Chapter 356 Bloodshed in the Void Tide

"Buzz—!"

The blinding white light felt like it was being peeled off his retina. The moment the spatial pulling sensation from the interstellar jump appeared, the foundational Dao foundation within Wei Qiang's Qi Sea, which had been polished to an extremely solid state, automatically began to operate. A warm and gentle true essence instantly circulated throughout his body, completely soothing the slight feeling of weightlessness.

"Click! Click!"

The metal combat boots of five hundred Xuanwu armored vehicles adhered with extreme precision to the alloy mesh floor on the second basement level of the Guanghan base. Without any unnecessary shaking, the five hundred-strong force automatically shifted into a standard tactical defensive formation the moment they landed, their movements perfectly synchronized, the clanging of metal echoing through the corridor.

"Check the life support system pressure valve and calibrate the output threshold."

The squad leader calmly issued instructions over the communication channel. Wei Qiang skillfully scanned the various parameters on his tactical mask, his fingers rapidly typing blindly on the control panel, completing all self-checks within three seconds.

"Report, one squad of mechs has completed self-check, all statuses are green."

"Their movements were quite nimble."

With a series of heavy footsteps, a garrison officer with a thick beard and a mechanical prosthetic eye in his left eye strode over. He carried an armor-piercing hammer covered in cuts and black bloodstains, and his single eye swept over the five hundred brand-new mechs.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm your zone guide, Old Ghost."

The bearded man spat out the tasteless synthetic betel nut residue he had been chewing. "His tactical maneuvers were impeccable, and his landing was calm and collected. No wonder he's one of the elite trainees on Earth, nurtured with massive resources and tactical simulation pods. But here, all that dead data from the simulation pods has to be thrown out of my head."

Old Ghost walked to the front of the group and pointed with his armor-piercing hammer at the heavy airlock isolation door above his head.

"Outside is the Aitken Basin. A few hours ago, Captain Chen led us to clear out all the main scum directly above the Black Gate and in the center of the basin. However, in the shadowy area of ​​the crater on the outer edge of the basin, there are still several hundred low-level scout mutants that slipped in earlier."

Old Ghost slammed the alarm switch next to him with his armor-piercing hammer, and the red light instantly turned the entire passage blood red.

"The radar can't detect those scattered targets hiding underground and in the shadows. The higher-ups have said that from today onwards, that outer area is designated the 'Guanghan Trial Zone.' Your first mission, for these five hundred men, is to push forward in a straight line, pry out those remnants hiding in the shadows bit by bit, and shred them!"

Old Ghost sneered, his single remaining eye gleaming with a chilling sharpness. "Listen carefully. They may be weaklings, but the hardness of their armor and the acidity of their corrosive fluid are far more disgusting than the highest difficulty you set in the simulator. Now, airlock preparation! Get out and see some blood!"

"laugh--"

The heavy alloy isolation door slid open to both sides.

Wei Qiang took a deep breath and walked steadily into the airlock.

The air pump emitted a piercing roar, and within seconds the pressure gauge dropped to zero, instantly creating an extremely high vacuum environment.

"Small team, thrusters ignite, three-by-three formation, exit the capsule!"

"boom!"

Without the slightest panic, the miniature plasma thrusters on the backs of the five hundred mechs ignited with extreme precision. Wei Qiang lowered his center of gravity, pushed the throttle valve to thirty percent, and the entire mech drew a smooth and sharp tactical parabola under one-sixth of Earth's gravity, landing steadily on the gray lunar soil on the outer edge of the basin.

As soon as they landed, the mechs quickly dispersed, their heavy swords held across their chests, providing crisscrossing cover, like a slowly unfolding steel net, advancing towards the dark shadows of the crater.

The ground was riddled with craters from the explosion, and remnants of the extremely strong solar fire, still glowing faintly, still burned silently at the edge of the crater. The Black Gate in the far distance was deathly silent, but the surrounding terrain was extremely complex, with bottomless cracks in the lunar crust everywhere.

"Beep beep beep beep—!"

After advancing less than two kilometers, the short-range radar on Wei Qiang's mask suddenly started flashing red light wildly.

"Enemy attack! Underground attack at the edge of the crater to the right front!"

With a silent tremor, a three-headed, black mutant, the size of a heavy pickup truck, covered with compound eyes and reverse-jointed limbs, abruptly ripped open the rocks beneath the lunar soil and shot out like three cannonballs!

"Charge!"

Wang Meng, positioned on the right flank, reacted swiftly. Without hesitation, he activated the magnetic anchor points on his mech's legs, pinning himself firmly to the ground. He gripped the Star Iron Heavy Sword horizontally with both hands, assuming the most standard defensive stance.

But the real battlefield is always beyond the calculation of data.

"clang--!"

The monster's bony forelimbs slammed into Wang Meng's heavy sword. An extremely terrifying force erupted instantly, far exceeding the power limit set during training!

"Ugh!" Wang Meng groaned as the mech's leg anchors snapped off from the immense impact. The mech was rammed like a heavy truck, carving two deep trenches, each over ten meters deep, into the lunar surface!

"The parameters are wrong! The density is 30 percent higher than the data!" Wang Meng roared in the channel, but he did not panic. Instead, he used the momentum of his retreat to create distance between himself and the monster, and fired three armor-piercing high-explosive rounds for cover.

"Leave the flanks to me!"

Wei Qiang completed his tactical maneuver the instant Wang Meng was attacked. He instantly overloaded the thrusters, and the mech became a blur, cutting into the monster's blind spot from the side and rear with an extremely cunning move.

"die!"

Wei Qiang gripped the ship-slaying sword tightly with both hands, and the hydraulic rod at his waist emitted an extreme roar, carrying extremely terrifying physical kinetic energy, as he slashed the monster's side armor with the sword.

click!

There was no satisfying feeling of a clean cut. The Star Iron Heavy Sword had barely penetrated ten centimeters before being firmly wedged into the bone by that extremely dense high-dimensional carapace!

The monster let out a silent shriek, then suddenly turned its head, and another sharp bone scythe swept directly towards Wei Qiang's cockpit.

"If you can't draw your sword... then don't bother!"

Wei Qiang gritted his teeth, remaining calm in the face of danger. Unlike a new recruit who tried to forcefully draw his sword and retreat, he directly executed the battlefield muscle memory summarized by the veterans. Instead of retreating, he took a step forward, facing the monster's bone scythe, and braced himself firmly against the hilt of his sword.

"Extreme Yang True Fire! Fully Infused!"

The Foundation Establishment True Essence within the mech's core, mixed with the purified liquid, flowed through the mechanical arm's transmission lines, gushing into the Star Iron Heavy Sword stuck inside the monster's carapace like a flood.

The array patterns on the sword instantly lit up with a dazzling pure gold light.

"boom--!"

A burst of high-density pure yang flames exploded directly inside the monster's wound at point-blank range!

"Pfft!"

Half of the monster's body was blasted apart by the extremely violent implosion. Thick, black fluid mixed with grayish-white carapace fragments flew in all directions like bullets, slamming into Wei Qiang's Xuanwu armor. The bulletproof glass of the mask was covered with a layer of black stains, which the self-cleaning wipers immediately activated to scrape off.

"Well done! Maintain formation, don't let their density disrupt your rhythm!" The squad leader's voice rang out in the channel. He had just smashed the head of a mutant with a powerful punch combined with true fire.

Wei Qiang kicked aside the severed limbs on the ground and drew his heavy sword, dripping with golden flames.

He watched as the black corrosive liquid on the armor was slowly evaporating under the extreme yang energy, and listened to the steady breathing inside the mech.

A perfect score in the simulator is merely a survival requirement here.

Wei Qiang gripped the heavy sword tightly, and the mech's thrusters once again spewed out a ghostly blue tail flame.