

——This person must be the successor of the previous generation of movie masters.

Isn’t this called sneaking?

As long as it's not discovered, that's all.

If at the beginning, many senior officials believed that the identification of the current movie star was too abrupt and the decision-making was not cautious enough... Now they all have no objections, and even think that this is the foresight of the family head, and they are far behind.

But, in today's situation.

Letting your boss face the enemy alone is a fact and an indelible humiliation.

But, as Mr. Lu said.

The environment has changed.

——Initially, the people responsible for the defense of Shark Village were the hound gang who were familiar with the swamp conditions. They could accurately identify the enemies hidden in the jungle.

But now, the Hound Gang has collapsed.

Including the entire town's barrier, the outer defense line, and patrol posts...

All replaced by United Cities.

It's a pity that on the frontal battlefield, perhaps their fully armed soldiers can be invincible.

But, after all, they are not people from the swamp.

In this dense forest.

The swamp ninja is a strange enemy that these passers-by have never seen before.

Seto nodded: "Okay, I'll leave it to you to match..."

The sound of rain rustles, beating leaves through the forest.

No one heard a response.

…

…

Xi Dong, who is leading the team, is hurrying towards the throne room.

No resistance was encountered along the way.

However, Xi Dong felt a little unhappy in his heart.

Because this means: the way forward has been cleared by the troops led by Chai Shi, and the opponent's progress is equally smooth and far ahead.

On the surface, it would not cause any essential damage to the two samurai commanders.

But Xidong knew that this was enough to make him unable to hold his head high in front of Yamudu - and that it might make adults lose their trust in him.

You know, not every warrior can serve the merchant guild——

If we want to divide a chain of contempt for their class, the lowest level is naturally the wandering warriors without a master, and sometimes they may not even have enough to eat; the higher ones depend on who you are loyal to, and the master's family is prominent enough. , only then can subordinates have a bright future.

Personal strength is not the key factor in determining status in United City.

Because this empire has a powerful state machine and sufficient social resources... Except for a very small group of monsters, even beings like myself who can dominate a battle in the outside world can still rely on the day after tomorrow. The accumulation of resources, training by famous teachers, bloody elimination... and mass production.

For example, those noble private soldiers and hooded guards, each of them put too much effort into their bodies that did not match their talents.

They are not only the treasures of the great lords, but also the envy of the common people.

Just because the body of the hooded guard has more or less the blood of the noble family flowing through it.

Ordinary warriors like Xi Dong may have much higher talents and qualities than them, but they are still cut off from this path since birth. They can only rely on stacking up their martial arts and achievements in the hope of finding a good owner and selling them at a good price. .

Unlike the other two countries in the world, in the United City, serving for the central official Imperial Army was not a good option—probably only slightly better than wandering around.

The Imperial Army belongs to the entire country.

No noble could bypass the cabinet and mobilize them with private orders.

They only fight for the entire United Cities.

This is beautifully said.

The reality is that no big noble will use their own wealth to support the construction of the imperial army - after all, they have their own private soldiers and their own city-state to protect, and everyone is willing to pay for it without paying. , whoever funds it alone is a fool.

Even the successive emperors have placed more trust in their personal guards.

Rather than the Imperial Army that was nominally given to him.

——Before becoming the emperor of the empire, His Majesty was first the lord of his own city-state.

It just happened that in this life, it was his turn to sit on the throne that no one wanted.

So, for a long time.

The imperial army is in a state of shortage of food and pay - if it weren't for the rise of the merchant guild, Long En's dominance of the cabinet, and vigorous centralization of power... the United Cities' spectacle of "while the empire's finances are constantly depleting, while the lords' private treasury is becoming increasingly abundant" may still be there. Lasts for many years.

Of course, if it is to be transmitted to the Imperial Army, the effect is still very limited.

Under such circumstances, Xi Dongyi had no way to seek refuge with the great lord, and was unwilling to join the imperial army.

Yamudou is a great place to call home.

Even though he apparently has no status or official status...

However, he is a core member of the merchant guild!

The merchant guild that continuously provides blood to the empire's central finance! There are no middlemen making the difference.

For Xidong and Cos, this opportunity did not come easily.

Therefore, on this battlefield, they also tried their best to show their bravery and let Yamudou see their value, so that they would have the possibility of climbing up the ladder in the future - on the contrary, once they have no value, they will be killed at any time. May be abandoned.

Don't look at yourself as fully armed.

Most of them are also merchant guild assets given and temporarily borrowed by Yamudou.

Once recovered.

Not to mention relying on strength to establish one's own business.

Like today's battlefield performance, I don't know how much better it can be.

Therefore, after learning that Chai Shi had led his men to break into the Iron Dome, it was now possible to seize the throne room first and end the entire battle.

Xi Dong's unhappiness comes from the bottom of his heart.

It's not about honor.

But immediate interests.

The steel corridor was long and empty, and the sounds of fighting from the throne room were constantly heard, echoing in the ears of the warriors, everywhere.

Some of them had distinct South Union City accents—Chishi's soldiers.

"This hooded guard..."

Under the helmet, Xi Dong gritted his teeth and his expression was twisted, almost like a ferocious Rakshasa on an iron surface.

In his eagerness, he ignored stability and urged his soldiers to speed up the pace.

Of course, from Xi Dong's perspective.

Now there is Chai Shi exploring the way inside, and Coss cutting off the queen outside. Even if everything goes well with the plan, being timid is equivalent to giving away all the credit to others, and you can't even keep up with the heat.

However, just as they were about to arrive at their destination.

The echo of the fighting in the corridor suddenly stopped.

After a few rounds of mixing, it gradually dissipated.

It was as if everyone in the hall stopped fighting for an instant and became so quiet that they couldn't make a sound.

This moment.

It seems as long as a century.

Immediately, an exclamation broke out in the hall!

"What happened?" Xi Dong's thoughts were completely interrupted, and a strange feeling emerged in his heart.

He has been in the military for many years.

Never encountered such a situation.

At this moment, the entire curve of the corridor was only a few steps away from the hall. Without waiting for the scouts to come forward, Xi Dong simply pulled out his knife and rushed in through the blood overflowing on the ground!

Viewing hole through helmet.

Everything you can see is a messy battlefield.

The severed limbs and remains, the toppled fence barriers, the Union City soldiers and the Hound Gang members who were fighting each other, their bodies seemed to be hugging each other to death...the tragedy of all this seemed completely normal.

At the highest point of the hall, there is a high platform that climbs up one level at a time, as if climbing to the sky - the wreckage that fell along the way are the mortals who failed to climb the steps.

At the top, there is a seat.

Nothing flashy, nothing comfortable, because it was made of steel. The gray pipes curl up around the seat, like a dragon or a giant snake struggling and dying in a fire cave. The rust marks tell how long it has gone through.

Throne of the Swamp.

On one side of the throne was a half-kneeling man wearing a torn yellow fur coat. He was none other than Ils, who had been shot by Xi Dong before.

But at this moment, there was an even more exaggerated wound on his body, spanning his waist and abdomen - it looked like Iers retreated to the throne as a commander, but was caught up by the enemy and hit with a knife.

The other side of the throne...

Xi Dong was stunned.

It was a man wearing snow-white heavy armor and an aristocratic chain hood—it was that guy from Chai Shi.

However, Chai Shi's head was hanging down, and his limbs were also hanging down weakly.

The hooded guard was lifted into the air!

The young man who lifted him up with one arm and held the knife in the other hand, looking down from a high position, also noticed Xi Dong, the unexpected "uninvited guest".

"My lord, you are late," he said, "or maybe you are just in time."