129: Mysterious factory

At this moment, the armed helicopter's onboard weapons were reduced to only two anti-tank missiles and the autocannon, so Ling Chao decisively adjusted the autocannon's direction and began strafing the Lan Bo Mercenary Group on the highway.

Even infantry fighting vehicles couldn't withstand many rounds from the autocannon's rate of fire and power, let alone the modified pickup trucks of the fleeing Lan Bo mercenaries.

Eventually, when the armed helicopter's autocannon and missiles were completely exhausted, the Lan Bo Mercenary Group had fewer than ten thousand men and just over twenty battered infantry fighting vehicles left to flee the battlefield.

Li Xiao breathed a sigh of relief at this; if Emons had fought to the death, Di Yun's 1st Armored Company definitely wouldn't have survived.

Seeing Lan Bo retreat, Wang Si finally led his troops over. Li Xiao scolded him irritably, "Damn it! Old Wang, I was saving your life, and you were just watching from the back?"

"This really isn't my fault. We agreed beforehand that if you couldn't hold them off and retreated, we would ambush them from the woods."

Wang Si said with a look of grievance.

"Good thing I'm tough enough, otherwise, I would have lost more than half my troops here today."

Wang Si nodded repeatedly and said sincerely, "Regardless, you are my great benefactor, Wang Si! From now on, the Dark Soul Mercenary Group will absolutely obey your orders!"

"Forget it. If you blow up the wife and children of another super mercenary group leader again, I won't be able to protect you even if I'm torn into eight pieces."

"How could that happen..." Wang Si said awkwardly.

Li Xiao didn't waste any more words and ordered Di Yun and Yang Chao to immediately clear the battlefield. You know, he hadn't noticed before, but clearing the battlefield was actually a lucrative job.

These mercenaries were all quite wealthy; not counting the ammunition and weapons, they had managed to scrape together over a hundred thousand Star Coins.

The armed helicopter's final airstrike wiped out the enemy's tank unit and also took out over a dozen infantry fighting vehicles and several pickup trucks, earning Li Xiao nearly five million Durability points.

Returning to Wang Si's base camp, Li Xiao asked anxiously, "Old Wang, now you should tell me that secret of yours, right?"

Wang Si raised his glass to Li Xiao and said, "Don't be impatient, Brother Li Xiao. Let me toast you first to thank you for your all-out rescue of the Dark Soul Mercenary Group."

"Uh, alright!"

Li Xiao was anxious, but he could only patiently raise his glass and take a sip.

This battle against Lan Bo made him realize that relying solely on being "tanky" wasn't a long-term solution. In the early stages, when he lacked heavy firepower, he was indeed like a fish in water, winning every battle.

But as his team grew larger, the enemies Li Xiao faced became increasingly powerful—the Lan Bo Mercenary Group right now, and the Black Hawk Group Army of Weixing City in the future.

Even if each of Li Xiao's infantry fighting vehicles could reach over ten million Durability points, they wouldn't be able to withstand a single round of concentrated fire from them.

Therefore, he absolutely could not rely entirely on the abilities granted by the Life Pool; he also had to expand the quantity of his equipment and acquire more powerful, high-end weapons.

In fact, Li Xiao had always wanted to foster a mercenary force like Wang Si's, but if he gave Wang Si too much equipment and boosted his Durability too much, he might not be able to control the Dark Soul Mercenary Group later.

People's hearts are unpredictable. Even if Wang Si was currently patting his chest and calling Li Xiao his savior, the fact that he had delayed supporting him during the previous battle was a hidden danger.

After downing a glass of wine, Wang Si said happily, "Brother Li Xiao, the secret I want to tell you is definitely enough to get a global wanted notice from the Black Hawk Empire."

"Oh?" Hearing this, Li Xiao became even more interested.

"Actually, the reason the Black Hawk Empire was able to conquer major global cities within a few short months, besides the large number of soldiers they had cultivated for years, was their formidable equipment manufacturing capability!"

"Indeed, the equipment level of the Black Hawk Unit is truly advanced. Compared to Tian Yu, it's a contrast like a bank owner versus a beggar."

One only needs to look at the 129th Group Army in Weixing City to know the richness of the Black Hawk Unit's equipment.

"And the reason they can possess such powerful equipment strength, besides having supplies from one of the world's top weapons companies, is that they have mastered a rapid and efficient modular production technology.

This technology not only saves resources and has extremely high production efficiency, but the design-to-production cycle for weapons and equipment is also super short!

Stark Company once wanted to pay with a forty percent stake to introduce this technology to the Black Hawk Empire, but they were refused."

High-efficiency equipment production is naturally something everyone craves, but what's the point of Wang Si saying all this?

"Saying all that, the Black Hawk Empire must be guarding this technology strictly and resolutely preventing it from leaking. What use is it to me?"

Wang Si smiled mysteriously and lowered his voice, "Half a year ago, I accepted a mysterious attack mission. The mission content was to destroy multiple vehicles transporting unidentified personnel at a certain time and place.

At the time, I wasn't aware of the truth, so I acted according to the employer's request. The operation went very smoothly, and all two hundred people were killed.

But when the employer asked me to confirm that all personnel were dead, I encountered a half-dead survivor. Guess what this person told me?"

"What?" Li Xiao asked, playing along quite well.

"He told me that he was actually a worker who participated in building this mysterious underground military factory for the Black Hawk Empire. To keep it secret, the Black Hawk Empire used us mercenaries to silence them.

That was when I realized the Black Hawk Empire had these unknown secrets. After I got the address of that military factory, I executed that person."

Wang Si finished his drink in one gulp and sighed, "I earned 800,000 Star Coins from that deal, and that's the only reason I've managed to operate the Dark Soul Mercenary Group to this extent today.

However, at that time I didn't know the Black Hawk military was behind the employer. It wasn't until later, when I discovered the Black Hawk military had been conducting comprehensive surveillance on me for two full months, that I realized I might have grasped an astonishing secret."

"Where is that place?" Li Xiao's eyes lit up. If he could master this technology, he would be able to convert Durability points at will, without worrying about running out of vehicles.

"Here."

Wang Si took out a USB drive and said very seriously, "I suggest you'd better be fully prepared. That place isn't just simply heavily guarded; the garrison inside consists of the Black Hawk Empire's top-tier ace special forces."

"Is that so? I, for one, want to see just how formidable this underground military factory is!"

Li Xiao looked at the USB drive in his hand, already making plans in his mind.

That night, Li Xiao returned to the base, inserted the USB drive into his laptop, and quickly obtained a set of coordinates.

Entering these coordinates into the electronic sand table, a remote canyon located within the Wu Province in the south appeared before Li Xiao's eyes.

Judging solely from the satellite images, Li Xiao couldn't see any signs of human activity, nor were there any roads leading into it.

"The Black Hawk Empire's anti-satellite reconnaissance technology is really strong!"