Bei Ta peeled back the fibrous layer to look outside.

Glowing meteors were falling from the sky, red and white in color, plummeting straight towards the land where Shell City stood, the ground shaking and quivering non-stop.

In the distance, many places were ignited by flames, with figures fleeing amidst the firelight.

But the enemy could not be seen.

Bei Ta only knew that they were hurling meteors to destroy this place.

With each meteor's fall, Bei Ta's heart trembled with fear; he clutched the Monster God Statue tightly, silently praying for the bombardment to stay away from here.

By the time it was light, the outside finally stopped bombing.

Bei Ta came down the rope ladder, his legs weak.

The ground outside was covered with charred black ash. Aside from the Mushroom Houses that were directly hit and destroyed, next to them was a Mushroom House that was only half-intact, as if its cap had been bitten off by some giant beast.

There weren't many people left defending the Mushroom Houses; most had fled.

A soldier was counting the casualties everywhere.

Bei Ta went over and asked him, "What do we do now?"

"Stay at home, don't run around,"

The other party was just making records with a charcoal pencil on paper.

Bei Ta noticed that the soldier had a blood-soaked bandage around his forehead and looked extremely weary.

At night, the Mushroom Houses shook again, this time for longer and with more intense tremors.

He Gao swung a soft hammer.

Bei Ta clenched the Monster God Statue with all his might.

For three consecutive days, Duke Destructive carried out multiple rounds of aerial bombardment on Shell City.

It was said that the attacker was a type of B-level monster called the Thunder Beast, capable of flying thousands of meters high and releasing a powerful death light ball. Another part of the enemy in the sky threw a special Energy Bomb to bombard the ground.

The death light ball was the red meteor, causing strong destruction and explosions, although the range was limited; the charred Mushroom Houses were its work.

The Energy Bomb was the white meteor, much weaker in power but with splash damage and fire-starting capabilities, causing a wider range of high-temperature damage and fires.

These two high-altitude weapons alternated in bombing Shell City and the surrounding townships indiscriminately.

Choking smoke was everywhere, accompanied by the cries and shouts of residents.

All of this made Bei Ta feel desperate.

He now understood that when Shell City was previously breached, the Wasteland Development Company's Jade City was extremely restrained.

This was the true face of war.

The hardest part was that Shell City seemed to have no countermeasures against the air strikes.

The Thunder Beast was too strong and too high up.

As high-altitude combatants, illusion fish could not ascend to that height, and the Thunder Beast would leave immediately after bombing, never lingering.

The enemy just bombed, and bombed.

There was no real battle, only one side enduring the onslaught.

Bei Ta went to the city daily to collect relief food; he saw everything clearly.

The whole Shell City was visibly deteriorating, with walls broken, collapsed houses, and roads full of pits. The hard-earned Mushroom Houses were also damaged.

After the initial shock and crying, people gradually became numb and collapsed; many sat in a daze, holding the bodies of relatives and friends.

Inside and outside Shell City, the atmosphere grew extremely oppressive.

No one dared to criticize the sea lord Duke Beidu; they could only curse the mayor Bei Jianxin for his incompetence and weakness.

He Gao said, "Don't think too much, just live one day at a time."

Bei Ta suddenly wished he could summon the Monster God Statue, let it keep growing, and revive to face those invisible Thunder Beasts in the sky.

But he knew that was impossible.

A statue is just a statue; it cannot become a god.

This was but a baseless fantasy of my own.

On the sixth day, a soldier came over to inform us, "You two kids, pack up your things immediately and follow me to the south. Duke Beidu has ordered that all women and children be relocated to Steel Refining City."

Yet, Bei Ta did not feel relieved.

Instead, he felt a growing sense of unease within him. Could it be that Shell City was about to fall?

The two of them followed the soldier to the southern coast, which was riddled with craters large and small from air raids, making travel quite difficult.

The shore was crowded with children and women.

There, the Northern Ocean Army stood guard, with iron soldiers wielding firearms and sword shields, maintaining order and safety.

Two longships were docked at the coast, flying flags with a blue background and a white anchor.

It was said that these two ships were from the Seventh Fleet of the Dead Sea Knights, and along with the Northern Ocean Army, they were hired by the Wasteland Development Company to help defend Shell City.

People were squeezed into the narrow cabins, the interior filled with a thick mix of sweat and bodily odors.

The voyage across the Dead Sea was bumpier than expected, and people naturally felt lethargic and discomfort upon these waters. Many were vomiting and crying softly, making the interior even more stifling.

Suddenly, someone outside shouted, "The company's air reinforcements have arrived!"

Many people squeezed out of the cabin doors and ran up to the deck.

Bei Ta squeezed out to take a look as well.

In the sky appeared a glowing semi-transparent sphere, atop which stood a cannon spewing flames, targeting dense clusters of pinpoint light bullets towards the clouds above.

Beside him, He Gao said, "Isn't that shooting range a bit too far... Can it hit the target?"

His voice abruptly stopped.

Several small black dots, seemingly the enemy's aerial forces hiding in the clouds, were visibly falling from the sky.

"It's a Hunter! It's the company's Hunter; I've heard Dr. Feng mention it."

Bei Ta remembered, "It's very strong! It has the power of a Sea Territorial Master Level!"

Suddenly, red meteors fell from the sky, launching a covering bombardment towards the spherical attacker.

The Thunder Beast attacked the Hunter.

The Hunter deftly dodged rounds of red meteor strikes, drawing cheers from the onlookers.

The two sides exchanged fire for a moment.

Then a streak of green light flashed through the clouds, accompanied by a thunderous roar, and a massive object slowly fell from the sky.

It looked like a giant black arrow, much larger than the Hunter, with two glowing holes pierced through it. Its fall into the Dead Sea caused a seaquake.

People on the deck cheered.

The extreme pressure and despair they had felt before were finally and thoroughly released in this moment.

The Hunter in the sky lowered its altitude, hovering above the ships, "The Thunder Beast has been killed, but more air raids are coming. Move quickly and do not linger."

The Dead Sea Knights ushered the crowd back inside the cabin.

Although the cramped cabin still felt stuffy and foul, the recent victory had brought much calm and reassurance to everyone.

"Impressive."

He Gao muttered, "The Wasteland Development Company is truly formidable..."

Bei Ta, on the other hand, looked at the Monster God Statue in his hand.

There was no need to appeal to the gods of fantasy.

We already had warriors brave enough to slay our enemies.

Whether it's the ordinary soldiers who faced air raids in search of survivors or the Northern Ocean Army that had been stationed along the coast, or even the Hunter that had just bravely fought the enormous Thunder Beast... they were all fighting in their own way.

The children and women were moved, leaving behind the warriors.

Whether young warriors, or the old and injured, a warrior remains a warrior.

The battle of Shell City was only just beginning.

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