Gate of Revelation

Chapter 806

“Lose… half our team?” Roddy exhaled softly. “Lun Tai, for this instance dungeon, we haven’t registered anyone in the Lifehymn Music Score yet, right?”

The Meteor Rock Guild had grown strong. However, there was no way they could avoid feeling timid when facing an [S] class opponent.

“Roddy… what are you thinking?” Qiao Qiao glared at Roddy.

Although it was a question, Qiao Qiao already knew what Roddy was thinking.

Within Meteor Rock Guild, Lun Tai, Bei Tai, Xia Xiaolei and Qimu Xi were Awakened ones. Even if they were to die, they could be revived using the metal spheres. In other words, they have an extra life.

The ones truly in danger were Qiao Qiao, Roddy and Soo Soo.

After Qiao Qiao was rescued, the Lifehymn Music Score had returned to its damaged state. It no longer possessed the ability to let one enter World’s End. That said, its original functions remained.

By writing a person’s name on it, that person could be revived upon death, but their combat power would be reduced to 70% of their normal state while their name was on it.

In the past, whenever they believed that they would encounter danger, they would write Qiao Qiao, Roddy and Soo Soo’s name on it.

But now…

“I get it.” Without waiting for Roddy to answer Qiao Qiao, Lun Tai nodded. He then brought out the Lifehymn Music Score and explained it to Nicole. “Nicole, you are already a temporary member of our team. You can have your name written on this… then, should you die in battle, you can be revived once. Only, while your name is on it, your combat power will fall to 70% of normal.”

“I don’t want it.” Surprisingly, Nicole refused.

“Why?” Roddy widened his eyes as he looked at Nicole in disbelief.

The Lifehymn Music Score was an item that could grant others an extra life. No matter how you cut it, it was a sacred object that everyone wanted.

Nicole actually… refused?

“I’m not used to owing others,” Nicole replied coolly.

“Roddy, what do you say?” Lun Tai glanced at Roddy.

“Forget it, then.” Roddy was silent for a moment before shaking his head.

Obtaining the other party’s consent was not needed before writing their name on the Lifehymn Music Score. However, if Lun Tai were to force the issue and do it, Nicole might lose her temper right there.

“Fine. If so, we’ll go with the usual.” Lun Tai nodded before writing Qiao Qiao, Roddy and Soo Soo’s name on the Lifehymn Music Score. “Xiaolei, give me another report on the situation of the other teams around us.”

“In the northeast, there are the same five fellows as earlier. They’ve managed to push one kilometre towards the zoo. At present, there are only five kilometres left between them and the zoo. In the north, there are eight fellows. They are split into two teams…”

Xia Xiaolei swiftly gave a report on what was happening on his radar.

Presently, there were eight teams around the zoo. All of them were in the midst of battle and were all heading towards the same goal.

Although there was no way to tell how many Players and Awakened ones had entered this instance dungeon, it would appear that there were quite a number who had the strength, courage and confidence in themselves. Even though the radar had yet to reveal the location of their target, they had already taken the initiative to launch an attack.

“The closest one is behind us. There are only around two kilometres between us and them,” Xia Xiaolei said in the end. “It is probably because we have cleared a lot of the mutant creatures along the way here, but they have the fastest rate of advancement. Judging by their previous rate of advancement, they will arrive at our location in around half an hour.”

“What are we waiting for then? We’ve been dawdling here for a long time now.” Tian Lie grew somewhat impatient. “Or do you actually plan on waiting for the radar to reveal the target’s location before taking action? It’s not just those teams. Even the US Army will be coming soon.”

Up ahead, two fighter jets flying the US Army colours swiftly flew past at a low altitude. However, they did not open fire at all. It would appear that they were simply conducting a reconnaissance operation.

Farther away, the sounds of gunfire began erupting, growing more intense with time. It was not at the level of exchange between small teams of Awakened ones and Players. This was an intense and ferocious exchange of attacks.

“The situation here has escalated too much. The entire city of Los Angeles has been turned upside down. The US Army will definitely mobilize all their forces for this.” Roddy was feeling worried as well. “We are not yet strong enough to take on the military of an entire nation head on. If the soldiers were to come in and mess things up, we’ll end up facing a lot of troubles. We should hurry up.”

Even so, Lun Tai did not give the order to attack. He continued to frown while hesitating.

“What’s on your mind?” Qiao Qiao looked at Lun Tai quizzically.

“Nicole, just now, you said that Aderick has always been someone who would make a plan before making his move, right?” Lun Tai did not answer Qiao Qiao. Instead, he turned towards Nicole. “If so… given what you know about him, would he so directly reveal his position like this?”

“If he feels confident in his plans, he will.” Nicole considered it. “Although the system has not given us his position, he may believe that the power he possesses is already enough to defeat anyone who seeks to challenge him.”

Lun Tai lowered his head and stayed silent for a moment. Suddenly, he shook his head. “Roddy, get the Tidal Fighter out, we’re leaving.”

“What?”

Everyone let out a clamour of surprise.

“Brother Lun Tai, we are already here.” Xia Xiaolei said with a bitter expression. “Why are we leaving all of a sudden.”

“That’s right.” Roddy frowned. “The enemy is right before us. If we don’t attack now, what do we do?”

“The question here is, can you be sure that he is inside the zoo?” Lun Tai said in a grim tone. “There are so many mutant creatures there. And while they are incapable of posing much of a threat to us, they can delay us a lot. The US Army has begun their emergency deployment of troops. They will surely seal off the surrounding areas. If we continue with this, even if we can leave in the end, it will be troublesome. Let’s leave first. We’ll find a safe place to patiently wait this out.”

Exchanging glances, they then nodded. Roddy brought out the Tidal Fighter, placing it on an open area before jumping into the cabin.

Before leaving, Chen Xiaolian had appointed Lun Tai as the acting Guild Leader. During the past half year, Lun Tai had proven himself as a very qualified person for the job.

The Guild Leader of a guild must possess a sufficient level of authority. And while they continued to have some doubts about it, now that Lun Tai had clearly given the order, none of them continued to question his decision.

Nicole and Tian Lie exchanged glances before following them, jumping into the cabin.

Without delaying, Roddy immediately started up the engine and turned on the stealth function. The Tidal Fighter then flew to the southern suburbs area.

…

Following Lun Tai’s lead, they found a high-rise building and landed on the roof. After blocking off the stairs leading to the roof, they waited patiently.

At any rate, the mutant creatures were not strong enough to destroy a building made from reinforced concrete.

The Los Angeles Police Department had already been completely mobilized. They were all engaged in a fierce battle everywhere within the city against the mutant creatures. However, due to a serious lack of heavy firepower, they suffered from heavy casualties.

When there was still one hour left in the countdown for revealing the target location, the US Army finally finished gathering outside the city. Then, they began advancing into the city.

All the main roads leading to the city from the north, south and east had been blocked by a high number of tanks and armoured vehicles to prevent the mutant creatures from making their way out of the city.

No matter how big or fast these mutant creatures had become, their bodies were still made from flesh and blood. In the face of 120mm tank gun rounds, their bodies would still end up pulverized. Even though they lacked intellect, after attacking the blockade a few times, their instincts led them to avoid the blocked sections.

After the situation with the defence line had been stabilized, the number of soldiers deployed and stationed there gradually rose. Quickly, the US Army began advancing into the city.

The surviving residents there had all hidden themselves inside the buildings that remained standing. As for the streets, there were no survivors, only corpses and abandoned vehicles. Due to that, the soldiers could open fire without worrying too much about accidental injuries.

Several AC-130 gunships were hovering high up in the sky for air-to-ground fire support. They were accompanied by a convoy of fighter jets. Blackhawk and Apache helicopters flew through the streets at medium to low altitudes, unloading gunfire upon the ground below.

On the street, a high number of M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks were moving forward, assuming the vanguard position. Behind the tanks were infantry soldiers in Humvees or Bradleys.

In the face of the intense gunfire, the mutant creatures had practically no chance of breaking through. Occasionally, one or two would be able to – with the deaths of many of their kind – approach the tanks. But they would be struck by a hail of bullets, turning them into a sieve before they could deal enough damage to the thick armour of the tanks.

“The US Army is advancing smoothly!” Xia Xiaolei was constantly reporting everything about the state of the battle that he could detect. “There are practically no casualties. They are heading straight for Griffith Park.”

“The area where these mutant creatures are moving about is obvious. Be it through the satellite or aerial reconnaissance, it is very easy to lock down the target location.” Lun Tai nodded.

The situation within the city had proven that Lun Tai’s judgement was not wrong.

The initial destruction wrought by the mutant creatures was great enough to destroy Los Angeles. Even if the US Army could smoothly wipe out all the mutant creatures inside the city, it would no longer be able to recover to its former state. Rather, even the famous landmark letters on Beverly Hills have now collapsed.

That said, the combat power of these alienized creatures was not that strong. In the face of the well-prepared US Army, they showed almost zero ability to fight back.

After all, back when the meteorite first crashed down, the US Army had already managed to successfully close off the infected area once before.

And after their camp was raided and annihilated by Thorned Flower Guild, every division of the US Government, from the Pentagon all the way down to the bottom levels, had entered the highest level of combat readiness. That was how they could display such a speedy rate of response.

Judging by the current development, it was just a matter of time before the US Army smoothly cleared out all the threats within the city.

“What about the other teams?” Qiao Qiao asked Xia Xiaolei. “Are they still fighting?”

“Mmm.” Xia Xiaolei nodded.

“They’ve more or less gathered around the zoo. They’re still fighting. My radar shows that they are very close to each other. Considering how this instance dungeon have not given any quests involving fighting one another, they must have already partnered up.”

“But the US Army is already advancing towards Griffith Park.” Roddy frowned and said dubiously, “Do they really think that they can complete the quest before the US Army encircles the place? Even though they look human, no matter how you cut it, someone who can stay alive under such circumstances will look suspicious. It’d be weird if the US Army does not attack them.”

“Those teams do not know that the one who took the meteorite is Aderick,” Lun Tai slowly said. “In their eyes, the difficulty of this instance dungeon is probably only this much. That’s why they don’t seem worried. These mutant creatures are also not that strong, giving them the illusion that they can quickly charge into the zoo and kill the owner of the meteorite.”

“Makes sense.” Roddy nodded, agreeing with Lun Tai’s judgement.