Chapter 130: Jetpacks?

Chapter 130: Jetpack?

The smoke cleared, and there was not a single living thing left around Wangjiang Town.

Ji Xing stared at the ground littered with terror demon corpses, wanting to say something, yet found herself with nothing to say.

Frankly speaking, for the Holy Blooded—especially a Source Blooded like her—this wave of terror demons was not difficult to handle.

Their weapons were outdated, their movements slow; if she were determined to clash with them, careful planning and picking them off one by one would eventually clear them out, given enough time.

But the problem was, she could never achieve the effortless ease displayed by the Chinese army before her.

How simple were their actions?

They spotted the target, devised a tactic, and everyone executed it without hesitation—even the two Holy Blooded used as 'bait' raised no complaint.

Immediately afterward, they fought individually yet coordinated with one another.

Each person was like a sharp blade, utterly shredding the terror demons that appeared before them.

The whole process took no more than five minutes.

That ferocious firepower once again left a deep impression on Ji Xing, but the greater shock came from their teamwork.

Ji Xing could actually notice that the coordination between the Holy Blooded and the few 'ordinary' people was still a bit rusty.

But when they carried out the preset tactic without deviation, that slight awkwardness was completely drowned out by the power of the 'system'.

The word 'efficiency' was something Ji Xing had heard many people mention before.

But when a slaughter was no longer judged by victory or defeat, but by 'efficiency' measuring how thoroughly it was completed, the word itself took on an entirely different meaning.

A cold, powerful meaning.

At that moment, Ji Xing suddenly realized how laughable her earlier arrogance had been when facing them.

Although she acknowledged their strength, she thought she might perhaps achieve the same through another means.

But now.

She finally understood why those few Holy Blooded were willing to merge with them.

To grow stronger, one had only to emulate them.

The more one resembled them, the stronger one would become.

Ji Xing's gaze shifted slightly, but at that moment no one noticed.

Everyone was carrying out the post-battle cleanup in an orderly fashion.

He Shuo lowered the drone's altitude, carefully scouting the northern perimeter, and finally located the hiding place of this terror demon band concealed in the jungle.

Chen Jian immediately sent Zeng Yi and Li Shi to the enemy's lair for a final sweep, while he himself walked up to the last monster that had appeared, crouched down to examine it closely, and then spoke:

"It resembles the monster from Wuxue Town; it must be some kind of terror demon that has been strengthened."

"However, this one is relatively smaller in size, and its combat ability should also be weaker."

"It bears no artificial equipment—unlike the Wuxue Town monster, which wore custom-made steel claws."

"This terror demon squad shows little sign of having cooperated with Huadu; could it be wild?"

"Not necessarily."

Xie Liu, while checking each terror demon corpse one by one, spoke:

"Normally, terror demons, though cruel and bloodthirsty, possess a strong survival instinct."

"They would not willingly attack an opponent they doubted they could defeat—just like the Han Shui City camp; if they truly had no brains at all, they could not have survived so long near Han Shui City."

"Yet this batch of terror demons actively attacked us, and even after being repulsed they showed no clear intention to retreat, only thinking of fleeing when they were nearly all dead—this is strange."

"Furthermore, these terror demons are altogether frail, their gear poor, even worse than the terror demons we usually encounter."

"Ordinary terror demons would not let themselves starve; when truly hungry, they would eat their own kind."

"I sense they still came from Anqing—perhaps they were driven out."

"Could it be that they are the very batch that slaughtered Wangjiang Town's terror demons?"

"After the slaughter, were they abandoned by Huadu?"

"It's possible."

Chen Jian rose to his feet, slowly nodding as he said:

"But the premise of this speculation is that Huadu must have already established effective control over the terror demons of Anqing City."

"Only under such control does the notion of 'abandonment' make sense."

"Or perhaps it's a mutiny?"

After a long silence, Ji Xing suddenly interjected:

"I don't think anyone could so easily control these blood skulls; perhaps they are only barely controlled, and instability is the norm."

"If that's the case, then occasionally seeing a few dozen escape would be quite normal."

"Coincidentally, the Huadu people could also make use of these escaped terror demons to do some dirty work—such as, as you said, destroying evidence."

"That too is a speculation."

Chen Jian let out a long breath, then said:

"But none of that matters."

"In short, all the terror demons active in this region, and the crimes they have committed, we will lay at Huadu's door."

"My only concern right now is that the number of blood skulls inside Anqing City is too great."

"This is like bandit suppression: defeating them is one thing, but turning a rout into annihilation is another matter entirely."

"If we cannot wipe them out all at once, scattering them will only cause them to regroup later."

"Continuing like this, I don't know when it will ever end."

"Don't you have that sun-like weapon?"

Ji Xing asked curiously.

Chen Jian shook his head, his expression calm, and replied:

"The distance is too close; using that weapon would destroy the Anqing ruins and the city itself along with them."

"We have no grudge against the people of Anqing City; we cannot let them die as sacrifices for the blood skulls."

"'Also.'"

Ji Xing nodded in deep agreement, while Lei Jie behind her sighed helplessly.

Alas.

Although the captain spoke lightly, revealing no flaw.

But in reality, we don't have that many nuclear bombs, do we?

"What do you mean by regretting the lack of ammunition only when you need it?"

"This is it. If we could get a few more tactical nuclear warheads, many problems would be readily solved."

Well, this time heading to Jinling, I still need to pay close attention.

Anyway, we're headed for Anqing; when we get there, we might as well consider a detour to Huangshan.

After all, there's a base of some unit there; perhaps we could even find a nuclear warhead still usable, just like the one we saw in Chuansha City.

At that moment, Chen Jian had quietly unleashed the 'threat from the Huaxia Army,' while on the other side, Zeng Yi and the others, having finished the final sweep of the demon camp, returned to the group.

Zeng Yi was holding something in his hand; as he approached and Chen Jian made out its shape, Chen Jian froze.

This thing... is it a flamethrower??

I don't know; I've never seen this before, I just grabbed it on a whim.

Zeng Yi set the object on the ground; Lei Jie walked over, curious, and then exclaimed in surprise:

Has Old Lu come out with a new toy? Isn't this a jetpack?

As his words faded, He Shuo and Shen Yue, who had been keeping watch not far off, both turned to look.

Chen Jian crouched to inspect the 'jetpack' Zeng Yi had brought back, then shook his head.

It's totally busted; probably only the gas cylinder is still of any use.

But the design is actually quite advanced—hand controls switched to foot, dual-vector nozzles, and a small nozzle on the shoulder for fine adjustments.

I'd guess this thing is at least a post‑2035 product.

Indeed.

He Shuo nodded and said:

At least, as I see it, Old Lu definitely won't be fiddling with this weird gadget within ten years; the artillery folks haven't even figured theirs out yet.

It's a shame the hardware is fine—it's just broken.

You can tell at a glance that the core isn't the powerplant but the flight control.

And right now, the thing we're least likely to fix is the flight control.

Yeah.

Chen Jian rose disappointedly, while Zeng Yi asked curiously:

What's this used for? Is it useless now?

It's broken.

Chen Jian wiped the grease from his hands and replied:

It's some kind of high‑mobility vehicle.

It might have come from Anqing City—when it was found it should still have been able to ignite, and the nozzle shows clear fresh ablation marks.

Maybe those demons were actually using it as a flamethrower.

Such a waste of heavenly bounty.

You'd better not talk about them.

Shen Yue in the distance chuckled and said:

Even if it ended up in our hands, we'd probably only be able to use it as a flamethrower, right?

You're not actually thinking of hopping on and flying, are you? Back in Shijiazhuang you had a chance to fly and you didn't take it.

Then was then, now is now.

Chen Jian spoke solemnly:

Back when we had the Z‑20 to ride, who'd want this thing?

Nowadays, if we can fly, we ought to give it a go.

After all, when fighting those Mechanical God Cultists, the gap between being able to fly and not being able to fly is huge.

When we get to Anqing we'll search thoroughly; if we can find one or two packs that still work, our mobility will take another step up.

If you want to fly, go ahead; I'd rather head back and cobble together a biplane than mess with this.

If it won't fly, that's fine; if it actually does, it might just throw me to my death.

Lei Jie shook his head in disdain, but Chen Jian spoke mysteriously:

Give it to Zeng Yi and them.

Anyway, they're not afraid of falling.

Great idea!

Lei Jie gave Chen Jian a thumbs‑up, while Zeng Yi stared at him, bewildered, not grasping what they were talking about.

Chen Jian didn't explain; after confirming the area was thoroughly cleared, he gave the order to get ready and move on.

At that point they were still 60 kilometers from Anqing, but this final stretch was terribly rough.

If they wanted to keep going on the paved road, they'd have to loop around a deep‑V detour, making the total distance 120 kilometers; and according to Zeng Yi, most of that route has never been traveled, so nobody knows the conditions—they could get stuck halfway and be forced to turn back.

But if they tried to go straight, they'd have to cross an entire swath of jungle.

The Mao Che's mobility is strong, but not that strong.

After a brief discussion, the squad reached a consensus.

Neither route is viable.

Anyway, the objective is clear now—let's just head south and take the waterway!

From Wangjiang Town to the nearest riverside town with a dock, Huayang, it's only 40 kilometers; once there the squad can board a boat and drift downstream, reaching Anqing City before dawn.

If they don't want to be seen, they can also disembark before reaching the Anqing ruins.

Anyway, they've got plenty of gold on hand—enough to hire a boat, or even buy one outright.

The plan set, the squad set off immediately.

Four hours later, everyone arrived smoothly at Huayang Town, which is basically similar to Wuxue.

Zeng Yi, knowing the place well, used extra gold to hire a sizable wooden boat; after picking everyone up at the outskirts of this little dock town, the boat set off downstream, riding the fading sunset.

At that moment they had only the final 50 kilometers to Anqing City left.

And the secret of the Anqing ruins lay right before their eyes.

(End of chapter)