Chapter 535: Chapter 391: The News of the Loss
The Zodiac Squad, named after the twelve Chinese Zodiac animals, has team members whose nicknames all contain the animal of their respective Zodiac.
Due to the urgency of the situation, Kyoto had directly dispatched all members of the Zodiac Squad in a saturation strike aimed at eliminating all Plasma Bugs that posed a threat to Kyoto in one fell swoop.
To ensure a one hundred percent success rate, each Plasma Bug was assigned to two Zodiac Squad members for extermination, while the remaining members were on alert.
At that moment, the Lone Wolf survivors and elite squad members around them conscientiously blocked the Soldier Bugs that were charging towards them.
The survivors held off wave after wave of assaults, all with the purpose of creating a window of opportunity for themselves.
As all members of the Zodiac Squad released their arrows, over thirty Plasma Bugs were taken care of by everyone. When Charlie pressed the detonator in his hand, the arrows that had been shot into the bodies of the Plasma Bugs exploded one after another.
This operation was different from the past. The Zodiac Squad didn’t have as many expert archers as in the Rooster group last time. So, when skill wasn’t enough, equipment made up for it.
The arrows they used this time were custom-designed, not only featuring automatic guidance but also fitted with nuclear bombs. Therefore, the Zodiac members in charge of shooting only had to aim roughly, and the rest was left to sheer force to work wonders.
As everyone released their arrows, the outcome was as expected by Command Headquarters, successfully eliminating all Plasma Bugs that posed a threat to Kyoto City.
After exterminating all Plasma Bugs, the Zodiac members handed over the experimental weapons they were carrying to the survivors and Lone Wolves around them who had helped hold back the Soldier Bug onslaught. Then, leaving behind the Serpent Squad, the rest of the team members departed straight away.
Once the other Zodiac Squads had left, the Serpent Squad members also dispersed and vanished into the surrounding environment. They stayed not to engage in combat, but to observe and record the data of the weapons that had come out of the lab. Originally, this test was supposed to be carried out by the Pig Squad, but seeing that other survivors were willing to help, they were also happy to take it easy.
After all, the experimental weapons from the Zodiac Squad, in terms of power and various other aspects, were far superior to the weapons they were wielding. So, whether it were the Lone Wolves or members of the elite squads, they were also happy to help, especially since the Zodiac Squad had promised not to reclaim the weapons used for testing after the tests were concluded.
Dong Tianyu sighed with some resignation as he watched the survivors who remained after eleven of the Zodiac Squads had departed, staying behind to test the power and performance of the weapons against the incoming insect tide.
A man will risk his life for wealth, just as a bird will brave death for food—how true it is.
Dong Tianyu also saw this behavior as indicative of the current direction in weapon development of the Imperial Court.
He didn’t know if the Imperial Court had completely abandoned gunpowder weapons or simply didn’t bring them for testing this time, but the weapons distributed were all energy-based.
The ammo for the weapons was something resembling a rectangular power bank, with each weapon equipped on average with 10 specialized ’magazines’.
However, unlike the limitless firing energy in movies, energy weapons had much less ammunition per magazine than equivalent gunpowder weapons when tested, without the need for magazine changes.
Moreover, while energy weapons had excellent penetration compared to gunpowder weapons, it was their overly good penetration that was the issue. Although one shot piercing two targets was normal, and piercing three a frequent occurrence, unless it hit a vital part of a Soldier Bug, the multiple penetration wounds didn’t seem to significantly impact their ability to move.
However, hitting a vital spot could inflict much more damage on the Soldier Bug than gunpowder weapons, usually resulting in a one-hit kill.
Dong Tianyu, who observed the ground battle from above for a while, slowly turned his thoughts from the fighting to the hidden members of the Serpent Squad.
At that moment, within Dong Tianyu’s Spiritual Sense, out of the twelve members of the Serpent Squad, Dong Tianyu could only detect seven; the remaining five had completely vanished from his Spiritual Sense Scanning.
It was precisely because of this that Dong Tianyu uncovered the secret of the Serpent Squad. Although all members of the Serpent Squad had the ability to become invisible on the battlefield, their identical abilities were used in different ways.
Three Martial Artists didn’t have direct invisibility abilities. Instead, they hid in less obvious spots and used their Cultivation Technique to suppress the aura they emitted, thus unintentionally causing others to overlook them.
Dong Tianyu guessed that they must have cultivated something like the Turtle Breath Technique, which could only reduce one’s presence, making it difficult for others to notice them once hidden and did not actually render them invisible.
Apart from those three Martial Artists, the remaining members of the Serpent Squad discovered by Dong Tianyu had visual invisibility abilities.
Dong Tianyu guessed these individuals must be Awakeners. Their invisibility was likely linked to some special object they possessed. Although he could not determine which object carried by each person was special, Dong Tianyu was convinced that their invisibility ability definitely originated from one of the special objects they carried.
