Chapter 52: The Phantom Soldier and the Sandworm
“This is Overlord, respond if you hear me... Over.”
“Hunter 2-1, received... Go ahead... Over.”
Amid the noisy radio chatter, Dai Longmei looked up.
From the ruins on both sides, a squad of several hundred skeletal soldiers burst forth.
They wore ballistic helmets unlike anything from this world,
dressed in modern individual combat gear, their feet clad in rubber military boots.
Some helmets were equipped with damaged binocular night vision goggles.
Their flesh and blood long gone,
only the blue glow flickering in their eyes remained—
the light of ethereal energy.
“So that’s it...”
Lily had long sensed it.
Those Viking skeleton soldiers who had once pursued her in Dongsong felt strangely familiar—
it turned out they resembled these ghost soldiers of the Western Wasteland so much.
The ghost soldiers’ assault rifles gleamed as if new,
as though their masters polished them every day.
“Hunter 2-2 has detected numerous unidentified heat sources around the city... Over.”
“Suspected reinforcements from the Longteng Southwestern Army Group.”
“Roar!”
Holding her breath, Dai Longmei saw a dust- and blood-stained military boot step right beside her.
The owner of the boot opened his horrific skeletal jaw,
communicating through a headset.
“Our unit has now penetrated over half the city, but the battle with the Longteng forces remains fierce... Roar.”
“The High Command orders all rangers to move outside the city and join the 2nd Armored Division in repelling the invaders... Roar.”
The ghost soldier’s gaze swept toward the distant yellow sands, where nothing remained but abandoned relics of old times.
Yet, through the soldier’s eyes, the scene was still shrouded in the fires of war:
self-propelled rocket launchers pouring fire onto the distant tundra,
armored columns of over a thousand main battle tanks maneuvering swiftly,
jet fighters breaking the sound barrier and darting through the sky,
armed helicopters charging low, unleashing a hail of bullets.
A swarm of fiber-optic drones raced toward the enemy’s rear.
“Hunter 2-1, proceed swiftly to the target location... Roar.”
“Received, Overlord, end of transmission... Roar.”
“Sergeant, take care of your men... Roar.”
The leader of Hunter 2-1 withdrew a magazine with only seven rounds left,
slotted it into the chest pouch,
then clicked a fresh full magazine into the rifle with a sharp snap.
Under the watchful eyes of Dai Longmei and Lily,
the captain signaled forward.
“Get on the Humvee, let’s move... Roar.”
“Faster!”
Several rusty but still operational Humvees rolled into the center of the road.
The ghost soldiers leapt agilely onto the vehicles.
“Move! Move! Quickly! Let’s go... Roar.”
The captain pulled the charging handle of the .50 caliber machine gun mounted on the Humvee.
The vehicle surged forward,
passing by the retainers’ cavalry.
From the ruins by the gate, the distant roar of tank engines echoed.
Though the ghost war machines remained unseen,
the sound of tracks crushing sand and the faint tremors on the ground were unmistakable.
“Hush—don’t make a sound! They haven’t gone far yet!”
---
Listening to Lily’s whispered transmission,
Dai Longmei nodded as the last Humvee vanished over the horizon.
After a while, with their silhouettes gone,
Dai Longmei and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But from the other side of the horizon,
the rattle of machine gun fire and thunder of tank cannons came.
“That ghost soldier’s words just now... I didn’t understand a single word...”
Long Zhu rubbed sand from her ears and hair, which she’d just brushed away on the ground.
“Hey, but doesn’t it sound a lot like what those aliens say?”
“Could they be ancestors of the aliens?”
“There are two kinds of ghost soldiers in this Western Wasteland.”
“One speaks our language and bears the Longteng insignia...”
“Longteng insignia?”
Lily only learned after passing through the Dongsong gates
that the symbols on those dead and ghost soldiers represented the Longteng nation.
“There’s a jade dragon emblem—wait until we get into the main city, and you’ll see it.”
Lily looked warily toward the direction the ghost soldiers had gone.
“There’s another group—the ones like those just now.”
“Their gear is flashier.”
“Like that metal lump in their hands—the flamethrower stone thing.”
“More expensive than the guns the Longteng soldiers sell on the tomb raiding market.”
“But their speech... it’s similar to those crazy women.”
Dai Longmei cautiously scanned the nearby ruins.
“Not sure if there are still ghost soldiers in front of the gate... We need to hurry inside!”
“Uncle Yisheng, patch up the wounds, everyone.”
“Hey, Mei, these are just surface wounds.”
“Even if a bullet hits us properly, as long as the heart isn’t pierced, it’s nothing serious.”
Dai Yisheng pulled out his old smoking pipe and took a puff.
“Uncle Yisheng, I’ve got some good tobacco here—stop smoking that cheap stuff.”
Long Zhu tossed a pouch of tobacco leaves from her waist to Dai Yisheng.
“Hey, you’re the only one who knows what I like. Oh—Jinyuan Nan tobacco leaves, good stuff.”
Dai Yisheng leisurely smoked his pipe,
completely unfazed by the earlier encounter with those ghost soldiers that defied the Jade Realm’s understanding.
“Are all the soldiers from Liaodong this bold...?”
Lily’s heart still pounded.
She had witnessed seven ghost soldiers slay a tomb raiding squad of over two hundred people
in less than half an hour.
“Hmph, our Liaodong retainers are tough and brave—ghost soldiers are nothing!”
Dai Longmei said proudly, raising her head.
“Even if those legendary sandworms come...”
“Boom!”
A loud crash came from the gate.
“Haha! Seems like that tomb raiding brother was right—the gate’s about to open!”
“No!”
Having studied ethereal energy for years, Dai Longmei was more sensitive to vibrations than most.
The tremor did not come from the main city’s west gate.
“Boom!”
The vibration came from behind them.
“Bad—it’s the sandworm!”
The ground shook violently, causing Dai Longmei and the others to lose their balance.
Far off, the desert cracked open;
vehicles, tanks, and ruins tumbled into the chasm below.
“Boom!”
---
Another deafening crash followed.
A massive figure slammed directly into the group standing before the west gate.
“Move aside!!!”
Dai Longmei kicked the chasing Wind’s backside,
grabbing Lily and leaping aside.
“Fifth Lord!”
Long Zhu barely managed to shout.
The huge serpentine monster crashed heavily against the gate.
The solid alloy doors collided with the beast,
emitting a terrifying roar.
The already dilapidated road and remaining facilities before the gate were swallowed by the gaping pit.
Dust billowed everywhere.
“Ugh—damn it...”
Dai Longmei felt as if a rib had broken.
But soon, ethereal energy surged from his dantian to heal the wound.
He spat a mouthful of fresh blood.
“Lily? Lily?!”
Ignoring his aching ribs,
Dai Longmei scrambled to his feet to find Lily.
“I’m okay...”
Lily struggled up beside him.
If she hadn’t quickly activated her rear ethereal shield,
her frail fox-like body would have shattered from the fall.
“Everyone... is alright...”
Lily looked up, stunned.
Inside the crater the monster made,
intestines, arms, and horse heads lay scattered everywhere.
Some belonged to warhorses;
others were the retainers from Liaodong who had been alive just moments before.
“No...”
The three thousand Liaodong retainers had fought alongside Lord Dai Chenglong in the conquest of Liaodong a century ago.
Fewer than eighty had died in battle since.
Yet now, from a single sandworm strike,
over fifty were lost.
Dai Longmei glanced across the pit at Long Zhu,
who, barely standing, was protected by ethereal energy.
Only then did his heartache ease somewhat.
“Uncle Yisheng... where is Uncle Yisheng?”
“I’m alright... cough cough... but lost the other arm too...”
Long Zhu was clearly choked by the dust, coughing uncontrollably.
“And the brothers, the old comrades...?”
“Detecting... intruders...”
A noisy electronic voice sounded in their ears.
As the dust gradually cleared,
Dai Longmei and Lily simultaneously saw the eighty-meter-wide circular face of a massive shield tunneling machine,
rotating like the gaping maw of a giant serpent.
“Intruders... must... be eliminated.”
The noisy electronic voice came again.
The indicator lights on the agile sandworm’s serpentine body turned blood red.
“Attack mode... fully activated!”