Chapter 18 The Prometheus Flamethrower

This armor's attributes were almost tailor-made for Mogansha, a top-tier item that naturally made his eyes burn with desire. The other weapon was a massive instrument of destruction against hordes of Xenomorphs.

Name: Prometheus III Flamethrower
Rank: Story-Specific Equipment (Cannot be brought out of this world)
Origin: Interstellar Alliance, Festus Star System, Third Production Star
Material: Manganese-Titanium Alloy
Description: A terrifying slaughter tool, extremely effective against large groups of enemies, but lacking in range.
Equipment: Infinite Fuel. The Prometheus III Flamethrower automatically draws oxygen and hydrogen from the atmosphere to replenish fuel. The drawback is that each burst cannot exceed five minutes. Reload time equals burst time.
Description: Equipping or un-equipping this weapon takes at least five seconds. You must use both hands to hold and operate this weapon. When you activate this weapon and begin spraying flames, your movement speed is reduced by 30%. Normal speed is restored when you stop spraying flames.
Purchasing this weapon requires Revered status at the Steel Outpost base and payment of 4000 Universal Points. Purchasing this item will also grant you 5000 Reputation Points. The weapon disappears when you leave this world.

Mogansha sighed.

"It's a pity that purchasing requires Revered status! It takes at least 24,000 Reputation to raise from Honored to Revered. You're still far from that."

Fang Senyan smiled.

"Perhaps not."

He went to find Commander Tommy Fickwen at the base and accepted several missions: patrolling the surrounding area, hunting down a few lone Zergs. The more difficult task was to capture a Xenomorph alive. After spending two hours completing these tasks, Fang Senyan gained nearly 2000 Reputation Points. The Steel Outpost base had developed into a relatively large base. An auxiliary radar station had been built next to the central hall.

Fang Senyan entered the radar station and had Jin Mine pave the way. For only 300 Reputation Points and 300 Universal Points, he asked the radar station staff to mark three locations. After their calculations and real-time analysis, if the crashed transport plane could have made a successful forced landing, it was most likely to have crashed in one of these three locations.

He went to Ms. Angzi and had Jin Mine take his Purple Star badge inside. Coupled with that "Legendary" discount, he actually bought two NPC Advanced Carbon Organic Armors! And a Prometheus IV Flamethrower! Of course, Fang Senyan was buying items requiring Revered status while only at Honored status. Both the NPC Advanced Carbon Organic Armor and the flamethrower required nearly double the Universal Points and Reputation! And this was with Jin Mine's full Charm stat! This level-skipping purchase completely emptied Fang Senyan's Universal Points and Reputation.

Mogansha's eyes nearly popped out! He couldn't figure out why Fang Senyan could directly buy special items requiring Revered status while only at Honored status! He was only at Respected status. He couldn't even see special reputation items and equipment that could only be purchased with Honored status, let alone buy them! However, Jin Mine's function of "smuggling" purchases at a high price in advance was a huge secret. Fang Senyan naturally couldn't reveal it at this time. However, Mogansha watched Fang Senyan's reputation plummet from Honored to Lukewarm and seemed to understand what was going on.

After purchasing these three expensive items, Fang Senyan's financial situation became destitute. But then Mogansha stepped forward and first added a reconnaissance motorcycle to the team. This motorcycle was a later, poorer version of the Vulture, with no attack capability. It could only carry two people. The air-cushion suspension allowed it to run at a fairly stable speed on any terrain, and there was no need to worry about energy. It could travel at least ten thousand kilometers. In addition, Mogansha purchased ten cans of military rations. Each can cost 100 Reputation Points and restored 50 points of health within 10 seconds (uninterruptible). It also increased health regeneration speed by an additional 10% for 120 minutes.

Considering the harsh surrounding climate, the two brought enough water, put on helmets to block the sand, and set off directly. In the previous base defense battle, the surrounding Zergs had suffered heavy losses, so they dared to drive in boldly. The Gobi Desert had a wide field of vision, allowing them to see far away, so there was no danger of being ambushed. In addition, the holographic map marked out the Zerg settlements and various dangerous areas, so they drove nearly two hundred kilometers without encountering any danger.

Water was quite scarce on this planet. Sand, stones, yellowish-brown exposed ground, and scaly piles of rocks were everywhere. Strangely, dust and debris were rarely seen, creating an eerie cleanliness, indicating that strong winds often blew through, carrying away the light dust.

However, it wasn't entirely devoid of life. Some things that looked like brown stones were actually plants that had stubbornly survived. These things were like tightly clenched fists that required great force to pry open. Fang Senyan poured a little water on one, and it immediately unfolded at a visible rate. The leaves were thick like aloe vera, immediately covering nearly one square meter of the ground.

At this moment, Mogansha suddenly shuddered, then calmed down.

"I lost a bit of Merit Points."

Fang Senyan, who was driving, calmly said,

"Me too."

Merit Points would not be lost for no reason. The only explanation was that something had happened to the group that went to rescue the Hardman Platoon. Mogansha frowned.

"If we don't lose any more Merit Points in five minutes, it means they were just careless and encountered an ambush. But if people keep dying one after another, then there's no doubt they're in big trouble."

At this moment, Mogansha suddenly took a few deep breaths.

"Be careful, something seems wrong ahead."

Fang Senyan knew that Mogansha's intuition was quite reliable. He immediately became vigilant and turned the hover reconnaissance motorcycle's power to the maximum, ready to turn around and run at any time. After rolling over a few yellow sand dunes, a tragic battlefield appeared on the Gobi Desert ahead! The battlefield was piled with all kinds of strangely shaped Zerg corpses. Dark purple body fluids had even gathered into pools of disgusting blood, so viscous that even the dry Gobi Desert could not absorb it.

Nourished by the blood and flesh of these insects, many desert plants had awakened from their petrified state, spreading their branches and leaves. It was as if indescribable vitality had emerged on the bloody battlefield of death, a truly contradictory feeling.

The two men looked into the distance and realized that with closer inspection, they could see that the fighting insects looked very similar, but were actually divided into two major categories: red and black. Obviously, two different Zerg species had engaged in conflict. Fang Senyan drove the motorcycle around the battlefield, observing the movements. After discovering that there were no abnormalities, Mogansha got out of the car, put on his combat armor, and cautiously crept forward.

Fang Senyan also put on his combat armor and observed Mogansha's posture. He realized that if he moved in Mogansha's way, his waist muscles would be quite uncomfortable, but it would allow him to react more quickly to various changes. Perhaps it would only buy him a few tenths of a second, but sometimes that could determine a person's life or death. These tactical movements were not taught in the Space; Mogansha must have figured them out himself during life-and-death battles.

Mogansha hid behind a rock for a long time, then gave Fang Senyan a gesture to lift the alarm.

"It's okay, the battle ended at least a day ago."

Fang Senyan got out of the car and walked towards the battlefield. The more he walked, the more shocked he felt. There were no traces of bullets or artillery fire on these Zerg corpses. The injuries were all large, open, and tragic tearing wounds, and the acid corrosion was a mess. Even more astonishing was that there were large patches of scorched earth hundreds of square meters in size on the ground. A large number of insects had been carbonized in the scorched earth. You could even see some shiny particles on the scorched ground, indicating that the temperature of the fire had been so high that the sand had melted and formed crystals.

Mogansha murmured,

"Could this be infighting among the Zergs?"

Fang Senyan's eyes flickered.

"Remember our encounter at the Steel Outpost base? Although we were attacked by the Zergs, their attacks were in sequence: flying insects leading the way, followed by ground insects. If they could have coordinated their attacks at the same time, even if the flying insects had just destroyed those two mechanical siege tanks at the most critical moment, the base would have inevitably fallen."

Mogansha pondered,

"So, you mean?"

Fang Senyan said affirmatively,

"The Zergs are probably not as united as they appear. At least the Zergs at the Steel Outpost base clearly had two camps. They had no intention of cooperating. In that case, there may be Zergs that oppose each other and kill each other. The reason why the victors don't devour the corpses of their enemies is probably because each Zerg spawning nest would label its combat units with a unique genetic code, which would be toxic to insects hatched from other spawning nests."