Fatal Shot

"Huh? These players are actually not from the Federation camp!"

Feng Luo's eyes moved.

The larger group of players all had a small red glow on their chests. It was a mark that indicated they were from a different faction from their own.

The sand in the Death Desert emitted a red glow. Coupled with the multitude of colors from the skills and attacks being deployed in the battle, it was incredibly difficult at first to notice the small red glows on the players' chests.

But Feng Luo's observational abilities far surpassed the normal human being, so it did not take him long to discover them.

"The rebel army?" Doubt filled Feng Luo's eyes.

"Hmm, it is not necessarily the rebel army... he said, thinking aloud.

After all, it was not as straight-forward as one would think. When the system made it possible to switch sides, many players had changed allegiance and joined some of the NPC non-governmental armed factions.

Apart from the rebel army, most of these armed factions could not even compare to the Federation government when it came to their strength. However, just like the players who joined the rebel army camp and had directly received an advanced-level pet biochip, almost every other NPC faction had its own specialty.

In addition, after players were permitted to switch sides, many NPC camps also gave amazing privileges to the "adventurers" who joined their factions first. It made switching camps a lot more lucrative than staying in the Federation camp.

As such, it was no longer odd to encounter players from another faction, especially in areas where the Federation had less influence and weaker control.

Since killing a player from the enemy's camp granted Merits as a reward, when players of two sides came from different camps encountered each other, a battle would usually break out.

Feng Luo initially thought these people belonged to the Federation camp.

But to his surprise, they were enemy players from a different camp!

For the players from the Federation camp, apart from their own faction, the rest of the other factions were considered enemies. Capturing an enemy allowed Federation players to withdraw a prisoner's Merits from the captive's "ATM."

Of course, this was only true for those who had reached a certain level.

One thing to note was that after the latest update, there was also a change in the way the system determined the affiliation of players with different factions.

Right now, players only received notification of their ranks when they entered the combat mode or were involved in a special camp mission. Moreover, the red glow that typically indicated a player was from another faction was no longer very clear. One needed to look very carefully. Otherwise, it was incredibly difficult to identify.

As such, especially with the night condition in the Death Desert, Mu Zi and the others did not notice that the players from the second group actually belonged to another faction.

The enemy had clearly also not noticed their presence yet.

This was because Mu Zi was using the Legendary-grade Recon Meter to disrupt any attempts at scouting their area. The enemy had several scout players shooting towards them using their submachine gun; however, none of them had yet discovered that Feng Luo and his team were there!

The battle outside had reached its climax. Feng Luo could only see one person from his current position, but judging from advances made by the second group and its continuous firing that was met with fewer and fewer counterattacks, it was clear that the first group was already at a disadvantage.

There was a five-fold difference when it came to their numbers. For players who had not yet reached a certain standard, it was impossible to overcome this humongous gap.

In truth, even if Feng Luo were to fight five players at the same time, he dared not guarantee that he would be the ultimate victor.

No matter how high his attack or his HP was, it would never add up to be higher than the sum of five players. The victories he had achieved when it came to one versus ten or more had all resulted from all sorts of geographical and tactical advantages.

For example, when Feng Luo killed September Night Rain's group, he had seized his geographical and shooting distance advantages to claim his victory.

In the current situation, the first group would be wiped out as soon as their enemy caught up.

Unless... Someone came in to give them a hand!

...

The people in the second group sat inside a bulletproof SUV called the "Warrior." Among them, a Heavy Armor Warrior was covering for a Machine Gunner as he shouted happily, "Let's go... Everyone, hurry up!"

"Hey! The NPC said that each of these Federation camp players will earn us 500 Faction Points. As long as we get the item, we'll directly receive 10,000 points. That's the equivalent of a B-grade blueprint!"

"Fellow brothers from the Wolf squad! Put more work into it! Do not lose to the people from Scorpions!"

Using the rear and underside of the SUV for protection, a Scout player holding an Excellent Grade rifle that was a replica of an AK-47 used the recon meter to examine an abandoned building in the military base that was illuminated by their team vehicles' headlights. He then pointed at the building and said, "Hey, relax Boss, they can't get away... That way!"

"Rumble, rumble..."

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

The players in the other five vehicles surrounding the "Warrior" SUV began to unleash attacks at the building to which he was pointing.

"Keep dreaming, sh*tters! Does your little Wolf squad think that you can defeat our Golden Scorpion? This mission's item belongs to us!"

"Brothers, let's go! We'll step over the Wolf squad and push them down! We'll sell the reward item from the NPC later and divide the spoils based on our contributions!"

From not too far away, a half-naked Earth Manipulator with scorpion tattoos on his arm and face, standing inside a vehicle painted with a golden scorpion logo, smiled broadly.

After his shout, the players from the other vehicles also began to throw a bunch of skills and fire bullets at the Wolf Squad.

It was clear that these non-Federation camp players did not belong to the same team.

However, their target seemed to be the same group of players that they were chasing in front of them!

...

Inside the military base, within the group of players who were retreating as they fought, My World leaned against a battered and half-collapsed building while apologizing, "Brother Dan Hen, Brother Skynet... I'm really sorry this time. It's our fault that you are being pursued!"

Azure who was beside him was hastily opening her medical box to bring out her tools. She quickly treated My World who had become "Disabled" after taking a few hits from machine-gun bullets. She used half a bandage, wrapping it around his left arm to stop the bleeding and to prevent his HP from emptying due to the continuous blood loss.

After the system update, when a certain part reached the damage limit, another attack would cause it to become "Disabled."

In a battle in the wild like this one, getting this kind of serious injury meant that one would lose half of his or her battle strength without being able to recover.

"Ta, ta, ta..."

Dan Hen first turned around and used his submachine gun to fire a series of bullets at the pursuers closing in on them.

After that, he quickly lowered his head to dodge the machine gun bullets as well as a dozen or so wind blades that followed and struck the dense sand on the ground.

"Don't say that," Dan Hen replied, panting heavily. "We were just unlucky. We didn't expect to be found by the NPCs... Phew... Skynet, can you disable the Machine Gunner over on the other side?"

Then, he shouted at Skynet who was sprawled on the ground about a dozen meters away, trying to hide from the sniper's shots and explosions from the energy skills.

Skynet shook his head and grimaced. "No! It's too difficult!"

"The Machine Gunner is protected by a Heavy Armor Warrior. Moreover, his gears look pretty good. He should be equipped with a full set of the 'Snow Leopard' tactical set. His defense should be very high and his HP probably exceeds 6,000. Even if I get a shot in, I wouldn't be able to take out one-third of his HP!"

"What if we add Watermelon into the mix?"

Ion Flame suddenly stood up after his energy shield's cooldown elapsed and cast a firewall around 20 meters in front of them, attempting to disrupt the enemy's attack angle.

By the time he turned around to duck for cover, his energy shield had already broken and his HP was less than 30%.

"Bang!"

Above the others, Watermelon Skin wore a set of Excellent Grade items and fired a shot using his sniper rifle.

Then, he quickly rolled downward and dodged the shots fired from two snipers who countered immediately. As he tumbled on the ground, his combat uniform became covered in sand and bloodstain from a previous gunshot wound.

"It probably won't work, unless..." Skynet shook his head and spoke no more.

Everyone understood.

... Unless Watermelon Skin used his talent – Sacrificial Skin. But that would mean that Watermelon Skin would also die.

But even if they did that, they could not guarantee that they would be able to beat the enemy.

It had not been easy for them to finally get there. However, it now looked like they had no chance of getting out of there with the item.