228: Chapter 228 Polar Clash

The gale lashed against the iron sheets of the containers, producing a dull thud like the beating of war drums.

A piercing alarm tore through the base's brief tranquility. Inside the temporary command center, the atmosphere suddenly froze.

On the massive holographic electronic sand table, over thirty red dots representing the invaders had formed a sharp wedge. Piercing through the cover of the sandstorm, they were firmly pressed against the outer perimeter of the Core Pit, just three hundred meters away.

In the thermal imaging footage, heavy machine guns and small rocket pods were mounted atop those heavily modified off-road vehicles, their sinister silhouettes visible through the murky yellow dust.

"Zzzzt—"

After a burst of piercing static, the base's public broadcast frequency was forcibly intercepted.

A gruff male voice, processed through a voice changer and carrying blatant arrogance, echoed throughout the command center.

"Listen up, you scum from Huihuang Group! You have five minutes to hand over all the exploration data and core samples from the New Mineral Vein! Otherwise, I guarantee these heavy machine guns will turn you and this pathetic base into a sieve!"

Chen Haoyu's face turned livid, and he reached out to cut the communication.

But Chen Fan raised his hand, stopping him.

His expression remained calm, as if the armed threat capable of leveling the entire base was nothing more than the annoying buzzing of flies.

Inside the command center, several technical backbones from headquarters were sweating with nerves, their eyes fixed intently on Chen Fan's back.

Chen Fan ignored the filthy insults and the countdown echoing through the communication channel.

He walked to the main console.

His fingertips tapped out a few commands on the smooth console in a leisurely manner.

Outside the base, the wind howled.

Beneath the sandy ground a hundred meters away from the mining area, a dull sound of mechanical gears turning could be heard.

Immediately after, twelve Black Alloy Pillars, each over two meters in diameter and covered in intricate patterns, silently broke through the sand. They rose slowly to a height of thirty meters, standing like twelve silent giants guarding the mining area.

The core units at the top of the pillars lit up with an eerie blue glow.

"Countdown finished! Prepare to fire!"

Through the communication channel, the enemy leader issued his final ultimatum.

At the very moment he gave the order,

Chen Fan pressed the final confirmation key.

"Hum—"

An invisible wave of energy, centered on the twelve alloy pillars, instantly enveloped everything within a five-kilometer radius.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no gunfire lighting up the sky.

Only an Ultra-High-Frequency Directional Acoustic Wave, imperceptible to the human ear, and a pulse of intense light capable of blinding photosensitive equipment swept across the entire battlefield.

The off-road vehicle convoy, charging at full speed, seemed to hit an invisible wall.

Inside the lead vehicle, the driver was about to floor the accelerator for the final dash when a dazzling white light suddenly exploded before his eyes, leaving his mind blank.

Then, an indescribable sharp noise, like a red-hot steel needle, pierced his eardrums and shot straight to the top of his skull.

"Ah—!"

Heart-wrenching screams rang out inside the vehicle.

The driver clutched his ears tightly, his eyes bloodshot, as he tumbled from the driver's seat, twitching in agony.

The same scene unfolded simultaneously inside more than thirty off-road vehicles.

All electronic equipment inside the vehicles—including dashboards, communicators, and night-vision goggles—burst into a series of dense electrical sparks under the impact of the Intense Light Pulse, burning out instantly.

Those so-called armed mercenaries had not even seen a shadow of the enemy before they completely lost their ability to resist under the indiscriminate attack of the ultra-high-frequency acoustic waves.

The excruciating pain in their central nervous systems left them without even the strength to pull a trigger.

The out-of-control vehicle convoy, like headless flies, crashed violently into one another. Front ends crumpled and parts flew everywhere as they were completely paralyzed before the mining pit.

Inside the command center,

Chen Fan picked up the thermos on the table, blew away the steam, and took a sip of the scalding hot goji berry tea.

On the massive holographic screen, the red dots representing the enemy had turned into a chaotic mess, piled up on the outskirts of the mining area without advancing an inch further.

In the communication channel, only the "bzz-bzz" of electronic howling caused by high-frequency interference remained, along with some faint groans mixed with extreme terror.

"Devils... it's a weapon of the devil..."

"My head... my head is going to explode!"

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

Panic spread like a plague among the surviving mercenaries.

The heavy firepower they took such pride in had now become a pile of unstartable scrap metal.

A few minutes later, the doors of several lightly damaged off-road vehicles were pushed open.

A few mercenaries who could still barely stand dropped their burning-hot rifles and scrambled out of the vehicles, fleeing desperately into the depths of the desert.

There was no longer a trace of ferocity on their faces, only the terror of having narrowly escaped death.

A single deserter leading the way instantly triggered a chain reaction.

More and more people abandoned their vehicles and fled, their wretched figures soon swallowed by the wind and sand.

A menacing armed raid collapsed without a single live round being fired.

Chen Haoyu watched the fleeing crowd on the screen, then looked at Chen Fan, who was calmly drinking tea beside him, his Adam's apple bobbing.

This was no longer a war.

This was a slaughter.

A one-sided slaughter on a technological level.

"Boss, do we need to send people to pursue them?" Chen Haoyu asked in a low voice.

"No need." Chen Fan put down the thermos, his tone flat. "Let them take what they saw today back to their masters."

"I want everyone to know that in this desert, I call the shots."

Half an hour later, the dust subsided, and the sky regained its clarity.

Deep within the base, the massive drilling machine roared back to life.

A core rock sample, encased in a special alloy shell, was steadily sent into the underground sealed transport pipeline, heading straight to the top-secret laboratory in the rear.

At the perimeter of the mining area, the twelve Black Alloy Pillars slowly descended and sank back into the sand, as if they had never existed.

Chen Haoyu walked to Chen Fan's side and handed him a battle damage report.

"Boss, the enemy left behind thirty-seven vehicles, thirty-seven heavy machine guns, and twelve rocket launchers. On our side... zero casualties, and electricity consumption is about thirty-seven thousand yuan."

Chen Fan took the report and, without even looking at it, tossed it onto the table.

He stood up and straightened his collar, which had been ruffled by the wind.

"Handle the rest according to the contingency plan." Chen Fan walked toward the command center door. "Notify the flight crew to prepare for the return trip."

"Yes, sir." Chen Haoyu stood at attention.

Chen Fan pushed open the door and stepped into the afternoon sunlight.

He looked up at the cloudless, deep blue sky.

He knew that above this sky, in the farther and deeper reaches of the dark universe, a true "Polar Confrontation"—one concerning the survival of human civilization—had only just begun.

And the New Mineral Vein in this wasteland was the cornerstone for the first shield he would build for Earth.

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