Hardcore Evacuation

Chapter 46: Hardcore Evacuation

"What is that?"

The officer, strolling leisurely through the manor grounds and looking around, suddenly fixed his gaze on the rooftop of the manor building.

A dark shadow descended from the sky, from the top of the building.

Before the officer could get a clear look at what it was, he felt as if his mouth had been punched.

His mouth had indeed been struck by something, but it wasn't a fist; it was a grenade.

The round grenade was thrown by Qin Xia as he fell, piercing straight through the officer's lower face and embedding itself deep into his skull.

The slaves and guards brought by the officer were closest to him, naturally witnessing this scene first and then letting out shouts.

"Dodge..."

The sound of the explosion swallowed the latter half of his words, as well as the people around the officer.

On the hot Red Sand, within the dark and cold manor, the explosion's fire illuminated the gloomy place for a moment.

Everyone else turned their guns towards the source of the explosion, and in the next second, Qin Xia burst forth from the flames and smoke.

A semi-transparent arc of snow-white psychic power enveloped Qin Xia's body. As his figure appeared on the enemies' retinas and was transmitted through their optic nerves, shrapnel and bone fragments from the previous explosion slid off his psychic barrier.

"Fire!"

A soldier roared and pulled the trigger, and scorching energy beams shot out from his gun.

Qin Xia sprinted forward, and with each stride that covered several meters, he reached out and pulled off a grenade from the bandolier he had just tied around himself.

There was no action of pulling the pin; he simply took it off and threw it.

A few dull thuds, and several people were simultaneously hit by several grenades.

Whether it was their heads, hearts, or other vital areas, in any case, before the hit individuals could be blown up like the officer before them, they had already been smashed to death by Qin Xia's grenades.

A series of explosions occurred again.

Smoke enveloped the entire manor.

The army, mixed with a large number of slaves and guards brought by the regular Praetorian Guard, was clearly in disarray. The chaotic situation led them to believe they were under a large-scale attack.

Qin Xia judged that the Praetorian Guard would counterattack, but that wasn't the case.

These troops, who had been stationed in the suburbs of Desia City for a very, very long time, hadn't even massacred any rebels.

When faced with the attack, the regular Praetorian Guard's choice was to curse their slaves or guards to go find someone to kill, while they themselves transformed their Silver Vine into a shield to cover their bodies.

Qin Xia emerged from the smoke again and threw grenades once more.

The grenades flew into flesh again, exploding again.

In this manner, Qin Xia drew closer and closer to the manor exit.

After throwing the last grenade, Qin Xia once again maintained his psychic barrier, passing through the explosion unharmed.

This series of events, from the very first step when Qin Xia leaped off the building, to the explosion of the last grenade, took a total of...

3.2 seconds.

Nuceria's black technology did not include items like grenades, nor did they automatically detect the right moment to explode without pulling a pin.

Qin Xia had pulled all the pins before jumping down, as he was confident he could achieve his goals using the explosive grenades before they detonated.

The body of an Astartes gave him the ability to do so.

The enemy was completely thrown into chaos; only a few individuals in high positions with experience and equipped with advanced observation gear could react.

For example, those piloting the quadrupedal combat machines.

These machines, which couldn't be called truly astonishing, were equipped with various heavy weapons, such as the large-caliber heavy machine guns Qin Xia had seen earlier, and machines equipped with long barrels that were clearly armor-piercing weapons.

A total of seven units all opened fire on Qin Xia, who was still in the smoke.

Some of the slaves and guards brought by the Praetorian Guard were accidentally shot and killed, while the Silver Vines of the Praetorian Guards not far from Qin Xia could block those attacks.

The large-caliber armor-piercing artillery weapons even dispersed the smoke with the powerful kinetic energy of their shells.

Qin Xia was exposed. He braced himself with his psychic barrier, and the artillery fire only caused faint white ripples on it, unable to penetrate even a millimeter.

The quadrupedal combat machines maintained their suppressive fire, while the nearby infantry circled behind Qin Xia to concentrate fire on him.

Here, even the rifle carried by the most lowly slave was enough to penetrate low-thickness armor two kilometers away, and the muzzle and impact points formed an absolutely straight line. Yet, they gathered together, like soldiers from the flintlock era, standing shoulder to shoulder and concentrating fire on one target.

The concentrated firepower of these individuals even caused friendly fire casualties among their own side.

Qin Xia held up one hand, maintaining the psychic barrier in front of him, and extended his other hand behind him, raising another barrier to resist the concentrated fire.

The firepower from the energy rifles left scarlet marks on the pristine white barrier. As these marks increased, they gradually obscured the barrier's original color.

Qin Xia glanced at the infantry behind him, then turned his head.

The red energy marks on the barrier behind him transferred to the front, converging into a beam that pierced the quadrupedal machine in front of him, then swept in a circle until the accumulated energy was depleted.

Immediately, the psychic barrier behind Qin Xia disappeared, replaced by a psychic lightning bolt released from his fingertips.

White psychic lightning erupted, instantly erasing the existence of the group concentrating fire on Qin Xia. Their souls burned in the splashing psychic sparks; their bodies did not turn to ash but became snowflakes that drifted outwards and slowly fell.

Qin Xia looked ahead; his psychic barrier still held, fending off the attacks.

Facing the dense web of fire, he strode forward, his imposing presence like that of someone seeking vengeance.

But then, a quadrupedal combat machine moved into position a hundred meters ahead. The machine instantly extended its support struts, and after entering an absolutely stable state, it opened fire.

A shell struck Qin Xia's psychic barrier. The moment it detonated, a massive amount of shrapnel swept over Qin Xia's location and the area behind him like a torrential downpour. Many people were reduced to mist of blood, spreading along with the dust.

However, something had spread out before the shell detonated, dispersing into the air, invisible to the eye.

Within a circular area ten meters in diameter, the air was strictly ignited, and flames instantly engulfed Qin Xia.

But then Qin Xia burst forth from the swirling dust. His massive, robust body was astonishingly and unexpectedly swift, with his physique not hindering his speed in the slightest, while the advantages of his massive body's impact were retained.

A dozen enemies along his path were smashed to pieces by Qin Xia's shoulder charges. In the blink of an eye, he reached the quadrupedal combat machine that had just fired, then changed his charge's direction.

His bare feet and body turned ninety degrees simultaneously, leaving an imprint on the ground. As Qin Xia turned and took a new step, a shockwave, along with the shattered stones he'd kicked flying in all directions, blasted everything around them.

The quadrupedal combat machine merely flew less high than unaugmented humans. It traced an arc through the air before colliding with another quadrupedal combat machine beside it.

Ammunition detonated.

The explosion's light illuminated Qin Xia's face and the vision of others, but the figure that had wreaked havoc upon them remained a black shadow in their sight.

Qin Xia's sharp gaze swept across his surroundings. Witnessing the enemy's panic and chaos, he realized that although he hadn't yet left the manor, his objective of withdrawal had been achieved, as no one could stop him.