novel bin Chapter 542 Organize a counterattack! Let the people of Great Xia learn their lesson!
Chapter 542 Organize a counterattack! Let the people of Great Xia learn their lesson!
"Um... sir, I'll go check right away!"
Thompson forced himself to sit down at his computer desk and began dialing internal phone numbers for each district.
The first call went unanswered.
The second call was met with chaotic cries and the sound of things being smashed, then the call was cut off.
The third call finally went through, and a panting voice came from the other end.
"This is the duty station for the seventh residential area... The situation is terrible!"
"Most residents fell into a coma or were extremely weak after the second shockwave, collapsing to the ground. We...we weren't much better off..."
"But the main problem isn't with these ordinary people!"
The voice on the other end suddenly became urgent:
"It's those lunatics!"
"Those religious fanatics in the church in the seventh arrondissement have gone mad!"
"They said it was 'divine punishment,' and they rushed out of the church to 'purify' people, forcing everyone to kneel down and pray to God! Anyone who refused was beaten!"
"And...and some bastards!"
"While everyone was paralyzed, they started smashing shops and looting supplies!"
"The fourth district's storage warehouse has been broken into! Someone is setting it on fire!"
"Damn it, who are you? How did you get in?!"
A gunshot rang out from the other end of the line, and the call was cut off.
Thompson made a few more calls.
The feedback was largely the same.
Some districts have maintained basic order.
Some districts are in complete chaos.
Religious fanatics marched in the streets, holding up crosses and whipping distrustful "infidels."
Taking advantage of the chaos, rioters smashed open an armory and ran amok in the residential area with guns.
Even worse, some broke into residents' homes, committing arson, murder, looting, and vandalism, using the pretext of "the end of the world" to vent their most primal and darkest desires.
The evil in human nature never needs many reasons, only a chance to spiral out of control.
"Sir..." Thompson hung up the phone, his voice hoarse.
"The situation inside the city is deteriorating rapidly."
After hearing the report, Jie Shibang's face turned ashen, and he said:
"Damn it, I order the deployment of all garrison troops."
"Martial law is in effect throughout the city."
"If you encounter any bastards who commit arson, murder, looting, or vandalism, shoot them on the spot!"
"Any religious gathering that obstructs the restoration of order shall be forcibly dispersed, and any resisters shall be treated as rioters."
He paused for a moment, raised his head, and his gaze swept over every face in the command center.
"At the same time, get all the lads in the combat units ready!"
"We're going to give those damned Great Xia people a good kick in the ass! We'll make them regret ever coming to our Washington's underground city!"
The crowd shouted and cheered.
"That's right!! We'll teach them a lesson!"
"Let them see what we're capable of!"
No one knew that what was rushing towards them at that moment was not missiles or troops from the Great Xia Dynasty.
Instead, it was a massive army of millions of demons from the abyss.
And an eighth-order demon god that even a nuclear bomb couldn't kill!
Less than ten minutes after Jasper issued the citywide martial law order inside the Washington underground city, the garrison began to move.
As soldiers, they were indeed much more resistant to the terrifying pressure that enveloped the entire city than ordinary people.
At least, they can still stand.
But that's it.
Every soldier who came out of the barracks looked rather grim.
His steps were unsteady, and his pupils were unfocused, as if he had just woken up from a high fever.
That pressure is still there.
It relentlessly crushed their will, like an invisible hand gripping the back of everyone's head.
Fortunately, they still know who they are, where they are, and what they are supposed to do.
Some soldiers were quickly dispatched to various residential areas to assist the military police in maintaining order.
Anyone caught burning, killing, or looting should be shot on the spot without any warning.
The remaining nearly 40,000 combat troops are urgently assembling in twelve military camps.
They didn't know from which direction the Great Xia army would attack, nor when.
But everyone took up arms.
Rifles, machine guns, anti-tank missiles, individual rocket launchers...
All the heavy firepower that could be moved was pulled out of the warehouse, and various armored vehicles, tanks and so on started their engines and rumbled out of the armored vehicle garage for pre-battle preparations.
Third Military Camp.
This is where approximately 5,000 people are gathered, making it the largest garrison in the USS Washington city.
On a makeshift command platform, a lieutenant colonel was addressing a sea of soldiers below.
"My great lads!"
The lieutenant colonel shouted hoarsely, veins bulging on his forehead.
"I know that none of you are feeling well right now!"
"That damned, mysterious pressure has been weighing us down!"
"But this precisely shows that the Great Xia is afraid!"
"They dare not attack head-on, so they resort to these underhanded psychological tactics to undermine us!"
"But who are we?!"
The lieutenant colonel slammed his hand on the makeshift metal command platform, making a dull thud.
"We are soldiers of the Eagle Nation!"
"Our ancestors shed their blood in Normandy and gnawed on ice in the Ardennes Forest!"
"We are the most powerful overlords on Earth!"
"Those damned Great Xia people actually want to take away our last remaining space for survival?"
"Grip your guns tight and shove them into their leather swallows, let them know that the Eagle Nation is not one they can afford to offend!"
"The Washington is not a place they can come and go as they please!"
"Hooah!"
A roar erupted from the audience.
The sounds weren't very synchronized, nor were they very loud.
After all, that oppressive aura was still there, and many people had to grit their teeth to shout it out.
But at least morale was barely maintained.
The lieutenant colonel looked at the pale-faced young men below the stage who were still holding their guns, and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
However, just as he was about to continue speaking—
The ground beneath my feet suddenly shook.
It was very light, like something had hit the ground in the distance.
No one cares.
A similar tremor occurred not long ago.
The shockwaves from nuclear explosions occasionally travel down to the Earth's surface, and everyone has become accustomed to it.
But then, a second tremor came, followed by a third, a fourth...
The frequency is getting faster and faster, and denser and denser.
Unlike before, this tremor didn't seem to be coming from above.
It came from... all directions, especially from the walls!
"Tap...tap tap tap..."
Fine cement particles began to fall from the three-meter-thick high-strength concrete dome on the side of the military camp.
The lieutenant colonel frowned.
"Quiet!" He raised his hand to urge people to be quiet.
The noise level quickly decreased.
Everyone felt the continuous tremor coming from deep within the left wall.
"Rumble rumble rumble..."
It looked like something huge was moving inside the rock strata.
The sound was muffled and unsettling, like rumbling thunder pressing down on the clouds before a summer downpour, emanating intermittently from inside the walls.
"What's going on?" The lieutenant colonel's expression changed.
The adjutant's expression was equally grim.
"Uncertain... This doesn't look like the waveform of a nuclear explosion on the surface; the epicenter is too close."
"It feels like it's right next to us..."
P.S.: Thanks to the amazing Jin Chuanqiong for the certification, here's an extra chapter!