Chapter 106: Thorny

When Meng Yifan was carrying the Multi-tube Rocket Launcher to fire, he had already ordered Meng Yitong and the others to retreat immediately after firing one shot, but he had not expected the Divine Machine Battalion's counterattack to come so swiftly.

Fifty or sixty shells came hurtling toward them; Meng Yifan's speed attribute points had already reached 200, and coupled with the Lingbo Microsteps lightness skill he practiced, his body's limit speed could reach supersonic. If he went all out to dodge, he was confident he could evade the bombardment of these fifty or sixty shells.

However, although Meng Yitong, Meng Wulang, and Meng Qingshan were First Grade Martial Artists, they had only been practicing for a short time, and their speed was much slower; they simply could not dodge the shell attacks.

Meng Qingshan and the other two had high Loyalty to Meng Yifan and were his trusted subordinates, so he naturally could not bear to abandon them.

"Whoosh!" Meng Yifan gripped the Binding Demon Rope in his hand, and as his True Qi surged, he instantly activated this Dharma Artifact. The Binding Demon Rope was like a reviving giant python; with a violent shake, it bound the waists of Meng Qingshan and the other two, tying them all together.

Meng Yifan carried Meng Qingshan and the others as if they were sacks of grain, then circulated his True Qi and deployed his Lingbo Microsteps. With a tap of his toes, his body shot out toward the rear like an arrow released from a bowstring.

Meng Qingshan and the others weighed only a little over two hundred kilograms combined, not even as heavy as the Multi-tube Rocket Launcher. Carrying them was not strenuous for Meng Yifan, but if he also brought the Multi-tube Rocket Launcher, the burden would be too great and would severely affect his speed.

At this critical juncture, Meng Yifan had no choice but to abandon this specially made Multi-tube Rocket Launcher and retreat with Meng Qingshan and the others.

Carrying the three people, Meng Yifan's speed still soared to over two hundred meters per second. He watched in all directions and listened to everything, seeing with his peripheral vision that the shells behind them were approaching at an astonishing speed.

Fifty or sixty shells were enough to cover the entire small hill; it was already too late to go down the mountain via the mountain path.

A thought struck Meng Yifan, and he decided not to take the mountain path. He took Meng Qingshan and the others, leaped up, and jumped directly off the hill.

This small hill was over eighty meters high, about the height of a twenty-eight-story building; if an ordinary person jumped down, they would certainly be smashed into a meat patty.

Although Meng Yifan was a Second Grade Martial Artist with a tough body, if he landed solidly on the ground, even if he didn't die, his legs would surely break.

Meng Qingshan was the youngest and had a fear of heights. Seeing them falling rapidly, he was so scared that his face turned pale and his teeth chattered, clearly nervous to the extreme.

Yet Meng Yifan laughed in mid-air: "Don't you dare pee your pants from fear, or else I won't care about you anymore."

Seeing that Meng Yifan was still in the mood to joke, Meng Qingshan knew that Meng Yifan must have a way to deal with this situation, so he wasn't as afraid anymore.

"Brother Meng, I'm not afraid; I won't be scared into wetting my pants." Meng Qingshan explained. A half-grown boy like him was at an age where his self-esteem was strong; although he was still somewhat afraid inside, he pretended to be completely fearless.

After falling rapidly for over fifty meters, Meng Yifan's toes tapped against the hillside, creating a large pit with each tap to offset the impact of the fall.

Soon, the four of them landed at the foot of the hill without any mishaps.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" More than fifty shells landed precisely on the hill and then exploded violently, shaking the earth and mountains, with shrapnel and debris flying everywhere.

After landing at the foot of the mountain, Meng Yifan did not stop and continued to run toward the rear with Meng Qingshan and the others, finally escaping the coverage area of the shrapnel and debris by a hair's breadth.

He turned his head to look at the small hill and discovered that at least a meter had been shaved off it. If they hadn't jumped down in time, they would certainly have been blown into fragments by now.

"The Divine Machine Battalion's cannons are fierce. If we have a head-on artillery battle, the Elm Cannons in our hands have absolutely no advantage." Meng Yifan frowned, feeling that the Thousand-man Unit of the Divine Machine Battalion was very difficult to deal with.

Meng Dayong remained inside Luolong County, leading a thousand troops and the able-bodied men from the Labor Camp, racing against time to build defensive fortifications and preparing to rely on the city walls of Luolong to resist the Divine Machine Battalion's attack.

However, having felt the power and precision of the Divine Machine Battalion's cannons at close range, Meng Yifan felt that if Zhang Shagen's group of troops, who had only trained for a few days, were to clash head-on, they would be completely crushed by the Divine Machine Battalion in both weapon equipment and soldiers' combat skills.

"What to do? Should we abandon the city and run? But where can we run to?" While running rapidly, Meng Yifan pondered quickly in his mind, feeling it was very thorny.

After Zhang Chao fired a round of artillery, he led an elite squad composed of Second Grade Martial Artists to rush up the hill. Finding no severed limbs there, Zhang Chao was very disappointed; it was obvious that the group of enemies had run away before the shells arrived.

A soldier holding a pile of deformed Multi-tube Rocket Launchers ran to Zhang Chao and said: "Commander, look."

Although the Multi-tube Rocket Launcher had been blown out of shape, it was still possible to count that there were originally sixteen barrels.

Zhang Chao instantly thought that those sixteen powerful rockets must have been fired from this weapon.

Zhang Chao carefully studied the Multi-tube Rocket Launcher, feeling that this weapon was just sixteen steel pipes fixed together. Structurally, it was a bit like the Beehive Rocket in the army, which was nothing strange; it could be easily produced within the Divine Machine Battalion.

"Why could their rockets fly in a straight line?" Zhang Chao pondered. The sixteen rockets attacking simultaneously had left a very deep impression on him. If he could figure out the problem of the rockets flying in a straight line, then a rocket launcher like the Beehive would be a sharp weapon for killing the enemy.

The Multi-tube Rocket Launcher could fire sixteen rockets simultaneously, and of course, it could be expanded further. If more than a hundred rockets were fired at once, the power would be multiplied, and even a Third Grade Martial Artist like Zhang Chao would be blown into fragments by the dense rocket fire.

"It must have something to do with those strange tail fins on the back of the rockets. It's a pity that all sixteen rockets exploded, so I can't study them from the wreckage. It doesn't matter; once the rebels in Luolong County are wiped out, I will definitely be able to obtain the technology that makes the rockets fly in a straight line from them."

At first, Zhang Chao looked down on the group of rebels in Luolong County, thinking they were just a bunch of mountain hunters who couldn't survive. But Meng Yifan's rocket launcher gave Zhang Chao a heavy blow, making him start to take this suppression of the rebellion seriously.

"Hmph! The monk may run, but the temple cannot. We'll see each other in Luolong County." Zhang Chao led the Divine Machine Battalion to continue advancing toward Luolong County.

After being ambushed by Meng Yifan once, the Divine Machine Battalion became cautious while marching, with an elite squad of thirty men acting as the vanguard to clear the way, so as not to fall into the enemy's ambush again.