CH 276

Bang!

A soldier fell to the ground on the spot.

"Enemy! There's still an enemy!"

Several captains reacted quickly, shouting loudly as they crawled outside.

Bang!

Another gunshot, and another person fell.

Xu Chaogong cursed, "Are you all pigs? How can people hide in such a small square?"

"Quick, search for me!"

"Protect me!"

"Over there! Over there!"

The square descended into chaos, filled with curses, shouts, orders, running, and gunfire. The soldiers could hear the gunfire nearby, but they couldn't find the enemy.

In the chaos, the sound of gunfire continued, one person after another fell, until a circle of people around a certain area, someone realized something was wrong.

"There, there! There's a gun in that mud pit, firing!"

The gun turned around instantly, shooting the person who shouted.

But it was too late. Everyone looked over and saw a small, inconspicuous puddle of mud under the thin mist, with a barely noticeable gun barrel sticking out.

Bang, the gun barrel spewed flames, and another person fell!

"Damn it! So that's where they were hiding!"

"I knew something was off!"

"A bunch of idiots!"

Xu Chaogong cursed, "Being played like this, start shooting!"

In an instant, a barrage of gunfire poured down, and the small mud pit splashed countless droplets of mud, as if it were boiling. But the gun barrel retracted in an instant, and when the shooting stopped, it extended out again to fire.

Xu Chaogong's face turned red with anger as he shouted, "Throw a grenade and blow this turtle out!"

Several grenades were thrown in.

After a moment, several muffled sounds, and the mud splashed up, covering them.

"Damn it."

Several captains cursed angrily as they brushed off the mud on their bodies:

"To think there are still people like this, are these eels turned into spirits?"

"And how could you not see such a big mud pit, what are you eating?"

"A bunch of useless people."

Xu Chaogong pointed around, "You, go down and drag the bodies up for me."

Several soldiers looked grim, but they still tied ropes and one of them put on goggles, took a deep breath, and jumped down.

The mud pit was very small, with a diameter of only a little over a meter, not much larger than an adult. It looked shallow, but it turned out that people could hide inside.

Several soldiers found it hard to believe.

One of them said, "I feel like ever since we started attacking this county, strange things have been happening."

"Yeah, that group of people at the intersection before looked strange. I clearly hit many of them with my gun, but they didn't budge."

"I noticed that too. I shot one person's head seven times, and he didn't die. He was still shooting. I thought I missed, but when I cleared the bodies just now, I saw seven bullet holes in a body, but it only had half a body, the blood had dried up, and it had long been dead!"

"No way, is this just a coincidence?"

"If it's a coincidence, it's too much of a coincidence!"

"Really, I feel like there's something wrong in this county, maybe there's something unclean."

"In this wilderness, it's possible."

As they spoke, several soldiers felt a chill, and a cold feeling spread up their backs.

They dared not speak and each thought of leaving this haunted place as soon as possible.

At this moment, the rope in their hands moved, and several soldiers immediately pulled up with force.

But after just two pulls, a strong force suddenly came from the rope, pulling the soldiers into the mud pit. The last person reacted in time and let go at the last moment.

Seeing several comrades disappear into the mud pit, he shouted in fear, "Water ghost! There's a water ghost here!"

A senior officer came up and kicked him, "What are you yelling about?"

The soldier was already terrified, using both hands and feet to crawl away, "There really is a water ghost! It dragged Wang Wu and the others down!"

"What?"

The officer turned to look at the mud pit, and indeed, several soldiers had disappeared, and the ropes were gone.

He realized that something was wrong, and was about to speak out, but another gun emerged from the mud pit and shot him.

Gunshots continued, and in an instant, a group of people fell.

Amidst the smoke and screams, Xu Chaogong finally understood what was happening.

A strange person who could breathe in the mud, was using the mud pit as a trench, engaging them in trench warfare.

He seemed to have a special way of observing, being able to see the surroundings without coming ashore.

And with just half a gun barrel exposed, he could accurately shoot at them.

Throwing grenades was useless. The mud pit was very deep, and the grenades couldn't reach the bottom. After the explosion, he would resurface in less than ten seconds.

After more than twenty minutes of trench warfare with a monster in the mud pit, they had only left behind a pile of bodies, and gained nothing else.

The soldiers dared not approach, only daring to shoot from a distance. Xu Chaogong and the others were furious, but couldn't think of a solution.

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Generally, in trench warfare, once you charge into the enemy's trench, victory is almost guaranteed.

However, the enemy's trench was a deep, bottomless mud pit. They could only charge to the edge of the mud pit, but couldn't charge in.

Grenades, incendiary bombs, gas bombs, white phosphorus bombs, all effective methods against trenches, were meaningless against the mud pit.

Grenades couldn't reach the bottom, only temporarily delaying the enemy's attack.

Incendiary bombs were useless, who had ever seen an incendiary bomb ignite in the mud?

As for other things, they didn't have gas bombs and white phosphorus bombs, but they probably wouldn't be effective anyway.

The most incomprehensible thing was that the enemy seemed to have X-ray vision, always able to detect their ambushes. No matter how they threw grenades, the enemy could always dodge them.

If they threw too early, the enemy would throw the grenades back, blowing themselves up.

Finally, someone suggested finding a large iron box and covering the mud pit with it.

To be honest, while this idea seemed like a retreat, it really struck a chord with Xu Chaogong.

After the mud pit threw out another grenade and killed a team of soldiers, he finally made up his mind.

"Go find a metal box and cover that turtle up, suffocate him!"However, moments later, bad news came from behind: the squad sent out to search for the iron box had been ambushed and half of them killed on the way.

Xu Chaogong leapt to his feet, this couldn't have been the work of clay figurines, there must be enemies from outside.

He immediately dispatched half of his forces to meet the battle, thinking to himself, "I may not be able to handle the turtle king inside, but I should be able to squeeze the soft persimmons outside."

About thirty minutes later, there was a chaotic burst of gunfire and explosions outside, accompanied by screams and curses flying together. The two regiment leaders who had gone out came running back with their heads in their hands, their bodies battered and their clothes blown off, shouting, "Commander Xu, it's bad! We're surrounded! The enemy outside is elite, we can't beat them!"

"Bullshit!" Xu Chaogong cursed angrily, "We'll gather all our forces and break out!" But in his heart, he knew something was wrong and thought of retreating.

Several regiment leaders quickly assembled all the troops and launched a fierce attack in two directions.

But along the way, not only did they not encounter a single enemy, they were also hit by sniper fire from all sides, various attacks from the underworld that caught them completely off guard.

Finally breaking through the central gate, the situation worsened; the ground had been mined with cunning explosives at some point, and one misstep meant losing limbs.

Looking around, not a single living person could be seen, only the relentless sniper fire. Xu Chaogong forcefully ordered his troops to charge outwards, but after a series of explosions, they ultimately had to retreat and regroup.

After several more charges, all resulting in heavy losses, the morale of the troops had plummeted to freezing point, and no one was willing to go out and face the sniper fire again.

Meanwhile, the enemy began to advance inward.

Left with no choice, Xu Chaogong could only order a defense while simultaneously calling for reinforcements from the Governor's Mansion.

However, the communications officer quickly returned to report that the telephone lines had been cut at some unknown time.

Worse still, the enemy began their assault from outside, and the clay figurines inside became active again, sticking out guns and firing randomly, leaving the soldiers unable to defend from both front and back.

What was even more infuriating was that sometimes the enemy would switch to a heavy sniper rifle to pierce through those with less sturdy cover.

Under the pincer attack from inside and out, morale finally collapsed, and the soldiers threw down their weapons to surrender.

"We surrender! Generals, stop firing! We surrender!"

Xu Chaogong was filled with frustration but knew he was powerless to change the situation, so he, along with the other regiment leaders, discarded their firearms and knelt to surrender.

The gunfire gradually ceased.

Only then did they finally see the true face of the enemy: dressed in grey clothes, wearing large grey hats, and standing with high collars, they looked like special agents as they emerged from the shadows and corners.

With a splash, a person leaped out of the clay figurine pit. He looked no different from a normal person, with mud and water streaming down his body, but it was still apparent that he was wearing a large cloak and carrying many firearms, with a mask on his face.

As the mud water flowed down from the mask, everyone could see the words written on it.

Beast Path.

"Is this some kind of bio-modified human's insignia?"

The regiment leaders thought to themselves, feeling even more humiliated. They had been played by a special operations unit, dragged here for so long, only to be finally encircled by the enemy's main force.

A young man in grey clothes ran out from among them. He had sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, thin lips and a straight nose, his stature as elegant as a jade tree, his face sculpted like a statue, a standard handsome man, only his demeanor was flamboyant, his face full of obsequious flattery, which was quite degrading.

"Sheriff Lin!" he shouted, rushing forward to throw himself into the embrace of the clay figurine, only to be thrown out by the clay figurine.

"Damn!"

"No way."

"Is this for real?"

The regiment leaders were all dumbfounded.

"Is this the legendary new Sheriff of Changshan County, the unprecedented ruler of an independent kingdom with the three powers combined in the Empire, the divine figure who infuriated Governor Chang to death?"

"It's actually him who has been fighting us all along."

It was rare enough for a Sheriff to personally enter the battlefield, but this one not only personally fought, he also plunged into the front lines and held off an army of thousands with his own strength.

"No wonder we were defeated so miserably!"

The regiment leaders all thought to themselves in an instant.

Some were also thinking, "The Sheriff of Changshan County is actually a modified human, this is earth-shattering news! If this gets out, he's finished."

The Empire strictly forbade the modification of humans, but since the Royal Guard and the Imperial Garrison troops were all bio-modified special forces, this decree was almost meaningless.

However, in the Empire, modified humans were still not allowed to appear in the sunlight, especially officials were strictly forbidden from using bio-modification, it was an ethical taboo, and once discovered, immediate dismissal was the consequence.

Sheriff Lin dared to defy the world's greatest taboo and modify himself, which was unimaginable.

Xu Chaogong thought deeper, his face turning pale in an instant, and he shouted:

"I, I am willing to defect! Rock State Governor Chang Shengkai is utterly evil, heartless, wicked beyond redemption, and has the heart of a beast. He dares to be the enemy of the great human beacon, the savior of the universe, our role model, the wise and martial Sheriff Lin. I have long been unable to stand it, I have long admired the reputation of Sheriff Lin and have wanted to join under his command, but I never had the chance!"

"Thank heavens, today I finally meet friendly forces, I am willing to be the pawn in front of Sheriff Lin's chariot, to dedicate my last bit of strength to the great cause of Sheriff Lin."

Bang!

A bullet grazed by his cheek, hitting the ground behind him, kicking up a half-foot-high cloud of dust.

Xu Chaogong knelt on the ground, his crotch wet.