Chapter 108: Explosion

Meng Yifan, Meng Dayong, and Wang Dachui were all Second Grade Martial Artists. Although they were carrying rocket launchers and holding gunpowder barrels, their speed was still astonishingly fast; they covered the four-kilometer distance in less than a minute.

"Here, and here, bury the gunpowder barrels." The vanguard squad of the Divine Machine Battalion was almost there. Meng Yifan and the other two worked nimbly, digging two large pits in the road and burying a gunpowder barrel in each.

The gunpowder barrels carried by Meng Yifan and his group were specially made; the innermost part contained Black Powder mixed with iron fragments, sealed on the outside with wooden boards, but with a small hole left to insert an incense stick.

On the very outside was another layer of wooden boards. The space formed between the boards held enough air that even when buried underground, it did not affect the burning of the incense stick.

Meng Yifan calculated the position of the Divine Machine Battalion, inserted incense sticks of appropriate length into the gunpowder barrels, covered the tops of the barrels with yellow soil to camouflage them like the surrounding area, and then the three of them retreated three hundred meters away to wait and see the results of the explosion.

Zhang Chao led the vanguard squad of the Divine Machine Battalion as they walked over. The vanguard squad carefully inspected every place around them that could hide a person, while Zhang Chao kept his Heaven Ear technique active, his ears enlarged by a circle, constantly listening to the sounds around him.

As long as it was within a hundred-meter range, even the faintest sound underground, Zhang Chao could hear it. If that group of rebels still wanted to use fuses to detonate landmines, that was nothing but wishful thinking.

Not only that, Zhang Chao also kept holding his Artifact Shield; even if the rebels attacked again with the Multi-tube Rocket Launcher, Zhang Chao was confident he could intercept all the rockets.

"Lord Zhang, there are no problems," the vanguard squad leader said.

Zhang Chao nodded, then led the vanguard squad to continue moving forward. The main force behind them also set off one after another, carrying heavy firearms as they marched toward Luolong County.

The soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion were all filled with rage, preparing to blow that bunch of rebels to pieces once they reached Luolong County.

Just at this moment, the incense sticks placed by Meng Yifan burned down to the Black Powder. The Black Powder was ignited, burning violently and releasing the powerful energy contained within it.

"Boom! Boom!" Two earth-shattering roars came from underground.

In an instant, flames shot into the sky, and two powerful shockwaves erupted from the ground, overturning the entire road.

The three Shenwu Great General Cannons at the center of the explosion were sent flying directly, and the surrounding soldiers were blown to smithereens.

At the same time, with the gunpowder barrel explosion as the center, dense iron fragments flew out in all directions.

The Divine Machine Battalion soldiers within a fifty-meter radius were all within the strike range of the iron fragments. Although the Divine Machine Battalion soldiers were all wearing armor, the iron fragments were blasted out by gunpowder, and each one contained powerful kinetic energy.

The armor worn by ordinary Divine Machine Battalion soldiers consisted of Chain Mail on the upper body, while the lower body was a Battle Skirt made of thick iron chains. Under normal circumstances, this armor could effectively protect the soldiers' bodies.

However, the gunpowder barrels exploded from underground, and the iron fragments were sprayed from the ground upward; some iron fragments shot directly into the Battle Skirts.

These soldiers not only had their legs blown off, but even their crotches were pierced by large and small iron fragments; their testicles were shattered all over the ground, and even if they were saved, they could no longer be men.

More than twenty soldiers were killed instantly by the iron fragments, and over a dozen wounded lay in pools of blood, clutching their crotches, rolling continuously and letting out heart-wrenching screams.

"Ding! Killed one Lower-tier Martial Artist, gained 20 Experience Value."

"Ding! Killed one Middle-tier Martial Artist, gained 30 Experience Value."

"Ding! Killed one Lower-tier Martial Artist, gained 20 Experience Value."

…………

The notification sound of the Game Panel rang out continuously, and Meng Yifan's Experience Value was also soaring rapidly, which made him feel great.

With Experience Value, Meng Yifan's strength could once again rapidly improve. Not only that, after the Game Panel upgraded, for Dead Loyal Subjects whose loyalty reached 90 points or higher, Meng Yifan could also use Experience Value to directly improve their strength.

Meng Yifan currently had only four Dead Loyal Subjects: Meng Dayong, Meng Qingshan, Meng Qinghe, and Meng Qingyu.

Once the Divine Machine Battalion was wiped out, Meng Yifan planned to improve all four of them. Only with strong strength could the four of them become capable lieutenants who could handle things on their own.

The explosion of the two barrels of gunpowder destroyed three Shenwu Great General Cannons and killed or wounded more than forty soldiers, which made Zhang Chao furious.

He had led one thousand Divine Machine Battalion troops to Luolong County to suppress the rebellion, and before even seeing the city walls of Luolong County, they had suffered two bombings and lost nearly ten percent of their men. The Divine Machine Battalion had never suffered such a big loss, so how could Zhang Chao not be angry?

Zhang Chao knew that those people who buried the landmines must be observing the situation here. He gritted his teeth and roared angrily: "Bastards! If you have the guts, come out! Let's set up a formation and have a head-on fight. Hiding in the dark and using landmines to hurt people—what kind of heroes are you?"

Meng Yifan grinned, thinking that what this Divine Machine Battalion commander said was very funny. When Meng Yifan was on Earth, he was a mercenary fighting for money; here, he was a rebel killing officials and revolting. No matter how you put it, he was no hero.

Meng Yifan did not want to be an upright hero; he wanted to be an unscrupulous warlord.

The five-thousand-year history of China had already proven with blood-like facts, over and over again, that heroes could not defeat warlords.

Zhang Chao shouted loudly, but in reality, he was using a provocation tactic, hoping the rebels would jump out and fight them head-on. However, Meng Yifan ignored Zhang Chao entirely and instead took Meng Dayong and the others to the next location to continue burying gunpowder barrels.

Zhang Chao roared: "I swear, once I level Luolong County, I will definitely have you bunch of rebels subjected to Lingchi!"

With wounded soldiers in the Divine Machine Battalion, Zhang Chao had to leave some soldiers behind to take care of them. During this time, Zhang Chao frowned. Just now, he had been keeping his Heaven Ear technique active and was certain there was absolutely no sound of a fuse burning underground. What were those rebels using to detonate the landmines?

"There was no sound, yet the gunpowder could explode. It must be ignited by something like an incense stick."

Zhang Chao was a thousand-man commander of the Divine Machine Battalion and an expert on how to detonate gunpowder; after a little thought, he understood the secret.

However, using an incense stick to ignite a gunpowder barrel was silent and soundless; even if Zhang Chao had the Heaven Ear technique, he could not detect the gunpowder barrels underground.

That group of rebels would definitely continue to bury gunpowder barrels on the road ahead. How could he discover these gunpowder barrels? He couldn't turn over the ground every step he took; that would be too time-consuming.

Zhang Chao felt a headache coming on. The soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion had been bombed twice, and eighty or ninety brothers had been killed or wounded; they were also starting to feel afraid.

They were afraid that if they continued to move forward, they would also be blown up by landmines. Being blown to death directly was one thing, but if their legs were blown off and their crotches were blown through, with their testicles shattered all over the ground and they could never be men again, that would be worse than just being blown to death.