Chapter 273: Human-Shaped Battering Ram
The professional adventurer from Purgatory arrived outside the Apollo Headquarters in the lower district, only to find that he was still too late.
After the First Battle Group conquered Ruins Star, they left a ten-person squad, including Prairie, to clear the battlefield. The rest of them had their consciousnesses transmitted to New Hope, logging into another clone body that had just been transported by the caravan.
Although their Fierce Poison power armor could not be transmitted with them, even just wearing the old-fashioned 'Wolf Capture' armor, the current combat power of the First Battle Group far exceeded that of Apollo employees.
At this moment, a large contingent of people arrived in the lower district, fully assembled and ready, planning to attack Apollo's lair in ten minutes.
The overall commander of the operation, Ma Lou, ascended to the rooftop of an apartment building, gazing at the distant Headquarters building.
The building was entirely embedded in the thick side structure of the space station, massive in size, with its top, bottom, and back reaching the outer shell of the space station, like an oversized wall cabinet.
To break in, one could either use the narrow engineering maintenance passages on both sides of the building to forcibly blast open the constantly sealed logistics airlock, or perform a demolition assault from outer space, or launch a frontal assault from the main plaza.
Cang Yuan chose a multi-pronged siege, employing all three methods simultaneously.
"Let's begin!"
Ma Lou opened the public communication channel.
Guo Li Cheng was the first to act, leading her team to the nearest decompression airlock leading to outer space.
"Stop!"
Seeing a team of power armor charging up aggressively, the space station staff member guarding the airlock raised his right hand and jogged forward to meet them.
He glanced at the red-on-white 'Cang Yuan' emblem on Guo Li Cheng's body, a troubled expression on his face.
"I'm very sorry, the space station has entered a state of martial law, all personnel are prohibited from entering or exiting—"
The dark red helmet slowly turned towards this side.
Guo Li Cheng, nearly 190 cm tall, looked down with a powerful sense of oppression, took the plasma greatsword from her back, and ignited it with a 'clang'.
An intense wave of heat rushed forward.
"Go open the door."
"! Don't—don't kill me!!"
The staff member retreated in a panic, and since his other colleagues dared not step forward to help, he tripped over himself and sat down on the ground, his legs weak.
"Open the door."
"Quick—go help them open the door!"
After a moment's thought, he decided that his life was indeed more important than his job.
Other players accompanying her shook their heads. "You're truly brave to stand in front of Guo Li Cheng. She's already tried so hard to tell you how dangerous she is with all that red!"
Soon, Guo Li Cheng's team successfully passed through the airlock into outer space, while another unit, led by Ma Lou, had also prepared for a frontal assault.
Even a trapped beast will fight.
Although time was short, Apollo employees still found a large number of steel plates for 'emergency riot control' from the Headquarters building and erected defensive fortifications outside the company's main entrance.
Coupled with the fact that the company building's facade had no windows for security reasons, it looked quite like a sturdy fortress overall.
Ma Lou's side did not have many people, with about 20 members from the First Battle Group, plus over 100 lower-level players from the second and third echelons.
However, there were thousands of employees in the Apollo building, and at this moment, under the organization of the remaining company executives, they had stopped panicking and their morale had been initially boosted.
"Don't panic, everyone! As long as we hold this wave, we can break out! We'll retreat to the colonies of other company branches and rise again!
"Now that Mr. Sang and his cronies are finished, there are many vacancies in management positions. This is the time for everyone to perform well!
"Those who make contributions in this battle will be directly promoted to partners!"
The executives frantically issued empty promises. At the same time, Cang Yuan's frontal assault force arrived at the landscaped plaza in front of the company.
The space station's Peacekeepers had set up yellow cordon tape and were observing from at least 100 meters away. If it weren't for their duties, they would have wanted to be as far away from this battlefield as possible.
"Ha! Are you sure you don't need to call more people?"
After clearly seeing Ma Lou's team from above, the company executive in charge of commanding didn't forget to mock them. His subordinates also laughed, their tense nerves temporarily relaxing.
They had a significant numerical advantage; this battle was winnable!
"Are there too few people on Cang Yuan's side?"
The space station citizens who came to watch the excitement also quietly questioned.
They knew that Apollo Headquarters had strong security forces, including a heavily armed power armor unit that often paraded and trained in front of the company to demonstrate their strength to the public.
"I suggest you surrender immediately."
In the spirit of humanitarianism, Ma Lou shouted.
If it were anyone else from the First Battle Group, they probably wouldn't bother to communicate at all.
"Go eat shit~"
The commander raised his middle finger, making the interstellar universal gesture.
Good, well done.
They truly won't shed tears until they see the coffin, Ma Lou thought.
It was understandable, as these 'elites' from Apollo Headquarters had never directly confronted Cang Yuan before.
It was completely understandable to have some unrealistic fantasies.
Ma Lou looked at the defensive fortifications outside the company's main entrance, placed his left hand on his hip, and raised his right hand slightly above his head, making a 'forward' gesture.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
An unusually heavy sound of footsteps came from the street behind.
The onlookers turned their heads, only to see a fully armed monster, at least three meters tall, striding forward menacingly.
"What the hell! Is this—is this also a Soldier of Cang Yuan?!"
Whether it was the power-armored Peacekeepers or the unarmed ordinary citizens, upon seeing Male God, they all retreated in an instinctive fear of a predator, silently clearing a path.
"Excuse me, folks! Begging your pardon!"
Male God remained polite, even greeting everyone on his way.
"—What is that?"
Seeing the unknown creature, twice the height and width of a normal person, continuously approaching, the Apollo security guards responsible for the gate suddenly felt a bad premonition.
The morale that had just been so painstakingly boosted by the company executives now seemed to be scattered by the wind on the spot. The Soldiers subconsciously tightened their grip on their bolt-guns.
"Don't be afraid—it should just be an alien species from a remote star system, an uplifted race from the golden age, still just flesh and blood!"
The security squad leader said he wasn't afraid, but as he spoke, he had already retreated several steps.
"Attack!"
Ma Lou gave the order.
Feel the dual power of genes and technology! "Alright!"
Male God dropped to all fours, completely prone.
He was equipped with two electromagnetic harpoon launchers, originally located on either side of the nuclear-powered backpack on his back. Now, through mechanical deformation, they had moved to his shoulders, with the accelerated magnetic rails pointing directly forward.
These harpoon launchers evolved from the electromagnetic crossbows used by Emerald Life Science. Their volume was more than 10 times larger than the prototype, and their power had increased by over 50 times, capable of accelerating a 20 kg harpoon to Mach 9, with a single-shot kinetic energy of hundreds of megajoules.
Weapons of such power could already serve as autocannons for space fighters, but now they were carried on the shoulders of the Radiance race.
And they were dual-mounted, doubling the fun!
Male God completed his aiming through his visor-mounted sight, then fired with voice command.
"Fire!"
Boom!
Accompanied by deafening sonic booms and dazzling arcs of light, two harpoons whistled out, deploying cross-shaped blades in mid-air to further amplify their destructive effect.
Apollo's position was like a storm had passed through.
The three temporarily erected steel plates in front were shredded, as fragile as paper. The people behind them were even more brutally massacred, with severed limbs and chunks of flesh flying everywhere, most of which were no longer recognizable as to which part of the body they had belonged to.
During the high-speed impact, a large amount of metal transformed into molten jet streams, splashing outwards in a fan shape, causing a considerable degree of area damage to the Apollo security personnel on both sides of the trajectory, melting all their optical, sensory, and other equipment on their power armor.
After shredding the steel plates and the crowd, the momentum of the two harpoons did not diminish much. They then penetrated the company's reinforced transparent metal main entrance, flew across the entire lobby, and finally deeply embedded themselves in the wall behind the company's front desk.
This shot cleared all enemies in a straight line.
The enormous recoil caused Male God, who was lying on the ground, to retreat more than two meters, his claws leaving deep scratches on the space station's metal floor.
"My goodness, this is practically a war crime!"
Even the battle-hardened First Battle Group found the scene a bit too cruel!
Who said a single Soldier couldn't have heavy artillery?
Here it is!
"This is exactly the effect I want!"
Male God was completely hyped. He took a gravity hammer from his back and launched a devastating charge towards the enemy position where a gap had been opened.
