The Age of the Heroes

大英雄时代

the-age-of-the-heroes

Chapter 17

"It's too late now," General Zhao said in a low voice.


 In fact, something as strategically important as Earth's defense network couldn't possibly have only one layer. When it was originally designed, all kinds of potential accidents were taken into consideration. If the Earth's defense network failed to activate, then after a half-hour cooldown, the various ground stations could launch a second round of defense.


 But General Zhao knew that Earth didn't have this chance.


 The most terrifying thing was not the unfathomably powerful alien enemies, but rather Earth's people themselves.


 What they faced first was an internal rebellion. In the face of seemingly invincible enemies, the originally neutral faction would become uneasy and side with the peace faction, and the peace faction would quickly turn into the "negotiation"... no, the surrender faction.


 Whether it was the righteous peace faction fighting for the safety of billions of lives, or the selfish peace faction fighting for their own lives, property and glory, they now had sufficient reason to spare no effort in counterattacking to seize control.


 Even those pro-war people were not necessarily as determined in their hearts as they appeared.


 With its confidence shattered by the electromagnetic cannon, Earth would descend further into internal strife, as it was already on shaky ground.


 Suddenly, a red light flashed on the few remaining communication devices, indicating that the space fortress was under attack assessed to be at the highest danger level.


 General Zhao's guard couldn't help but exclaim, "Space missile attack!"


 Space missiles were one of the most commonly used attack weapons on space stations, nothing rare. Earth had them too, and even had quite a large stockpile. The guidance was more precise and the anti-missile system was considered advanced.


 But at this moment, not a single unit on the large space fortresses of various countries in space had received clear orders from their superiors, and some fortress warships hadn't even had time to leave port!


 The three people listened to the chaotic sounds, shouts, and even the undignified yelling and gunshots in the command room coming from the one-way communicator...


 These high-tech top-level space warships, in the face of the second wave of attacks, were no better than a flock of lambs to be slaughtered. In the vast and merciless universe, they couldn't even let out a bleat.


 They suffered heavy losses as soon as they encountered the enemy.


 Ye Wenlin was silent. When everyone else was in a panic, he seemed indifferent to the overall situation. He just turned his head and stared intently at the corner of the communication device, which displayed some information about the outer universe, trying to find clues about Jiang Jin's whereabouts.


 He himself was just a small soldier, currently in the position of a pawn. He had no influence on the overall situation, and could only watch everything happening before his eyes helplessly...


 We've lost, Ye Wenlin thought indifferently, simply pushing the brutal battle to the back of his mind.


 Compared to this, he was more concerned about the whereabouts of the missing Captain Jiang.


 When people are too smart, they sometimes lack vigor.


 General Zhao's guard's eyes were red with anxiety. He asked loudly, "General, what should we do? What can we do?"


 Ye Wenlin came back to his senses and glanced at old General Zhao.


 "Having ruled out all the impossible plans, before the complete collapse, we only have one path left," old General Zhao said. "Forward, concentrate fire, abandon all defense systems, and counterattack."


 Ye Wenlin's brows twitched. He immediately spoke up to remind, "General, we are carrying out an investigation mission. Taking the initiative to attack is open insubordination. Besides, with the chaos at headquarters, we may be summoned back at any time."


 Zhao Youxuan ignored him. The muscles on his cheeks twitched violently. He raised his hand, and the guard immediately understood and handed over the microphone.


 "From now on, cut off all contact with headquarters. The investigation mission is canceled. Initiate a full-scale attack, full speed ahead!"


 Ye Wenlin looked at his old superior in surprise.


 "What's the matter, kid? Forgot your code number?" Zhao Youxuan's wrinkled face showed an almost fierce cold smile. "A sword that is unsheathed without seeing blood is a knife for cutting vegetables. Haven't you heard that old saying, 'When the general is outside, the emperor's orders are sometimes disobeyed'?"


 At the order, the thirty-six light investigation ships immediately retracted their ship heads that could shield signals to achieve invisibility, stripped off the outermost layer of shielding material, revealing the sharp streamlined ship heads inside. The four-system power space thrusters in their tails flared to life, and the wings, except for the nuclear missiles, jettisoned all other loads. They quickly changed formation in the air, forming the shape of a spearhead.


 They streaked past like meteors, leaving behind space rays refracted by the distortion of space behind the curvature drive.


 Finally, at the most critical juncture, the heroes, shackled, recklessly drew their swords at the first line of defense outside the solar system.


 At this time, Earth, which was suddenly attacked, was still in chaos.


 Without confirmation from the scene, most people's first reaction at the ground stations was actually to reach for their phones, preparing to call an ambulance. Only then did they realize that the ground signals were completely cut off.


 Yang Ning looked a bit disheveled, but this young man, who always seemed mild-mannered, was not as weak as he looked. After the explosion, he was the first to get up. He pushed away a person blocking the way and manually entered a series of commands at the console to check the remaining lines.


 The results were obviously not optimistic.


 Fu Luo didn't know if he could hear her. In any case, her own hearing had not recovered at all, so she could only shout at Yang Ning with the loudest volume, "Commander! The ground station's defense network has a second layer of backup equipment within half an hour in case of an accident!"


 Yang Ning looked at her disheveled appearance, took out a pack of tissues from his pocket and handed it to her, pointing to his own ears, indicating for her to wipe the blood clean.


 "There's no time."


 Fu Luo could only see Yang Ning shaking his head, unable to hear what he said at all.


 However, Yang Ning seemed to suddenly remember something. He reached out and pushed Fu Luo, "Come with me."


 Fu Luo could only understand Colonel Yang's meaning through his body language and hurriedly followed.


 It wasn't until they rushed out of the ground station like a gust of wind that Fu Luo gradually regained her hearing amidst the pain.


 She began to wonder, where were they going?


 And what was that explosion just now?


 Yang Ning led a group of people in ten military vehicles, charging westward in a straight line. Fu Luo didn't want to ask him any questions. Although she had no choice now but to obey Yang Ning's orders, what had just happened made her heart deeply resentful of this young officer who had always left a good impression on her.


 She began trying to sketch out a map of the Beijing Space Military District in her mind. Suddenly, Fu Luo had a flash of inspiration. She quietly took out a convenient reader from her pocket, reduced it to the size of a palm, expanded it according to time, and turned to a small guerrilla case of a space-ground coordination in the previous war against aggression.


 In the appendix of this case, there was a schematic diagram. Ye Wenlin marked a place with a pen of a different color. Fu Luo still remembered—she had always felt she wasn't particularly smart, just extraordinarily diligent, operating on the private theory that her brain didn't get its fair share of nutrients. When she studied something, she would be completely focused, even if it meant skipping sleep and forgetting to eat. She would have an impression of everything she had read.


 Ye Wenlin's dog-crawling handwriting jumped into her field of vision.


 "The biggest difference between the 'Wandering Dragon' signal station and other signal stations is that it is not 'ground-to-air', but 'air-to-air'. The line just happens to brush the surface of the earth halfway through. In short, it is not a signal station in the complete sense, but a 'hitchhike'. This 'hitchhike' was like a life-saving straw when the enemy forces swept the earth on a large scale and human communications were interrupted. It was the core secret of the guerrilla war's victory that year. After the war, the 'Wandering Dragon' signal station was expanded into the current West Beijing No. 23 Signal Station for both military and civilian use."


 So Colonel Yang gave up the Ground Forces office, and his current target is the West Beijing No. 23 Signal Station!


 "Take this with you." Just then, Yang Ning suddenly threw a personal laser knife and a new lightweight pistol into her arms.


 Fu Luo was stunned for a moment. Wait, it's just a signal station for both military and civilian use, why arm yourself?


 What does this terrorist want to do again!


 Yang Ning glanced at her and said in a deep voice, "I just received news that the enemy, through some method, bypassed the several layers of protection of the air fortress in the first wave of attacks and directly acted on the earth's defense network, leading to the self-detonation of the Ground Forces office just now."


 Fu Luo was shocked.


 Yang Ning: "Now communications are almost completely paralyzed, the enemy's means of attack are unknown, and the defense system is ineffective. Under this kind of external pressure, different interest groups within our military are fighting for every minute that is critical. Do you know what the right thing to do is?"


 Yang Ning didn't need to explain these things to her. However, the incident happened suddenly. Most of his cronies that he usually used were at the front lines in space. He himself was on vacation on the ground, and there was only a platoon of guards left by General Yang beside him. It was not an exaggeration to say that he was caught off guard.


 General Yang ordered him, as one of the main battle faction's ground commanders, to seize control of the ground as soon as possible, but he had no available manpower.


 The Ground Forces office he had just passed through was even more hopeless. Only this Fu Luo, although she was just a foolish student who had just graduated, had at least received elite education from the regular army, and her personal qualities were acceptable. In this situation, he had no choice but to use whatever resources were available.


 The No. 23 Signal Station was only 80 kilometers away from the Ground Forces office. Yang Ning and his team drove the cars into a blur.


 "Colonel." The soldier in the passenger seat suddenly turned his head back, "There are people at 9 o'clock."


 The soldier drew a line on his eyelid, brought up a high-powered telescope, and recognized the license plate: "Colonel, it's people from the West Beijing Space Launch Base. They're signaling us to stop the car for inspection."


 Yang Ning didn't even blink: "Charge through."


 Fu Luo had the illusion that she had boarded a pirate ship and was rebelling with them.


 "They pulled up an aerial electric net and asked us to stop the car for inspection again."


 Yang Ning frowned: "Equip the close-range detonation system."


 A mechanical female voice sounded in the car: "Command confirmed."


 Fu Luo almost couldn't sit still.


 Wait, isn't this an ordinary military vehicle?


 Why is there a near-ground mecha system in the cockpit?


 And what's with the close-range detonation!


 Mechas were the earliest weapons that humans envisioned for space infantry combat. Nine types were developed one after another. However, it was soon discovered that this was a chicken rib, because "space infantry" was no different from letting people fight bare-chested. The probability of it happening was about the same as the probability of "fixing bayonets" in the era of hot weapons on Earth.


 It could only exert a greater killing power in densely populated areas near the ground.


 In summary, near-ground mechas are basically a ground rebellion weapon.


 This is also the reason why it was later banned from private ownership.


 Yet Yang Ning dared to openly break the law! He even had the audacity to disguise it as an ordinary old military vehicle. What exactly did he want to do?


 Damn it, won't we be wanted after finishing this job?


 "Aim at the coordinates," Yang Ning slightly lowered his body and stared at the aerial electric net projected on it through a micro-telescope without blinking. When the car was less than 800 meters away from the electric net, he completed the entire command with full-screen manual aiming, "'23, 303w, l206°, r01', confirm coordinates, carry out the strike."


 This time, Fu Luo had learned her lesson. Before he finished speaking, she had already covered her ears in advance.


 With a loud "boom", within a short distance, the detonation bomb of the "military vehicle" rolled the electric net into a tattered spider web. The power generation piles supporting the aerial electric net on both sides were directly blown away by fifty or sixty meters, and the entire air was filled with the smell of burnt food.


 The convoy passed through in an extremely arrogant manner.

The Age of the Heroes

The Age of the Heroes

Chapter 18 - Chapter 17

Sleepy