Chapter 41: The Wilderness Area

Hundreds of miles north of the Jiangnan Base City lies a military district.

“Boom! Boom!” The train slowly came to a halt at the military station.

Numerous fully armed warriors disembarked one after another, totaling over twenty individuals, naturally dividing into four teams.

“Luofeng, normally when we warriors go out to hunt monsters, we stop at military districts for supplies,” Chen Gu pointed toward a towering iron tower, nearly fifty to sixty meters high, “See this tower? In every military district across the entire Huaxia nation, and even worldwide, a special area is designated as a warrior supply base, specifically for our warriors to rest. A lighthouse like this is usually built in these supply bases, symbolizing a beacon that illuminates the path home for warriors.”

Luofeng nodded.

The warrior supply base, located within the military district, consisted of a series of quiet small buildings, offering a very pleasant environment.

“Firehammer Team, you’ll reside and rest at E6,” an officer from the supply base handed the key to the leader of the Firehammer Team, ‘Gao Feng,’ and patted his shoulder with a smile, “Old Gao, how long are you planning to hunt this time? If you get anything good, feel free to sell it to my underground alliance. I’ll definitely give you a high price.”

Although many service personnel in the supply base wore military uniforms, they were actually from the Limit Martial Arts Academy, Thunder Martial Arts Academy, government military, and the underground alliance. They served warriors and also purchased valuable monster materials from them.

“Haha, sure thing,” Gao Feng laughed heartily, “Quickly arrange someone to get us lunch.”

The supply base wasn’t too large in area.

“E6 is over there.” The Firehammer Team quickly found the three-story building marked ‘E6.’ The key with a chip was swiped across the door, and the entrance to the three-story building opened. Until the Firehammer Team left the supply base, this building would be exclusively used by them.

“I’m going to lie down and take a nap. I didn’t sleep well last night,” Chen Gu dropped the two large iron boxes he was carrying and jumped onto the sofa, stretching lazily.

“Rest now while you can. Tonight we officially set out, so everyone needs to be alert and energetic,” Captain Gao Feng instructed.

“Understood.”

Iron Spear Zhang Ke and Twin Crescent Blade Brothers both nodded with smiles, clearly already aware of the rules.

“Set out at night?” Luofeng was somewhat surprised.

“Luofeng, don’t you check the weather? It’s the end of August now, the hottest time of the year. Hiking with hundreds of kilograms on your back during the scorching heat? No matter how much water you carry, it won’t be enough to drink, and you’ll end up drinking river water,” Chen Gu looked at Luofeng with a smile, “It’s cooler at night, and hiking is more comfortable and saves water.”

Luofeng smiled awkwardly.

Although he had read many posts, he really hadn’t noticed this point.

“Hmm?” Luofeng’s gaze passed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, seeing figures in the supply base, “Chen Ge, look, isn’t that Zhang Zehu?” Zhang Zehu was now wrapped in bandages, and there were still faint bloodstains on the bandages, clearly indicating that he had been injured and was recuperating in the supply base.

Chen Gu also turned his head to look, “Yes, that’s Zhang Zehu!”

“Hey!” Chen Gu stood at the doorway, smirking triumphantly as he shouted, “Kai Shan Hu, what’s the matter with you? Weren’t you perfectly fine last time? How did you end up so grievously wounded in the blink of an eye?”

Zhang Zehu, who was chatting with his companion outside, couldn’t help but turn his head, immediately spotting Chen Gu, Luofeng, and the others at the entrance of the small building. He gritted his teeth in anger but then suppressed his fury, instead loudly scoffing, “Chen Da Pao, your Firehammer Squad is considered an elite squad, how come you brought a newbie? Haha, aren’t you afraid this burden will drag your entire team down to death!”

Generally, well-coordinated elite squads rarely wanted to bring in newbies.

Because even if the newbies had good physical fitness, they lacked experience and could easily falter at critical moments, endangering the seasoned members.

…

After a few rounds of mutual taunts and insults between Zhang Zehu and Chen Gu, the captain ‘Double Wind Hammer’ Gao Feng shouted a warning, and Zhang Zehu did not speak further. Although he sometimes dared to challenge Chen Gu, he dared not provoke Gao Feng! Because Gao Feng used cold weapons, while Chen Gu used firearms.

Even at the pinnacle of firearm technology, one could only attain the rank of a ‘Junior Battle General’ at best, for firearms were typically only capable of threatening ‘Junior Beast General’-level monsters.

Zhang Zehu was merely a step away from attaining the rank of ‘Battle General’.

“Damn it, I didn’t expect this Luofeng to actually join the Firehammer Squad,” Zhang Zehu muttered while walking with his teammates, “I thought he would join an ordinary warrior squad. That way, I could give him a good lesson and let him know the consequences of provoking me. But he actually joined the Firehammer Squad!”

Zhang Zehu gritted his teeth in anger.

“Tiger, is that the young man beside Chen Gu the Luofeng who made you spend 100 million?” the middle-aged man with one eye asked.

“Yes, that’s him.”

Zhang Zehu’s eyes flashed with a sinister light, “This little brat, I thought he wouldn’t dare to go too far. But after that negotiation, as soon as I turned around, the security bureau stormed into my nephew’s house! This kid actually reported directly to the security bureau. I was forced to donate 100 million in my nephew’s name to the country, earning my nephew the title of ‘One-Star Citizen.’ Even so, my nephew still had to be detained for several months.”

Thinking about his older brother’s anxiety at the time and Zhang Haobai’s terror when taken away by the security bureau, Zhang Zehu became even more furious.

Earlier, he, his older brother, and his nephew had confidently assured everything would be fine.

Although later he spent 100 million to save his nephew, Zhang Haobai still had to endure several months of detention and some hardship.

“Never mind, don’t think too much about it. A little hardship will do your nephew some good,” the one-eyed middle-aged man said with a faint smile, “You should rest well and regain your strength. Your injuries should recover in about three days. Then we can set out again and continue dealing with that old monster. Once we kill that old monster, our team will strike it rich.”

“Right,” Zhang Zehu nodded firmly, then glanced at the E6 building in the distance and sneered, “I bet this first time entering the wilderness area, this Luofeng will either die or be severely injured!”

“Haha, you really hold a grudge against him, but getting injured on the first trip into the wilderness area is inevitable,” the one-eyed middle-aged man laughed.

…

In the evening, the fully armed Firehammer Team, consisting of six members, left the supply base and entered the wilderness area.

“Chen Gu, give me one of your iron boxes,” Captain Gao Feng said.

“Haha, trouble the captain. I can carry these two boxes for a short time, but for a long time, I can’t handle it,” Chen Gu said as he handed one of the large iron boxes to Captain Gao Feng, who easily took it with one hand and slung it onto his back. This weight was nothing for Gao Feng, the strongest member of the Firehammer Team.

“Click!”

Chen Gu opened another box, revealing inside a fully silver-gray machine gun, its muzzle gleaming with metallic luster. Besides this machine gun, there were numerous bullet chains, densely packed, filling the entire large iron box. One could imagine the sheer number of bullets.

“Chen Ge, what kind of gun is this?” Luofeng asked curiously.

“M81 model, 12.7mm caliber, capable of firing between 50 to 300 rounds per minute, adjustable speed,” Chen Gu smiled proudly, “The entire gun body even contains some level-three Kelo alloy, so even if bullets are fired continuously, the barrel’s heat won’t affect the bullets’ accuracy.”

Luofeng asked curiously, “Chen Ge, why don’t you use the Vulcan cannon? Isn’t the Vulcan series of machine guns known for their power?”

“You newbie!”

Chen Gu glared.

Beside him, Iron Spear ‘Zhang Ke’ also smiled and said, “Luofeng, the Vulcan series heavy machine guns do have great power. However, the Vulcan series consumes bullets in an exaggerated manner. Up to 7,000 rounds per minute, and some high-end models even faster. Do you understand what that means? 7,000 rounds per minute. And each bullet that can threaten a low-level warrior monster usually weighs at least 50 grams! Ten thousand bullets would weigh 500 kilograms!”

“Imagine carrying 500 kilograms of bullets and hiking hundreds of kilometers. By the time you finally reach the monster, the Vulcan cannon will have fired all its bullets in just over a minute,” Zhang Ke smiled at Luofeng, “So, do you think the Vulcan series is good?”

Luofeng suddenly understood.

He really didn’t know this. Yes, the weight of the bullets was indeed a major issue. How many bullets would be needed for 7,000 rounds per minute?

“Except for the military or when specifically targeting a certain monster and transporting a large amount of bullets and Vulcan machine guns, normally people like us cannot use such machine guns. There simply aren’t enough bullets to sustain the consumption,” Chen Gu chuckled self-deprecatingly, “This time I brought a total of 10,000 bullets. The captain even helped me carry part of them.”

Chen Gu was wrapped in bullet chains, holding the machine gun in his hand, walking alongside Luofeng in the central position of the team, protected by others.

The Twin Crescent Blade Brothers were at the forefront of the team.

Captain Gao Feng and Zhang Ke were at the rear.

“We will follow this highway, and in about three days, we will reach our destination—the 0201 County City,” Captain Gao Feng said. Luofeng couldn’t help but look at the highway in front of him. For people living in the base city, highways only existed in legends.

The highway beneath their feet was already in a state of disrepair, with several large cracks on the surface.

Looking ahead, the surface of this long highway was littered with broken or already shattered cars, trucks, and other vehicles. Even some broken tires were scattered around. Occasionally, blackened bloodstains could be seen on the ground.

“Let’s go!”

The reddish glow of the setting sun illuminated this long-abandoned and neglected highway, which had not been maintained for decades. The Firehammer Team, consisting of six members, was steadily advancing along this highway.

“Roar~~”

“Wolf~~”

From the fields and ruined villages on both sides of the highway came the roars of monsters. Luofeng could even see the silhouettes of many monsters. The other five members of the Firehammer Team were relaxed, but Luofeng dared not let his guard down for a moment. He couldn’t relax… because he could see monsters everywhere.

“Hey, Luofeng, ahead there’s a one-horned wild boar between G-level and F-level. It’s yours,” Captain Gao Feng’s voice rang out, “This is your first battle in the wilderness area!”