Chapter 185 - 169: Great Victory at Stone Ridge Mountain (Part 3)

Bowen: The Wanderers are attacking, and their firepower is strong. My men were gone in an instant! Send more reinforcements!

Meredith Stout: Are you saying they still have supplies?

Bowen: How would I know— but I’m sure there are no supplies left in Stone Ridge Mountain. I moved everything out long ago.

Bowen: Either they still have their own stockpile, or there’s a mole among your people.

Bowen: To be honest, I deliberately had that idiot squat in Stone Ridge Mountain, just in case this happened.

Bowen: You see now, the Wanderers always find a way to pull some tricks—send more reinforcements, or get there yourself.

Meredith Stout: They entered the tunnel?

Bowen: They entered the tunnel.

Communication cut off—Stout had only one thought.

Tricks? How elaborate could they be?

The entire Night City was now under semi-martial law, anyone selling arms could be traced—so what if the Wanderers got some ammo supplies?

If they’re coming out in full force, they can’t blame anyone but themselves for getting caught entirely.

In the Evil Land, the Military Technology Forces started mobilizing; Stout watched the tactical map on her office screen.

An entire mechanized infantry platoon was surrounding the outlet of Stone Ridge Mountain’s tunnel.

Yes, the commotion the Wanderers caused was indeed surprising to her.

But Military Technology was founded on warfare—so what if they had a few more guns or fitted a few heavy machine guns on their cars, at best qualifying as makeshift infantry fighting vehicles?

What difference would they make in front of real armored infantry fighting vehicles?

The last rays of sunlight disappeared over the Evil Land, which began to cool down.

Military Technology would launch an attack.

Meredith Stout: "Target location at Stone Ridge Mountain’s abandoned tunnel, suspects armed with lethal firepower, extremely dangerous, prioritize neutralization."

Military Technology Captain #5523: "Received—Targets sighted, α team, β team advance from the flanks, encircle the exit."

Military Technology Captain #5523: "Four vehicles at the tunnel’s entrance, two of which are suspected to be the Arasaka armored vehicles hijacked today."

Military Technology Sergeant #7634: "α team reporting: Wanderer vehicles on the left on guard, targets marked."

Military Technology Sergeant #7630: "β team reporting: Wanderer vehicles on the right on guard, targets marked."

Military Technology Captain #5523: "Targets alert, enemy vehicles starting—ready for combat."

Meredith, in her office, couldn’t help but put down the water in her hand—

The two teams began to approach the target while drones continuously relayed peripheral data—

Thermal imaging and radar were fully activated, confirming no ambush around.

It seemed like a sure win already.

But for some reason, perhaps due to the criminals’ impressive combat record or the tremendous work pressure these past days,

She felt uneasy.

Then she consoled herself: even if all hell breaks loose and this entire squad gets wiped out, as long as they inflict effective casualties and hold the enemies here—

Troops from other areas are already on their way, there’s no way they could escape.

The Wanderers started their vehicles—it was clear they had noticed the Military Technology Forces.

"Approaching firing range."

The soldiers on the Military Technology Vehicles pulled out their rocket launchers—the recoilless M5 rocket launcher, specially designed for armored targets.

Even a beast like Mo Xi would shudder if it took a hit on the side from one.

Used against vehicles—even the Ragnar Armored Vehicles they were currently driving, not to mention the Bimong Armored Vehicles following, wouldn’t withstand it.

The scene of close quarters combat barely caused a ripple in the eyes of the Military Technology commander—

Years of training had removed a great deal of their emotion, such a situation was no more stressful for them than a clerk stamping a document in an office.

He monitored the distance—

The distance was reached.

"Within firing range, fire...RPG!"

The Military Technology commander hadn’t even finished speaking—when he saw rockets fly out of the dunes very close to them!

Boom!

Flames shot into the sky!

Wanderers buried in the sand spit out a mouthful of sand and shouted triumphantly: "Hit the target!!!"

Nature provided the best camouflage!

Several experienced Wanderers had long been lying in ambush around the hills by the tunnel exit, waiting for this opportunity!

As day turned to night, the temperature on the desert dropped quickly, from the extreme heat of the day to near human body temperature!

The drones’ thermal imaging couldn’t possibly detect such an ambush!

All three Military Technology squads were under fierce attack, and the armored vehicles instantly turned into burning coffins!

Screams jumbled the combat channel, Military Technology Captain #5523 was blown away by the explosion, flames burning on him, but he was totally unaffected—

"Rally the troops—"

Whirr!

The engines of the Wanderer vehicles roared as they broke into the Military Technology convoy, with several electromagnetic pulse hand grenades thrown in!

Sizzling—!

All communication cut off, and #5523’s cyber decoder completely burnt out since it was in the middle of transmitting!

His neck was even burned through!

All communications were cut off!

Drones were raining down from the sky—

Not just that, every soldier who tried to use their comms at that instant was struck by an electromagnetic pulse countermeasure!

Their prosthetics were damaged under the pulse currents of the Cyber Decoder—only a few officers and elites equipped with high-end bionic prosthetics could withstand this barrage of EMP!

Meanwhile, the Wanderers were completely unaffected!

"Should’ve done this sooner! Sol, you’re an idiot!"

Pan’an’s vehicle was the first to burst through the Military Technology convoy, the machine gun on top firing nonstop, easily claiming several lives!

She saw a man standing in front with his head tilted—upon closer inspection, even his neck was burned through!

How powerful was that Cyber Modulator?

Pan’an floored the gas pedal, charging straight towards the man!

Bang!

An unimaginable scene unfolded:

Pan’an’s vision blurred as the man with the burned-through neck was propelled backwards, supporting himself with one hand on the hood of the car...

And with the other hand, he aimed his gun at them!

Si Anweisitan!

Without time to ponder the absurdity of the situation, Pan’an jerked the steering wheel, and the whole car flipped over!

Bullets formed a line across the window, the vehicle flipped violently, and crashed against a large rock!

The car and the rock neatly sandwiched the overly dramatic #5523, crushing him into mincemeat...

Then it settled on the ground with black smoke rising.

Pan’an wasn’t in a much better situation—

A stray bullet had hit her waist, or more accurately, grazed her.

Looking up, she could see her kin systematically annihilating the Military Technology soldiers around the crash site.

Among them, she could even see some soldiers still ablaze and not going down—

But their movements were extremely slow; if one bullet wouldn’t kill them, fifteen or even dozens would.

The ambush was a success, save for her own unlucky break—oh, and Ted in the passenger seat.

"Still alive?"

"Can’t die... ran into a tough bastard..."

Ted shook his head—he hadn’t been shot, but when the vehicle flipped, he’d hit his head connected to the neural link, making him feel nauseous and weak.

Sol: "Pan’an? Ted?"

Pan’an: "We’re... okay, just ran into a rather twisted guy."

After reporting safety on the channel, Pan’an slumped onto the steering wheel.

"Dammit, my luck is really shitty today... Meeting the most cowardly and the most ferocious fighters..."

...

Adkaduo Combat Channel:

Bob: "It’s done—we’ve taken down the Military Technology Forces! Damn, that was freaking awesome!"

Sol: "Make sure no one’s left, regroup. Burger King, is that it for today?"

Lille was analyzing the combat data coming in from everyone—

The tactic was too successful, successful to the point that the people in the caves didn’t even have to fight before it was all over.

An ambush in the desert is actually not that rare a tactic, but if you’re not expecting it, it could indeed be very deadly.

So this revealed something: The enemy’s true commander was very hasty when calling for reinforcements, and likely had almost no experience fighting the Wanderers.

This commander was clearly by-the-book, a real academic—though not accustomed to this kind of wild-card strategy.

Hasty... seems like the corporate tolerance for employee mistakes was much lower than Lille expected.

Or perhaps the commander had other concerns.

But no matter what, when you’re hasty, you’re more prone to mistakes, and few can adjust their mindset back to normal under such pressure.

Best to apply more pressure.

Lille: "No, we’re heading to the second Night Wandering Ghost stronghold. Nash had recorded the location in his database."

Sol: "Why? We never store this kind of information on hardware, could it be a trap?"

Lille: "A carefully laid trap is very unlikely; a hastily laid trap is a certainty."

Lille: "But this is also our best chance to strike a heavy blow to both the Night Wandering Ghosts and Military Technology."

Lille: "There’s a tough fight ahead—are there any injuries?"

Sol: "Pan’an, Cassidy, Spark, Lando... Pan’an’s car is also wrecked."

Lille: "Have them clean up the battlefield, call up any wounded in the camp who’ve woken up, and move fast."

Sol: "...then we’ll keep trusting you."

Lille: "Thanks for the trust, I’ve uploaded the coordinates to the net."

The coordinates were quite a coincidence—right at the abandoned cement factory to the south.

In the game, Night Wandering Ghosts had tied Sol up at that very place.