Chapter 165 Suffer in Silence
War!
War never changes.
A war suddenly broke out in New York. Coincidentally, both Skull and Bones and the Brotherhood of Steel chose to march into the urban area on the same day, planning to control the nation’s largest city. They wanted to control the population, the industry, and its advantageous geographical location.
None of the two sides had actually thought that their opponent harbored the same idea. As a consequence, a war broke out. Tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery from both teams crossed fire in the urban area. In just a few hours, a large number of buildings had been destroyed, and countless civilians had already lost their houses.
The collapsed ruins blocked the streets. Flames could be seen from all the burning houses, and smoke was gradually covering up the entire city. There were also plenty of corpses scattered all across the city, along with gunshots sounding from time to time in the streets. The battlefield situation had sunk into a deeply worrying state.
Unfortunately, Zhou Qingfeng and David Lawrence were trapped in the middle of the crossfire zone. They were under the pressure of firepower from both sides, so they could not move.
"I'm going to kill Richard. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be trapped here." Zhou Qingfeng picked up a piece of broken glass from the piles of rubble, and through a reflection, he could vaguely see that there was a tank from Skull and Bones guarding the streets from a hundred meters away.
Zhou Qingfeng quickly ran away once he saw the gun barrel of the tank aimed at him. He only managed to run for a few meters, and the building which he hid in previously had already exploded into debris. The opposing forces then wiped the ruins once again using their remote-controlled machine gun on the tank.
“I’m f***ed, we can’t go anywhere now. Look around, our surroundings have been blocked completely,” Zhou Qingfeng muttered in hatred.
David Lawrence rummaged within the armored vehicle that just got blasted off by the people from the Brotherhood of Steel. It was a light armored police vehicle belonging to Skull and Bones. Bullets from the Brotherhood of Steel’s heavy machine gun had penetrated its body, and behind the dense bullet holes were a pile of corpses.
“They’re now just a heap of rotten flesh wrapped in human skin and soaked in blood.” Zhou Qingfeng, who was taking watch, grinned when he saw David Lawrence throwing out the corpses.
"What you’ve said was indeed very close-fitting." David Lawrence did not care much even though he was faced with such terrible scene. He found some ammunition, food, water, and a transmitter-receiver in good condition from the vehicle. After turning on the receiver, he tried to connect with Skull and Bones' contact frequency. They soon found a noisy communication channel.
"The people from Skull and Bones clearly don't know how to fight a war. If they’re in the military, those who expose their communication channel in such a way will be executed by the firing squad in no time." David Lawrence set his face into a serious expression as he tried to gain some information from the channel.
Skull and Bones had the numerical superiority, and they were well-equipped. However, they did not know how to fight a war. On the other hand, although the Brotherhood of Steel had the numerical inferiority, most of them were war veterans who were extremely skilled in combat. Zhou Qingfeng was the weakest force among all three, as he not only had the numerical inferiority, but he was also poor in terms of equipment and war experience.
“It seems that the people from Skull and Bones are discussing whether to initiate an attack or fall back.” Zhou Qingfeng could understand any slang, and so he could identify even the noisy sound of the people from Skull and Bones.
All of a sudden, Lena Fox, who was staying in the base, sent a message, “Victor, I can’t stand it anymore! The people from the Brother of Steel has broken into our community. Everyone from our community has now been disarmed.”
Zhou Qingfeng and David Lawrence both felt distraught. The former asked, “How about our personnel? Are they all safe?”
“Fortunately, they’re still safe. However, the people from the Brotherhood of Steel want to take away all our supplies, and there’s no way I could stop them!” Lena Fox let out a wail.
Those materials were the result of the entire team’s efforts after taking on countless risks and sacrificing numerous members. Therefore, they felt angry and distressed, because their resources would soon be nothing but mere vain effort.
Lena could only cry at that instance; she had completely run out of ideas. She could hence only inform Zhou Qingfeng of the current situation, hoping for him to come up with an idea.
However, it seemed that Zhou Qingfeng could not do anything as well! He could not even manage to escape out of the crossfire zone. Nevertheless, he still decided to reply, “Lena, stay strong. Go and find the commander of the Brotherhood of Steel, and tell him the path where David Lawrence and I are under attack.
“Just tell them that we can help them break through Skull and Bones’ defense, but only with conditions. We’ll be joining their forces, and most importantly, we need to retain our own members and resources.”
David Lawrence whispered in Zhou Qingfeng’s ear, “I thought you didn’t like the Brotherhood of Steel? Did you actually forget how they discriminated against Asians?”
“What can I do even if I really don’t like them? Do I have any other choices? I won’t be able to gain their trust if I didn’t propose to join them.” Zhou Qingfeng still felt worried, as he then told Lena, “Miss Fox, don’t forget to show your confidence when negotiating with them. Just bring Katrina and DogMeat along with you if you’re really scared.”
However, Lena remained doubtful of herself, as she replied while crying, “But the people from the Brotherhood of Steel have already stated that they refuse to have any negotiations. They’ve also said that they’ll kill anyone who dares to resist. Do you still remember those church members who left us? The gang members instantly shot the priests to death as the priests refused to let them in and take all their resources away. They’re crazy!”
However, Zhou Qingfeng still insisted on getting Lena to go and try, “Lena, those priests might be useless for the Brotherhood of Steel, but unlike the priests, we’ll be extremely useful for them. You shouldn’t fear, because the Brotherhood of Steel has already lost a lot of their men from the front lines. They have a massive numerical inferiority as compared to Skull and Bones, so they won’t be willing to get involved in this mess as well.
“The only advantage Brotherhood of Steel possesses is the quality of their personnel. However, due to the exact same reason, they refuse to involve themselves in any attrition warfare, as they valued each of their members’ life.
“Lena, I beg you, you’re the best! Have you already forgotten that you were once the CEO of Fox Foundation? Don’t let yourself be stopped by such a small matter, for a new nation is waiting for us.”
Lena Fox was amused by Zhou Qingfeng’s words, so she finally agreed to accept his request, “Víctor, you’re a devil, a devil who only knows how to lure someone into joining your ridiculous ideas.”
Zhou Qingfeng would never send a lady to take on the risk by herself if he still had other plans with him. However, all of his resources had now been controlled by the Brotherhood of Steel. There was no way he would just let his resources, which he had acquired using the blood from his own men, to be snatched by the others. His resources even included the NTZ-49 research team. Without the team, he would be dead in no time!
Mother f***er, guess we just have to suffer in silence for now then!
Zhou Qingfeng and David Lawrence could only lean against the blasted-off armored vehicle and consume their food after persuading Lena Fox to negotiate with the Brotherhood of Steel. There was even blood on their food, but they just wiped it off before stuffing the food into their mouths.
"I remember that Katrina once told me that she’d eaten dead lizards and mice back when she was on the battlefield." Zhou Qingfeng put the crackers into his mouth, then he asked David Lawrence, "Have you eaten those for food before as well?"
"Don't talk about this topic while we’re eating, unless you want to get beaten." David Lawrence had completely run out of ideas as well, and now, he could only do nothing but sink into a daze.
After more than an hour, they heard Lena Fox's serious-sounding voice from the wireless radio, "Victor, the people from the Brotherhood of Steel want to have a chat with you."
Both Zhou Qingfeng and David Lawrence laughed in silence after hearing what Lena Fox said. David Lawrence even took the initiative to fist bump with Zhou Qingfeng. The former raised both his thumbs as a sign of praising him, as Lena Fox’s words indicated that the Brotherhood of Steel was actually interested in his proposal.
"Victor Hugo, I'm Johnson, the Primary Assault Team Captain of the Brotherhood of Steel. I heard from one of your companions that you’re planning to join us." Johnson continued with an arrogant and contemptuous voice, “Are you sure that you’re capable of joining us?”