Long Yuehong occasionally changed positions, firing outwards from above, to the left, and to the right of the sandbags, not giving those few mountain monsters a chance to get close.
Both sides hid behind their respective cover, engaging in a back-and-forth exchange.
Bai Chen and Han Wanghuo also joined the fray, but they didn't put all their thoughts into it. One took advantage of the lull to quietly retrieve a grenade, searching for a suitable angle, while the other observed the activity patterns of those mountain monsters, slowly adjusting the position of his gun, hoping to seize the opportunity to directly shoot one dead when they tried to fire.
Just then, a shell landed outside the window, on top of the collapsed building.
Boom!
The violent shockwave, mixed with crimson flames, poured into the room lacking window frames and glass, forcing Bai Chen, Han Wanghuo, and Long Yuehong to shrink back behind their defenses and lie down.
As the explosion subsided slightly, the remaining mountain monsters, led by their leader, rushed out of cover, heading towards Han Wanghuo and the others in different directions.
Long Yuehong had just raised his head from behind the sandbags when he saw a mountain monster, no shorter than himself, rushing over, the assault rifle in his hands roaring with a generous outpouring of bullets.
He reflexively shrank back again, hearing the bullets strike the sandbags, hearing them fly overhead.
Long Yuehong knew that hiding like this wasn't a solution. He mustered his courage and leaped out from the side of the defenses, returning fire with his "Berserker" assault rifle.
The sound of gunfire echoed within the room. One rolled on the spot, and the other dashed forward, neither managing to hit the other.
Almost simultaneously, they ran out of bullets.
Long Yuehong didn't hesitate, abandoning the assault rifle and reaching towards the utility belt at his waist. Seeing this, the mountain monster directly threw his assault rifle, aiming for Long Yuehong's head.
Long Yuehong hurriedly dodged, and amidst the sound of the gun hitting the ground, he stood up smoothly.
However, the mountain monster had already rushed in front of him, drawing a military knife.
Only then did Long Yuehong truly see the enemy's appearance:
He was taller and stronger than most of the mountain monsters in the previous assault team. Apart from a slightly blue skin tone and pointed teeth in his half-open mouth, he was no different from a normal human, with thick eyebrows, large eyes, a square face, and thick lips.
Long Yuehong didn't have time to draw his gun. He shifted his body to the right, dodging the military knife that the other was stabbing at him with.
He kept dodging, narrowly escaping danger under the relentless attack of the mountain monster.
Fortunately, in the hand-to-hand combat training, the role he played most often was this kind, so he was quite skilled, always avoiding danger with a close call.
Gradually, Long Yuehong was forced back behind the pile of sandbags.
Suddenly, he stepped on a piece of concrete that had flown in from somewhere, and his entire body lost its balance.
The mountain monster revealed a hint of a smile upon seeing this.
This was exactly what he had been expecting.
He had been forcing Long Yuehong towards the rubble-filled area, then relying on his superior sense of balance, climbing cliffs as if walking on flat ground, waiting for the other to fall on his own.
Now that the opportunity had presented itself, he naturally wouldn't let it go, pouncing on him and brandishing the military knife in his hand.
At that moment, Long Yuehong exerted force in his waist, slowing down the momentum of his fall.
Then, he tensed his right thigh, smoothly drawing it upwards.
Whack!
His right leg kicked the mountain monster squarely in the abdomen, causing him to bend over uncontrollably.
Seizing the opportunity, Long Yuehong used the rebounding force to roll on the spot, standing up again.
And in the process, he also drew his "Icemoss" pistol.
Bang! Bang!
He pulled the trigger repeatedly, causing blossoms of blood to bloom on the mountain monster's body.
Seeing that the enemy was heavily injured and lying on the ground, without any weapons nearby, Long Yuehong turned his gaze towards Bai Chen, trying to provide support.
At this time, Bai Chen had just circled behind another mountain monster, kicking upwards with a groin kick.
Thump!
The mountain monster revealed an extremely painful expression, his entire body involuntarily curling up.
Bai Chen smoothly drew his gun, delivering a headshot.
As the red and white fluids splattered, Han Wanghuo also finished off his enemy.
He used his left arm as bait, forcibly enduring a knife strike, then seizing the opportunity, locking the opponent in a hold and kicking him away.
As the mountain monster staggered forward, Han Wanghuo drew the "United 202" from his waist, giving him the final blow.
Bai Chen glanced at Long Yuehong, and seeing that he was unharmed, quickly rushed to the first line of defense, picking up the "Grim Reaper" individual rocket launcher left behind by Jiang Baimian.
Carrying the rocket launcher, she half-squatted down, looked at the mountain monsters and fish people still charging outside, and calmly launched a rocket.
Boom!
A fireball blossomed in the middle of the group, devouring many lives and somewhat curbing the momentum of the enemies charging towards this side.
This seemed to be a signal flare, as Redstone Town Guard members in different parts of the defense line launched counterattacks.
Before long, Redstone Town's artillery also made its voice heard.
Boom! Boom!
In the intense artillery fire, the charge of the mountain monsters and fish people was interrupted.
Before long, the whistle sounded, and they left behind corpses, retreating to their original positions.
…………
"Hoo… at this level of Awakened, their bodies haven't undergone much change yet… Uh, I can't think like that, or Shang Jianyao will say those words are inauspicious again…" Jiang Baimian, seeing that Shang Jianyao had successfully stunned the tall fish person wearing a laurel of branches, let out a sigh of relief without concealing it.
She quickly ran towards that side, preparing to do the final processing.
Just then, the skin on the surface of the tall fish person lying on the ground suddenly underwent a strange squirming.
It was as if countless huge parasitic worms were drilling around there, looking extremely horrifying.
The next second, an indescribable aura emanated, causing the moonlight in this area to dim instantly.
A vortex, a black hole, seemed to appear within the tall fish person wearing a laurel of branches, about to swallow all the surrounding matter and give birth to a creature that should not have come into the world.
At this moment, Jiang Baimian had the feeling that her breathing had stopped and her heart wasn't beating.
Although this wasn't as strong as the gaze from "behind the door" when Bishop Renato contracted "Heartless Disease," it was still very terrifying.
At this time, Shang Jianyao held his breath, drew his dual guns, and, seemingly unaffected, pulled the triggers on the mutated tall fish person.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Every shot hit its target, but a layer of invisible barrier seemed to appear on the surface of the tall fish person wearing a laurel of branches, stopping the bullets there, making it difficult to penetrate.
Shang Jianyao remained unmoved, and continued to fire his gun to the accompaniment of the Little Knives Society Prelude.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Infected by this stubborn emotion and firm attitude, Jiang Baimian also stepped forward, aiming the "United 202" in her hand at the tall fish person on the ground.
The two began to fire wildly without the slightest hesitation.
Finally, the invisible barrier shattered, and bloody holes appeared on the body of the fish person wearing a laurel of branches.
He twitched a few times and completely lost his life.
The mutation within his body then stopped, as if it had never appeared.
…………
After struggling to repel the wave of attacks from the fish people and mountain monsters, Long Yuehong let out a sigh of relief and said to Bai Chen and Han Wanghuo:
"I'm going to check if there are any survivors."
In order to avoid being attacked at a crucial moment.
Of course, his targets also included those Town Guard members, to see if anyone could still be rescued.
After some checking, he found that the mountain monster who had taken two bullets from him was still alive.
Seeing Long Yuehong, wearing a fat pig mask, walking towards him, the mountain monster, already in a dying state, exhaled and said:
"You are strong."
He was speaking in the mountain monster language, but this seemed to originate from the Greylands language, closer to a dialect form, which Long Yuehong could barely understand.
Hearing the enemy praise him, Long Yuehong was both happy and a little embarrassed.
He squatted down and said honestly:
"I'm the weakest one in our team."
The mountain monster in a dying state was stunned for a moment:
"You... you're not from Redstone Town?"
"We're mercenaries." Long Yuehong saw that the other was about to die and kindly replied.
"They... they're really lucky to have hired... such a strong team as yours." The mountain monster in a dying state said, gasping.
Looking at the other's dying appearance, Long Yuehong couldn't help but ask:
"Why do you have to take Redstone Town? Why do you have to be enemies with the townspeople here?
"I heard there are farmland and coal mines in the mountains. You don't need to fight it out at all."
The mountain monster in a dying state was silent for a moment, gasping for breath as he said:
"This is... a persistent belief passed down by... our mountain people... from previous generations.
"My... my great-grandfather, great-grandmother, my grandfather, grandmother, my maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother... all repeatedly told me that this fertile... lakeside... this Old World... city... is our hometown.
"They said... they said that in... a certain courtyard on the lakeside... there's a garden, a swing, a small... vegetable garden, a gentle breeze, clean water, and... pigeons from the city.
"In those rooms in the courtyard... there's one... specially prepared for children... with blocks, puzzles, toys, comics, and books..."
His voice became smaller and smaller, gradually falling into silence.
…………
"What was that just now?" Jiang Baimian "whispered," not expecting an answer.
Shang Jianyao squatted down to search the corpse, answering seriously:
"Revenant."
"...Did you learn that from a radio program?" Jiang Baimian asked, the muscles on her face twitching slightly.
"Yes." Shang Jianyao was very frank.
Jiang Baimian exhaled and said:
"Is this a common mutation after death for Awakened at this level, or is this particular Awakened not quite normal?"
Shang Jianyao said sincerely:
"You have to ask him."
"Do you think he'll answer?" Jiang Baimian said in annoyance.
She added to herself, as if talking to herself:
"I can ask Investigator Song later."
At this time, Shang Jianyao found a neatly folded map from the pocket of the tall fish person's tattered dark blue cloak.
The map was very old, obviously from the Old World.
Shang Jianyao quickly unfolded it and found that it was exactly the same as the map given by Investigator Song He.
They were both city tourist maps from the past.
This map didn't have many additional markings, only a red circle was drawn in a certain place in the city.
Outside the red circle, a Red River word was written:
"Home."