Chapter 55: Spear Practice

It took the squad a full day to clean up and organize the equipment inside the fortifications. A large quantity of temporarily unneeded weaponry and tools was repackaged and stored, while items required for the short term were carried directly on their persons.

Chen Jian’s equipment rack on the back of his exoskeleton was still not fully loaded. Although he had added a recoilless rifle, he had correspondingly lost a sleeve-arrow missile launcher.

At the same time, his supply of ammunition for the LG6 had not been replenished, but fortunately, the assembly of the "Meow-Meow" vehicle had gone smoothly. With two 30mm automatic grenade launchers mounted on it, he genuinely felt that an LG6 with only a six-round cylinder was of no further use.

After deploying a QJZ-301 heavy machine gun at the commanding height near the entrance of the fortification, alongside a flat-mounted QJG-22 anti-aircraft machine gun, Chen Jian left Shen Yue and Lei Jie behind to guard the base. Taking advantage of the night, he took He Shuo and three other Blood-Blooded Saints and boarded the fully prepared Meow-Meow vehicle.

One ignition, one start.

The Shandong Lynx was simply formidable!

The five-man squad set out heavily armed, moving all the way southwest along the elevated highway—where vegetation was sparse and road conditions were relatively good—preparing to return to Hanshui.

Zeng Yi and Xie Liu, sitting in the back seats, were quite curious about this small, fast-moving vehicle. Judging by their expressions, Chen Jian felt as though he were watching himself back in the countryside, riding in someone else's Bluebird for the very first time.

After driving for a few minutes, Xie Liu couldn't help asking:

"...Is the principle behind... this Meow-Meow vehicle the same as that of the Mechanicus's steam locomotives and steamships?"

"Why can it run so fast, and why is its name so adorable?"

"Actually... its original name wasn't that cute. We came up with that ourselves."

Chen Jian smiled and shook his head, replying as he drove:

"You can learn its principles slowly. Lei Jie has already confirmed that the 7025 terminal stores a massive amount of knowledge. Once things stabilize a bit, you can take classes at your leisure."

"As for now... the two of you just need to watch my operations and learn to drive it as quickly as possible."

"Understood."

"Understood."

The two answered in turn, stretching their necks to observe Chen Jian's movements as he turned the steering wheel, stepped on the accelerator, and braked. Although they knew nothing about driving, they could still pick up on a few clues.

The more they watched, the more they marveled at the wisdom of the old-world humans.

By now, not only Xie Liu, but even Zeng Yi was beginning to doubt why he had previously held such unshakeable faith in the so-called "dogma" of the Cathedral of Holy Blood.

Chen Jian noticed the wistful and somewhat remorseful look on his face and roughly guessed what he was thinking. He then asked:

"Do you know why I didn't use Li St to separate the two of you? Do you know why I let you ride in the same vehicle?"

Zeng Yi was stunned. Before he could speak, Chen Jian continued:

"Actually, considering that your relationship with Xie Liu is quite close, we originally planned to separate the two of you in the upcoming operations."

"After all, that would be safer, and if you were plotting something, communication wouldn't be so convenient."

"However, I thought about it later."

"Truth can be proven. When something representing the truth is placed right in front of you, you don't even need to think to know that it is right."

"Am I wrong?"

Zeng Yi took a deep breath and slowly nodded:

"No, you're entirely correct."

"Thank you."

Chen Jian waved his hand and said:

"Don't mention it."

"We may not be comrades in the short term, but we can be friends first."

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere among the three in the vehicle instantly relaxed considerably.

Xie Liu and Zeng Yi exchanged a smile. Many words did not need to be spoken out loud to be understood.

The Lynx continued forward, and Xie Liu asked again:

"Why are we still going back to Hanshui? If it's just for food, we actually have plenty of other ways to obtain it."

"Because we are going to claim our rewards and, at the same time, prove our existence."

Chen Jian answered without hesitation, then continued:

"Of course, there is a third objective for this trip out, and that is to casually clear out some of the gophers active in the surrounding area."

"Come on, we're almost there."

"Xie Liu, open the bag I gave you earlier and scatter its contents."

"No problem."

Xie Liu immediately set to work, and Chen Jian slammed on the brakes, bringing the vehicle to a halt.

Once the bag was opened, Chen Jian instructed Xie Liu to get out of the vehicle and throw its contents down beneath the elevated highway. A pungent odor instantly diffused, and the Blood-Blooded Saints at the epicenter of the stench couldn't help covering their noses.

Chen Jian and He Shuo did not cover theirs because they were wearing air-purifying respirators.

Their current location was precisely the intersection of the Baishazhou Bridge and the Yangsigang Expressway, where the surrounding terrain was wide and the vegetation relatively sparse.

After the odor dispersed, rustling sounds soon emerged from the surrounding bushes. Just half a minute later, Chen Jian used his night-vision goggles to spot a pack of gophers gathering from all directions.

"They're here. More than thirty."

"It seems the gopher colony scale around here isn't small... Let them get closer, wait until they approach before engaging."

"I've already taught you how to use these firearms; try shooting a bit later yourselves."

"Understood."

"Got it!"

Xie Liu and Zeng Yi each held a Type 191 rifle, their expressions somewhat tense.

It wasn't that they had never used firearms, but they were certainly not very familiar with them.

After switching off the safeties, the two carefully aimed downward without saying another word.

A moment later, the gophers gathered not far below the elevated highway, unfurling the scent glands on their backs in an attempt to catch that trace of "human" scent amidst the pungent odor.

Seeing that the time was right, Chen Jian immediately gave the order:

"Fire!"

"Bang!"

"Bang, bang!"

Three gunshots rang out in succession as Li St, Xie Liu, and Zeng Yi opened fire simultaneously.

The recoil of the 7.62mm rounds was nothing much to them, and because of this, their hit rate was considerably higher than Chen Jian had anticipated.

In the blink of an eye, over five gophers fell to the ground.

After personally using "the powerful weapons of the old era" to kill the enemy, the tense expressions on the faces of the Blood-Blooded Saints gradually faded.

Replaced by a sense of inexplicable excitement.

While wielding great power oneself was certainly fascinating, such so-called "great power" ultimately had its limits.

And when they witnessed with their own eyes bullets flying out with tongues of flame to shatter the heads of those monsters, they instantly understood a single truth:

The enhancement of external tools had almost no limits.

The speed at which the three of them fired grew faster and faster, and their movements shifted from stiff to proficient.

After emptying their first magazines, they loaded another according to Chen Jian's prior instruction and continued firing.

The sustained gunfire finally caused panic among the gophers. Instead of clustering together, they turned tail and tried to flee.

Chen Jian would not give them that chance.

He gestured to He Shuo in the distance, and He Shuo immediately pivoted the muzzle of the 30mm automatic grenade launcher toward the ground below.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Dense explosions accompanied by countless shrapnel fragments blanketed the entire open area. Gophers that hadn't yet managed to dive back into the bushes were blown into the air by the shockwaves, then torn to shreds by the shrapnel and blast pressure.

Dust filled the air, and a mist of blood flew everywhere.

The three Blood-Blooded Saints stared in stunned silence at this scene, which felt like the descent of divine punishment, forgetting even to pull their triggers.

Just a few seconds later, silence returned beneath the elevated highway.

All that remained were the corpses of over twenty gophers and shallow craters blasted out by the grenades.

After a brief spell of daze, Xie Liu was the first to recover from the shock.

She looked at Chen Jian and tentatively asked:

"I thought you just wanted us to practice..."

"It is practice."

Chen Jian nodded and explained:

"However, we also need to kill as many as possible."

"These gophers have a symbiotic relationship with the giant monsters. If we don't clear them out thoroughly, I'm worried they'll attract new monsters."

"Understood."

Xie Liu nodded again and asked no further questions.

The group returned to the Meow-Meow vehicle and continued their journey toward Hanshui.

The three Blood-Blooded Saints were clearly still in an exhilarated state, and their conversation became much more animated.

Chen Jian, by contrast, remained entirely calm.

In fact, he had another special reason for doing this.

However, this reason did not need to be shared with these three newly joined teammates.

They didn't need to know why he had wanted them to stay far back when firing.

And of course, they certainly didn't need to know why, when the gophers emerged from below, the muzzle of He Shuo's automatic grenade launcher had actually been pointed at the surface of the elevated highway...