This Game Is Too Real-Chapter 774: The End of the Civil War

Under the cover of naval gunfire, four "Viper" transport planes quickly penetrated the defensive line of the North Island coastline, and a total of twenty-five power armors swiftly deployed at the airport.

Facing this group of fierce demons, heavily armed to the teeth, the police guard platoon responsible for airport security almost instantly collapsed in the firefight, retreating in defeat after just exchanging blows.

Gunfire continuously flickered on the outskirts of the airport, shooting trails of tracer bullets shuttling recklessly across the runway, weaving an impenetrable net.

Hunkered behind a square sandbag wall, the platoon leader wearing a bulletproof vest pressed his helmet hard against the sandbags, not daring to lift his gun out of cover to return fire.

Not far from him, a medical soldier was desperately trying to save a casualty lying on a stretcher.

The casualty’s leg was blown off, his pale face covered in sweat beads, gasping for breath like a beached goldfish.

The platoon leader clenched his teeth and shouted into his walkie-talkie.

"Outer defenses have collapsed! Their firepower is too fierce! We need reinforcements!"

The other end of the walkie-talkie was a cacophony of noise; he waited a long while but received no response, only hearing a series of explosions.

"Damn!"

The platoon leader cursed, shoved the walkie-talkie back onto his shoulder, crouched low, and stuck his rifle out of cover, spraying bullets towards the source of the incoming gunfire.

However, before he could fire twice, two long trails of tracer bullets whizzed by his barrel, exploding on the ground in front of him.

The projectiles must have been at least 20 millimeters in diameter, bouncing into the sky the instant they hit the ground, yet the thunderous noise of the impact left his head buzzing.

Debris kicked up by the bullets hit his face, and he couldn’t help but cry out in pain, falling backward onto the ground.

"Ah—!!"

The Alliance did not cease fire.

One power armor intermittently fired its 20mm Cavalry Gun to suppress the cover, while the other three power armors advanced methodically towards the cover, their gun barrels soon targeting the guards behind it.

There was no doubt about the outcome.

The platoon leader of the guard immediately dropped his rifle, and even without waiting for the other side to speak, he obediently put his hands over his head and squatted by the wall.

"I surrender!"

Old White gestured to a teammate, signaling them to take out plastic ties to bind these prisoners.

Then he raised his right hand and swiped his index finger several times over the floating windows of his Tactical Goggles, setting the next phase of attack targets for each squad on the map.

The Y-2 drones fighting alongside them had already completed a full-scale scan of the battlefield topography, with enemy units identified and indicated in red on the map.

The entire process was just like a game.

Although this was indeed a game.

With the help of the quadrotor drones, six squads reached their planned target areas, controlling over 80% of the airport facilities, especially the crucial runway.

"Security station is suppressed!"

"We’ve taken the hangar!"

"Enemy reinforcements spotted! Eyewitness count is 317 individuals, with 10 police armored vehicles, and two suspected armored units! Likely the Federation Marine Corps!"

Hearing the voice on the communication channel, Killer Dagger almost laughed out loud, unable to resist mocking.

"That’s all they have?"

Taking a look at the smoky airport, Kidney Fighter also spoke teasingly.

"Think about it, there are only a few tens of thousands of people on the entire island, they still need to maintain a navy, so it’s not bad that they can muster a battalion."

This place was a complete contrast to the situation in Poluo Province; the entire North Island combined was smaller than Jinjaron Harbor, and its military force could not even muster a thousand team.

Of course, even if they couldn’t muster a thousand team, throwing this airport’s police guard platoon into combat in Poluo Province against a thousand team wouldn’t be a problem.

After all, the West Winds Empire was picking up scraps discarded by the Army, whereas the Federation’s armed forces were designed with the Army as a hypothetical adversary.

There’s no comparison in terms of productivity and education level; even the military literacy of an average soldier here was quite a bit higher than many low-ranking officers from the West Winds Empire.

As the two chatted leisurely, Old White’s voice came through the communication channel.

"...Don’t let your guard down, the Battle isn’t over yet! Kill Dagger, the Federation Marine Corps is to your northwest, expected contact within three minutes. I’m transferring command of the nearby two squads to you, stop them! Don’t let them get close to the runway!"

"Understood!"

Listening to the voice on the communication channel, Kill Dagger immediately acknowledged and shouted back to his brothers,

"Brothers! We’ve got work to do!"

"Ooooh!!"

Exhilarated, Kidney Fighter inserted a new drum of ammunition into his machine gun, racking the bolt with a click.

And at that very moment, Old White, who was in the security station, had already taken control of the airport’s communication equipment, and got in touch with French Fries Harbor’s command center via the local radio tower.

"We have control of the airport; we’re ahead of schedule by 10 minutes. How long till reinforcements?"

After a brief static, the operator’s voice came through.

"Reinforcement troops have already departed, 15 minutes of flight time away from you."

"Tell them to hurry up, I’m worried the Torch might send reinforcements to North Island. If we can’t finish the fight quickly on the ground, we’ll be in for a tough battle... and it might be hard to limit civilian casualties."

"Understood, we’re communicating with the reinforcements."

After ending the communication, Old White left a squad to defend on the spot and immediately took the remaining players to reinforce the northwest side of the airport.

The three squads led by Kill Dagger would intercept the Federation Marine Corps from the front, while they would flank the enemy’s side in coordination with the Alliance’s aerial units to deal with the relatively troublesome enemy armor after the two sides engaged.

As the Burning Corps’ vanguard prepared for the enemy, the Federation’s Marine Corps had also reached the entrance on the northwest side of the airport.

With an explosion of a rifle grenade, the battle was ignited in an instant.

The airport, which had been quiet for a few minutes, was once again drowned by the clamor of gunfire.

The Federation Marine Corps organized a battalion to confront them, even rolling out the police riot-control vehicles parked at the station and two "Short Snout Crocodile" amphibious armored vehicles, which were only prototypes and had not officially been put into production.

The latter was a type of amphibious warfare equipment developed by North Island Heavy Industries under Charles’s command, originally designated for use in landing operations on Anle Island and Ring Island.

However, before this equipment could be put to use, North Island had already been preemptively landed on by the South Sea Alliance.

Even though the firepower of this light armor was much stronger than the "single soldier armor" like power armor, the numbers were still too few after all.

Not only that, but since the equipment itself was still in development and had not been officially commissioned, the Federal Navy had no experience in coordinating combat operations with mechanized infantry,

Two "Short Snout Crocodile" amphibious armored vehicles had barely made it to the front line when they got stuck in a predicament of disconnection from the infantry, blocked in the alleys near the airport.

Seizing that fleeting opportunity, Kill dagger didn’t hesitate to take off the Pigeon Missile Launcher strapped to his back, threw a "Cover me!" to his teammates, and climbed over the half-collapsed low wall onto the roof of a building on the side of the alley.

Both armored vehicles were in full view, with the lead one bracing its 30mm Rapid-fire Cannon, unleashing firepower towards the airport in an attempt to chase away the "Viper" transport plane hovering in mid-air providing cover for the ground troops.

Kill dagger took a deep breath, expertly activated the camera function of the launcher, aimed at the armored vehicle only 150 meters away, and pressed the shutter, the sensor at the head of the missile immediately locked onto the target.

With all preparations complete, he didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger, shouting excitedly at the same time,

"RPG!"

Although what he fired was not an RPG, he still habitually yelled it out.

The thick trail of white smoke, like an arrow leaving the bow, struck straight under the turret of the armored vehicle, which then exploded like a lighter, bursting into a dazzling firework amid deafening explosion sounds.

The Pigeon Missile, with its metallic hydrogen warhead, had significantly more destructive power than a typical RPG Armor-Piercing Bomb, even though it cost dozens of times more.

The surrounding Federation Marine Corps soldiers were all shell-shocked by the light of the explosion, and upon snapping back to reality, they swiveled their muzzles towards the direction from which the plume of white smoke had emerged and opened fire.

Kill dagger was about to load another missile when he discovered that the armored vehicle behind had turned its barrel towards him. He got startled and hurriedly jumped down from the roof.

But he soon realized it was just a false alarm.

After witnessing the explosion of the armored vehicle in front, the one following panicked, frantically reversed while firing a barrage towards the roof.

The roar from the muzzle stunned the Marines guarding both sides of the armored vehicle, giving them a round of dizzying tinnitus. They couldn’t even steady their aim, let alone their rifles.

"Damn, firing on their own troops, experts, huh!" Kill dagger, who had just jumped down from the roof, was dumbstruck. Had he known they were this poor at coordination, he would have stayed on the roof.

While he was in his daze, a series of whooshing sounds flew over his head, followed by the concurrent roar of the cannon and the barrage of shrapnel!

The armored vehicle, which was retreating in panic while opening fire, was clearly marked by friendly forces, and with the muzzle flash exposing its position, the brothers flying above didn’t even need guided missiles, they simply strafed with machine guns and opened it like a can of tuna.

The relatively thin top armor was like paper mache in the face of the aircraft-mounted 20mm Armor Piercing Incendiary Bullets, the turret was flung into the air.

The soldiers crouching beside the armored vehicle suffered the same fate, as they were buried in the dust by the splattering shrapnel, and the entire alley instantly fell silent.

Watching the fireworks explode like fireworks and the P-2 "Lightning" attack planes skim low over the rubble, the players firing from behind the cover all cheered excitedly,

"Beautifully done!"

Just having completed the lock-on, Kill dagger lowered the missile launcher in his hand, smacking his lips with a sense of unfulfilled desire,

"Damn it! They stole my kill!"

But, after all, machine guns are cheaper than missiles, so let them steal if they will.

Unlike the Burning Corps, at this moment, the morale of the Federal Navy Marines had plummeted into the abyss.

Staring at the burning alley not far away, the Commander of the Marine Corps, Lundy, had eyes that bulged with frustration, his face the color of earth, etched with despair.

The two "Short Snout Crocodile" armored vehicles were practically their only reliance, yet they couldn’t even hold out for ten minutes against the Alliance’s airborne forces.

Although their equipment and training were far superior to that of the airport’s security company, even possessing some remnants from the Era of Prosperity, they were still far outmatched by these professionals.

At that moment, two "Overlord" transport planes also emerged on the horizon, their massive bodies and long plasma streaks as conspicuous as shooting stars in the night sky.

The towering fuselages heavily landed on the airport runway, slid for a distance, then came to a standstill, and the broad, heavy cargo doors began to lower.

Eight menacing armored vehicles drove out from the cargo hold—the Alliance’s "Chimera"!

Nearly five hundred soldiers, fitted with exoskeletons to the teeth, disembarked alongside them.

Their hands grasped compact assault rifles, and the gleaming bulletproof breastplates emitted a chilling shine.

"It’s already over..."

Continuing the fight would only mean sending the young lads of North Island to certain death.

If the Alliance’s planes could come once, they could come a second time, and there was no chance they could retake the airport with their meager forces.

Even if the battleship returned, it would be useless; a fleet without a port is an orphan at sea.

After seeing the two transport planes land, Lundy completely lost the will to resist.

Looking to his deputy commander, whose face was also the color of earth, his Adam’s apple moved, and he finally squeezed out that helpless phrase.

"...We have lost."

...

After the futile resistance, the Federal Marine Corps ultimately chose to surrender.

Apart from Charles’s personal guards who were still stubbornly resisting at the Presidential Mansion, there was no longer any resistance on North Island.

Charles did not allow the mutants onto the island, probably the only good thing he did.

Otherwise, the situation would have been a lot more troublesome.

Having communicated with the South Sea Union’s Navy Headquarters, the command of French Fries Harbor Military Base decided not to bomb the Presidential Mansion but to send ground forces to capture Charles and his cronies.

After Old White and Fang Chang met up, they quickly devised a plan to attack the Presidential Mansion and unanimously decided to pull another plane of troops from French Fries Harbor to let the rookies in the corps get some practice in storming buildings.

As for Charles himself, while he might hold significance for the South Sea Union, to the Alliance and players he seemed dispensable.

By comparison, ensuring the safety of the local survivors and the integrity of industrial facilities, especially guarding against The Church’s mutant forces landing, was of the utmost importance.

As for the locals’ own matters, they traditionally never intervened.

At the same time the Burning Corps took North Island, the Federation’s fleet finally made contact with the South Sea Alliance Fleet.

Signals from both sides appeared on each other’s radar, and the situation became instantly tense.

On board the Harpoon Cruiser, the Fleet Commander Wu Meng watched the radar signals coldly, ready to issue the order to attack.

However, right at that moment, a communication request came in from the Anle Island Command.

"Can you establish a communication channel with the Sea Edge?"

Upon hearing Commander Li Minghui’s voice, Wu Meng slightly paused and furrowed his brow.

"We can... but is it necessary?"

"Contact them!"

Wu Meng pondered for two seconds before finally nodding his head.

"Alright."

After the order was given, the communications officer began attempting to establish contact with the Sea Edge Battleship.

However, he didn’t waste the precious waiting time.

He knew very well what kind of person Captain Weike on the other side was—a thorough warmonger and one of Charles’s most loyal die-hard fans.

The word "surrender" simply did not exist in the guy’s dictionary; it was more likely for Charles himself to resign than to expect him to surrender.

As expected, the opposing railgun was probably already charging, and might even have already taken aim at him.

Wu Meng calmly issued the order for first-level battle readiness, putting the weapon systems and defense systems of all ships on standby.

The adjutant standing beside him looked at him nervously.

"Do you think he won’t surrender?"

Wu Meng spoke indifferently.

"I rather hope he doesn’t surrender."

"Why?" The adjutant was startled, looking at the captain in surprise.

Wu Meng’s expression remained unchanged as he succinctly stated,

"The southern sea area needs to recover and we can no longer afford another war... A moderate reduction in armaments is not necessarily a bad thing for us; on the contrary, it could be beneficial and harmless, otherwise, we might be dragged into another war that doesn’t belong to us by our allies, even if they have just causes."

"If they really want that thing, they can pay to buy it from our shipyard. As long as they pay the money and provide the materials, our workers and engineers can build another one for them to operate themselves."

Moreover, the most crucial point was that Charles and his cohorts had to be thoroughly uprooted.

If the Union intervened in their judiciary for strategic reasons, letting the crew of the Sea Edge escape the postwar trial easily, or even continuing to serve on that battleship, it might lay the groundwork for greater troubles in the future.

Of course, this was only his own judgment.

If the upper echelons of the South Sea Union had other ideas, he could only keep his regrets to himself.

At the same time, Commander Li Minghui at Anle Island’s Naval Command was pacing back and forth in front of the sea chart.

Victory was within reach!

His palms were sweaty, half from excitement and half from nervousness.

Charles could no longer cause trouble; now there was only one last mine to be defused.

That would be the Federal Fleet!

Those ships were the property of the survivors of the South Sea Union; they had poured their hearts and souls and sweat into each one, and the loss of even a single vessel would be a tremendous loss!

If possible, he hoped to avoid a final engagement.

As long as those boys were willing to turn around, everything could still be salvaged.

For the sake of bargaining chips to divide the spoils after the war and also for negotiating with the Union, he needed the "Sea Edge," and so did the residents of the South Sea Union!

Moreover, with Charles already having lost the decisive battle, continuing the fight would be pointless now—that wretched worm was shivering in his bunker!

Finally, successful contact was made with the bridge of the Sea Edge Battleship, and he immediately walked over to the communication terminal, placing his hands on the table and staring at the face that appeared on the screen.

"Surrender, Weike! The Burning Corps have landed on North Island, you’ve lost!"

Weike looked at him coldly, his eyes not only devoid of panic but also filled with disdain.

"Cowardly traitors."

"Traitors?" Li Minghui was taken aback, his anger giving way to laughter, "You, who help Charles suppress the residents of the Federal islands with the very artillery and shells they built for you to follow your master, how dare you even utter the word traitor."

"And you?" Weike narrowed his eyes, "What difference is there in what you do?"

"I have always fought for them," Li Minghui said, his face not turning red nor his heart skipping a beat.

Regardless of whether he had felt greed in his heart, he could confidently say that he had not crossed a line, at least up until now.

However, upon hearing his words, Weike suddenly laughed out loud as if he had heard a very funny joke.

"Stop the grandstanding, how much better can you be compared to Charles? At least he could bring us a brighter future! And you, you led the boys of the southern sea area to become the puppets of the Union! To expand territory for them!"

A brighter future?

Like the ghostly state North Island was in now?

Li Minghui looked pityingly at this man who was still delusional, clicking his tongue lightly.

"Is your understanding of a puppet that you’re not willing to be a dog for Charles or the Torch? Poor thing, you really are a dog if you think everyone is like one."

But he regretted saying that as soon as the words left his mouth.

He suddenly remembered that he was here to persuade, not to mock.

Sure enough, the other side was unmoved by his speech, not taking his words to heart at all.

Weike straightened his captain’s cap, expressionless, and said,

"Politicians like you excel at verbal sparring; you have the ability to twist black into white, white into black—that’s your duty, but not mine."

"...It’s futile to talk more, see you on the battlefield."

Li Minghui’s eyes widened.

"Have you gone mad! Can’t you see, even if you win, it’s meaningless now!"

This man was a captain himself; he knew better than anyone what the current situation meant!

"No meaning?" As he looked at the bewildered Li Minghui, Weike wore an indifferent expression and let out a cold laugh, "Doesn’t turning you all into ruins count as meaning?"

At this, his expression suddenly twisted fiercely.

Just like a wild beast trapped in a snare.

"Don’t fucking think you can persuade me with words! Either we all go to heaven, or you all fucking go down to hell! To let you bunch of vermin rule the Southern sea area, I’d rather destroy it with my own hands!"

It’s just a change of ownership!

As long as they could completely annihilate the South Sea Alliance Fleet and then make a beeline for Anle Island, capture Li Minghui and a bunch of officers as hostages, there was a chance to save North Island!

At the very least, he could use that guy as a bargaining chip!

The war had come to this point, the Alliance couldn’t pretend to be indifferent. If they didn’t want to watch the settlements in the Baiyue Strait turn into scorched earth, they should immediately withdraw from North Island!

Expecting me to surrender—

Don’t even think about it!

Looking at the pitch-black screen, Li Minghui’s face was full of astonishment.

The communication officer sitting beside him also had a look of astonishment, but beyond that, there was a hint of speechlessness.

With this level of bluster, he might as well do the persuading himself!

Silence hung over the command center.

Li Minghui’s Adam’s apple moved, and it took him a long time to squeeze out a sentence from his parched throat.

"Mad..."

Both Charles and those who followed him had gone mad...

He took two steps back and sat down in the chair in front of the command table, pinching the bridge of his nose without speaking.

The events to come seemed to hold no suspense.

Before this battle began, they had rehearsed countless times on the sea chart, minimizing the possibility of any mistakes.

But thinking of that battleship, Li Minghui still couldn’t help a pang of heartache.

That was a battleship...

Such a sin!

...

A dazzling white light flashed across the sea surface and soared over the rolling waves, like a bridge extending from the Sea Edge Battleship to the Harpoon Cruiser.

Ballistics is a complex subject, not merely the calculation of parabolic motion but rather the complete design of the projectile’s entire flight.

To regard a railgun as merely a brute-force projectile is quite a lack of imagination. Even in the Classic Era before the Era of Prosperity, people knew to equip shells with time-adaptive fins or other intelligent guidance components.

For the Era of Prosperity, naturally, it wasn’t a difficult thing.

Bolts installed inside the tail end of the mass bomb could utilize the material’s memory properties to record time parameters, causing the shell to deploy flexible fins at the tail after reaching a predetermined height, allowing the projectile flying in an inclined upward trajectory to make a large curvature arc in the air... Macroscopically, it was as if the shell made a bend in the sky.

Including the "air resistance" design of the projectile head, everything from the firing mechanism to the launched projectile head all belonged to the Era of Prosperity’s creations.

Only something else from the Era of Prosperity could contend with it.

The Sea Edge Battleship fired three mass bombs in quick succession, drones flying among the clouds captured the trajectory of the mass bombs and focused their cameras on the Harpoon Cruiser.

But a scene that left everyone on the Sea Edge Battleship dumbfounded occurred.

The Harpoon didn’t activate its Deflection Shield to counter as they had expected but took the hits squarely on the hull.

They intended to trigger the Shield Capacitors to overload using the railgun, but they didn’t expect a one-shot kill.

Incomprehensibly, the mass bomb that struck the cruiser’s bow didn’t punch a hole through the broad bow but grazed it and exploded into the sea!

Columns of water tens of meters high surged skyward, the massive kinetic energy even created a vast cavity below the surface, jerking the majestic cruiser.

Standing inside the bridge, Wu Meng’s right hand clung to a railing as he hastily glanced at the screen. The last hit had only depleted 12% of the energy in the Meissner effect armor capacitor.

Perhaps it was due to the slope of the armor; most of the kinetic energy was absorbed by the sea. This thing, in actual combat, seemed to perform even more impressively than the experimental data suggested. At this rate, he could probably sail the cruiser right up to visual range without issue.

After all, in the brief moment of his astonishment, the ship’s reactor was slowly recharging the armor capacitor.

The Sea Edge Battleship, still not convinced, launched another salvo of three shots.

This time the opponents were unexpectedly lucky, hitting two out of three, with only one going astray.

Seeing that they couldn’t touch him, Wu Meng finally let go of his worries.

While the Sea Edge Battleship was pummeling the Harpoon Cruiser, a sea-skimming anti-ship missile had broken through the Flying Fish Destroyer’s Dot Defense System blind spot and blasted a large hole in its hull.

The Federal Fleet’s left flank defense was instantly breached, and the remaining Defender Destroyer could hardly protect itself, let alone cover the Sea Edge.

That towering steel beast, like a wounded lion, was surrounded by hyenas ready to pounce.

Lying in ambush nearby, the Shark’s Teeth took advantage of the opportunity and bit down without hesitation, firing a torpedo carrying a Metallic Hydrogen warhead at the proud sea giant.

Explosions of flame rose into the sky.

Although the torpedo was prematurely detonated by a decoy, the Shark’s Teeth swiftly launched a second and third torpedo.

Including two other attack nuclear submarines.

It seemed they were born for this moment, and in the end, they indeed fulfilled their mission, sending the Federation—or the traitors of the South Sea Alliance—to the bottom of the sea.

The sole remaining Defender Destroyer wisely raised a white flag, and the commander of the Harpoon Cruiser, Wu Meng, ordered a cease-fire, accepting the surrender of his former comrades.

Looking at the radar screen, where the ripples were slowly disappearing, and at the sonar, where the waves were gradually enlarging, he let out a soft sigh, took off his peaked cap, and placed it over the screen in front of him.

"It’s finally over."

Though the war to settle scores with the Torch Church had not yet ended, at least he wouldn’t have to face those familiar faces anymore...

---

(Thanks to the Lord of "After the Sword’s Plow" for the reward!!!)