Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 871: The Underground Ice Storage Falls
The content contained in the memory fragment ends here. Ke Lan doesn’t know whether Old Seven was finally caught up by the tentacle group... But even if he escaped for a while, it would be difficult for him to survive the subsequent all-round "disaster".
According to Neto on the second level, there are no real "survivors" in the entire hive city except for these biological computers.
If we have to make exceptions, the "tunnel dwellers" hiding in Passage No. 4 can barely be considered survivors...but the way they have become is actually not much different from being swallowed by the disaster.
"As a hunter, have you ever hunted?" Ke Lan suddenly turned around and asked Sanshisan.
"Relic hunters are not the same kind of hunters from the old era... This joke is a bit dull." Thirty-three muttered, "But then again, I did hunt when I was in the army... You know, special forces always receive some strange missions, and when the logistics supply can't keep up, we can only fill our stomachs by ourselves. Unfortunately, as far as I know, most of the meat of Alpha Planet's native creatures is inedible... Even if a few are barely edible after processing, the texture and taste are not very good."
"Then you may not know that there was a kind of hunting activity popular among the rich." Ke Lan said... Although he himself had never participated in this kind of activity, he had some understanding of it through the descriptions of Zofia and Ye Yan. "The big consortiums that organized hunting activities would capture some indigenous creatures with relatively docile personalities, remove their deadly attack organs through surgery, and then release them to a designated area for the participants to hunt."
"It sounds like a kind of luxurious entertainment." Thirty-three curled his lips, "You mean, this forest under our feet is also a similar place?"
"That's right... Moreover, in addition to wild beasts, the prey also includes those... people selected from the Lower City or the Bottom Nest."
"I suddenly feel that this hive deserves to be destroyed by the 'disaster'." Thirty-three said.
…
Ark, West District 1.
The dome modules of the entire block have been completely opened, and all the warships that can be mobilized near the Ark are hovering over the West Area 1.
Lin Qiming glanced at the densely packed shadows of ships above his head and couldn't help but sigh.
The powerful weapons on the warships could indeed kill the target directly, but it was difficult to control the power to a level that could just kill the target without destroying the structure of the Ark itself... Other blocks were easy to deal with, but below West Area 1, in addition to the underground ice storage, there was also one of the main reactors of the Ark. If the weapons on the warships accidentally penetrated the protective layer and detonated the reactor, the damage caused might be more serious than Alexander's "Ultimate Judgment".
What's more, West Area 1 is close to the core area of the Ark... Any module of the Ark can be abandoned, except the core area. Whether it is the core brain, the black well, or the cabin where the undead crew members are located, these are the top priorities of the Ark... Without these, the Ark will have no reason to exist.
Therefore, according to the above plan, ground forces should be sent out first to intercept the target. If the ground forces fail, the fleet will launch an attack.
And this group of miserable "ground troops" naturally refers to Lin Qiming and his group.
Along the way, all the checkpoints in the West District 1 were destroyed beyond recognition. Alloy roadblocks weighing several tons were twisted into a spiral shape, heavy tanks and armored vehicles were directly turned into "decorations" embedded in the walls of buildings on both sides of the street, and several quickly deployed movable barricades were completely razed to the ground, leaving only the shattered bases remaining on the ground... As for the corpses of the guard troops, not a single one was seen. Only half-solidified pulpy flesh and blood could be seen on the road surface, deep enough to cover the instep of the feet.
In the past, describing the tragic battlefield as a "meat grinder" was an exaggerated metaphor, but now, this metaphor is not only not exaggerated, but has become extremely realistic.
Even though Lin Qiming and his group were elite operators from the Crisis Management Department, everyone's face turned extremely pale when they saw this hell-like scene.
As the first group of troops to arrive at the scene, no one in Lin Qiming's team spoke - the strong smell of blood kept drilling into their noses, and even Lin Qiming himself felt a churning sensation in his stomach and throat. He felt that if he opened his mouth to speak, the mushy food residue remaining in his esophagus might be vomited out directly.
He and his men hadn't rested for ten hours. Just now, when they were driving, they took advantage of the break to stuff some energy bars, compressed biscuits and the like into their mouths... But now, they would rather hope that they are hungry...
Following behind the crisis management department's vehicle were the remnants of half a company of garrison troops. Although these soldiers could be described as "well-trained", compared to the soldiers of the field corps, they had very little combat experience. Some of them had never even seen blood. When they saw the scene in District 1 West, they immediately heard a lot of retching sounds... The driver of an armored truck even stuck his head out of the window to vomit, causing the front of the car to tilt and hit the guardrail on the side of the road.
Fortunately, the car had started to slow down at this time, otherwise the overturn of this heavy armored truck would have been enough to block the entire road.
"How many people are there in the garrison of West District 1?" Lin Qiming took a few deep breaths of the fishy air, forcing himself to adapt to the smell, and then asked his subordinates.
"Some people were transferred to the Black Well Defense Line before, but the higher-ups took into consideration that there was still a research institute and an underground ice storage in the West District 1, so they didn't transfer all of them away... If we add up the troops from all the units, there should be about 3,000 to 4,000 people left."
"It seems that among these three or four thousand people... there are probably not many survivors." Lin Qiming lifted his foot. The sticky blood plasma mixed with minced meat stuck to the soles of his combat boots. It looked like dark red brushed cheese... except that this thing was just the opposite of cheese. It would only make people who saw it lose their appetite.
"The surveillance network in West District 1 has been completely paralyzed. We are unable to determine the target's location now." The subordinate said to Lin Qiming, "According to our superiors, the target should have entered the underground ice storage. We... are too late."
"It seems that we have to use another combat plan." Lin Qiming sighed and looked up at the dense shadows of ships in the sky. He knew very well that the fleet above would not launch an attack on the target until all of his people were wiped out.
"Well, the latest order has just come from above, changing the blocking operation to an annihilation operation. If necessary, the target can be destroyed together with the underground ice storage." said the subordinate.
"What's in the underground ice storage? The bigwigs in the crew's association know better than us." Lin Qiming shook his head with a bitter face, "The target doesn't even need to do it himself... He just needs to cut off the power supply to those freezers, and those things that wake up will be enough to give us a headache."
Lin Qiming turned his head and looked behind him. Various vehicles were coming from all directions. They were now in a peripheral military base in West District 1. This base was originally used to station troops to defend West District 1 and the research institute, but now, only a ruin covered in blood was left.
This place was set up as the gathering place for all units involved in the operation... According to regulations, except for the crisis management department and the research institute, people from other units were strictly prohibited from entering the underground ice storage. But just a few seconds ago, this ban was abolished by the Undead Crew. Those soldiers wearing heavy power armor who jumped out of the truck compartment would be the vanguard of this combat operation.
Lin Qiming noticed that these soldiers performed much better than the garrison troops. After getting off the vehicle, they began to skillfully adjust the equipment, check the armor and weapons, and turned a blind eye to the bloody scenes around them that far exceeded those of an R-18 plasma film.
Lin Qiming shifted his gaze to the emblems on the shoulders of the power armor worn by these soldiers. Only then did he realize that these soldiers were from the Field Corps, and they were the elite of the Field Corps.
The Field Corps has been shrinking its defense line since it suffered heavy losses in the battle at the Ancient Bronze City Ruins, and many troops have been transferred back to the Ark to participate in reconstruction and stability maintenance work... I guess these people should be among the troops transferred back to the Ark, right?
Lin Qiming watched these soldiers wrapped in steel walk towards the research institute, then waved to his subordinates and shouted , "Follow them... We are more familiar with the research institute and the underground ice storage than they are. The mission of leading the charge should be carried out by us."
"Boss...are you afraid of death?" The operator who had been following Lin Qiming asked while loading various special ammunition into the magazine.
"No one is not afraid of death. There is nothing to be ashamed of." Lin Qiming saw what his subordinate was thinking at a glance. "A truly brave person will still choose to stand up even if he is scared to death... It depends on your actions, not your heart."
"Actually...actually I'm fine." The subordinate whispered, but his slightly trembling fingers while loading the bullets revealed his true thoughts, "I'm just wondering... can we...or should I say, can the subsequent troops really eliminate the target?"
After seeing the target's true strength, both Lin Qiming and his subordinates knew very well that they could never defeat the target by themselves... The only thing they could do was to use their lives to delay the target and buy a few minutes... or even seconds for the troops rushing over from behind.
"I don't know." Lin Qiming said. This was his true thought. "Perhaps even the crew members don't know whether the operation will be successful in the end."
"Even the battleship... can't kill that man?" The subordinate pressed the last active ammunition that had just been thawed into the magazine, and then stuffed the magazine into the equipment on the side of the waist.
"Maybe we can kill him, maybe we can't... It's already come to this point, all we can do is 'do our best and leave the rest to fate'." Lin Qiming patted his subordinate on the shoulder, "Talk to the brothers, after we enter the underground ice storage, we have two main tasks. The first task is to find and try to annihilate the target of this combat operation, and the second task is to deal with those out-of-control 'collections'... Although the higher-ups asked us not to worry about anything else except the target, I ask you to raise the priority of the second task to the same level as the target as much as possible."
As the deputy chief of the Crisis Management Section, Lin Qiming was well aware of the consequences that would occur if the "collection" in the underground ice storage got out of control... Not to mention the troops entering the ice storage, even this temporary assembly point where they were now would be breached by the things pouring out from the ground.
"Notify the fleet in the sky. If anything comes out of the underground ice storage, open fire as long as it doesn't look human. The main gun can't be used, but those close-in defense weapons can always be used, right?" Lin Qiming took out the communication equipment and spoke into the microphone.
"The fleet has received the request, and they asked me to remind you..." The liaison officer in charge of coordinating the various units paused for a moment before continuing, "If there are ground troops mixed with those things... they will choose to open fire, unless they are sure that the ground troops can suppress those things."
"How long is the judgment window?" Lin Qiming asked directly.
"Thirty seconds."
"Okay, got it. Thank you." Lin Qiming said and put away the communication equipment.
What the judgment window means is that if a bunch of monsters running out of the underground ice storage get into a melee with the ground troops, if the ground troops cannot gain a decisive advantage within thirty seconds...even if the battle situation is just a stalemate, attacks that do not distinguish between friend and foe will fall from the sky and destroy both enemies and friendly forces.
This sounds unreasonable, but the situation is urgent now. Thirty seconds the fleet can buy for the ground forces is almost the limit... Every second, countless variables may occur. If the safest approach is taken, there will not even be a one-second judgment window.
"Let's go." Just as Lin Qiming finished his words, several black spots fell from the belly of the warship in the sky, quickly enlarged in his field of vision, and then landed with a bang.
They were eight "mass-produced Fallen Angels" painted pure black. After landing, these mechas quickly gathered together and ran in front of Lin Qiming.
"This mass-produced team of fallen angels is now under your command. I hope you can make them play their due role, Deputy Section Chief Lin." Demeter's voice sounded in Lin Qiming's headphones without warning.
