Volume 15 Gray Fog Forest Chapter 736: Lumberjack
"Tsk, it looks like the hour we saved on the flight just now is going to be wasted here." Thirty-three said.
"If it helps our next move, then it can't be considered a waste." Ke Lan said, "Valentina, don't join the battle now. Find a place to hide the Blasphemer mecha."
Valentina: “Understood.”
The Blasphemer mecha was too conspicuous, especially after the Ark publicity department released a recruitment video edited with mass-produced Fallen Angels' battle footage, this type of mecha has left a deep impression on the public. If the Blasphemer mecha was directly allowed to participate in the battle, it would be easy for people to guess their identity.
"Why use a butcher knife to kill a chicken?" To deal with this mob, three of the five people in the car can finish the battle within a minute - and that's without using any hot weapons.
"Let's go and save people."
Ke Lan flicked the steering stick, and the off-road vehicle drifted on the spot under the powerful thrust, and threw the front of the car towards the direction where the gunshots came from, rushing away in a cloud of dust.
…
When Ke Lan and his men entered the battlefield , the remnants of the heretical sect had just approached close enough to launch a charge. The remnant believers, holding stones and sticks, screamed and rushed out from behind the shield soldiers and gunners. In just two breaths, they had covered the last thirty meters.
Although seven or eight people were knocked down by stray bullets during the charge, when the distance between the two sides was eliminated, the defense no longer had any advantage.
Although it is said that "a gun is fast at a distance of seven steps, and is both accurate and fast at a distance of seven steps", this only means that the gun holder will have an absolute advantage when the number of people on both sides is not much different. When a gunman needs to deal with more than three close enemies, the advantage brought by the gun is basically eliminated.
A man holding a modified P90 had just shot down a remnant of the party who jumped onto the hood of a vehicle when he was hit hard on the back of his head by a flying stone... Although the blow was not fatal due to the protection of a tactical helmet, he was still dizzy for a short period of time.
At this moment, a hunched, monkey-like remnant of the party seized the opportunity, jumped up, and cut the man's throat with a knife in his hand.
But before he could cheer for success, the barrel of the TAC-50 anti-material sniper rifle was already against his chest, followed by a thunderous gunshot.
A 0.5-inch anti-material sniper rifle can easily cut off a person at a distance of two kilometers. As for zero-range shooting - the body of this remnant party believer was directly turned into a blood rain that exploded all over the sky.
This shot seemed to be the only bullet left in the TAC-50's chamber. After firing this shot, the female sniper threw away the heavy anti-material sniper rifle, pulled out a large Gurkha knife from her waist, and chopped down a remnant of the believers who rushed up in the rain of blood.
But just as she stepped on the opponent's corpse and pulled out the saber that was stuck in the bone, she found that the battle had ended strangely.
Including shield soldiers and gunners, the bodies of the remaining believers who rushed over were lying on the ground. Even the few black-robed men in the distance who were in charge of command and did not directly participate in the battle had become corpses lying on the ground.
An armored off-road vehicle that was as big as a tank was parked not far away. Several people wearing field force training uniforms without any logos or badges jumped off the armored off-road vehicle and walked towards this side.
The female sniper held down the pistol on her waist with some caution, and asked Ke Lan and the others loudly, "Who are you?"
"We are not enemies." Ke Lan raised his hands to indicate that he had no weapons in his hands.
But what the female sniper did not see was that at her feet, an inconspicuous black blade had silently drilled into the sand. As long as she tried to draw her gun and shoot, the black blade would instantly break out of the ground and cut her tendons.
"Did you kill these exiles?" the female sniper asked again.
In the brief hand-to-hand fight just now, in addition to the man whose throat was cut, another companion was seriously injured. The other two, one was helping the injured man to treat his injuries, while the other was squatting on the ground with a gun in his arms, looking at Ke Lan and others nervously.
"Otherwise, could they have died on their own?" Ke Lan shrugged. "There is one more thing I need to correct. Strictly speaking, this group of people cannot be considered exiles, but remnants of a heretical sect."
"You... came down from the Ark?" The female sniper's tone relaxed a little - in her opinion, anyone who could possess such a vehicle and equipment could not be an exile wandering in the wilderness.
"Yeah." Ke Lan nodded and said shamelessly, "We are an expedition team. When we passed by here, we happened to hear the sound of an exchange of fire. Driven by a sense of justice, we immediately decided to help the injustice."
"Thank you, thank you." As if she didn't know how to express her gratitude, the female sniper nodded to Ke Lan with a somewhat stiff expression, "If possible, please leave your contact information. We will find a way to repay you for saving our lives after we return to the Ark."
If I want to repay the life-saving grace, I don't have to wait until we return to the Ark... Ke Lan looked at the four survivors and said silently in his heart.
"You were an ODST before? And from the First Regiment of the First Division?" Thirty-three's eyes swept across the woman's left wrist. "Female soldiers who can be absorbed into the First Regiment are really rare."
"You...are you from the military?" The female sniper was slightly startled and subconsciously covered her left wrist.
But Ke Lan had just seen that there was a burning skull tattoo on the inside of her left wrist.
"ODST." The full name is Orbital Drop Shock Troopers... Of course, among the people, they have a more famous name, called "Hell's Paratroopers."
This force was formed before the Ark landed on Alpha. In order to clear the indigenous biological communities near the landing site, the Ark's top management specially formed a highly mobile elite force that could carry out individual airdrops from low-Earth orbit and quickly enter the battlefield. The "Hell Paratroopers" came into being.
In order to withstand the high temperature during airborne and the impact of landing, this commando team was composed entirely of modified humans. This was a very bold decision in an era when human body modification surgery had not yet been publicly legalized.
When the Ark successfully landed on Alpha, the historical mission of the "Hell's Paratroopers" was accomplished, but the number of this legendary unit was not revoked. Instead, it was retained as the code name of the most elite airborne force of the Field Corps and expanded to four divisions.
However, in the eyes of many people, only the First Regiment of the First Division is the true inheritor of the "Hell's Paratroopers".
Since this female sniper came from the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division of ODST, her strength could be explained.
"It was." Thirty-three replied, "It's your turn to answer our questions: Who are you? Why are you being besieged by the remnants of this heretical sect?"
"We are... also explorers. Our convoy was suddenly attacked by these people when we were passing through the Great Basin. They divided into several groups to chase and intercept us, and forced us to this place." The female sniper replied.
"Explorer? Are you sure?" Ke Lan stared into the other person's eyes and said with a smile.
"...Well, there's nothing to hide. We are a group of 'lumberjacks'." The female sniper stared at Ke Lan for a few seconds, then gave in and admitted, "The Gray Mist Forest is located on the edge of the Great Basin. You should all know this, right ? The specialty of the Gray Mist Forest, the Mistwood, is an expensive and rare material in the upper class of the Ark. The wood of the Mistwood is as hard as metal and is impervious to water and fire. Furniture made from it is especially popular among the rich. Our job is to chop down the Mistwood, process it into logs, and then transport it back to the Ark to sell it. It's that simple."
"If the Mist Roost is so popular, the Gray Mist Forest would have been overcrowded long ago." Ke Lan said, "After all, people die for money and birds die for food, right? If there is such a way to make money, there must be a lot of people who want to get a piece of the pie, don't you think?"
He walked slowly to the overturned SUV, squatted down, and carefully examined the logs tied to the roof rack.
"Mist roost wood is difficult to cut down and process, and the transportation cost is very high, so the profit margin is not large. It is not as profitable as you think." explained the female sniper.
"No, that's not right." Ke Lan shook her head again. "There are two types of fog trees. The fog trees that grow outside the red line area are only of average quality. They are neither fireproof nor moth-proof, and their market price is not much higher than other solid wood materials. But the fog trees that grow in the red line restricted area have solid wood with tight annual rings. Their hardness and toughness are comparable to alloys, and they can emit a special fragrance for a long time... Unlike the fog vines that parasite the fog trees, this fragrance is not only non-toxic, but also can refresh the mind... Just like the sandalwood on the earth in the old era, this kind of fog trees is the top-grade products that are truly sought after by the upper class."
Ke Lan stood up and continued, "After crossing the red line, the deeper you go, the better the quality of the Mistwood will be, but the more difficult and dangerous it will be to mine... Every 100 meters, the density of the Mistwood's annual rings can even double, and judging by the quality of these logs, they should have been cut from about 200 meters away from the red line, right?"
"You...you know...a lot about Kirisimu." The female sniper muttered.
This woman probably mistook us for colleagues, Ke Lan thought - since he had already decided to come to the Gray Mist Forest to find out what was going on, he would definitely not miss any information related to the Gray Mist Forest, which naturally included things related to the Mist Tree.
But then again, these "lumberjacks" can go two hundred meters behind the red line to cut down fog trees, so it seems they are quite capable.
If everyone could go as deep as they did to cut down the Mist Trees, the outer areas of the Gray Mist Forest would have become as lively as the Molten Mine Area...
It is true that harvesting high-quality mistwood can make money, but not everyone can make that much money.
"I'm just interested." Ke Lan said casually, "By the way, did you just say that you would repay us for saving your life after returning to the Ark? I don't think we need to wait until we return. If you want to repay us, you can do it now."
"You...you want this batch of Mistwood?" The female sniper's tone revealed a hint of reluctance, but she did not directly refuse. "If you want, I can give you this batch of wood...but can you leave us one, no, half a piece will do. Many of my companions were killed or injured in this operation, and their families are still waiting for them on the Ark...If I return empty-handed..."
The female sniper didn't continue speaking, but her meaning was obvious.
She should be the leader of this group of "lumberjacks". This is a good leader. At least she will not forget her dead companions. If Lao Gou were here, he would probably be unable to help but speak well of the military's former pension mechanism...
"You misunderstood what I meant. What I want is not these pieces of wood, but people." Ke Lan pointed at the other party and said.
"Ah?!" The female sniper was stunned for a moment, and her eyes suddenly became a little strange... But when her gaze swept over Ze Luo who was standing behind Ke Lan, the panic and shame in her eyes turned into astonishment for a moment, and then turned into confusion.
Did this man want to repay his kindness with his body? No... that's not right. The girl he was traveling with was so beautiful, how could he be interested in me?
This female sniper is not ugly, at least she has a six-minute upper-middle level, and this is without makeup. If she puts on light makeup, it is estimated that she can be close to the average level of seven points in the entertainment industry. She also has a good figure, and her gestures are full of a heroic spirit that ordinary girls don't have. If she can get the dual blessing of "makeup magic" and "PS armor", she can even reach the level of eight points of goddess...
However, compared with a beauty monster like Ze Luo, even if she is an 80% goddess, she can only be described as "a world of difference".
"We want to go deeper into the Gray Mist Forest, so we need a guide who is familiar with the forest." Ke Lan didn't pay attention to the other party's expression and continued, "I think there should be no one on the Ark who is more familiar with the Gray Mist Forest than you 'lumberjacks', right?"
"Go deep into the gray fog forest? How deep do you plan to go? A few hundred meters?" the other party asked in surprise.
The depth she was referring to was naturally the depth beyond the red line... So far, not counting those who disappeared in the forest, the farthest exploration record of mankind is 433 meters.
"We are going to the core area in the center of the Gray Mist Forest." Ke Lan said with a smile, "It is right below the 'Mist Mountain'."
