Delta: Who are you saying has suffered a loss of strength?

Chapter 348 Peasant

The situation for Team A and Team B is far less relaxed than that for Team C.

The six people were scattered and hidden in a relatively open area in the middle of the corridor.

The machine gunner was blocking the middle of the corridor, and the sound of his rotary machine gun made the whole corridor vibrate.

Each time he pulled the trigger, the rotating barrel assembly unleashed a dense barrage of bullets, covering almost the entire corridor, sending debris flying everywhere.

The six men from the Bald Eagles were scattered along the walls and around the corners, occasionally peeking out to fire a burst of bullets. The bullets hit the heavy armor but did nothing but create a few sparks.

The machine gunner's bullets could almost shatter even the thinnest cover.

"Battlefield System!" Team A's captain gasped for breath, cowering behind the wall. "What was that just now? How could it be so powerful?"

A clear female voice rang in his ear: "Next, I will tell you in the most straightforward, decisive, and unambiguous way that that is a machine gunner."

"Equipped with full-body heavy armor and a rotating multi-barrel machine gun, it has extremely strong close-range firepower suppression capabilities. In frontal firefights, conventional light weapons are basically ineffective against it. You can try to attack its head, which has a chance of penetrating its armor."

"What kind of machine gunner could have such power?!"

A member of Team A crouched a few steps away at the corner, leaning out to try and shoot the machine gunner in the head.

However, the machine gunner actually turned slightly to the side and used his heavy shoulder armor to block the bullet.

A barrage of bullets followed, forcing the team member to hastily retreat. The wall beside his face was riddled with bullet holes, sending dust flying. "These bullets hit like they were hitting steel plates; they have absolutely no effect!"

Captain B peeked half his face out from behind cover on the other side, observing the machine gunner's movements: "This battlefield system is completely useless! It's all just empty talk!"

"Do you guys remember," Captain A wiped the dust off his face, "how John's squad managed to defeat the machine gunners in open terrain?"

Captain B was taken aback, then realized: "Those three monsters?"

He couldn't help but give a wry smile. "Those three monsters? Their equipment could buy dozens of sets of what we're wearing! Level six armor! I can't even dream of it!"

"Moreover, they were the latest brain-computer interfaces at the time, equipped with an exoskeleton system and capable of operating at full overload!"

"These things are enough to kill us!" Team B members chimed in.

"It's not that cheap!"

"What are our lives worth anyway? We're lucky they're not treating us like disposable materials!" one of the team members complained.

Bullets whizzed overhead, whizzing past the walls with sharp, piercing sounds, while tiny pebbles pelted their helmets, making a rattling, unsettling noise.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Team A's captain raised his voice, his tone much harsher than before. "These words might all be recorded!"

He took a breath, changed the direction of the gun, and tried to find a shooting angle from the other side. "Besides, even though we're using the low-power version, at least we have something to do, instead of lying in bed waiting to die."

"If I'm going to die like those other people who died in China, I'd rather just stay in bed!" someone muttered.

Captain B was squatting down nearby changing magazines. "The boss said that we won't activate the overload function or control our thoughts."

"Well, what someone said is true..." A member of Team B's voice came from the other side, "I heard that if you use a brain-computer interface and fail to evacuate, even if you are resurrected in the real world, it will cause considerable damage to your brain."

Captain A paused for a moment. He had certainly heard about these things before. The two men had fallen unconscious after coming out of Dam Zero, and after unsuccessful resuscitation, the autopsy revealed that their brain tissue had almost turned into a paste.

Before they came to Tidal Prison, they were told that the low-power version wouldn't have that problem, but that's just talk, who can guarantee it?

"We have to risk our lives for such a small amount of money," Captain B sighed heavily, his voice weary. "If we could be resurrected and our safety guaranteed, that would be fine, but I'm afraid of losing our lives."

He paused for a moment, his voice becoming even lower, "I have a wife and children to support. Before I signed this contract, I told them it was just a short business trip."

In the noisy corridor, a moment of silence fell over the six of them; no one spoke for a while.

They all knew their origins; they were just peasants.

Bankrupt individuals, homeless people, drug addicts, and a few disabled people with mobility issues or hearing problems.

They weren't really player operators at all, but the price offered by the US was high enough, and they were promised that the implanted brain-computer interface would restore their physical functions and even make them stronger, so they signed the contracts one after another.

After finishing this job, the money I get will be enough to pay off half of my debt. If I do two more jobs, I might be able to get rid of the creditor label.

But no one thought about what would happen if they couldn't go back.

After all, this little gadget doesn't require complicated surgery, it's painless to install, and it can turn them back into normal people. They can even make a profit while fighting in dangerous areas. Who wouldn't be tempted?

squeak……

The barrage of bullets outside abruptly stopped; the irritating barrage finally ceased, and for a moment, there was a quiet.

Captain A glanced out and saw that the figure in black heavy armor had disappeared from its previous position and was no longer in sight.

"He missed this round!" Captain A immediately assessed the situation. "Quickly, take this opportunity to retreat! Don't wait for him to reload!"

The six people immediately got up and started moving again.

As they got up, they made a point of checking if the machine gunner would reload on the spot, thinking it wouldn't be bad to take the opportunity to fire at him.

But that big guy was obviously very clever; there was no sign of him outside, so he had obviously gone to hide and reload.

At this distance, in such open terrain, by the time they rushed over, most of the enemy would have already reloaded. So the six men gave up and continued to retreat.

Captain B shouted as he ran, "We can't fight this thing with its firepower in open terrain. We can only aim for its head; anything else will ricochet. We need to lure it into a narrow space!"

Another team member chimed in, "Let's retreat to the left flank first. There's a stairwell over there. It's not a big space, and his size won't allow him to maneuver properly. If we lure him there, our chances of winning will be much higher."

Captain A glanced back one last time, making sure the machine gunner hadn't reappeared in sight, then nodded: "Take cover as you retreat, maintain formation, don't panic! Move quickly!"

The six people quickly shrank their formation in the corridor and retreated diagonally towards the stairwell on the left.