novel bin Chapter 268 Shifting the Blame East
Chapter 268 Shifting the Blame East
Guided by radio, the Grey Falcon drone landed precisely on the flagship's aft deck.
After coming to a stop, Cleveland controlled the robotic arm on the stern platform and connected a line to the main control of the Grey Falcon drone.
The cleanup operation in the surrounding waters at coordinates -41.062786 and 165.563965 has been fully completed, and no residual organisms were found.
The industrial transformation project on Hongfeng Island has been fully completed, and all survivors have resumed production. Full-scale industrial production is expected to begin in 15 days.
[Mineral resources are severely depleted and urgently need replenishment; current reserves can only support the entire production line for 15 days.]
[Satellite signal connection completed. Anomalies of varying degrees have been observed along the coastal areas of the Red Earth Federation. However, due to the aging satellites and low camera accuracy, detailed information could not be collected.]
"Tsk."
Looking at the messages from Yao Guang, Lorraine could only sigh. He then instructed Cleveland to add the matter of accelerating military production to the memo, while he looked at the moonlit land and focused all his attention on the encirclement of that elite force.
[Attack coordinates have been uploaded, radio navigation beacon installation complete, laser designator in place.]
[Black Panther Squadron, initiating ground attack mission, moving to attack initiation point.]
Thanks to the modified Qianlong fighter jet being able to connect directly with the robot pilot, this type of coordinate input work is completed almost instantly.
The 12 fighter jets circling in the sky quickly separated into three four-aircraft formations and took their respective combat positions according to the briefing.
At this time, dozens of temporary bunkers made of quick-setting concrete have appeared on the ground. These bunkers have been deployed on the first line of defense at the innermost part of the encirclement.
Together with the defensive line behind them, which consisted of portable bunkers and aerogel bunkers, they formed a complete encirclement.
Each defensive line was connected by numerous trenches, some of which were even large enough to allow a main battle tank to move freely between the lines.
A large number of bunker buster bombs fell almost simultaneously, and the continuous explosions even caused a small earthquake, shaking countless amounts of soil down from both sides of the trench.
But as the smoke from the explosion dissipated, a massive number of insects poured out of the dark crater and swarmed toward the first line of defense in this encirclement.
The first to fire were the 120mm mortars that arrived last. One after another, high explosives made of metallic hydrogen flew out of the 120mm mortars, drawing a beautiful parabola in the air before falling into the center of the swarm.
Violent and dense explosions began to spread from the outside in, each explosion killing at least 10 insects, and each volley creating a blank area in the swarm.
As the endless hordes of Zerg surged forth, Platinum, aboard the assault ship, did not control the ship's ground attack system to fire downwards.
Platinum quickly contacted the flagship and used its onboard laser communication system to call a fleet of ships thousands of miles away.
Upon receiving the message, the missile destroyer near Jask Port immediately entered the corresponding coordinates into the strike system.
[Coordinates locked. Switching to inertial navigation mode. Radio navigation information has been transmitted to the system.]
[Missile self-check complete.]
The robot sitting in the war center removed the protective cover on the red launch button, extended a finger, and gently pressed the launch button.
The vertical launch system on the bow deck of the DDG-01 ship opened four hatches, and then four Changkong-26 hypersonic missiles were launched one after another, with the rocket engines at the tail propelling the missiles toward the critical layer.
Lin Shu, who was busy on land, and Ouyang Nian, who was on the offshore work platform, turned their heads to look at the four trails of flame that were rapidly rising into the air.
Has the situation deteriorated to this point?
Ouyang Nian squinted and thought for a moment, feeling that this batch of missiles didn't seem to be for emergency relief. After all, a cluster of 100,000 silicon-based organisms couldn't be dealt with by just four hypersonic missiles.
Afterwards, she called Lin Shu to comfort her older sister and told her her deduction.
"Don't worry, sis. If things get bad, the escort ship above us should pick us up and leave this place."
After calming his older sister down, Ouyang Nian had a sudden thought and realized the target of these missiles.
"So, insects really are causing trouble. Well, it would be a bad thing if we didn't come and join in on such a big commotion."
After calming himself down, Ouyang Nian stopped overthinking and focused all his energy on production and construction.
On the battlefield, everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the mining bugs appear, and then focused more intently on commanding their troops.
But soon after, Lorraine, who was overlooking the entire battlefield, noticed the unusual behavior of the silicon-based biological cluster.
"Platinum, watch out for the northeast direction of the encirclement. Two main forces of silicon-based organisms, each numbering around 3000, are approaching."
"Received, deployment is being adjusted."
Using the high-precision sensor array mounted on the assault ship, Platinum easily identified the main force of these insects.
"They're all from the Mining Insect race, that's really rare."
However, as Platinum recalled the detailed data of these races, a point that had been overlooked suddenly came to mind.
"Both of them seem to feed on ore, is it possible that...?"
Platinum turned on his microphone and contacted Lorraine through the communication channel that was still open.
"Commander, both silicon-based creatures and mining worms primarily consume minerals. Is it possible for them to engage in a 'wolf-eat-tiger' scenario?"
Lorraine did not give an answer immediately, but instead zoomed in on the battlefield situation map and carefully observed the data displayed on it.
"Gentlemen, there's a new development here."
Lorraine switched communication channels, entering the communication channel between Calder Cromwell and Liu Huajian and Zhou Wei, and transmitted the battlefield situation map of this area.
"There are many mysterious main forces of silicon-based creatures in this area, and there is a reserve force of silicon-based creatures in the western area. The forces in some areas are insufficient. Perhaps we can try to use one force to defeat another."
The three briefly reviewed the information Lorraine had previously uploaded, and Cleveland made a simple prediction about what might happen next. After confirming that there was no major problem, everyone agreed to the plan.
After confirming the feasibility, Bai Jin quickly mobilized troops, destroying the three lines of defense in the northeast direction while using engineering teams to set up obstacles.
As the two main silicon-based biological forces drew closer to the northeast, the 120mm mortars behind the positions gradually slowed their bombardment, leaving an opening in the northeast. (You have received a new chapter update: Chapter 268, "The Scourge is Delivered Eastward," reading link.)
After confirming that this method was effective in driving away the insect swarm, the tank unit retreated slightly and stopped in a relatively open area behind the tank position.
The tank unit then rotated its turret to raise the muzzle, adjusted the output of the electromagnetic gun, and began firing high-explosive shells to act as a self-propelled artillery piece, replacing the 120mm mortar-howitzers in the rear that urgently needed cooling.
Heavier and denser 125mm shells came from all directions, and the sudden increase in bombardment density instantly drove a large number of insect swarms to the northeast.
These swarms of insects crawled along the crater, meandering forward during the shelling, and when they finally emerged from the crater, they saw countless black kinetic energy projectiles.
These kinetic energy projectiles flew in from 5 kilometers away. One by one, kinetic energy shells of 200 mm or more pierced through the loose sand and tore dark green paths through the swarm of insects.
After the main forces of the two silicon-based organisms merged, an even denser barrage of projectiles flew in from the northeast.
In order not to provoke these silicon-based creatures that had come from afar, the three companies of main battle tanks gradually reduced their firing frequency and observed the reaction of the swarm of insects in the crater.
But what happened next did put everyone at ease. After the artillery fire stopped, the swarms of insects that appeared in the pits almost stopped charging at the defensive line and instead rushed towards the silicon-based biological cluster in the northeast.
Meanwhile, four hypersonic missiles were cruising in the dark blue sky, expected to enter the terminal attack phase in three minutes.
In order not to disturb the life-or-death struggle between the silicon-based organisms and the mining worms, Lorraine planned to have Platinum perform a high-precision scan to find a suitable attack point.
Upon receiving the message, Platinum quickly adjusted the assault ship's sensor array to focus mode and began scanning along the black lines.
One minute later, Platinum discovered a fork in the road 13.2 kilometers from the encirclement, leading towards the Stonehenge base.
Once a suitable attack point was found, Platinum did not hesitate and deployed four WF-01 drones that were on standby in the air, and used the laser designation function of the assault ship to mark the attack location.
Upon receiving the laser signal, two of the drones quickly turned around and began flying toward the laser pointer.
Thirty seconds later, six bunker buster bombs of varying yields exploded at the designated location, successfully creating a crater 23 meters deep.
Immediately afterwards, Platinum controlled the plasma cannon mounted on the assault ship, aimed it at the crater, and began a frenzied bombardment the moment the bugs appeared.
Surges of scorching plasma rained down from the sky, scorching all the mining worms that had just crawled out of the pit with extreme heat.
The 80mm secondary guns on the side were not idle either. One by one, high-explosive shells, which had been temporarily modified and equipped with laser guidance heads and tail rudders, were launched by electromagnetic force and flew into the deep pit below.
With the aid of the tail rudder, these high-explosive bombs made of metallic hydrogen successfully flew into the deep pit and headed towards the tunnel below.
Just one minute later, the number of mining worms emerging from this spot dropped sharply, but then an even larger number of mining worms attempted to emerge.
The good news is that they did indeed climb through this deadly tunnel and were about to reach the surface.
The bad news is that the four hypersonic missiles, each carrying a 910-kilogram thermobaric warhead, have reached the top of the crater.
The first Changkong-26 hypersonic missile flew into the crater at a speed of Mach 12. When it reached a depth of 15 meters, the folding fins on the left side of the missile collided with an insect that was crawling upwards.
Although the insect was almost instantly shredded by the wing blades, such a tiny force was amplified infinitely at a speed of Mach 12.
The missile veered sharply to the left and struck the left side of the cave wall at a depth of 19.2 meters.
A dazzling flame rose from it. Due to the extremely narrow area, only a slender column of fire shot out from the pit, and the flames shot up 32 meters into the air in an instant.
Meanwhile, the second Changkong-26 hypersonic missile had reached the top of the crater. After receiving the message from the first missile, the explosive bolts connecting the left and right wings detonated, throwing the slender wings out.
The second missile, along with its tail rudder, pierced into the 20-meter-high column of fire.
Almost instantly, the pillar of fire shot back more than 30 meters into the air.
Clearly, the thermobaric warhead of this missile did not detonate, or rather, it did not explode completely.
By this time, it was too late to change the strike coordinates. The third and fourth Changkong-26 hypersonic missiles had already jettisoned the fins on the left and right sides of the missile body, losing their ability to make large turns.
As the column of fire from the explosion slowly dissipated and a large amount of air poured into the hole, an even more violent explosion occurred, this time producing a column of fire that shot up to more than 40 meters high.
Deep underground, beyond the reach of Platinum's sight, extreme heat and shockwaves were propagating along the tunnels, madly burning the swarm of insects that had no way to escape.
With the influx of outside air, some of the thermobaric explosives that had not yet fully detonated were swept up by the strong wind and blown into the depths of the crater.
As the oxygen content gradually increased, the third explosion occurred deep within this branch tunnel.
The explosion did not have any visible impact on the ground, but it completely destroyed an entire branch tunnel.
Platinum waited in place for a long time. When the swarming insects wiped out the first main force of 6000 silicon-based organisms, not a single insect crawled out of the pit again.
To ensure continuous monitoring of the area, Platinum deployed a special sensor via its 80mm secondary gun to monitor the situation within the passage in real time.
Platinum then led the assault ship and a small synthetic force away from the original location and began to drive away the silicon-based creatures in the surrounding area.
While driving away (luring) other silicon-based organisms, the 120mm mortar roared again, its dense shells sweeping away the swarms of insects pouring out of the crater.
With ample ammunition supplies, the intermittent bombing continued throughout the night until it finally stopped the following morning.
Thanks to the combat data provided by various senior commanders, Cleveland has grown significantly in a short period of time and is able to take over some of the officers' duties.
This also allowed the officers to have a short rest.
When Bai Jin received the message from the heavy combined arms battalion, she ordered Xu Ling to return the assault ship to the position, while she sent the remaining Guardian III robots and a team of experimental robots to form a mixed force and venture deeper into the tunnel below the pit.
Even after venturing more than ten meters into the tunnel, the reconnaissance team found no living mining worms, and the vibration sensors detected no suspicious signs.
After confirming that the entrance was safe, Bai Jin called on the logistics troops who were waiting outside the electromagnetic shielding zone to transport a large quantity of explosives and smart mines to the site.