After rapidly clearing out several waves of enemies, Xu Xiaoyou noticed that the number of puppet sentries reinforcing from the shrubbery was clearly decreasing, and the frequency of the waves had slowed down significantly.
This wasn't because they had nearly finished clearing the puppets on the perimeter. She had made a preliminary estimate of the number of puppets nearby from the start; from the moment she actively exposed herself to the third minute of combat, the number of puppets they had dealt with was less than a quarter of the outer area.
The puppet sentries were converging toward the range of the Second Zone to reconstruct their defensive line, Xu Xiaoyou immediately judged. It seemed the puppeteer had realized something and was reacting to their moves, having the puppet sentries fall back to defense and reset their surveillance.
He wanted to ensure he wouldn't have any blind spots for an extended period, keeping everything under his control so he could notice their movements at any time.
But he had overlooked one point, Xu Xiaoyou thought with a calm expression.
In this situation, the defensive line he had previously constructed would be broken up and reorganized, which instead gave them an opportunity to tear open a gap.
In this gamble, as long as she kept raising the stakes, the opponent would naturally follow suit, thereby revealing a flaw.
"Lin Sheng, clear a path to the southeast!" Xu Xiaoyou shouted in a specific direction.
Lin Sheng's eyes flickered, and after a nearly imperceptible nod, he followed the girl's instructions, clutching his decapitating blade as he surged toward the position she had indicated.
Under the blessing of three buffs, Lin Sheng had once again entered a boiling blood frenzy. His muscles turned crimson, his blood boiled, and as the moisture in his body evaporated, white steam covered his skin, making his entire physique look much leaner and more powerful.
In this state, his muscles became incredibly tough and strong; claws could not tear his skin, and even the occasional small-caliber bullet that lodged into his body would be caught and squeezed directly back out by his contracting muscles!
With a loud roar, Lin Sheng charged forward like a maddened bull, pushing against dozens of puppets at once. The strength of a single man was like a mountain toppling into the sea, knocking down puppets in swathes. From above, they looked like a dark mass collapsing in waves.
Pushing forward alongside Lin Sheng, they quickly tore open a breach and rushed into the Second Zone. This was an area with a relatively open view, though the empty snowfield was scattered with numerous gullies and undulating mounds, just enough to hide their figures.
"Chen San, two o'clock from the church," Xu Xiaoyou continued to issue commands.
Chen San aimed quickly and discovered that behind an inconspicuous window, the girl whose head he had partially shattered earlier had crawled out again with her mangled body, her remaining eye numb and cold.
He fired again, but this time he only hit the puppet girl's shoulder. After blowing off one of her arms, he watched as her body shrank back into cover.
He looked back and found the blonde girl who looked identical to Xu Xiaoyou standing behind him, holding a pair of binoculars.
Seeing Chen San staring blankly at her, the Substitute jumped off the hill with a blank expression and ran toward the area below.
While fighting at the front, she could also control a Substitute to observe the situation from a distance? Chen San was startled. Before he could think too much, Xu Xiaoyou's voice came through the communication curtain:
"Chen San, what are you thinking about? Keep moving and follow my Substitute!"
Chen San sensed danger approaching and suddenly rolled toward the bottom of the hill. The moment he did, a bullet slammed into the snowbank where he had been standing, kicking up a flurry of snow.
He immediately realized that the puppet girl from before had only leaned out to draw his attention. Given her condition, it was impossible for her to aim so quickly. There was another sniper in the direction of the church who had locked onto his position and was responsible for sniping him!
In a duel between snipers, exposing one's position often meant the difference between victory and defeat. He was currently in a dangerous, passive situation and had to break the sniper's line of sight as quickly as possible to re-conceal himself.
With this in mind, he gripped his sniper rifle and followed closely behind the girl's Substitute, heading deep into the brush to keep up with the others as they moved toward the Second Zone.
After making some adjustments behind a raised mound of earth, the three of them launched a second wave of breakthrough. The puppet sentries were searching for them with ghouls, their army pressing down on their position until several grenades rolled to their feet.
Boom! Amidst the violent explosions, flames soared and snow scattered, sending the clustered puppet sentries flying into the air.
Before more puppets could react and reinforce the area, Xu Xiaoyou had already led the two of them through the gap once more. Three figures sprinted across the snowfield, heading straight for the First Zone—the core area within a hundred meters of the church!
The scenery before them was like a picture, constantly stretching out to the sides as it flew past. Just then, Xu Xiaoyou suddenly lowered her voice:
"Tang Ge, watch the left side, about two hundred meters out, that puppet hiding behind the tree."
Tang Xin looked in the direction Xu Xiaoyou pointed, and sure enough, behind a coniferous tree, an inconspicuous figure was hiding and watching them.
While all the other puppets were surrounding them, that single figure remained motionless, sneakily huddled at the very back.
Tang Xin realized that this puppet was the puppet nail the puppeteer had placed in this area. As long as it was dealt with, every puppet in the entire region would be paralyzed at once, creating a perfect opportunity for their subsequent breakthrough!
"Are you confident?" Xu Xiaoyou asked.
"We can create an opportunity for you. In a moment, I'll lead Lin Sheng on a charge toward it. The second it tries to move, fire and take it out."
Tang Xin hesitated for a moment, but her expression soon became firm. In the blonde girl's eyes, she saw a flickering flame called 'trust.'
Xu Xiaoyou gave her a gentle smile and immediately charged out with Lin Sheng, loudly drawing the attention of all the puppets.
In the rear, Tang Xin's hands were shaking with nerves as she clumsily set up her gun. This was a Sisak V-11 developed by Universal Heavy Industries; judging by the combat environment, this weapon was more like a rifle, capable of fully automatic fire and commonly used for counter-terrorism, but its extreme precision made it a favorite among snipers in major agencies.
The girl's fingers gently brushed against the unfamiliar metal object. She felt a bit at a loss, panicked and uneasy, but she quickly adjusted and calmed down, recalling the trust in the girl's eyes from before. She didn't want to let that trust down.
Fragments of knowledge she had seen in the past flashed through her mind. She fumbled to turn off the safety, aligned her sight with the scope, took a deep breath, and placed her finger on the trigger, aiming behind the tree.
Xu Xiaoyou threw fragmentation grenades in all directions as if they cost nothing. Amidst the roaring explosions, countless puppets were blown into the sky as the pair sprinted toward the target puppet with massive momentum.
The puppet nail behind the tree was scared out of its wits by the scene and instinctively wanted to run, but a command suddenly flashed in its mind—'Stay where you are.'
It was a direct order from the puppeteer.
Its entire body suddenly stiffened, and the half of its body that had been exposed was pulled back with extreme speed.
Xu Xiaoyou, who was running forward, frowned slightly. Had the puppeteer guessed her purpose so quickly?
That shouldn't be possible. Even without accounting for the time lag needed for information transfer, thinking and making a judgment should take time. It had been less than twenty seconds since they started charging toward that tree, yet the opponent's reaction was almost as if he had known what she was going to do from the very beginning.
Watching the puppet army closing in and faintly cutting off their retreat, Xu Xiaoyou felt a sense of dread.
They were likely about to fall into a bitter struggle and needed to complete the breakthrough as soon as possible. Once more puppets surrounded them, breaking through would be difficult. She didn't expect Tang Xin to be able to hit that puppet nail under these circumstances.
With only half a body exposed and at a distance of at least two hundred meters, even a professional sniper would find it impossible to complete a kill in such a hurried timeframe.
At the very moment Xu Xiaoyou thought this, the muffled crack of a silencer echoed over the snowfield.
She watched in a daze as the puppet nail behind the tree collapsed the instant the shot rang out. Its core receiver in the back had been blown apart, leaving no possibility of it being controlled again. Along with it, a large swath of nearby puppets collapsed as well.
In the distance, Tang Xin slowly turned her head from behind the sniper rifle. Seeing that she had actually hit the puppet, Tang Xin excitedly shook her fist in front of her: "Nice, Little Blue Bird."
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