“Mountain Chief, are they dead?”
Li Ke asked, his heart still pounding.
Fang Er glanced around and unceremoniously smacked him on the rear.
“Whether they’re dead or not doesn’t matter. I only know we’re about to die!”
They were surrounded!
In the blink of an eye, they were encircled on all sides by creatures like those two large dogs!
From the ground to the air, it was a complete three-dimensional blockade.
“Roar…”
The closest large dogs had already assumed an attacking posture, flapping their wings and lunging at them with bared teeth and claws.
In this situation, Fang Er had no choice but to halt the gold-dredging ship, land it on the ground, and retrieve two Gatling guns.
“We can’t get away. Let’s wait for Prince Wei and the others to come to our aid!”
With that, he hefted a Gatling gun and began firing at the large dogs in front of him.
“Rattata…”
In the dim underground world, the muzzle flash of the Gatling gun was particularly striking.
The bullets fiercely tore through their armor, bursting into clouds of bloody mist. Then, large dogs plummeted from the sky, twitched a few times, and fell silent.
Seeing this, Li Ke didn’t dare to delay. He picked up the other Gatling gun and stood back-to-back with Fang Er.
Real men stand and fight, don’t they?
Fang Er’s body had been modified by the system through countless electrical shocks.
As for Li Ke, his body was honed from childhood training. Although it didn't have a strong visual impact, when it came to actual combat, his explosive power and endurance were far beyond that of a muscle-bound man fed on protein powder.
The assault of the large dogs was incredibly dense; it seemed that such casualties could not instill fear in them.
Or perhaps, they simply didn’t know what fear was.
Under such a relentless barrage, the two of them didn't even have a chance to reload.
Fortunately, the Gatling guns exchanged from the system were already loaded with ammunition belts, ready to fire upon retrieval.
Empty Gatling guns were casually discarded, and new ones were used to continue the firing.
The surrounding corpses piled up higher and higher, gradually forming a circular fortress, with Fang Er and Li Ke at its center.
“Over there!”
Li Tai, leading the third battalion of the Skyfire Army, was still searching for them. Upon hearing the intense gunfire, they were quickly drawn to the sound.
“Boom boom boom…”
Several mortar shells exploded behind the piles of corpses, causing the large dogs furiously surrounding Fang Er and his group to pause.
“Go!”
Taking advantage of the brief respite, he tossed Li Ke onto the gold-dredging ship and then leaped into the pilot's seat himself. In an instant, they sped away.
Outside, Li Tai, with four hundred Skyfire soldiers, provided cover behind the vehicles, unleashing a continuous stream of bullets.
Although the 7.62mm AK rounds were unlikely to cause substantial damage to them, quantity eventually led to quality. A few bullets would invariably hit the eyes of the large dogs.
There, they were unprotected by armor!
Sometimes, inflicting injuries brought greater benefits.
Those large dogs that were blinded, driven mad by pain, attacked indiscriminately, friend or foe.
“Quick, retreat!”
“I’ll hold them off here for a while. You go back and prepare lassos to capture them alive!”
Fang Er dared not linger here any longer. They had been fighting for nearly half an hour, yet these creatures seemed inexhaustible.
With a loud shout, he changed the location of the temporal portal to the rear of the formation.
Seeing this, Li Tai quickly led his men into the vehicles and headed towards the portal.
Dozens of vehicles, providing mutual cover, retreated in an orderly fashion.
Fang Er and Li Ke guarded the front of the portal, holding on for another ten minutes before retreating into it.
In Great Tang Australia, Li Tai, leading the Skyfire Army, stood ready, each man holding a horse lasso.
Upon seeing Fang Er and Li Ke emerge, everyone’s spirits were raised to their highest.
As soon as the large dog’s head poked out of the portal, it was met with a sky-high expanse of lassos.
“I got one!”
“Hurry and help!”
Those who missed quickly dropped their lassos and joined in to pull together.
Fang Er, however, kept his eyes fixed on the portal. The moment the entire body of this large dog passed through, he closed the portal.
With its head ensnared, the large dog immediately began to struggle.
Lin Bei, along with dozens of men, strained together, the ropes, thicker than a thumb, creaking under the pressure.
“Eat my staff!”
The large dog had been dragged to the ground when Li Ke, wielding a three-meter-long steel pipe, approached and swung it down with all his might.
“Bang!”
The full force of his blow slammed the large dog’s head onto the ground.
The next moment, the large dog leaped up abruptly, its body twitching uncontrollably after landing.
A stream of blood flowed from its mouth, accompanied by a piercing cry.
With that single blow, Li Ke had actually made the large dog bite its own tongue.
At this moment, its tongue was already pierced by its own canine teeth…
Damn it, it hurt just thinking about it!
Seeing the miserable state of the large dog, Fang Er felt a moment of pity for it, lasting approximately three seconds, before he waved his hand and said.
“Drag it to the research institute. Gather all the personnel and let’s figure out what this thing is!”
Working together, they used several more ropes to tie the large dog into a living "zongzi" to prevent it from suddenly attacking.
By this time, the research institute had a surrounding wall erected.
“Australian Research Institute” – the five large characters were visible from afar.
The research institute had an entrance but no gate, signifying that science had no threshold and anyone could enter to visit, but could not interfere with others’ work.
Walking in from the entrance, one was greeted by a massive screen wall, five meters high and twenty meters wide.
The front of the screen wall had no text, only a star chart!
A map of the Milky Way downloaded from the internet in later generations, its accuracy unknown, but it presented a very imposing appearance.
The reverse side was a blank white wall, with several large characters inlaid at the top.
“Brainstorming Wall”
All visitors could leave their needs or ideas here.
Inspiration comes from life.
Whether it was the Skyfire soldiers cultivating land here, the servants of Prince Wei’s or Prince Han’s residences, or even merchant caravans passing through Australia, they all encountered various problems.
These problems, regardless of their size or detail, would eventually be compiled here, and the research institute would take the lead in solving them.
“Greetings, Your Highness!”
The soldiers on guard, upon seeing the group approach, quickly stepped forward to pay their respects.
Fang Er nodded slightly at him and then asked with a smile.
“Have there been any new additions to the research institute these past few days?”
The soldier, upon hearing this, took out a notebook from his怀 and began to report, as if reciting a treasured family record.
“Reporting to Your Highness, we have gained 179 Keplers, 233 Galileos, 204 Xu Guangqis, 198 Song Yingxings, and 241 Cheng Doweis.”
“Additionally, there are 185 Xu Xiakes, 266 Zhang Jingyues, 187 Yu Rens, and 179 Yu Jies.”
This string of numbers left Fang Er somewhat speechless. He glanced at the soldier’s epaulet.
“112123-07, Xie Zong.”
“Well done. Starting today, the Research Institute will establish a Security Bureau, and you will be its director!”
“The establishment will be based on five hundred people, with independent numbering, starting with the designation Yan Bao Er.”