Armor-piercing bullets don't believe in carbon-based monsters

Chapter 337 Bridgehead

"Something is really wrong with this city."

Crawling at the edge of the starting position, Chen Jian kept a close eye on the tunnel exit below as he spoke:
"The exit has been opened, but they did not continue the attack."

"That alone is strange."

"What's even stranger is that these people are clearly normal human beings, but they did not choose to live on the ground."

"There are perfectly good buildings and facilities here, and they are all well maintained."

"But they are of no use at all. The only means of transportation, those light rails, are most likely 'engineering facilities' reserved for unmanned machinery."

"What do you mean? Are all these people vampires?"

"Are they afraid of sunlight?"

Chen Jian's words betrayed a hint of unease, while Ji Xing, standing beside him, frowned and shook his head, saying:
"I have never heard of any creature in this world that is afraid of sunlight."

"Even monsters are almost never afraid of sunlight."

"At most, it's just because of some animalistic habit that they are used to being nocturnal."

"Afraid of sunlight? Only creatures like that exist in ghost stories, right?"

"really."

Chen Jian nodded slowly.

"At first I did think the smoke here was some kind of protective measure, but now it seems that the smoke is not the goal, but rather the result."

"This must be water vapor rising from the heat generated by the massive underground fortifications—there must be a giant city underground here."

"The surrounding mountains have most likely been hollowed out. But why?"

"Why build a city on the surface that has no practical value, no practical function, and is only symbolic, when we already have a huge underground living space?"

"We need to find someone in the know to ask them."

"We either need to find Lin Yu, or we need to capture a man from Shancheng."

"We can't find Lin Yu for the time being. He's either dead or captured alive by the people of Shancheng."

"So now, we only have one choice left."

"Catch one alive."

As soon as Chen Jian finished speaking, Guo Xu, who was standing next to him, immediately looked in his direction.

"Catch him alive?"

He asked in astonishment:
"How to catch it?"

In fact, he has gradually accepted the judgment that "Shancheng is not a divine kingdom, and the people of Shancheng are not divine messengers." But even so, in his opinion, "capturing a living person from Shancheng" is still too difficult.

"Commander, haven't you noticed? Those people from the mountain city are definitely not ordinary people."

"They are very fast and very strong."

"When they cleared the passage, they were able to lift the boulder by the strength of just one person."

"Their power is at least on par with the Source Blood members among the Holy Blood."

"It wouldn't be difficult for us to kill them. With our firepower, in a face-to-face battle, as long as we don't get close, we can easily take them down."

"But to capture him alive, who will we rely on? And what will we rely on?"

"This is where the problem lies."

Chen Jian pulled back from the edge of the cover and then said:

"We must develop a comprehensive plan."

"But the most troublesome part of this plan is not how to defeat them, but how to lure them out."

“These people from the mountain town are like they have no brains. They don’t respond to language and have no intention of communicating with us at all.”

"If we meet, we fight; if we can't win on the periphery, we retreat."

"They clearly no longer have the will to initiate war against us, probably because the suppression of nuclear weapons is too strong."

"Therefore, creating an opportunity to capture them alive is not easy."

"So, any ideas?"

After he finished speaking, everyone in the position fell silent.

In fact, everyone here is visiting the mountain city for the first time.

Moreover, this was the first time anyone had ever met these people from the mountain town.

The severe lack of information led to serious difficulties even in basic tactical arrangements.

Chen Jian glanced at Guo Xu first, who was stunned for a moment before shaking his head.

Then, Chen Jian looked at Ji Xing.

The other person lowered their head and frowned, seemingly deep in thought.

She only raised her head when she noticed Chen Jian's gaze.

"I don't have any particularly good ideas either."

Ji Xing spoke slowly.

But before Chen Jian could even feel disappointed, she suddenly said:
"However, based on our experience from the last time we entered the mountain city..."

"These mountain city people are quite sensitive to level one monsters around the mountain city."

"That's the mountain city's barrier. If the barrier is threatened, they will definitely react."

"So, if we want to lure them out, why don't we just attack the monster directly?"

Chen Jian's eyes flickered slightly.

"You mean, kill those level one monsters?"

"Yes."

Ji Xing breathed a sigh of relief.

"This is something we had to do anyway."

"Right now we can only rely on air power for delivery, and our delivery capability is too weak."

"Although we have entered the mountain city, we have only entered it."

"This place is still essentially an isolated island—that's probably why those mountain city dwellers aren't in a hurry to wipe us out?"

"Makes sense."

Chen Jian looked at Ji Xing with agreement.

It must be said that she has grown very quickly in just a few months.

Now, even in completely unfamiliar environments, she is able to make decisions based on limited information.

"Therefore, our goal can be clearly defined."

"We need to take down the level one monsters on the outskirts of the mountain city."

How many are there in total?

"Based on current aerial reconnaissance intelligence, there are 5."

Ji Xing immediately replied:
"But that's just the intelligence we've seen."

"Level 1 monsters are unpredictable in both appearance and habits."

"We need to leave at least one or two margins."

"clear."

Chen Jian switched to a map on the smart eyepiece and marked the location of the level 1 monster.

After a moment of silence and thought, he spoke:
"We can't do it alone."

"Even with nuclear weapons, we can't wipe out all the monsters."

"In fact, our nuclear strike capability is a one-time use, with a long cooldown period, and must be reserved for final deterrence."

"Therefore, we will most likely have to consider using conventional methods to kill those monsters."

"We need more equipment, weapons and logistical support."

"We also need more combat personnel and engineering personnel."

"This problem will be left to Lei Jie to solve."

"The outpost base in the mountain city has been established."

"Next"

"It's time for a large-scale reinforcement."

"Notify Lei Jie to synchronize the plan with ours."

"Within three days, I will build a bridgehead on the ground of this mountain city!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Xing gave a solemn salute.

"understand!"

A few minutes later, inside Base 011.

Lei Jie had just received a message from Chen Jian, and he wasn't surprised at all by Chen Jian's decision. What reconnaissance? What a quick look and then leave?

all fake.

He had known all along that once Chen Jian went there, he was determined to take down the mountain city.

And now, his unspoken speculation has indeed come true.

He began to prepare himself for the "Mountain City Offensive".

Eliminate all level 1 monsters?

This sounds like an almost impossible task.

but.
Why don't you give it a try?
The only problem is how to deliver the equipment and personnel that Chen Jian needs to the mountain city within three days.

The existing transport aircraft can barely manage to drop off personnel. Even if the personnel do not have the ability to parachute, they can still complete take-off and landing operations by utilizing the wide roads within the mountain city.

But when it comes to equipment, it's not that simple.

The bombers currently in service at Base 011 have a maximum payload of only 1.2 tons, while the 152mm howitzer's barrel alone weighs 1.1 tons. Even without considering the transportation difficulties caused by the size of the gun barrel, it would be a huge problem to deliver it to the mountain city.

It can be said that the delivery mission faces a huge paradox.

To deliver heavy equipment into the mountain city, it is necessary to first open up the ground access routes to the city.

However, to open up ground access, heavy equipment must first be deployed.

How to solve this?

Lei Jie frowned as he sat in the operations command center. He first switched to the progress diagrams of various projects within the base, trying to find usable equipment.

But he soon discovered that, given the current progress of the project, it was impossible to meet Chen Jian's "three-day" deadline.

Production plans for the next generation of larger heavy-duty transport aircraft have been pushed back to the machining plant and will not be built until the piston engines are manufactured.

The airship has been launched, but there are still 12 days left to complete its manufacturing.

Improved versions of the Mosquito bomber are incapable of undertaking such transport missions. Even with increased sorties, the time required for battery replacement and resupply cannot be completed in a short period.

Furthermore, once the number of sorties increases, the mission risks also rise accordingly.

If the delivery operation were to be carried out at the cost of losing bombers and valuable pilots, it would be a losing proposition.

After reviewing all the projects, Lei Jie couldn't help but sigh.

He closed his eyes slightly, rubbed his throbbing forehead, and went over the available resources in his mind again and again.

But he soon discovered that sending supplies inward was a dead end.

It's a dead end.

After a moment of silence, Lei Jie spoke:
"Fuxi."

"Help me analyze how likely it is that a 40-man squad could eliminate a level 1 monster using only light weapons, without relying on heavy equipment."

"clear."

Fuxi's voice rang out from above.

"Due to the current lack of information on level one monsters around the mountain city, the reliability of the current assessment results is low."

"However, based on previous combat experience and the characteristics of the 'Whale Loach' monster, I believe that our chance of winning against a level 1 monster is less than 1% when we only have light weapons."

"1%?"

Lei Jie was stunned for a moment.

Is it really that low?

He originally thought that even without heavy weapon support, the chances of winning would be at least 50%.

In that case, theoretically, we could still take a chance.

But 1%?

But pull it down.

If all else fails, there's only one path left to take.

Despite the risk of losses, we transported a portion of the equipment over first.

Then, after using nuclear weapons to level the surrounding area and open up a passage, a coordinated attack will be launched from the outside.

But if that's the case, the work at 011 will be interrupted.

The process of industrialization will be delayed by at least two months.

But this is a price that must be paid.

Lei Jie secretly made up his mind.

But just as he was about to give the order to Fuxi, Fuxi's voice suddenly rang out again.

"Sir, we may have another plan available."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lei Jie subconsciously raised his head.

"Another option?"

"tell me the story."

“Transporting a large amount of equipment from outside to inside is indeed not feasible. It is not a suitable solution from the perspective of cost-effectiveness or risk.”

"However, we don't necessarily need to directly supply weapons to the mountain city."

"There are already a large number of usable weapons on the mountain city grounds."

After saying this, Lei Jie's heart skipped a beat.

Enlightenment.

That's right, the mountain city may lack living facilities on the ground, but it has no shortage of weapons!

The large number of deployed microwave and laser devices were damaged by the electromagnetic pulses triggered by the nuclear bombs, but that does not mean they were completely rendered useless!

If enough spare parts and tools can be sent to the mountain city, under Fuxi's guidance, it is entirely possible to repair those weapons to a usable state!

Lei Jie immediately perked up.

"Do you have the capability to repair the laser weapons within the mountain city?"

"As long as a stable image transmission system is established, there shouldn't be any major problems."

Upon receiving Fuxi's reply, Lei Jie suddenly stood up.

"That's it!"

"Why transport weapons? We'll build them right above their heads!"

"I will immediately notify the captain to locate the weapon and disassemble it. You will conduct the damage analysis after the images are sent back."

"After completing the spare parts manufacturing in the shortest possible time, we will immediately set off, simultaneously deploying personnel and spare parts!"

"clear."

Fuxi gave a brief reply, but then Lei Jie suddenly spoke up again:
"wrong."

"still have a question."

"We have no way to utilize the existing energy facilities in the mountain town."

"The power must have been cut off, and it has already been cut off."

"We also need to establish a stable energy supply, taking into account the energy consumption of laser weapons."

What power generation solutions packages do we have available?

"The most suitable one is a micro nuclear reactor."

Fuxi replied:
"Other power generation options, whether it's the delivery of fuel or equipment, require a large load."

"Only micro nuclear reactors can meet the energy consumption requirements of microwave and laser weapons while maintaining a limited overall weight."

"The problem is that we don't have a nuclear reactor either."

Lei Jie frowned and said:
"Reactor production is not a simple matter, and the construction period is too long; the team leader and his team can't wait."

"They won't have to wait long."

Fuxi interrupted Lei Jie.

Then it spoke:
"In fact, this plan has already been launched."

"Hidden Water Cave Nuclear Power Plant"

"According to records, it contains the most advanced micro thorium-based molten salt reactor matrix in the country."

"And it is very likely that the reactor there is still intact."

"The expeditionary force is heading towards Hidden Water Cave."

"If we can dismantle the miniature reactor there, we can even launch the reactor directly from Hidden Water Cave to the mountain city."

"can!"

The knot in Lei Jie's chest was finally untied.

He abruptly waved his hand and gave the order:

"That's it!"