215: Operation Dawn

The snow was still falling. The type 100 tank was parked behind an ice ridge, its hull covered in a thin layer of snow, making it look like a boulder.

Chen Wang sat in the driver's seat, staring at the main screen of the kindling system.

The warning Star Pupil had just sent was still echoing in his mind—"Be careful... there are 'eyes' there."

The feed cut off, but those words refused to fade.

He pulled up the image of the energy tower.

In the middle of the tower's body was a spherical device, embedded between the armor plates.

Its surface was smooth, with no gaps and no lenses.

Yet every three minutes, it would rotate once, its red light sweeping across the surrounding ice.

"Su Ling," Chen Wang said, "Use the sniper scope to take a look at it."

Su Ling had already prepared the equipment.

She lay prone at the turret's observation port, her eye pressed against the eyepiece.

The image was synchronized to the tactical console inside the vehicle.

She adjusted the focus and saw a glimmer of light as the sphere rotated.

"There's a change," she said. "When it turns to the east, energy fluctuations appear on the tower's surface. It's very weak, but it's definitely there."

Amy immediately opened the analysis interface.

She entered the angle, period, and wind speed data, and began modeling.

A few seconds later, a curve appeared on the screen.

"There is an eighteen-second blind spot in every scanning cycle," she said. "It's exactly in the northwest corner because the ice cliff blocks part of its field of view. During this time, its detection range cannot reach us here."

Lin Wei looked up and asked, "Can a drone fly over there?"

"Yes," Amy nodded. "A micro-drone can approach and film during that time, then withdraw immediately after."

"Deploy it," Chen Wang ordered.

Lin Wei took a folding drone out of the engineering module.

She checked the battery and signal module, and after confirming there were no issues, she activated it.

The machine unfolded its wings, quietly flew out of the vehicle, and moved forward, skimming the ice.

Everyone watched the small red dot on the map.

It slowly advanced and stopped to wait 300 meters from the energy tower.

The spherical device began to rotate, and the red light swept across the ground, entering the blind spot area.

"Go," Amy said.

The drone accelerated, ascended, crossed the ice pile, and headed straight for the top of the tower.

The camera aimed at the top platform.

The image was transmitted back clearly: a dark blue crystal was fixed by six metal arms, wrapped on the outside by a layer of pale gold force field.

The crystal was nearly two meters in diameter, with light flowing and flickering inside.

"That's the core," Su Ling said in a low voice.

Lin Wei immediately retrieved the scanning parameters.

She cross-referenced it with the kindling system's database and found that the energy frequency of this crystal was the same as the power source for all Northern Empire tanks.

"All equipment on the front line relies on it for power," she said. "If we cut it off, their mechs, reconnaissance aircraft, and weapon systems will all be paralyzed."

"How long can it hold out?" Chen Wang asked.

"It will take at least seventy-two hours to reboot," Lin Wei replied. "The backup power supply doesn't support high-energy consumption weapons."

Amy began calculating the success rate of the incursion.

Combining the patrol routes, monitoring blind spots, and shield strength, she tested several different paths.

Finally, she reached a conclusion: the optimal time for the operation is 4:12 AM tomorrow, with a success rate of 41.7%.

"Less than half," Su Wan said, looking at the data. "But we have no other choice."

She had been in the medical pod.

The life monitoring system showed that Chen Wang's heart rate was five beats slower than usual, and his body temperature was slowly dropping.

He had just gone out to check the mechanical arm connection point, staying in an environment of minus eighty degrees for over ten minutes.

"You should come back," she reminded him over the intercom.

"It's not over yet." Chen Wang didn't move.

He stood outside the vehicle, wearing the copper watch his father had left behind on his left wrist, his right hand gripping the control lever of the mechanical arm.

The front end of the mechanical arm was inserted into a sensor interface on the ground; that was the data channel temporarily set up by the kindling system.

He was trying to feel the operating rhythm of the protective shield.

Lin Wei walked over to him. "The system requires level-five authorization to shut down the force field," she said. "A standard hack won't work. I've tried three protocols, and none of them worked."

"Who has this authorization?" Su Ling asked.

"Yan Shiduo," Lin Wei said. "Log records show that at 19:47 yesterday, he personally accessed the control system."

No one spoke.

After a few seconds, Lin Wei looked down at her hands. Her fingers were trembling a little. She wasn't afraid; she just knew what this meant—they didn't have the key, and they didn't have time to wait anymore.

"Without the key, the door won't open," she said in a very small voice.

Chen Wang didn't respond. He closed his eyes for a moment, then pressed the mechanical arm down, connecting it deeper into the interface. The kindling system popped up a warning: [Illegal access attempt, risk level: extremely high].

But he didn't stop.

The interface began to flicker. The waveform of the gold force field went haywire, and the originally stable energy line cracked open. Although it lasted less than a second, it had definitely changed.

"It's reacting," Lin Wei said, staring at the screen. "Are you interfering with it?"

"The kindling system recognizes will," Chen Wang said. "Not authorization."

He released the control lever and turned back to the vehicle. The temperature inside the vehicle rose, but he was still cold. He sat back in the driver's seat and his fingers slid across the main control panel.

"The protective shield has a fluctuation every twelve minutes," he said. "It's the gap in the cooling cycle. That's when it's weakest."

Lin Wei nodded. "We can take action during that time, but we must time it precisely."

"Then let's set it for 4:12 AM tomorrow," Chen Wang said. "Use the stealth module to approach, and first send the drone to cut off the power supply to the diversion pipe to create chaos."

"I'll be responsible for watching the spherical device," Su Ling said. "As soon as it enters the blind spot, I'll notify you."

"I'll design the demolition plan," Lin Wei said. "If we can't open the door, we'll blow a path inside."

Amy updated the model. She added the new data and recalculated it. The success rate became 43.2%, still less than half.

"This is the best result we can achieve," she said.

Su Wan organized the emergency medical kit. She packed anti-freeze agents, hemostatic gel, and neural stabilizers into the portable case. She also marked each person's physiological limit, especially their endurance time in low temperatures.

"Chen Wang," she said. "You cannot go out again. A body temperature that is too low will affect your judgment."

"I know," he said. "Just one last time."

He looked out the window. The energy tower stood in the distance, blue light flickering at the top. The spherical device began to rotate again, its red light sweeping across the ice field, as precise as a clock.

"It doesn't know we're watching," Su Ling said. "But it will detect an anomaly."

"Then let it detect us," Chen Wang said. "But we have to be faster than it."

Lin Wei turned on the engineering module's backup power test. She loaded three small oscillators into the drone's cargo hold and set them to remote trigger. As soon as the core shield fluctuated, she could immediately detonate one to destroy the diversion pipe connection point.

"Ready," she said.

Amy encrypted and archived the operation plan. She set up an auto-destruct program; if communication was interrupted for more than ten minutes, all files would be wiped.

"Now we can only wait," she said.

Everyone returned to their posts. Chen Wang remained in the driver's seat, his hand on the ignition switch. Su Ling continued to watch the rotation cycle of the spherical device, recording the time of each blind spot. Lin Wei repeatedly checked the demolition program to ensure it wouldn't damage the main structure. Su Wan monitored the team's vital signs, ready to deal with any emergencies at any time.

The wind and snow grew heavier. Snowflakes pelted the roof of the vehicle, making muffled thuds. The silhouette of the energy tower became blurred in the storm, but that spot of red light was still rotating.

Chen Wang stared at the screen. He knew that this battle was not just about destroying a facility. This was their first proactive strike, and the target was the enemy's lifeblood.

He raised his left hand and glanced at the copper watch. The hands were not moving. This watch had stopped long ago. But he kept wearing it.

"4:12 AM," he whispered. "We'll arrive on time."

It was very quiet inside the vehicle. There was only the slight hum of the systems running.

Suddenly, the main screen flickered.

The rotation speed of the spherical device slowed by half a beat.

The red light paused in the northwest direction, lingering for two seconds longer than usual.

The monitoring blind spot had extended.

No one celebrated.

Chen Wang's hand moved to below the weapon switch.

His thumb gently brushed across the edge.