"How is this possible? A mecha?!" Black Wolf exclaimed, his heart sinking like a stone. His shock stemmed not merely from the sudden appearance of the machine, but from its actions. If his judgment was correct, it was actively protecting his designated target. "Has the mecha been compromised? Could they have already obtained the control card?"
The Black Wolf Mercenaries and Fire Fox Syndicate troops, poised to launch another assault, faltered as the mecha rose from behind the massive truck. Their advance halted, faces etched with bewilderment and confusion.
From his observation post not far away, Shang Jieming, the Fire Fox Syndicate executive, felt his eyes widen in disbelief, his complexion turning ashen. He was utterly confounded. How could the mecha be operational? What had transpired? Had Miss Lan Mei's control card been stolen by the enemy?
A torrent of questions flooded Shang Jieming's mind. He immediately shifted his gaze to Miss Lan Mei, standing mere meters away, and saw that she too seemed frozen in profound shock.
Indeed, Lan Mei was equally astounded. The card controlling the RX009 Land Combat Mecha was still firmly in her grasp. Yet, the enemy had activated the mecha without it, and from the moment she had seen the shadow enter the cockpit to its activation, less than twenty seconds had passed. The mecha's authentication system was protected by dozens of high-level security protocols, a top-secret Imperial technology. How could anyone bypass it in mere seconds? Unless… they possessed an identical control card?
"Miss Lan Mei, what in blazes is happening?" Shang Jieming demanded, striding quickly to her side, his voice thick with confusion.
Lan Mei regained a sliver of composure, showing him the pale gray control card in her hand. "The card is with me," she stated, her tone grave. "I have no explanation for this."
"You're suggesting… they cracked the authentication system?!" Shang Jieming's face contorted in disbelief. "That's… impossible…"
While the mercenaries and syndicate troops stood momentarily stunned, the RX009 mecha behind the truck rose to its full height and swiftly raised its mechanical right arm.
The large-caliber rotary cannon mounted on its arm swung towards them, its multiple barrels a promise of oblivion.
Confronted by the weapon's immense maw, the attackers instantly understood their peril. Their faces drained of color as they spun around in a desperate scramble for safety. But for most, it was already too late. The rotary cannon roared to life.
Brrrrrrrrt!
In an instant, a storm of high-caliber rounds erupted from the cannon, raining down upon the Black Wolf Mercenaries and Fire Fox troops like metallic hail.
Carnage ensued.
In the span of a breath, the once-dominant assault force crumbled. The front ranks were scythed down, collapsing into expanding pools of crimson. None of the bodies remained intact; several were utterly pulverized by the devastating barrage.
After the initial burst, the mecha's movements paused almost imperceptibly. Its right arm pivoted, aiming the rotary cannon towards a dozen dark figures on a nearby slope. Another sustained burst of fire lasted several seconds, hundreds of rounds hurtling towards the shadows with terrifying speed.
"Ah—!"
As the gunfire subsided, more than half of the figures lay motionless, their agonized cries echoing faintly. These were the flanking troops Shang Jieming had dispatched, eliminated before they could complete their maneuver.
Inside the cockpit, Bai Hao watched the scenes unfold on the panoramic screen, a sense of awe cutting through his tension. The raw power of mecha combat was staggering. Even this basic rotary cannon was devastatingly effective; two short bursts had claimed nearly thirty lives.
"Brother, this mecha is so weak!" Nana's voice, tinged with complaint, came through the comms system. "Aside from the rotary cannon, which has ample ammunition, there's only one armor-piercing shell left. The energy weapons are completely drained, the shield is below twenty percent, and it seems it hasn't been properly maintained for a long time. Many components show significant wear."
A wry smile touched Bai Hao's lips. They had, after all, commandeered this machine. "Probably no skilled mechanics available for upkeep," he reasoned. "But it should be more than sufficient to handle the enemies here."
"Mmm-hmm!" Nana acknowledged. Then she asked, "Shall we eliminate them all?"
Bai Hao's expression hardened. The camp held over a hundred people. But the memory of the fallen members of the Earth Dragon Squad flashed before his eyes, a cold glint sharpening his gaze. "Yes," he replied, his voice firm and resolute. "Wipe them out."
"Okay, Brother! I'll show them what Nana can do!"
No sooner had she spoken than the mecha surged forward, charging towards the main camp. The rotary cannon on its right arm erupted once more in a frenzy of fire.
When the mecha had first opened fire, panic had instantly seized the Black Wolf and Fire Fox forces. They broke ranks, scattering in a chaotic, desperate retreat, fully aware their conventional weapons were useless against the armored behemoth.
The remaining members of the Black Dragon Gang, who had been lurking at the rear, watched in confusion as their allies fled. Their bewilderment lasted only until they witnessed the Fire Fox Syndicate's own mecha turning its weapons on its supposed allies. Understanding dawned, followed by sheer terror.
The staccato roar of the rotary cannon spat bullets that reaped lives like a demented harvest.
Seeing this, the Black Dragon members hesitated no longer, joining the frantic stampede for survival.
"What the hell is wrong with the Fire Fox mecha? Why is it shooting its own people?" one gang member yelled as he ran, utterly perplexed.
"Damned if I know! We need to warn Seventh Master! Run! We can't fight that thing!"
"Warn him? Save yourself! Oh gods, it's coming this way!"
…
In a corner at the edge of the camp, Shang Jieming's face was a mask of despair. He watched as the mecha methodically harvested the lives of his Fire Fox members, a bitter irony twisting inside him. Moments ago, he had been congratulating himself on his tactical maneuvers. Now, his syndicate was suffering the heaviest losses, and the instrument of their destruction was the very mecha he had boasted about, now turned into a tool of ruthless slaughter for the enemy.
"Miss Lan Mei, we must leave! Now!" Shang Jieming urged.
Standing beside him, Lan Mei's eyes flickered with complex emotions. The deaths of the syndicate members meant little to her. What unsettled her was the mecha's performance. Judging by its fluid, efficient, and decisive movements, the pilot's skill was formidable—far from clumsy. It was clean, professional, without a single wasted motion. This was no amateur. The pilot's skill level undoubtedly surpassed her own Three-Star Mech Pilot rating, likely reaching the advanced stellar tier.
Hearing Shang Jieming's plea, Lan Mei gave a slight, silent nod.
Quickly, surrounded by a dozen remaining Fire Fox guards, Shang Jieming and Lan Mei attempted to slip away from the camp. But before they could reach the perimeter, a thunderous roar sounded behind them. The carnage-wreaking mecha had locked onto their escape attempt.
Brrrrt!
The mecha's right arm lifted slightly. The rotary cannon targeted the fleeing group and unleashed another hail of hundreds of rounds.
In the blink of an eye, most of the group fell. Shang Jieming, the Fire Fox executive, took several rounds; his head exploded like a ripe melon. Only two or three managed to escape the deadly cone of fire.
Inside the cockpit, Bai Hao's face remained impassive. He observed the bloody scene on the screen, his inner calm unbroken. Having followed the Earth Dragon Squad in clearing the three mining sites, he had witnessed similar horrors. Moreover, a deep-seated conviction held that these individuals deserved their fate. They had to pay the price for killing his squadmates. This was the Earth Dragon Squad's retribution. This was their wrath.
"This area is clear. Let's move to the next," Bai Hao said, a thread of cold finality in his voice.
The mecha pivoted, its heavy frame crushing the earth as it charged towards the camps of the Black Wolf Mercenaries and the Black Dragon Gang.
By now, Black Wolf himself had stowed his Sniper God-95 rifle and was directing his mercenaries in a rapid withdrawal. Seeing the mecha turn its attention towards them, his heart sank. "Scatter!" he bellowed before sprinting towards the wooded slopes beyond the camp. Against a mecha, resistance was futile. Their only hope was to emulate the Earth Dragon Squad's earlier tactic: vanish into the terrain.
One-Eyed Qi Qingtian and Shi Kai followed not far behind the mecha, their own weapons steadily firing. Under the overwhelming assault of the mecha, the enemy's will to fight had shattered, leaving them as easy prey. The two veterans picked off stragglers with precise shots, efficiently combing through the aftermath. Any wounded they found were swiftly and mercilessly dispatched with a final bullet.
As the mecha plowed into the combined camp of the Black Dragon Gang and Black Wolf Mercenaries, the slaughter repeated itself. The rotary cannon spoke almost continuously, its voice a constant, deafening roar of expended brass and death.
The Black Dragon Gang members fled in blind panic. The wounded, left behind in tents from the earlier fight with the Earth Dragon Squad, were utterly abandoned. Some managed to crawl out, desperate to escape the inferno, only to be cut down by the sweeping fire. The gang's sixth-in-command, severely wounded earlier, didn't even make it out of his tent before rotary cannon fire shredded the canvas and him along with it.
The Black Wolf Mercenaries, under their leader's sharp command, had disengaged faster. While the mecha was occupied with the Fire Fox camp, Black Wolf had organized a swift retreat, splitting his force into small teams that melted into the surrounding山林 (wooded hills). At least a dozen managed to escape into the relative safety of the trees, Black Wolf among them.
The cacophony of gunfire and screams of agony slowly subsided.
Half an hour later, the battle for the valley was finally over. A profound, eerie silence descended once more.
The valley camp was a scene of utter devastation, littered with over a hundred corpses. Most were mutilated beyond recognition, torn apart by the rotary cannon. The ground was saturated with vivid red blood, painting a visceral picture of a personal hell on earth.