Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 931: Two Groups
Ten million credit points would normally be enough to make these mercenaries so excited that they couldn't sleep, but now, none of them showed even the slightest excitement - if the Ark was gone, credit points would be just a meaningless number.
Even if the Mukach Fortress can hold out for a while, after the news spreads, no one will use credit points to trade, and the society of the survivors will probably enter the most primitive barter stage, just like those exile settlements.
Moreover, Levi said something that hit the point - since this unknown enemy will attack the Ark, will it let go of other human strongholds?
"Do you have a detailed action plan?" Bianca was the first to react and asked Levi, "Also, I need equipment support. I hope the base can open the equipment warehouse with the highest level of authority to us."
"Of course." Levi nodded, "There's one more thing I want to give you."
After saying that, he took out a few black metal cards and handed them to Bianca and the others.
There are no characters or patterns on these metal cards, but the size of the cards is very familiar - most of the devices on the Ark that can swipe cards use cards of this specification, just like the ID cards, bank cards, and bus cards in the old era are all the same size.
"What is this?" asked a mercenary next to Bianca who was carrying a large-caliber anti-material sniper rifle.
"Communication card." Admiral Maginot said in a deep voice, "After you enter the Ark, just insert this card into any usable public communication terminal, and you will be able to contact an absolutely trustworthy...big shot. He will give you follow-up instructions, and you just need to do what he says."
The cards that Maginot gave them were used to contact the Undead Crew. The supervisors of every large base had communication cards like this, but they would only be used in extremely critical situations.
And now, it is that extremely critical situation.
"Big shot? What big shot?" Bianca looked at the "black card" in her hand and whispered, "A member of the United Parliament?"
"Well... a person of a higher level than a senator." Admiral Maginot said.
At this point, there is actually no need for the Undead Crew to hide anything. The Ark has fallen and humanity is on the brink of extinction. There is no point in taking this secret to the grave.
"One level higher than the congressmen? Are they the chaebols who manipulate the congressmen behind the scenes?" A brave relic hunter asked, "General, please forgive me for being blunt... I... I don't think... those people can be trusted."
"It's not those tycoons. If human civilization was really controlled by those tycoons, we would have perished long ago." Levi said in a shocking voice, "They are the real pilots of human civilization... If you can get in touch with them, you can even put your life in their hands."
The relic hunter did not continue to speak, but a hint of resistance flashed in his eyes... People like mercenaries and relic hunters who are used to freedom are actually very resistant to obeying orders, especially those from strangers who are high above them. The relic hunter immediately made up his mind that if the "big shot" asked him to carry out a mission to die, he would immediately smash the communication terminal and break the black card, pretending that the communication point was attacked and the communication was interrupted... He felt that not only himself, but others should have similar ideas.
To die immediately or to live in the wilderness for a while longer, most of these people would probably choose the latter.
"Remember, the highest priority goal is to find out what the layer covering the Ark is, and the monsters hatched in the tumorous growths on the surface. After completing the first goal, immediately compile the intelligence into a report file and send it back to the Mukach base by drone. Then conduct reconnaissance operations inside the Ark. As for the specific action plan, there is none." Levi said to the 19 people, "We know nothing about what happened on the Ark. You are the first advance team, so everything should be improvised."
When hearing the word "advance team", the mercenaries did not have any obvious reaction. Instead, several relic hunters shuddered subconsciously - when exploring those undeveloped ruins, the word "advance team" was basically equated with "dead people".
This is true for higher-level ruins, and the Ark in the photo is definitely as dangerous as an S-level ruins.
These relic hunters never imagined that one day they would become "advance team members".
…
It only took half an hour to check the equipment. There were no high-tech new equipment in the equipment warehouse of the Mukach Fortress, let alone those prototype weapons that had not been mass-produced. Most of them were "old guys" that had been in service for many years... However, Bikaan's request was not to get some top equipment from Admiral Maginot - for them, those new equipment that they had never touched before were probably not as convenient as the weapons they were used to. The reason she made this request was actually for one thing: active ammunition.
Even though Ke Lan and his men have so much living ammunition that they treat it like jelly beans, it is a rare commodity for ordinary mercenaries and relic hunters... and in fact, they rarely encounter situations where they have to fight against Seeds of Corrosion or their containers. Coupled with the ridiculously high price of living ammunition on the black market, almost no mercenaries or relic hunters will always have this kind of "special item".
In ice storage No. 1, a heavy refrigerator with four combination locks was opened. The logistics officer carefully pulled out two metal boxes from the compartment of the refrigerator and placed them on a folding table nearby.
Bianca stretched out her hand and opened the box. The interior of the box was filled with shock-absorbing sponge. Four rectangular holes were dug out inside the sponge, and four small and exquisite boxes were stuffed in the holes.
Each of these boxes contains fifty rounds of standard active ammunition, which are divided into two caliber specifications. One is the 10mm caliber full-power bullet commonly used for the Type 01 rifle, and the other is the 9mm caliber pistol bullet. As for the active ammunition used by sniper rifles, the Mukah base does not have any in stock. The standard way to use active ammunition is to use heavy firepower to tear open the shell of the Seed of Erosion, exposing the "core" to the outside, and then shoot the active ammunition into the core, so that the active cells of the flesh-eating worms in the warhead are absorbed by the Seed of Erosion, so as to achieve the "poisoning" of the Seed of Erosion. This kind of battle usually occurs at close range within one hundred meters. Pistol bullets and rifle bullets are the most commonly used. As for the active ammunition for sniper use, that thing is basically customized and the inventory is very small.
"This type of ammunition will lose its effectiveness soon after being thawed. You must use a mobile refrigerator to carry it. Do you understand?" The logistics officer said to the group of mercenaries, "Remember, they are only effective against Seeds of Corrosion and their containers. If it is any other monster, the lethality of active ammunition will be worse than that of live ammunition."
"Got it." Bianca closed the metal box, put it into the mobile cooler she brought, and asked one of her men to carry the box on his back.
"Boss, are you sure we will encounter that kind of monster during this operation? The thing in the photo... doesn't seem to be the same kind of creature as the Seed of Erosion. Active ammunition... can it be used?" asked another mercenary from Bianca's team.
"Whether it can be used or not, it's better to be prepared." Bianca said coldly, "It's better than not being able to counter it if you really encounter that kind of thing."
"That's true." The mercenary who had traded information with the white man nodded and said, "As expected of Bianca, she thinks more carefully than us... By the way, do you have any other special weapons like active ammunition? Give us some. You know, our mission this time is to save all mankind. It's not right to be so stingy!"
"This is the only specialized weapon against a certain type of creature." The logistics officer said somewhat unhappily, "If you want a more powerful weapon, I can get you a few individual tactical nuclear bombs."
"Uh... forget it, that thing is okay, forget it." Upon hearing about a single soldier using a tactical nuclear bomb, the mercenary waved his hands repeatedly - the most famous point of that thing is that "the killing radius is farther than the range". Unless it is used on the ground from an airplane, if it is launched on flat ground, even if you drive away at full speed in the opposite direction immediately after the launch, you will still be affected by the nuclear explosion...not to mention detonating it inside the Ark.
After picking up the active ammunition, this " rabble " team left the equipment depot, joined up with the two special forces teams at the Mukach base, and drove out of the base.
The personnel involved in the operation were divided into two teams: the first team was composed of the Bianca team and the military's "Gray Fox" team. They drove directly along the border of the western plains and approached the Ark from the west; the second team was everyone except the Bianca team, plus the military's "Spear" team. They would first go to the Shilin Air Force Base, 50 kilometers south of Mukach, where they would change to a high-speed transport plane and take the air route to approach the Ark from the east.
Levi divided the two teams into land and air for a reason - because he didn't know any characteristics of the enemies at the moment, and couldn't confirm whether they were more sensitive to ground targets or air targets. Having the two teams take different means of transportation to the Ark was like putting eggs in different baskets.
If there were a vehicle that could drill into the ground, he would even want to send out a third team to approach the Ark from underground.
…
Fifty kilometers south of Mukah is the "Stone Forest" Air Force Base.
This base is located on the edge of a stone forest, with an open plain on the north side and stone pillars as densely packed as a forest on the right. These jagged stone pillars have become like strange sculptures after years of weathering. According to the research of relic experts, this stone forest can be regarded as a relic of the Alpha civilization. These stone pillars, with an average height of more than 50 meters, are all man-made, and were probably used for some kind of sacrificial activities.
However, apart from these stone pillars, nothing else was found in this area. Even the totems and carvings that might have been on the surface of the stone pillars were weathered away. Therefore, this stone forest was removed from the list of relics within a few years after its discovery, and "Stone Forest Relics" was only retained as a landmark.
There were originally several warships docked at the "Shilin" Air Force Base, but these warships were transferred away by the top leaders a few days ago and there has been no news since then. Now the huge base is empty except for a few maintenance factories. The row of large semi-suspended airports originally prepared for the warships are all empty, with only a few gray-blue camouflage transport planes parked on the apron on one side.
The members of the second team jumped out of the car and ran quickly towards a transport plane parked in a conspicuous position - this was an improved version of the "Amran-class" transport plane. It only took two and a half hours to get from here to the Ark, saving about three-quarters of the time compared to the first team taking the land route.
"Although flying is more comfortable, to be honest, I would rather take the land route." The mercenary who exchanged wine for information said to his companion, "If I arrive at the mission location half a day later, I might be able to die half a day later, don't you think?"
"Bah, don't say such unlucky words." His companion spat, then glanced at the "Lance" team soldiers from the corner of his eye and lowered his voice, "If the situation is not right, we have to use our brains."
There are many meanings of "use your brain", and the last of the Thirty-Six Strategies is the most commonly used one.
When the two men boarded the transport plane, they found that there was a person who was not from their team sitting in the cabin of the transport plane. This person was wrapped tightly from head to toe. A large scarf tightly wrapped his face, and a pair of huge sunglasses blocked the upper half of his face... But for some reason, the two mercenaries always felt that this person looked like they had seen him somewhere before.
"You are..." The two men's eyes suddenly fell on a strand of white hair that was scattered under the man's helmet, and they asked in surprise, "You are the information dealer?! Why are you here?"
"Of course I'm here to participate in the mission." The other party said with a smile.
"Mission? This... this is top secret, and you were not selected, so how could you..." The mercenary who invited him to drink was about to turn around and ask the soldiers who were traveling with him. The next second, he saw the intelligence dealer took out a "black card" from his pocket, a black card exactly the same as the one given to them by Admiral Maginot.
"You should believe it now, right?" The intelligence dealer shook the black card and put it back into his pocket. "If I didn't have permission, the crew wouldn't let me on board, don't you think?"
"Uh... are you a latecomer? Aren't you afraid of death in such a dangerous mission?"
"You are not afraid, so why should I be afraid?"
