This Game Is Too Realistic-Chapter 475.1: ENGAGED

Though unreliable in many ways, at the critical moment when lives were on the line, the pilot named Sun Ze truly outperformed himself. With only one engine left, he managed, just barely, to control the descent of the massive Orca.

"50 meters to the ground! Brace for impact!" Sun Ze yelled at the top of his lungs, but before the words were even fully out of his mouth, a loud blast shook everyone off their feet.

The sudden impact and brutal deceleration left everyone pale and dizzy.

The safety harnesses embedded in his exoskeletons squeezed Night Ten so hard he rolled his eyes, nearly passing out. At the same time, the muffled crash echoed across the wilderness as the spiraling Orca kicked up a massive cloud of dust on impact.

"Cough, cough..."

Seated in the pilot’s chair, Sun Ze coughed violently. Shaking his head, he reached up and pulled the release handle above him. The rear cargo door of the aircraft slowly descended, and with the loud disturbance, he slowly regained his senses.

"Incredible... I actually landed it." He muttered softly to himself, glancing outside and then at his hands. Confusion gave way to joy at having survived. He stretched out his hand and nudged the unconscious co-pilot beside him, his excitement barely contained. "Hey, man, are you okay? Wake up, we made it!"

There was no reply, but the man still had a pulse and was breathing. He was likely just knocked out from the crash.

Unbuckling himself, Old White stood up, grabbed the rifle by his side before looking at Sun Ze. "You better hold off on celebrating. We managed an emergency landing, but that’s all. We’re still in the wild."

Finally realizing the severity of the situation, Sun Ze gulped nervously and gave a slow nod. "Got it."

Old White continued to ask, "How long to fix the plane?"

Sun Ze immediately looked down at the touch screen in front of the rudder, his fingers tapping rapidly across the interface. "I don’t know yet. First I need to assess the damage... The support AI reports foreign objects entered the engine and melted the plasma plume nozzles. It’s probably some poor bird."

"Impossible... there’s no way it’s a bird." The co-pilot, stirring from unconsciousness, coughed weakly. "I remember the radar manual says that within 50 meters, even a bullet would be detected."

"Did you bring the manual?" Sun Ze asked anxiously.

"There should be one in the toolbox. You guys start the repairs..." His co-pilot groaned.

Seeing the two still fumbling for the manual, Old White rubbed his forehead and turned away. There was no point talking to them. He was more worried his blood pressure wouldn’t survive their conversation than actually dying in a gunfight.

While the Army’s radar technology was decent, their anti-detection capabilities were quite weak, comparable to the Enterprise’s terrible air defenses. The missile that avoided detection likely had radar-absorbent coating.

He thought of the New Alliance’s Lofty Cloud’s stealth coating. If memory served him well, it came from Shetler 101.

The administrator of Shelter 101 had been one of the three founders of the Academy, so it was reasonable to assume they possessed even more advanced stuff. As for why the Academy would suddenly launch an attack... They were in the Wasteland. Not everything had an explanation.

At the same time the aircraft landed, the players from the Burning Corps had already fanned out through the open cargo ramp, splitting into four-man squads and quickly securing defensive positions.

Striding out of the transport, Old White gave calm, precise orders.

"Gale, deploy the drones, scan five kilometers around us. Night Ten, find high ground. Quit Smoking, take your squad northeast to look for Falling Feather. Report and engage if you find hostiles. Everyone else, secure the perimeter until the plane is fixed."

The channel echoed with a unified voice.

"Copy!"

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Staring at the drone footage projected onto his tactical HUD, Zheng Hao’s expression showed faint surprise. He had expected the crash survivors to be incapacitated from a fall of 500 to 600 meters. Instead, they immediately took up their positions without a hint of hesitation.

"Not quite what the rumors said," came deputy Song Changfeng’s voice over comms. "Looks like not all from the East Coast are trash."

"Obviously."

Though wary, Zheng Hao didn’t show it. He lowered his voice and gave orders. "All units be advised... Enemies have spread out in defense. We count 19 sets of exoskeletons and an exoframe, the Dragon Cavalry. The exoskeletons are a mix of the Type 5 Light Cavalry and Type 6 Heavy Cavalry. Switch to armor-piercing rounds."

Then he looked to the emotionless young man beside him. "Xuan Feng, take Team B to intercept the target at the marked position."

"Understood." The man nodded silently and led five others southeast toward the wetlands.

Zheng Hao turned his gaze south and frowned.

"A drone," he muttered, spotting a drone circling above.

It looked crude, but he didn’t underestimate it.

A voice came through the voice channel, annoyed. "Little Jiang, can you shoot it down?"

"Captain, I must remind you, we only have two left.”

“Send the Beehive to the crash site then.”

The channel went silent for a moment before it came alive again with Jiang Xuezhou’s voice. "You sure? We don’t have to fight them. We just need to intercept..."

"I’m sure, send it over."

With that crisp order, Jiang Xuezhou said no more. She took a deep breath and replied, "Copy that."

Several kilometers away, the hatch on a tracked vehicle popped open. A puff of smoke burst skyward as a one-meter-wide projectile launched into the air and ignited, flying toward the crash site.

The dramatic launch was quickly spotted by the drone.

Gale opened his eyes slightly and growled, "Enemy ground vehicle detected. They’ve launched a missile! Model... It’s not one I’ve seen before.”

“Shit!” Old White’s face darkened. The Orca only carried infantry gear, since they were going on a rescue mission.

There was no time to hesitate. Old White dashed to the aircraft and yanked the two pilots away.

Still flipping through the manual, Sun Ze yelled in panic, "What are you doing?!"

"Incoming!" Old White barked.

Sun Ze froze before stuttering, "But... The radar..."

Before he could finish, a silver projectile burst into view overhead. However, it didn’t dive straight into the plane, nor did it explode.

Instead, its curved shell peeled open mid-air.

Dozens of palm-sized drones burst out, swarming like a hive of death toward everyone around the aircraft.

Old White’s pupils shrank.

Reacting instinctively, he yanked an EMP grenade from his armor, one he’d gotten from the administrator. He set the delay to three seconds before hurling it into the sky like a baseball.

He wasn’t sure if it would work, but it was the only option.

In a flash, the blast collided with the incoming swarm.

A high-pitched whine blasted through their communication channel as the nuclear-charged EMP pulse fried the internal electronics of dozens of drones in a split second.

They fell like flies smacking into an electric racket, crashing down in chunks.

Several kilometers away, sitting atop the tracked vehicle, Jiang Xuezhou winced, a sharp pain shooting through her mind.

"The swarm has been neutralized. They used an EMP."

"EMP?!" a shocked voice replied.

She exhaled slowly and nodded. "Yeah. Some kind of compact device with high output. These guys are pretty good."

EMP shielding was simple. A basic Faraday cage would do. However, the drones of the Beehive needed external signal coordination and couldn’t be fully shielded.

The Academy's workaround was small buffer components on communication modules, which normally blocked standard EMPs.

But for all 50 drones to be knocked out at once...

That wasn’t a conventional, chemically triggered EMP. It was something far more advanced.

Everyone knew how hard it was to miniaturize an EMP weapon, just like nuclear devices. Doing both and maintaining high output meant the other side was far more dangerous than expected.

Zheng Hao’s eyes gleamed with caution.

Back at the crash site, surrounded by smoking drone remains, Peepo clicked his tongue. "What the hell is this shit?"

The other players had narrowly stayed outside the EMP’s range, so their gear still worked fine.

"Looks like a Y-2 Butterfly Knife drone..." muttered Dog Good Names. "Could it be the Academy?"

"The Academy?!" Kidney Warrior exclaimed. "Damn, what did we ever do to them?"

"This is the wasteland, not the real world," Peepo snapped. "There’s no need for reasons, just loot the bastards."

Even in the real world, unauthorized operations like theirs would be written off as training accidents. In the Wasteland? Anything goes.

Still, to get wiped out by one EMP grenade... Maybe these Academy guys weren’t so scary after all?

But unlike his teammates, Old White wasn’t the least bit relaxed.

Especially after Sun Ze’s shocked outburst.

"A beehive?! This is a Beehive!"

Old White frowned. "What’s that?"

"It’s a weapon created by the Academy," Sun Ze replied with a nervous tremble. "They say it leaves no survivors within 500 meters. It’s meant for clearing mutants..."

Old White’s expression darkened.

No matter the reason, if the enemy was serious about wiping them out, there was no reason to hold back.

"One squad is approaching. They’re 800 meters away," Gale reported suddenly.

Old White tapped his helmet, voice cold and composed. "Teams Three and Four, hold position. Teams One and Two, follow me. All units... Safeties off. Fire at will.”

Almost the moment he gave the order, Team Five, deep in a reed field and was led by Quit Smoking, engaged in a firefight with the enemy.

Muzzle flashes lit the swamp, tracer rounds slicing through the man-high reeds.

Like the Storm Corps, the Burning Corps’s battle formation was a 10-man squad, deployed in teams of 3-3-3 in a triangle formation with their captains in the middle.

It was great for specialization, reducing casualties, and helping new players. It worked for both large battles and small operations.

But the downside was that, without superior gear, their firepower could feel stretched.

When facing six enemies in a crossfire, Team Five was quickly suppressed.