Chapter 3, Prisoners of the Dead
It takes a total of four and a half hours to get from the temporary camp to Feidong Village.
The elite Marines were deployed in teams of five as pioneers and scouts. Gu Hang, with the victim Patel and his large troop of mechanized servants, advanced steadily.
Halfway through the journey, Gu Hang received a report from the Marine Corps reconnaissance team that they had discovered a small transport team, which should belong to the "Prisoners of the Dead" tribe.
Gu Hang authorized Yan Fangxu to lead the Marines and some mecha soldiers to annihilate them and capture as many alive as possible.
Captain Yan is an elite naval officer and he can handle this small task with ease without any surprises.
However, after Gu Hang heard the confession of the survivor, his mood was no longer good.
Gu Hang had Patel brought over and said to him, "It seems that these robbers never intend to let you go."
Patel also saw the situation of the transport team and looked angry: "Yes, they transported a large amount of high explosives. Not to mention blowing open the gate of the abandoned cave, it is enough to collapse the mine and bury us all inside."
Gu Hang shook his head and added, "Not only that, according to the information obtained from Captain Yan's interrogation, they have already negotiated with the greenskins in the ruins of the high wall. All of your Feidong Society's more than 900 people are treated as high-quality rations and are ready to be sold to those greenskin beasts."
"What?!"
Patel knew that the 'Prisoners of the Dead' were a group of wasteland bandits and that they were absolutely malicious towards him, but he was still shocked by their viciousness.
The description of "green beasts" is appropriate for those mutants. They exist not only on the Wrath of the Owl Star, but also widely in the universe. They are also called "cancer of the universe".
They have no male or female distinction, and reproduce by relying on the symbiotic spores in their bodies to fall off and then "grow" out of the ground, and the same is true for their food.
Logically speaking, they don't need to buy any rations, but the two things these green beasts like most in their lives are fighting and eating the brains of intelligent creatures. The former is their nature, and the latter is their means of technological upgrading.
These beasts that grew out of the land were indeed primitive and barbaric at first, fighting with stone axes and wooden clubs. But when they ate enough and smart enough brains, technology would develop rapidly, with iron weapons, guns and cannons, and even interstellar travel...
Their warlike and all-destructive nature means that the stronger they become, the more likely they are to become a disaster that wreaks havoc on everything.
Logically speaking, such a race should be the enemy of all mankind. The Empire did have a killing order against the green-skinned orcs, killing them all on sight, and then purifying the land to kill the spores to ensure that they would not grow again.
But...policies are one thing, and implementation is another.
On the Angry Owl Star, taxes cannot be paid, food and clothing cannot be guaranteed on the planet, conflicts are rampant among various forces, the entire planet is a mess, and the governor is forced to farm on his own... Under such circumstances, we really can't expect a bandit like the 'Prisoner of the Dead' to have any feelings for the fate of all mankind.
However, not only are they not hostile, but they are also doing business with these man-eating beasts, which is intolerable.
Getting rid of the green-skinned beasts is what Gu Hang must do.
Of course, not now.
According to the confession, the greenskin tribe in the so-called high wall ruins numbered in the tens of thousands, and they had at least evolved to the point of possessing automatic weapons, and there was not much of a generation gap in equipment between them and the humans on the planet. To clean up those animals, it was definitely not something Gu Hang could do with the power he had now.
Fortunately, the "high wall ruins" are quite far from here, so there is no need to worry too much for the time being.
The most important thing to deal with is the group of wasteland raiders who threaten the Feidong Society.
Now, Gu Hang already knew their exact intelligence.
Four kilometers away from the mine where the Abandoned Cave Society was located, the "prisoners of the dead" built a temporary camp. These guys never thought that the Abandoned Cave Society would dare to come out and fight them in the field, so they did not prepare any defensive fortifications.
"Good opportunity, we can launch a surprise attack! Our mortars can have a very good striking effect!" Yan Fangxu seemed excited.
"Okay, let's do it."
After a short rest, they arrived at their destination in just over an hour, instead of the original two-hour journey.
The reason for speeding up is that they are worried that the transport team will take a long time to arrive and the bandits will notice something unusual.
After a quick march, they still needed some rest time before launching the attack.
The thirty elite soldiers of the Marine Corps were fine, but the servitors needed to rest. They wouldn't complain about being tired, but they did get tired, and fatigue would reduce their combat capabilities.
According to Yan Fangxu's suggestion, the soldiers will set out again in forty-five minutes, and the mortar position will launch an artillery attack an hour later.
At a location where the 'prisoners of the dead' camp could already be seen from afar, Gu Hang patiently led the team to rest, eat nutritional paste and sit quietly to replenish their physical strength, and build a mortar position...
He knew that his current patience was to wait for the victory in one battle later.
…
Kaga was feeling inexplicably irritated at the moment.
Being a looter isn't easy these days. They haven't been open for business for a while, and their supplies are running out. Food is easy to deal with, as they won't have to worry about it after they break into the abandoned cave community. Even if the miners don't have much food reserves, there are hundreds of people, and they can be used for a long time if they are slaughtered and made into jerky.
Damaged weapons and expended ammunition are difficult to replenish. All the major powers are not willing to do business with these looters, except for the greenskin tribes. Although the greenskin technology is not easy to use, the weapons have a high failure rate, and the ammunition is easy to misfire. Moreover, the power in their hands is far less than that in the hands of the greenskins themselves...
But it's better than nothing.
To be honest, Kaga doesn't like the most abundant ore in the abandoned cave community. This thing is heavy and worthless, and it is not easy to sell. But the 900 people in the cave are good things. They can be used as their own food, and they can also be sold to the ruins of the high wall to exchange for greenskin weapons. Isn't it wonderful?
It is much easier to drive people than sheep.
For this reason, the "prisoners of the dead" were almost all out. Except for a few old, young, women, and brothers who stayed in the old nest, the main force was brought out by Kaga, more than a hundred people.
The Waste Cave Society has many people but few guns, so they are not to be feared. The reason they have been able to survive in the wasteland for so long is mainly because of the good terrain. Kaga personally went to investigate the mine, and it is really easy to defend but difficult to attack. The entrance of the cave is sealed tightly with ore and metal, and then closed from the inside with a heavy door. It is really impossible to open it with human power.
They had already tried to blow up the door yesterday, but failed because the explosives were not enough. In desperation, he could only send his confidants back to the old nest to transport the explosives, which even contained concentrated explosives that were hidden in the bottom of the box.
His patience had run out. Since he couldn't trick the miners into opening the door, he just decided to just wait for the explosives to arrive and blow it open.
It was something that should have been done today, so there was no need to rush, but Kaga still felt annoyed. According to the time, his transport team should be back, but why was there no movement at all?
He had already urged his men to try to contact the transport team via radio, but they were unable to get through.
This made him even more uneasy.
Half an hour ago, he sent out a team to search along the loop, but so far, there has been no response, and even the radio has lost contact.
He was completely alert.
Such a strange situation could not help but make him feel fear and hesitation.
Those who were not careful enough would have been buried in the wasteland without a trace left.
He made up his mind to send out four or five teams to explore; at the same time, he also ordered the entire team to get ready and set out together to investigate the situation.
Suddenly, a subordinate came to report: "We have contacted the transport team, they said they are on their way back and will arrive soon."
Kaga's brows furrowed immediately: "Why couldn't I get in touch with you before?"
"He said their radio had a problem and had just been repaired. He was afraid we might be worried, so he sent a message right away."
Kaga thought for a moment and ordered, “Reply: Damn it, did you get fucked by a zombie dog on the way? Why are you so slow? Come back quickly! If you’re late, half of your loot will be deducted!”
After he finished speaking, he walked quickly outside and shouted to the brothers who were preparing, "Hurry up, hurry up, let's go immediately! Damn it, don't stuff your few bullets with you, take as much as you can, and throw away the rest! Hurry up! Get ready to break out! We are being targeted!"
The subordinate who had just heard his order was a little confused. He caught up with him and asked, "Boss, this... I..."
"What do you mean? Go and pass the message, then grab your gun and follow the team!"
"Why?" The boy was still stunned.
Kaga knocked him on the head and said, "Someone must be targeting us! Blind the enemy. It would be best if it works. If not, you will die because you are so slow!"
After saying this, he ignored the silly boy, took his gun, called his brothers and prepared to leave the camp.
As soon as he reached the door, he heard a whistling sound coming from the sky.
His face turned green instantly.
This is the sound of artillery shells!
"Get down!"
He quickly lay down, cursing: "Fuck! You're using a cannon to blow it up... Bah... Don't let me catch you... Bah..."
The rumbling sound of the explosion made it almost impossible for him to hear his own voice. He just tried to vent the fear in his heart by using swear words and tough talk.
He guessed that someone was targeting them, and even felt that the worst case scenario was possible - he was surrounded.
But what he didn't expect was that the person who was targeting him actually had a cannon in his hand!
Fortunately, he was lucky and apart from the buzzing in his ears and a slightly dizzy head, nothing serious happened.
He stood up from a half-squat and looked around.
The artillery that bombarded them should not be of small caliber, and it seems to be just a mortar. If it was really a heavy artillery, with a dense coverage of ten or so rounds, I am afraid that everyone in the entire camp would be killed.
But despite this, these mortars still caused considerable casualties in their simple camp without any strong fortifications.
At a glance, at least twenty brothers were either dead or missing limbs.
The rest of the people were also stunned.
But now is obviously not the time to be in a daze. Staying here means waiting for death.
He yelled, "Go! Go! Go out!"
But at this moment, gunshots were heard outside.
We were really surrounded! After the artillery fire, the infantry followed up!
The only good news was that the gunshots sounded quite far away, so it seemed that the several small teams he had sent out earlier had played a role and engaged in a firefight.
This is the only chance.
He yelled, "Go ahead and support us! It's a critical moment. If you don't want to die, I'll beat you up!"
Just at this moment, the second round of artillery fire arrived.
(End of this chapter)
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