Even though these guys on the scene were called “Security Force cannon fodder,” they were still regular Commonwealth troops, so they at least had some basic quality.
Though the soldiers were full of complaints, they still carried out the previous orders.
Yu Lian was quite satisfied; among all the military organizations he had seen, their quality was at least not the worst.
Thus, one minute after Ina issued the warning, everyone was in position at their designated tactical posts.
At this time, Yu Lian also climbed to a sentry gun on the outer city wall and checked its overly primitive operating system.
It was hand-cranked, and there was no fire control system.
The intersection of the primitive and the future, the classical and the conservative core hidden beneath the magnificent waves of the starry sea—what a wonderfully splendid world this was!
This was the authentic space opera style, wasn't it?
Yu Lian sighed as he loaded a full box of steel nail shells into the ammunition bay.
At this moment, under the blazing sun, most people finally saw black dots emerging from the turbid heat haze.
The soldiers caused a brief commotion but stopped at the shouts of Lieutenant Mondeson and Ina.
“Sure enough…” Yu Lian sighed and concentrated on the approaching black dots, searching for smaller but more dangerous targets among them.
“Officer, will we… will we survive?” Yu Lian heard a trembling voice behind him, glanced out of the corner of his eye, and saw a young private, about his age, with a gun on his back and both hands tightly clutching an ammunition box, as if it could give him a little sense of security.
He seemed to be the loader for this machine gun, named something like Bunanjie.
“I'll do my best! You also need to protect yourself and don't forget what you learned in the recruit camp.”
The other party seemed to tremble even more, showing a hopeful expression like a stray puppy.
Yu Lian knew what he wanted to say, but he really couldn't say irresponsible words like “I will definitely make sure every one of you survives.”
At this moment, the black dots on the horizon had already expanded tenfold in their line of sight.
Everyone finally saw the forms of those things.
They were like large, legless centipedes with huge bat wings, with four barbs on their heads, a large mouth occupying more than half of their entire head, and their whole body covered with rugged carapaces, even the abdomen, which should have been a weak point, was tightly covered.
“Dragon Worm… Tsk, as long as you don't evolve, you're the weakest of the weak! The key is the fear of Exploding Mosquitoes! Uh, good thing… there shouldn't be any now.”
Yu Lian knew that when those tiny things, no bigger than sparrows, swept in like locusts, even the Titan ships that roamed the galaxy invincible would be at a loss.
The Dragon Worms were getting closer, emitting a harsh “wuwuwula” sound that pierced the air, as if banshees were shrieking.
Yu Lian looked at the soldiers who had already raised their weapons, then glanced out of the corner of his eye at Private Bunanjie, who was still trembling while holding the ammunition box, and finally made a gesture to Ina on the other tower.
He believed Ina would definitely see it.
Only then did he turn his attention to the incoming enemies.
The sentry gun he operated had no fire control, no rangefinder, and was hand-cranked.
If there was anything better than a true Phalanx, it was that it heavily relied on the shooter's ability and was very individualistic, which was quite in line with the worldview of the universe he was in.
At this time, he could only rely on his naked eye to judge the best firing opportunity.
Fortunately, he had accumulated a lot of experience in this regard in his previous life.
“2000… 1500… 1200…” Yu Lian silently judged the enemy's distance in his mind, and their roaring grew louder and louder.
The mouthparts in the center of the four barbs had opened, and the Blade Worms slowly emerging from within were not clearly visible, but they still exuded a trembling sense of oppression.
“Ah woo… Mama, Mama…” The loader whimpered.
…So why did you become a soldier?
Yu Lian wanted to sympathize with the other party, but he couldn't bring himself to, and he forcefully pulled down the joystick.
The woven firepower was like a long whip of light swung down from the air, directly cutting into the head of a Dragon Worm, splitting it and the Blade Worm that had already crawled to its mouth simultaneously.
And almost at the same moment, Ina also opened fire.
This time, she finally didn't use three-round bursts but pulled the joystick tightly, firing more than a dozen shells in an instant, sweeping across and knocking down three Dragon Worms on the spot.
…Well, Yu Lian had to admit that even if it were equipped with fire control radar, it probably couldn't achieve such results.
This was the most magical yet most charming aspect of this world.
“A born sniper, but also a born gunner! It's natural that she will eventually awaken as a Star Hunter.
Or rather, no other path is more suitable for her than a Star Hunter.”
The other sentry guns also opened fire.
This time, the shots were not as accurate, but they could at least form a barrage to restrict the enemy's movement trajectory.
Yu Lian was actually not too satisfied; truly well-trained gunners, using the same hand-cranked anti-aircraft guns, could still form dense firepower coordination in space combat.
Even when facing Emblem Machines piloted by high-level Awakened, they could still suppress the enemy into a small space until they were completely torn apart.
The elite troops of the Empire and the Alliance could do it, and back then… no… in the future, when he was still a young man in his previous life, the unit he was in could also do it.
Time flies, it really makes one sigh with emotion!
It's probably hard to go from luxury to frugality.
Yu Lian had served in the most elite units and fought against the most formidable enemies, so naturally, he was critical of his current teammates.
But no matter what, the Security Force soldiers were still diligently firing, doing their best to prevent the flying monsters from approaching.
And those soldiers deployed on the city walls and in the trenches were also preparing to join the firing but were stopped by their respective sergeants; this was, of course, Yu Lian's prior arrangement.
Lieutenant Mondeson had appeared in the trenches outside the city wall at some point, holding his beloved chainsword in his hand, with his rifle placed in front of him, silently smoking a cigarette.
He was contemplating how much of the spoils he had just obtained he should give to the Moon People to get some good words from Officer Bonaparte.
“Officer, look ahead!” Sergeant Youyou, standing on the outer wall, shouted.
“I see it, they're coming.” The Lieutenant continued to smoke silently, watching the suddenly rising dust cloud grow larger and larger in his line of sight until he could clearly see the monsters within the dust cloud.
There were the “smaller” monsters, like clawed hyenas and shelled cobras, and then the more powerful ones that appeared later, like eight-legged scorpions.
“New Yumen's colony has been established for a few decades, and they didn't even know there were such things here? What kind of geniuses are in the intelligence department? Uh, it seems the higher-ups are indeed useless.
The only thing they've learned is how to eat supper with their dicks!”
The Lieutenant took a forceful, deep drag to finish the remaining half of his cigarette, then raised his hand to flick the butt towards the Bug Swarm in front of him, expressionlessly raising his rifle.
“Bang bang bang!” A nearly perfect three-round burst.
Lieutenant Mondeson indicated that although he hadn't read much, he was still very willing to learn.
Since that Moon People shot like that, it must be some shooting secret technique mastered only by elite troops.
In an instant, the steel nail bullet traveled over three hundred meters, instantly shattering the central nervous system of a Dreadclaw Worm.
The soldiers in the trench cheered loudly for the Lieutenant's marksmanship, and the Lieutenant's face was full of pride, though he felt a bit awkward internally.
He was actually aiming at the “cobra” next to it.
As an old veteran (meow, don't know why this is also harmonious), Mr. Mondeson was actually very self-aware and didn't think he could hit the vital point of that “eight-legged big spider” from such a distance—uh, didn't that Moon People say so?
The vital point of that monster was in the center of its two large pincers.
That place was even smaller than a human head.
But no matter what, Lieutenant Mondeson's “marksmanship” greatly boosted everyone's morale, and the soldiers opened fire one after another.
Sentry guns and the three-layered sloped firing positions formed an almost airtight interception fire net, creating an almost insurmountable firepower barrier at the gentle slope of the supply station.
However, only bullets flew and dust swirled, and the scattered limbs and bodily fluids of the insects splattered everywhere, with no stragglers able to cross that death line.
The screams showed no pain but vaguely contained a hint of exasperation.
…If it were according to the usual firepower configuration, they might have already charged forward, right?
The Lieutenant couldn't help but think so.
He felt his chainsword was a bit thirsty for action, but he also thought it was good as it was, no need to take any more risks.
Moon People, truly Moon People!
And in the sky, with Ina as the sharpshooter, the hand-cranked anti-aircraft guns also achieved a fairly accurate hit rate.
The current Dragon Worms were, after all, still the first batch of experimental products, far from the multi-improved versions of the scourge in later generations that could advance in space even against the particle cannons and hive missiles of warships.
Once hit by 20mm high-carbon steel nail bullets, they would still lose their combat capability.
Soon, whether on the ground or in the air, more than half of the Xenomorphs were killed or had broken bones and were on their last breath.
The young private Bunanjie, hiding behind the turret, was no longer calling for his mother, staring at Yu Lian's back on the gun position, openly displaying his blatant admiration.
He had watched the entire process and knew who had arranged the defense line just now.
“Reload!” Yu Lian shouted loudly.
The young private took nearly a second to react, then fumbled to pull open the ammunition compartment below the turret, pulled out the empty box inside, and then shoved in the box filled with steel nails.
Others became more relaxed, but Yu Lian remained very tense; he didn't think the enemy only had these few tricks up their sleeve.
Since they wanted to silence them, how could they not go to the extreme?
They probably hadn't unlocked the tech tree for Exploding Mosquitoes yet, but at least they had Dragon Worms.
So, would there be…
As soon as he thought of this, Yu Lian felt a tightening in his heart, feeling as if he was enveloped by dark clouds overhead.
He then realized that this was not a “seeming,” but something that was indeed happening.
A colossal creature, seven or eight parts similar to those Dragon Worms but over ten meters long, appeared from the direction of the zenith, silently striking, now less than a hundred meters away from everyone.