Chapter 762: The Fierce Battle on Sandbar Island!

Chapter 762: Fierce Battle on Sandbar Island!

Pale blue plumes sliced through the silent night sky as two massive transport planes appeared above Sandbar Island.

This island, the second largest natural island in the southern sea, was famed for its vast golden beaches, home to seventy thousand people on roughly four hundred square kilometers of land—a little over one percent of Singapore’s population for half its area.

Unlike the cramped, narrow artificiality of Ring Island, it bore some resemblance to North Island and Peaceful Isle, still retaining much of its tropical natural landscape.

Most residents lived on the higher southern side, where two- and three-story modern buildings dotted both sides of the ring road in a scattered, orderly fashion.

With no airport on the island, the Burning Legion could only land on the sea surrounding its periphery.

Plasma plumes from the engines skimmed the ocean surface, searing the waves into wisps of white mist.

The cargo bay door opened downward, and a steel landing craft slid along rails to the hatch. Twelve players in exoskeletons stood ready aboard, the craft’s front bristling with a 12mm machine gun and a coaxial 60mm grenade launcher.

The former was meant for light targets above the water; the latter, specifically designed for underwater soft targets like “frogmen.”

The 60mm underwater grenades, fitted with pressure sensors and packed with metal-hydrogen explosives, would detonate at extreme velocity upon nearing a target, using shockwaves to kill nearby threats.

This landing craft was built primarily for beach assaults on North Island and the Haiya Province, so the 60mm launcher could also fire standard fragmentation grenades for suppressing ground targets.

Though the chairman, CEO, and factory manager of Goblin Tech was obsessed with peddling junk on the northern front, the company’s core business clearly hadn’t suffered.

As the target zone drew near, a player in the cockpit shouted over the comm channel.

“…Target approaching—one minute to prepare!”

“Thirty seconds.”

“Ten seconds!”

“…Go!”

With a crisp *click*, the cables holding the landing craft released, and both Tyrant transports dropped the boats hanging from their hatches.

Then, like dumplings into a pot, the landing crafts were released one after another. In moments, twenty heavily armed speedboats appeared on the churning sea.

The boats split into two groups, heading for the northern and southern shores of Sandbar Island.

Meanwhile, on the island’s north side, disarmed Sandbar Island soldiers and a group of guards in exoskeletons were digging beachhead positions.

Half an hour ago, they’d received a warning from Peaceful Isle.

A destroyer and a landing ship were approaching from North Island. From their aggressive posture, they clearly weren’t here to negotiate—the troops aboard were likely mutants.

Word had it that in the distant south of Jinchuan Province, being caught by mutants was no joke. Men and women alike would be eaten.

And in different ways.

So, even though they’d been on opposite sides not long ago, they now had to stand together for their families and loved ones.

Watching the line of landing crafts heading straight for them, a flicker of panic instinctively crossed their eyes. But soon, someone spotted the signal lights flashing on the boats.

“Alliance reinforcements!” A soldier’s face lit up with surprise.

Nearby, the guards, having confirmed the signal frequency, also wore expressions of relief.

Ten landing crafts charged straight onto the beach. Players in exoskeletons jumped off one by one, while two Strength-type players stayed behind to haul the stranded boats ashore.

The steel plates on each side of the landing crafts were over 15mm thick—two layers stacked made 30mm, enough to block even some large-caliber machine-gun rounds.

With their fixed weapons and the batteries removed, they made perfect cover.

Additionally, the crafts carried ammunition supplies and foldable bags filled with sand and gravel.

Fang Chang stepped ashore and walked straight up to the armed group. After scanning them, he gave a brief introduction.

“Fang Chang, Burning Legion. Who’s in charge here?”

“I am.”

A man in a military exoskeleton stepped forward. A Federation-standard assault rifle hung at his hip, but the body armor inside the exoskeleton was police-issue.

“Dumen, Director of the Sandbar Island Security Bureau, and Commander of the new Sandbar Island Army… uh, General.”

Probably new to this gear, he clearly hadn’t fully adapted to the military exoskeleton.

Despite the serious occasion, Fang Chang couldn’t help but twitch his lips at the word “General.”

There were only about two hundred people here, maybe four or five hundred including those elsewhere—barely half a thousand-man unit on the northern front, not enough to fill two caves.

But then again, it all depended on the comparison.

These four or five hundred might struggle against a corporate mountain battalion or a legion’s thousand-man unit, but against the Xilan Empire’s expeditionary force, they could probably rout a ten-thousand-man army.

Of course, the Gray Wolf Army or the two warlords on the border of Golden Harbor would be a different story.

Dumen seemed to find it embarrassing too, so he cleared his throat and voluntarily handed over command.

“I’ll be straight with you—we don’t get much fighting here. Drills are just for show; defense is mostly the navy’s job. You veterans might need to take charge of command. Just tell us what you need.”

“Wise choice.” Fang Chang didn’t waste words. He pulled out a tablet and tossed it to him.

The tablet displayed an operations plan.

For the two possible actions Charas might take, the Alliance Army Staff had prepared contingency plans.

Dumen took it, glanced at it, and his face lit up with surprise.

“This… an operations plan? You already foresaw this happening?”

The tablet showed not just a map of Sandbar Island, but also positions and troop deployments across various areas.

This didn’t look like work done in two hours—its detail would take at least two or three days to prepare.

Seeing his astonished ally, Fang Chang smiled faintly.

“We’re used to rehearsing scenarios that haven’t happened yet, turning them into proposals for the staff, and finalizing them as action drafts for Manager’s signature. Once our imagined situation occurs, the draft takes effect immediately. Our forces act while filing routine reports, rather than waiting for the Manager’s reply before making the next move.”

This was fairly standard procedure.

For unexpected cases—like Xilan Empire soldiers going missing—he would respond according to the *Player Handbook* and the *Alliance Constitution*, deciding whether to retaliate and how far to go.

Sandbar Island, wavering between sides, had been a potential powder keg since the Federation’s split. Only the island’s residents couldn’t see it—even the keyboard masters on Ideal City’s Endpoint Cloud probably could.

It wasn’t just them preparing defensive plans; Charas had likely considered the Alliance’s intervention and made preparations on both fronts.

Currently, two Thunder fighters were scouting north, probing the enemy destroyer’s firepower while checking for ambushes the South Sea Alliance Navy might suspect.

After reading the entire operations plan, Dumen immediately mobilized his men.

Meanwhile, on Sandbar Island’s south side, Old Bai’s company had also landed.

But because the southern side was dense with civilian homes, they didn’t beach the landing crafts—they docked directly at the pier.

Like Fang Chang, Old Bai informed the guards strengthening defenses on the south shore of the operations plan.

Watching the Alliance soldiers take over, the south-shore guards exchanged glances.

“…Looks like there’s nothing left for us to do?”

A bearded guard stubbed out his cigarette, stuffed it into a trash bag in his pocket, and stared blankly at the soldiers busy fortifying positions.

He couldn’t shake the feeling.

Compared to these guys, he—well-equipped as he was—seemed more like a civilian.

Old Bai, overseeing the work, overheard his remark and turned to him with a smile.

"What kind of talk is that? There's still plenty for you to do. Don't think you can just dump everything on us."

He paused, then Old Bai continued.

"Now take your families and seek shelter. Remember to stay far from the coastline. In two hours, we'll airdrop supplies to the island's center to help you set up a temporary camp. When it's safe, we'll notify you to return home."

The guard who received the order immediately straightened his back and gave a somewhat sloppy Alliance salute.

"Yes!"

Seeing his comical posture, Old Bai chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.

"That's right, perk up! Since you've mustered the courage to come this far, don't give up halfway. Finish what needs to be done."

The guard took a deep breath and nodded firmly, though a trace of confusion lingered in his eyes.

As the Alliance officer turned to leave, the guard couldn't help but call out to him.

"Wait, can I ask a question? I don't understand... Since you've prepared so thoroughly, you could have driven Charas away from here before our uprising. Why wait until today?"

Old Bai grinned.

Other players might not know, but he was well aware that Fang Chang had indeed drafted a similar plan—

Namely, before Charas could consolidate the defenses of Sandbar Island, use Ring Island's airport as a springboard to seize Sandbar Island by force, thereby increasing the islands under the South Sea Alliance's control from four to five.

Compared to Ring Island, which was only thirty square kilometers, Sandbar Island—flatter, less densely populated, and closer to the central southern sea—was clearly better suited as an airbase for the Alliance in the southern waters.

The South Sea Alliance authorities had hoped for this too. Commander Li had even proposed risking the fleet to provide cover for the landing forces.

The plan had been submitted to the Alliance's General Staff, which had drawn up operational plans and execution strategies. But unfortunately, it never received the Administrator's approval.

"...Forced equality isn't equality. It's fine if you don't understand—I don't understand everything either. But I believe our Administrator can lead us out of this wasteland, just as I believe he can help us hold back the Gnawbone Tribe and the Tide."

Old Bai gripped his shoulder, then let go.

"Go do your job, just like we do ours."

As he spoke, a thunderous roar erupted from the tranquil sea. A string of tracer rounds arced through the air like a whip, lashing toward the sky before bursting into two balls of fire.

A moment later, the Goblin Corps pilot's voice crackled over the comms.

"...This is Fengqing. The enemy destroyer's fire net is too dense! Our missiles can't penetrate their point-defense system..."

The Federal Navy had been built with the Legion as its hypothetical enemy, so it wasn't foolish enough to lack an air defense system.

Moreover, destroyers were primarily designed for anti-submarine and anti-aircraft warfare. Charas had sent destroyers to escort the landing ships precisely because he anticipated the Alliance's air superiority and General Li Minghui's submarines.

But he hadn't expected them to have close-in defense systems like these...

Old Bai frowned slightly.

Just then, new news came from the South Sea Alliance command.

"...Enemy landing ships and escort destroyers have closed to within twenty nautical miles south of you. We've detected twenty-seven sonar and radar signals from ship activity within a radius of 150 nautical miles around Sandbar Island... We can't confirm which coordinates are valid. Could your air force take a look?"

Twenty-seven coordinates!

A span of 150 nautical miles!

Old Bai's expression grew serious as he spoke in a low voice.

"...I've relayed this to our air force. Please have your submarines continue searching the nearby waters!"

The South Sea Alliance operator replied immediately.

"Understood!"

Due to the peculiarities of low Earth orbit, there were no strategic satellites in the wasteland. Even if there were, pinpointing a fleet's exact position on the vast ocean was no easy task.

After finishing with the Goblin Corps, Old Bai switched to the squad voice channel and briefed the entire team on the battlefield situation.

"The enemy plans to attack our southern flank! Everyone, prepare for battle!"

A series of resounding affirmations echoed through the comms.

"Yes!"

The 120-man company split into three platoons, forming a triangular defensive stronghold along the buildings on the island's southern side.

At the same time, on the sea that had fallen silent once more, the silhouettes of two massive ships emerged.

According to intelligence from the South Sea Alliance, they were the North Island Navy's Reef-class destroyers!

The point-defense systems mounted at the bow and stern could unleash a dense barrage of 100-gram mass projectiles at a maximum rate of tens of thousands of rounds per minute—pumping a full ton of propellant into the sky in just sixty seconds!

A fire net like that could intercept not only missiles and drones but probably even a sufficient number of artillery shells!

Beyond the anti-air point-defense systems, the Reef-class destroyers were also equipped with torpedoes, missile launchers, and a 150mm naval gun.

If those things got close to the shore, the consequences would be catastrophic.

However, asymmetry in the wasteland worked both ways—this was the biggest difference between the wasteland and the real world.

The Federal Navy, developed over 150 years, was formidable, but the Alliance's ground-based weapons were no pushovers either.

The "Dragon" missile, developed by Boulder Military Industries and refined by researchers from Vault 70, had evolved into a ground-launched, ultra-long-range anti-ship variant—the "Sea Dragon"!

Shortly after the Thunderbolt fighters failed to breach the fire net, on the outskirts of the floating airfield off Ring Island, a boxy missile launcher raised its massive head.

With the launch command given, a plume of white smoke pierced the dust cover and shot into the sky, propelling a silver missile through the thick clouds.

That missile was like a sharp dagger, tracing a parabolic arc before plunging unerringly toward the "Reef," which had deliberately exposed itself as bait under the radar of both the Alliance and the South Sea Alliance.

The Reef's point-defense system performed as expected. A dense rain of projectiles poured from the elevated barrels, swarming like a hive of bees toward the descending "Sea Dragon"!

A blinding flash erupted in the sky—but it wasn't the Sea Dragon's explosion. It was the warhead's active detonation upon detecting high-speed objects approaching!

Inside the Reef's bridge, a man with shoulder insignia narrowed his eyes. Even as the missile exploded, he sensed something was wrong.

Their radar hadn't detected any enemy vessels in the nearby waters!

This was a ground-launched missile!

At the same time, shouts and curses erupted from the row of terminals just ahead of him.

"Radar components overloaded! Transmitter malfunctioning!"

"Unable to lock enemy aircraft position!"

"Sonar system failure! Damn it!"

"It's an EMP! Notify the repair crew to fix it!"

"How long will it take?"

"Damage isn't severe... Should be resolved within five minutes!"

"Five minutes?!"

The Reef-class destroyers were equipped with anti-EMP devices, but they required shutting down the active phased-array radar and sonar systems and entering radio silence to activate.

However, their attention had been entirely focused on the two hit-and-run aircraft and the submarines lurking somewhere unknown. They hadn't anticipated the Alliance using this tactic.

Relying solely on passive anti-EMP components was clearly insufficient to fully shield against a direct strike from a strategic-grade EMP weapon.

Spear and shield were always relative concepts—no defense was absolutely impenetrable.

And the loss of sonar and radar was, for the Reef-class destroyer, akin to being blinded in both eyes.

Although the destroyer's point-defense system had two sets of identification devices, capable of visually recognizing and locking onto flying objects using optical lenses without relying on radar, its interception efficiency was certainly inferior to radar's.

And most critical of all was the sonar system...

Three attack submarines were the South Sea Alliance's greatest trump card!

Realizing the gravity of the situation, a bead of cold sweat broke out on the captain's forehead, and he hurriedly turned to the main gun operator to ask.

"What about the fire control system?"

"For now... no malfunctions detected!" The main gun operator, seated before the terminal, swallowed hard and answered nervously.

Hearing this reply, the captain found no comfort in his heart, and just then, the radio operator suddenly called out.

"Sir! Command has sent a request to bombard the coastline! The landing ships ahead will deploy landing craft in thirty seconds!"

The captain was stunned, his eyes wide.

"Are they insane?! That's the residents of Shazhou Island!"

The operation plan did indeed mention covering the landing force's arrival at Shazhou Island, and even detailed that he would act as bait to lure out the "rebel fleet" of Anle Island, coordinating with the main fleet ambushed in nearby waters to sink it, but that plan never said he was to bomb his own people!

Though what happened on Shazhou Island enraged him, the troublemakers were those guards; the survivors living on Shazhou Island were innocent.

At least in his eyes, those people were his compatriots!

The radio operator reported the situation to command, and after receiving a reply, hesitated as he looked at the captain.

"Command says... they are traitors, and we must open fire immediately."

There was no time to hesitate.

The captain gritted his teeth and turned to the artillery operator sitting nearby.

"...Aim at the coastline! Avoid the urban area and fire!"

The artillery operator was taken aback, but still obeyed.

"Aye!"

With the order given, the 150mm naval gun on the destroyer Reef slowly raised its barrel, first firing a calibration round toward the southern shore of Shazhou Island, then unleashing a sustained barrage of fierce cannon fire.

Hearing that deafening roar, Old Bai, crouching inside a building in the urban area, took a deep breath, gripping his binoculars as he stared at the heavy landing craft drawing ever closer on the sea, and issued the battle command over the comm channel.

"All teammates, prepare! Release safeties! Let our enemies land on the shore first, then hit them hard!"

Pausing for a moment, he switched the comm channel to Brother Chicken and said in a low voice.

"EMP detonated successfully... The enemy ship didn't react to our aircraft skimming above the clouds; the radar system is likely paralyzed. If the engineers from Vault 70's analysis holds, their sonar system is probably in trouble too. It's your turn now."

A cheerful reply came through the comm channel.

"Roger!"

At that moment, on the turbulent sea, over thirty landing craft, under the cover of artillery fire, had approached the shallows on the southern side of Shazhou Island and charged straight onto the beach.

As the hatches opened one by one, a surging horde of green-skinned mutants roared ashore, their amber pupils glowing with eerie green light.

In their hands, they carried large-caliber rifles and even machine guns, wore modified exoskeletons, and had thick bulletproof steel plates strapped to their chests, with remnants of vomit still clinging to the plates.

Clearly, this was their first time on a ship, and likely their last.

Upon seeing that the enemy were mutants, and probably those transferred from the northern front, the players crouching in the urban area no longer harbored any trace of mercy in their eyes; they all sharpened their focus.

"Open fire—!"

With that roar, pitch-black windows were instantly lit up by the muzzle flashes of heavy machine guns.

Streaks of tracer fire, like rain, swept toward the beach, colliding with the mutants charging onto the shore.

Spilled blood dyed the beach red, but these mutants still held the numerical advantage—those thirty-odd heavy landing craft had crammed in nearly a thousand men, their heads scattered across the beach like cockroaches crawling everywhere.

Not only that, but Charas had apparently used the industrial equipment of North Island to make some improvements to these mutants, even crafting fully protective exoskeletons and mutant-specific assault rifles for them.

The mutants landing on the island split into ten teams, descending like a great bowl over the streets lining the coastline, and the blazing warfire began to burn along the contours of the urban area!

Meanwhile, the Reef, which had been bombarding the coastline, ceased fire and, as planned, stood guard for any possible appearance of the South Sea Alliance's main fleet or submarines.

But contrary to Charas's expectations, the South Sea Alliance's fleet did not appear.

After deploying ground forces to Shazhou Island, the Alliance seemed only to conduct a probing attack on the Reef with aircraft, then launched a single land-based missile, ending all naval offensives—even ignoring the Reef's bombardment of their ground forces on Shazhou Island.

Frankly, this was highly unusual!

North Island Command.

Gazing down at the fiercely contested battlefield through a drone, Charas cursed under his breath.

"...What the hell is Zhang Ruowen doing! Not a single shell landed in the urban area!"

Zhang Ruowen was the captain of the Reef.

The landing battle had been going on for over ten minutes, and more than half of the thousand-plus mutants landing on the island were already dead or wounded. Only then did he realize that the earlier bombardment had been utterly pointless.

The defensive forces stationed in the urban area had suffered almost no losses; at most, a few roads had been damaged by the shells.

Now the landing force was stalled, the South Sea Alliance's main fleet hadn't been lured out, and his own fleet ambushed in nearby waters had waited in vain.

Standing beside Charas, the staff officer lowered his voice and said.

"With the current forces on Shazhou Island, it's unlikely we can capture the entire island. The Alliance also has a defensive unit deployed on the northern beachhead... If the bait operation hasn't worked, I suggest pulling the Reef back first."

Charas said with a dark face.

"Our operation hasn't failed yet."

The staff officer nodded.

"True, but waiting any longer won't yield better results, especially since Anle Island already knows our main fleet isn't at North Island..."

Hearing the latter part, Charas quickly calmed down.

Indeed.

The greatest risk of the entire plan wasn't the potential loss of a destroyer, but the possibility of creating a defensive vacuum at North Island.

Arms crossed, he tapped his index finger twice on his arm, then immediately turned to the radio operator and issued an order.

"Have the Reef withdraw... never mind, put their captain on the line, give me the headset! I'll talk to that fool myself!"

With that, he snatched the radio operator's headset and put it on.

"What are you doing! I told you to bomb the urban area of Shazhou Island, and you blasted the shells into some godforsaken place!"

There was no response from the comm channel.

That man seemed to know he was in the wrong, too ashamed to speak.

After cursing his subordinate thoroughly, Charas took a couple of breaths to steady himself and continued.

"...I don't care what thoughts or excuses you have. Because of your dereliction of duty, we've missed the golden chance to crush our opponent! Now get the hell back here immediately!"

But what he didn't expect was that the long-silent comm channel suddenly broke in with an unfamiliar voice.

"They won't be coming back."

Charas shuddered all over and blurted out reflexively.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Across the comm channel, a cheerful laugh rang out, and he readily introduced himself.

"Midnight Chicken Slayer, Commander of the Jungle Corps! Anyway, thanks for this ship."

Chalas: "???"