173 The disappearing Experimentals (1/2)

Stronghold 113 had been reduced to a huge pile of ruins. The prosperous city that once represented human civilization had been destroyed. Rats, feral dogs, and feral cats could be seen lingering around as they searched for food in the ruins. In just a matter of weeks, weeds had already appeared out of the cracks in the concrete ground.

But the rats, dogs, and cats still had to move around cautiously. It was as though they were avoiding something terrible yet unknown.

Suddenly, a platoon of the Qing Consortium's combat troops wearing their black uniforms appeared out of a small pathway. They were on high alert and were heavily armed in addition to the firearms in their hands.

The huge feral cats and dogs ran away in a hurry when they spotted them. When the platoon leader made a tactical hand signal, two members of the platoon rushed forward to check out the situation behind a huge obstacle up ahead.

That obstacle was a collapsed building.

Their operation was being carried out stealthily. The two pointmen signaled to the advance party: No target spotted.

The platoon pushed forward once again. If someone looked down on them from above, the 30-man platoon would be seen snaking up bit by bit as they moved forward on the battlefield.

After they passed the obstacle, groups of full-strength platoons would immediately fill their positions from behind. Some of the platoons were even armed with a large number of heavy weapons, while others were responsible for building defensive bunkers whenever it was called for.

There were many other similar formations infiltrating in this manner at the northwest of the stronghold. This was the 1st Combat Brigade led by Qing Yun of the Qing Consortium, and the remaining troops from the 7th Combat Brigade that was previously led by Qing Huai had been incorporated by him.

Qing Huai was dead from the previous ambush by the Experimentals. Currently, the 7th Combat Brigade existed in name only. Qing Yun was planning to take full control over this brigade to expand his strength.

As long as this operation was successful, he would be able to replace Qing Zhen's previous place in the hearts of the Board.

The reason why a large organization never gave in to an individual was because the organization itself had a strong ability to nurture talents. The Board believed the influence of an individual in the entire organization was as good as negligible. If such a large community with shared interests wanted to survive in the long run, it had to believe in the power of the organization, not that of individuals.

Qing Yun was staring coldly at a screen in the command vehicle that was on the furthest end of the ORBAT. At this moment, the dozen-odd screens in the vehicle were each displaying the operational progress of the dozen-odd platoons.

Right now, everything was proceeding smoothly, but Qing Yun couldn't help but feel a little strange. It was too quiet in the stronghold ruins.

Qing Yun looked at a middle-aged man beside him. ”Adjutant Li, was this where you guys were ambushed?”

”That's right.” Adjutant Li nodded and said, ”The Experimentals suddenly cut the infiltrating ORBAT right through the middle and split the entire battlefield in two. They're very familiar with the terrain here, and their combat prowess is shocking. Ordinary bullets can't deal fatal damage even when they get hit in vital areas. You must be extremely careful to avoid getting ambushed by them again.”

Qing Yun nodded. ”Don't worry, I'm not Qing Huai. I'll be waiting right here for them to come out.”

However, as the large ORBAT advanced, they did not see any signs of the Experimentals. The city was so quiet that it felt a little eerie.

Human remains could frequently be seen littered along on either side of the road. It was obvious just how much damage the disaster had caused here.

The face bugs were no longer around after their attack in the aftermath of the disaster. Based on the Qing Consortium's intel, this place had become the Experimentals' territory.

But where were the Experimentals?

Suddenly, someone said on the comms channel, ”A huge crevasse has been discovered in the ground, and there are signs indicating Experimental activity around here. It's suspected that they might be hiding underground.”