Rise of the Wasteland Chapter 164 - War

 Chapter 164        War

A flare came out from the 120 mm diameter cannon of a tank, closely followed by an armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot. With just the blink of an eye, the armor-piercing depleted uranium core went across the few hundred meters long bridge. With a huge burst of kinetic energy and destructive power, it hit the area where Zhou Qingfeng was located.

The bullet penetrated through the surface of the bridge, and the strong, reinforced concrete expanded like mud and started to tear apart. The broken pieces came off the ground and flew into different directions. Those concrete pieces were expanding with high speed as if a sparse wall, but deadlier.

At that moment, the sound of the sabot could be heard from afar, and the boom of the explosion spread out. The entire scene was akin to thunder striking the ground—massive and horrible!

The moment Zhou Qingfeng saw the tank, he knew something bad was going to happen. He instantly stopped chasing and turned around. He avoided the way he came, lifted his motorcycle, and jumped over the fence of the white stone bridge. DogMeat realized the danger too, so it immediately jumped on its owner’s motorcycle and avoided the sabot.

Even though Zhou Qingfeng was quick and agile, he was not able to escape the area of effect of the armor-piercing sabot. He was not hit directly by the bullet, but he was affected by the broken concrete pieces blown by the sabot. At that instant, he lowered his head close to his motorcycle, and he felt like a leaf in the hurricane. He could not do anything about it.

Zhou Qingfeng was hit by countless broken pieces of concrete. During the one to two seconds when the motor went over the fence and reached the ground, he felt like the flying debris went through his hands and legs. His back, the most important part, was protected by DogMeat.

“Stupid dog!” As the motor reached the ground, so did DogMeat. Zhou Qingfeng saw DogMeat when he turned around and felt terrible. The fur on DogMeat’s back was all gone, and its armored body was covered with bullet holes. Its internal electrical devices were strongly impacted. As a result, it could not balance itself, and could not even stand properly.

Zhou Qingfeng instantly became outraged. His blood boiled. He carried DogMeat with one arm. At the same time, he pushed the accelerator all the way down and quickly escaped.

As he traveled around a kilometer, he saw David Lawrence with his heavy Harley. He followed to see what was going on when he saw Zhou Qingfeng rushing to chase after Richard. The moment he saw Zhou Qingfeng’s terrible appearance, he was shocked, and he asked, “Victor, what’s going on?”

“Run, there’s a tank!” Zhou Qingfeng snapped, and once again David Lawrence was astonished.

While they were still in the effective shooting range, another shot fired. It was a highly explosive grenade launched from around two thousand meters away from them. It flew over David Lawrence’s head and landed a few hundred meters away from them.

The power of the grenade was completely destructive. Everything around them seemed weightless as they were blown off by the explosive wave. It could even knock out people a hundred meters away with its shock wave. Without waiting for an explanation, David Lawrence immediately turned around. It was Superman’s job to fight against a tank in a war!

As they arrived at the Bronx, both of them found the time to catch their breaths after running from the gates of hell.

“Victor, why is that tank shooting at us?” David Lawrence felt outraged and frustration with the emergence of the tank.

“It’s Skull and Bones. The guy I was chasing should be one of them. I think they’re starting to try conquering Manhattan.” Zhou Qingfeng carefully checked his dearest dog, then found that DogMeat had recovered.

The robotic dog was originally designed and produced for military purposes. It was required to follow soldiers to the front lines. In fact, some of its internal devices have been designed to have resistance to blast impact. After some self-adjustment, it started to move normally again.

Conversely, Zhou Qingfeng was still in a very bad condition. The wound on his face had only been gone for two days, but his entire body was injured again. He was nearly killed by the flying concrete debris blown by the armor-piercing bullet. His skin was also severely injured. The moment they stopped and relaxed, he felt that the pain could even kill him!

“Victor, we need to leave this place.”

“No, we can’t. We need to stop the tanks from Skull and Bones. Otherwise, our base will be gone if they come all the way through.” Zhou Qingfeng started to eat all the food with him as he talked to provide the nutrients for his body’s recovery.

“You’re right,” David Lawrence said, his face cold and filled with worry, “but it’s gonna be hard for just the two of us to fight against the tanks.”

“I bet the speed of those tanks is slow. We could set up traps along the way.” Zhou Qingfeng petted DogMeat’s head and commanded, “Go and find Katrina. There should still be some directional anti-personnel mines with her. I’ll ask her to ready them, and you bring them here.”

DogMeat could transport a large number of resources, so this was a good chance to exploit its ability. Meanwhile, Zhou Qingfeng immediately contacted Lena Fox and asked for her opinion. After all, Zhou Qingfeng could only hold his place for one to two days, but after that, they could only run!

However, Zhou Qingfeng was surprised by Lena Fox’s reply. Lena Fox requested them to return immediately.

“Why? The tanks from Skull and Bones will be headed straight to our base.”

“Victor, there’s already a tank here!” Miss Fox cried out loud.

Zhou Qingfeng was astonished. “What? They’re attacking us from different directions?”

“No, it’s the Brotherhood of Steel. They were the ones who locked up Staten Island. Recently, they imported an army into Manhattan, and there are thousands of them from what I’ve heard. They also have tanks with them. They’re coming toward the north along the roads. Victor, please come back. I’m so scared!”

Zhou Qingfeng started to panic as he listened to Lena Fox. David Lawrence felt even worse. His face turned pale once he heard the news. Human lives were worthless when war started. He mumbled, “Angie, Angie, my daughter is still in the community. I need to go back and save her.”

As his wife was still missing, Angie had been his greatest comfort since then. The moment he heard that his daughter was in danger, he immediately got on his heavy Harley and went back with lightning speed. Zhou Qingfeng had no choice but to take out the morphine from his first aid kit and injecting it into himself, before following David.

However, on their way back, a few light-armored vehicles emblazoned with the logo of wings, swords, and gears came out of the road. The people on the vehicles announced arrogantly through the megaphones, “People of Manhattan, you’re under the Brotherhood of Steel from now on.”

“You’ll need to be registered and give up all your weapons and resources. We’ll rearrange new jobs according to your own ability, and supply the resources that you require. Of course, you will be punished if you try to resist. No arguments and negotiations are allowed; you have to obey us unconditionally.

“Last but not the least, please love your life, so don’t try to do anything stupid.”

The members of the Brotherhood of Steel made their announcement from the armored vehicle using their megaphone as they charged recklessly toward the community. But all of a sudden, another tank was aiming at them. Bang! The armored vehicle had exploded after being shot by an armor-piercing missile.

The real war has started!

Chapter end