16: Team Tianchao

The enemies, of course, also knew Li Xiao's intentions and fired frantically into the smoke.

Unfortunately, although the bullets were quite dense, Zhao Feipeng, a scout, was clearly very experienced. He lay on the ground, dodging a large number of bullets, then reached into his back waist and pulled out an inherited flashbang, throwing it towards the heavy machine gun nest.

Bang!

With a muffled thud, it was as if a bolt of lightning flashed through the night. The heavy machine gun nest immediately fell silent, and then Zhao Feipeng threw his last grenade.

Boom!

In the explosion, only the gunshots of the patrol team remained.

Seeing this, Li Xiao immediately ordered everyone to charge. Di Yun rushed out first, and although he only had about four thousand health left, it was already enough.

Even before Di Yun, Zhao Feipeng rushed out. He immediately saw the Imperial Soldiers, who had just been knocked down by the flashbang and grenade, trying to lift the heavy machine gun to continue firing.

"Courting death!"

Zhao Feipeng reacted quickly, raising his gun and firing a burst, instantly killing the machine gunner.

However, he was then subjected to continuous fire from the sniper in the high tower, taking one shot to the chest and one to the head. Fortunately, he had not been injured before, and these two shots only dealt him three hundred points of damage.

Subsequently, Di Yun and the others, along with Liu Nian's troops, also emerged from the smoke. In a direct shootout with the five-man patrol team, they had an advantage in numbers and health, completely wiping out the opponents in twenty to thirty seconds.

With the battle having progressed this far, most of the defenders had been eliminated, and Li Xiao's mood eased considerably.

But just as he was about to have Zhang Shuang operate the heavy machine gun to give the high tower sniper a baptism of bullets, a grenade suddenly exploded among their group.

The grenade landed right at the feet of one of Liu Nian's soldiers. With a boom, that soldier was blown backward to the ground, and even Zhang Shuang, who had just walked out, was instantly reduced to a sliver of health.

"Player ambush!"

After being attacked, Liu Nian immediately led his troops to find new cover and shouted a warning to Li Xiao.

Seeing this situation, Li Xiao decisively added the eleven hundred health points he had just acquired from kills, plus the remaining one thousand health points, all to Zhang Shuang, directly boosting the machine gunner's health by two thousand points.

"Zhang Shuang, control the heavy machine gun! Don't let anyone break through!"

"Yes!"

"The one who attacked us is a guy named Luo Feng!"

Liu Nian looked at the kill notification that was about to disappear from his vision. At this moment, he was seething with anger.

They had already lost one person, and now another was ambushed and taken out. It was truly frustrating.

Li Xiao remained silent. They had just taken the East Gate; there was no one left to the north or south. The remaining Imperial forces were only on the west side and the two in the high tower.

Therefore, the attacking player must have been lurking outside the East Gate wall. At this point, they were effectively sandwiched between two sides.

"It's a shame we're out of grenades, otherwise we could force them out from outside the gate! Zhang Shuang, don't worry about the gate for now, take down that sniper for me first!"

"Understood!"

Zhang Shuang swung his gun and unleashed a barrage of fire towards the high tower platform.

That high platform seemed to be a later addition, made of thinner steel plates and wooden frames. Ordinary rifles might not be very effective, but the heavy machine gun's large-caliber rounds could penetrate those protective steel plates in minutes.

Thus, in less than half a minute, the high tower platform's protective plates became a hornet's nest. The sniper had almost nowhere to hide and could only huddle on the ground, covering his head.

Having lost the high-point firing position, the Imperial forces on the west side dared not attack further and retreated directly into the steel mill building.

With the pressure from one side reduced, Li Xiao turned around and shouted loudly towards outside the gate: "Hey guys out there, if you've got the guts, come out and show yourselves!"

No sooner had he spoken than everyone heard a roar of engines at the gate, followed by several lights illuminating the entrance. Three off-road vehicles and a minivan stopped outside in succession.

Soon, twenty to thirty people rustled out of these vehicles. They each used the vehicles as cover, all raising their guns and aiming at Zhang Shuang's heavy machine gun position.

Then, a young man with a buzz cut and dragon and tiger tattoos on both arms emerged, with a ponytail girl in his arm.

Behind these two were two more people. All of them were dressed in hip-hop style, exuding the aura of rebellious youths.

The buzz-cut man had a cigarette in his mouth and his other arm around the ponytail girl.

After a moment, this person said in a sarcastic tone: "Little friends inside, listen to your uncle and leave obediently, otherwise don't blame our Tian Chao Squad for bullying little kids."

Tian Chao Squad?

Li Xiao and Liu Nian exchanged glances, both looking uneasy.

Squads were the initial organizations for players. A Level 3 base could form one for five hundred star coins. Li Xiao had been busy fighting after reaching Level 3 and hadn't paid much attention to base information.

"To form a squad, you must gather at least three people, and the founder's base level must reach Level 3, plus five hundred star coins... It seems the opponent's strength is not weak!" Liu Nian muttered with a frown.

Li Xiao said in a deep voice: "It seems the opponent was organized from the start, otherwise it would be difficult to get five hundred star coins in a short time, and also these vehicles. However, they clearly also have casualties. If counted correctly, they should have thirty-two men, but now there are only twenty-three."

"It's also possible they left some to guard the base, but that's not the main point. What should we do now?"

The two had managed to take down this steel plant at the cost of three casualties, and now this Tian Chao Squad appeared out of nowhere to interfere, which was truly more unbearable than eating fly excrement.

"They have ample ammunition and good physical condition, while our ammunition is largely depleted, we lack throwing items, and our troops' stamina is insufficient. A direct fight definitely won't work!"

"You mean retreat?" Liu Nian said unwillingly: "We worked so hard to take it down. Giving it to them like this, I can't stand it! Besides, once we retreat, it will be our disadvantage to try and take it down again later. That heavy machine gun, though fixed and with not much ammo left, is still enough to give us a hard time!"

Li Xiao patted Liu Nian's shoulder and said: "As the saying goes, if you keep the green hills, you'll never be short of firewood. Since they can ambush us, why can't we? As for the heavy machine gun, it's simple: just blow it up with a C4!"

Although blowing up the heavy machine gun would mean they wouldn't have heavy weapons for defense later, it was a necessary measure.

"Besides, there are still eight or nine Imperial troops hidden inside. Let them deal with those, and then we'll launch a counterattack..." Li Xiao said with a sinister smile.

Liu Nian thought about it carefully; it seemed like a good idea.

"Alright, I'll listen to you for now."

After deciding to retreat, Li Xiao had Ye Ming give a C4 to Zhang Shuang to install under the heavy machine gun, and then everyone exited the steel plant through the breach in the wall the way they came.