Chapter 624 - 600: Expensive Armored Vehicle

Just as they were about to say something to express their determination, a communications officer rushed over, his face flush with excitement. "Director Ding, a message just came in from headquarters! A squad from one of the academies has accepted our emergency request for aid. They’ll arrive within ten minutes. They told us to hold on no matter what!"

As the excited communications officer shouted the news, the entire infirmary suddenly fell silent. Then, everyone’s breathing grew heavier and heavier, until someone—no one knew who—let out the first cheer.

"This is great!"

"We’re saved!"

The soldiers on the front line didn’t know much about any academy leagues, but they were well aware that these elite students accepted missions posted by the military and also came to fight on the front lines.

And because of the special reward and punishment system, the squads formed by these students had a very high mission completion rate.

The military had done a preliminary statistical analysis: for rescue missions like this one, if an academy squad accepted it, it meant they had at least a 90% chance of completing it.

That was precisely why everyone was so excited after hearing that an academy squad had taken the mission. It meant that if they could just survive the next ten minutes, they had a nearly 90% chance of being rescued.

Ding Mao was just as overjoyed as everyone else, but as the commander, he knew that what mattered most right now wasn’t celebrating, but figuring out how to hold out for the next ten minutes.

He immediately looked toward Pei Yuan and Wei Ganghao. "You two were right. This is no time for retreat. If you can still move, then get up and help us hold on for these last ten minutes."

"And you lot! If you’re not dead, get on your feet! A broken leg doesn’t matter as long as both your hands can still fire a gun. Move, move, move! Everyone to the firing ports!"

Ding Mao shouted as he ran outside, "An academy rescue squad will be here in ten minutes! Everybody fucking hold on! Don’t save ammo, give ’em hell! And get the Mecha started! If it comes down to it, I can still go out for one last charge."

Watching Ding Mao run off into the distance, Pei Yuan and Wei Ganghao opened their mouths, a retort caught in their throats, unsure if they should spit it out.

But they were both overjoyed. They gobbled down the few pieces of meat from their cans, then quickly grabbed their guns and prepared to rush out.

"Hey, hey, hey! You two! If you’re heading out, carry me to a firing port on your way," an injured soldier with two broken legs quickly shouted.

"Old Zhao, with a Gun Technique like yours, you’d just be wasting bullets at the firing port. You two, carry me over instead! My Gun Technique is good."

"What the hell good is your Gun Technique?! Your right hand is broken."

"So what if my right hand is broken? With just my left, my Gun Technique is still better than yours."

"Bullshit!"

Pei Yuan and Wei Ganghao exchanged a helpless look, but their hands didn’t slow down. Each grabbed one of the injured soldiers and quickly helped move those who wanted to get back to the fight.

And they could clearly feel that with the news of reinforcements, the morale of the men had completely turned around. No one wanted to die.

Especially when faced with what had seemed like certain death, the potential they could now unleash with this newfound hope for survival was immense.

...

Meanwhile, at local Stronghold 231, by the time they received news of the incoming reinforcements, Lin Xinghai had already led Liu Miaomiao and Little Fatty to the airfield.

It wasn’t just the three of them. The other members of the Xinghai Squad, who were already on standby, had received their orders the moment Lin Xinghai accepted the mission and were now converging on the airfield.

However, as soon as everyone arrived, their attention was immediately captured by the two Armored Vehicles in front of them.

These two Armored Vehicles were more than twice the size of regular ones. Everything about them, from the massive ram on the front and the blades along the sides to the twenty automated machine guns on the roof, highlighted just how extraordinary they were.

Of course, the most eye-catching feature was the pair of enormous mechanical arms on the roof. Lin Xinghai blinked, then confirmed he wasn’t mistaken—they were indeed mechanical arms, and the same model used on Mechas.

At that moment, Little Fatty, looking rather smug, began to introduce the vehicles to the other Xinghai Squad members. "So? What do you think? I reinforced these two Armored Vehicles in every possible way. For example, I added a pneumatic system to the ram. If any enemy is foolish enough to block our path, the ram can launch forward like a battering ram."

"And the blades on the sides? They’re all high-frequency Vibrating Blades. Forget about regular Zombies and Abyssal Creatures—they can easily slice through the body of even a First Level Mutated Zombie."

"Of course, the main offensive weapons are these two mechanical arms. You can control them with the same flexibility as a Mecha’s. Hidden inside each arm are two cutting blades that can pop out as weapons during combat. If we run into an ordinary Mutated Zombie—one that isn’t particularly agile—our Armored Vehicles can take care of it on their own."

Listening to Little Fatty’s explanation, the surrounding Xinghai Squad members couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

"How much does it cost to modify an Armored Vehicle like this?" Yan Feijie couldn’t help but ask.

"Heh heh, take a guess," Little Fatty said, deciding to be mysterious instead of answering directly.

"The cost of an Armored Vehicle like this... it should be around three or four hundred thousand Huaxia Coins, right?" Yuan Zheng chimed in.

This was actually an outrageous guess. After all, a standard Armored Vehicle only cost about 10,000 Huaxia Coins.

That was for an unmodified one, of course. But even with modifications, spending thirty or forty thousand Huaxia Coins was already a lot. At the end of the day, an Armored Vehicle was just a transport vehicle, not a Mecha that could directly boost one’s combat power, so no one would sink that much money into one.

Yuan Zheng’s guess of three to four hundred thousand was thirty to forty times the price of a normal Armored Vehicle, which was quite an exaggeration.

However, if the Armored Vehicle was also outfitted with sophisticated internal equipment, then it might reach that price.

Hearing Yuan Zheng’s guess, Little Fatty just shook his head and chuckled. "How could it be that low? Add a zero, and you’d be closer."

"Are you saying these Armored Vehicles cost three or four million Huaxia Coins each? That’s impossible. Even if you installed all the best stuff in them, they couldn’t be that expensive," Yan Feijie said this time, speaking with great certainty.

One had to understand that the purchasing power of the Huaxia Coin was quite substantial. Many precision instruments could be bought for one or two thousand Huaxia Coins, and even some expensive and rare military-grade instruments would cost ten or twenty thousand at most.

At this point, Lin Xinghai ignored their bickering. He took two steps forward, tapped lightly on the Armored Vehicle’s plating, and a look of shock appeared on his face. "This outer armor... it can’t all be Second Level Biological Alloy, can it?"

"Heh heh, you’ve got a good eye, Boss." Hearing Lin Xinghai speak, Little Fatty immediately trotted over to explain. "It’s not just the outer armor. All the metal in the entire Armored Vehicle is Second Level Biological Alloy, the same material used for Rare Level Mechas. That’s what makes these vehicles so expensive."

"An Armored Vehicle like this can ignore the attacks of almost all First Level Mutated Zombies. Even a First Level ’Death Claw’ would need at least ten minutes to break through its defense."

"Of course, it is a bit pricey. The manufacturing cost is almost the same as a Rare Level Mecha." As he said this, even Little Fatty’s expression turned pained, as if he could feel the expense himself.

The others who had been about to argue instantly fell silent.

Even Lin Xinghai felt his mouth twitch. At their East Sea Academy, at least half the instructors didn’t even own a Rare Level Mecha. The situation was even worse for the Body Shaping Realm Martial Artists in other Shelters or in the military.

Yet Little Fatty had used such a vital material on two Armored Vehicles. If the instructors back at the academy found out, Lin Xinghai suspected they would be so green with envy they’d try to steal the vehicles outright.

"All right, get in the vehicles! Time is short. We’re moving out at full speed," Lin Xinghai ordered, being the first to jump onto an Armored Vehicle.