23: Night crossing the river city

Xi City is actually a small county town in the southwest of Yun City Prefecture, with a pre-war population of about 70,000. Currently, there are still over a thousand Tianyu Republic Forces and militia organizations resisting the Black Hawk Empire's occupation within the city!

Speaking of the Tianyu militia organizations, it seems I accidentally killed four of them yesterday.

Good heavens, you dared to attack a neutral force? Aren't you afraid of being besieged on all sides?

I said it was an accident.

In the forest area along the national highway, Li Xiao and Liu Nian each led a squad of soldiers towards Xi City. Along the way, Li Xiao received a lot of information about Xi City from Liu Nian.

Liu Nian would often enter the national chat channel to gather intelligence. In the past week, he had gained a relatively clear understanding of the country they were in, the Tianyu Republic.

Firstly, almost all of the people who crossed over from their Dragon Country were concentrated in the Tianyu Republic. And this Tianyu Republic, before the war, ranked second in overall national strength on Hanhai Star.

Moreover, the civilization of the Tianyu Republic was similar to that of the Dragon Country, which was reflected in the regional divisions.

They also adopted a system of provinces, prefectures, and counties. For example, Yun City Prefecture, where they were located, was a large prefecture in the southwest of the Tianyu Republic. The difference was that the administrative levels of prefectures and provinces were the same.

However, the specific deployment of towns around them was unclear. Because players were very cautious now and did not dare to leave their bases too far, there was still a lack of sufficient trust for local players to contact each other.

Even Liu Nian actually only knew about the existence of Xi City, and whether there was a larger city to the north still needed to be explored.

After dinner, let's enter the city.

Estimating they were still about three kilometers from Xi City, Li Xiao suggested they rest first. After all, entering the city later would be fraught with danger, and it was best to ensure they had enough physical strength.

Everyone stayed in the woods, eating cold canned beef and chewing salty and spicy jerky, while listening to the intense artillery fire from the city walls. The environment was as realistic as could be.

Li Xiao took a sip of juice mixed with drinking water and said to Liu Nian, "Later, we will find a breach to enter the city. Our primary goal is to collect resources and supplies, and try to avoid combat."

Of course, in order to collect resources, I specifically brought two Engineers, one of whom is even a Private First Class.

Li Xiao nodded. He had only brought Ye Ming, a Corporal, whose collection speed was twenty-five points per hour, fifteen points faster than a Private First Class, exceeding the efficiency of Liu Nian's two Engineers.

There were abandoned vehicles everywhere in the city, and any building would certainly contain many rare mineral additives. As long as players weren't clustered together inside, there was no need to worry about reserves.

But getting in was not that easy. Basically, all entry points connecting to the highway and national road, as well as locations accessible by car and on foot from all four directions, were experiencing firefights.

Li Xiao and Liu Nian led their troops on a large detour and found that at least two to three regiments of Black Hawk Empire ground forces were attacking Xi City.

Moreover, warplanes conducted airstrikes on key areas at regular intervals, but due to the dense building area of Xi City, the Empire's armored forces seemed insufficient in number, and ground advancement was very slow.

This resulted in Xi City still being in the hands of the Tian Yu Forces from the time Li Xiao and his men were born until now.

However, the heavy artillery forces deployed by the Black Hawk Empire on the outskirts had already blown the highway toll station north of Xi City to smithereens, and a unit of Black Hawk Empire armored vehicles was assembling and waiting.

Lao Xiao, it's not easy to get in, is it?

Li Xiao and Liu Nian were huddled in a three-story civilian house in the northern suburbs outside the city, observing the battle on the city walls. Liu Nian checked the time; it was already eleven o'clock at night.

If they couldn't enter the urban area before dawn, their situation would be very dangerous after dawn. They had to remember that the surrounding area was full of Black Hawk Empire's main forces.

Let's wait and see. If it's really impossible, we'll detour to the south again to find a breakthrough point.

As Li Xiao's voice fell, a scout beside Liu Nian suddenly reported in a low voice, "Commander, a team of twelve just passed in the eleven o'clock direction. They went down the drainage ditch!"

Down the drainage ditch?

Li Xiao raised the binoculars he had seized from the Transit Yard and looked over. It was an agricultural irrigation ditch.

But it was built around the city. Although there was a river connected to the city walls, the banks were controlled by both the Black Hawk Empire and the Tian Yu Forces, so it was impossible to cross.

Who cares what the situation is, let's follow them and see. That route of action clearly belongs to players!

Seeing Li Xiao still hesitating, Liu Nian directly pulled him down from the civilian house.

Everyone followed suit, jumping into the half-meter-deep ditch and then trailing the mysterious team.

Though it was summer, the water in the ditch was refreshing. Although everyone was soaked, their spirits were unusually high.

Soon after, they had caught up to not far behind the other party, but Li Xiao and Liu Nian were surprised to see the figures of that small team disappear one after another.

Seeing this, the two immediately led their troops to follow. It was then that they discovered that there was a metal filter grate on one side of the ditch where the team had disappeared.

The grate had already been removed and thrown by the side of the ditch, and some of the ditch water also flowed through this grate opening into the dark space below.

The sound suggests it's only about two meters high. How do we do this?

How else can we do it? Go down!

After Li Xiao finished speaking, he patted Di Yun's shoulder. The latter squatted down without hesitation, held his breath, and then plunged into the water, sliding down through the opening.

His men followed suit, one by one. Li Xiao had learned to swim in junior high school and could hold his breath underwater for ten to twenty seconds, so going through this sewer was naturally no problem.

Within a few minutes, everyone successfully descended below the ditch. Di Yun turned on the tactical flashlight under his SCAR's muzzle. It was then that Li Xiao realized this was actually a city sewer.

The walls on both sides, including the top, were cast concrete. Under their feet was about ten centimeters of silt and an arm's depth of water.

Three meters wide, two meters high... Is this?

Yes, this should be the sewer leading to Xi City!

Li Xiao responded, "I didn't expect that fellow ahead to discover this passage. We came to the right place today!"

Li Xiao dared not delay, leading the team to wade forward. There might be water diversions ahead, so they had to keep close to the footsteps of the team in front.

After walking about two or three hundred meters, they heard intense gunfire and artillery from above, and from time to time, shells fell and exploded above their heads, shaking off mud and grime.

Everyone walked faster and faster. They could even faintly hear splashing sounds from ahead. Li Xiao told Di Yun to turn off his tactical flashlight, and they continued to walk, feeling their way along the walls.

Soon after, Liu Nian and Li Xiao heard splashing sounds from ahead. After turning another corner, a sewer junction appeared before them.

A ray of light shone down from above the junction, dimly revealing two sewer openings ahead.

Which way do we go?!

Li Xiao was about to speak when his vision suddenly blurred, and several beams of light shone in front of them.

Don't move!