27: Chapter 27 The Crushing Victory Part 2

That night, all was calm.

In the early morning, Chu Ge, Li Gang, and a group of mecha logistics and technical personnel arrived early at the experimental factory.

This was the temporary control, communication, and logistics center for [Soul Blade] at the weapons testing base.

It was responsible for monitoring [Soul Blade]'s status, data collection, and partial performance testing.

"How are the test procedures arranged?"

Chu Ge asked.

"Reporting to Academician Chu, all program instructions have been entered. [Soul Blade] will undergo performance tests in the following order: evasion, hard blocking, long-range attacks, and close-quarters combat."

"Mhm, good. Proceed according to the original plan!"

"Yes, sir!"

115th Armored Division Headquarters.

Division Commander Wang Yi also came to the headquarters early this morning. He seemed exceptionally excited to have a final showdown with that mecha warrior today.

"Has the early warning radar still not found it?"

"Reporting to Division Commander, no!"

"What about the reconnaissance battalion?"

"Nothing!"

"Damn it! Keep searching!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Reporting to Division Commander, the 'Sentinel' No. 6 reconnaissance satellite has found the target!"

A radar operator reported excitedly.

"Good! Send the coordinates and target images to the big screen immediately!"

"Yes, sir! Synchronized to the information screen!"

On the headquarters' combat information screen, clear images unfolded one by one.

[Soul Blade] stood tall on a Gobi Desert plain, surrounded by yellow sand, with the sun shining on its solitary frame.

It felt somewhat desolate, somewhat solemn.

"Huh? Why isn't he moving?"

Wang Yi felt a bit uneasy.

"Division Commander, looking at the coordinates, this seems to be the weapons testing ground northwest of the experimental base."

"Target distance?"

"250 kilometers."

"250 kilometers... then only long-range rockets and missiles can reach it?"

"Yes!"

"Send out the reconnaissance drones; keep an eye on it first!"

"Immediately transmit the coordinates to the Missile Battalion and the Artillery Regiment. Damn it, let's give it a wave of iron rain first!"

Division Commander Wang Yi had indeed been frustrated over the past two days; after finishing the deployment, he cursed unconsciously.

"Order: Eighteen 370mm 8-tube heavy long-range rocket launchers are to conduct rapid fire on the target coordinates in five minutes. Give it a round first!"

"Yes, sir!"

Five minutes later,

At the long-range rocket artillery positions, *rumble*, *whoosh, whoosh, whoosh*.

Eighteen rocket launchers fired almost simultaneously, with rockets trailing flames as they raced toward the target.

A single volley of 370mm long-range rockets consists of 144 projectiles, capable of covering a considerable area.

And this Chinese version of long-range rockets actually has very high precision, essentially equivalent to precision-guided missiles.

The Gobi Desert.

[Soul Blade]'s energy core precisely calculated the trajectory, speed, and impact point of the incoming projectiles.

The next second, [Soul Blade] leaped up and then landed heavily,

shifting its position.

A few seconds later, *boom, boom, boom*, the rockets exploded into bursts of fire and smoke, sparks flying everywhere.

Even with the warheads removed, the heavy rockets still packed a punch.

As the smoke cleared, [Soul Blade] stood there like a statue.

"Division Commander, the directorate calculates that the fellow perfectly evaded the kill radius of all the rockets!"

"What?"

The Missile Battalion commander and the Artillery Regiment commander stood up at the same time.

"Division Commander, let me join in too. Give it a full unit of ammunition; I don't believe it!"

The Missile Battalion commander was indignant.

Wang Yi didn't speak, just stared at the information screen as if deep in thought.

"Replay the footage captured by the drones!"

"Yes, sir!"

After a long while,

"Do you see anything?"

"..."

"Division Commander, are you saying it's playing with the time delay?"

Staff Officer Li suddenly spoke up.

"Exactly. The rocket launch time, the time it moved, the rocket flight time, and the impact explosion time!"

"If you link them all together, you'll see the problem!"

"This..."

The rough-around-the-edges officers were a bit confused!

"In those two minutes, it accurately calculated our rockets' impact time, and even the impact points and blast radii."

"So, that's why it perfectly evaded them?"

The rough-hewn men finally caught on.

"To put it another way, while the rockets were in flight, it accurately captured their trajectories to intercept them!"

"But for it, it wasn't an interception, it was evasion!"

"It has a full suite of detection and early warning radars! And very advanced ones! Its calculation speed is incredibly fast!"

"I'm afraid we really have to treat it like Iron Man!"

Division Commander Wang Yi concluded!

"Then how are we supposed to play this?"

"Iron Man? Science fiction? Stop joking. We might as well just call Robert Downey!"

"Huh? What 'radish' who?"

"Enough! This is an exercise, and it's not over yet!"

Division Commander Wang Yi snapped.

"Fine then, young Academician Chu, I really underestimated your capabilities!"

"Order: The Artillery Regiment and Missile Battalion are to withdraw from combat. The Armored Regiment is to take over and advance within range of cannons and individual anti-aircraft rocket launchers."

"Order: Report to headquarters and request Air Force deployment! All fighters are to be equipped with multi-mode guided dogfight missiles!"

"Order: Deploy all reconnaissance-strike integrated drones, carrying only multi-mode guided missiles or television-guided missiles."

Old Wang was truly furious; he rattled off the orders in one breath without pausing.

He had been holding in a lot of frustration.

"This... Division Commander? Deploying the Air Force? This seems to exceed the scope of the exercise!"

"Don't worry, headquarters will agree!"

...

"Division Commander, why specifically request missiles with these guidance modes?"

"From the images, I suspect this mecha warrior's stealth and propulsion technologies aren't following conventional patterns."

"Ordinary infrared and radar guidance probably won't be very effective!"

Division Commander Wang Yi explained.

As expected, the older, the wiser.

"Report: Headquarters has approved the request for Air Force deployment!"

The communications officer reported.

"See? Haha, how many planes were deployed?"

"One squadron of JK-20s!"

*Hiss*, they're being quite generous.

At an Air Force base in the west, twenty-six JK-20s—China's latest stealth fighters—loaded with ammunition taxied out of their hangars.

Two planes took off simultaneously from each runway, soon forming a powerful attack formation in the sky.

"01, such a huge commotion, what's the situation?"

It happened so suddenly; the squadron alarm sounded, followed by an emergency scramble of all aircraft to form an aerial formation, with no combat mission assigned in the interim.

"02, I'm not sure. There's a combat briefing in the mission system! The AWACS will rendezvous with us in airspace 045!"

"Received!"

"See you in airspace 045!"

[Soul Blade] Temporary Control Center at the experimental base.

Chu Ge was currently yawning.

"What's up with Division Commander Wang? He stopped after just one round? That's a bit stingy, isn't it?"

Li Gang began to complain.

"It's not stinginess; he realized we're playing hide-and-seek with him!"

Chu Ge spoke decisively, truly admiring Division Commander Wang's abilities.

"Alright, we can skip the remaining test procedures!"

"Why?"

Li Gang was puzzled.

"Because [Soul Blade] is about to enter close-quarters combat mode directly!"

"Activate [Soul Blade]'s Free Combat Mode!"

Chu Ge's gaze suddenly became sharp!

"Yes, sir!"