CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER 62: SHIFTING OFFENSE AND DEFENSE

After blowing up three vehicles, Qu Jianlei felt somewhat relieved of the pent-up frustration in his heart.

Although the electromagnetic cannon was powerful, it ultimately couldn’t match the speed of a laser rifle, making it somewhat difficult to hit moving targets.

There weren’t many shells left at his side, just a little over thirty.

Yet, as luck would have it, a truck accelerated away and fired its machine gun at him while escaping.

The truck was heavily modified for protection, clearly robust, and crucially, it had a machine gun mounted at the rear.

Seeing this, Qu Jianlei grew furious and fired a high-explosive bomb, creating a large hole two meters from the truck.

The truck shook violently.

Qu Jianlei swiftly switched magazines, and the next moment, a standard bullet hit the back of the truck heavily.

The truck now had a big hole, immediately stopping and only moving forward by inertia.

Qu Jianlei switched back to high-explosive bombs and fired another round, blowing the massive truck into pieces.

The other vehicles, seeing this, fled frantically—no one dared to fight back this time.

However, Qu Jianlei was not ready to let it go, noticing another truck of a similar model, and fired two more rounds, directly blowing the truck up.

His judgment was indeed correct; both trucks belonged to the Hongyi Settlement City Guard.

Seeing this, the other cars were terrified and scattered away like lost souls.

Qu Jianlei, piloting the Mecha, emerged from the warehouse, a bit surprised, "These people are hunting me down without bringing machine cannons?"

He only found out much later that the adventurers on the opposite side not only underestimated him but were also somewhat apprehensive of the General Settlement’s requisition.

The General Settlement’s operations were not only ruthless but overbearing—who among the survivors wandering the wild wouldn’t be wary?

Besides, was it necessary to carry machine cannons when tracking an adventurer without even a vehicle?

Without any machine cannon to retaliate, Qu Jianlei, on the contrary, was in no hurry to escape.

He controlled the Mecha to move forward and picked up two seemingly intact vehicle-mounted machine guns—he only had a single soldier machine gun.

Then he selected some ammunition.

To his surprise, he found a water purifier, not electric, needing replacement of its filter cartridge and filter paper.

To be honest, he had already planned to seize some mountain spring water—those springs were also in the mountains.

With this item, the drinking water issue was basically resolved.

Collecting these spoils took just over a minute, then he no longer lingered and turned to head in the direction of the Endless Mountain Range.

While he was collecting, his position was relatively fixed, and others could have shot at him.

But no one dared to provoke him further, and only a while later did someone exclaim, "He’s heading into the mountains!"

At night, directions were hard to discern, and to realize this required a real survival expert.

As luck would have it, a car was also fleeing in this direction—the chaos was so intense, people were running every which way.

And very unfortunately, the speed at which this vehicle fled couldn’t keep up with the Mecha’s advancing speed.

Such scenarios could only occur in the Wasteland... or the wild outdoors.

On flat roads, if these trucks fled at full throttle, they could temporarily reach a speed of 120 to 150 km/h.

While the Mecha’s travel speed on highways was just over 90 km/h.

But in the wild, the Mecha could maintain a speed of over 80 km/h.

However, the trucks couldn’t manage it, their top speed capped at 60 km/h.

Any faster and, even if the passengers could withstand it, the chassis couldn’t take it.

In fact, even those who have undergone aerospace training might not cope with such jolting.

Seeing the Mecha closing in step by step, the people in the vehicle despaired.

"Damn it, why did we ask for trouble, and he’s still relentlessly pursuing us?"

This was an adventurer team, temporarily conscripted; of course, the employer would pay some compensation.

Crucially, they also fancied the high bounty, hence their eagerness.

Upon realizing they hit a stalemate, they decided to cut and run—typical for Wasteland adventurers.

At that moment, the public channel was already in chaos, and they didn’t even know their opponent might be intending to enter the mountains.

"Worst case, we’ll fight," someone shouted; adventurers never lack those unafraid of death.

"Stop the vehicle!" the leader in the passenger seat commanded, "Everyone jump off and run. Perhaps he just wants to scavenge."

The leader saw quite clearly when Qu Jianlei scavenged the loot, despite the very dim light.

The truck screeched to a halt, and four crew members jumped off, scattering and vanishing into the night swiftly.

The leader did not leave; he jumped off and raised his left hand, pressing his right hand to his chest, making an "OK" gesture.

Such a combination gesture meant he surrendered and was willing to yield.

Whether or not the opposition would accept was not within his consideration.

The small group had scrimped and saved for so long, finally piecing together a vehicle, spending heavily on modifications; he was reluctant to abandon it.

So even if it might cost him his life, he had to bet on this chance: even if it cost his life, he might save his brothers’ lives.

If we can keep the car intact, that would be the best outcome.

Qu Jianlei wasn’t seeing red; seeing the other party intending to surrender, he brought the Mecha to an abrupt halt. "What do you mean?"

Seeing his willingness to communicate, the leader immediately brightened up and gestured towards the car’s bed.

"Take whatever you want from the car; if it gets damaged, that wouldn’t be good."

You let me take it? Then I won’t be polite! Qu Jianlei raised his hand, and the mechanical arm forcefully tore down the vehicle-mounted machine gun.

Then he collected a box of machine gun bullets, "What do you need?"

"I hope we can keep the car," the leader replied straightforwardly, "We were just conscripted, no malice towards you."

He still used a little bit of rhetoric to cover up his greed for the bounty.

If he was really against it, he could work without effort, and the General Settlement could do nothing to him.

Hongyi Settlement, with a sequence number of "one," truly had an influence that other settlements couldn’t compare to.

"What do I need your car for?" Qu Jianlei looked at him in surprise, put away the loot, and continued to rush forward.

Only then did the leader realize that the person was just passing by, and they voluntarily stopped and surrendered.

"Oh, so you were heading to the mountains, you should have said so earlier, we could have made way."

It’s easy to say, but doing so on a battlefield is not easy at all.

However, he was also a little relieved, "Paid some price but ultimately saved the car, otherwise if that guy went crazy..."

When adventurers’ emotions burst out, killing people indiscriminately is quite normal.

However, what he didn’t expect was that after passing Black Heaven, his team was wiped out the next day by people from the General Settlement.

The people from the General Settlement came in furious, believing this team not only deserted in battle but also surrendered and aided the enemy.

Why keep such people alive to produce excrement?

This small team eventually didn’t escape their fate of annihilation, showing the domineering nature of the General Settlement.

Qu Jianlei didn’t think much, controlling the Mecha towards the Endless Mountain Range... this was the final barrier.

On the outskirts of the Endless Mountain Range, there were people farming, also responsible for fending off beast attacks, and indeed they had cannons there.

Although most of the cannon muzzles were pointed towards the depths of the Endless Mountain Range, there were no fixed artillery positions, everything was mobile.

The Wasteland is an apocalyptic landscape, not only the air and water polluted, but electromagnetic interference was also strong, however, short-range hand radios worked.

Qu Jianlei didn’t think that the speed of the Mecha could surpass radio waves, so there was bound to be another battle when entering the mountains.

However, his guess was a bit off, for when entering the mountains, he didn’t encounter strong resistance.

He chose a very difficult path, but such terrain posed no great trouble for the Mecha.

Sporadic artillery fire came his way, Qu Jianlei counterattacked without hesitation, not sparing ammunition to destroy the opposition.

After taking out two fire points, no one fired at him anymore.

These people were connected internally, already heard talk that this person blew up two trucks with five shots.

Against a guy like this, willing to waste ammunition for revenge, who would want to provoke him?

Tested once, lost two cannons, that’s considered a report, better stop now.

Surely, everyone can’t be sacrificed here just to make a statement, right?

Driving the Mecha into the mountains, the sound wasn’t ordinary, but it was nighttime, and generally people wouldn’t go looking for trouble.

So, with such a wild rush, Qu Jianlei drove out of the safe zone, into the danger zone, and then into the extremely dangerous zone.

However, just behind him, three other Mechas gradually entered the mountainous region.

These were Mecha units from the Hongyi Settlement; actually, the entire settlement had only nine Mechas, and none of them were heavy Mechas.

But the equipment on these three Mechas was far stronger than Qu Jianlei’s.

Not to mention, these three were all combat Mechas, unlike Qu Jianlei’s, which was merely the weakest transport Mecha in terms of combat power.

The combat Mechas moved faster than the transport Mecha, and the Mecha handlers had high morale.

"To be hammered by a transport Mecha... we’ve got to step it up, Hongyi can’t afford this loss of face."

"Pursue, capture him alive!" That was the reply from his comrades.

Combat Mechas had thick armor and agile movements, not easy to deal with.

With the electromagnetic cannon in Qu Jianlei’s hand, if not targeted correctly, it would only cause some damage, maybe not even affecting the battle.

Unfortunately, their pursuit was a bit delayed, at least three to four hours behind.

By then, Qu Jianlei had already entered the extremely dangerous zone and slowed his pace.

The nighttime in the Endless Mountain Range, even in a Mecha, he feared, for there were too many Mutant Beasts that could corrode the Mecha.

So by daylight, he found a cave he had planned ahead and hid inside.

In the following days, people from the General Settlement and Hongyi went crazy, searching everywhere for traces of Black Heaven.

Even at night, they wouldn’t stop, attracting quite a few Mutant Beasts.

(Updated, during the book’s early period, seeking all kinds of support.)