No Matter What, God Would Not Roll Dice

After ruling out main battle tanks, Ruan Wenbo turned his attention to towed artillery.

These weapons were indeed cheap, and their firepower was enough to intimidate those poorly organized Cultists. But their flaws were equally fatal: they were far too cumbersome to operate. Not only did they require dedicated gun crews, but deploying them and relocating positions also took an enormous amount of time. This mission was a long-range raid, where speed was paramount. Towed artillery clearly could not provide rapid breakthrough capability, and in certain complex terrain, it might even seriously slow down the entire company's advance. Obviously, it was not a good choice.

After weighing everything up, armored vehicles were the only option left.

First, they were reasonably priced. Buying one or two would not exhaust the merit points in his hands, leaving him with a considerable amount to purchase ammunition and deal with unexpected situations.

Second, they were fast enough. Armored vehicles possessed decent mobility and a certain degree of off-road capability. They could easily keep up with the Players' pace, without the awkward situation of the Players having to drag them along, much less the absurd possibility of needing to dismantle and carry them in extreme circumstances.

Finally, and most importantly, it was preparation for the future. Although all the Players' combined merit points were still not enough to put together more than a few decent tank squads, the [Death Seekers] Company would eventually have to develop into a mechanized force. There would likely be aircraft for air-ground coordination as well—otherwise, what would they use to fight those war-crazed, overwhelming Orks?

Therefore, letting the Players get used to how armored fighting vehicles should be used on the battlefield, and how they should coordinate with infantry, was also a good thing. The [Death Seekers] Company could not remain this shabby forever.

Thus, Ruan Wenbo swept his gaze over the dazzling array of Chimera armored vehicle variants in the System Store. After carefully comparing them, he finally settled on a model priced at only two thousand merit points.

With a thought, he confirmed the purchase.

[Name: Chimera "Wyvern" Suppressor]

[Type: Vehicle]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Attack Power: Strong]

[Special Effect: None]

[Remarks: The Wyvern is a successful anti-infantry modification based on the Chimera chassis. Its quad-linked storm mortar can often shatter an enemy company-level infantry position with a single salvo. Due to the firing angle required by its mortars, this vehicle usually fires from behind the battle line or cover and rarely faces danger directly.]

Looking at the description on the panel, Ruan Wenbo felt that something was off. Subconsciously, he drew the Chainsword [Xenos Must Die] from his waist. Ever since the Players realized that their Company Commander was the guardian of their merit points and missions, they had firmly restricted him to the rear and forbidden him from taking part in any risky close combat. Naturally, this vicious weapon had not tasted heretic blood in a long time.

He carefully checked the Chainsword's description and confirmed that its attack power was also listed as [Strong]. This puzzled Ruan Wenbo. A personal melee weapon and a self-propelled quad mortar were obviously not on the same level in terms of destructive power, so why had the system given both the same rating of "Strong"?

After thinking about it for a while and still failing to understand, he simply stopped thinking about it and directly redeemed the Wyvern Suppressor.

With a soft boom, an armored vehicle painted in standard camouflage appeared out of thin air in the open space beside the marching column, immediately drawing every Player's attention. It had the Chimera's classic boxy hull and tracked structure, but its rear troop compartment had been removed and replaced with an open combat platform mounting a menacing quad mortar.

Ruan Wenbo had long decided how to assign this one and only self-propelled armored mortar. He cleared his throat and shouted at the Players crowding around him, "[Assimilation Complete]! Lend me your dice! Each squad rolls in turn, and the highest number gets to drive first!"

After saying that, he deliberately looked toward Seventh Squad and added, "Does Seventh Squad want to roll?"

Sure enough, the Players of Seventh Squad, including their Squad Leader Big Eagle Cop, all shook their heads in perfect unison. They were all fanatical melee enthusiasts. They had no desire to sit comfortably inside an iron coffin and lurk in the rear like shady bastards.

A Player with the ID [Assimilation Complete] immediately squeezed excitedly out of the crowd and held a seemingly ordinary twenty-eight-sided die high in the air. "Here it is, Company Commander! Use it as you please!"

Many of the Players present had already seen this die's information panel.

[Name: God's Dice]

[Type: Tool]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Attack Power: None]

[Attributes: None]

[Special Effect: After being rolled, a number between 1 and 42 will be randomly selected. The higher the number, the better the roller's fate will be for the next 42 minutes.]

[Remarks: Quantum phenomena are random, but quantum theory is not. No matter what, God would not roll dice... right?]

This was the prize [Assimilation Complete] had received during the previous lottery event. At first, when he saw that dazzling golden glow, he had been ecstatic and eagerly bragged to everyone around him that he had pulled a legendary item. But once the information panel was posted, no one could hold it together.

[Assimilation Complete] still refused to give up. He always felt that if he happened to roll a top-tier 42 on the battlefield, wouldn't every laser shot and fragment conveniently curve around him, while he landed headshots with every bullet and casually tossed grenades straight into the enemy's ammunition depot?

But in the dozen or so tests that followed, he never rolled a number higher than 12 even once...

In the end, he could only sorrowfully accept his fate and use this legendary item as an ordinary die, doing his part for a tabletop campaign organized by another Player who had drawn a 5E rulebook.

The Players participating in the campaign did not care in the slightest. Even if they rolled a "1," most of them were completely indifferent. At worst, bad luck in the game meant death! To them, that was nothing.

"Roll for it! Roll for it!"

"Fair and just, all up to luck!"

Upon hearing the Company Commander's decision, the Players not only had no objections, but began egging each other on excitedly. This game-like method of allocation did far more to stir their enthusiasm than simply having the Company Commander assign it directly.

For a time, aside from Seventh Squad, which had already clearly stated its withdrawal, all the other squads quickly gathered into circles and began choosing their own "chosen one." Some squads truly had a recognized Lucky King whose luck was usually better than everyone else's, and he was immediately nominated by the group. As for those squads with more evenly distributed luck, they resorted to humanity's oldest and fairest decision-making method—rock-paper-scissors.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

"Hahaha, you lost! My turn!"

For a while, the open ground beside the marching column was bustling with excitement and full of cheerful energy. Before long, every squad had sent out its representative. They lined up, ready to undergo the sacred roll-off ceremony under [Assimilation Complete]'s supervision.

"First Squad's representative, come on, roll it!" [Assimilation Complete] handed over the legendary die.

First Squad's representative took a deep breath and solemnly tossed the die. It rolled across the ground several times before finally stopping, revealing the number facing upward: "5."

"Second Squad, 8!"

"Fourth Squad, 3!"

"Sixth Squad, 6!"

The entire process went very smoothly. Third Squad's representative took first place with a high score of "9"—high for this roll-off—and successfully won the first right to use the Wyvern Suppressor. The Players of Third Squad immediately burst into cheers and rushed excitedly toward the armored vehicle, touching here and knocking there like children who had just received a new toy.

But as Ruan Wenbo watched from the side, he noticed something interesting.

Although this pair of [God's Dice] had rolled only numbers below ten and behaved rather "modestly," it had politely avoided rolling a single duplicate. From First Squad to the final squad, every number had been different.

Ruan Wenbo could not help falling into thought. Did these dice, like his [Xenos Must Die], possess something similar to a Machine Spirit? They seemed to be maintaining a subtle balance in their own way.

However, he soon had no time to think about such mystical matters.

Crackle—

A burst of static suddenly came through his walkie-talkie. Then, the somewhat urgent voice of a Player responsible for scouting ahead rang out.

"Calling the company! Calling the company! Enemy spotted ahead!"