How Could My Fellow Villagers Be So Weak?

On the ridgeline.

Thirteen Reincarnators were charging at full speed.

At the front, Blood Claw's lips curled into a savage grin. Beside him walked a cyborg whose Mechanical Arm gleamed with cold light, a man wreathed in flames, and a woman with purple-tinged skin...

Three minutes ago, "Mechanical Arm" had scanned only a force of just over 400 people, plus three intimidating-looking aircraft and three clunky tanks. There wasn't a trace of any Reincarnator aura.

To a Reincarnator, this setup was a joke.

"An army without a single Reincarnator dares to block us?!"

"Everyone, finish this fast!" Blood Claw roared.

The moment the words left his mouth, a piercing shriek tore through the sky.

Blood Claw looked up, his pupils contracting sharply.

Three Valkyries were diving from high altitude. The twin-linked autocannons on either side of their fuselages unlocked instantly, and the rocket pods mounted under their bellies erupted with tongues of flame.

"Get down, scatter!"

Too late.

A hail of dense Bolter shells and high-explosive rockets rained down like hailstones.

The moment the penetrator cores struck their targets, they detonated. The two Reincarnators in the lead tried to activate their energy shields, but the faint glow had barely flickered to life before the cannon fire shredded them.

Shield fragments scattered like broken glass.

"Impossible! How could my A-rank ability shield be broken by a single volley?!"

Then came another volley. Blood and shattered bone splattered across the rocks, instantly baked dry into a dark brown crust by the searing heat.

A third Reincarnator took a direct hit from a rocket. His entire body exploded into a mist of blood, without even a scream escaping.

Where the metal storm passed, the ground was gouged into blackened furrows.

After one strafing run, only nine of the thirteen remained.

Fu Haoran frowned slightly. "One dive and four dead? Is this the level of Reincarnators?"

"Maybe they're just the weakest cannon fodder," Lucifer chimed in.

Fu Haoran's heart tightened.

Right. This might just be a probe. The real force is still behind.

On the other side, Blood Claw poked his head out from behind a rock, gasping for air.

Damn it. What kind of firepower was that?

At least those three aircraft had already swept past. Their dive trajectory meant they couldn't turn around immediately.

As long as they used this gap to charge into the enemy formation and blend into their ranks, the enemy wouldn't dare open fire on their own people!

"Charge!" Blood Claw roared. "Once we're inside, we're safe!"

The remaining nine sprinted onward. The wolf-transformed Blood Claw, Mechanical Arm, Fire Brother who controlled flames, Poison Girl who wielded toxins—each unleashed their abilities, trying to break through the line.

But then...

Hum~

A low drone came from ahead.

From the corner of his eye, Blood Claw saw the turrets on four metal platforms swivel simultaneously. Twin-linked heavy Bolters and twin-linked laser cannons aimed at him.

No, not aimed.

Locked on!

The next instant, the Wolf Spider Sentry Guns opened fire.

The twin-linked heavy Bolters spat rocket-propelled shells at an extreme rate of fire. The searing projectiles, like soul-chasing talismans, streaked straight toward Blood Claw.

Thick beams of light shot forward in a straight line.

Blood Claw shifted into his wolf form, scrambling on all fours, twisting wildly to change direction.

Useless.

Every time he changed direction, the Sentry Guns' logic engines predicted his move with precision. The shells and beams grazed past his body, leaving deep, bloody gashes.

"Fuck! What the hell are these things?!" Blood Claw roared. "Why are they all targeting me?!"

The other seven glanced at him. No one said a word.

Some even sidestepped quietly, deliberately exposing Blood Claw fully to the gunfire.

Mechanical Arm shot a look at Blood Claw and muttered to Fire Brother, "Forget him. These auto-turrets lock onto one target and don't switch. Let him be the meat shield."

Fire Brother grinned savagely. "A worthy death."

Poison Girl even slowed her pace, deliberately falling half a step behind.

This team of theirs was thrown together on the fly anyway—Reincarnators from different instance worlds, barely cooperating because their factions aligned.

If not for the system's rule that killing each other carried a penalty, they would have already started infighting.

Now Blood Claw was drawing all the fire?

Fine.

Better him than them.

"Brother Blood Claw, hold on! We'll charge ahead!" someone shouted, but their feet only moved faster.

Blood Claw trembled with rage, but he didn't even have time to curse—he could only dodge with everything he had.

The Wolf Spider's cannon never left him.

After all, the Wolf Spider's logic engine locked onto the first target in range and wouldn't switch until it was killed.

The ground position grew closer.

The remaining seven finally reached three hundred meters from the front line.

Then they saw the formation on the other side.

Over three hundred soldiers stood in neat ranks on open ground.

No cover, no spread—just standing there upright, guns raised.

The front row was even kneeling on one knee, the second row standing—a standard line-firing formation.

A tall Reincarnator snorted with laughter.

"Are these soldiers brain-dead?" he called to his companions. "Standing in line like target dummies. We can just rush them and wipe them all out!"

Another Reincarnator, specializing in speed, even put away his weapon and, relying on his footwork, provocatively closed in on the soldier formation. "What a waste of time. These weaklings don't even need our full strength."

They had seen too many native armies like this.

Flintlock-era battle formations, trying to stop them, the Reincarnators?

Ridiculous.

Wade stood in the center of the formation, expressionless, raising his hand. "For the Emperor!"

Then he swung it down sharply.

"Fire."

Hundreds of red laser beams lit up at once.

The dense "flashlight" rays wove into a massive net, instantly covering the seven men a hundred meters away.

The Reincarnator charging at the front didn't even have time to assume a defensive stance before his head was burned through by the laser.

His body carbonized like a lit piece of paper, crumpling to the ground and kicking up a cloud of black ash.

The Reincarnator who had put away his weapon and taunted them was hit in the legs by the lasers. His scream hadn't even landed before subsequent beams tore him apart completely, leaving not even a full limb behind.

"Shield!" someone screamed, throwing up an energy barrier.

Useless.

The laser beams pierced straight through the shield, punching a fist-sized, charred hole in his chest.

"What kind of weapon is this..." The voice cut off abruptly.

Seven people.

One second.

All down, leaving only seven piles of smoking, charred remains.

Not even a token resistance.

The Leman Russ Tank's commander had just shouted the fire order, the breech hadn't even been opened, the Valkyrie was still turning in the air, and the four Wolf Spiders were still chasing Blood Claw.

The battle... was over.

Blood Claw finally shook off the Wolf Spider's fire suppression and poked his head out from behind a rock.

Then he froze.

Where were they?

Where were his teammates?

On the ground were only seven piles of charred remains, still smoking.

Over three hundred soldiers stood perfectly still in place, their Lasguns still aimed in their direction, the red light at the muzzles slowly fading.

A chill shot from Blood Claw's feet straight to the crown of his head.

He turned and ran.

Shifting into his wolfman form, he went down on all fours and sprinted with everything he had.

Rocks, bushes, ravines—everything blurred past behind him.

His agility stat had tripled; his speed was enough to leave any prey in the dust.

"I can escape."

"I can definitely escape."

The howling wind came from behind.

Blood Claw instinctively turned his head—it was the Valkyrie gunship turning back!

Then he saw the autocannon beneath its belly slowly aiming at him.

"No!"

The autocannon fired.

A dense hail of rounds struck in an instant. Blood Claw's body was blown into shreds midair, scattering across the charred rock, not even a single intact piece left behind.

Inside the bridge.

Fu Haoran stared at the projection screen, frozen for two seconds.

On the screen, all thirteen red dots had vanished.

The Leman Russ Tank hadn't even had time to fire. The Valkyrie had only completed one dive. Four Wolf Spiders had chased a single man for ages. Over three hundred soldiers had loosed one volley.

Then, nothing.

That was it?

Fu Haoran had braced himself for a brutal, grinding battle, but the situation before him... was far too clean.

"I maxed out my teleportation array, brought all my heavy firepower, and the enemy couldn't even survive a single salvo?"

"So I spent all that time preparing, just to swat a few mosquitoes?"

Right on cue, Lucifer casually twisted the knife: "It seems the grand artillery welcome you prepared for your fellow countrymen... they couldn't handle it."

Fu Haoran ignored her and checked the system panel.

[Killed 13 hostile faction Reincarnators. Gained 15600 points, Universal Points +4234]

[Current ranking: Not on the leaderboard]

[Worldline shift rate: +0.37%]

[Detected enemy equipment wreckage:...]

Fu Haoran fell silent.

"Killing thirteen people and I can't even make the leaderboard... No, this definitely wasn't their main force. Too weak... unnaturally weak. They must be cannon fodder sent to probe my trump cards!"

"I was careless! My trump cards have almost been fully exposed, and I know nothing about them!"

"As expected, a bunch of old schemers—they'd even sacrifice their own people!"

Fu Haoran gained yet another layer of understanding about the treacherous nature of the Reincarnation World. How else could you explain a group of veteran "players" willingly running to their deaths?