26: No. 26 airborne

“Brother Dongliu, I’m planning to set up a combat team, and I’m short one person right now. I was wondering if you’d be interested in joining…”

“No interest!”

Li Xiao hadn’t even finished speaking when Yun Dongliu flatly refused, with almost no hesitation in his tone.

Li Xiao sighed, frustrated. He had finally met someone he quite liked, but he was so difficult to approach.

After leaving the Xi City Bank building, Li Xiao quickly found a new resource point—a rare ore resource point worth three hundred points. He swiftly arranged defenses, and Ye Ming pulled out a cutting machine to start working.

As the sun rose high, Li Xiao unknowingly fell asleep. When he woke up, he saw Liu Nian’s message, saying he needed to return to the base to handle some matters but had left two Engineers behind and would return in the evening.

Last night’s battle lasted half the night, and the Black Hawk Empire still seemed unable to break into the urban area in the end. Tianyu’s defense was perfectly executed; even with triple the forces and air raids, they couldn't breach the front line.

This also allowed Li Xiao to safely collect resources… As evening arrived, Li Xiao chewed on compressed dry rations while checking today’s earnings. The more than four hundred points of resources from Wu Feng Town and Banshan Steel Factory had already been brought back to base by Jiang Lang and another Engineer.

Meanwhile, Zhao Feipeng still hadn't found Luo Feng’s base, though he did spot two other bases during his search, which he marked one by one.

The search area had now expanded further, so news should come soon.

“Alas, today was another day of dismal earnings…”

Di Yun looked at the worried Li Xiao and said seriously, “Boss, you actually have the strength to take over Xi City Bank.”

“Perhaps…”

Li Xiao chuckled wryly. If this were a game, he definitely wouldn't give up, but now that they were in another world, it was all about human relations. Making too many enemies and being cold-blooded could easily lead to being ambushed.

Just as he was speaking, Yan Yizhou, who had been on alert outside, ran back. He pointed upwards and said to Li Xiao, “Boss! There’s movement in the sky!”

Hearing him, Li Xiao immediately signaled everyone to be quiet. Sure enough, a faint, rumbling sound like distant thunder could be heard in the sky, growing louder and louder.

“This is…”

“It’s planes!”

Everyone ran to the window of their hiding building and looked up. Under the illumination of the large moon, several large aircraft were passing low and slow over Xi City.

“Such large planes, are they bombers or transport planes?”

Li Xiao was a bit puzzled. If they were bombers, the altitude felt too low. If they were transport planes, there was no need for them to pass over Xi City.

Although Tian Yu Forces’ anti-air defenses might have been destroyed, what if there was still a man-portable anti-aircraft missile?

While everyone was guessing, someone suddenly shouted again, “Look! Parachutes!”

Upon hearing the word “parachutes,” Li Xiao's whole body trembled. Holy crap! Paratroopers!

As the first parachute opened, the sky bloomed like flowers, filled with paratroopers. Through the moonlight, they could even clearly see the clusters of white parachutes.

“This is bad! It’s the Black Hawk Empire’s paratrooper unit! Tian Yu Forces definitely won’t be able to defend this time. We need to withdraw quickly!”

Li Xiao immediately realized the gravity of the situation and quickly ordered everyone to pack up and head straight for the school.

As he exited the building, Li Xiao saw countless barrages of bullets flying from the ground towards the Imperial paratroopers in the sky—those were Tian Yu Forces’ anti-aircraft machine guns.

If the Tianyu Republic could previously rely on terrain to resist the Black Hawk Empire’s forces, now with paratroopers entering the city, caught in a pincer attack, Tianyu Republic’s forces essentially had no choice but to retreat.

A total of eight large transport planes deployed at least a thousand paratroopers at once; Tianyu’s forces simply couldn’t defend against them.

The paratroopers were even descending so fast that Li Xiao and his group ran a few hundred meters and already saw paratroopers who had just landed and were unfastening their parachutes.

“Take him out!”

Li Xiao unhesitatingly had Di Yun take down the enemy with a burst of fire.

But there were too many soldiers landing. They fought continuously along the way, constantly engaging the enemy.

In just a short kilometer, they had already eliminated over a dozen Imperial Soldiers.

However, when they rushed near the school, they saw an entire company of Tian Yu Forces blocking both main streets leading to the school.

These Tianyu Soldiers, clad in starry camouflage with incomplete gear, had firmly and calmly constructed a defensive line using a large number of abandoned vehicles.

“What should we do, Boss?!”

Di Yun looked at the defensive line before them. Even with his 7,100 health, or even 100,000 to 80,000 health, it would only last a few seconds.

Li Xiao pondered for a moment, then walked to the corner and shouted loudly, “Brothers of the Tianyu Republic opposite! We are local armed forces! We have already killed over a dozen Black Hawk Empire paratroopers! They are gathering now, so please let us pass!”

After shouting, Li Xiao pricked up his ears. After a while, a reply came from the other side: “This area is sealed off. Please find nearby civilian houses to take shelter!”

“Find civilian houses? Damn it, I’m not a civilian!” Li Xiao was incredibly frustrated. He refused to give up and shouted again, “If you let us pass, I can defend with you!”

This time, Li Xiao didn't get a shout back, but a burst of heavy machine gun bullets that rattled against the wall, leaving his mouth full of dust.

“Damn it!”

Li Xiao had no choice but to lead his unit into a twelve-story hotel building near the main street.

“Zhang Shuang and the two of you hold the hotel entrance! Don’t let a single Black Hawk Unit soldier in!”

“Yes!”

Upon entering the hotel, Li Xiao quickly assigned defensive tasks. Zhang Shuang and two infantrymen were responsible for establishing crossfire using the hotel lobby’s counter, fountain, and lounge area to prevent enemy intrusion.

Then Li Xiao said to Yan Yizhou, “Yizhou, go straight to the top floor. Prioritize sniping heavy firepower targets that intrude the hotel!”

“Understood!”

“Di Yun, you take this new recruit and hold the emergency staircase, covering Zhang Shuang and the others!”

“Yes!”

This time, he only brought eight people, while there were thousands of enemies in the city, and three full regiments outside. Although they weren’t targeting him, when the city gates catch fire, the fish in the pond suffer, and his pressure was immense.

“Ye Ming, and you, follow me to the fifth floor to observe the enemy situation!”

Li Xiao pointed at the communications soldier, signaling for the two of them to follow him.

As soon as they reached the window on the fifth floor, Li Xiao saw a vast, dark mass of shadows from the south rushing towards the school. As they rounded the street corner, Tian Yu Forces opened fire.

More than three heavy machine guns of a type Li Xiao couldn’t identify, along with over a dozen squad automatic weapons, simultaneously erupted, firing thousands of rounds that instantly mowed down a large number of enemies.

At the same time, the small-caliber mortar positions behind them also opened fire. The continuous thudding sounds, followed by whistling, landed one after another on the pre-marked impact points.

In just this one minute of combat, nearly two platoons of Black Hawk Empire soldiers lay dead on the street, caught off guard.