Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

Indeed... very fast.

When Morton set aside his prejudice and impatience about this soldier getting in through the back door and focused on observing his performance, only then did he see the truth.

Just as they'd said, in terms of shooting ability, this kid was indeed better than himself.

Juggling reloading and shooting, both killing efficiency and accuracy were out of his league, and even though he had now slowed down his shooting speed, the right side of the vehicle remained as stable as Mount Tai.

Well... the performance is acceptable.

["Lucky Shot" energy +1.]

But what of it, if he wasn't chosen by the senior officers, then it surely meant his overall ability was lacking.

The officers have their judgment, and they must be infallible.

Not having won in the selection and needing to rely on connections to join this elite team definitely meant he lagged behind in some aspect!

"You focus on shooting, I'll load for you, help them out more."

"..." Bai E glanced sideways at the other, somewhat surprised.

He had thought this one would be a tough character.

[But you loading for me isn't even faster than me doing it myself...]

With lips barely moving, Bai E reined in his urge to retort and simply said, "Thank you."

...

Within the rear vehicle, the commanding officer furrowed his brow deeply, "These blood crows still have the stamina to keep up..."

Based on previous experience, these blood crows should not be a significant threat by now; their physiology plus the burden of carrying the "vampires" meant they didn't have the ability to maintain flight for long, and their stamina would limit their range of activity.

But now... was it because the data from the few prior cases were insufficient, leading to miscalculations in the predictions?

"This is troubling..."

If the blood crows' stamina could hold, then the machine guns and flamethrowers firing continuously might be the first to fail.

Overheated barrels would protest first, and forced use would only lead to complete equipment failure.

Allowing the blood crows to crash into the vehicle with their fleshy bodies, necessitating a forced breakout, was certainly the last and most passive option; the consequences of flipping the vehicle were unimaginable.

Right now, could they only rely on the soldiers' individual strength to extend the lifespan of their weapons as much as possible?

The purpose of the prior high-level shooting tests was this, hoping... these elites could withstand the pressure.

...

"Give me my machine gun!" The voice of a Caucasian soldier who was operating a heavy machine gun suddenly rang out over the team's comms, at the same time his large hand reached down.

Recognizing his role to take care of the odds and ends due to his own abilities, Morton immediately passed the other's machine gun to his palm, while loudly asking, "What do you want the machine gun for?"

"The heavy machine gun is overheated, needs a break... Damn! These blood crows are still chasing! The pressure might get a bit heavier now, look out for yourselves!"

As he spoke, he disengaged the safety and opened fire with force.

"Da-da-da-da!"

Elder Yi also extended a hand downwards, "Give me my machine gun too."

The flamethrower's continuous operational time was even shorter than that of the heavy machine gun, and even though he hadn't been using it constantly, it had reached its limit as well.

From now on, it would be a tough fight.

With both the heavy machine gun and flamethrower ceasing fire, the onslaught of the blood crows surged violently.

These cunning beasts also possessed not insignificant combat intelligence.

Even though the heavy artillery had ceased, the creatures still did not alter their previous attack strategy out of fear of human firearms; their flight paths were unpredictable and diverse, simply firing blindly after increasing the distance between themselves would not yield superb combat results.

The soldiers needed to maintain a certain degree of accuracy amidst uninterrupted firing, fortunately, the main shooters were selected from the best through high-level shooting tests, and for the moment they were able to barely maintain the defense line.

"Car 1 slow down, cover for Cars 2 and 3 to go ahead." The officer's command was suddenly issued.

Vehicle 1, that's the one Bai E was in.

Minister Likok and his assistant were separately in Vehicle 2 and Vehicle 3, and abandoning their vehicle to save an important figure was a fairly rational decision during critical times. The situation hadn't reached that point yet, but to be safe, it was still more prudent to have the two vehicles go ahead first.

Orders were to be obeyed without question, and at the moment the drivers heard the command, they took their foot off the gas pedal.

He didn't slam on the brakes for two reasons: one was that once the vehicle came to a complete stop it wouldn't be easy to pick up speed again; the second was that slamming on the brakes would cause the soldiers inside to be thrown about, losing their ability to resist.

However, merely not accelerating was enough for the other two vehicles to overtake. The two off-road vehicles instantly passed by on either side, leaving behind only trails of swirling dust.

The dark canopy trailing from behind covered vehicle 1 in an instant, the thick cloud composed of blood crows pressing down so heavily it was hard to breathe.

The situation grew even more dire!

"Ah!"

The painful cry of Veteran 1 was especially piercing over the team's voice comms.

A scream indicated an injury, and a high probability of losing combat capability.

With only four main combatants to begin with, losing even one could cause the already precarious defense line to collapse instantly.

The two hand-to-hand combat experts, who were only along for the ride, hurried to assist, while Bai E quickly glanced aside with a slight frown.

The wound was deep, with blood streaming down, revealing white bone.

The claws of the blood crows had gashed Veteran 1's right hand, the one he used to shoot, tearing away a large chunk of flesh and rendering his hand incapable of firing a gun.

"AB! Cover for him!" the veteran commanded calmly.

The firing angles from inside the vehicle were limited, certainly not as wide-ranging as those from the top hatch.

Hunkering down inside the vehicle and using the armor for cover might save one's life, but these creatures were not to be taken lightly.

Humans could find their weak spots through experience, and they could remember the vehicle's weak spots the same way.

Blocking the windows to obscure vision, using their bodies to interfere with the wheel rotation...

If the vehicle flipped, none would escape.

"Yes!" AB was taciturn and simply acknowledged the command when he received it.

Bai E focused intently, hesitated for just a moment, and then abruptly stood up, "Let me do it."

Without giving anyone a chance to object, he grabbed the machine gun from one of the hand-to-hand fighters, slung it over himself, then grasped the edge of the roof hatch with one hand and nimbly flipped out.

"AB…" Not being able to hear the change of personnel from outside, the veteran instinctively wanted to give an order but realized the figure beside him was behaving oddly. As he turned his head, all he could see was a pair of metal combat boots in front of his eyes.

"AB?" While voicing his confusion, he instinctively looked up along the legs until he saw a rugged face with no expression, which made him start, "B27?"

What was he doing up here?

Even a veteran like Veteran 1 had a hard time against these blood crows, what good would a new recruit be, one who had needed "connections" to join?

Of course, he was aware that this young brother had passed the advanced shooting test, but both Veteran 1's and AB's scores were better than his.

He might have good marksmanship with minimal shooting, but this was not the time for jokes!

He had to take responsibility for everyone's lives.

"Get down!" the composed veteran's face darkened, as if it could drip water.

This was the first time he had shown Bai E such a serious expression, "Let AB take over!"

"Click!"

Bai E hooked the locking mechanism of the hatch onto his belt to prevent himself from being thrown out and then responded expressionlessly to the other, "Just let me try."

He removed the machine gun strap from around his neck and grasped a machine gun in one hand.

The heavy feeling of the machine gun was reassuring, and Bai E recited in his mind—

"Gun Fighting Skill, activate."