America: The Cremator

Chapter 176 How to solve the problem of a machine gun mount?

The bread truck was parked in a corner not far from the barbed wire fence. The door slid open silently, and Marcus was the first to squeeze out of the truck. He quickly crouched down at the front of the truck, holding an M249 light machine gun in both hands and alertly surveying his surroundings.

Immediately afterwards, Jack, Martin, Lucia, and Nancy filed out and each found cover, while Elena and Suron were the last to get out of the car.

Under the cover of darkness and rain, the group quietly made their way to the edge of the barbed wire fence.

Marcus carefully pushed aside the waist-high thorny bushes in front of him, and through the holes at the bottom of the barbed wire fence, the distant view gradually became clear.

It was a large area of ​​completely abandoned industrial facilities.

Two massive red-brick factory buildings stand in the night, with an entrance to an underground corridor made of thick concrete in the middle.

A dim yellow searchlight illuminated the entrance, making the surrounding puddles gleam.

After observing the surroundings and confirming that there was no danger, Nancy took out a palm-sized black miniature drone from her tactical backpack.

She tapped the tablet a few times quickly, and the drone silently took off and flew into the factory.

The tablet screen quickly transmitted a thermal image from above.

Nancy stared at the screen for a while, then reported to her leader in a low voice: "Safety confirmed. There are no large-scale patrols around the perimeter—however, there are three fixed sentry posts near the target entrance."

She zoomed in on the image and pointed it out to Elena and Suron: "There's one on the rooftop terrace of the factory on the left, one on the terrace of the factory on the right, and a third at the entrance to the underground corridor. These three sentry posts control the entire frontal fan-shaped area."

Elena glanced around and ordered, "Go around a few more times and see if there are any other sentries."

Nancy piloted the drone, circling the factory three more times before reporting in a low voice, "Confirmed. Only these three outposts remain on the perimeter. No other heat sources detected."

Jack immediately moved to the back of a higher embankment and began setting up his sniper rifle, while Martin lay down beside him, took out tactical binoculars from his waist, and looked in the direction Nancy had marked.

After observing for a while, Martin put down his binoculars, his brow furrowed: "Those two on the factory roof are easy to deal with. They're completely within sight and have no cover whatsoever."

"But the ground situation is a bit troublesome. His patrol route is blocked by several abandoned thick pipes and a pile of construction debris, making the shooting window very poor, with only a second or two."

Jack adjusted the scope and whispered, "Martin and I can each lock onto a target at a high altitude, but we can't take out a third person at the same time."

"Once the shots are fired, there's a high chance the sentry on the ground will return fire or sound the alarm. Everyone prepare to engage the enemy."

.

Su Long stepped forward and looked at the abandoned factory 400 meters away. His vision instantly magnified and focused, allowing him to see all the details outside the factory.

After clearly seeing the three people's movements, Su Long said, "We can't leave any survivors as a warning; all three of them must be taken out at the same time."

He drew his Sirius from his waist and began assigning targets: "Jack gets the one on the left rooftop, Martin gets the one on the right rooftop—"

"I'll handle the one on the ground."

Jack turned his head, looked at the revolver in his hand, and couldn't help but say, "Advisor, are you kidding me? It's at least four hundred meters from here to the entrance of the underground corridor. It's raining now, the wind direction is unstable, and there are pipes blocking the way."

"Are you prepared to use a pistol to shoot at a moving target 400 meters away, with only a half-meter firing window?"

This completely defies common sense. The effective range of a revolver is at most fifty meters. Beyond four hundred meters, the bullet would have long since drifted away.

"Don't worry, you just need to take out your targets," Su Long said, shaking his head.

Seeing that Su Long had already begun preparations, the two of them said no more. Martin quickly took out an anemometer and ballistic calculator from his backpack and began to calculate and report the parameters.

"Distance 425 meters. Wind direction northwest, wind speed 3.5 meters per second, humidity 85%. Note the interference of rain on the trajectory, correct for left deviation of 0.2 mils."

"Roger that, target locked." Jack's breathing became even and deep, his finger lightly resting on the trigger.

Martin also raised his FNSCARH rifle and aimed at the target on the rooftop to the right: "Target locked on the right."

Seeing that the two were finally ready, Su Long also raised "Sirius" and aimed at the last target 400 meters away, while activating "Sirius's" [Heart Lock].

A strange, invisible force came from the gun. Following this force, Su Long slightly turned his wrist, and the muzzle deflected at an extremely strange angle.

Looking in the direction he was aiming, Su Long began to have some doubts.

Sirius is now firing bullets formed from the flames of destruction. Is this thing an energy weapon or a physical munition?

Does it have ballistic drop and wind drift?

But he quickly dismissed the idea; since the skill had been successfully activated, it meant the bullets would definitely hit the target.

"Are you ready?" Surong asked softly.

"Ready?" Jack and Martin replied simultaneously.

Sulong flicked the hammer off the revolver with his thumb: "Listen to my countdown, three—two—one, fire!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three gunshots rang out simultaneously in the rainy night: two muffled shots and one crisp one.

Through the tactical binoculars, Elena clearly saw the heads of the two sentry posts on the left and right rooftops explode simultaneously.

The large-caliber bullets ripped their skulls off, and before they could even scream, their bodies went limp as they fell from the height and crashed heavily to the ground below.

At the same time, the "Sirius" gun in Su Long's hand also spewed out violent purple-gold flames.

The bullet, formed from the flames of annihilation, shot out of the barrel in an instant, leaving a straight streak of purple-gold light in the dark, rainy night. It then abruptly veered off course midway, striking the ground sentry who was still moving back and forth.

In the darkness in the distance, a small black dot suddenly lit up for a moment, then quickly went out.

That was the light emitted by the burning corpses of ground sentries who had been hit by fireballs.

Burning gang members' corpses grants +1 experience point.

A semi-transparent system notification popped up in front of Su Long's eyes.

Behind the embankment, Jack and Martin saw this scene through their scopes. They both turned their heads at the same time and looked at Suron in shock.

Four hundred and twenty-five meters!

He used a revolver to hit a moving target in his blind spot.

Surong casually tucked "Sirius" back into its holster, patted the rain off his hands, and said, "They're all taken care of. Don't just stand there, start the operation!"

The group quickly left the shelter and filed in through the hole at the bottom of the barbed wire fence.

Upon entering the factory area, the team immediately dispersed and formed a standard tactical formation.

Marcus, holding an M249 light machine gun, stood at the forefront, constantly scanning the area in front of him. Sulong and Elena were half a step behind him, their eyes constantly wandering through the blind spots on both sides.

Nancy walked in the middle, holding the tablet computer, with Lucia close behind her, while Jack and Martin brought up the rear, protecting the flanks and the rear.

The group moved quickly along the edge of the factory. Marcus kicked open the half-closed iron door of the factory on the left, peered into the factory through the door frame, and then reported to the leader: "The factory on the left is safe."

Meanwhile, Elena and Lucia also completed their search of the factory building on the right.

"The factory building on the right is safe."

"Communication signals have been blocked, and no other heat sources have been found on the ground," Nancy reported in her final report.

After confirming that there were no other personnel inside the two factory buildings or on the ground, the team quickly moved towards the central area.

A few minutes later, the group arrived at the entrance to the underground corridor.

The entrance is embedded in a thick concrete wall, with an outer layer of a rusty explosion-proof metal door.

Some of the concrete around the door frame has weathered and crumbled, but the overall structure remains sturdy.

Marcus stepped forward, reached out and pushed the metal door, but it didn't budge.

He turned to look at Su Long and lowered his voice: "It's locked. The door panel is at least ten centimeters thick, and there should be multiple mechanical locking pins inside."

Su Long tilted his head slightly: "It's up to you. Hurry up. Everyone else, get ready to put on your gas masks!"

Marcus grinned, slung the light machine gun over his shoulder, and pulled out several brick-sized pieces of C4 plastic explosives and a roll of directional demolition pads from his tactical backpack.

He skillfully attached the directional explosive patch tightly to the four hinges, then kneaded two pieces of C4 explosive into strips and stuffed them into the gap between the door lock and the bottom latch, ensuring that the explosive force was completely concentrated on the lock cylinder.

Finally, he inserted the detonators into the explosives one by one, connected the detonating wires, and pulled out a safe distance of wire.

After doing all this, Marcus quickly retreated, while making a tactical hand gesture to the crowd.

"Back up, find cover!"

The team members quickly dispersed, each sticking to the back of the thick concrete load-bearing walls on both sides of the entrance, covering their ears with their hands and slightly opening their mouths.

After seeing that his teammates were all in position, Marcus pulled out the detonator and pressed it down hard with his thumb.

"boom!"

A deafening explosion resounded throughout the empty factory area.

The violent shockwave whipped up the water and mud on the ground, sending them flying outwards. The directional blast precisely severed all the stress points on the metal door.

The blast door, weighing several tons, was forcibly torn apart, flying more than ten meters inward before crashing heavily onto the floor of the underground corridor, producing a piercing metallic scraping sound. Thick smoke and dust instantly filled the air.

As the smoke cleared, Marcus picked up his light machine gun and warily watched the entrance to the passage. Seeing no one coming up, he quickly rushed into the passage, sweeping the muzzle of his gun across the dimly lit corridor ahead, and shouted, "Clear!"

Suron and Elena followed closely behind, their bodies pressed against the wall, keeping a watchful eye on the blind spots that Marcus hadn't covered.

"Left side is safe!"

"Right side is safe!"

Jack and Martin took turns providing cover as they entered, with Lucia and Nancy following in between them.

The entire intrusion was executed flawlessly, without any unnecessary movements.

The emergency lights on the ceiling of the underground corridor flickered, casting long shadows on everyone.

The walls were rough reinforced concrete, with sticky water droplets seeping from the surface.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of dust, and the marks left by the metal door were clearly visible.

"Nancy, confirm our location," Elena whispered the order.

Nancy looked at the tablet screen: "We are currently three meters underground. There is a long corridor directly in front of us, and we will encounter the first corner in about two hundred meters. The signal jammer is working properly, and they cannot send any information to the outside world at the moment."

After confirming the path forward, the team quickly advanced along the dimly lit underground corridor. The two hundred meters passed in the blink of an eye, and just as they were about to reach the corner, the team stopped again.

Nancy pulled a second spare micro-drone from her tactical backpack and then piloted it toward the passage ahead.

Just as the drone rounded the corner, a burst of gunfire rang out from the end of the passage, instantly destroying the drone in mid-air, its parts scattering all over the ground.

Immediately afterwards, deafening gunfire echoed wildly in the enclosed underground space.

"Da da da da da!"

Bullets from the heavy machine gun rained down like a storm, slamming into the corner wall in front of them.

Large chunks of concrete were torn apart, and gravel mixed with dust flew everywhere.

Several deformed ricochets grazed Marcus's shoulder, scattering a trail of dazzling sparks on the wall.

Everyone immediately huddled up, pressing themselves tightly against the wall to avoid the stray bullets flying around.

Marcus shook the dust off his head and yelled, "Damn it! They were still alerted by that explosion! That firepower density is at least that of a heavy machine gun! Now we're trapped here, what are we going to do?"

Suron moved next to Marcus, gesturing for him to switch places with him. Then, looking at the others, he instructed, "Jack, be ready to lean out and aim. When I tell you to peek out, take out that machine gunner immediately."

Jack paused for a moment, glanced at the bullets flying around outside, and swallowed hard: "This—the other side has a heavy machine gun. If I peek out like this and they don't stop firing, I won't last even half a second."

Surong patted Jack on the shoulder: "Don't panic, trust me!"

He then looked at Marcus and Martin: "You two get ready too. The moment Jack fires, you two immediately lean out and provide suppressive fire."

The two gripped their guns tightly. Although they felt a little uneasy, they nodded emphatically, remembering the strength Su Long had demonstrated earlier.

Su Long stood at the edge of the corner and instructed, "Listen carefully, when I count to one, the three of you peek out together. Don't worry, I guarantee that the other side won't fire a single shot while you're peeking out."

That sounds a bit arrogant. After all, you can't even see the other side's exact location from behind a corner of the wall. How can you guarantee that they won't fire?

But Jack took a deep breath, leveled the sniper rifle, and pressed the butt firmly against his shoulder: "I'm ready."

"Ready. Three—two—"

As he counted, Su Long turned his gaze to the other side of the corner, towards the direction of the ugly figure.

"—!"

'

In the instant the numbers failed to register, the shock of fear was released without reservation.

The mental shock, traveling at a distance of several tens of meters, struck the armed men at the end of the passage squarely.

The gunfire stopped abruptly.

The moment Sulong shouted "One," Jack and Marcus leaned out without hesitation, aiming their guns at the machine gun emplacement at the other end of the passage.

The machine gun emplacement, which had been operating with great force, was now in complete chaos.

The burly man holding the heavy machine gun clutched his head tightly with both hands, his face contorted in pain, and knelt on the ground groaning in agony.

The men providing cover nearby also stumbled and fell, dropping their guns to the ground.

After a moment of surprise, Jack didn't hesitate and instantly aimed at the machine gunner's head.

"Bang!"

The bullet instantly traveled dozens of meters and shattered the head of the person wearing a bulletproof helmet.

Ma Kushi and Ma Qiao also pulled the trigger at the same time.

"Rat-a-tat-tat!"

A hail of bullets swept towards the machine gun position. The militant who had just struggled to pick up his rifle was hit in the waist by an M249 bullet, and blood splattered all over the sandbags.

The other two were also shot down by Ma Qiao's rifle and died in pools of blood.

In just a few seconds, the point of force was completely removed.

"Well done!" Markus shouted excitedly, just as he was about to advance with his gun.

"Step back." Su Long reached out and stopped Qiu.

Makushi immediately stopped and looked at Sulong with a puzzled expression.

Su Long peered into the center of the passage, cupped his hands around his mouth like trumpets, took a deep breath, and released a shrill shockwave.

At the same time, the purple-gold Binding of Annihilation surged from his palm, and Miao Zhu instantly transformed into an incomparably thick purple-gold pillar, directly filling the entire underground corridor.

The terrifyingly high temperature instantly sucked the air out of the passage, and the water droplets on the walls and roof evaporated into white mist the moment they came into contact with the pillars.

The bundle of pillars advanced with overwhelming force, slamming into the machine gun emplacement. Sandbags were instantly burned to ashes, and the concrete walls were scorched red and cracked.

"ah""

Several extremely shrill screams came from the side of the bunker.

Three or four armed men who had been hiding in the shadows preparing to ambush their target were covered in purple-gold flames and screamed as they ran out of their cover.

They rolled frantically on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames binding them, but the world-destroying bondage was impossible to put out.

Ma Kushi, still looking at the burning figures, reacted extremely quickly, immediately raising his gun and firing a few shots.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The bullets pierced the bodies of the shackled men with pinpoint accuracy, killing them instantly.

Su Long also lowered his hands, shook off the remaining flames on his wrists, and turned to look at the others beside him: "The passage is cleared, continue advancing."

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly emerged from their cover and hurried toward the machine gun position.

The underground corridor, which was originally damp and needed to be cooled, was now dry and hot.

The concrete on both sides of the roof has peeled off in large areas, revealing the red-hot steel bars inside.

The machine gun positions that had been fiercely suppressing the enemy, along with the piles of sandbags, were all reduced to charcoal, with purple-gold flames still clinging to them and burning rapidly.

Beyond the machine gun emplacement, puddles of grayish-white powder lay scattered on the scorching ground, next to which lay rifles that had been completely melted.

"This—it even saves us the trouble of collecting the corpses." Ma Qiao swallowed hard, looking at the ashes scattered on the ground, and murmured in shock.

Su Long walked at the front, and a semi-transparent prompt box popped up in front of his eyes.

[Burning the corpses of members of the Philosophical Faction grants +7 experience points]

I glanced at the panel and, including the sentry outside who was taken down by a bullet that turned a corner, I gained a total of 8 experience points.

Even though you collect a lot, every little bit counts.