6: Seeking justice on the road

Ye Ming pulled back the flap of another tent and immediately exclaimed happily, "Commander, we're in luck! There are nearly fifty sets of individual rations and twenty units of fuel here!"

Li Xiao walked over and saw five boxes labeled 'food' and two full barrels of fuel inside the tent. He swept his hand over them, and all these spoils of war entered his one-hundred-slot system backpack.

His system's built-in backpack allowed infinite storage of the same item in each slot, which was incredibly convenient.

"This is great. Now we won't have to worry about food for at least a few days."

Besides food and fuel, the rifles left by the three Imperial Soldiers, two hundred rifle rounds, and the MK48 heavy machine gun also became Li Xiao's possessions.

"Let's go. We need to leave here as soon as possible, otherwise, if someone comes later, it will be hard for us to get away."

Although it took most of the day to get twenty units of fuel, Li Xiao was still very satisfied. They continued searching north according to their original plan, needing to find at least one resource area before they could stop.

While on the move, Li Xiao also checked the national channel. Currently, almost all players were scrambling to collect resources, and combat situations were common.

However, what puzzled him was that almost no one mentioned the setting of the Life Pool. Logically, such an important matter couldn't go undiscussed.

Not believing it, he repeatedly logged into multiple random chat channels, yet still found no relevant information.

"This is a bit strange..."

Li Xiao scratched his head and then opened the trading system. Since the international trading section hadn't been activated, all trades were currently internal among players of the same country.

Despite only half a day having passed, the trading center already had a wide variety of resources listed, with weapons being the most common. However, no core building resources were anywhere to be seen.

Thinking about it, this was normal. In the early stages, winning fights would certainly result in surplus firearms, while ammunition would definitely be scarce. As for food, following the tradition of their prosperous Dragon people who prioritize food, everyone would surely be digging deep and stockpiling extensively.

Li Xiao also put up the MK48 heavy machine gun, along with two hundred 12.6mm rounds.

"What should I exchange it for? Hmm... I'll just exchange it for twenty units of rare ore."

He figured it was a heavy machine gun after all, so twenty units of rare ore shouldn't be too much to ask.

The three walked and stopped for about ten kilometers before a cluster of buildings finally appeared before them. By now, the sun was already setting in the west.

The cluster of buildings looked like a small town. A road passed through the town and continued north. From the outside, most of the buildings in the town appeared to have been shelled, presenting a scene of ruined walls and debris.

Along the road, many destroyed vehicles could be seen, including ordinary family cars and military trucks. He even saw an armored vehicle completely blown into scrap metal.

"Look! Those are steel resources. We can temporarily collect resources here," Ye Ming reminded.

"Okay, we'll do it here, but we need to first confirm if the town is safe."

Fearing the presence of Black Hawk Empire troops in the town, Li Xiao did not enter rashly. He first allocated the five hundred health points gained from killing the bridgehead defenders to Di Yun and Ye Ming.

At this point, Di Yun's health had reached one thousand four hundred points. Ye Ming, who initially had three hundred points, now had an additional one hundred from before and two hundred from this round, bringing his total health to six hundred points.

After an hour of observation, Li Xiao finally decided to enter the town as darkness approached.

The town's entrance sign indicated its name was Wu Feng Town. Although it didn't look large from the outside, the buildings inside were very dense.

At this time, the town streets were silent, clearly a deserted place. However, it was evident that before the war, this should have been a township with a population of at least four to five thousand people.

"Ye Ming, collect resources nearby. We'll guard your surroundings!"

"Yes, Commander!"

Ye Ming saluted, picked up his portable cutter, and began dismantling the scrapped vehicles.

Li Xiao calculated the time; collecting enough resources to upgrade the base would be a task for tomorrow. They would have to rest here tonight.

After taking out three field rations from his backpack and distributing them to Di Yun and the other, Li Xiao eagerly began to eat.

After a day of exertion, Li Xiao's stamina was almost depleted.

Without the means to make a fire, the canned beef could only be eaten directly. However, the chocolate energy bar and soda crackers inside tasted genuinely good, and there was also a sealed bag of cool boiled water after finishing.

As night fell, Ye Ming's cutting machine sparked intensely against the steel plates, adding an unusual light to the otherwise desolate town.

Just as Li Xiao was getting drowsy from waiting, a muffled thud suddenly came from the north of the town, followed by a burst of gunfire.

"It's a fragmentation grenade! There are players!"

Having heard the explosion of an offensive-defensive grenade at noon, he immediately knew that players must have been ambushed this time.

Li Xiao called Di Yun and Ye Ming to follow him to check the situation, hoping to take advantage of any opportunities.

The gunfire wasn't far; after running two or three hundred meters, they saw gunfire erupting ahead. Several rifles on the street were fiercely firing at a window of a two-story building.

As they got closer, they realized that this was an entire squad of Black Hawk Empire Soldiers, numbering a full squad, and they were also equipped with a squad machine gun.

"This should be a patrol of the Black Hawk Empire, using AK112 assault rifles. Not only are they equipped with a squad machine gun, but they might also have an M3E recoilless rocket launcher!"

"What?! A rocket launcher too?!"

Li Xiao was shocked. A patrol squad equipped with a rocket launcher? What would they even fight later on?

No sooner had he spoken than a 'whoosh' sound was heard, and a flash of fire instantly illuminated the street. Following that, a violent explosion occurred inside the small building, shattering window glass fragments all over the street.

The two guns that had been firing from the second floor immediately fell silent, leaving only a pistol on the first floor struggling to hold on.

The sound of the Type 05 pistol was pathetically lonely.

"Should we fight or not?"

His current output seemed insufficient, and his health was low, but it would be a shame to miss the opportunity to ambush and pick up spoils.

While Li Xiao was still hesitating, another explosion occurred. A fragmentation grenade detonated on the street; it seemed this was the last struggle of the player inside the building.

The grenade was well-placed, directly taking down two Imperial Soldiers, with two others severely wounded.

Seeing that the enemy's strength was effectively halved, Li Xiao immediately ordered Di Yun and Ye Ming, who were already prepared, to open fire.

Suddenly, third-party firepower erupted from the darkness. The two Imperial Soldiers severely wounded by the grenade were quickly eliminated by Di Yun. The remaining four Imperial Soldiers, realizing they were caught in a pincer attack, decisively retreated to the side of the street.

Di Yun and Ye Ming pressed forward to the front of the small building, and Li Xiao slipped inside. Just as he was about to call out, a cold shout suddenly came from the darkness.

"Don't move!"