novelraw Chapter 892: A Deadlock
Chapter 892: A Deadlock
The enemy appeared on the horizon.
If it were a clear day, and both sides were at the same altitude, then the enemy appearing on the horizon would mean that they were only five kilometers away. This distance, for mechanized land forces, is almost instantaneous.
From the start of the battle to now, nearly six hours have passed.
The sky is barely breaking. This dawn, which should symbolize hope, now brings Qing Chen bad news—he's surrounded.
Qing Chen carries Boss He on his back and mutters, "Boss He, I'm afraid we're going to be brothers in misfortune. I was just planning in my head to carve out a grave for you on Whale Island, so you can watch over the development of Nine Provinces, Kunlun, and the Time Traveler Academy. This flourishing world as you wished. Now it seems, it'll be as we both wished..."
At this moment, Qing Chen has been fighting for six hours. His Knight's Qi is depleted, his power bank is recharging, his internal thunder plasma is exhausted, and all his controlled puppets are dead.
Only Silhouette is still alive beside him. Now, countless more enemies have arrived...
This is outrageous!
He looks around, but the moment he turns, a piercing pain shoots through the three ribs Silver Duke had broken. Even the slightest movement is excruciating.
Fractures don't initially hurt much. The brain sends self-protective signals to block the pain. But after a few minutes of self-protection, once the brain judges that you won't die, it releases the pain, making you grimace in agony. Qing Chen gasps. He feels as if three daggers are plunged into his ribs.
If he hadn't had his bones reinforced by the Dragon Fish, that kick would have killed him.
"It's really raining cats and dogs, Boss He," Qing Chen doesn't know what's wrong with him. He feels incredibly lonely on this battlefield and desperately wants to talk to someone, regardless of whether they respond.
He's reached the end.
Qing Chen can't think of a way to break through.
He doesn't even know how to survive.
He simply makes a solemn promise to Boss He on his back, "I'll take you home."
A Knight's word is his bond.
The next moment, Qing Chen carefully analyzes the enemy's deployment.
The east is definitely impossible. That's where the royal air fleet is, and he has no way to deal with those Airships. The west, north, and south are all occupied by roughly the same number of Silver City Army divisions, each a field division of nearly ten thousand soldiers.
The terrain is open on all sides, except for the southwest—the forest where he previously fought his way out—which offers some cover.
But the next moment, enemy drones in the sky spot Qing Chen...
Qing Chen had intended to use Shadow to enter the battlefield and use its powerful ability to break through and create an escape route.
But the enemy didn't even try to approach.
Instead, after discovering Qing Chen, the Silver City Army immediately deployed a firepower Matrix in place, preparing to unleash a barrage on his area.
"Damn it!"
Ignoring the pain in his chest, Qing Chen runs towards the northwest forest. He has to run, or he'll die!
But the Silver City Army is more efficient than he imagined. A volley of artillery fire explodes on the horizon, the sound like a dragon's roar and tiger's howl.
This is the first time Qing Chen has seen so many cannons firing simultaneously. Three artillery positions have created complete firepower coverage of a five-kilometer radius!
When Qing Chen catches sight of the flames, he's already numb.
Because of the difference in cannons between the East and West Continents, even if he sees the elevation angle of the barrels, he can't calculate the trajectory of the shells, because he doesn't know the amount of gunpowder used.
Now, shells are flying from kilometers away...
He'll gamble!
The next moment, Qing Chen puts Boss He on the ground and uses his own body, plus two Shadows, to cover him,
Protecting Boss He completely!
The two Shadows have their hands firmly planted in the earth to prevent them from being blown away by the blast wave, and Qing Chen uses his blood-red long sword to stab into the ground to stabilize himself.
At this point, he can only pray that no shell lands directly beside him!
Artillery coverage doesn't mean a shell hits every square meter, turning the ground into a ploughed field.
Instead, it's about calculating the lethal radius of a shell. For example, if a shell's lethal radius is 80 meters, then shells are fired every 70 to 80 meters.
Normally,
Artillery coverage places shells roughly every 10 to 80 meters, depending on the shell's destructive power. But Qing Chen figures that the Silver City Army must hate him and will fire more intensely!
The shells fall.
Instantly, Qing Chen feels the ground shaking violently, and earsplitting explosions erupt around him. All he hears is a buzzing sound.
Two shells land ten meters to his left and right!
Qing Chen immediately makes a judgment: the enemy is using shells with a 60-meter lethal radius, firing into a 20-meter gap. They are trying to kill him at any cost.
Shrapnel hits the two Shadows, and the pain is relayed to Qing Chen. The pain nearly knocks him unconscious.
Then, several two-finger-wide pieces of shrapnel, piercing the gaps in the Shadow's protection, embed themselves in Qing Chen's legs, waist, and arms. The artillery coverage is too dense. Even with two Shadows shielding him, he can't block all the damage.
Qing Chen feels utterly hopeless.
But when the first barrage briefly stops, he casts aside all distractions and gets up.
When he confirms that Boss He's body is unharmed, he breathes a sigh of relief. Qing Chen grits his teeth and smiles, "Boss He, let's run for our lives!"
As he speaks, he takes advantage of the pause in the shelling to pick up He Jinqiu's body and hobbles over a crater, running another few dozen meters.
Then he repeats the process.
This time, Qing Chen has a clearer idea of the parameters. By observing the elevation angle of the enemy cannons, he chooses a central position for the shells' impact.
The earth-shattering barrage begins again, and Qing Chen can no longer hear anything.
He can only feel his breathing, his heartbeat, the ringing in his ears.
Even the pulsing of his blood seems exceptionally clear.
After another intense barrage, more fragments embed themselves in Qing Chen's arms and legs. But he correctly calculated the trajectory, and his parameters are even clearer this time.
The Silver City Army commander would never have imagined that someone would even attempt to survive an artillery barrage.
Nor would they believe that he actually survived two volleys!
But as Qing Chen tries to calculate the shell trajectory again, he discovers that his surroundings are shrouded in smoke... He can no longer see the elevation angle of the barrels. He can't see them, and they can't see him.
But the Silver City Army doesn't care. Whether they can see him or not, they'll fire their full ammunition load.
A full ammunition load varies among units. To give a rough example: for an automatic rifle, the basic load is 300 rounds; for a mortar, it's 120 shells; and for a large-caliber self-propelled howitzer, it's 40.
In other words, if Qing Chen doesn't escape, he'll have to endure at least forty rounds of the pain he just experienced...
Theoretically, after a full barrage, even a Demi-God in this area would be dead. Qing Chen must get out of this area to live!
Otherwise, he'll be shot to pieces!
Run!
When Qing Chen gets up again, his body feels as if it's no longer his own.
Every step is excruciating, as his muscle fibers, skin, and the sharp metal fragments rub together. Every movement increases the damage.
He could use Boss He's body and the Shadows as a shield.
It's the body of a Demi-God, an experimental subject—it must be incredibly durable.
Covering himself with three bodies and finding the right angle could avoid most shrapnel wounds.
This would improve his survival rate by at least 5%.
But for some reason, Qing Chen doesn't want to do that.
He thinks he might be being sentimental, impractical. He doesn't know why, but he simply refuses.
In the past, Qing Chen would have been the first to mock his current self. But suddenly, he imagines...
After Boss He's body arrives in the Outer World, many people will attend the memorial service, right? They'll take turns offering flowers, taking one last look at Boss He under the glass lid, and saying goodbye.
Qing Chen hopes that He Jinqiu will still look as he does now, at least without shrapnel embedded in his face. That would be unsightly. Of course, he's just thinking randomly; funeral homes have beauticians.
Ultimately, he just wants to bring a completely unharmed Boss He home.
A comrade who dies in a foreign land should have someone to guide him through the fire and smoke, through forests and streams, over mountains and plains, back to his birthplace. He should rest in a peaceful world, awaiting the coming of prosperity.
The next moment, Qing Chen runs a few dozen meters, then crawls down again, running another few dozen meters after the barrage stops. He's started to forget the pain, even where he is.
Only one thing remains in his mind: home. Home.
Qing Chen gets up and crawls down again and again, but at this moment, the enemy suddenly adjusts their range, and a shell falls three meters from him.
Instantly, despite his and the Shadows' efforts to remain stable, they are still thrown by the blast wave.
Fortunately, the main Shadow blocks the direct impact on his side, otherwise, he would have died instantly!
Qing Chen is thrown into a nearby crater, vomiting a mouthful of blood...His internal organs are all displaced.
But he ignores this, not waiting for the smoke to clear, scrambling out of the crater to check on Boss He.
Qing Chen breathes a sigh of relief. Boss He is unharmed!
He laughs hoarsely, "Boss He, you're lucky!"
But Qing Chen's luck isn't so good.
He looks down and sees a palm-sized piece of shrapnel embedded in his abdomen, blood gushing out. If the wound were a little larger, his intestines might have spilled out.
At this moment, Qing Chen feels utterly despairing...He can't run anymore.
In fact, if a normal person finds themselves under artillery fire, they would probably only run blindly or lie down blindly, waiting for death.
But Qing Chen has never given up.
Even if this is hell.
Even if he only has a one in ten million chance of survival, he wants to try. But the question is, can he continue trying?
Perhaps he should give up.
There's nothing impossible in the world, as long as you're willing to give up. As long as he lies down here, it's all over. Qing Chen suddenly laughs, "Screw this, I've even killed a Demi-God. Am I afraid of this?"
The next second, he stands up again, struggling to pick up Boss He, gritting his teeth and roaring as he stands up, continuing to stagger forward.
In the distance, the cannons flash, another barrage incoming.
Qing Chen can't calculate the trajectory; he can only gamble.
"Boss He, let's gamble on whether our lives are tough enough! If not, cross your name off the death ledger!"
Seeing that they are only two hundred meters from the forest, Qing Chen roars and sprints wildly, with the main Shadow and the secondary Shadow guarding him on either side. He's betting he can rush through!
But his life seems not tough enough. A shell spins out of a cannon barrel, its curved trajectory ending right where Qing Chen is.
Here's a piece of trivia:
When you hear the strange, piercing whistle of an incoming shell on the battlefield, don't think about anything else, don't take any chances, that shell is aimed directly at you.
Qing Chen heard that whistle.
The shell, through layers of smoke and mist, pierces through the predetermined end of fate.
People often say that before death, a person's life flashes before their eyes. Time seems to freeze, even Death grants you a few seconds, allowing you to look back. But Qing Chen doesn't look back at his life before the age of 17. That life seems shrouded in shadow, nothing to mention.
There's nothing to recall.
Qing Chen's flashback begins from the age of 17. From Prison 18.
At this moment, he seems to return to Prison 18. Where his dream began.
He sits opposite his master, just as he once did.
The incoming shell.
The reckless soldier crossing the river.
Everything seems to return to the starting point.
Qing Chen says, "Master, I might die. Thank you. If I hadn't come here to be your disciple, there wouldn't be so many stories afterward. Of course, I might have died at 18, but this half-year has been more precious to me than life itself. Master, I'm leaving."
In his mind, Li Shutong suddenly raises his head and looks seriously at his disciple, "You won't die."
Qing Chen: "Huh?"
The shell lands!
With a deafening boom!