"Where are the giant mechanical wolves?"
"Chief, I left the giant wolves out there hunting on their own. I was afraid you'd be anxious, so I brought the treasure to you first."
"Not bad. Well arranged."
Han Huohuo led Liu Qiang and Gou San out together and built the watchtower near the front gate first.
The watchtower had a little wooden cabin on top, about five or six meters high, with a ladder running straight up to it. Inside the cabin you could see a huge telescope.
"Gou San, this watchtower is yours to manage now. From now on you don't have to hunt anymore — just stand guard up on the watchtower."
"Huh?"
Gou San looked up at the watchtower and decided it was fine — it seemed even easier than going out to hunt. He felt a little conflicted at first, but quickly accepted it.
Slinging the blade on his back, Gou San climbed the ladder up to the top of the watchtower.
Before he could even look out, an arrow suddenly came whistling in from outside the stronghold — "Fwip!" — and struck Gou San square in the belly, knocking him right off in one shot.
"Aah!"
"Woe is me!"
Gou San screamed as he tumbled from the watchtower, hit the ground, and went still — no telling if he was alive or dead.
Han Huohuo leapt up in fright.
What was going on?
【Warning: the neighboring Twin Dragon Stronghold is attacking you!】
【Warning: the neighboring Twin Dragon Stronghold is attacking you!】
【Warning: the neighboring Twin Dragon Stronghold is attacking you!】
......
A string of warnings scrolled out across the screen, alerting Han Huohuo. Only then did he realize he'd been ambushed. These sons of bitches — instead of properly building up their own stronghold at the start, they'd gone and launched a sneak attack?
"Kill!"
"This mountain is ours, this grain is ours, the women here are all ours! Slaughter them all, and take back every treasure and resource!"
This bunch was way too deep into the role, their war cries ringing out fierce and loud.
Vicious enough!
Twin Dragon Stronghold was the bandit camp on the neighboring peak, its chief named Wang Haoze — and this guy was a genuine hard case. Gathering? Building? Yours truly is a bandit, and bandits rob. If you don't rob, are you even a bandit?
"Kill them!"
"Charge!"
"Rob their money, their grain, their women — a bright future awaits us!"
The bit of resources he'd scraped together on the first day, and the workers he'd recruited, had all been trained into troops in his barracks.
Poor Han Huohuo's camp had not a shred of defense at the moment. That wooden wall was a fence in name only, kicked open in a few stomps when the crowd charged in.
Seven or eight ferocious bandits came surging up, weapons in hand, with another guy loosing arrows from a distance.
This was just too damned humiliating.
The giant mechanical wolves were still out hunting, Gou San was shot and his fate unknown, and the camp held only himself and a few craftsmen who'd never had a lick of military training. How was he supposed to play this?
Han Huohuo hurried to duck back, quickly issuing orders to the giant mechanical wolves to return at once and save the day.
Worried the giant wolves were too far off to make it in time, Han Huohuo — no one's pushover — felt fury rise in his heart and turned savage.
Many mechanical workers in the camp were still hauling iron ore back and forth.
He stopped having them mine.
"All of you, get in there and finish off these idiots!"
Han Huohuo ground out the command through clenched teeth.
A swarm of Wall-E robots flung down the iron ore in their hands and turned to charge the Twin Dragon Mountain bandits.
They immediately blocked the bandits' assault.
The mining robots were closer to the camp.
In moments, all the mining robots outside had returned, raising their mining hammers with a clang and clatter and falling upon the bandits.
"Holy shit!"
How are there so many?
The bandits were dumbstruck too. What the hell are these things? They look like gathering puppets — but are puppets this savage?
The moment the two sides clashed, the bandits all burst out laughing. These mechanical workers had pitifully low attack; hitting flesh felt like a tickle, couldn't even pierce the simplest leather armor.
But after fighting for a while, they got a little dizzy. These mechanical workers might have low attack, but their defense and endurance were pretty high.
When they hit you, you felt nothing; when you hit the robots, it was a real chore.
Before long, all thirty mechanical workers had returned, ramming with their heads, smashing with their hammers, and on the strength of sheer numbers they tangled with the bandits — and astonishingly, for the moment, weren't losing ground.
A fierce battle raged for an hour, with no casualties!
The bandits couldn't advance a single step either. Han Huohuo hid behind a building and hollered, directing this nearly damage-less mechanical force.
But the more they fought, the more some of the bandits' hearts sank. Are these damn things trying to wear us all to death?
"Not good, this camp's a thorny one. Should we just scram?"
The bandits had barely formed the thought of retreating when the rumbling sound of the giant mechanical wolves arrived. The shadows of three steel giant wolves finally appeared at the camp gate.
"Awooo!"
"Aah?!"
"Run, we've walked into an ambush!"
The lead giant wolf swung a claw and split open the skull of a bandit tangled up with the mechanical workers — red and white spilling all over the ground.
Far too savage.
Wang Haoze went pale with shock, thinking, I'm finished. He'd only meant to play it clever: while everyone was busy recruiting workers, he'd recruited soldiers, planning to take the unconventional path and level up by robbing again and again. Who'd have thought his very first sortie would run into a tough nut.
He still couldn't figure out what the hell these mechanical monsters were.
A few more screams.
In the end they left four corpses behind, and the rest were all wounded head to toe. Disheartened, Wang Haoze knew he'd botched it. With his little life now on the line, he led the surviving bandits in a headlong flight.
Han Huohuo didn't send the giant wolves after them, because the wolves were low on charge, and he worried they'd run out of power halfway through the chase.
The camp had been left a complete mess.
Gou San, astonishingly, still wasn't dead. He writhed on the ground, though he looked gravely wounded.
A Tier-2 Main Base had no infirmary.
Han Huohuo's conscience suddenly got the upper hand. He had the Liu brothers carry Gou San to the housing, bandage him up, and feed him a little water and food. As for whether he'd live — that was up to fate.
Inexplicably raided at home and dealt a heavy loss, Han Huohuo was furious!
He was not one to swallow a loss.
He immediately spread out the map and found that Twin Dragon Mountain was right next door — over one mountain saddle and you'd reach it.
You're heartless, so I'll be merciless. You dared to lay hands on yours truly — then you'll bear the brunt of my wrath!
He tallied his battle losses. Many robots were wounded, but they could be repaired; two mechanical workers had been utterly smashed to pieces.
He sent the two shattered mechanical workers into the recycling furnace and recovered iron ingots from them.
Iron ingot +8
Iron ingot +7
A slight loss.
The recycling furnace had no loss, but when the robots were destroyed, some of the iron on their bodies had already been ruined. Han Huohuo couldn't figure out how it got ruined; it just couldn't be recovered.
No helping it — that was the rule.
On the whole, the mechanical force's defense was invincible. As long as he was at home, with the Time-Space Recycling Furnace there, holding the fortress, his battle losses would be very limited!
Of course, the recycling furnace couldn't be used while the enemy was assaulting the walls.
Otherwise it would be far too broken.
Only 28 workers were left, but Han Huohuo didn't replenish the workers. In his towering rage, he instead made two more giant mechanical wolves.
Then he took half an hour to regroup, prioritizing fully recharging the giant mechanical wolves.
Han Huohuo intended to push right back. Come what may, yours truly will not eat this loss!
Every stray cat and dog dares to bully its way onto my head now?
Han Huohuo had no hero under his command at present, so he couldn't send an army out to wage war on its own — an army with no general couldn't fight.
The Lord himself had to take the field. Han Huohuo mustered all his troops and horses, personally leading the way, set on charging Twin Dragon Mountain.
"Chief, I'd say those few bandits just now are nothing to fear. We don't need to bring the workers along too, do we? Better to set them back to mining. The way I see it, the five divine wolves under your command are mighty and unmatched — more than enough to flatten them!"
Liu Qiang had read books and knew a little strategy. He stepped forward to advise Han Huohuo.
Liu Qiang was mainly worried about the impact on gathering progress.
"Nonsense. When the eagle strikes the rabbit, it still uses its full strength. Who knows what traps they've got at their place? Bring them — bring all of them!"
In his towering rage, Han Huohuo couldn't take any of it in. He shooed his people aside and led his troops charging out.
Even the three Liu brothers each took up a pitchfork and guarded Han Huohuo's side, the whole nest turning out together.
The two camps weren't far apart.
Down the mountain saddle, then up to the peak, and he soon reached the front of Wang Haoze's camp.