The sound came through the regional channel.
"Spotted through the telescope... a pack of mutated beasts! More than fifty of them, charging this way!"
"They're fast. Estimated contact in three minutes!"
Wang Zhong's pupils constricted.
"Everyone, prepare for battle!"
He immediately turned and gave an order to [I'm Not the Regent, I'm Just Guilliman Passing By] beside him:
"Take ten men and hold the rear of the convoy. Make sure no one falls behind, and guard against attacks from other directions."
"The rest of you, come to the front with me!"
"The defense teams on both flanks, hold your positions and stay alert!"
The orders were swiftly relayed through the regional channel.
The players reacted faster than Wang Zhong had expected, perhaps because they had already faced life and death in the industrial district.
Or perhaps the training over the past few days had paid off. Almost the instant the orders were issued, the thirty-odd players at the front had already moved.
Aska led the workers backward, crowding behind the crude barricade formed by the transport vehicles.
The players pulled sandbags from their inventories. They were quick-deployment fortification kits bought from the shop—ten coins per set, with six pre-filled sandbags each.
Cheap as they were, they could save lives right now.
More than thirty sandbags were piled into a waist-high wall within twenty seconds.
The players crouched behind the wall and took out their weapons from their inventories.
By the time Wang Zhong reached the front line, the battle preparations were complete.
He swept his gaze over them. There were forty-three players in total, twenty of whom carried various laser weapons.
Laspistols, lasguns, and even two heavy automatic shotguns modified from stubbers.
The remaining players wielded cheaper kinetic weapons: black-powder rifles.
Their equipment was mismatched, but not one of them