Chapter 4.1 – Dilemma
Su could feel that Enzo’s body was becoming heavier and heavier, and a string of blood would fly out from behind him from time to time. Before leaving Pendulum City, Su directly carried him on his back and shouted, “Treat your wounds first!”
Enzo didn’t show any objection, because he had already lost quite a bit of blood and as such became a bit dizzy. He used his right hand to wrap up his wounds, and then he smeared some medicine that could stimulate his body’s potential before jumping off from Su’s back and continuing to run. Even though he needed Su’s assistance, this would lessen the burden on Su by quite a bit.
The route Su selected was rather ingenious. They winded through the region filled with buildings to leave the city. The sounds of cannons continuously rumbled, and buildings fell one after another. The alley of this region was truly a bit too narrow for the Blue Scorpion tanks, and there were many places where they had no choice but to use the tanks to open up a path. When they rushed out from Pendulum City, Su and Enzo were already ten kilometers away. Right when the Blue Scorpion troops were at a loss for what to do, several streaks of smoke that came from explosions could be seen. These were traces of the Blue Scorpion’s anti-infantry landmines’ explosions.
The five tanks immediately looked like houseflies that saw blood and rushed towards the explosion point with rumbling sounds. A drone rose from the tanks, but this time, the Blue Scorpions clearly learned their lesson from last time. The drone flew close to the clouds full of radiation.
Even though the tanks already left the city, the rumbling sounds within Pendulum City had yet to end. Soon after, the mecha that was six meters in height appeared within the building complex, its six caterpillar track thrusters continuously rising and falling. It was truly advancing in a walking manner! When a one-story house appeared before its path, it just directly stepped over the roof of the house. Once it exited the city, the continuous tracks began to move, and it began to advance with rumbling sounds. Its speed on level ground wasn’t as fast as a tank, but it could move through practically any type of terrain. Its mobility on the battlefield was far greater than that of an ordinary tank.
The tanks ahead decreased their speed, waiting for the caterpillar track style mecha to catch up. Then, the six war machines lined up together before heading out while releasing great noise. The drone continuously flew around four to five kilometers in front of them, and from the information it sent back, there seemed to be a large-scale inhabited region ahead. The two individuals that fled from Pendulum City were currently speeding towards the inhabited area. As for the twenty or so humans the life detector picked up scattered ahead, none of them paid much attention to them.
During the process of pursuit, Blue Scorpion’s commander was quite astonished at the stamina of the two individuals who were fleeing in disarray. However, there were all types of roaches and insects crawling in the wilderness, so it wasn’t unusual for something like this to show up.
After chasing for more than ten kilometers, the two insects’ speed clearly slowed down. The Blue Scorpion commander also passed the order for their speed to decrease a bit, because only then would they be able to find the insects’ nest or ambush. Insects were insects, so no matter how meticulously they planned out their ambush, they were just like moths flying into a flame. They could then catch everything in one net instead of seeking them out one by one.
However, even though the tanks’ speed decreased, the caterpillar track mecha did not reduce its speed. It sent back a string of inquiry towards the command vehicle before surpassing the tanks. Following the information sent back by the drone, it headed out into the wilderness in pursuit alone.
Within the command vehicle, the slender Blue Scorpion commander continuously gave out several orders for the mecha to follow the troop’s movements. However, the caterpillar track mecha did not pay attention to his orders and continued with its highest speed in pursuit. The commander was so angry he cursed out madly, but there was nothing he could do. His level of authority was the same as that of the caterpillar track mecha, so he couldn’t give any orders to this fellow. After swearing a few times at the mecha, he then began to curse his superiors for sending a fellow like this over without giving him the highest level of authority. He cursed for several minutes, and only when his throat went dry and he couldn’t go on did he stop.
There were three other occupants in the command vehicle, and they each controlled different types of systems. Their faces didn’t carry the slightest bit of expression and they concentrated their attention completely on the screens in front of them. It was as if they didn’t hear the commander’s voice at all.
Su was hidden below a slope of earth and used his tactical scope to look at the mecha that was rumbling over. The distance between himself and the mecha seemed to be over ten kilometers, and under this great of a distance, the tactical scope’s efficacy was far greater than his improved sight’s. After watching for a few seconds, Su said, “This fellow seems to possess its own way of thinking.”
Enzo’s voice sounded from his earpiece. “It seems like it is a high level artificial intelligence. However, no matter how high the level of artificial intelligence it is, it can’t be greater than a human brain.”
Su didn’t take Enzo’s words that clearly contained prejudice to heart. What he was worried most about was the power of the mecha. When he saw the alloy armor covering his torso, Su was truly quite worried whether or not those ‘bronze dragon’ guided missiles would be able to get rid of such a large fellow.
“Attention! All shooters, switch the bronze dragon guided missiles to homing mode. The targets are the tanks in the rear. Repeat, targets are the tanks in the rear.” Enzo’s voice not only sounded within Su’s earpiece, it also sounded within Li, Li Gaolei, and Kane’s earpieces.
Su looked at the drone that circled about in the sky. After pressing lightly on the switch of the lens, a laser immediately shot out towards the drone. Shortly after, a row of numbers lit up in the scope’ field of view: 1510, 1490, 1460, 1507…
“Do you need me to get rid of that drone?” Su asked.
“There are 1500 meters between the two of you!” Enzo was clearly observing the drone as well. In a rather uncertain voice, he asked, “Do you think you can do it? This is something only a fifth level sniping specialist can accomplish!”
“We can give it a try. My luck today doesn’t seem to be that bad.” Su replied.
“Fine, when my guided missiles are released later, you should try to get rid of that fellow!” Enzo gave his reply. He then used the channel for the entire troop and sent the order to start the battle. “Prepare for battle! All troops move as planned!”
The mecha quickly entered the three kilometer region planned in advance. It seemed to have sensed something and slowed down its speed. Its eight electronic eyes continuously flickered as it scanned its surroundings. The drone in the sky seemed to have received an order, and its speed suddenly increased as it flew past various ruins and houses. The detector that emerged from its belly continuously rotated about, sweeping the terrain below for signs of life.
The caterpillar track mecha seemed to have heard a silent alarm, and its head suddenly turned around, its eight eyes locking onto a yellow blaze that was suddenly released from two kilometers away. A guided missile rose from some houses, and only after rising several dozen meters did it turn around. It released dazzling flames, and then slowly flew towards the caterpillar track mecha.
