"Before we discuss the battle plan, let me first go over some things I observed in this Virtual World. You all need to listen carefully. If I discover anything else later, I'll add it!" Wei Zitong swept his gaze across the four of them before speaking slowly.
Seeing the four nod, he continued, "Our bodies here are virtual, but our consciousness is real. Without the restraints of a real body, our emotions can fluctuate more easily, affecting our virtual bodies' reactions. Like Zhao Xin coughing up blood earlier, or Qiangwei storming off alone before, and Na... Little Na..."
"What happened to me?" Lena immediately became unhappy.
"Nothing, nothing..." Wei Zitong shook his head repeatedly, afraid of stirring Lena's emotions again.
"Hahahaha..." The other three snickered from the side. Even Zhao Xin, who had just suffered a devastating emotional blow, could not help laughing.
"Talk. Keep talking!" Lena ignored the other three. She looked like she was genuinely taking the battle seriously.
"Alright!" Wei Zitong nodded and pulled up the virtual map of Area Two. After checking the directions, he said, "The east is the front of the enemy's defensive position. We'll need Na... Little Na..."
"Pfft..." Zhao Xin could not hold back another laugh, only for Lena to smack the back of his head viciously.
Lena pretended to be furious, though inwardly she was delighted.
Wei Zitong continued as if he had seen nothing. "We'll need Little Na to draw most of the enemies' attention from the front. She can throw little balls at them from range..."
"Pfft... throw little balls? Zi Tong, why not just say shoot little waves..." Zhao Xin burst out laughing again.
This time, Lena did not hit him. Instead, Wei Zitong directly gave Zhao Xin a gag order. "You're not allowed to make a sound!"
Zhao Xin immediately felt as though his throat and mouth no longer belonged to him. He desperately tried to pry his mouth open with his hands.
"You need me to hold the enemy at the front, right? No problem!" Seeing that Wei Zitong was too angry to continue, Lena took over. "I roughly understand Zi Tong's plan now. I'll keep them occupied from the front while you sneak around behind them for a surprise attack. Is that it?"
"That's right!" Wei Zitong nodded. "Xin Ye and I will go together. A disabled warning system doesn't mean the enemy has no combat power. I need Zhao Xin to take out the sentries the instant the warning system goes down. No problem, Xin Ye?" As he spoke, he turned to Zhao Xin.
Zhao Xin nodded repeatedly, then pointed at his mouth.
"Keep it shut. You're not Zi Tong or Xiaolun—you don't need to attack by speaking. Staying quiet will make you harder to detect," Lena said casually.
Zhao Xin's face instantly fell.
"What about us? What about us?" Rui Mengmeng hurriedly cut in. She was most afraid of being useless to the team.
"Mengmeng and Old Yi will be responsible for protecting Little, ahem, Na's flanks and preventing enemies with strong close-combat abilities from ambushing her," Wei Zitong said.
"What do you mean by 'Little, ahem, Na'? And why did you use 'her' afterward instead?" Lena glared at Wei Zitong unhappily. "Is it really that hard to call me 'Little Na'?"
"Ahem, no, it's not, absolutely not! Absolutely not!" Wei Zitong quickly shook his head. Why is this woman so easy to anger today? Could it be that time of the month?
"Then call me that. Let me hear it." Lena stood up, looking fierce.
"Little... Na..." Wei Zitong practically called out with a tearful expression. It was just... too embarrassing...
"You sound completely lifeless! Say it smoothly!" Lena was extremely dissatisfied.
"Little Na!" Wei Zitong shouted through gritted teeth.
"Put some feeling into it. How did I teach you just now?" Lena was even more dissatisfied.
"Pfft!" Watching Lena train Wei Zitong, Zhao Xin finally could not hold it in any longer. His laughter broke through Wei Zitong's gag order. "Hahahaha! Hurry up and say it! Say 'Little Na'! Hahahaha!"
"Screw you! Shut the hell up!" Wei Zitong was finally consumed by inexplicable rage. Even clay figures had some temper, let alone a full-grown man like him. But he did not dare vent his anger at Lena, so Zhao Xin had to suffer instead. "You're not allowed to talk!"
Zhao Xin's face instantly twisted like a bitter melon.
Wuji Yi was holding back laughter, not daring to make a sound. Rui Mengmeng, meanwhile, was startled by Wei Zitong's fury. She had never seen him so irritable before.
Wei Zitong paced back and forth for several steps and took a few deep breaths before calming down. "Sorry, I got worked up..."
"Big Brother Zi Tong is scary when he gets angry..." Rui Mengmeng said timidly.
The plan was finalized amid an atmosphere of extreme awkwardness. Zhao Xin followed Wei Zitong in a wide circle around the rear of the enemy's defensive position. To avoid the patrol craft on the perimeter, the two of them moved very carefully.
"The Taotie are roughly at this level," Wei Zitong said as he crouched and moved forward.
"Taotie? What the hell is that?" Zhao Xin asked in a low voice. Wei Zitong had already lifted his gag order.
"They're the robotic warriors that attacked Airport Road in Juxia City," Wei Zitong explained. He had forgotten that Zhao Xin and the others had not been exposed to information on this subject yet and only knew some vague news reports.
"The aliens that want to invade us?" Zhao Xin continued.
"Right!" Wei Zitong nodded. "But the enemies here were created based on records from the Shenhe System. They have Dark Energy-driven technology, so they're clearly much stronger than the Taotie, who are only an Astronaut-Level Civilization."
"You mean if we can defeat these enemies, we can defeat the Taotie?" Zhao Xin asked.
"Not necessarily!" Wei Zitong shook his head. "The enemies here are dead. They only know how to defend blindly. If we had faced the Taotie earlier, they might have charged out and killed us before we gained a foothold. Besides, there are far more than a few hundred Taotie."
Zhao Xin nodded and did not ask any more questions.
"Let me take a look." Wei Zitong opened the virtual map. "This position actually has a name. It's called the Strongest Defense Position. It was modeled after a brutal positional battle during the Deno Galaxy war. The attackers suffered dozens of times more casualties than the defenders here, yet still failed to take the position."
"Nima, it's that powerful?" Zhao Xin nearly cried out. "Did Jace set us up? I honestly think this map is way too hard, especially when we're fighting with knives, spears, and clubs!" As he spoke, he summoned his long spear and spun it through several flourishes.
Wei Zitong muttered, "At least you have a spear. I have nothing—not even Dark Alloy Armor. I came onto the battlefield empty-handed!"
By the time Wei Zitong reached the rear of the position, Lena was already fighting fiercely at the front. Explosions rumbled without pause, orange-red fire shot into the sky, and the entire position was in uproar.
Wei Zitong immediately cast an invisibility technique on himself and Zhao Xin. Though his invisibility was useless against high-tech warning systems, it was enough to evade some patrol craft.
Looking at the direction in which the flames were advancing, Wei Zitong was secretly alarmed. What was Lena doing? The plan had clearly been to exchange long-range fire. Why was she pushing forward?
The fighting at the front was intense, and many patrol craft from the rear were flying toward the front lines!
Seeing that there were fewer enemies, Wei Zitong seized the opportunity and traced several prearranged signals on the ground with his finger.
Since neither of them could see the other while invisible, and speaking so close to the position would easily expose them, they could only communicate by drawing gestures on the ground.
Soon, a crooked gesture appeared on the ground not far away. Its general meaning was "OK."
Wei Zitong immediately sprinted forward. After rushing some distance, he finally understood why Lena had pushed forward...
The warning system's detection range was spherical and covered every angle without blind spots, so an alarm would be triggered no matter where they attacked or infiltrated from!
By advancing into the warning system's range, Lena endured a wave of Focus Fire while activating the system ahead of time, covering Wei Zitong's later sneak attack. Wei Zitong was not discovered by the Guard soldiers until he reached a warning station.
The soldier had just tried to sound the alarm or attack when a transparent figure whistled in and snapped his neck. Seizing the opportunity, Wei Zitong roared toward the center of the position, "The Dark Energy analyzer cannot be used!"
Before you continue