Chapter 1406 - Close Combat

“Seriously, I have been in North America for almost a year. I only applied to change my home base back to Wanghai a few months ago.” An engineer in a safety helmet said as he welded the laser anti-aircraft weapon to the steel bracket. While he wiped the sweat from his forehead, he grinned and looked at his comrade next to him, “After staying for so long, this is the first time I have seen a North American who claims to be an American.”

“Then what do they usually call themselves?” Another engineer wiped his sweat with a towel, took a swig of the mineral water, then joked along, “Aboriginals of the West Coast? Or California Freaks?”

“Neither. Cowboys in California, mercenaries in Nevada, gamblers in Alaska, NATO people…usually the former ones are more common, the latter ones less so. Except for the folks in Chinatown who will stick together based on their ancestry, those whites and blacks like to use state names to draw boundaries from other people.”

“Chinatown? Are there other Chinese near here?”

“It’s not just Chinese. Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, even Indians, Asians on the West Coast basically live there. The stuff there is quite interesting. When this battle is over, I can take you for a tour—”

They were only halfway through the conversation when the harsh alarm sounded.

The two engineers were taken aback for a moment, then their expressions changed all of the sudden. Without a word more, they grabbed their toolbox and ran toward the stairs.

The moment the air defense alarm sounded, the entire fortress was like a pot of boiling water, and everyone began to move. The non-combatants evacuated into the air defense bunker immediately. Soldiers in kinetic skeletons lined up and quickly rushed to their combat positions.

The anti-aircraft electromagnetic pulse cannons and laser weapons deployed on the fortress raised their barrels in tandem, and a stream of Aurora-20s took off from the deck of AS Order. In a blink of an eye, a squadron had all taken off and formed a defensive formation, ready to engage the enemy.

“Company A has entered combat position, requesting instructions.” A soldier in power armor sat at the entrance of the air defense bunker, behind him were 120 soldiers in kinetic skeletons.

The jet-black rifles were ready to fire, and everyone was prepared to fight.

If the USN Army launched a raid on the colony’s air defense facilities, then they would the first line of defense for the fortress!

…

Inside a temporary command post deep into the colony’s air defense bunker.

It was not only the command tower of the Expeditionary Force but also the radar station of the colony.

The observer sat nervously in front of the control terminal, and staff hurriedly ran back and forth between the terminals. This place was the eyes and brains of the entire expeditionary army, and a series of combat orders were issued from here to the front line.

Taking the elevator underground, Jiang Chen quickly walked into the command post. When he arrived, Li Wang and Zheng Shanhe stood at the command table not far away and were discussing combat strategies with a group of officers.

Jiang Chen instructed everyone to disregard him, then he looked at the big screen directly in front of the command post.

When he saw the rapidly approaching red dots, his brows started to frown, he walked forward, looked at the radar observer next to him, and asked in a serious tone.

“What’s the situation.”

“Unidentified flying objects have entered the radar and will encounter our flight squadron in one minute!” Staring at the radar screen, the soldier immediately reported to Jiang Chen.

“How many enemy planes are there?” Jiang Chen asked immediately.

“Fourteen…wait, what the fu*k!”

Without the slightest warning, when the semi-arc cursor swept across the radar screen, rows of dense red dots suddenly appeared. When the observer saw the number rising exponentially, he even forgot that the general was standing next to him and cussed out.

Five hundred and twenty-seven!

Jiang Chen’s eyes narrowed into slits as he stared at the scarlet number. Then he looked at Li Wang and ordered without hesitation, “Launch the EMP missile immediately and bombard the target airspace at full capacity!”

“ROGER!”

Even without Jiang Chen’s order, he planned to do so.

Without any hesitation, Li Wang pressed his headset and issued a combat command to AS Order in the air.

Thousands of meters above the ground, the armor on the side of the steel airship slowly moved, exposing the missile silos for the fearsome missiles. Without any prelude, along with the roar of the engine ignition, four missiles galloped toward the distant airspace along with four thick and long plumes of smoke trailing behind.

The flight squadron that hovered on both sides of AS Order changed its formation. It covered both sides of the missile from a distance and charged up toward the target airspace.

The squadron commander flying in the middle of the formation looked at the red dots on the radar, opened the insurance of the weapon system, and at the same time gave the order to each aviator to engage in combat.

“…we are entering combat range, each aviator, freely fire. I repeat, each aviator, freely fire… FU*K, WHAT IS THAT?”

The EMP weapons exploded in the air, but it did not have much impact on those flying objects. The countless black “iron coffins” formed a loose formation in the air and completely ignored the twenty-four Aurora-20s as they headed straight for the colony.

If possible, the squadron commander would like to order a flight to chase after the group of iron coffins. However, when he saw the F-79s behind, he had to put a stop to this idea.

The quality of pre-war equipment was always more than one notch better than the customized products manufactured by wasteland engineers. It was a truth that had been verified countless times.

The distance of several kilometers was quickly closed, and the two sides entered into their respective engagement distance.

The air-to-air missiles that dragged flames intersected each other, and the ejected flare formed countless beautiful fireworks in the air, and together with the exploding flames, they embellished the brilliant sunset on the horizon.

In a matter of seconds, the first round of combat had been decided.

Large pieces of wreckage fell from the air along with trails of long black smoke. When the last missile was fired, the two sides immediately entered close-range combat.

The roaring gun turrets freely unleashed their bullets, chased each other’s afterburner, tore apart the pristine white clouds and the calm blue sea.

On the other side, under the cover of Wings of Freedoms, the iron coffins successfully passed through the blockade of the NAC air squadron. They ignored the huge steel airship and rammed towards the colony.

Of course, the Expeditionary Army would not easily make their wish come true. Under the guidance of radars, electromagnetic rapid-fire cannons were the first to fire fierce firepower toward the sky. The countless shells formed orange-yellow trajectories that weaved into a tight net. It was all aimed at the jet-black flying objects.

But an astounding scene happened.

Milky white airwaves condensed at the front end of the iron coffins, and the small-caliber shells fired by the electromagnetic anti-aircraft guns were deflected to the side by a dense air wall at the moment of contact.

Except for a few that were shredded, most of the iron coffins successfully broke through the dense net formed by the first round of shells; they continued to fall towards the colony’s fortress without any signs of slowing down…