The Delta Force We Agreed On—How Did It Turn into Arknights?

"We've tracked an Infected Inspection Squad," Talulah said. "They're stationed not far from here. Whether it's to protect the villages willing to trade with us or for our own safety, we should strike first."

"Exactly," FrostNova echoed. "There are quite a few of them. This time, I'll lead my squad and fight alongside you."

Talulah looked at Han Fei and invited him, "So, Han Fei, are you coming?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a familiar interface suddenly appeared in Han Fei's field of vision.

[Mission Objective: Clear enemies in the target area]

[Reward: 10,000 Haf Coins]

[Possible Rewards: ...]

"Huh?"

Volume One: Silent Infiltration

The north wind swept sharply faceted ice crystals over dead branches, crashing through the forest with a mournful whistle. It cut across their faces like knives, leaving their cheeks aching.

Another gust blew past, and Han Fei unconsciously hunched his neck, reaching up to pull his furry earflap hat lower over his head.

Good thing he had picked up a set of Infected Inspector gear earlier. Otherwise, Han Fei did not dare imagine how he would go out on loot runs in weather like this.

Seeing this, Talulah said, "Cold, isn't it?"

"Very."

Han Fei nodded. The Infected Inspector gear he had picked up had clearly put a lot of effort into insulation, yet even so, the tundra wind had him longing for the fire inside the cabin.

"We're almost there." The corners of Talulah's lips rose. "Once we deal with them, we can make a fire and warm up."

"Mm."

Han Fei answered, then opened his map.

Large portions of his map were still covered by black fog. Unlike before, however, a blue circle had appeared within the unexplored area.

That circle was the mission-area marker in Delta Force.

In the game, as long as players entered that area, they could receive operation rewards after completing the mission.

At the same time, mission targets would only appear within that area.

Han Fei studied the map and made a rough estimate. At their current pace, they would reach the target location in about ten minutes.

Perhaps he had been too absorbed in the map, because Talulah noticed something off and asked, puzzled, "What are you looking at?"

"Hm? Nothing."

Han Fei closed the map. He did not want to explain it to Talulah, so he changed the subject and casually asked, "Aren't you cold?"

As he spoke, Han Fei's gaze dropped to Talulah's long, pale legs.

Sister Talulah really had an incredible figure. Beneath her short skirt, her legs were white, straight, and long—utterly captivating.

But in such freezing conditions, exposing so much bare leg was beautiful enough to freeze for.

"My body is somewhat unusual. This temperature is nothing," Talulah said lightly.

Just then, FrostNova suddenly came before them and said, "Talulah, we've found them."

"Prepare for battle."

Talulah placed a hand on the hilt of the sword at her waist and said seriously, "They probably haven't noticed us yet. If we can pull off a successful ambush, we may be able to take them down easily."

Han Fei shrugged, drew the Bizon he had picked up, and said, "I've got plenty of bullets."

He had stripped plenty of Level 1 white rounds off those Infected Inspectors earlier. Now he could let loose to his heart's content!

"No need."

Talulah said confidently, "Just follow behind me."

Before long, a village came into view. It was their destination.

Using the forest as natural cover, the group crept to the village outskirts. Several armed Infected Inspectors were patrolling back and forth outside.

Talulah looked toward the village and said, "According to the intel, this Inspection Squad has occupied this abandoned village as a base. The village was deserted long ago, and there are no villagers left inside. Don't hold back. Give it everything you have."

"I'll take point," Han Fei said. "I'm still wearing their uniform. Let me go over first and catch them off guard. Once I make my move, you follow."

Talulah considered it for a moment, then nodded slightly. "All right."

Then, she suddenly removed the sash from her shoulder, walked over to Han Fei, and carefully tied it around his shoulder.

Even through their clothes, Han Fei could feel the lingering warmth of the girl's body on that sash.

They stood close enough to touch. Han Fei could see every detail of Talulah's face. The cold, ruthless leader of the future was still, at this moment, a resolute young girl with tenderness in her heart.

At least for now, the concern in her eyes was real.

Noticing Han Fei's gaze, Talulah raised her head and met his eyes. "This way, no one will mistake you for an enemy."

"I'm going, then," Han Fei said.

"Mm."

Talulah watched as Han Fei left the forest.

Han Fei made no attempt to conceal himself, so the Infected Inspectors patrolling the village outskirts spotted him quickly.

"Stop!"

One of the Infected Inspectors called out to Han Fei. Then he and three others approached, surrounding Han Fei from several directions.

"What squad are you from? Take off your hat!"

Han Fei did as instructed, removing his hat. "Don't be nervous. My squad was attacked. The captain sent me here to ask for reinforcements."

"Is that so?"

The Inspector looked at Han Fei suspiciously. He could see signs of battle on Han Fei's uniform, but he still found the story about asking for aid hard to believe.

Han Fei put on an anxious expression. "Please report it. Go find your captain and tell him it's urgent. My squad really needs support."

"Wait here."

The Inspector turned around and started walking back toward the village.

This was exactly the chance Han Fei had been waiting for. In the next instant, Spinning Blade appeared in his hand.

Nameless's Spinning Blade had a special trait: it could automatically lock onto enemies. Enemies facing Nameless took time to lock onto, but enemies with their backs to Nameless could be locked on instantly.

Spinning Blade instantly locked onto the Inspector and flew from Han Fei's hand.

The next second, the Inspector cried out and collapsed straight to the ground.

"What?!"

The other Inspectors reacted and moved to attack Han Fei.

A smoke grenade instantly burst open, engulfing them all.

Before they could rush out of the smoke, a strange sound suddenly reached their ears.

It was very faint, almost imperceptible. Without calming down and listening carefully, it would have been impossible to notice.

Before the Inspectors could figure out what the sound was, the Bizon's gunfire drowned out that strange noise.

Han Fei slid out of the smoke, kicking up snow in a spray of icy mist.

Using that perfect slide-jump, Han Fei turned around and unleashed the Bizon's thirty-two-round magazine into the cloud of smoke.

Rat-tat-tat!

At such close range, Han Fei did not even need to aim. He just swept the lower part of the smoke.

Shooting their legs—shooting their legs hard!

In Delta Force, using white-round Bizons to shoot legs was not actually that effective. Each shot only dealt fourteen damage, and it took a full eight shots to kill someone.

But the AI in the game would not lose mobility just because their legs were hit. The Infected Inspectors before him were different. A full magazine of Level 1 rounds had those Inspectors screaming their heads off.

By the time the magazine ran dry, Han Fei glanced back and saw Talulah leading the others out of the forest.

Seeing that, Han Fei reloaded as he ran toward the village.

The powered exoskeleton gave Han Fei astonishing speed, while Nameless's ultimate, Silent Infiltration, concealed the creaking hiss of its hydraulics.

Silent and swift, Red Wolf charged into the village.

Volume One: Roaming Dragon

By the time Han Fei entered the village, the Infected Inspectors stationed inside had already been alerted.

They emerged from the buildings one after another, watching the village entrance with either caution or confusion.

One sharp-eyed Inspector spotted Han Fei. Misled by the Inspector uniform, he did not immediately regard Han Fei as an enemy. Instead, he treated him as a comrade and asked, "Hey, what happened?"

"There are enemies outside," Han Fei said.

"What?!"

The man was instantly shocked. "Someone actually has the death wish to come make trouble for us?"

As he spoke, a senior Inspector in a red uniform stepped out of the large wooden house at the center of the village and ordered, "Go back and get your weapons! Someone's come looking for trouble!"

At those words, quite a few Inspectors turned and went back inside to retrieve their weapons.

Han Fei immediately grinned, raised his hand, loaded the three-round grenade launcher, and fired at one of the houses.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three grenades flew accurately through the door and into the house.

The next second, explosions rang out. A wave of screams came from inside, followed by silence.

Only then did the senior Inspector realize that Han Fei was the culprit. Furious, he shouted, "You're a spy!"

"That's right, it's me!"

Han Fei grinned and fired another three-round grenade launcher burst into a house.

Then, without giving the Inspector any chance to attack, he popped a smoke grenade at his feet, blocking their vision before turning and running.

Another explosion sounded, followed by another wave of screams.

Han Fei had no idea how many people those two grenade bursts had killed. All he knew was that the powered exoskeleton's timer in his vision had gone from a dozen-odd seconds remaining to over a minute.

Even more interestingly, Han Fei discovered that kills from his three-round grenade launcher even sped up its reload.

In game terms, kills reduced the cooldown.

Red Wolf's three-round grenade launcher normally had a fairly long cooldown, but after blowing up those unlucky bastards, his next burst had already reloaded.

"Is this the power of three-in-one? With power this strong, who can stop me?!"

The village's wooden houses became Han Fei's most natural cover. Using them as shields, he darted through the village like a roaming dragon.

As an aggressive player who occasionally ran solo against trios, Han Fei understood one thing well—when facing many opponents alone, he had to rotate and change positions after every attack.

Only by staying mobile could he create one-on-one opportunities, instead of getting hit by the enemy's full squad with a perfect three-on-one.

That was true in games, and it was true in reality.

The village had now fallen into complete chaos. Han Fei could not stop moving. Once he stopped and got surrounded, his fate would definitely not be pleasant.

At times like this, Nameless's ultimate, Silent Infiltration, showed its astonishing advantage.

Normally, when Red Wolf activated his powered exoskeleton ultimate, it produced an unmistakable hydraulic creaking. Unless someone was deaf, there was no way they could miss that noise.

But now, Silent Infiltration had concealed that obvious hydraulic sound, turning Han Fei into the Infected Inspectors' nightmare.

They could not track Han Fei at all. They only felt as if he were a ghost—why was he everywhere?

The Inspectors who came out to return fire could not find Han Fei, while Inspectors were frequently struck in the body or head by shots coming from behind. They would cry out once, collapse, and die on the spot.

Hiding indoors was no safer. Those Inspectors who hid in houses, hoping to use the wooden structures as cover, suffered even more miserably. Either the three-round grenade launcher blasts left their scalps tingling, or Han Fei kicked open the door and threw in flashbangs that left them dizzy and disoriented, unable to see a thing.

They could not even see where he was!

Unfortunately, happy times were short. The powered exoskeleton was still going strong, but Silent Infiltration's duration had ended.

Without Silent Infiltration's sound interference, the exoskeleton's creaking hydraulic noises immediately echoed through the village.

The exoskeleton was simply too loud, and Han Fei's position was quickly exposed.