Chapter 29: The Mad Plan
Artillery shells howled as they landed, mud exploding like fireworks, spraying outward in a fan-like pattern.
A hot shard of shrapnel flew into the trench, landing right beside Su Xiao's foot.
Su Xiao grabbed a handful of bullets from a nearby ammunition box, loaded five into his sniper rifle, and tossed the rest back.
The siege had been going on for half an hour. During that time, their forces had advanced about 400 meters, leaving them roughly 300 meters from the enemy trench and less than 400 meters from Saint Liam Fortress.
Pushing to this distance, the Geya Alliance troops had stopped digging forward. Any closer, and they'd enter the precise range of the heavy machine guns on the fortress walls. Those things had absurdly large caliber rounds—two bullets at most could blow a soldier to pieces.
With the trenches 300 meters apart, both sides had squared off, ready to fight to the death. If the Geya Alliance won, they'd become the most powerful nation on Blue Sea Star. If the Sun Kingdom lost, they'd never have a chance to recover.
The little assistant in the trench poked her head out, observing the situation at Saint Liam Fortress through binoculars.
"A bunch of turtles hiding in their shells."
She scoffed. Over the past half hour, with her help, Su Xiao had made life miserable for the heavy machine gunners and artillerymen at the fortress's many firing ports. Anyone who dared show their face at a port would have their head blown off within seconds.
The truly terrifying thing about the enemy wasn't the concrete-and-threaded-steel trench or the towering Saint Liam Fortress—it was the bunkers half-buried in the dirt.
These bunkers were hard to spot, and who knew what heavy weapons they hid inside. Sometimes, just as Geya Alliance troops charged forward, they'd get mowed down by fire from a bunker. One burst could drop at least a hundred men; entire small units getting wiped out was common.
Su Xiao peeked out from the trench, observing Saint Liam Fortress through his scope.
Inside a firing port atop the fortress, a sniper was also scanning the battlefield. The glint of a lens caught his attention, and he immediately swung his rifle around.
With a crack, the sniper's skull burst open, blood spraying. The walls around him were already splattered with blood. This wasn't the first time. As soon as the sniper fell, a comrade behind him dragged the body away, and another soldier took his place. But just as this new soldier was about to peek out, a bullet shot through the port and buried itself deep into the concrete wall behind.
"Huff, huff..."
The soldier clutching the sniper rifle gasped for breath. With a low growl, he rested the rifle on the port, leaned out, and fired a few wild shots. Without checking if he'd hit anything, he ducked back behind cover. As he pulled back, he felt like someone had pushed him in the chest.
"Haha."
The soldier let out a foolish laugh. He looked around at his comrades, hoping they hadn't seen his embarrassing display. But he noticed their gazes were strange. One of them even grabbed his leg, ready to drag him away.
"What are you..."
A warm sensation spread from his chest. He looked down to see a hole the size of a bowl.
The sounds of various guns blended together, like a lively concert. The ticket to this concert was expensive—it was life itself.
Su Xiao had lost count of how many enemies he'd killed. Despite his high kill count, he couldn't change the war's outcome unless he could blow up Saint Liam Fortress.
If he destroyed Saint Liam Fortress, he'd definitely earn a massive amount of Reincarnation Paradise Merit.
Earlier, Su Xiao had killed two elite enemy snipers, earning 6 Reincarnation Paradise Merit points total—3 per kill.
Killing enemy leaders or officers earned 1 to 50 Reincarnation Paradise Merit points, depending on the enemy's strength and rank.
News of what Qing Yan had done in the Sun Kingdom had spread. After pulling that off, that guy must have gotten a huge pile of Reincarnation Paradise Merit.
Now, Su Xiao had spotted a great opportunity to rake in Merit. Reincarnation Paradise Merit equaled Paradise Coins + True Attribute Points + Soul Crystals + Rare Resources. In a war world, your earnings were basically determined by how much Merit you got.
Clang!
The threaded steel plate in front of Su Xiao bulged outward. He ignored it, continuing to refine the plan in his head.
"Sir, sir, wake up."
The little assistant was as excited as if she'd taken drugs. Every time a battle started, this girl was like this.
"Shut up and go cool off somewhere."
"Can I..."
She looked at the sniper rifle in Su Xiao's hands. He tossed it to her. As soon as she poked her head out, a shell landed not far from the trench, and the blast wave threw her back inside.
That sobered her up. She hugged the rifle, covered her ears, and crouched in the shade.
Su Xiao wasn't trying to avoid earning Merit—he simply couldn't show his face. At least a dozen machine gunners and countless artillerymen had him locked on. Wherever he appeared, he'd get bombarded.
The total forces on both sides exceeded a million. In a hot-weapon war, an individual's impact on the battlefield was minimal, unless they did something outrageous, like blowing up Saint Liam Fortress.
From Su Xiao's observations, destroying the fortress from the outside was nearly impossible. Even a 300mm heavy artillery shell hitting the fortress's outer metal layer wouldn't chip off a single piece.
Even if Su Xiao activated Apollo and tossed it over, it probably wouldn't damage Saint Liam Fortress. Threaded steel's melting point was 1600°C, but that was when mixed with "dilute solution." For this kind of high-strength metal, melting it directly would require an absurdly high temperature.
Besides, Apollo only reached extreme heat at the moment of explosion. Even if it melted some threaded steel instantly, the actual damage to the fortress would be minimal.
Su Xiao's idea was simple: if he couldn't destroy it from outside, what about detonating Apollo inside? After all, over 70% of Saint Liam Fortress's interior was concrete.
This thought stuck in Su Xiao's mind once it appeared. Plus, his target was inside Saint Liam Fortress—he had to infiltrate.
Too bad Bubu Wang wasn't around. If that guy were here, as long as he didn't get hit by stray bullets, he'd probably stroll right into the fortress.
"I wonder how Bubu's operation is going."
Su Xiao hadn't recalled Bubu Wang because he was preparing for the final contractor free-for-all.
With his plan in mind, Su Xiao took the sniper rifle back from the little assistant. He worked the bolt, aimed, and fired. An artilleryman at a fortress port got his head blown off—1 Reincarnation Paradise Merit point earned.
Killing ordinary soldiers on the battlefield didn't grant Merit. Only elite enemy units counted.
The siege continued. Casualties on both sides rose at an almost absurd rate.
By that afternoon, Su Xiao was hiding in the trench, afraid to show his face. At least five enemy snipers were hunting for his position. These snipers were battle-hardened and tough to deal with.
A contractor covered in mud, looking like a refugee, sat not far from Su Xiao. If this were a derivative world, contractors would be wary of each other. But in a war world, internal conflict had severe consequences.
Bullets whistled overhead. Su Xiao was bandaging a gunshot wound on his shoulder. Under a hail of bullets, he couldn't avoid getting hit.
At 7 PM, as dusk fell, both sides stopped firing. After a brutal day of fighting, the soldiers needed rest. In this kind of siege, a large-scale night raid was impossible—that would just be suicide.