Four Split Personalities

Game Time AM 11:54

Accompanied by deafening roars, every minute and every second a large number of mutants were thrown high into the air by an unparalleled impact force, then they returned to the ground in several batches, acquiring a flavor and color that varied from thirty to sixty percent ripeness.

A vast number of Blast Crystals buried just beneath a thin layer of soil claimed countless heads in an instant. These byproducts of an alchemist’s experimental error were extremely volatile, reacting explosively to even the slightest stimulation, unleashing shockwaves laden with enormous heat. Their lethality was on par with a novice mage who had held a fire explosion spell for two and a half minutes. They formed the first fundamental line of defense in enemy contact zone zero, colloquially known as the ’first line,’ and officially as the minefield.

The dozens of Thieves previously lingering in the vicinity were ’the first line’s’ last batch of quality inspectors. They had a certain expertise in creating and neutralizing traps. Their main job was to check the buffer safety and the trigger lines for each set of Blast Crystals. After all, these highly unstable devices were all too prone to chain reactions. Proper measures were essential; otherwise, if one set was triggered, the spreading impact was enough to activate all the crystals in the minefield, thereby wasting more than ninety percent of their potential.

Thus, not long before, Motan had gathered all of the engineering experts from the united forces and, after tossing out the Goblin Engineers who had proposed further reducing the stability of the crystals for maximum explosive effects, presented a topic: how to make the lethality of ’the first line’ controllable.

That night, a Lizard engineer named Ge Jun approached Motan, indicating that the temporary conference had reached a conclusion. They planned to fabricate a device that had cushioning, shock absorption, and trigger functions. Despite being somewhat conspicuous as its only flaw, it met the expected standards in terms of production speed, cost, and effectiveness, and was also very simple to deploy.

Then, the problem was solved because everyone knew that even if banners reading ’Explosive traps welcome you’ were placed in front of the mutants, they wouldn’t pay any attention, let alone notice the slightly more obvious primitive tripwires.

The Lizard engineer named Ge Jun, who had provided the core ideas, was later featured in various historical records and military textbooks, frequently mentioned in conjunction with ’the first line.’

By the way, Dino hadn’t actually found any problems earlier; the young man who had been physics class representative for six years in middle school had simply secretly connected the fuses of more than ten sets of Blast Crystals.

However, these mutants, having lost the ability to think, did not hesitate at all as they witnessed their peers spiraling into the sky one by one. As if blind to the endless explosions around them, they continued their mad rush forward, managing to push through the explosive-laden area in less than ten minutes!

With sensible deployment, almost every set of Blast Crystals achieved its maximum effect, obliterating a large number of mutants in the thunderous explosions and fireballs. Yet, it failed entirely to serve as any sort of deterrence.

Though their intelligence had plummeted to near zero, these monsters, technically dead, naturally felt no fear. So, while they flawlessly triggered all traps, they didn’t retreat a single step due to the injuries or deaths of their companions or themselves.

...

"It’s a case of being undone by stupidity as much as aided by it," Motan remarked, standing at the forefront of the first enemy contact zone. After the thunderous noises that resembled a storm just minutes ago had gradually quieted down, he sighed. He had received reports from the two scout teams in advance and was informed of the results at contact zone zero.

After a rough count, the minefield that had been constructed over four and a half days had buried about thirteen hundred mutants.

It was a figure that would excite most people, so he did not hesitate to make it public, quickly spreading the news of the victory.

The cheers that arose nearby unmistakably signaled that this heartening news had its intended effect.

But the toughest moment was still far off; even the near-annihilation of a tenth of the mutant groups couldn’t lift Motan’s spirits.

The incessant manufacturing by Luna, the extensive efforts of several construction teams – none of it would be remarkable if it hadn’t yielded such results.

The focus was on what came next, the real crisis and sacrifices lay ahead...

Motan took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the intense unease in his heart, and left with two accompanying Low-Level Soldiers, heading towards the sand table located in the central part of the first enemy contact zone.

...

Game Time AM 12:07

The mutant groups that had just entered the mouth of the Hodir Mountain Path suddenly slowed their charge. The nearly thousand monsters at the front seemed to be mired in quicksand, becoming sluggish and clumsy. They struggled forward under the violent shoves of their kind behind them until their companions, too, visibly slowed down.

The second fundamental line of defense in contact zone zero, known as the ’second line’, was the Earth-binding Totem Array!

As they charged through the minefield with unstoppable madness, emerging from the dust and gunpowder with a strong scent of scorching, one hundred and three totem poles evenly distributed on both sides of the mountain path lit up. These poles, mostly stone or wood, carved with patterns, simultaneously emitted a dim yellow glow on their surfaces. They formed an enormous ’field’, rendering the earth beneath the mutants highly attractive, reducing their original thirty-mile speed to less than three!