Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 67 Cry for Help (Eighth Update)
A deafeningly loud bang, completely unlike the collision of flesh and metal, exploded inside the gas station!

Dorio's forearm muscles, strengthened to the extreme, and bones stronger than steel, clashed head-on with the high-frequency vibrating blade of the mantis!

The point of impact even produced a small cluster of dazzling sparks!

The "spring knife" soldier's electronic eyes widened instantly; clearly, her combat database had never recorded anyone who could withstand his mantis knife head-on with their bare flesh!

The immense reaction force caused her superhuman prosthetic joints to let out a slight groan. Her high-speed movement was forcibly halted, and the optical camouflage completely failed due to the instantaneous overload of the system, fully revealing her highly cybernetically modified body.

Dorio gave her no time to adjust or be shocked.

Seizing this fleeting opening, she twisted her waist and exerted force, clenching her left fist tightly, like a cannon shot, and slammed it solidly into the center of her opponent's unprotected chest!
"Oh!"

A dull, heart-stopping impact rang out.

The modified soldier felt as if he had been hit head-on by an armored personnel carrier rushing at full speed. He was completely out of control, his feet left the ground, and he flew backward like a tattered sack that had been thrown out, slamming hard into a mottled concrete load-bearing wall several meters away!

The wall emitted a muffled thud as it succumbed to the pressure, and spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spread out from the point of impact.

She collapsed to the ground, a clear fist-shaped dent in the thick composite armor plate on her chest, its edges twisted and deformed, the internal mechanical structure crackling with short-circuiting sounds. She struggled to get up, but the force of Dorio's punch was too great; she could only twitch a few times in vain before becoming completely still.

Dorothy simply withdrew her fist slowly and casually shook her slightly numb right arm.

The tip of the mantis knife cut a gash about ten centimeters long on the outside of her right forearm, but the wound was shallow, only breaking the epidermis and part of the dermis. The blood that seeped out quickly congealed on her bronze skin.

Through the shallow wound, one could almost see the tightly packed, resilient muscle fibers beneath, wriggling slightly as if they possessed an independent life.
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Through the last jarring and chaotic images transmitted from the modified soldier's helmet camera, those in the virtual command center clearly saw how Dorio, with sheer physical strength, intercepted and single-handedly defeated a "Switchblade" soldier equipped with a Sianwistan and a top-tier Mantis Knife.

The image finally froze on the moment when the soldier collapsed to the ground with his chest armor dented, and then the signal was completely cut off.

"This is impossible!" The biotechnology observer exclaimed for the first time, leaning forward and staring intently at the now-white screen. "Her physiological signal scan shows no large combat prosthetic implants detected!"

This...this is pure biological enhancement? How could those crude techniques used by animal aid companies, relying on steroids and hormones, possibly achieve this level?!

Her voice was filled with disbelief and a sense of astonishment at having her perceptions overturned.

The operations manager's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and his fists were clenched so tightly they cracked.

The loss of two expensive "Manticore" airships was already a major mistake, and now even the valuable and incredibly expensive experimental "Switchblade" soldiers have been instantly killed by the enemy in such a primitive and violent way.

The strength displayed by Mann's team repeatedly shattered his previous predictions and confidence like a heavy hammer.

"Increase investment! Send all available units into the fray! Infantry, robots, drones, everything! I don't want to see any more test data, I want results! There can be no more mistakes!" He practically roared as he issued the order, the virtual image distorting slightly with his intense emotion.

More military-tech soldiers, cold combat robots, and buzzing drones surged toward the small gas station ruins like a steel tide.

The density of the firepower coverage instantly increased to a new level, and the barrage almost wove together a net of death, making it extremely difficult for Mann's squad to even look up.

The members of Mann's squad, with their backs against the ruins, put up a near-desperate resistance.

Rebecca's plasma pistol, once fully charged, fires a deadly blue beam, melting down any approaching robots or forcing soldiers to seek cover. Pila's smart weapon locks onto several enemies attempting to flank, its bullets tracing eerie arcs through the air before striking them.

Falco and Mann used their precise bursts to eliminate the targets exposed in their field of fire.

Dorio is like an insurmountable barrier, guarding the most important gap. Any enemy who tries to force their way in will be instantly knocked away or smashed by her terrifying power.

However, the enemy's numerical superiority was overwhelming. Ammunition was being consumed rapidly, everyone's physical strength was declining sharply, the space for maneuver was being compressed step by step, and the encirclement was shrinking at a visible speed.

Mann dodged a burst of bullets, leaning against the scorching concrete wall, breathing heavily.

He knew he couldn't hesitate any longer.

He quickly switched to a separate, encrypted channel with Qiwei, his voice hoarse from tension and exhaustion: "Qiwei! Listen! The situation is out of control! Call the boss immediately! Send over the real-time data and our coordinates! Quickly!"

On the other end of the channel, far away in the city, Qiwei's fingers moved so fast on the virtual interface that they became blurry images.

"Understood! Attempting to establish a connection... Bypassing company interference... Activating backup encrypted node..." Her voice was equally tense, but her operations remained precise.

A few seconds later, she responded urgently: "Link established! Channel stable! Call is possible!"

Mann took a deep breath, as if trying to suppress all his anxiety and unease, and then sent a distress signal to the being deep in the desert workshop through the encrypted communication line that Qiwei had used as a springboard: "Boss! We're trapped at the gas station on Route 66 by the company's armed forces! They outnumber us and are well-equipped. We can't hold out much longer! Requesting backup!"

He knew that interrupting the "boss's" research was not a wise move, but they were in dire straits, and this was their only way out.
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Inside the abandoned town workshop, Chen Yu was focused on analyzing a new set of resonance data from the dimensional teleporter when Mann's distress signal, like a discordant noise, interrupted his thoughts.

A hint of displeasure swept through the core of his logic.

He abhorred unplanned distractions, especially when he was engrossed in his research.

The fact that his subordinates are unable to solve problems independently and instead require his personal intervention demonstrates the weakness of his current available resources.

However, this displeasure was quickly overshadowed by another emotion—the annoyance of being confronted by a thug.

Mann's team is now nominally his people, and attacking them is tantamount to challenging his authority, even though this "authority" currently only exists in this desert wasteland.

More importantly, he was almost certain that the company's target was not the Mann team itself, but what they represented—the technology he himself possessed.

“Foolish,” he muttered, whether referring to the company’s actions or the negligence that led Mann’s team into the trap was unclear.

Without hesitation, he directly connected to Qiwei's open network port via an encrypted link.

"Open your data channel." Chen Yu's cold, synthesized voice rang out in Qi Wei's neural interface, devoid of any emotion.

Before Qiwei could even respond, she felt a massive, cold, and irresistible stream of data flood into her system. She felt like a small boat in a raging sea, completely losing control of her implant and forced to passively become a stepping stone.

In the next instant, Chen Yu's consciousness, using Qi Wei as a springboard, spread like an invisible virus through the neural interfaces of the Mann team members!
(End of this chapter)