Chapter 101: Chapter 96: New Recruit Combat Training, Stress Test

The stench of several tons of thawing frozen chicken and duck, mixed with the spatter of bloody water, filled the air.

It quickly attracted a large number of Red-Armored Beetles, which poked their heads out from the newly dug hole.

A diet consisting solely of plants and wood wasn’t nutritionally complete; they needed to consume flesh and blood to obtain various trace elements.

Inside the boxes the new recruits were carrying were bags of frozen chicken. As the ice melted, blood seeped out, dyeing the thawing water red.

Following the instructions from Shen Jie and the others, they cut open the plastic bags outside the Wormhole entrance and scattered the bloody water, continuously luring the Red-Armored Beetles away from the opening.

This would give them the chance to open fire and annihilate them.

As the Red-Armored Beetle Swarm crawled onto the highway, moving away from the Wormhole, the first batch of recruits had already loaded their rifles, aiming the muzzles at the Zergs’ heads.

There were over fifty Red-Armored Beetles, gnawing on and filtering through the soil soaked with bloody water.

At Shen Jie’s command, dozens of gunshots rang out one after another. Among the fifty new recruits, many managed to score headshots in two or three rounds, completing their first kill.

But some, due to nervousness, missed their chance, startling the Red-Armored Beetles and scaring them into scurrying back to the hole with a WHOOSH.

Fortunately, Shen Jie and his team had been keeping a close watch on their squads. Whenever a Red-Armored Beetle tried to flee, they immediately opened fire and shot off its abdominal legs.

They didn’t let a single one get away.

If they let any escape to warn the others, luring the next Red-Armored Beetle Swarm out of the hole wouldn’t be as simple as it was now.

It was just like fishing for crawfish. Out in the wild, the Red-Armored Beetles were naturally timid. To hunt them continuously, they had to prevent panic from spreading.

Shen Jie and his team handed over the downed Red-Armored Beetles with broken legs to the recruits who had yet to Upgrade, letting them kill the Zergs one by one.

According to Lin Feng’s arrangement, for the first two days, every new recruit had to experience the feeling of being strengthened by an Upgrade, just to get them safely through the weakest Early Stage.

Starting tomorrow, once everyone was Level 4 or higher, they would no longer be full-time babysitters. The recruits would have to learn to bait and kill the Zergs themselves.

Whether they chose to kill cooperatively or act alone was entirely up to them.

Meanwhile, squad leaders like Shen Jie were only responsible for dealing with any sudden Black Spine Zerg Swarms.

As for the Flying Wing Tank parked to the side, Lin Feng and Chen Yanyan, in addition to scouting the movements of the Black Spine Zerg Swarms, also had to be ready for potential Cyan-winged Zergs and, with an extremely low probability, a squad of Tier Two Tiger Spine Zergs.

Of course, Lin Feng hoped the latter would show up again.

His Level 19 Grenade Cannon and the Level 20 Flying Tiger Armor he wore had been waiting for a long time. He was getting impatient.

It was a pity that ever since their first appearance, when they had suffered a devastating blow from Qin Hu, not a single Tiger Spine Zerg had been seen again, neither here on the highway nor along the several-kilometer-long front line.

The Mother Empress was probably also heartbroken over the loss of her Tier Two Zerg Race.

They couldn’t be mass-produced; their creation depended entirely on the cumulative evolution of Low-Tier Zergs.

Therefore, every single one was incredibly precious.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been such a fierce battle over the corpses of the Tiger Spine Zergs, a fight that cost Qin Hu his left leg.

For humanity, this was rare good news. After all, a Tier Two Tiger Spine Zerg, comparable in size to a small building, was definitely a deadlock-breaking weapon on a stalemated front.

If the Tier Two Zerg Race could swarm in like the Black Spine Zergs, humanity would stand no chance of victory.

But for Lin Feng, it was a long wait.

He was waiting for a Tier Two Zerg to appear so that he could complete his Tier Two Awakening after killing it. At the same time, he would gain a piece of Orange Quality equipment, allowing his Replication Superpower to truly shine.

Unfortunately, such an opportunity was rare and couldn’t be forced.

During this waiting period, the ones who gained the most were the ninety-six new recruits of Company 201. After one round, basically all of them had killed one or two Red-Armored Beetles.

Feeling the warm current of enhancement flowing into their bodies, they were ecstatic. They became increasingly proactive about scattering flesh and blood to bait the Red-Armored Beetles and killing the Zergs.

After all, the rumors had been proven true for them. The sudden surge of Power in their arms wasn’t something they could fake.

Watching their eager faces, Lin Feng recalled his own experience of being trapped by a Zerg Swarm in Hai City, killing to grow stronger, and couldn’t help but feel a wave of emotion.

’Their Upgrades look easy now,’ he thought, ’but if they run into a Black Spine Zerg Swarm, they’ll face certain death.’

And soon enough, the successive deaths of several hundred Red-Armored Beetles within a hundred-meter radius attracted the attention of a Black Spine Zerg patrol.

Their configuration was now strengthened; each group had over fifty Zergs to counter a hundred-man human company.

This way, even if the two sides clashed, the Zerg Race could achieve some results and wouldn’t be like before, where a group of twenty-some Black Spine Zergs would be suppressed by rifle fire and eliminated one by one by Machine Cannons before they even got close.

Before the new recruits even noticed the approaching threat, Shen Jie and the other Awakeners received an advance warning from Lin Feng. Using their enhanced vision, they could already see the inky black mass of a Black Spine Zerg Swarm a kilometer away.

Their numbers were far greater than a typical patrol.

They raised their large-caliber rifles and fired a suppressive barrage to draw the Black Spine Zerg Swarm toward them.

When the Black Spine Zergs closed to within five hundred meters, the enhanced recruits finally saw a black shadow rushing toward them at high speed, their faces filled with terror.

They had never seen a Black Spine Zerg in person, but from the frontline videos online, they were already well aware of how terrifying these Soldier Zergs were.

Each Black Spine Zerg was like a light Tank, far beyond what an ordinary human could handle. Normal firearms could hardly inflict any effective Damage on them.

Only Awakeners with heavy weapons or special Awakeners with powerful Superpowers could stand a chance against them.

But according to what their instructor had said, even an Awakener would find it difficult to escape safely if surrounded by several Black Spine Zergs. Now, there were dozens before them, while they only had eight squad leaders.

Eight Awakeners against dozens of Black Spine Zergs.

The outcome was obvious!

Many were already thinking of retreating and even suggested to Shen Jie and the others that they should get in the vehicles and fall back.

But Shen Jie’s gaze was fixed as he scrutinized the recruits who were considering retreat. ’Deserters who abandon their posts on the battlefield are the most detestable, and it’s an unforgivable mistake.’

His anger, accompanied by the powerful aura of an Awakener, was unleashed. A single cold snort was enough to scare the recruits so badly that they didn’t dare take another step back.

"What are you afraid of!"

"All of you, get into formation, obey your squad leader’s commands, and keep firing as planned!"

Shen Jie shouted. What they were training now was the recruits’ courage, which was more important than improving their individual strength.

Especially since they weren’t inside a fortress right now.

There was no protection whatsoever out in the wild.

If the recruits could hold on under these conditions, their mental fortitude would also be greatly enhanced.

When a major battle broke out, they would be able to hold their posts even when facing an army of hundreds or thousands of Black Spine Zergs, ensuring continuous output from every fire position.

Under the command of Shen Jie and the other leaders, the firepower of nearly a hundred rifles poured out, suppressing the incoming Black Spine Zerg Swarm in waves.

Although they couldn’t break through their defenses, it effectively slowed their advance, and repeated hits on the same spot could even cause some minor damage.

With enough accumulated damage, they could even seriously injure a few Black Spine Zergs.

Time ticked by, second by second. With death looming, the recruits’ hearts were in their throats. The joy they felt upon arrival was completely gone, replaced by an understanding of the battlefield’s cruelty under the ferocious assault of the Black Spine Zerg Swarm.

During this time, Shen Jie observed each of their actions. There were the tough ones who aimed calmly, and also the panicked rookies who fired wildly.

These performances would determine their future assignments.

When the Black Spine Zerg Swarm charged to within three hundred meters, the Flying Wing Tank, which had been observing all along, finally made its move.

Lin Feng, sitting on the observation platform, confirmed that no Cyan-winged Zergs had appeared. He then raised the muzzle of his Level 19 Grenade Cannon, aimed at the nearby Black Spine Zerg Swarm, and unleashed Firepower Coverage!

Two seconds later, as if a cluster bomb had been dropped, countless shells rained down upon the Black Spine Zerg Swarm, blanketing a two-hundred-meter-long stretch of the highway.

The series of violent explosions stunned the recruits on site.

They couldn’t even find the source of the bombardment and thought a bomber had flown overhead.

It wasn’t until Shen Jie turned his gaze toward the Tank and received a confirming look from their Commander that the recruits noticed the smoke drifting from the muzzle on the Tank’s observation platform and realized the Power of this Sergeant Major.

It also verified the rumors from the training camp...

...that in the highway service area, there was a powerful Superpower Bullet Awakener in whose hands the might of a firearm could be multiplied!

The equivalent of more than ten Grenade Cannons!