NOVPUBChapter 73: Chapter 72: Devotees of the Divinities
Chapter 73 -72: Devotees of the Divinities
Zhang Zhiyuan heard a thunderous boom.
He initially thought it was the enemy’s latest round of artillery fire, instinctively ducking, but the explosion did not follow. Instead, even the enemy’s shouting had disappeared.
“What was that noise just now?” Zhou Zhi asked, poking his head out.
He shook his head, “Who knows.”
“So, do we keep moving forward?”
“Of course, what else, stay here and get bombed?” he pondered and then added, “You go ahead, I’ll peek over the top.”
Climbing the slope was obviously dangerous, but precisely because of the danger, it was more suitable for him to do it.
Zhang Zhiyuan slung his gun over his back and, crouching over, ran to the edge of the depression. After confirming his route, he dashed to the top of the slope in one go. It took just two to three minutes, and he had reached the top of the gentle slope. The moment he stepped on level ground, he did not look for the source of the loud bang immediately. Instead, he first lay down, set up his gun, and watched the dense fog around for half a minute before turning to look in the direction of that machine.
The striking blue light was still there, only much lower, as if it had intimately touched the ground.
However, he couldn’t see it clearly because of the fog.
Zhang Zhiyuan got up and tried to grope his way about thirty meters in that direction. The fog blocking his view suddenly dissipated, revealing everything clearly around the central large spirit lamp.
His mouth dropped open in awe.
What he saw was a pile of scattered parts and a completely destroyed machine! Its multi-legged structure was no more, with only two broken legs still attached to the body, and the rest were nowhere to be seen. The upper turret was entirely split open, with the top vanishing without a trace, and the barrel collapsed.
Not only that, but a fierce fire was burning inside it. The Guard Squad had completely neglected them at this point and was clumsily rescuing the injured while trying to extinguish the flames.
Was this… a chamber explosion?
Zhang Zhiyuan could only think of this possibility.
Because of the chamber explosion, the high-temperature flames backfired into the turret, causing the remaining ammunition to detonate, resulting in its current state.
Their luck was just too good!
He was about to inform everyone when the familiar roar of a diesel engine suddenly sounded behind him.
Zhang Zhiyuan turned around and saw the car that Paradise had prepared for the evacuation. It had already driven up behind him, and the driver was none other than Ailuodi!
“You… snuck away just to drive the car?”
“Yes, I thought it was too dangerous to charge weaponized constructs with just a few guns, better to take a car and run,” Ailuodi said, rolling down the window. “Don’t mind the car’s old age; it handles rather well. It can do 40 yards on rocky ground, much faster than running on foot. I don’t think the enemy’s cannon can hit an old car going at full speed.”
“Why didn’t you tell everyone first?” Zhang Zhiyuan said, somewhat irritated.
“I figured you wouldn’t listen to me. Anyway, now that weapon has self-destructed, all’s well that ends well. If you want to blame me, you can do it after the mission is over,” the other party waved her hand. “Don’t waste time; go call the others over!”
Did she really do this all by herself?
Zhang Zhiyuan felt something was off—as a mission-specific prop, the car was only exchanged upon reaching the ambush location, and to avoid detection, it had been camouflaged with felt and sand, indistinguishable from a small mound at a distance. But to quickly remove this camouflage, at least two to three people would have to work together. Ailuodi, a mere girl of sixteen or seventeen, had supposedly lifted the felt covered with mud and sand by herself and then started the diesel engine with a crank, driving the car to the slope’s edge. This capability was indeed quite astonishing.
And there was another thing—he hadn’t brought a spirit lamp to conceal his movements in the fog, practically invisible, so how had she found him so accurately?
Not to mention that as soon as she decided to sneak off to drive, the enemy’s weaponized construct exploded, making her risky move the optimal solution for the mission.
Was all this a coincidence, or a deliberate arrangement?
However, Zhang Zhiyuan had to admit that now was not the time to dwell on these issues. After all, they were still in the Misty Zone, and the enemy’s movements were completely uncertain.
“Wait for me here!” he said before hurrying back to the depression.
It took about five minutes back and forth, and the others finally made it to the vehicle.
“What is this… thing?” Leisk looked at the antique car in front of him, astonished, and couldn’t help but step forward to touch it left and right. “I can’t feel its frequency… It’s not a peculiar construction, but why is it shaking all over?”
“Probably because of the lousy shock absorbers,” Zhou Zhi joked.
Qianyuan Mingzi then noticed his choice of words, “What do you mean by ‘frequency’?”
“It’s a special perception, hard to describe, but only those who can feel it are qualified to drive peculiar constructions.”
“Doesn’t GaoTian Mining know about your ability?”
“As long as I don’t tell them, no one else will ever know,” Leisk curled his lip. “In their eyes, I’m no different from anyone else, stripped of everything except my physical body.”
“Where have you all been captured from?” Ailuodi suddenly asked.
Facing the girl’s question, Leisk’s expression grew serious, “Most Seaguardians are refugees whose homelands have fallen, while the origins of other common folks are more complicated… There are drifters from the Old Continent, those bankrupted by gambling, people too poor to live. However, they didn’t know before boarding that they would lose their freedom completely and become a mining tool for the company.”
“But you seem to know quite a lot about the Gaotian Mining Company, not like someone who just left their homeland,” she observed.
“You’re right,” he admitted. “In fact, this isn’t the first time I’ve been locked up in a convoy.”
Just then, the conspicuous blue light appeared again to the southwest.
Without a doubt, the company’s reinforcement train had arrived.
“The money and people are all set, get on the car now,” Zhang Zhiyuan securely fastened the injured on the back seat, then tapped the roof of the car, “Ailuodi, leave the rest to you.”
“What about you?” she asked.
“I said I’d buy this kid some time, so I’m going to stay here and stall their search.”
Leisk immediately showed a look of surprise.
“Then I’m not going either, the mission is pretty much done, I’ll stay with you,” Zhou Zhi, who was about to board, closed the car door again.
“Count me in,” Qianyuan Mingzi said succinctly.
“Suit yourselves,” Ailuodi shrugged, climbed back into the driver’s seat, “Make sure to cause a big commotion, don’t give them a chance to spot me.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t believe they have such things,” Zhang Zhiyuan promised confidently.
She didn’t waste words, just floored the gas pedal, and drove off toward the north.
Leisk was left staring, dumbfounded.
Team members who had been fighting side by side just a moment ago were now saying their easy goodbyes… Did they not care about their own lives at all?
“And you… kid,” Zhang Zhiyuan turned to the boy, “don’t waste the opportunity, hurry up and regroup with your people. Remember, as long as the gunfire doesn’t stop, they absolutely can’t move a step away from the railway. Let’s go!”
The three of them walked toward the mist, facing the blue light, without a hint of hesitation in their steps.
How could they take it this far?
To sacrifice themselves for the sake of rescuing a bunch of strangers is a noble act that can’t be measured by gain or loss…
An answer began to form vaguely in Leisk’s heart.
There was only one possible reason for their actions.
It was because they all had a faith beyond comparison… They were executing the will of the divinities.
