Chapter 158: Plasma Cannon, Acquired!
Behind the massive rock shelter, Omar narrowed his eyes and turned his head.
From deep within the dark tunnel, a grating metallic sound seemed to echo, so piercing it made one’s heart pound.
“Impossible—even the City Lord has forgotten about that valve’s existence; there’s no reason for them to know!”
At the deepest part of the reservoir, 300 years of silt vibrated, and beneath it, a heavy titanium alloy “manhole cover” slowly flipped upward, as lake water surged into the vertical shaft.
Inside the underground passage, Omar first heard a rumbling “thunder,” followed immediately by a powerful gust of wind as the descending torrent of water compressed the air in the tunnel.
“Everyone, take off!”
At Lu Yuan’s command, all the players behind him maxed out their jetpack thrust, engaging overload mode. Some of them had already discarded unnecessary equipment, such as riot shields, and removed some external armor, trying their best to reduce their total mass to below 500 kilograms.
This way, propelled by their fan engines, they could briefly rise into the air, dodging the impact of the water.
By then, the descending water had already reached the tunnel floor, turning into a forward surge, directly charging towards the small fortress Omar had built.
It’s over—
Omar closed his eyes in agony; now, all resistance was futile.
The hundreds of meters of elevation difference endowed the flood with an unimaginably immense energy. The flood crest advanced at 180 kilometers per hour, with waves over 20 meters high.
Before such overwhelming force, a mortal body, even clad in power armor, was no match.
Furthermore, the section of the passage where Apollo was located was a slope, making it impossible for personnel to stand steadily; being able to tell north from south would have been a feat.
The moment he smelled the damp air, Omar completely lost his balance, his body tumbling wildly in the raging waves.
He felt his consciousness briefly cut out for a few seconds. When his brain restarted, he no longer knew where he was or where he was going.
Boom!
The giant wave crashed against the tunnel corner, churning and rolling up to the ceiling, then crashing back down. Fortunately, Lu Yuan now had 20 Agility, reacting quickly enough to fly backward in time, avoiding being swept in.
But not all players reacted as quickly as him, especially those Engineers with low Agility stats.
Black Smoke, who was already close to being overweight, failed to dodge and was struck by the descending wave, tumbling into the water like a wolf. Around him were Apollo security personnel, disoriented by the flood.
“Alright, that’s enough!”
Grassland contacted the City Hall, telling them to close the lake-bottom valve again.
With the help of water pressure, the lake valve closed much faster than it opened, but the water that had already poured into the tunnel would still take over ten seconds to reduce its impact.
“Ma Lou, take your squad back to deal with the enemies who were swept away, and save Black Smoke while you’re at it!” Grassland commanded from the air. “The rest of you, advance with me!”
“Charge!”
Seventy players flew past the tunnel corner and continued forward, arriving above the massive rock fortress constructed by Apollo.
Lu Yuan saw that behind the thick stone walls, everything was a mess, with floating supply crates everywhere, and even military tents.
At least 20 Apollo personnel were swept into the fortress’s entrance area by the flood, and the rest were pushed against the base of the walls by the current. The carefully designed, highly defensible Z-shaped entrance structure had now become their cage, with personnel densely packed into the narrow space like sardines. Some had their weapons swept away to who knows where, utterly helpless.
Additionally, some lower-level employees who weren’t wearing power armor either drowned on the spot or were smashed against the stone walls and died, their bodies floating on the water, drifting with the current.
Although flying in the air wasn’t perfectly stable, shooting at such densely packed targets at close range, and from a high vantage point, was still overly simple.
Anti-tank rifles, Gatling autocannons, bolt guns, individual electromagnetic cannons—players in mid-air held various weapons, firing diagonally downwards.
This was a symphony of kinetic weapons.
A rain of bullets poured down from mid-air. Shrapnel and high-temperature metal jets constantly exploded on the turbulent water surface. Amidst the deafening gunfire, the sounds of armor fragments, severed limbs, and indistinguishable human screams mingled.
Every time the players fired, the powerful recoil sharply pushed them diagonally upwards.
The fan engines on their backs rapidly adjusted their rotation speed and jet direction accordingly, and the flight control chips in their helmets computed at full speed, finally managing to stabilize their flight posture with the help of gravity, avoiding a “crash.”
Even so, players using Gatling guns and electromagnetic cannons were still violently thrown backward due to the extremely strong recoil, their backs hitting the tunnel wall.
This extremely hardcore, yet cunning, combat style made them shout with exhilaration.
Tonight’s event was awesome!
Executive Officer, you’re incredible!
As for the Apollo personnel below, they were completely reduced to iron turtles in the water.
Under the impact of the flood, their makeshift anti-air fire was completely inaccurate. Over 20 of their own were killed, while only two players were shot down, and even then, only their fan engines were damaged, their main bodies unharmed.
Some of the more timid ones simply gave up resisting and dove underwater, hoping the water would help reduce the force of the bullets.
But this was futile. Soon, the water flow slowed, and the players air-dropped down.
The battle officially entered its bloodiest close-quarters combat phase. Once this phase began, no one was a match for these players who feared neither pain nor death; Apollo was beyond salvation.
Especially Guo Li Cheng’s melee squad, they were the embodiment of terror. The dazzling plasma weapons instinctively made people feel dangerous, leaving no thought of engaging them in combat.
“Hey, what’s that?”
Male God saw an unknown weapon left on the ground. It was entirely black and as large as the individual electromagnetic cannon Grassland was holding.
Quickly picking it up, Male God spun around and forcefully threw the weapon backward.
“Boss, catch!”
Well done!
Lu Yuan knew without thinking that this was Apollo’s treasured secret weapon. He quickly found the trigger and fired at the nearest enemy.
This plasma weapon did not kill with kinetic force, so its recoil was minimal. A ball of blue-white plasma shot out from its jet engine-like barrel, instantly vaporizing a layer of armor on the target.
As for the unvaporized parts, they glowed red and melted under the remaining heat. Then, the enemy’s internal fats ignited, burning fiercely.
Lu Yuan instinctively took half a step back.
Actually, when players played, their psychological endurance was greatly enhanced by neural interface devices, specifically by limiting the maximum activity of certain brain cortexes.
But Lu Yuan, as a “real person,” naturally did not enjoy this enhancement.
Witnessing a living person being roasted alive into a charred skeleton by red-hot steel at close range, and not being scared into sitting on the ground, already made him a tough guy.
At least, that’s how he felt.
Since he could handle it, then continue!
Lu Yuan rolled, fired two more shots, and took down two more Apollo security personnel.
“We, we surrender!”
The battle was lost. Omar’s voice rang out on the battlefield. Among the remaining 8 Apollo power suits, one raised its hands.
Two seconds later, the remaining ones surrounding him also dropped their weapons and surrendered.
“Cease fire!” Grassland commanded the entire team loudly.
He walked in front of Omar and delivered a lightning-fast whip kick, knocking him down.
If he didn’t still have intelligence value, he would have truly wanted to shoot him dead right there.
“Did no one teach you how to surrender?! Hands on your head, get on the ground, now!”
“Yes, yes—”