Assault

Everyone organized their equipment and rushed to the vicinity of the church mentioned by the puppeteer through the communication curtain.

As night fell, the abandoned church stood solitary on the boundless snowy plain, looking like a lost island.

From their position, they could perfectly capture the ruined silhouette of the entire church. Beneath the crumbling dome, countless dark, inky puppet figures wandered. There were puppet sentries responsible for guarding, all holding firearms and leading ghouls as they walked through the night. Those creatures with their sensitive sense of smell would sound the alarm the moment an enemy approached.

Xu Xiaoyou also noticed an inconspicuous figure on the second floor. It was a puppetized young girl with dim, lifeless eyes, wearing a combat suit similar to theirs. She leaned behind a half-broken wall, cradling a heavy sniper rifle in her arms. Its 0.5-inch caliber made the roaring bullets capable of shattering the skulls of most fixers below grade 4.

The most conspicuous was the puppet guarding the church entrance. It was a fellow clad in heavy armor, its nearly three-meter-tall body appearing like a humanoid beast encased in metal. A rugged, heavy aura radiated from it, and the mottled crimson on the giant guitar axe in its hand—it was unclear if it was the original paint or someone else's blood.

This was actually a grade 3 fixer. And puppet fixers like this were also stationed at the church's back and east gates. It was hard to imagine how the puppeteer had enslaved these high-grade fixers for his own use.

There was no doubt that this church was extremely well-defended under such heavy guarding; not even a fly could get in.

Xu Xiaoyou lay in the bushes and silently stowed her binoculars. It was no wonder that puppeteer had the confidence to challenge them directly. With this army of puppets, even if a medium-sized agency in the city deployed its entire staff, they wouldn't be able to do anything to him.

Aside from using tanks and cannons to blast open the church doors, they couldn't think of any way to storm the place from the front.

"Where did this guy find so many monsters?" Chen San frowned. "With so many guns, this firepower rivals a whole agency."

Xu Xiaoyou sat up and gestured for everyone to look at her.

"I'll briefly outline the subsequent operation."

The three of them pricked up their ears, wanting to hear what kind of earth-shattering battle plan the girl could come up with.

Xu Xiaoyou pointed at Chen San. "You go and take out the main attacker at the church entrance."

Chen San was stunned, pointing at himself. "Me?"

Not just Chen San, but Lin Sheng and Tang Xin were also puzzled. You had to realize that was a grade 3 heavy knight, known for unparalleled strength and frontal combat power. Never mind a grade 1 fixer clerical staff member like Chen San—even if Lin Sheng were to go head-to-head with it, he wouldn't dare say he had an absolute chance of winning.

"Don't make jokes like that in such a serious situation."

Before Chen San could even finish, Xu Xiaoyou waved her hand to interrupt him. She gave a cold laugh and adopted a frigid attitude.

"Do I look like I'm joking with you?"

"Or rather, Chen San, do you—the commander who repeatedly made wrong decisions and led the team into danger—have the confidence to question my strategy?"

Chen San froze. Everyone looked at the girl who had suddenly changed her aura with a sense of daze. The cold atmosphere she radiated at this moment felt foreign to them, as if she were a born high-level chess player whose words allowed no room for thought or refusal.

"If you can't think of a better plan and don't have the determination to bear all the costs and consequences, then shut your mouth and let me finish."

Chen San fell silent abruptly and said no more. The coldness on Xu Xiaoyou's face softened slightly, becoming a bit more gentle.

"Of course, I'm not asking you to storm in from the front. Later, I will use my Substitute to cooperate with you in distracting that guy from the front."

"What you need to do is follow my instructions. Keep moving and don't get taken out. It would be best if you can kill that guy, but I've already expected it if you can't."

"Winning against many with few, gambling small for big gains—I will use the smallest chips to win the largest hand."

"Let's go. Let's meet that guy."

Saying this, Xu Xiaoyou stood up and brushed the dust off her clothes, her gaze looking straight toward the distant church, scanning the puppet sentries wandering nearby.

She made a move that caught everyone off guard. Xu Xiaoyou held a champagne glass in one hand and a spoon in the other. The spoon struck the bottom wall of the champagne glass, producing a crisp symphony, one chime after another. Her back, cinched by the tactical vest, was held perfectly straight, looking like a lady who hadn't received an invitation but was about to attend a banquet anyway.

"The more unwelcome we are, the grander we should make the entrance, just so he knows we're here."

"What are you doing?" The girl's madness made Chen San's voice tremble.

After she did this, all the puppet sentries in the bushes looked over, their eyes emitting a large burst of red light.

"Tang Xin, apply the buffs. Let's deal with these peripheral minions first. That puppeteer's gaze is too long and greedy; let's help him clean it up."

Tang Xin reacted quickly and chanted softly. The triple special effects of 【Blue-Winged Voice】, 【Heroic Hymn】, and 【Life Elegy】 were bestowed upon the team members.

Xu Xiaoyou took the first step forward. Her Dawn Haze Blade appeared, and with one strike, she dealt with a puppet that had approached. Then, a handgun appeared in her other hand.

She charged forward, using the puppet's remains to block the line of fire from the sentry puppets, then repeatedly fired to pick off the nearby puppet sentries.

The commotion here quickly attracted the attention of the puppets at the distant church. Just as the puppet girl at the ruins on the second floor raised her head and the muzzle of her gun poked out from the wall, Xu Xiaoyou shouted decisively:

"Chen San, shoot her!"

No matter how much turmoil was in his heart, Chen San reacted at this moment. He quickly set up his sniper rifle and pulled the trigger before the other side could fire at Xu Xiaoyou.

Half of the puppet girl's head exploded, and her body slumped down limply.

Tang Xin quickly followed Xu Xiaoyou's pace, activating her water arts ability to intercept the crossfire for the girl. Lin Sheng swept his blade out, clearing a large area of puppets in one go.

The nearby puppet sentries didn't pose much threat to them. Soon, they had cleared out a space. Xu Xiaoyou closed her eyes, and a map spanning several kilometers centered on the church appeared in her mind like a flat, spread-out scroll. She recalled every detail.

If the distance of several thousand meters from them to the church were divided into three zones, then they were currently in the Third Zone, where the number of puppet sentries was highest and the puppeteer's eyes were most dense. This area was relatively easier to break through, but even if they cleared a small patch of puppets, the nearby sentries would fill the gap at extreme speed.

The entire process didn't even take five seconds before another batch of puppets appeared near them, red lights flashing densely where the trees provided cover.

Xu Xiaoyou quickly dashed from behind cover, severing the neck of a puppet in front of her with one strike, then stepped to the other side to hide behind a tree, dodging more incoming crossfire from the puppets.

Responding to those puppet sentries was a surging, scorching flame. After using fireballs to deal with those sentries, Xu Xiaoyou didn't rush deeper. Instead, she extended laterally, continuing to deal with the scattered ghouls while thinking rationally and rapidly.

In this Third Zone, the time the puppeteer spent in a blind spot was extremely short; their every move would be caught in his sight. Because of this, it was better to tell him with great fanfare that they had decided to 'Assault' this church. They would clear out a batch of eyes in the process, reducing future trouble while fully unfolding this battle!