141: Chapter 141 Thunderclap from the Ground, the "Mole" Engineers' Dimensional Reduction Attack

Mandalay, northern city, 6:00 AM.

Mist shrouded the battlefield. The smoke from last night had yet to dissipate, and the air was thick with the scent of blood and char.

But unlike the previous days, today, Zhang Cheng's unit positions featured dozens of strange-looking pieces of construction machinery.

The soldiers called these machines "Moles"—they resembled large tunnel boring machines but were equipped with heavy armor and various operational modules. The largest, the "Super Mole," was fifteen meters long and weighed eighty tons, with a three-meter diameter rotating cutter head in front, embedded with hundreds of synthetic diamond drill bits.

Chen Yan (Advanced Death Soldier, combat engineer expert), commander of the "Titan" Division's engineer brigade, stood before the command vehicle and issued orders to the various operating units:

"Attention, all 'Mole' teams. Begin operations according to the thirty-seven tunneling routes planned last night. Units 1 through 12 are responsible for the main tunnel, ten meters deep and three meters in diameter, leading directly behind the Myanmar Army's second line of defense."

He pointed to the crisscrossing blue lines on the holographic map: "Units 13 through 25 are responsible for branch tunnels, 1.5 meters in diameter, connecting to the Myanmar Army's main tunnel nodes. Remember, conduct a geological scan every fifty meters to avoid colliding with enemy tunnels."

"Units 26 through 37 are 'Assault Moles,' equipped with demolition modules. Your mission is to stand by one hundred meters ahead of the main tunnel. Once a large underground facility is detected, dig directly beneath it to carry out the demolition."

The commanders of each unit replied in unison: "Understood!"

As the order was given, thirty-seven "Moles" started simultaneously.

"Rumble—!"

Amidst the roar of diesel engines, the massive cutter heads began to rotate. The diamond drill bits easily sliced through soil and rock, and the crushed debris was transported to the rear via conveyor belts. The "Super Mole" at the very front could advance twenty meters per hour—a speed that seemed like pure fantasy to traditional combat engineers.

...

Beneath the Myanmar Army's second line of defense, Command Post No. 3.

Wu Danrui was awakened by the vibrations coming from outside. This old general, urgently appointed by Min Aung Hlaing as the Commander-in-Chief of Mandalay's city defense, hadn't closed his eyes for three days.

"What is that sound?" he asked the guard.

The guard listened intently, his expression changing: "General... it sounds like... large machinery operating underground?"

"Impossible!" Wu Danrui's first reaction was to deny it. "No matter how skilled Zhang Cheng's engineers are, it is impossible for them to dig tunnels capable of threatening us overnight. Our depth here is eight meters, and it's bedrock..."

Before he could finish, a cracking sound suddenly came from overhead.

Everyone in the command post looked up, staring in terror at the concrete ceiling. Fine cracks were spreading at a rate visible to the naked eye, and dust fell in showers.

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!" Wu Danrui roared.

But it was already too late.

"Boom—!!!"

The ceiling was drilled through!

A massive drill bit, three meters in diameter, broke through the rock layer and appeared above the command post. The drill slowly retracted, revealing a pitch-black pipe behind it. Immediately after, several cylindrical objects were thrown down.

"Grenades!"

"No... it's a thermobaric bomb!"

There was no violent explosion, but a scorching heatwave instantly filled the entire space. Oxygen was rapidly consumed, and the temperature soared to over a thousand degrees. The twenty-plus people in the command post, including Wu Danrui, all suffocated to death within seconds.

To their dying breath, they never understood how Zhang Cheng's engineers managed to drill through eight meters of bedrock overnight.

...

Above ground, the "Titan" Division command vehicle.

Chen Yan watched the thermal imaging on the screen—the red area representing the Myanmar Army's underground command post was rapidly darkening, finally disappearing completely.

"Unit 1 reports: Target 'Rat Nest-3' has been cleared. Confirmed at least five high-ranking officers killed, one of whom is suspected to be Wu Danrui."

Zhang Cheng nodded: "Continue operations. Order the 'Assault Mole' units to begin the second phase."

The so-called second phase was the "Underground Thunder" tactic Zhang Cheng had specially designed for tunnel warfare.

Twenty-six small "Assault Moles"—these machines were only the size of a truck but were agile, equipped with acoustic detectors and micro-drills. They branched off from the main tunnel, weaving through the labyrinthine underground tunnel network like moles.

Each "Assault Mole" carried a special "tunnel bomb"—not traditional explosives, but a mixture of high-pressure liquid fuel and oxidizer. Once they detected a Myanmar Army tunnel, they would drill a small hole, inject the fuel, and then detonate it.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Muffled explosions came from deep underground. The ground shook slightly, and in some places, it even collapsed, revealing the burning tunnels below. The Myanmar Army soldiers hiding inside were either blown to death, buried alive, or suffocated due to lack of oxygen.

Even more terrifying was that the "Assault Moles" would also release nerve gas—of course, Zhang Cheng publicly claimed it was "non-lethal anesthetic gas." But in a confined underground space, any gas is lethal.

"Tunnel Node No. 2 cleared, approximately eighty enemies neutralized."

"Demolition below Ammunition Depot No. 5 successful, triggering a chain reaction of secondary explosions."

"Barrack Tunnel No. 9 injected with anesthetic gas, no signs of life."

Reports of victory came one after another.

The tunnel defense system the Myanmar Army had spent months building was being dismantled from underground.

...

In the underground command center of the Mandalay Palace, Wu Danrui's deputy, Major General Saw Win, had taken over.

This forty-five-year-old general looked at the constant stream of bad news, his palms slick with cold sweat.

"General, Command Posts No. 3, 7, and 12 have all lost contact. One-third of the tunnel system is out of control. The soldiers are afraid to go in, saying there are ghosts inside..." the staff officer's voice trembled.

"It's not ghosts, it's Zhang Cheng's construction machinery." Saw Win forced himself to stay calm. "Order all troops to withdraw from the tunnels and retreat to surface fortifications."

"But the artillery fire on the surface..."

"At least on the surface, we can see the enemy and return fire!" Saw Win roared. "Underground, we don't even know how we're dying!"

The order was passed down, but it was already too late.

When the surviving Myanmar Army soldiers crawled out of the tunnel entrances, they were met by a pre-prepared web of firepower.

"Da-da-da-da—!"

"Boom! Boom!"

Machine guns, mortars, snipers... Zhang Cheng's troops were like they were playing Whac-A-Mole; whichever tunnel entrance showed movement, they poured fire in that direction.

Some smart soldiers raised white flags and knelt to surrender. They were escorted to prisoner-of-war camps, where they could at least stay alive.

But more chose to resist to the end—not because they were brave, but because of fear. Min Aung Hlaing's threats from Naypyidaw were no empty words; three officers had already been secretly executed for "shaking military morale," and their families had been implicated as well.

"Brothers, fight those sons of bitches!" a company commander roared, leading the last few dozen soldiers in a suicide charge.

They didn't even make it fifty meters before they were wiped out by mechanical dogs and drones.

...

At ten in the morning, Zhang Cheng's troops had advanced to within two kilometers of the old Mandalay city wall.

From here, the outline of the city wall was clearly visible—it was a fortification built during the British colonial period, eight meters high and three meters thick, covered with firing ports and machine-gun positions. Behind the wall were densely packed buildings, mostly two or three-story brick houses, suitable for urban warfare.

"Dominator, drone reconnaissance has discovered that the Myanmar Army has constructed a complete defense system behind the city wall." Zhao Yuxun pointed to the holographic map. "At least two hundred machine-gun firing points, fifty mortar positions, and a large number of anti-tank obstacles and minefields."

"What about the wall itself?"

"The British built it very solidly; our 120mm tank guns might not necessarily punch through with direct fire. And they've gotten smart; they've piled sandbags inside the wall to form double-layer protection."

Zhang Cheng thought for a moment: "Use the 'Firmament' system to scan for weak points."

"Already on it." Old K pulled up the data. "The wall has six areas in disrepair with insufficient structural strength. There are also three city gates; although they've been blocked off, they are still relatively weak links."

"Then break through from those places." Zhang Cheng ordered. "Order the 'Thor' Brigade to conduct precision shelling on the six weak points and open gaps. The 'Titan' Division's tank units stand by outside the gaps, ready to charge in immediately after the shelling ends."

"What about the city gates?"

"Use the 'Moles'." Zhang Cheng's mouth curled into a smile. "Have the engineers dig tunnels to beneath the city gates, plant explosives, and detonate from the inside."

"That will take time..."

"We have plenty of time." Zhang Cheng looked at the distant city wall. "Min Aung Hlaing is jumping with anxiety in Naypyidaw, but reinforcements won't arrive for at least three days. These three days are enough for us to take Mandalay."

The order was passed down layer by layer.

The "Thor" Brigade's twenty-four "guardian-2d" rocket launchers raised their launch tubes again. But this time they weren't firing a volley; it was precision targeting.

"Target: City Wall Sector G-7, coordinates locked, bunker-busting warheads loaded."

"Fire!"

"Whoosh—!"

A specially made bunker-busting rocket whizzed out, accurately hitting a section of the wall that already had cracks. The warhead drilled inside the wall before exploding, and the massive shockwave completely destroyed this fifteen-meter section of the wall from the inside.

"Rumble—!"

Bricks and stones flew, and smoke rose to the sky.

The same scene played out at the other five locations simultaneously. In just ten minutes, six gaps ranging from ten to twenty meters wide appeared in the old Mandalay city wall.

"Tank units, advance!"

Thirty M1A2 tanks rushed out from their hiding spots, charging fiercely toward the gaps.

But the Myanmar Army had been prepared.

In the buildings behind the wall, dozens of anti-tank missile teams suddenly popped out! They were equipped with the latest "Kornet"-EM missiles, with a range of over five kilometers, equipped with tandem warheads specifically designed to deal with reactive armor.

"Warning! Anti-tank missiles! Large numbers!"

The tank commanders gave the order almost simultaneously: "Activate active protection systems! Launch smoke grenades!"

"Bang-bang-bang—!"

Interceptor rounds exploded in the air, forming screens. At the same time, the tanks released thick smoke screens to block vision.

But three tanks were still hit.

One was hit in the side, the reactive armor was detonated, but the composite armor held up against the second-stage warhead. One was hit on the top of the turret, damaging the aiming equipment. The unluckiest one was hit by two missiles simultaneously; although it wasn't penetrated, the massive impact injured the crew inside.

"Infantry dismount! Clear the anti-tank teams!"

Mechanized infantry rushed out of the "Bradley" fighting vehicles, advancing toward the buildings on both sides under tank cover. At the same time, drones in the sky began precision strikes on those exposed firing points.

The battle reached a fever pitch.

Just then, the engineer unit's "Moles" had dug to beneath the city gate.

"Report, have arrived directly beneath the South Gate, depth twelve meters. Scanning shows the gate is completely sealed with sandbags and concrete, thickness exceeding five meters."

Chen Yan ordered from the command vehicle: "Plant C-4 explosives. Is the yield calculated?"

"Calculation complete. Two tons of explosives are needed, arranged in three layers. This will ensure the city gate structure is completely destroyed without causing excessive damage to the city walls on either side."

"Begin operations."

Twenty minutes later, everything was ready.

"Demolition countdown: 10, 9, 8... 3, 2, 1, Detonate!"

"Boom—!!!!"

An explosion ten times louder than the artillery fire rang out! The ground shook violently as if an earthquake had occurred. At the location of the South Gate, the entire area of ground bulged upward and then collapsed, forming a large crater thirty meters in diameter.

After the smoke cleared, it could be seen that the city gate had completely disappeared, along with twenty meters of the city wall on either side.

A forty-meter-wide breach had been opened.

"All troops, charge!"

Zhang Cheng's order was transmitted across the entire battlefield via radio.

The steel flood finally surged into the Mandalay city area.

Urban warfare had begun.

And the special weapons Zhang Cheng had prepared for this urban warfare were about to make their appearance.

Those were beings more terrifying than mechanical dogs and more lethal than drones.

Min Aung Hlaing and his defenders would witness what is called—future urban warfare.

Mandalay South Gate ruins, 11:20 AM.

The smoke had not yet dissipated when the first batch of "stryker" wheeled armored vehicles crushed over the rubble and debris, rushing into the streets of this ancient city. But they were not met with the fierce resistance they had imagined, but rather an eerie silence.

The streets were empty; the doors and windows of shops on both sides were tightly shut, and occasionally a human face could be seen flashing behind a curtain. The road was littered with various debris—furniture, sandbags, and even the wreckage of several burned-out cars, clearly used by the Myanmar Army to set up roadblocks.

Wang Meng (Intermediate Death Soldier), commander of the "Lightning" Brigade's reconnaissance company, poked his head out of the armored vehicle and observed the front with binoculars. His company was the first unit to enter the city, tasked with establishing a bridgehead to open a passage for the following troops.

"Too quiet," the deputy company commander whispered. "The Myanmar Army must be ambushed somewhere."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the second-floor windows on both sides of the street opened simultaneously!

"Da-da-da-da—!"

A dozen light machine guns opened fire at once! Bullets clattered against the "stryker's" armor; although they couldn't penetrate, they suppressed the soldiers inside, keeping them from raising their heads.