Translator: AnubisTL
"Despicable!"
The elder strode grimly to the woman's corpse. His right mechanical arm transformed into a steel blade, which he plunged into her neck.
With a swift slash, he effortlessly retrieved the walkie-talkie.
The entire process took less than twenty seconds.
Under normal circumstances, such a brief delay wouldn't have significantly altered the situation.
But today was different.
Unbeknownst to the elder, the bombed location was City 18's military base, and the authority to activate the energy shield rested solely with him.
Only upon his death would this authority pass to his second-in-command.
Without his authorization, no one in City 18 could activate the energy shield.
Those crucial seconds were enough for the military base to suffer near-total annihilation.
What kind of devastation could a 110cm-diameter shell unleash?
On Blue Star, the Pili-10 missile had a diameter of 20.3cm. Chen Jiang's shells, however, boasted an astonishing 110cm diameter.
This meant that the military base was being bombarded with an astonishing 2,900 missiles per minute!
This wasn't just a catastrophe; it was world-ending.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Clusters of shells rained down like crow droppings, striking the open factory area with pinpoint accuracy.
Deafening explosions erupted one after another, filling the entire factory complex with smoke and flames, leaving no patch of clear ground visible.
"Tsk," Scar Dog clicked his tongue, shaking his head as he watched the scene unfold. "The leaders of City 18 are far too complacent. We bombed them once already, and they still have no defenses."
"At least they should have activated that turtle shell energy shield."
"Maybe they're too busy plowing women's bellies to get out of bed?"
"Who knows?" Chen Jiang shrugged, about to speak when he suddenly noticed dozens of blinding white lasers shooting skyward from the skyscrapers of City 18, just like last time. The beams converged into a single, concentrated beam.
Like Mars colliding with Earth, the energy shield erupted instantly, forming a massive white eggshell that firmly protected all of City 18.
"Whoa," Scar Dog murmured, momentarily stunned before grinning. "They reacted pretty quickly this time. I wonder if the armor-piercing bullets will work? Can they blast through this eggshell?"
Chen Jiang studied the scene intently for a moment, then rested his hands on the extended barrels of his hand cannons, gazing at City 18 shrouded in smoke. He chuckled softly.
"Looks like City 18's eggshell has finally met its match."
During their previous assault, when they bombarded City 18 with the Steel Sword Autonomous Rotating Turrets, the energy shield had instantly weakened their attack. It had taken seven or eight cannon shells striking the same spot to create a small breach, which would quickly seal itself. They had been forced to retreat temporarily.
But this time, with the Armor-Piercing Bullet Energy Cartridges replacing the standard ones in the Steel Sword Autonomous Rotating Turrets, the situation had undergone a complete transformation.
Beneath the barrage of deep blue energy cannonballs, City 18's energy shield crumbled like paper, utterly failing to halt the sky-filling fireworks.
Each cannonball effortlessly pierced the energy shield, crashing into the ground with devastating force.
Unlike the previous attack, where the projectiles detonated harmlessly outside the shield, these strikes now struck directly at their targets.
At that moment, the elder, his eyes bloodshot, kicked open the conference room door. He glared at the men already seated inside, stormed up to one of them, grabbed him by the collar, and roared with furious intensity, his face twisted in rage.
"Where's our air defense system?!"
"The Spiderweb Air Defense System—the mechanical race's crowning achievement, painstakingly developed by the Mechanical Leader over years of relentless research—why isn't it activated?!"
"Tell me! Why isn't it working?!"
"Ah!"
With a surge of emotion, the elder drew a revolver from his chest and pressed it against the middle-aged man's forehead. "Do you think I won't execute you right here and now for treason?!"
In just a few hours, the firepower of the human player outside had undergone a cataclysmic transformation.
The energy shield, which had previously held firm, now crumbled like paper, offering no resistance whatsoever.
"Leader," the middle-aged man said urgently, his eyes filled with fear. "I have the authority to activate the Spiderweb Air Defense System, but you explicitly forbade me from doing so without your approval. You threatened to send me to military court if I disobeyed."
"I've been waiting for your command."
"But it never came. This isn't my fault."
"Hmph!"
The elder finally recalled this matter, his anger subsiding somewhat. He sank into the foremost chair, his face still dark as he stared at the screen showing the military base being bombarded. "Activate the Spiderweb Air Defense System," he growled.
"Their desperate counterattack has only exposed their location."
"Deploy the enforcers and our armored divisions to this location."
"Annihilate that damned human player!"
The surrounding officers exchanged glances before nodding in unison. "Yes, sir!"
Meanwhile, the Spiderweb Air Defense System had already been activated!
Across every corner of City 18:
Beside overlooked trash heaps, on long-sealed rooftops, on dilapidated balconies of two-story buildings, deep within deserted forests, beneath moss-covered park ponds, and under large manhole covers marked with chemical hazard symbols—
The signal spread rapidly.
Hidden throughout City 18, the dense rocket turrets received the signal and activated simultaneously.
Thirty-six-barreled rocket turrets emerged from their concealed positions, slowly rotating under the stunned gazes of nearby residents as they aimed toward the military base.
The next moment—
Streams of small rockets, each about the size of a piglet, soared into the sky from every corner of City 18. With piercing sonic booms and orange-red trails of fire, they formed a celestial net, intercepting the incoming shells still airborne and preparing to bombard the military base.
The sheer number of rockets was staggering. The first wave alone blotted out the sky, numbering in the thousands.
Drawn to the shells like moths to a flame, the rockets arced through the air, detonating most of the shells in mid-air.
Only a few stray shells managed to penetrate the defense and strike the military base, but they were no longer capable of inflicting catastrophic damage.
In less than thirty seconds, nearly twenty thousand rockets had been launched!
This was the true strength of City 18!
Even a small city, when activating the Spiderweb Air Defense System, could demonstrate the formidable power of the mechanical race!
The old man watched the scene unfold on the screen, unable to contain his satisfaction. He slammed his fist on the table and roared with excitement, "Good! That's how it's done!"
"Let that human player witness the true might of the mechanical race!"
(End of the Chapter)
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