119: Sniper operation

Thinking of this, Li Xiao also began preparing resources to upgrade his base to level eleven, but before that, he needed to build a few more barracks, otherwise the new recruits wouldn't have anywhere to stay.

A level eleven base would require 2.5 million steel, 1 million fuel, 3 million Rare Ore, and 100,000 Star Coins.

Li Xiao purchased all these resources from the trading center; the exchange rate was currently stable between ten and fifteen points, with Rare Ore being slightly more expensive.

However, the total cost was less than 500,000 Star Coins. Adding the 100,000 Star Coins needed for the upgrade, the level eleven base would require an investment of 600,000 Star Coins.

It was fortunate that Li Xiao thought of selling durability points; otherwise, his base level really wouldn't have been able to go up. Now he was about to reach level eleven, while the average level in the team was only eight, and even Liu Nian and Yun Dongliu had only just reached level nine a couple of days ago.

Judging from this, he estimated that his base level must be among the top tier globally.

Regarding the fact that he had three armored companies, Li Xiao hadn't told anyone yet, because it was truly shocking, and he hadn't yet thought of a legitimate excuse.

Taking some time, Li Xiao went to the command centers of the three cities to check on the situation at the military factories; this week's Armored Personnel Carriers had already been produced.

Originally, it was agreed that the vehicles from the military factories would be arranged by him, but Li Xiao was no longer short on armored vehicles, so these three vehicles were left for the respective regional heads to distribute.

One day, as Li Xiao was watching Di Yun and the others conducting off-road training in their blade ifvs, Li Le suddenly drove over in an all-terrain vehicle and said to him, "Boss! Company Commander Chang is looking for you."

"Chang Zhan? This guy hasn't contacted me in a long time; I thought he had already moved to a different place."

Li Xiao took the satellite phone and said with a smile, "Company Commander Chang, I thought you had forgotten about me, your ally. Where have you been lately?"

"Captain Li, I received orders to lead my company into the territory of Weixing City for combat. I left in a hurry, so I didn't tell you."

"Then why do you have time to look for me today?"

"It's like this: Weixing City, where I am currently located, is 110 kilometers east of your Xi City. It is a third-tier major city, and your Xi City falls under its jurisdiction."

"There are many Imperial troops in the city, and the situation regarding recent external expansion is clear, so we were sent here as reinforcements to gather intelligence."

"Currently, we have discovered that the Imperial troops are building a large Army Aviation Regiment base south of Weixing City. Once completed, armed helicopters and transport helicopters will likely join the ranks of the Imperial patrol units."

"At that time, the security and defense pressure on your base will increase sharply!"

"Armed helicopters joining patrols?"

Li Xiao was shocked. If Imperial armed helicopters really started patrolling, wouldn't the players' bases be completely exposed?

What was even more terrifying was that players currently lacked fast and effective anti-aircraft weapons. Relying solely on RPGs? Only someone who watched too many movies would believe that RPGs could have such a high hit rate.

Heavy machine guns were effective against low-altitude, low-speed armed helicopters and transport helicopters, but their damage was low. What could hitting them with a few rounds actually do?

Even the only decent anti-aircraft means Li Xiao could bring out now were the dual-purpose anti-aircraft and ground cannons on his IFVs, and only the AMX and the blade ifv could do that. The Ranger was equipped with a single 30mm rapid-fire cannon, which didn't have a high enough rate of fire for anti-aircraft purposes.

"So what is your purpose in coming to me?"

"To destroy the Army Aviation Regiment base under construction and delay the time for the Army Aviation Regiment to move in!"

"What? Destroy an Army Aviation Regiment airfield? Are you kidding me? They must have it heavily guarded!"

Li Xiao shook his head repeatedly. The Army Aviation Regiment base certainly wouldn't be far from the city; if a fight broke out here, troops from the city would provide reinforcements in minutes.

By then, they would be surrounded by a large army and wouldn't even be able to run. Moreover, for Chang Zhan, it would certainly be a meritorious service, but for him, there was no benefit at all. Even if it was delayed by a month or two, would he have anti-aircraft weapons by then?

"No, you misunderstood. Simply raiding an Army Aviation airfield has no value; after all, they can rebuild it, which would only delay them for a few days."

"But the more important reason for our sneak attack on the airfield is that a high-ranking officer from the Black Hawk Empire will be coming to inspect the airfield. If we can kill him, it will surely deal a heavy blow to the morale of the Black Hawk Empire!"

"Assassinate a high-ranking officer?!"

Li Xiao looked at Chang Zhan as if he were looking at a madman; how desperate was he to get a promotion and a raise?

Not to mention that a high-ranking officer would certainly be surrounded by top-tier combat troops, with experts everywhere.

Just considering that if the assassination were successful, the Black Hawk Empire would hunt down the culprits everywhere. His wings hadn't even fully grown yet.

"No, no way. This thing is high risk and low reward; you'd better find someone else."

Li Xiao waved his hands repeatedly; he had worked so hard to develop to this point, he dared not do something stupid.

"Captain Li, to be blunt, without your help, this matter cannot be completed with just the forces currently in our vicinity."

"I know that your soldiers have extremely tenacious vitality and can withstand the enemy's fierce firepower. Especially since you also have the Shadow Special Forces, a special operations unit with extremely high combat capability, so with your participation, we have an eighty percent chance of success."

"Uh..."

Li Xiao felt a bit depressed upon hearing this; no wonder he came to him, it turned out he needed his soldiers to act as meat shields.

"This really won't work. You guerrillas make your home wherever you go, but for me, if the base is there, I'm there; if the base is gone, I'm done for. I can't afford to take that risk."

Chang Zhan didn't speak for a long while after hearing this. Li Xiao thought this guy was angry, and just as he was wondering what to say, he spoke again.

"How about this: Originally, we intended to let you interface with our Tian Yu Ministry of National Defense intelligence and share map and intelligence information after completing the mission. Now, after I fought for it with my superiors, we have decided to add another benefit!"

"What benefit?!"

Li Xiao asked curiously; he wanted to know what good stuff Tian Yu could offer.

"We will dispatch a military industrial expert to your base to make technical improvements to the production processes of your military factories, so that the production efficiency of your military factories will be greatly improved."

"Improve production efficiency? You mean my military factories can further shorten the time for producing weapons and vehicles?" Li Xiao was a bit surprised; he hadn't expected such a maneuver.

"Yes, the military industrial expert is absolutely capable, and I guarantee you will be very satisfied. However, the military industrial expert will only stay at your place for half a year."

"In addition, after the mission is completed, we will immediately announce our responsibility for the officer assassination incident, and we will absolutely not lead any clues back to you."

Li Xiao was somewhat tempted. Sharing map intelligence meant that once he obtained Tian Yu's map data, he might unlock map information for the entire Tianyu Republic and even abroad.

Moreover, he might also obtain detailed information on the Black Hawk Empire and even other factions, such as player factions and mercenary factions.

It was just that he didn't know how much time the service provided by this so-called military industrial expert could save on vehicle production.

Besides, the six-month time limit aside, letting an outsider station themselves at his base was too high a risk.