Chapter 26: Mobile Artillery, Mantis Hunter!

Su Cheng’s pupils contracted. Although the enemy had already been shot in the head, his "Insight" ability allowed him to catch a faint, lingering trace of the bullet’s trajectory. He turned his gaze toward a shelf in the distance and fired his Type B kinetic pistol in rapid succession.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

The powerful kinetic rounds tore straight through the shelving unit, instantly killing the raider hiding behind it.

"Behind the rack at nine o'clock!" Chen Ze pointed toward the same shelf, but the target had already been dispatched by Su Cheng.

Everyone stared in shock at Su Cheng, who silently lowered his weapon. A novice hunter had managed to locate the ambusher faster than an intermediate reconnaissance hunter, and with such surgical precision. Even Rebecca and Remi could not have achieved that! Yet, a novice had done it—and with a Type B kinetic pistol, no less. While pistols were generally cheaper than submachine guns or rifles, this was a Type B! The best weapons held by the intermediate hunters in the group were merely Type C. Although they were only one grade apart, the price difference was astronomical. More importantly, Type B weapons and cybernetics were the pinnacle of what a hunter could attain. Even Zhang Jie, a powerhouse among advanced hunters, only possessed two Type B mechanical limbs. To see a novice hunter dressed in rags pull out a Type B pistol was a jarring contrast—it was like seeing a beggar from the Old Century driving a luxury car.

Greed and jealousy flickered in Chen Ze’s eyes. He only possessed a basic ocular sensor and had never been able to afford better cybernetics. It had taken him a long time to reach the rank of intermediate hunter by grinding low-level bounties; advanced hunter status required examinations he could never pass. Everything required money. Even Rebecca cast a second, more inquisitive look at Su Cheng. A destitute novice hunter could never afford a Type B kinetic pistol.

Remi shot Chen Ze a cold glance. "You’d better keep your eyes open from now on." They had barely entered the supermarket and already lost a man.

Chen Ze nodded hurriedly. "R-right, I understand. It won’t happen again!"

As they prepared to move forward, Chen Ze suddenly shouted, "Careful! There are twenty raiders closing in on us, and they’ve got a big one with them!"

The group immediately took up defensive positions, leveling their weapons at the supermarket entrances and stairwells.

"Here they come!" Chen Ze barked.

The team opened fire. The raiders were gunned down the moment they reached the doorway. The firepower of the five was immense, especially the man with the specialized arm housing a plasma cannon. A single shot nearly tore through the entire supermarket, skewering the raiders like shish kebabs. Where the plasma hit, the intense heat melted everything; organic matter turned to charred carbon, and mechanical prosthetics liquefied into glowing red sludge, trailing wisps of black smoke.

The man clearly possessed a lethal trump card, but it was evidently draining, and his own constitution was too weak to sustain it. After just one shot, he had to scramble to replace the energy cell in his power pack, looking visibly withered and unable to maintain continuous combat. Beside him, the twin-blade wielder moved with great speed, utilizing D-grade leg cybernetics and E-grade arm modifications.

The twenty raiders were unable to breach the group's wall of gunfire and were quickly eliminated. Su Cheng frowned, feeling increasingly unsettled. It was too quiet. The raiders hadn't uttered a single crazed word; they moved like robots, as if they were being controlled. This was abnormal. Raiders were supposed to be lunatics—maniacs infected by the Black Death virus!

Suddenly, a thunderous boom erupted. A massive raider, the size of an ox, burst through the supermarket wall. It had only a single human head, while the rest of its body had been modified into a heavy artillery platform. A large-caliber grenade launcher was mounted in its chest. A swarm of raiders followed in its wake.

The dual-pistol wielder couldn't help but curse, "Damn it!"

The group opened fire immediately, but the artillery raider instantly deployed a shield, blocking every single attack.

"Die! All of you die!" it roared maniacally. A dozen gun ports opened across its body, firing simultaneously.

The team scattered in alarm, diving for cover as a hail of bullets rained down upon them. The artillery raider retracted its shield.

*BOOM!*

A grenade was launched, tearing through the supermarket wall with a deafening blast. Outside, onlookers saw a massive hole blown into the side of the building, followed by an eruption of fire. The sounds of artillery and gunfire continued unabated.

"The blast marks outside—that thing must have done it!"
"Damn, this is insane! How is anyone supposed to withstand that firepower?"
"Damn it, we have to find a way to retaliate! I have the capability to pierce his armor, but I don't have the time to charge my cannon!"

Worse yet, they saw other raiders rushing to resupply the mobile artillery unit with ammunition. The group had been scattered. There were simply too many raiders—an impossibly large number.

Chen Ze looked back. "Damn it, Rebecca and Remi are gone; they must have been pinned down. And that trash is gone too—he actually ran off on his own!"

The twin-blade wielder cursed, "Damn that coward! Running off alone is a death sentence!"

"The artillery raider is closing in! Our weapons can't penetrate its defense!"

Even the kinetic rounds left nothing more than shallow dents on the artillery raider's chassis, and there was no window to use the plasma cannon. Such attacks were like tickling it, only serving to enrage the beast further.

"Die!"

Another grenade arched over their heads and detonated in front of them.

*BOOM!*

The force of the explosion sent the four of them stumbling. It was only because they all had mechanical leg modifications that they managed to stay on their feet.

"This isn't working! We can't hold out like this!" Chen Ze shouted. "Damn it, clear the trash mobs first! Our weapons can't break that platform, don't waste your ammo."

The group shifted targets, focusing on the raiders resupplying the artillery unit.

"Everyone, hold the line!" Chen Ze yelled to the plasma-cannon man. "Brother, get behind us and prep the cannon! We’ll cover you, but you have to aim carefully—you must land the shot!"

The cannon man was their only hope. "No problem!" He retreated behind the group and hurriedly swapped his energy cell. He gritted his teeth. "Damn it, I'm using a low-grade cell this time. It’ll give me two shots, or 2.5 seconds of continuous fire!"

"It's all on you!" The dual-pistol wielder fired his rifles frantically. Chen Ze gritted his teeth and deployed a small shield, which expanded rapidly. "This will only hold for three seconds!"

"I'm ready!"

The group shifted aside, and the cannon man raised his arm. A beam of blue plasma surged out! The artillery raider reacted quickly, snapping its heavy shield back into place. The superheated plasma beam slammed into the shield, instantly turning the metal white-hot. After only a second of resistance, the beam burned through the heavy plating and struck toward the raider's head.

The good news was that they had breached the shield and the aim was true. The bad news was that the artillery raider retracted its head deep into its chest cavity. The plasma shot missed its mark. However, the cannon man reacted instantly, swinging his arm downward at the last moment. The massive plasma beam swept across the floor, melting a group of raiders into slag.

"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!"

The artillery raider was furious; the searing pain from its wounds sent its nerves into a frenzy. It let out a roar, retracted its shield, and its chest-mounted grenade launcher began rapidly reloading, preparing for a barrage. This weapon from the Old Century was devastatingly powerful.

Chen Ze and the others were struck with horror.

"Damn it, we're finished!"