Radiation Zone

The hunting war began almost that very day, following the resolution from the War Center.

"Die! Die! Monsters, I'll dry you out!!"

On over a dozen modified off-road vehicles, the machine gun belts never stopped spinning, their barrels burning hot.

Facing them, small Radiation Beast tides fell like wheat being harvested, then more violent explosions erupted from their corpses, inflicting secondary damage on their companions.

"Kill!!"

Another wave of Mechanical Hunters leaped down from the trucks. These individuals followed a melee-focused path, their arms either modified into greatswords or chainsaws, or their chests embedded with thick steel plates. These melee hunters had undergone anywhere from one or two cybernetic modifications to three, four, or even five or six.

The extent of their mechanization made each of them resemble a humanoid robot.

Chainsaws bit into the metal skin of Mech-Bio Beasts, steel fists viciously struck the beasts' foreheads – once, twice, thrice – until their brains were smashed out. Then, they peeled off the synthetic skin, jammed finger drills into the creatures' chests, and forcefully ripped out the radiation source.

"Brothers, look at the present I'm giving you!"

A captain standing on the front of a truck held a walkie-talkie and laughed heartily.

The next moment, two factory bombers appeared from the clouds, diving into the battlefield. Their bellies opened, releasing over a dozen precision-guided bombs that flew out, specifically targeting the leader beasts behind the horde. Over ten tons of explosives followed, and the three-story-high explosion flames generated intense wind waves. Wherever they passed, large swaths of the beast horde were blasted into empty zones.

"Radiation Beasts are nothing more than this!"

"Captain, should we go in?"

An elite hunter squad member urgently looked at their captain. In terms of firepower, they were five times stronger than these ordinary squads.

"What's the rush? Those who go in now are just fodder," unexpectedly, Wilson, who was usually short-tempered and irritable, appeared calm.

"But Captain, these ordinary beasts are good material for grinding points. It's too much of a shame to miss out!"

Wilson roared with anger and kicked the speaking subordinate off the vehicle.

"Are you the captain or am I? You know nothing, you brat!"

Meanwhile, on the southern defense line, the Mechanic squad encountered the same problem. However, they didn't question it; instead, they methodically adjusted their machinery. Automated weapons were being air-dropped by drones to designated firing points, one after another.

Within the Mechanic squad, all combat was handled by automated machinery, while the team members were merely remote operators of these machines.

At a communication station, Huang Wen the Mechanic was furiously typing on his keyboard.

His fingers had been modified to resemble spider limbs, with 'buttons' on each joint serving as nerve reinforcement nodes. This was pre-war enhancement technology and a mandatory modification for military logistics personnel.

On the virtual screen, bar graphs appeared one after another. Each red bar represented the radiation value of a beast horde, and the red bars were currently rising madly.

The green bars, representing defensive strength, maintained an unstable trend.

"Have the personnel in New Steel City re-verify the data tables; several key figures are incorrect."

New Steel City, an oasis south of Automobile City, was formerly a steel plant.

Huang Wen was very calm, as if he were playing a strategy game.

On the western front, in the Blood Ore Hills, on top of a hill, a dozen Gray-Eyes stood in silence. In their eyes, the battlefield appeared different; various radiations formed tidal rivers, converging into an ocean with the battle, overwhelming them.

"Original sin approaches, may the Turing God protect us!"

Adrian the Gray-Eyed, besides being a Mechanical Hunter, was also a Metal Missionary of the Turing Cult. His eyes were the 'Eyes of Cinder,' capable of glimpsing true knowledge from the electrical grid network and seeing the twisted demons within the radiation ecosystem.

On the eastern front, Matsushima Keiko's pair of short legs were constantly hopping. She repeatedly rubbed the mechanical knife handle with her grip, then looked pleadingly at her captain with her large eyes.

"Daisy La, I want to—"

"No."

"I'll just cut one, sneakily, I promise I won't be discovered."

"No."

"Daisy La~~"

Seeing Matsushima Keiko clinging to her clothes and whining pitifully, Daisy La sighed and explained, "Keiko, do you know what's most frightening about Radiation Beasts?"

"It's the environment, the radiation environment where the beast hordes reside. In this environment, all electronic equipment malfunctions, and weapon systems are severely interfered with. Yet, the beasts thrive in the Radiation Zone; they can even monitor us through a fallen leaf or a plant stem."

Before Keiko could speak, Daisy La added, "I know what you're going to say – that the beasts are at their weakest when they leave their nests. But you must understand one thing: the radiation field isn't natural; it's born from the congregation of Radiation Beasts."

"Daisy La, you mean they're breeding a new radiation field?" Matsushima Keiko asked blankly.

"Yes, and the battle will only accelerate the formation of the radiation field. Once you enter such a radiation field, your biological magnetic field will be marked, passively becoming a part of the 'Radiation Food Chain.' Do you want to be coveted by Radiation Beasts day and night?"

The thought of being pursued by beasts day and night sent a shiver down Matsushima Keiko's spine.

"Then what do we do now?"

"Wait," Daisy La said calmly. "The beasts' energy isn't endless. When the radiation ecosystem forms, that will be the moment their own energy is at its weakest. That will be our hunting time."

"But doing this, the Radiation Zone will only expand step by step, eventually encircling the Oasis completely," a silent squad member suddenly said.

Daisy La was silent for a moment. "That's not something we need to worry about. If it truly comes to that, the Mechanical Legion will naturally be deployed to completely alter the ecosystem of this desert, just as they did during the Mechanical War."

The hunt continued for a day and a night. Mechanical Hunters returned injured for repairs, and some hunters merely swapped out a cybernetic limb before setting out again.

As Mechanical Augmenters, their endurance, while not comparable to machines, was still over ten times that of ordinary people.

At some point, a giant electronic screen appeared at the entrance of Gasoline Town. The screen displayed a list of names and their hunted prey. The battlefield recorder automatically recorded and played back exciting hunting footage, stirring the blood of onlookers.

At the very center of the screen was a leaderboard. On the first day alone, the top-ranked hunting squad had killed two hundred E-class beasts, truly ferocious.

"Is it the Marauder Squad? They've been on a roll lately."

"It's only natural that it's them. At least three members of their squad have undergone partial mechanical augmentation; they're all rising stars."

"What about the veteran teams? Fireweed, the Gray-Eyed, the Crawlers?"

"In this man-eating desert, isn't it natural for the new to replace the old? A few years ago, Fireweed, the Crawlers, and the Gray-Eyed were the Marauders of today. Do you remember their previous teams?"

"Place your bets, place your bets! Let's see who makes the top ten tomorrow. Will the veteran teams make a comeback? Or will the Marauders continue to hold the top spot as dark horses?"

Aside from those who knew they had no hope of winning and the gamblers eager to place their bets, those with ulterior motives paid more attention to the movements of those veteran teams.

Fire Thief, the Mechanic, the Crawlers, the Gray-Eyed, Fireweed.

What were these veteran teams doing now?

"When I was hunting earlier, I think I saw the Crawlers."

"Oh? What were they doing?" The other person's spirits immediately lifted. Could these veteran hunting squads be planning something incredible?

"When I left, I think I saw the Crawlers surrounded by a horde of beasts. Their situation wasn't good," the person hesitated for a moment before saying.

"Impossible. Most of the radiation beasts appearing now are F-class and E-class. How could they surround the Crawlers? They must have another plan, preparing to unleash something big."

They were indeed preparing something big. In the late evening, news arrived: the Crawlers were completely wiped out, surrounded by the beast horde.

"The Crawlers are dead!?"

"Is that true? Are the beast hordes that terrifying?"

"Do you guys feel like the power of the radiation beasts is increasing? The more you kill, the faster they seem to rise."

"Damn, you feel that too? Their skin, which a bullet could penetrate before, can't be penetrated now."

Day one, day two, day three.

The Marauder Squad remained in first place, having hunted nearly 500 prey. Meanwhile, several powerful newcomers also emerged.

Chainsaw Killer, Octopus Monster, Bio-Demon, Hound Hunter, Bomber...

The veteran teams remained silent. Rumors were circulating that these veteran teams had other arrangements, otherwise, they wouldn't be so low-key.

Meanwhile, at the data center of the military supply depot, a group of battlefield analysts were conducting a heated battle analysis.

"The Marauder Squad must have capital backing them. The D73 Micro Missiles, Full Exoskeleton Armor, and EMP Bombs they're using are all weapons designed to counter rebel forces."

"The speed at which the beast hordes are breeding radiation fields is faster than we projected. As of 12:00 today, the F-class and E-class radiation fields will be fully formed. The intensity of the battlefield will soon escalate. We need to increase logistical support."

"How about we expend another wave of Mechanical Hunters?"

"Not for now. The veteran teams haven't entered the fray yet, so this kind of expenditure is meaningless. You have to remember, we're not the only Oasis facing beast hordes; this is also a competition."

Supervisor Zhou tapped the table. The situation was somewhat beyond his expectations. After all, he had painted such a grand picture, yet these old foxes hadn't taken the bait?

As expected, after dealing with robots for too long, his persuasive skills had deteriorated.

"What about the Hunter Squad? Have they reached the supply point? A new batch of weapons is waiting for them to receive."

"They have arrived," one of the operators' expressions changed, and they excitedly reported, "They've informed us that they have a hunting plan. This plan is to hunt a D-Class Radiation Beast Tribe!"