Chapter 441 The arrow is on the string

   Petra Fortress.

  Escorted by two light pickup trucks, Earl Ruskin, who shared a motorcycle with his servant, drove out of the city with a livid face.

   Arms resting on the car window, the captain of the guard sitting in the passenger seat of the pickup truck waved his hand, signaling the driver to speed up and approach, and said with a smile to Earl Ruskin outside the car window.

   "If you need help, remember to shout louder, we are not so stingy, we will come to help you."

   "I don't need your help! Thank goodness you guys stay away from me!"

Glancing at the machine gun on the back of the pickup truck, Ruskin frowned suddenly, turned his face to face the howling wind and roared, "Can you put that thing away! We're not going to fight... you want kill me?"

   What if those friends who came from afar misunderstood me?

  The captain of the personal guard and the driver exchanged glances with strange expressions, and didn't quite understand what he meant, but finally accepted this strange request.

  He stretched his hand out the window and patted the roof of the car.

   "Put away the machine gun first."

   "Yes!" Hearing the captain's order, the machine gunner standing behind the pickup truck skillfully removed the 10mm heavy machine gun stuck on the bracket.

  The same goes for the other pickup truck.

   At the same time, the two pickup trucks slowed down and kept a distance from Earl Ruskin who was driving ahead on a motorcycle.

  Looking at the pickup truck pulling away, Ruskin finally breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a little.

  Although he complained about the orders of the Lord Thain, and even though he knew that the pack of wolves were eaters without spitting out their bones, he still had a little fantasy in his heart.

  What if there is any misunderstanding between the two parties?

  If he can resolve the misunderstanding beautifully and turn cannons into bread, he will undoubtedly become the hero of Petra Fortress, and even the hero who saves the kingdom.

  The nobles of the Petra Fortress have always had a dream, that is, to obtain the power of republic autonomy and get rid of the shackles of feudal contracts, just like Silvermoon City in the south.

  The Petra family, loyal to the royal family, is the biggest obstacle.

   If he can use this to reach a friendly agreement with the legion, perhaps his family's long-cherished wish will come true!

   This is of course full of risks.

  But it might not be an opportunity.

"Hurry up!" Earl Ruskin regained his courage, looked at the dashboard of the motorcycle, and urged the servant on the motorcycle, "Did you not eat? Or did you not fill the motorcycle with gas?" ? Why only forty yards!"

   "My lord...the road here can only drive up to forty yards, and we will fly if you go faster." The servant said dumbfounded.

   "Useless stuff."

   Ruskin cursed, but knowing that it was useless to remind him, he stopped talking.

   A convoy of two pickup trucks and a motorcycle quickly approached the area near Lost Valley.

  Crossing the stacked sand dunes, looking at the distant valley looming in the yellow sand, Ruskin felt his heart beating faster.

   "Front! That's the front!"

   He yelled loudly.

  The two pickups behind him got closer, and the captain of the personal guard stuck his head out of the window and shouted at him.

   "Shall we follow?"

   "No! You wait for me here! I'll be back soon!"

   Ruskin who dropped these words urged the servant to refuel and move on.

  Although the servant's shoulders kept shaking when he thought of the army's camp ahead, he didn't dare to disobey the earl's order, so he could only bite the bullet and twist the accelerator.

  The sand and dust kicked up by the tires quickly attracted the attention of the other side.

   After a while, two three-wheeled motorcycles drove over from a distance.

  Seeing the regiment's flag, Ruskin was overjoyed, and was about to wave and shout, when two gunshots came from the opposite side.

  The bullets whized and landed on the sand beside him, scaring the servant who was driving the motorcycle to turn a corner and flee towards the way he came.

   Ruskin was also taken aback. He didn't expect to shoot without saying hello, and hurriedly shouted behind him.

   "Don't shoot! I am Earl Ruskin of Petra Fortress! There may be some misunderstanding between us! Why don't we sit down and talk—"

However-

  The only answer to him was gunshots.

  Those people didn’t even say hello, they opened fire when they saw people, and after approaching a distance of more than a hundred meters, the machine gunner sitting on the co-pilot seat of the three-wheeled motorcycle pulled the trigger and fired.

   "Tud-chug-!"

  Thick and long tongues of flame sprayed out, and the bullets whizzed and flew randomly on the sand dunes. Although they were not accurate, they couldn't hold up too many.

  The severe pain from his legs made Ruskin tremble all over, and he almost fainted, and his whole body lay on the servant's back.

   "My lord? Are you all right—"

  Looking at the bleeding left leg, Ruskin spat out intermittent half-words in a trembling voice.

   "Quick... run!"

  The off-road performance of the three-wheeled motorcycle is still a little worse than that of the two-wheeled motorcycle, so I didn't catch up with him. The captain of the personal guard who came with him heard the gunshots and brought people to support him in time.

  The machine gun was put back on the fixed bracket.

  Two pickups stopped on the nearest sand dune, and the machine gunner skillfully pulled the bolt to load, and unleashed the firepower of the heavy machine gun on the three-wheeled motorcycle crossing the sand dune.

   A string of dust splashed on the desert, and the three-wheeled motorcycle rushing in front was instantly smashed into a sieve.

  The driver was killed on the spot. The two crew members jumped out of the car and used the motorcycle as a cover to shoot back at the pickup truck on the sand dune with their rifles.

  The other three-wheeled motorcycle escaped back to the reverse **** of the sand dune behind it by chance.

   Taking advantage of the time when the pursuers were suppressed by firepower, Earl Ruskin's servant rode a motorcycle, carrying his master and fled towards the direction of the two pickup trucks as if dying.

  The master lying on his back has lost his voice.

just now…

   His master seemed to have been shot again in the back.

  Flare flares were raised on the reverse **** of the desert, and the captain of the guard sitting in the passenger seat of the pickup truck frowned, stretched out his right fist out of the window and waved it backwards.

   "Retreat!"

  …

  The camp not far away.

  Looking at the signal flare rising into the sky and hearing the sound of gunshots in the distance, General McCollen standing on the airport runway frowned, picked up the binoculars and looked in the west direction, but couldn't see anything.

  It's too far away here.

   he asked the officer standing aside.

   "What's the situation over there."

  The officer was obviously not aware of the situation, but he responded quickly and replied immediately.

   "That's the defense area under the charge of Centurion Wester, and his people should be patrolling that area today."

  General McCllen lowered his binoculars.

   "Call him here."

"yes!"

  The officer turned and left.

   Not long after, a man with a strong Kong Wu came over, stood up straight and gave a military salute.

   "Report! There are two pickup trucks and a motorcycle to the west, probably a caravan from a nearby oasis. They killed three of our followers...I have already sent people to chase them down."

   Hearing that only a few followers had died, General McCollen stopped asking. In the past two days, there have been unscrupulous merchants walking here.

   "Don't worry about the merchants, tell your people not to chase too far, pay attention to the patrol in the defense area, the plane will come soon."

   "Yes!" Wester stood at attention and gave a military salute, turned around and trotted away.

  Watching him leave, General McCollen frowned slightly.

do not know why…

  A strong uneasiness always crawled into his heart from time to time.

  However, this unreasonable emotion quickly disappeared with the appearance of a silver shadow in the distance.

  The temporary tower next to the runway received a landing request.

  The silver plane with a length of more than ten meters and a wingspan of tens of meters approached the runway, quickly lowered its landing gear, and landed on the runway engulfed in billowing sand and dust.

  The plane stopped on the side of the runway, the gangway was lowered, and the ground crew hurriedly surrounded it with forklifts and refueling trucks.

  Of course, this kind of precious jet plane cannot be handed over to the subordinate army. Several pilots are all noble Willant people.

  The two pilots came down the gangway, walked up to General McCollen, and gave a military salute. One of them raised his head and raised his chest.

   "Kuren, the captain of the 11th Army Aviation Squadron of the 10,000th Army and the main pilot of the H-55, reports to you!"

  General McClenn raised his hand and returned a military salute, looking at the plane next to him, he couldn't help but smile.

  H-55 "Hurricane" bomber!

  Twin-engine jet engine, the fuselage is made of special alloy steel, and the limit speed can reach Mach 2!

  Although the Army Command positions it as a tactical bomber supporting front-line troops, it can also perform strategic bombing missions due to its high-strength fuselage armor and durability, as well as the powerful breakthrough performance brought by its high-power engine.

   People call it a tank flying in the sky!

   Or a butcher's scalpel!

   Immediately after the Hurricane bomber landed, there was also a wingman responsible for escorting or attracting firepower—the H-44 "Saber" fighter jet.

  Compared with the "Hurricane", it is undoubtedly much smaller. Not only is it a single jet engine, but the fuselage is also made of lighter titanium alloy.

  Although the positioning of this fighter is to compete for air supremacy and solve high-threat targets that propeller aircraft cannot deal with, but because this equipment is designed by a research institute under the Army Command, its ground support capability is also not weak.

  The 20mm cannon mounted on the nose has an astonishing 500 rounds of ammunition, and there are two expensive TV bombs mounted under the wings.

  As for why not hang empty bombs?

  Because Luoxia Province doesn’t even have propeller planes.

  If you know in advance that there is an alliance in the Valley Province, if you know in advance that the Pioneer is planning to go to the desert to find No. 0 shelter, the legion may prepare to send it from the west.

  Unfortunately, there is no if.

  General McClenn stretched out his right hand, shook hands with the two tall and burly pilots, and said happily.

   "The stage is ready for you! Let those bugs see what purgatory is!"

   Curran grinned, and shook the right hand of the unlucky general.

   "I'm here to do this."

  Although Griffin didn't inform McClenn of the full content of the plan in advance, he is a colleague who has cooperated for so many years. McCllen knew what he planned to fart when he saw the cunning skunk poking his butt.

   What was mounted on the "Hurricane" bomber was undoubtedly a nuclear bomb—

  The three-phase bomb with a million-ton equivalent!

  At this time, there were sporadic gunshots in the distance, and Curran, who was holding hands with General McCollen, turned his head subconsciously and glanced westward.

"what's the situation?"

  General McClenn said with a smile.

"It's probably the wastelanders nearby. It's close to the No. 4 oasis. Don't worry about them... Those **** don't dare to care about our business. By the way, before I came here, I came from Griffin... the old guy. Got a few bottles of red wine, do you want to try it?"

   Ke Lun waved his hands quickly, and declined with a smile.

   "No... There are still missions tonight, let's wait until we come back to win the wine!"

   It is the best time to bomb when the Heart of Iron leaves the River Valley Province.

   But that doesn't mean the mission is risk-free.

   There is also an old survivor force in the south of River Valley Province, named Boulder City, and it is said that it is also part of the alliance.

   There are a lot of equipment left behind by the post-war reconstruction committee deployed there. The combat effectiveness is a question mark. It is hard to say whether it will pose a threat to the "Hurricane" bomber.

   This was the only nuclear bomb shipped tens of thousands of kilometers away. In order to be sure, they planned to wait until it got dark and carry out the bombing mission under the cover of night.

  Nuclear strikes are different from tactical bombings. They don’t require precise coordinates and visual observation of the ground. You only need to fly to an approximate location, press the switch, and then step on the accelerator to the end.

  Hearing that the time to carry out the mission was at night, McLennan was overjoyed and smiled knowingly.

   "Then wait for your good news!"

  Thinking that the bugs that climbed onto his airship would soon be incinerated by the shock wave of the nuclear explosion, he couldn't help but feel a burst of joy.

Pity.

   Can't see their trembling faces before the end.

  …

the other side.

  Petra Fortress, the entrance of a heavily guarded prison.

   Accompanied by several guards, a muscular and disheveled man passed through the tall stone gate and was let out.

   "Remember to keep your mouth shut, you won't be so lucky next time."

  Give the big man a warning look, and the bearded guard captain waved his hand and left with his subordinates.

  The door was slammed shut.

   When the footsteps disappeared, the man spit on the ground and turned around cursing.

   But when he turned around, he saw two people and a bear standing at the intersection not far away, and the expression on his face suddenly became awkward.

   Some hesitation.

  Passing the back of his head, he finally bit the bullet and walked forward, greeted the employers, and muttered.

   "Sorry boss, things went wrong..."

"fine."

   Glancing at his disheveled face, Sis couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and looked at the prison behind him, "They beat you up?"

  The man said shyly.

   "Uh... this was done before."

  Sisi's expression was slightly disappointed.

  It's a pity that the bruises and bruises were not caused during the detention period, otherwise the city lord would have been able to cheat a sum of compensation.

  However, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have one.

   A contented person lives long.

  Nodding to show understanding, Sisi continued.

   "Any plans for the future?"

  The man said with a wry smile.

   "I plan to go to Silvermoon City in the south to try my luck... I probably won't be able to stay here any longer."

  After he was sent in, several brothers in the mercenary group quickly confessed his identity as the principal criminal. This brother must have nothing to do.

   In fact, they were not considered brothers.

  Everyone is just gathering together to make money and make ends meet. The mercenary regiment only has six or seven people in total.

  Sisi nodded, not surprised by this, and continued.

   "If you don't have a place to go, just follow old Boomer to do things. The Polar Bear Knights' residence needs security... Well, if you are interested, go there and be the security captain."

  The city lord of Petra intends to allocate a place for the White Bear Knights to help them carry out the charity of helping refugees more conveniently.

  Honestly speaking, there was a lot of misunderstanding in this, for example, she actually wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to help everyone make a fortune.

   But when I say it, it is too late to take back the water that was spilled.

   "They came here to rescue those poor people under the guidance of the gods"-this is what she said herself.

  The moment he heard this sentence, the man froze for a moment, looked at the lady in front of him in disbelief, and even broke his voice in excitement.

   "You... you still want me?"

  Looking at the man who took a step forward, Sisi took a step back in disgust and glanced at the guy.

   "Don't say such strange things, or I will change my mind."

   "No, no, I didn't mean to disrespect you!"

   The job opportunity he got almost slipped away because of his mouth, the mercenary leader quickly explained, his voice became incoherent.

   "I just... don't quite understand, I obviously messed up what you explained—"

"Everyone has a first time, everyone is from unskilled to proficient," Sisi interrupted him, looked at the grateful guy and continued, "Of course, you have already used up an opportunity, if Next time mess things up—”

   "You just kill me! No, I don't need you to do it, I will bury myself in front of you!"

  The mercenary leader looked loyal, and said in a sincere and respectful tone, "You may not remember my name, my name is Jody! It's an honor to continue to serve you."

   Regardless of whether the expression of loyalty was faked or from the heart, Sis nodded in satisfaction.

  The regional prestige of the White Bear Knights will probably reach its peak after this war. In fact, they have already gained the trust of the local city lord.

  However, it is impossible for them to stay here all the time to manage those fixed assets that cannot be taken away. They have made an appointment to travel to more distant places.

  So the best option is to find a reliable local person to help host.

  For example, Old Boomer is a good choice, honest, capable, devout, and owes them a life.

   But even so, she is still unwilling to use interests to test human nature, leaving everything in the hands of one person.

  It is better to distribute money and guns to two different people.

  In the future, she will hire an NPC from the Merchant Guild in Dawn City to take charge of the accounts, so that it will be convenient for her to keep abreast of the situation here.

  Since the game claims to be 100% real, she naturally has to do her best to be foolproof.

  Hearing the mercenary's name, Tail suddenly said.

   "Whoa! Jody! Consider changing your name?"

  The mercenary said immediately.

   "Miss, please give me a name!"

   Waiting for this sentence, Tail gave a thumbs up with sparkling eyes.

   "From now on, your name will be Jojo!"

  The mercenary looked blank, but still nodded.

   "Okay miss... from now on, my name will be Jojo."

  Fatty: "..."

  Sisi said with a delicate expression.

   "Ao's naming technique is comparable to that of a manager."

  Tail looked at Sisi in surprise.

   "Huh?! Am I such a good name?"

  Sisi raised his hand.

   "Oh! Awesome!"

   Rourou urged, dumbfounded.

   "All in all, the matter is over, let's go back quickly, it's too pitiful for sesame paste to stay there alone."

   Regardless of whether the city lord and the nobles completely believed Sisi's nonsense, at least the old man in the white robe had been limp.

  I heard that he also plans to write a letter to the capital to tell the respected high priest and His Majesty the king.

  Goddess Silver Moon performed a miracle to protect her people!

  Is there anything more exciting than this?

  For the believers of the Silver Moon Sect, this is indeed an exciting thing, but for them it may not be so.

  She always has a bad feeling.

  Troublesome things are yet to come...

  …

  At the same time, Earl Ruskin, who was on an envoy to the Lost Valley, was carried back by the captain of the personal guard of the Lord Thain.

   One shot in the leg and one shot in the back. Ruskin was lying on a stretcher dying, and his face was paler due to excessive blood loss.

  The court of the castellan.

  The nobles gathered here were silent, even the one with the loudest voice was stunned by this unbearable tragedy.

   Sitting on the stone chair, Thain sat admiring the expressions on the faces of these cowards with satisfaction, and a cold smile could not help but curl up at the corner of his mouth.

   Lo and behold.

   This is what happens to cowards.

   Ruskin's lips trembled, and he squeezed out a voice of horror and anger.

   "Legion...they don't intend to talk to us at all! Those barbarians! No, they are beasts! There is no way to communicate with them in the language of civilized people!"

  Get up from the stone chair.

   Thain, who walked down the steps, glanced at Ruskin lying on the stretcher, and said lightly.

   "You have to thank that lady for giving you a chance to come back alive."

  If you are riding a horse.

   He never had a chance to escape.

   Ruskin's face was filled with humiliation. He turned his face to look at the woman standing in the corner of the crowd, and almost squeezed out the words through his teeth.

"Thanks…"

  Sisi shrugged, did not speak, and the expression on his face also remained unchanged.

  In fact, she just doesn't want to waste time on this kind of insignificant NPC, and his life and death will obviously not have any impact on the next game plot.

   But if he rode there, it would take a lot of time, and it would be two or three days before the Petra Fortress found his body.

   "What did you see there?" Sion looked at his own guard captain.

  The reason why he was sent out of the city with Earl Ruskin was not so much to monitor whether the idiot was doing his job well, but to inquire about the situation in Lost Valley.

  As early as when Ruskin left the city, he had already ordered the troops in the fortress to prepare.

  The captain of the personal guard gave a military salute.

   "The scale of the station is about 10,000 people. The construction on the north side of the camp has been suspended, and it is probably completed. Before leaving there, I noticed a plane flying from the northwest, and it seemed that it had landed there."

   "Airplane?" Thain frowned.

  The surrounding crowd immediately spread a commotion.

  Every face is full of panic and anger, even the people who had expressed doubts about the prophecy before, all showed surprised expressions at this moment.

   "Airplanes... where are they building airstrips?"

   "Those people really plan to attack Petra Fortress!"

   "Has the Lion Kingdom fallen?"

   "Spirit of the Sand Sea... Those greedy savages really can't get enough!"

   "We shouldn't have waited so long! It's overdue!"

  Listening to the indignation-filled conversations of the surrounding people, the faces of the White Bear Knights also showed expressions of surprise.

   Pulled Rourou next to him, and asked in a low voice with his tail.

   "Does the official website say that the airport is being repaired?"

   She patronizes posting.

   Didn't read those posts carefully.

   Rourou was actually pouring water seriously, but after carefully recalling it for a while, he didn't have any impression, and shook his furry head.

   "It seems... not."

  Tail startled.

   "giao! Could it be...the treasure has been found by them?"

  Fatty can't tell whether to laugh or cry.

   "How did you come to this conclusion?"

  The tail is gesticulating with its hands with a serious face.

   "Think about it, the armor of the sky god... must be huge! It's so big, it can't be transported by truck, right? Maybe they built the airport to transport the treasure away..."

  Listening to this random analysis, the fleshy face gradually showed an expression of enlightenment, and his expression became serious.

   "Hiss... Maybe it's really possible!"

   Sesame paste standing aside couldn't tell whether to laugh or cry.

   "I think if it's really the armor of the **** of the sky, let alone an airplane, even a train won't be able to drag it away..."

   Didn't hear the whispers of his teammates, Sisi frowned slightly.

  Although there was no discussion about that airport on the forum, she always felt that the airport was not that simple.

  The No. 9 oasis has not fallen yet.

  And these two days, the manager also took the Heart of Iron and the Storm Corps to the Lion Kingdom for reinforcements. Although the Legion and the Falcon Kingdom are powerful, they will never take the initiative to fight on two fronts.

unless…

  There was a hint of enlightenment in her eyes, as if she had thought of something vaguely.

   "The 'scepter'... Maybe they really found it."

   Pairs of eyes looked at her.

  Sisi looked at the Lord Sion and said seriously.

   "The scepter that fell from the sky sealed the evil **** and destroyed the oasis. I'm afraid the evil ritual has reached its final stage... We don't have time to hesitate, you must make a decision immediately!"

  Sion showed a kind smile on his face.

   "It seems that we want to go together."

   After finishing speaking, he looked at the courtiers in the court, and suddenly restrained his joking expression, and his expression became solemn.

"I heard the call in the yellow sand. The great will is calling us. Our kingdom is facing the most severe test in history. Whether our enemies are legions or ancient demons, Petra will be the strongest in the kingdom. Shield!"

   As he spoke, he pulled out the saber on his waist, looked at the captain of the personal guard, and the officers with the same solemn expressions on the side.

   "Call your subordinates—"

"Ready to fight!"

  —

   (Thanks to the leader of "Donghai Small Fishing Village" for the reward!!)

  (end of this chapter)