Chapter 371: Soft Creek Firewood, Iron Horses and Frozen Rivers

The storm is coming.

But it came, so what does it have to do with me?

At the end of the rainy season, the ocean currents on the endless sea were like boiling water. Under the blowing of the strong wind, they raged and swept, and massive amounts of rainfall poured down, covering every inch of the sea and land.

In this kind of terrible weather, even a dog wouldn't want to go out.

Outside, it was pouring rain, and the sound of the waves on the distant coast was noisy, but inside the room, it was quiet.

Amidst the whistling strong wind, bean-sized raindrops smashed densely against the window, and under the soft light, Ji Jue held an enamel mug waiting to brew tea, lying on the sofa with his feet up, flipping through the Hanxiang Mirror leisurely.

With the materials gradually prepared, he seized the time to study the secret transmissions of Chunjun and Panying.

Even though he had already memorized them by heart, by verifying them against each other and learning from each other, he could occasionally have insights and progress.

Hey, this is life!

Soft creek firewood, warm felt, Isis and I won't go out!

"Sir, you're the only one not going out, right?"

A certain Workshop Spirit, who needed to manage many affairs of Xinquan, maintain monitoring, supervise the increasingly large underground workshop, and manage hundreds of modified employees, while numbly comparing today's production KPI, skillfully electrocuted employees trying to play dead and slack off, and was also finishing up a safety accident this morning...

Just ten minutes ago, a power facility overloaded and crashed. Under the chain reaction, another substation also became unsustainable. A maintenance team is being organized to set off immediately. Personnel review is underway. Employee No. 1098 has worked overtime for more than six hours, showing hidden dangers such as lack of concentration. Application denied. Emergency deployment of standby rest personnel...

At the same time, in order to maintain the power supply of Coastal Industry, the load of the other six power supply facilities rose, already exceeding the margin.

Affected by the rainy season, today's vegetable supply has a gap. Temporarily reduce the number of dishes and send a fleet to purchase nearby. Negotiations with suppliers have been completed, prepaid... dispatch... long-term supply adjustment... Workshop No. 8 caught fire, excluding human causes, emergency clearing, comprehensive monitoring... Inside the workshop, the pre-processing of the fourth batch of materials is underway... Kitchen hot water is ready, switched to heat preservation, tea soaking time...

And besides that, the big volume is the Haizhou Cleanup Plan, Team 1 has casualties, personnel changes, infirmary emergency rescue link started...

Countless things are complex and multifaceted, coming one after another. The light in the Four-Phase Spiritual Quality Fire Calculation Circuit flickered, and strings of spark-like colors emerged and burst from the spiritual quality crystals.

A large number of things that would cause a cerebral hemorrhage in ordinary people in an instant were solved in an orderly and step-by-step manner under the multi-threaded processing of the Workshop Spirit.

At this moment, in the midst of being busy, when she looked back again and heard the urging sound of "Isis, isn't the tea brewed yet?", she suddenly had the urge to ignite the gas and end it all.

"Sir?"

Isis's projection lifted her skirt and bowed, greeting respectfully.

"Hm?" Ji Jue was watching a funny short video sent by Ye Chun, giggling, and turned back to ask: "Isis, have you seen this?

Come and see this cat..."

Isis sincerely pleaded, "Can you please go die?"

She paused and added: "That cat can be taken along too."

"What did this cat do wrong?"

Ji Jue was shocked.

"It doesn't matter if the cat dies or not, as long as you die."

Isis warned indifferently: "Or you can take the initiative to move your noble butt, climb up to the kitchen, pour the hot water into your mouth, along with the tea leaves, and end this unsightly ugliness as soon as possible."

"Alright, alright."

Ji Jue climbed up helplessly, yawning, poured the hot water into the kettle, and asked in passing: "Is lunch ready? What are we eating? If we don't go buy vegetables, it'll be too late, right?"

"We don't need vegetables for lunch today." Isis smiled.

"But there isn't enough meat, right?"

"We don't need meat either."

Isis said: "You can choose to eat your favorite bullets, or lift your pair of hands that should have built more, and order takeout for yourself!"

"Hey, rebellious period."

Ji Jue shook his head, sighed, and looked at the temporarily stopped heavy rain outside the window. He wouldn't eat at home at noon.

He flipped through the chat software group. The people in the North Mountain area were still working overtime in the high seas to finish up, so he couldn't count on them, but he could go to the teacher's workshop. Anyway, it was just a few steps away, not far.

Although the teacher hadn't finished yet, it didn't matter.

He could call Ye Chun to stir-fry two dishes for himself!

This could also be considered her contribution to the progress of alchemy, right?

BOOM!!!

Above the gloomy sky, chaotic electric light flashed without warning.

The sky thundered in anger.

Under the same gloomy sky and heavy rain, thunder resounded in the wilderness. Thick smoke rolled and rose into the sky, and the fierce fire that the rain couldn't extinguish spread on the hilltop along with the roar.

The firepower of those few machine guns couldn't resist the enemy's attack at all.

Under the bombardment of grenade launchers, the towering walls of the Pan Mountain Stronghold collapsed with a bang, wailing continued, and broken limbs flew into the sky, falling into the mud along with blood.

Amidst the miserable wind and rain, it was a scene of the end of the world.

The sound of cannons roared continuously.

Ignoring the wailing and begging, the gunner operating the grenade launcher reloaded, fired, reloaded, and fired again with an expressionless face, until after firing ten rounds, the heavily guarded Pan Mountain Stronghold turned into a riddled shell in the bombardment.

"About enough."

On the armored vehicle, Lu Feng in the passenger seat flicked the cigarette butt out the window and picked up the walkie-talkie: "All units enter, execute cleanup__"

Thus, in the rain and fog, pairs of ferocious scarlet eyes lit up.

Amidst the sharp clanging friction, those steel giants crouching on the ground, bathing in the rain, slowly stood up. The heavy exoskeleton covered in bullet holes was pitch black, with only a Coastal Industry spray-paint logo, as bleak as bone.

The moment the fiery red signal flare rose to the sky, giant bulletproof shields were raised like iron walls, pushing forward fiercely, just like iron horses and frozen rivers galloping in a nightmare, rushing forward!

"Drop your guns and surrender, kneel and you won't be killed————"

In the gaps between the roar and gunfire, the sharp, noisy sound from the giant speakers outside the Pan Mountain Stronghold exploded suddenly, repeating endlessly.

But at the same time, countless drones had already ejected and flown out from the control vehicle like a swarm of bees, rushing into the stronghold. The cameras scanned contemptuously, sweeping over one threat target after another, marking, pinpointing, and transmitting.

Immediately, on the head screen of the exoskeleton, in the images transmitted by the cameras, human figures hidden in the stronghold emerged, and threat targets holding firearms were highlighted in red.

There was no need to break through the heavy encirclement at all. Through the walls covered in cracks, the arms of the heavy power armor were raised, the anchor-type armor-piercing guns were loaded, locked, and the triggers were pulled.

Immediately after, in the infrared scanning scene, the red-hot metal brazing had already pierced the wall, entered the body, and pulled the pierced human figure along, nailing it into the wall.

Screams were endless.

The destructive advance and slaughter had just begun!

Under the detection and locking of the advance drones, it was like having a heavenly eye, pushing forward all the way.

Transmission and relay of signals, calculation and analysis of high-threat identification, coupling and conversion between different protocols, aiming assistance and attack warning of exoskeletons, coordination and bombardment of grenade launchers and rockets...

Everything was coordinated seamlessly and naturally.

In the procurement of the Federation military, the terrifying effect that even the collaborative combat system of a single team costing 41 million couldn't compare to had already been completely completed under the wonderful effect brought by the Mechanical God, and even far exceeded it.

Even if it was a completely mixed-and-matched accessory, different brands of chips and specifications of motherboards, and even hundreds or thousands of different protocols and verifications and interactions between different systems, they were all ignored.

As long as the prototype ran through the process once under the assistance of the Mechanical God, it would completely merge into one, as if it were born this way. Later, just mass-produce it and maintain the server regularly.

Everything at this moment, for all Coastal members, was less like combat and more like a game, even simpler than an FPS game.

There was no need to care about the bloodline; the composite armor was enough to ignore ordinary bullets, and the alloy giant shield in hand was even enough to resist the impact of close-range explosions and armor-piercing shells.

It even came with wall-piercing and auto-aim.

Where had the cannon fodder who could only struggle in the trenches in the past ever had such a monstrous treatment? Sitting in the armor and pressing a button, the salary was actually in hand?

It even included special combat allowances, weather subsidies, and double wages for overtime!

One by one, they were like mad dogs out of a cage, rushing around, fighting desperately. Unless the system prompted that the power was insufficient or the damage was too heavy, they wouldn't be afraid at all.

And the opponents who had bad luck and were matched against them could only cry and scream, waiting to die as soon as possible.

They couldn't even see people, and were swept into a mess directly through the wall.

Stubborn resistance was just futile.

But no one dared to drop their weapons, and no one wanted to give up resistance. Everyone didn't not believe in Coastal's character, but was too clear about Coastal's methods...

According to Coastal's rules, in the current Pan Mountain Stronghold, except for the reserve food and goods in the dungeon, everyone deserved to die, and even if they wanted to die, they couldn't.

As long as the other side used the technology they used to torture their group of goods and toys on themselves, they would rather die cleanly!

The wailing and screaming at this moment was just a continuation of what they had done countless times in the past, and no one would be shaken by tears, and no one would hesitate because of begging.

Die!

The combat members faithfully executed Ji Jue's orders—all traitors who cooperated with the Water Ghosts, all strongholds that treated people as goods, and all bandit gangs that didn't treat people as people, all had to die!

Those who resisted die!

Those who didn't resist were hung up and hung to death!

First it was Hefang, then it was Tianning, followed by Shanmen. By the time they killed all the way in the wilderness and killed all the way to the Taiyin River, it had already been a week.

A whole week of time, a week of slaughter!

In these seven days, more people died in the wilderness of Haizhou than in the five or six years combined when the Water Ghosts raided before!

Hefang Town, once one of the largest strongholds in the wilderness, had been completely dismantled into ruins.

It had been raining for seven days, but seven days of heavy rain couldn't wash away the blood in the ruins. The leaders hung on the wind turbines had already rotted, but no one dared to take them down.

Even if someone occasionally passed by and saw the strange shadow swaying in the wind, they would lower their heads like seeing a ghost, pretending not to see it.

Mao Fa-raising.

From the day the Water Ghosts were wiped out, Xinquan's actions began in full swing.

This was revenge, naked revenge. Those who had had crooked thoughts about Xinquan, those who wanted to add insult to injury, or those who were waiting to share a piece of the pie, were all ground to dust by Ji Jue according to the order of the list!

Those not on the list were also kicked a few times, given two big slaps, and finally spat on before leaving!

Who told you to look annoying?

Don't think I don't know what kind of business you're doing in private; keep your tails tucked tight for me, don't let me catch any loose ends!

Just like this, under the banner of eliminating harm for the people, holding the list and ironclad evidence handed over by the Water Ghosts, Coastal's combat troops and Slan's Returning Knights plowed from east to west, and from south to north, combing through the entire Haizhou, digging out countless skeletons and blood stains.

This time, even those backers and financiers behind the scenes seemed to have evaporated into thin air, disappearing without a trace.

Dare not speak.

Letting Ji Jue run rampant.

Otherwise?

Otherwise, look at who is sitting on his left and right.

On the left is the Security Bureau, on the right is the Wilderness Market, and sitting behind is Lu Yingyue, the current Town Guardian of Haizhou...

Everyone is doing things for money, not wanting to die, why bother?

As for the bounties of the resentful and the assassinations of the fish that slipped through the net, laugh to death, the bounty that Shang Tongwen hung on Ji Jue's forehead before he died is still shining brightly. Look at who got it?

Do you think I care?

Now Ji Jue's style has made it clear that he doesn't care about the consequences, doesn't care about money, doesn't care about any interests and cooperation.

I only care if you die or not!

So, may I ask why you haven't died yet? Are you unwilling?

Then I'll help you!

As of now, those with connections can take refuge in the city, and those who run fast can also flee to other places, but for those garbage that can't be washed clean and are as smelly as a cesspool, no one will care anymore.

"No fun, no fun..."

Amidst the roar of artillery fire, on the armored vehicle outside the Pan Mountain Stronghold, Lu Feng lazily dropped one hand out the window, flicked the cigarette ash, and yawned in boredom.

Really, he couldn't get excited.

The scenes that used to make people's blood boil and hearts pound had now become incredibly dull.

It was as if even the most elite and brave twenty-something young man would one day become a fishing old man in his forties or fifties.

Starting to study fishing, playing with beads, calligraphy, painting, calling it self-cultivation, futilely avoiding the "public grain" every night...

Really, he couldn't get excited.

He always felt like something was missing.

Clearly, after staying at home for so long, it was a long-lost big scene, but he couldn't get his spirits up. Clearly, he drove the armor again, and even drove the Dragon Mountain once, but didn't feel any satisfaction.

Instead, he became increasingly hungry and thirsty.

Always feeling a lack, always feeling it wasn't enough...

"Damn, bad!"

Lu Feng pinched his chin and muttered to himself: "Could I be ED? That's not right, I'm only in my thirties..."

In a daze, his thinking began to slide uncontrollably, gradually becoming terrified.

Until, amidst the loud noise, he came back to his senses.

BOOM!!!

The shattering loud noise rang out from the very center of the Pan Mountain Stronghold, smoke rose, the sound of steel twisting and breaking spread, and "wails for help" came from the channel.

On the screen, a figure with astonishing heat was marked.

"Die! All of you die! Damn it, I————"

Amidst the roar and howl, the burly man rushed out of the secret room, thick hair growing all over his body in an instant, his face changing like a wild beast.

As dose after dose of stimulants and banned drugs were pumped into his blood vessels, a metallic luster emerged from his thick, coarse hair, and he expanded even further.

Like a crazed giant ape, he pulled a broken exoskeleton, throwing it repeatedly, until blood plasma sprayed out from the deformed steel.

The surrounding combat team also flew backward, hurriedly retreating.

A trapped beast fighting.

He had nowhere to run.

When retreating through the secret passage, he smelled the scent of the Returning Knights blocking the other end in time. In fear, he had to abandon his subordinates and turn back.

He luckily escaped the trap of the Returning Knights, but after turning back, there was nowhere to go in the current Pan Mountain Stronghold.

He could only struggle on his deathbed.

Completely crazy!

"All units alert, high-risk target appears! A jackal! Repeat, a jackal!" A hoarse voice came from the channel: "Team 2 prepare to retreat, Team 3 and Team 4 cover each other, firepower suppression..."

The rear compartment of the armored vehicle opened suddenly, revealing the power armor that had long been repaired and maintained. Following Lu Feng's operation, the metal closed, and the eyes lit up.

Machine self-check completed, target locked.

And then, combat begins!

"Blackie, give me cover!"

Lu Feng twisted his neck and raised his eyes: "Finally something exciting came!"

When the sniper who had been crouching for a long time in the torrent on the right mountain pulled the trigger, the armor-piercing bullet with a terrifying caliber flew through the air.

In the fine rain, the azure light flashed and disappeared, electromagnetic ejection!

In an instant, it rushed to the sky from a standstill, ignoring that terrifying G-force acceleration. The power armor that deployed auxiliary wings started the steering auxiliary engine, turning freely, and then immediately, the thrust increased sharply!

From the mid-air of tens of meters above, it swooped down!

Under Yixi's maintenance warning, he did not choose the Meteor Maneuver for a moment of thrill, but instead performed a low-altitude flight that was even more exaggerated and dangerous than that!

In just a few seconds, the power armor that had increased its speed to over 300 kilometers per hour accelerated again. When the bleak Mach ring rose late, it could no longer see its trace, only a pale blue flame tail winding forward, galloping out!

"I fuck, Old Lu, take it easy!" Blackie, who was observing, was stunned, dumbfounded, "Are you looking for death!"

In the distance of only tens of centimeters from the ground, the armor thrust was fully open, spraying and galloping. A little interference airflow would cause it to stall or lose control. Even if it stumbled, the unstable armor would spin into a destructive small top, like a centrifuge, stirring the knights inside into a pile of rotten mud.

But Lu Feng was like a fish in water, whistling excitedly.

Eyes bloodshot.

Flame light flickered, steel soared.

In a short instant, that line of steeply changing flame light had already rushed into the Pan Mountain Stronghold, passing through the broken streets and buildings like a flying bird, turning smoothly between the broken walls and ruins.

When the roar came late, everything was already too late.

The shell giant ape that had blocked the armor-piercing bullet in a hurry looked back in astonishment, only to see a scarlet flash enlarging rapidly from its pupils—thermal blade axe, charging completed!

In an instant, they brushed past each other, steel and bone collided, and the result was both sides suffering.

The thermal blade axe that had slipped out of his hand wedged into the skull instantly, covered in cracks, and exploded with a bang.

And within just a few dozen meters, that galloping armor suddenly turned direction, laughing wildly, and the kinetic energy piercing spear in the other hand had already stabbed out fiercely!

The roar of the explosion erupted from the moment the spearhead and the armor touched.

The scarlet long spear, which was as thin as a needle compared to the giant ape's body, broke through the bamboo, piercing inward from under the skin on the other side, and broke.

When the sin-tainted Chosen one, who was in pain, wanted to look back, it was already too late.

A steel hand stretched out roughly, smashing onto his forehead, and immediately after, six mechanical hands tightened, wedging into the skull.

The sound of cervical spine dislocation and steel breaking rang out at the same time.

In the momentary darkness, the head had already been pressed into the broken ground, but there was no time to react... because of the full operation of the engine, it didn't stop at all!

Even, overload push!

"Pipi Shrimp, let's go!"

Lu Feng grinned wildly, galloping again, pushing the head in his hand, sticking closely to the earth again and again, plowing a straight path out of the ruins of the Pan Mountain Stronghold.

Open walls when meeting walls, hit buildings when meeting buildings.

From this end to the other, and from the other end back to this end!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The blood color was evenly smeared from the rolled-up cement ground, along with brain matter and bone fragments, hard to distinguish.

But clearly, more than half of the head along with the brain had been evenly ground flat, but the shell giant ape was still struggling crazily, wanting to break free again.

Too late.

SNAP!

Under Lu Feng's instruction, dozens of anchor-type armor-piercing guns had been locked, and the triggers were pulled instantly. The huge body was tied into a pile of rotten meat like a hedgehog.

The headless broken body struggled, wanting to climb up.

But immediately after, Lu Feng behind him had already grabbed his shoulder, kicked out fiercely, and stepped the thigh into two halves from the middle.

Two military knives flew out from the leg ejection sheath, fell into his hands, and wedged directly into the spine and heart, pinning him firmly to the ground.

Following closely, the heavy exoskeleton soldiers who had surrounded him had already rushed up.

Following the standardized high-risk target suppression process, they pulled out cold, silver-shining mechanical nails from the weapon box equipped by the team and pierced them into the vital points without hesitation.

Immediately after, amidst the operation and suppression of solid-state alchemy, the blockade matrix.

On the ground, the incomplete Chosen one twitched violently.

"Ah ah ah, I want to kill you, I want to... kill... kill... gu..."

And when the flesh twitched and squirmed, the regrown head restored its eyes and vision, and finally saw Lu Feng who had been waiting for him for who knows how long.

And behind him, the soldiers lined up in a long queue.

Everyone took off their helmets and looked at him with full expectation, picking up electric batons, hammers, and axes, patting their palms one by one.

Eager to try.

"I... I..."

That face shrouded in shadow stiffened on the spot, twitched once, and again, actually squeezing out a trace of fawning and begging: "Kill, kill me..."

"Shh————"

Lu Feng raised his finger, gently approaching the other party's lips, comforting: "Don't be afraid, our Coastal Industry is a serious enterprise, how could we kill people and set fires casually?"

Saying this, he raised his hand, took the electric baton that was crackling and emitting blue light from his subordinate's hand, and finally grinned: "Rest assured, we are still waiting to help you, 're-make a person'."

BOOM!!!

The miserable thunder rang out from above the sky, swallowing all wails.

And then, in the falling rain, there were continuous dull "bang" sounds, mixed with the sound of breaking and sobbing, endless.

And by the time Ji Jue received the goods in Xinquan, it was already the next day.

He scratched his hair for a long time, unable to understand.

What the hell is this pile of stuff in the box that looks like it's used to make fish-ball beef balls?

And, where is my scheduled new employee?! ===== CHAPTER 372 =====