Chapter 57 Strutting Away

One of the most important theories in modern warfare is the OODA loop.

The smooth circulation of the four steps—observe, orient, decide, and act—ensures that a force maintains its superiority throughout a combat engagement.

In this sudden battle, although the city garrison troops were far from professional, they had indeed established the OODA loop right from the beginning, fiercely suppressing the completely unprepared trio of Blood Seekers.

Without external assistance, even if Li Shi's heavy shield and the high mobility of the others could have stretched their survival by another half a minute, the three Blood Seekers ultimately could not have escaped the fate of death.

Fortunately, however, they were not an isolated squad.

Behind them stood Chen Jian and He Shuo.

The decision to have He Shuo temporarily put aside his 12.7mm sniper rifle and instead carry a Type 201 light machine gun was undoubtedly one of the most correct choices Chen Jian had ever made.

When the Type 201 light machine gun, with a firing rate of 750 rounds per minute, began to spit tongues of flame, that heart-stopping gunfire and the hail of projectiles breaking through the air finally shattered the advantage the city garrison had preemptively established.

The OODA loop was broken. Under the terrifying suppression of the modern machine gun, the city garrison—who lacked genuine combat training—instantly plunged into chaos.

The three-stage firing line they had just organized was blasted to pieces by a long burst from He Shuo. The garrison soldiers, armed with single-shot rifles, fled in panic, desperately trying to find cover to escape the projectiles flying in from nowhere.

Taking advantage of this brief window of firepower vacuum, Xie Liu and Zeng Yi grabbed Li Shi by the waist from either side and dragged him backward with all their might.

At this moment, the physical advantage of the Blood Seekers finally paid off; even while carrying the tall and exceptionally heavy Li Shi, their retreating speed was by no means slow.

Seeing that the three had distanced themselves slightly from the danger zone, Chen Jian did not hesitate any longer. He immediately deployed the weapon rack on his back, unlatched the slightly worn PBP-201 mortar, mounted it on the ground, and prepared for firing.

The advantages of the integrated photoelectric aiming system were brought into full play; he no longer needed to calculate complex mil-dots. All he had to do was place the impact point calculated by the system onto the target shelling coordinates, and aiming was complete.

The entire deployment process took less than five seconds. By the sixth second, the first high-explosive shell from Chen Jian's hands had soared into the air.

A piercing scream tore through the sky, and the shell slammed down violently. Following a massive explosion, a ball of fire erupted behind the city garrison's outpost.

Everyone looked back in terror, perhaps still believing that the cannons of the Mechanicus were firing.

In reality, however, Chen Jian was targeting the Mechanicus's "artillery position"!

The priests and tech-priests of the Mechanicus descended into utter turmoil. Some of them still held burning censers in their hands, in the middle of a brief ritual to appease the machine spirits.

The very next second, a sweeping shockwave knocked them off their feet, and the censers dashed against the ground splashed out ethereal wisps of fire.

"Xie Liu! Zeng Yi! Hurry up!"

"Drones, gain altitude! Watch out for flanking Blood Seekers!"

"Mark those so-called Source-Blooded; they are high-threat targets!"

"Captain! I damn well don't have that many brains! The drone has switched to autonomous priority mode!"

He Shuo shouted back in response while rapidly swapping out an emptied ammunition box. At this point, the barrel of the Type 201 was already emitting faint wisps of smoke, a testament to his exceptionally high rate of fire.

"Take it easy! Don't melt the barrel!"

"I know!"

As He Shuo's words faded, Chen Jian's second, third, and fourth shells slammed down.

"Boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

With several more deafening roars, the artillery position of the Mechanicus fell into absolute chaos.

At the same time, however, their counterattack had finally arrived.

"Da-da-da-da-da—"

The tearing sound of sustained gunfire echoed from the rear position, and a vast dispersion of projectiles whizzed continuously overhead.

"Damn it! They have machine guns too!"

"Not a machine gun, it's a coaxial rifle... Never mind that, suppress them first!"

He Shuo swung his muzzle around to lay down suppressing fire while Chen Jian continued loading rounds into the mortar tube.

Seconds later, the enemy's "machine gun position" went silent, but simultaneously, a growing number of city garrison troops converged on the scene.

The effect of electromagnetic dominance was still undeniable; had the communications not been cut off in time to prevent relaying information backward, Li Shi and his team would likely have had no opportunity to retreat at all.

Yet, the effect of electromagnetic dominance was also limited.

Hanshui City was only so large; once the gunshots rang out, even without understanding the situation, the city garrison was bound to mobilize!

The situation was far from optimistic. Chen Jian carried the Type 201 mortar over to He Shuo, dropped off the final two shells, and said:

"You take over firing, I'm going to drive!"

"Understood!"

With his right hand, He Shuo steadied the machine gun against his shoulder for fire, while his left hand adjusted the mortar's coordinates—a picture of frantic haste, yet orderly amidst the chaos.

Without looking back, Chen Jian pushed his exoskeleton into combat mode and sprinted toward where he had parked the vehicle.

He did not dare slow down for even a second. Though encumbered by equipment weighing over 45 kilograms in total, boosted by the exoskeleton, he reached the vehicle in a mere four minutes.

Without pausing for breath, he started the cat-car, slammed the accelerator to the floor, and sped forward along the fractured road.

Through the drone's perspective, Li Shi and the others had retreated to a point over two hundred meters away from the outpost outside Hanshui City. With just another hundred meters, they would rendezvous with He Shuo, who was providing cover.

However, the Hanshui City garrison was also pursuing closely, dense thermal signatures closing in in a semi-circular encirclement. If they did not hurry, those lightning-fast Blood Seekers might well flank the squad's rear!

Chen Jian's breathing was ragged, and his heartbeat accelerated unconsciously.

Yet, amid the wild surge of adrenaline, his mind grew increasingly sharp.

Crossing the distance of several hundred meters in a flash, the cat-car screeched to a halt.

The moment he stopped, he pivoted and scrambled up to the automatic grenade launcher position.

The next second, grenades flew forth!

"Thwump!"

"Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang—"

With a firing rate of 350 rounds per minute, the automatic grenade launcher poured out over a dozen shells within seconds. Falling like raindrops, they instantly tore the garrison's frontline to shreds.

With the garrison stalled, Chen Jian immediately barked orders:

"He Shuo, watch the flanks!"

"Take out the advancing Blood Seekers first!"

"Understood!"

He Shuo swung his muzzle around once more. This time, he caught a Blood Seeker who had crept within two hundred meters and was attempting to scale the elevated highway using a tall tree.

The bullets showed no mercy. Following a long burst, the airborne Blood Seeker was struck down like a massive, clumsy bird.

His body tore apart mid-air, plummeting toward the ground, while a severed arm spun off onto the elevated highway.

This horrifying spectacle chilled the blood of the following Blood Seeker. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but when a trail of fire mixed with tracer rounds pointed directly at him, he finally surrendered to terror and fled without looking back.

Chen Jian breathed a sigh of relief, easing his trigger finger slightly.

Half a minute later, the heavily injured Li Shi was finally dragged back. Chen Jian directed Xie Liu and Zeng Yi to hoist him into the vehicle, then commanded:

"Zeng Yi, drive! Xie Liu, administer first aid! He Shuo, get in and operate the automatic grenade launcher, hand me the machine gun!"

"I don't know how to drive! I'll stay and cover our rear!"

Zeng Yi immediately refused, prompting Chen Jian to roar furiously:

"If you don't know how to drive, learn on the damn spot! Even crawling is faster than walking!"

"What kind of time is this for rear-guard heroics? You want to die?!"

"Get in the vehicle, now! Step on the gas!"

At the order, Zeng Yi dropped all objections.

Chen Jian hooked the Type 201 mortar back onto its rack, grabbed the machine gun left behind by He Shuo, and stood firing from a standing position.

The performance of the exoskeleton was finally pushed to its absolute limit. Even in such a terrifying shooting stance, he maintained rock-solid stability.

The Mechanicus Skitarii reinforcements rushing up from behind the battle line were driven back beneath the elevated road. Simultaneously, accompanied by a belated artillery blast, a massive shell plummeted less than 50 meters in front of Chen Jian.

"Boom!"

The enemy artillery had finally opened fire.

Though lacking in precision, the deterrent force remained staggering!

"He Shuo! Ignore the artillery! They can't hit us!"

"Suppress the front line first!"

"Understood!"

"Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang—"

Another round of explosions erupted. The 35mm grenades filled with CL-20 explosive whipped up a colossal shockwave, and right as the shockwave washed over it, the already overburdened elevated highway finally collapsed with a thunderous crash.

Dust and smoke billowed everywhere.

Chen Jian bolted, running without a single second of hesitation.

The cat-car raced forward, and he sprinted right alongside it.

Amidst He Shuo's accurate and efficient suppressing fire, the group vanished into the distance right under the noses of the Hanshui City garrison.

And at that moment, every single person shared the exact same question in their minds:

What on earth had driven the people inside Hanshui City completely out of their minds?!