Stars, Players and Immortals

Chapter 36: The Dungeon Begins!!!

Two days passed after the Bloodstained Items dungeon was released.

Night fell over the Sailor Valley manufacturing corridor, and in the distance, industrial light tracks, like red-hot lines, cut the factories, pipelines, and transport bridges on both sides of the canyon into layers of overlapping shadows.

About 1,800 meters from the outer edge of the dungeon's base, there is an abandoned cooling pump station. There are no permanent workers or network monitoring around it, making it a perfect meeting point before the dungeon starts.

Two hundred Skydrive players who had successfully registered arrived one after another. The players crowded into the open space below the pump station, checking each other's magazines, prosthetic body status, interference patches, and respawn point bindings. The atmosphere was tense but also filled with an undisguised excitement.

After obtaining the consent of most people, he started his live stream.

As soon as the live stream screen lit up, the surrounding players immediately got into the zone. Some people flashed a peace sign at the camera, some posed with their guns slung across their shoulders, and others pushed forward while holding up temporary graffiti boards that read "Long live Skydrive".

"Brothers, keep it low-key, keep it low-key."

While adjusting the camera, he suppressed his laughter, even though he didn't eat beef.

"Brothers, I'm going to be broadcasting the first large-scale dungeon walkthrough of the Homeworld world line."

[Livestream viewership: 100 million+]

[The first large-scale dungeon livestream of the Homeworld timeline is now live!!!]

[Large-scale first-person perspective, sob sob {crying emoji}, too bad I'm working for a heartless corporation in Terra and can't participate. When will the Skywards come and liberate Terra?!]

[Holy crap, this group of people looks like a terrorist meeting.]

The player who doesn't eat beef joked and bantered with viewers in the live stream, while the other commander player started the voting process for the temporary commander-in-chief.

Once the two hundred people had assembled, the first thing to do was to determine the commander-in-chief for this instance.

If everyone in a 200-player dungeon goes their own way, it will eventually turn into a real-life PUBG battle royale on Mars. Putting aside whether you can even earn contribution points, the mission objectives will likely be turned into a huge comedy by the players. Therefore, someone must coordinate and manage everything.

As the leader of the Ruby Squad, Pound naturally participated in the vote. The twelve-man squad behind him had already gathered their pre-equipment and were all eager to rush into the blockade zone and take the first wave of fire.

The composition of the teams participating in this vote is very clear.

Pull-Kwak from the Little Pony Express Guild brought an elite platoon, a full complement of forty-eight men.

The pound led twelve members of the Ruby Class.

There are ten other player classes in the other areas of Sailor Valley, totaling 110 people. Some of the more famous class leaders are [Steel Plate Grilled Cold Noodles], [Railway Collie], [Miner's Lamp Not Working], [No Takeoff Tonight], [Cyber ​​Intestine], and [Even Dogs Don't Go to Jail].

The remaining thirty casual players elected the highest-ranking [Night Shift Welder] as their temporary representative.

The voting result was a foregone conclusion.

Little Pony Express's guild leader, Pull-up, has become the overall commander of this [Bloodstained Items] dungeon.

Pull-up stood on a piece of abandoned equipment in the center of the pump station, first looking around at the players around him. He was wearing a skin jacket that he had bought with real money, with a light bulletproof vest over it, and a tactical terminal and a temporary command channel access device for Chishiro hanging on his chest.

"First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their trust in me and the Little Pony Express Guild."

After the opening in his pants was pulled up, the surroundings quickly fell silent.

"This is the first large-scale raid for our Skyward faction players. If we do well, everyone will be rewarded; if we fail, the losses will be felt by more than one person."

"So, if my command makes a major mistake that leads to the failure of the mission objective, or if the whole team is wiped out due to a major oversight and the dungeon is not cleared, I, La Kuku, will take responsibility, and Little Pony Express will also provide resources to compensate the participating teams."

Upon hearing this, many casual players visibly relaxed.

What players fear most is that large guilds treat casual players like cannon fodder. Now that LakuKuKu has taken responsibility, at least they've shown the right attitude.

He didn't bother with formalities and immediately shared the tactical map in the shared channel for everyone.

"Everyone is eager to run the dungeon, so I won't waste any more time. Let's get straight to the tactical arrangements for this run—first and foremost, the dungeon respawn point."

This time, the Bloodstained Parts dungeon will open a temporary dungeon resurrection point. The commander can set up a temporary resurrection point for their team to respawn.

"This instance unlocks the permission to set temporary respawn points. We can't put the respawn points too close together, otherwise they will be swept by patrol units in the blockade area, and we will be killed a second time before we can regroup after respawning; we can't put them too far away either, otherwise the time to run around the map after respawning will be too long, and the front-line firepower will not be able to keep up."

Pull-up raised his hand and tapped on the map, marking an underground maintenance node behind the abandoned cooling pump station.

"The respawn point is located here, about 1,200 meters from the outer combat zone of the instance and about 2,300 meters from the core blockade line. There are two abandoned pipes and a freight and maintenance road in between, which can quickly return to the battlefield and avoid the main monitoring link. We have also prepared temporary vehicles for traversing the map."

"It needs to be emphasized here that temporary vehicles must not be destroyed, so everyone must protect and hide their vehicles. If the vehicle is lost, it will affect our time to travel around the map after respawning."

He paused, then continued:

"Everyone knows the resurrection mechanism. You can resurrect a maximum of ten times within seven days. So this time, we've designed a maximum battle loss—each person is allowed to die a maximum of five times. After the fifth time, you can assess your equipment durability and experience loss. If you want to continue fighting, you can continue; if you want to retreat, you can retreat to the logistics point."

The surrounding players nodded in agreement.

This rule is very practical. Players are indeed not afraid of dying, but dying will result in the loss of equipment and levels. The five-times-loss limit can ensure the impact of the attack, prevent the entire team's equipment from being ruined in the second half, and ensure that everyone's morale is not crushed.

Next, La Kuku started explaining the squad configuration.

Currently, Cyborg players on the Sacred Body Forger path can be roughly divided into four major styles based on stat allocation, prosthetic bodies, and skills: gun-based, melee, hacking, and hybrid.

The weapon build is further divided into sniper, assault, heavy firepower, and suppressive shooter. Among them, the sniper build is the most expensive, requiring high-quality firearms, reconnaissance vision, ballistic modules, and specialized weapon prosthetics. It is slow to develop and costly, and most people simply cannot afford to maintain it.

In Xiao Ma Express's elite squad, there are six sniper players.

Two high-output kinetic energy sniper rifles, with high output multipliers and ricocheting bullets, offer the best handling; two use wall-penetrating kinetic energy sniper rifles, used in conjunction with reconnaissance markers to engage targets behind cover; and two use automatic target-locking smart sniper rifles, responsible for finishing off enemies, pursuing moving units, and suppressing enemy command nodes.

In addition, Little Pony Express also brought along dedicated hacker players and hybrid players responsible for healing and rescuing. The former are responsible for interfering with electronic devices and countering enemy hackers, while the latter carry repair kits, medical gel, and emergency prosthetic connection tools to drag wounded teammates back from the ground when necessary.

They even spent a lot of money to acquire several sets of military drones.

The [Grey Raven-7 reconnaissance drone] is a small, silent rotor structure with sub-band thermal scanning, short-range terrain mapping, and target marking functions. Its main functions are to open up the field of view and provide snipers with strike coordinates.

The [Stinger-3 Light Armored Drone] is equipped with a miniature kinetic energy gun and low-power electromagnetic projectiles. Its firepower is not exaggerated, but its advantage lies in its flexibility. It can harass the enemy's flanks, force out security units behind cover, and also draw the first round of lock-on from automatic turrets for infantry squads.

Pull-Ku highlighted the drone's serial number and the list of operators, then zoomed in on the tactical map to the outer edge of the blockade zone.

"Xiao Ma Express will take the lead, and our elite platoon will be at the forefront. We won't let casual comrades and other squads take the most dangerous first wave of fire for us."

As he spoke, his gaze swept across the faces of the squad leaders: the pound, the steel plate grilled cold noodles, and the border mutt.

"I also hope that everyone here will contribute their strength. In the future, we at Little Pony Express will interact with you players more and more often. We sincerely hope to build a good relationship with you all and create a positive game atmosphere for the Homeworld world!"

While he was talking through his pants, the live stream camera was also pointed at him, even though he didn't eat beef.

[LaPuPu truly lives up to his reputation as guild leader; his organizational skills are impressive.]

[Although the members of the Little Pony Express Guild have rather abstract names, they still possess a great deal of vision!]

[Come on, this isn't just a live stream being broadcast; this chairman is just trying to win people over, putting on a show for us.]

[What you're saying is true; at least they put in real money and took responsibility for everything themselves, unlike you, who just knows how to type on a keyboard.]

[Pah, you bootlicker of a big guild!]

[You damn troll, if you're so good, you do it yourself! If you disagree, let's have a one-on-one fight!]

The viewers in the live stream always argue about various things, while La Kuku continues with his own plans.

"The team consists of 200 people for this instance, and I have decided to temporarily reorganize them into three infantry platoons, one fire support platoon, one logistics and maintenance team, and one special operations team."

"Three infantry platoons, each with forty-eight men, and four twelve-man infantry squads under them."

"Each squad is equipped with one squad leader, one deputy squad leader, six riflemen, one gunner, one shield guard, one drone operator, and one medic or repairman."

"Among them, the squad leader and deputy squad leader are responsible for coordination and command, and for tactical micro-management."

"Riflemen are mainly armed or mixed-skilled, responsible for frontal engagements, flank advances, and covering retreats; gunners must carry heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, or equivalent heavy firepower; shield guards are melee fighters, responsible for acting as tanks, drawing fire, and blocking gun lines; drone operators are responsible for squad visibility, and medics are responsible for reviving teammates who can still be saved."

"The fire support platoon consists of eighteen people, mainly composed of heavy firepower players and some long-range weapon players. They are responsible for suppressing fixed firepower points, interrupting enemy reinforcement routes, and covering the infantry platoon's repositioning."

"The logistics and maintenance team consists of six people, who stay between the respawn point and the second-line maintenance point, and are responsible for resupplying, repairing, and receiving players who have respawned to regroup."

"I plan to form a special operations team with the remaining players. They will consist of snipers, hackers, a small number of highly mobile melee players, and hybrid players. They will serve as the elite force, responsible for tactical infiltration and striking high-value targets."

No one objected to the arrangement of having someone pull up their pants.

Ruby Squad was quickly assigned to the 3rd Platoon of the 2nd Infantry Platoon, with Pound serving as platoon leader, Ice-Ice serving as deputy platoon leader, and Non-Beef serving as a live-streaming rifleman.

After the arrangements were basically finalized, La Kuku gave his final instructions:

"One last reminder: everyone check your camouflage status, confirm your respawn point is linked, and check your ammunition, jamming items, and medkits."

"Ten minutes later, the drone will go first."

"Twenty minutes later, the first infantry platoon entered the outer contact zone."

"The Bloodstained Items, Officially Released."

……

……

Twenty minutes later, the Bloodstained Items dungeon officially entered the countdown to battle.

The outer ring of the Special Lockdown Zone of the Office of the Holy Inquisition is a militarized outpost nestled deep within the Mariner Valley industrial area. Its outer layer consists of three reinforced concrete blast walls and several armored trenches, while the interior is garrisoned by two fully staffed elite security units.

Most of the people here have twelve prosthetic body parts installed, with a total level between LV18 and LV20. Their weapons, armor, neural interfaces, and military operating systems are all high-specification equipment issued by the Holy See Examination Office.

The stronghold was heavily armed, with heavy machine guns, automatic grenade launchers, anti-armor rocket launchers, and vehicle-mounted chain guns mounted on the outer ring. Two Steel Badger infantry fighting vehicles were parked on both sides, and military drones patrolling at low altitudes were equipped with small kinetic energy guns and infrared locking modules. Behind them, two Black Stork armed helicopters were on standby, their rotor noise filling the canyon wind like a guillotine that could fall at any moment.

After leading the elite Pony Express platoon to the first contact line, La Kuku did not rush everyone forward.

He first had six sniper players occupy high positions on both sides, two high-output kinetic energy snipers were responsible for picking off heavy firepower personnel, two wall-penetrating kinetic energy snipers locked onto officers and rocket launcher positions behind cover, and two smart snipers connected to the vision of the Gray Raven-7 reconnaissance drone to specifically watch enemy moving units.

The hacker players were already crouching behind the front-line cover, their hacking devices connected to a temporary signal relay, responsible for interfering with the fire control and cybernetic communication links of drones, infantry fighting vehicles, and prosthetic bodies. Even if they could only delay the enemy for a second, it would be enough to create a firing window for snipers and infantry platoons.

Pulling up his pants, he raised his hand and gave the order over the channel.

"The Gray Ravens take off, the Stinger lowers its altitude, the sniper team marks the heavy-firepower targets, and the hacker team prepares for the first round of jamming."

"The first infantry platoon should move forward, but don't rush to charge. First, draw out their fire positions."

"Fire support platoon, wait for my command. If the enemy infantry fighting vehicles move, immediately suppress their vehicle-mounted turrets."

A few seconds later, three Gray Raven-7 reconnaissance drones skimmed low to the ground behind the player team, bypassed the abandoned pipelines, and quickly rose to synchronize the fire distribution of the outer ring of the stronghold back to the command channel. Meanwhile, the Stinger-3 light firepower drones split into two groups and cut towards the flanks of the stronghold from low altitude.

Security personnel at the Sacred Affairs Chamber within the outpost detected the anomaly almost simultaneously.

Beep beep beep~~~~~~~

A piercing alarm blared in the outer ring position, and red combat lights lit up layer by layer along the blast wall. The armed security personnel, who were originally on standby, quickly moved into firing positions. The heavy machine guns turned, the grenade launchers were raised, the infantry fighting vehicle engines roared, and the turrets began to lock onto the figures that were rapidly approaching in the outer ring wasteland.

"An unidentified armed group, numbering over one hundred, all armed, has been detected within the outer ring's third firing range!"

"Repeating, the outer ring has been subjected to a large-scale enemy attack. The enemy has drone units, heavy firepower, and suspected snipers!"

"First row, cover the front; second row, block the flanks; crew, open fire; helicopters, stand by and take off!"

[The Special Lockdown Zone of the Holy Execution Bureau has entered combat readiness!!!]

[Outer ring defense authority delegated to on-site commander]

[The first and second armed platoons have entered positional defense mode.]

[The Steel Badger infantry fighting vehicle starts up, and its onboard chain gun enters continuous firing mode—]

Black Stork attack helicopters enter low-altitude support preparation route —

[All units execute this order: Suppress the incoming forces and prevent the enemy from approaching the core area!!!]

The first round of firepower was unleashed almost at the same time the system notification appeared.

The vehicle-mounted chain gun first cut a line of fire across the wasteland, and a dense rain of bullets swept across the front of the player team, causing a row of rubble and metal sparks to fly up from the ground. Then, the automatic grenade launcher began to cover the area behind the abandoned pipeline, and explosions erupted one after another, instantly turning several players who had just rushed out of their cover into white light.

The player's troops also rushed forward at that moment.

"Long live the Skywards!"

"Charge! For the experience and the prosthetic discount!"

"Brothers, the contribution points are right in front of you! Anyone who chickens out is a Martian potato!"

"I hereby declare that from this day forward, I am the King of Bloodstained Clothes!"

A mix of normal and abnormal shouts erupted as two hundred players surged forward in batches from the direction of the abandoned pumping station. The first infantry platoon led the charge, with shield bearers carrying alloy shields as they charged into the firing line. Riflemen advanced along pipelines, wreckage, and low embankments, while artillerymen hoisted heavy heavy guns and grenade launchers, returning fire at the firing ports on the blast wall.

The Bloodstained Items dungeon has begun!!!

……

……

The sound of someone pulling down their pants rang out continuously on the command channel.

"Sniper team, take out the fire support target at the A1 objective point I marked!!!"

"Hacker team, jam the infantry fighting vehicle turret."

"Don't huddle together in the first row, spread out! Shield guards, push forward, riflemen follow the T, gunners, don't be greedy for output, change positions immediately after you finish a magazine."

The next second, six muffled sniper shots rang out from above.

On the left side of the outer ring position, a heavy machine gunner had just pressed his gun towards the first infantry platoon when he was immediately taken out by concentrated fire from the snipers. He leaned back, and the machine gun fire line also suddenly veered into the sky.

But the firepower at the outpost was still terrifyingly fierce.

The steel badger infantry fighting vehicle's chain gun turned around, and a short burst of fire sent the shield guard at the forefront flying backward, shield and all. Two riflemen next to him tried to drag him away, but they were caught in the shrapnel from the grenade explosion, their health bars instantly emptied.

[Player "Second Uncle Whose Miner's Lamp Isn't Working" has been eliminated]

[Player "Jianbing Man" has been eliminated]

[Player "Night Shift Welder" Seriously Injured]

[Player "Railroad Collie" has been defeated]

In less than 30 seconds of the first wave of contact, 17 players were killed. Fortunately, the respawn point was already bound, and the logistics and maintenance team was ready. The dead players turned into white light and disappeared, while the seriously injured players were dragged back to the second line by the mixed-flow medics and shield guards.

Even those who don't eat beef suffered greatly in the first wave of attacks.

He followed the Ruby Squad to the back of an abandoned transport pipeline. He had just peeked out and thrown a tactical grenade when it arced through the air and landed on the edge of the bunker in front of the outer ring position, exploding with a bang and sending up a cloud of smoke and debris.

Before he could even see if the explosion had hit anyone, a string of chain shells swept along the edge of the pipe.

The scene before his eyes instantly shattered as he saw sparks flying from the impact of the pipe casing. He instinctively rolled backward, tumbling twice down the gravel slope, his tactical helmet hitting the ground with a dull thud, and his health bar dropping to below half on the spot.

"Holy crap, that's brutal!"

He cursed as he scrambled to the side, using both hands and feet. Just as he reached behind a broken steel plate, a player behind him was blown halfway off his body by a grenade, and in a flash of white light, he was sent back to the respawn point.

The live stream chat room has completely exploded.

[Don't peek out, you little bull! Every time you do, I feel like you're going to break.]

[The scene of that shield bearer being blasted away by the chain cannon was so impactful!]

[Seventeen dead? And that's only been half a minute into the game!]

[Xiao Ma's command is quite steady; the sniper has already taken out two heavy firing positions.]

"Not Eating Beef" huddled behind the steel plate, took a couple of breaths, glanced down at his remaining health bar, then looked at the dense bullet trails, explosions, and drone fire in front of him, a mixture of cowardice and excitement on his face.

"Brothers, this book has something special."

He said something to the viewers in the live stream, and as soon as he finished speaking, the pounds rushed past him. The Ruby Class's shield guards stood in front, pressing the ice button and reporting the positions in the channel, while the gunners set up light machine guns to suppress the enemy's firing ports.

The pound sterling turned around and roared:

"Hey, stop lying there pretending to be dead, get on my heels!"

He gritted his teeth, reloaded the rifle, and crouched down to crawl out from behind the steel plate.

Ahead, the First Infantry Platoon has already sacrificed seventeen lives to expose the full firepower of the outer ring position.

The real team battle has only just begun.

……

……

……

PS: I've slightly modified the experience reward details above. In addition to the 150,000 experience points from the individual posting system, I've added a contribution reward from the faction posting system. This means that each individual player participating in the dungeon will receive at least 5,000 experience points, while the 150,000 experience points from the individual posting system will be shared among the top ten players on the contribution leaderboard.