Samsara Space: They're all begging me to heal them one more time.

At the same instant, blond-haired man pulled the trigger.

"Die, you bastard!!!"

"Zzzzzzz—!!!"

This time, the gunshots were different. They were no longer the crisp tearing sound, but a dull, suffocating thud, like a heavy hammer blow.

The depleted uranium warhead gains tremendous kinetic energy the moment it leaves the barrel. When it strikes the immobile target at three times the speed of sound, the unique "self-sharpening" property of depleted uranium comes into play—the warhead not only does not deform, but instead melts through the tank bug's proud chitinous armor like a red-hot knife cutting into butter!

"Puff puff puff puff puff—"

There were no ricochets, no sparks. Only the muffled thud of bullets hitting flesh.

The tank bug's seemingly indestructible frontal armor was instantly riddled with holes by the depleted uranium metal storm, much like foam plastic splashed with sulfuric acid.

Immediately afterwards, the high temperature generated by the high-speed friction between the depleted uranium core and the armor ignited the biofuel that had not yet been ejected inside the tank bug.

"boom!!"

The tank bug writhed and howled in agony in the slime, but the powerful bio-glue made it impossible for it to escape this death zone. It could only watch helplessly as its body was torn apart bit by bit by the bullets.

"Add more fuel to the fire."

A fierce glint flashed in Zhang Yuan's eyes, and the cross shone brightly once more.

[Weapon Blessing (Lv.5)]!

[Effect: Increases physical attack power!]

With the divine enhancement, the depleted uranium bullet's penetrating power was off the charts. The bullet no longer remained on the surface but pierced through the tank bug's massive body, emerging from its tail and bringing out clusters of green internal organ fragments.

In just three seconds, this siege behemoth, which had driven all veterans to despair, was reduced to a sieve.

Its massive body twitched one last time, then finally remained still. The flames within it, now freed from their restraints, erupted from countless bullet holes, engulfing it in flames and turning it into a gigantic fireball.

[Slay the Tank Bug (Rank D) to earn 3000 battle merits and 500 bonus points.]

[Obtain 1 D-rank side quest.]

The system notification sounded in Zhang Yuan's mind.

"That's the power of spending money."

Zhang Yuan glanced at the ammo box. The previous salvo had used up about two hundred depleted uranium rounds. Considering the mana loss he and Tao Tao had incurred, the cost was approximately 400 points. 400 points for a D-level side quest and 3000 battle merits—a huge profit.

However, before everyone could cheer, a red signal flare suddenly rose into the sky over the north side of the base (Area A).

That's the highest level distress signal, representing "extreme danger/loss of position".

Immediately afterwards, the desperate screams of the Federation soldiers guarding Area A came through the communication channel, with screams and explosions filling the background:

"This is reactor area A!! Requesting backup!! (Repeated!!) Requesting backup!!"

"They're in the sky!! Those flying insects are carrying acid bombs!! Our anti-aircraft towers are almost all destroyed!!"

"Aaaaaah—!!"

The communications came to an abrupt halt with a loud explosion.

Zhang Yuan suddenly looked up.

In the sky above Area A on the north side, countless [Suicide Jumpers], like kamikaze pilots, were frantically crashing into the four massive plasma defense cannons. Each impact triggered violent acid corrosion and a secondary explosion.

"Boom—"

The base of a plasma turret was corroded and fractured, and the huge barrel collapsed with electric sparks, crashing into the reactor hall below and causing a towering fire.

The air defense fire net has a large hole in it.

"Damn it! They're focusing fire on the turret! This isn't a beast's instinct!"

Zhang Yuan suddenly looked up, activated [Basic Reconnaissance], and his gaze pierced through the smoke and swarms of insects, locking onto the highest black dot in the sky above Area A.

There, above countless frantically diving, self-destructing jumpers, hovered a figure.

She had the torso of a human woman, but with enormous leathery bat wings on her back and her feet transformed into raptor-like talons. She hung upside down high in the air, like a proud queen, coldly overlooking the slaughterhouse below.

Wherever her claws point, the originally chaotic swarm of insects transforms into a disciplined kamikaze squad, crashing headlong into that coordinate without regard for the cost.

[Opponent Faction Reincarnator: Scourge]!

"It really is PVP."

Zhang Yuan's eyes narrowed. No wonder that tank bug died so easily; it wasn't the main force at all, but just a decoy used to draw fire from Area B and cover the air force's surprise attack on Area A!

"Since they're willing to sacrifice a tank bug to draw fire, their schemes are definitely not limited to this."

Zhang Yuan felt the vibrations beneath his feet, which hadn't stopped after the battle ended but had instead become even more muffled. His eyes gradually sharpened.

"The epicenter hasn't disappeared; instead, it's moving westward... There are still enemies underground, at least one siege behemoth of similar size."

"Its goal is probably not to kill people, but rather... to dig a tunnel to the armory."

This is the tactical skill of a pro RTS player.

Use cannon fodder to lure out the human heavy firepower (depleted uranium munitions), then use suicide attacks to destroy anti-aircraft towers, and finally let the main force sneak up from underground to steal the base.

"A clever plan. Too bad..."

Greed overshadowed fear in Zhang Yuan's eyes. "You're too greedy. In your attempt to destroy the tower, you've exposed all of our air force units to my firing range."

"Damn! Area A is doomed!"

The bald, burly man next to him turned deathly pale. "That's the reactor that powers the plasma cannon! If Area A is gone, we'll lose our anti-aircraft firepower, and those flying insects will immediately turn on us!"

"What should we do then? Go and provide support?" a veteran asked.

"Support my ass!"

The bald, burly man glanced in that direction, then shrank back. "That area is full of suicide bombers, and there's no terrain for cover. Our small force would just be filling in the gaps! Hold B site! As long as the armory doesn't fall, we still have bullets!"

This is a weakness of human nature.

Even knowing that the loss of one person would mean the loss of the other, most people still chose to defend their own "small plot of land" when faced with life and death, and no one was willing to be the hero who could turn the tide.

After all, there are only a group of random NPCs in Area A. Saving them won't give you any side quest rewards, but if they die, they're really dead.

Zhang Yuan, however, looked at the crumbling defense line and instead of panicking, calmly opened another bottle of blue potion, his eyes gleaming with calculation.

"The enemy's tactics are clear: feints on the ground to distract and contain, followed by aerial suicide attacks to breach defenses. A classic RTS tactic."

"If Area A falls and we lose air superiority, we won't last long either."

more importantly……

Zhang Yuan activated [Basic Reconnaissance] and looked at the countless jumping creatures flying through the sky.

[Mutant Jumper: 5 points reward per kill.]

Thousands of reward points.

Moreover, since the other reincarnators are all hiding in Area B, that area is now a "blue ocean market" with no competition.

"The most profitable gold mines are the dangerous places that no one dares to go to."

Zhang Yuan patted the blond-haired man who was still changing the barrel of the Gatling gun, and then glanced at Lin Qingyue, who kept her hand tightly on the hilt of her knife.

"Leave this to TaoTao and the automatic sentry gun. The slime defense line is already in place. As long as these veterans don't make any stupid mistakes, we won't lose Sector B."

"Where do we go?" The blond-haired man poured the scalding hot bullet casings onto the ground. "There don't seem to be any monsters around here."

Zhang Yuan turned around and pointed to the A-zone high ground, which was ablaze with flames and avoided by everyone.

"Let's go to Area A."

"Go save those NPCs?" Lin Qingyue raised an eyebrow. She didn't think this profit-driven capitalist would be so kind as to become a federal hero.

"No."

Zhang Yuan took out the M79 grenade launcher that he hadn't used before from his storage space.

He looked at the sky obscured by flying insects and revealed the greedy smile of a monopolistic tycoon looking at a monopolistic market:

"There are no competitors there now."

"Let's book the whole place."

"Rent...the whole venue?"

Huang Mao stared at the apocalyptic A-zone in the distance, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty. The sky there had been completely stained a chaotic color by green acid clouds and red explosions, and screams echoed every second.

"Brother Yuan, that's a real bombing zone... Won't we get blown to bits if we go there with just a few of us?"

"High risk often means high premium."

Zhang Yuan casually tossed a box of unopened high-explosive incendiary bombs into the blond-haired man's arms, his tone as indifferent as if he were discussing the weather:

"Those flying insects have extremely low health, but an extremely high density. This means that just one bullet can trigger a chain reaction of exploding fireworks. For your Gatling gun, it's not hell, but a monster spawner for racking up points."

"Moreover..." Zhang Yuan pointed to the Federation soldiers who were fleeing from Area A and the veterans who stood motionless at the breach in the western city wall, "It is precisely because others are panic selling that we have the opportunity to buy at the bottom price."

"madman."

Lin Qingyue commented softly. She looked at the man's tall, straight back—amidst the raging flames and chaotic crowds, he was the only one going against the flow.

Cold-blooded, greedy, yet damnably reliable.

She took a deep breath, gripped the demon sword tightly, a wild smile playing on her lips, and strode after him. Since she was already on this pirate ship, she might as well go all the way with this madman.

Thus, during the most chaotic moment at the whiskey outpost, an extremely bizarre scene unfolded:

Countless people screamed as they fled the soon-to-be-destroyed reactor hilltop, but only three figures, carrying heavy weapons and dragging long swords, charged headlong into the inferno of death.

That's not the silhouette of a hero.

Those were three prospectors rushing to harvest the last of the gold mines.