85: Chapter 85: Meeting Zhao Tiezhu in the Buffer Zone! The Shadow of White Bones Arrives

Polaris arrived at the iron wall's position at 18:05.

The iron wall was one size larger than Lu Chen had imagined.

As a lv.3 fortress-class Mobile City, its bulk was six to seven times that of Polaris; it was nearly one hundred meters long, over thirty meters wide, and entirely encased in thick, iron-grey forged armor, with dense reinforcement ribs welded onto the city walls.

Ten 105mm main cannons were distributed along the sides and top of the city walls, with all barrels pointed toward the northeast.

Twenty lv.2 patrol vehicles were scattered around the iron wall, forming a protective perimeter with a radius of three kilometers.

The communicator connected to the iron wall's command frequency.

"Battalion Commander Zhao, Polaris has arrived."

"I see you," Zhao Tiezhu's voice remained coarse and raspy, "you drove here faster than the patrol vehicles."

"Changed the engine."

"What kind of engine can make a lv.2 run that fast?"

"A diesel engine."

Zhao Tiezhu paused for a beat and didn't speak.

"Battalion Commander Zhao, where has the Ice-Rift Swarm reached?"

"The latest report from the outpost says they are fifty kilometers to the northeast, maintaining a marching speed of twenty-five kilometers per hour."

"They will arrive between 18:15 and 18:30."

"Correct, ten to twenty-five minutes remaining."

"What about their formation?"

"Three-column formation, wider at the front and narrower at the back," Zhao Tiezhu's voice dropped half a tone, "the front two columns are standard lv.2 combat vehicles, with fifteen or sixteen in each column, spaced less than twenty meters apart. The rear column consists of three heavy transport vehicles, mounted with six 105mm howitzers."

"The heavy transport vehicles are at the very back."

"Yes, they are bringing up the rear. Those three are modified heavy-duty chassis; their speed is only a little over twenty, dragging down the speed of the entire column."

Lu Chen rubbed his thumb against the metal edge of the steering wheel.

Heavy transport vehicles were at the rear, with six 105mm howitzers mounted on them.

After the Ice-Rift Swarm reaches the battlefield, their standard tactic should be for the front-row combat vehicles to launch a charge to draw fire, while the rear transport vehicles stop to deploy the howitzers for long-range covering fire.

The effective range of a 105mm howitzer is at least five kilometers.

The effective range of the iron wall's 105mm main cannons is also five kilometers.

But the iron wall only has ten cannons, while the enemy has six howitzers plus thirty-seven 75mm cannons on thirty-seven combat vehicles.

The firepower density is a level lower.

"Battalion Commander Zhao, those three transport vehicles are the highest priority targets."

"You think so too?"

"White Bone's tactic is for all combat vehicles to charge at full speed without slowing down. The charging vehicles can ram and collide, but their firepower is limited; it is those six howitzers in the back that truly cause large-scale damage."

"Once the howitzers are gone, what comes charging over will just be a bunch of tin cans with only 75mm cannons."

"Do you mean you are coming to hit the transport vehicles?"

Zhao Tiezhu's tone carried a layer of confirmation.

"I will," Lu Chen's fingers rested on the edge of the Ray Cannon control panel, "the Ray Cannon is fully charged with three shots, one shot per transport vehicle."

"That red light?"

Zhao Tiezhu's voice paused for a beat.

"The combat report from this morning mentioned that thing. It sliced through a lv.2 combat vehicle in two seconds."

"The transport vehicles have thinner armor than the combat vehicles."

"If you use the Ray Cannon to hit the transport vehicles, who will block the charging combat vehicles in the front?"

"The iron wall will take the front, and the patrol vehicles will harass from the flanks," Lu Chen's tone was no different than discussing a recipe, "after I circle to the side-rear and take out the transport vehicles, I will return to cut into the flank of the charging column, using the same tactics as this morning."

"This morning you fought the scattered troops of the Icebreaker Swarm," Zhao Tiezhu's rough voice carried an extra half-measure of gravity, "White Bone's Ice-Rift Swarm doesn't scatter; over thirty vehicles are arranged in a dense formation, charging at full speed. It's easy to get squeezed in the middle if you cut in."

"It doesn't matter if I get squeezed in the middle."

"Can your armor withstand it?"

"You should have seen the combat report regarding how many 75mm shells I took this morning."

Zhao Tiezhu didn't respond to that.

The battalion commander was silent for three seconds.

"City Lord Lu Chen, I respect your firepower and armor, but that guy White Bone fights unreasonably."

"What do you mean by unreasonably?"

"The phrase 'vehicle destroyed, crew dead' is his operating procedure," Zhao Tiezhu took a breath, "during that probing attack a year ago, twelve vehicles charged the iron wall's position. We took out four, and among the remaining eight, three were already on fire and smoking but still charging forward."

He paused for a beat.

"The drivers were severely burned but still kept their feet on the accelerator without letting go."

"You mean they will ram into us?"

"Yes," Zhao Tiezhu's voice was short and crisp, "White Bone's order is to charge to the end. If the vehicle is gone, the person is still there; if the person is gone, the vehicle is still sliding forward. Be careful of those metal shells that have already been destroyed but are still moving forward by inertia when you cut in."

"Understood."

Lu Chen noted this information.

White Bone's subordinates would not stop just because their vehicles were broken.

On a high-speed battlefield, a combat vehicle that has lost power but is still sliding by inertia is no different from a twenty-ton projectile.

"Battalion Commander Zhao, how are you deploying your twenty patrol vehicles?"

"Ten are on the flanks of the iron wall, five on each side, responsible for flank protection. The other ten are divided into two groups, waiting five kilometers in the rear for mobile reinforcement."

"Can you spare three vehicles to circle around with me from the east side? I need someone to help me block the combat vehicles that might turn back to pursue me while I hit the transport vehicles."

Zhao Tiezhu thought for two seconds.

"Okay, I'll pull three from the east flank for you."

"That's enough."

"I'll have them move toward you now."

"No rush, wait until the Ice-Rift Swarm arrives. Moving early will expose our intentions."

"Hmm."

The communicator went quiet.

Lu Chen parked Polaris behind a half-collapsed factory four kilometers to the east of the iron wall's position.

The engine switched to idle.

The diesel engine and boiler simultaneously dropped to minimum speed, the sounds of the two power sources overlapping to form a low, metallic breathing.

He glanced at the time on the holographic panel.

18:12.

"Lin Wan, have you finished the meat soup?"

"Finished, the bowl is washed."

"Good."

"City Lord, after we finish off those vehicles tonight, should we still dissolve all the wreckage?"

"All of them."

"How many points can we get from dissolving them?"

"If it's forty vehicles, around eight thousand."

Lin Wan pursed her lips in the planting area.

"Eight thousand?"

"Adding the three thousand on the account, the total will be eleven thousand."

"Eleven thousand points."

She repeated the number, her fingers gripping the glass straw tightening.

"How many new nodes can that open?"

"Enough to open three to four core nodes."

"Doesn't that mean Polaris will have to change again?"

"Whether it changes or not depends on the situation after the fight."

Lu Chen picked up his thermos and took a drink of water.

The communicator lit up again.

Zhou Yuan's frequency.

"City Lord Lu Chen, the reconnaissance motorcycles in front of the Ice-Rift Swarm have entered the outpost's coverage area."

"Distance?"

"Thirty kilometers to the northeast."

"What about the main force?"

"The main force is twenty kilometers behind the reconnaissance motorcycles, formation unchanged, three-column formation."

Reconnaissance motorcycles thirty kilometers away, the main column fifty kilometers away.

Calculating at a speed of twenty-five kilometers per hour, the main force has a little over an hour to reach the iron wall's position.

But the reconnaissance motorcycles are much faster and will arrive within ten minutes.

"Is the outpost's order to observe?"

"Observe, do not engage."

"What about Zhao Tiezhu's patrol vehicles?"

"They have already pulled back to within a three-kilometer radius of the iron wall."

"Understood."

The communicator cut off.

Lu Chen leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the armrest.

Reconnaissance motorcycles arrive first, main force arrives later.

This is similar to the Icebreaker Swarm's vanguard tactics: first use light, fast units to scout the path, confirm the enemy's defensive setup, and then the main force presses in.

But White Bone is different from Grey Bee.

When Grey Bee sees a hard nut to crack, it will scatter and harass.

When White Bone sees a hard nut to crack, it will accelerate and charge.

The original text in the file is: All combat convoys that go out are directly commanded or authorized by this person, and the combat style is extremely vicious.

He likes to use pincer movement tactics.

Pincer movement.

Forty vehicles, if divided into two pincers, twenty vehicles per pincer.

One presses from the front, one circles from the flank.

The iron wall will lock onto that front pincer.

The flank pincer is Polaris's prey.

But first, the transport vehicles in the back must be taken out.

If the six 105mm howitzers deploy and fire, the iron wall will take fire within five kilometers.

A 105mm high-explosive shell is different from a 75mm armor-piercing shell.

75mm armor-piercing shells will bounce off Polaris's angled deflection armor.

But 105mm howitzer shells are high-explosive; they don't need to penetrate, as the shockwave and shrapnel are enough to cause structural damage.

The node description for the angled deflection armor is very clear: it achieves complete ballistic deflection against conventional artillery of lv.2 caliber and below. It still possesses a protective reduction effect against lv.3 artillery.

105mm counts as lv.3 firepower.

Reduction effect means it cannot be completely deflected.

It means it will be damaged.

Therefore, the transport vehicles must die first.

Lu Chen moved his left hand from the steering wheel to the side of the Ray Cannon control panel.

His fingertips paused on the edge of the metal panel for a second.

Three full charges.

Three transport vehicles.

One shot each, perfect.

The communicator rang.

Zhao Tiezhu's voice.

"City Lord Lu Chen, the iron wall's forward observation post reports that moving targets have appeared on the northeastern horizon."

"Distance?"

"Visually estimated at around fifteen kilometers, the quantity is large."

Lu Chen brought the eyepiece of the periscope sight to his eyes.

On the northeastern horizon, beneath the grey-white skyline, a row of blurry black squares appeared.

They were moving.

The speed was not fast, but the quantity was large.

Those black squares were arranged in two parallel lines, dragging a short, lower, and wider tail behind them.

Two columns of combat vehicles, plus the heavy transport vehicles bringing up the rear.

The Ice-Rift Swarm had arrived.

White Bone had come.