Chapter 442: The Struggle on the West Line
Translator: _Min_Editor: Rundi
West line.
The rural area of Jia, six kilometers away from Jia Sports Center, Cheng Weiguo established a temporary command post there.
He was standing in front of the hologram map with a finger pointed fiercely at the major roadways on the map. Then he dragged out an attack red arrow and ordered his teams to push forward.
"Attention Team 8, the mutated humans deployed a large amount of anti-air machine guns in the Sanshui Park. Your mission is to follow this line and penetrate the mutated humans' line of defense, and then take out the machine guns. Do you understand!"
"Yes, Sir!"
"Attention Team 5, attack… Dammit." Cheng Weiguo looked up at the orange cloud that exploded in the air.
Wide range electromagnetic interference bomb. It could disrupt any wireless signal in the area for up to an hour.
Cheng Weiguo cursed out as he smashed the radio filled with static noises onto the table and sat down on the chair. The electromagnetic interference was useful to both parties, without command, the troops in the front line would have to fight following their previous order.
The boring trick could only waste time since both parties would be unable to strategize its force. But the mutated humans didn't need to strategize, as the defender, they only needed to defend.
The mortar sounds in the distance never stopped. It made Cheng Weiguo feel flustered. The delaying tactic made him feel unsettled.
The mutated humans surprisingly had some great tools, The Dusk Church was not an easy opponent.
Soon after, a communication soldier ran in front of him.
Cheng Weiguo took a deep breath and spoke to him.
"Notify Team 4 to push towards the intersection from Nanxi Road."
Different from the terrain in Wanghai, Jia's complex river environment made it easy to defend and hard to attack. The command center of the mutated humans located in Jia Sports Center was between multiple rivers.
In order to defend the attack of NAC's First Corps, the mutated humans were smarter this time. They destroyed all the bridges and held within the defense line. And these rivers caused a great deal of trouble to the NAC armor units.
On the first day, the armored force of NAC was blocked at the highway entrance to the west of Jia. The bridge that stretched across the river were exploded into several segments. To allow the armored force to pass through, it took Wang Zhaowu some serious efforts.
At first, they launched a round of artillery attacks at the mutated humans across the river, then the engineering soldiers built a floating bridge. Only after they conquered the bank across the river did the armored force finally pass through.
Once the tanks crossed the river, the situation became a lot more positive. The armored force led the way with the infantries immediately following.
They advanced rapidly for four kilometers as the mutated humans suffered constant defeat.
But the situation quickly became grave again.
After they entered the city center, the number of rivers increased which hindered the armored force's advancement.
The catastrophic defeat in the Seventh Area made the mutated humans realize the power of NAC's armored units. Therefore they set up the defense line along the river and persisted on fighting the battle in the streets. The mutated humans stationed in Jia were a much tougher enemy.
Other than the annoying anti-tank cannons and mortars, the mutated humans acquired a tactical nuke somehow. Two hundred infantries without armor protection instantly dropped down, and even a Tiger II stalled.
Fortunately, most of the people who died were new recruits from the Seventh Area, Cheng Weiguo's eyebrows only twitched as he didn't feel too pained by the loss.
But regardless, the battle turned into a stalemate. To defend against the possibility of another tactical nuke being dropped, Cheng Weiguo had to extend the battle line and gave up on the strategy of a group attack.
These mutated humans were definitely commanded by humans!
…
There were around twenty thousand mutated humans stationed in Jia which was five times the First Corps' force. Although the First Corps was equipped with a significant amount of heavy weapons and armored units. Due to the complex river system, they were forced into a siege attack.
"The lightning war strategy is being obstructed. The First Corps may not be able to conquer Jia in a short period of time." Han Junhua crossed her arms in front of her chest and said while studying the hologram map.
"I already said, it's too crazy to fight two battles at the same time."
Sun Jiao scoffed and sat on the sofa.
"Did you not consider the possibility of the mutated humans blowing up the bridges?" Jiang Chen asked Han Junhua.
"A total of 217 bridges were destroyed. Based on PAC's road quality standard, destroying the supporting structure of a bridge would require at least 600 kilograms of explosives," Han Junhua said emotionlessly.
130.2 tons of explosives. The mutated humans had way too many supplies.
"Fu*k, how did these monsters acquire so many explosives," Sun Jiao cursed out in frustration.
130 tons. Even if the entire Sixth Street were turned upside down, there wouldn't be that many explosives. Even if the Dusk Church had strong financial backing, they were a force migrated from the Northern Alliance Area. There was no reason they would possess so many supplies.
"Maybe it is not explosives," Jiang Chen abruptly commented.
Han Junhua and Sun Jiao both turned their attention to Jiang Chen. Suddenly, Sun Jiao seemed to have caught onto something.
"Crystals!"
"That's right. Sun Xairou said that her ability was induced through genetic engineering and not simply evolved from the genetic vaccines. Therefore, her ability is not unique within the Dusk," Jiang Chen said gravely.
The ability to explode crystals.
Mutated humans and humans were archenemies, only slavery and raid existed between the two with no possibility of trading. They acquired food through hunting the mutants, in the past ten something years, they must have accumulated a significant amount of unused crystals.
Other people might not be able to afford it, but the mutated humans didn't care.
"What are you saying?" Han Junhua looked at the two, puzzled.
Jiang Chen and Sun Jiao exchanged eye contact before they told the story of Sun Xiaorou to her.
Han Junhua lowered her head and deliberated for a moment.
"I have a question I don't understand. Why is the Dusk Church able to establish a partnership with the mutated humans? Did you ask Sun Xiaorou this before?"
Sun Jiao shook her head. She wouldn't make her sister recall the memory of her terrible past.
Han Junhua then looked at Jiang Chen.
"The mutated humans would require an improved FEV virus to obtain reproduction ability, and the Dusk needs the Garden of Eden technology in Fallout Shelter 005. The two parties have the same goal. The Dusk would leave the earth without leaving a trace behind, so it was not possible for them to have future conflicts," Jiang Chen organized the information he knew and explained.
"The Project Garden of Eden? When I was the commander in the 71st Mechanical Division, I heard some people mention that a state research institute was responsible for this area of research. It was rumored that once the technology matured, the challenges in space colonization would be solved," Han Junhua put her finger on her chin and muttered to herself.
"What if we provide the FEV virus to the mutated humans and let them fight amongst themselves?" Sun Jiao suggested.
"That's impossible. If we did that, we wouldn't have a problem in the short term, but it will be extremely problematic in the long term," Jiang Chen said wryly.
Needless to say, the ugly mutated humans were better suited for this piece of land. The ability to devour the Death Claw's meat, more poisonous than rat poison, raw and munch on unprocessed mutated fruits would mean that once these things acquired the ability to reproduce, humans wouldn't have a place on this planet anymore.
Suddenly, Han Junhua raised her head and fixed her sight on Jiang Chen.
"What if we change to a different perspective? We first find Fallout Shelter 005, then provide the project Garden of Eden to the Dusk Chuch which eliminates their motive to control Wanghai. The mutated humans that lost their external support along with their military production in the Seventy Area will lose inevitably."