Chapter 141: Shattered with a Touch
The current state of Garbage Town and the recent entanglements of love and hate were all unknown to Gu Hang.
The latest information he received came from Denison Henry.
According to the intelligence, the most important agent in Garbage Town, Jason Swan, was supposedly confirmed to be leading the entire town into submission.
There were indeed resistance forces in the town, but they would enforce martial law and lock down those dissenters within Garbage Town until he could take over.
Logically, shouldn’t things go smoothly?
However, when he led his troops to the outskirts of Garbage Town, he encountered a group of around a thousand adventurers leaving.
They seemed to be a forward team of some sort.
At first, neither side engaged in conflict, merely facing each other from a considerable distance.
At this moment, Gu Hang keenly sensed that something might have happened inside Garbage Town.
When the frontline troops came to ask what to do, he gave the order after only a moment’s thought: “Relay my command to those adventurers: Garbage Town is territory of the Alliance, and according to my orders, it should currently be under full lockdown. Order everyone to immediately stop moving forward, retreat back to Garbage Town, and strictly comply with the martial law order.”
Gu Hang’s command was quickly conveyed by the frontline soldiers through loudspeakers to the adventurers ahead.
This statement left the adventurers hesitant.
Go back just like that? What was all this about then? A military parade?
But if they didn’t go back, would they really fight against the Governor’s army?
This time, the army that arrived didn’t bring so many intimidating armored units. At least, those facing them now were just ordinary infantry.
However, looking at their unified black and gray uniforms, combat suits, weapons that looked far more reliable than the crude iron-pipe rifles the adventurers held, and the abundance of rocket launchers and machine guns…
All in all, they were much more elite.
But the soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division didn’t care what the adventurers thought.
The troops on the front lines, facing off against the adventurers, consisted of three companies, while the rest continued advancing from the rear or spreading out to the flanks.
The Governor’s implementation of martial law was not merely a matter of shouting orders through a loudspeaker; they needed sufficient power to ensure that those who disobeyed would face a miserable end.
In fact, the entire 2nd Division would soon enforce the order to block off the town and seal off the area outside the town’s entrance.
And the three companies at the front began working right in front of the adventurers.
Many of them pulled out entrenching shovels and started digging foxholes on the spot.
The vast area outside Garbage Town was an open wasteland. At such close distances, the officers of the three companies were nervous. If any gunshots were fired, they had no cover.
The situation was urgent, and it wasn’t feasible to dig trenches on short notice, but a small pit would at least be better than being exposed in the open. Even if the hole was shallow, as long as it provided some cover and reduced their exposure, it was enough.
Their actions left the adventurers opposite them in an even greater dilemma.
They didn’t dare to fight, but they were unwilling to retreat.
More critically, there was no one among them who could make a decisive call.
In the awkward state of not knowing what to do, the sub-group leaders and captains heard Mark Ferry’s order over the radio, instructing them to break through with armed force.
But…
These adventurer leaders didn’t immediately take action.
Who was this guy anyway? Why should they listen? Where was their boss, Nather?
Some unknown person told them to lead their men to fight the Governor’s obviously elite troops to the death – were they stupid? Were their brothers’ lives worth nothing?
Most of them kept their rationality under such circumstances.
However, when there were a lot of people, anything could happen.
Besides, this group of adventurers was far from the level of discipline and obedience that regular armies had.
Maybe some fool instinctively followed the radio order, regardless of who was speaking; or maybe someone just got too tense in the current situation and accidentally fired.
Either way, a few scattered gunshots rang out from among the adventurers in the wilderness.
On the other side, over a hundred or two hundred meters away, none of the Governor’s soldiers were injured. The adventurers’ makeshift iron-pipe rifles theoretically had a maximum range of five hundred meters, but realistically, they lost accuracy beyond a hundred meters – even a sharpshooter wouldn’t be able to help.
The three bullets were no different, only kicking up dust clouds in front of two of the companies digging their holes.
But this was an issue of principle.
When the enemy used deadly hot weapons to launch an attack, retaliation became almost inevitable.
The three infantry companies, nearly four hundred soldiers, simultaneously began to counterattack.
Most intense among them were the over thirty squad machine guns.
While digging pits and setting up makeshift positions, the soldiers of the 2nd Division prioritized deploying all types of company-level firepower. Mortars, rocket launchers, squad machine guns – all of it.
And the first to unleash their wrath were these thirty-plus squad machine guns.
With high rates of fire and large magazines, the sheer firepower erupted in an instant, combined with the additional fire from three hundred rifles, causing severe casualties among the adventurers at the front.
While the adventurers’ iron-pipe rifles had no accuracy at distances of over one or two hundred meters, the Alliance soldiers’ G9 rifles did not have that issue.
At this range, though targets were tiny when viewed through iron sights, they could still achieve reasonable accuracy by suppressing the barrel and firing carefully at the general location of the enemy.
Moreover, the nearly two thousand adventurers stood densely with no cover.
People fell in droves.
And those who remained alive couldn’t just stand by idly.
They immediately dropped to the ground and began attempting to return fire.
Thus, both sides engaged in a firefight across one or two hundred meters of open ground.
Though the adventurers had more people and guns, they not only sustained greater casualties but were also completely outmatched in terms of firepower.
What use was it to have nearly two thousand guns if they couldn’t shoot accurately? It was no different from wielding sticks that made noise. Moreover, their lack of suppressive firepower made it far worse. In terms of firepower density alone, a single G9C general-purpose machine gun could rival a hundred iron-pipe rifles.
The three frontline infantry companies did suffer some casualties, as there weren’t enough foxholes for everyone to hide in, and some had no choice but to lie flat and shoot in return. However, the death toll on their side was far lower than that of the adventurers.
And soon after, they pulled out even more powerful weapons.
Rocket launchers and mortars.
Altogether, the three infantry companies had nearly ten mortars and two or three dozen launchers. A single concentrated barrage inflicted further heavy losses on the adventurers.
But the greatest blow was to their morale.
Their morale had already been low, unsure whether they should fight or not, and those who fired did so out of confusion or accident; most knew they couldn’t win.
Now, forced to fight and subjected to one-sided suppression and slaughter, their previous fears were confirmed – they couldn’t win at all.
After another round of bombardment, they broke down completely.
Some began to flee.
But fleeing under gunfire was terrifying, so most remained prone and afraid to move.
Then, they realized that those who ran didn’t get shot, while those who stayed behind to resist attracted heavy machine gun fire and occasional mortar or rocket blasts.
So, in a swarm, all the adventurers began to retreat.
From the start of the fight to the full collapse, the entire process took less than ten minutes. About two hundred adventurers died on the front lines, while the three infantry companies from the 2nd Division lost two soldiers and had about seven or eight wounded.
At the same time as the firefight, the forces expanding the blockade in other directions also encountered conflicts with adventurers.
The results were more or less the same.
Gu Hang observed the situation at the front and felt a bit ‘disappointed.’
Ten kilometers away, the three artillery battalions of the 2nd Division, along with the artillery support company directly under the division command, had already set up their positions. Initially, if the frontline battle went poorly, they could have fired a few salvos from the eighty-plus 155mm howitzers to shock the adventurers from Garbage Town with overwhelming firepower.
Apparently, there was no need.
They didn’t even use heavy artillery – the infantry companies’ firepower alone had settled the situation. The adventurers, who likely numbered over ten thousand, vividly demonstrated what it meant to shatter at a touch.
They were simply too fragile and weak.
No wonder Garbage Town, despite having a population of one hundred thousand, was beaten to shambles by the greenskins from the High Tower Ruins.
Of course, from Gu Hang’s perspective of taking over Garbage Town, this was a good thing.
Gu Hang soon called in Tadius, the newly promoted division commander, to issue new orders.
The infantry division, which had completed the blockade of Garbage Town, began gradually moving inward, tightening the encirclement.
At the same time, their loudspeakers continued to broadcast the Governor’s orders to the adventurers:
“Lay down your weapons! Resistance will be deemed rebellion!”
“Lay down your weapons! Resistance will be deemed rebellion!”
Under the constant loop, the adventurers, who had experienced the Governor’s army’s strength and lacked organization and unified command, surrendered
in large numbers.
The few who did not surrender had no choice but to retreat back into Garbage Town with their weapons, unwilling to continue fighting the Governor’s troops.
However, hiding was no longer an option.
Garbage Town was not their turf.
Those among the Iron Clock Blade who remained loyal to Swan had initially enforced martial law in Garbage Town as a policing force. Now, they became a barrier preventing those adventurers from returning to town.
Having lost their boss and been betrayed by their ‘leader,’ the Iron Clock Blade, one of the rare elite groups among the adventurers of Garbage Town, was initially thrown into chaos. But now, they had reorganized, with the mid-level leaders still loyal to Swan uniting to continue enforcing martial law and blocking the town’s entrances.
Revenge? That might have been part of it, but mainly, after assessing the situation, they chose to side with the victors.
Following the Governor seemed much more promising.
Aside from the Iron Clock Blade, the other property-owning agents in Garbage Town also regrouped after the initial chaos. They convinced Iron Clock Blade to continue enforcing orders and even sent some of their own forces to assist in the town’s lockdown.
The adventurers who tried to return fired shots in frustration.
They couldn’t beat the Governor’s army, but surely, they could handle these folks?
But they couldn’t.
Despite being an adventurer group, Iron Clock Blade was Swan’s most loyal force. Swan had invested a lot in equipping and training this unit.
Overcoming their line of defense was not easy.
With enough numbers, perhaps time would have made a difference, but these adventurers clearly didn’t have time.
As more surrendering adventurers fell behind, several companies from the 2nd Division advanced swiftly, flanking the holdouts who refused to surrender and launching an attack.
Under the assault from both sides, these adventurers quickly collapsed.
Now, they had no way out, facing only the choice of surrendering or fighting to the death.
Few were willing to die.
And if there were such people, the Alliance soldiers wouldn’t even need to intervene; their own comrades would find a way to solve the problem.
Among those “solved” were leaders of adventurer groups intending to resist, followers of Nather, raiders with a history of looting… and one particular individual.
Mark Ferry.
Three bullets struck the back of his head and six in his back. Several adventurer leaders offered him up during their surrender, claiming he committed suicide out of guilt.
…
The issue outside the city was mostly resolved.
One infantry regiment from the 2nd Division stayed behind to guard the disarmed captives.
They would be held in the adventurers’ encampment inside Garbage Town.
Gu Hang, meanwhile, led two other regiments into the town.
He was greeted by the Iron Clock Blade with their weapons lowered and numerous property-owning agents.
Upon entering the largest council hall in Garbage Town, Gu Hang had barely taken his seat when the agents eagerly swarmed forward, scrambling to pledge their loyalty to the Governor.
They spoke about their businesses and how much production they could achieve; they detailed Garbage Town’s methods of operation and proposed ideal management traits…
Gu Hang listened absentmindedly.
His expression only brightened when Tadius, now a division commander with his bright red cap, pushed the door open and strode inside.
These agents might have once ruled Garbage Town, but from today onward, that was no longer the case.
Here, Gu Hang’s primary concern wasn’t them but the army, particularly those armed adventurers.
Tadius’s appearance meant the news Gu Hang wanted had finally arrived.