NOVEL NEXT Chapter 244: Doppler Radar (2)
Mountain City features.
This location provides a wide aerial view while also offering the advantage of being easy to defend and hard to attack due to the terrain.
Even if those Mountain City People could deploy flying units, using the cover of buildings, Chen Jian could easily suppress them with large-caliber machine guns within a limited shooting range.
"Position selected."
"Ready to depart."
Chen Jian issued the order:
"Guo Xu!"
"Lead the team back! Quickly!"
"Understood!"
Following Chen Jian's order, Guo Xu swiftly led the other two back. Only then did they fully adapt to the new experience provided by the real-time communication devices and smart goggles.
Of course, they were also quite amazed by the exoskeletons in marching mode, but it wasn't the power of the new equipment that surprised them—it was how quickly they adapted to it.
This thing...
Is so useful and easy to learn.
It didn't even require anyone's explanation; once worn, the three automatically learned how to operate it.
No wonder the combat effectiveness of the Huaxia Army could improve so quickly in such a short time.
The adaptability of their equipment is truly at its peak.
Panting slightly, Guo Xu returned to the assembly point, holding a small piece of cloth he had just found from the body of a wild deer in his hand.
"Captain."
Guo Xu used Ji Xing's term and handed the piece of cloth to Chen Jian.
"A fragment of clothing."
"This definitely fell from the Holy Blood."
"They are injured."
"Understood."
Chen Jian took the piece of cloth, which still faintly had some bloodstains, and temporarily stored it in his carry bag, then quickly ordered:
"Carry key equipment to the map-marked location first and assemble there."
"Establish a firepower position, set up cover, and then return to transport other equipment."
"Understood!"
Everyone answered at once, then quickly advanced along the preset route, led by Ji Xing.
Two drones hovered in the air, the rotors emitting a slight buzzing sound.
Images continuously streamed to the smart goggles, but the more Chen Jian watched, the more uncertain he felt.
Too quiet.
The whole city seemed to have completely died, presenting a weird form of "silence."
Apart from those seemingly artificially kept animals in the parkland, the city had no more moving objects.
This scene even reminded Chen Jian of the moment he first saw Chuansha City.
But the problem is, this is not Chuansha.
This was a city that wasn't long ago still "alive."
Even if hit hard by electromagnetic pulses, how could it become so quiet in such a short time?
This is not a natural silence.
Chen Jian suddenly realized.
As previously predicted, this city has not completely disabled.
Its main functional parts are hidden underground.
And only when the underground part is still functioning, the surface, abandoned buildings would show this kind of eerie deathly silence!
"Stay alert."
"We are likely already discovered, and we could be attacked at any time."
"Deactivate all weapon safety and prepare to enter the building."
"Li Shi, you go first!"
"Understood!"
Through the deserted streets, only having scattered, damaged unmanned machines, the team reached the main entrance of the target building.
The glass shattered by the nuclear blast wave covered the ground, seemingly matching a city that has just completed an emergency evacuation.
When Chen Jian followed Li Shi into the building, he immediately frowned.
There was nothing inside.
This didn't look like a "functional building."
It seemed like a "tombstone" with merely the appearance of a building but empty inside!
"Careful."
Chen Jian quietly ordered:
"Deploy drones for forward reconnaissance."
"Move fast."
"Take the stairs up! Move quickly!"
"Understood."
Everyone sped up, footsteps echoed in the empty staircase corridors.
With each floor, Chen Jian would push open the door that linked the floors to the fire escape to inspect inside, but every check returned the same disappointing result.
No people, no signs of life.
What the hell is this place??
Deep confusion weighed on Chen Jian's mind, feeling that his previous predictions about Mountain City were being overthrown once again.
But at the moment, he had no time to worry too much.
The urgent task is to quickly establish the starting position and then arrange the evacuation route!
The team quickly climbed to the top floor of the building, where a narrow platform appeared in front of them.
"Ji Xing and Li Shi, assemble the heavy machine gun, set up the firepower point and observation equipment."
"Deploy photovoltaic panels, set backup power after configuration."
"Guo Xu, lead the team back to the park to transport the remaining equipment."
"You have thirty minutes. Try to complete all equipment transportations in two trips!"
"Remember, do not do anything else."
"If you find anomalies, alert me promptly!"
"Understood."
Guo Xu, who hadn't caught his breath yet, immediately put down the supply box in his hand and led the team back into the building, retracing their steps down the staircase.
Chen Jian still closely watched the reconnaissance feed from the drones, and at that moment, Lei Jie's call came through his headset.
"This is Lei Jie."
"Captain, the landing zone condition has been confirmed and the takeoff and landing state is good."
"It's 2.7 kilometers from your location, estimating it will take 22 minutes to reach."
"High-altitude balloons have been released, hovering 45 kilometers away from Mountain City."
"EVTOL has arrived in Anhan, standing by."
"If an evacuation is required, the deployment can be completed within 15 minutes."
"Received, understood."
Chen Jian slowly exhaled.
All three evacuation plans were ready, and if faced with any unpredictable situations, this little squad could evacuate within 30 minutes.
This time should be short enough, right?
No matter how strong these Mountain City People are, Chen Jian was confident; at least they couldn't take him down within 30 minutes.
The power of firearms is fair to all living things in this world. Even if using laser weapons, it wouldn't melt bullets in flight!
Chen Jian cut the drone feed, instead taking the cloth piece he got from Guo Xu out from his carrying strap and handed it to Ji Xing, who had just completed assembling the heavy machine gun.
"Take a look at this."
He said to Ji Xing:
"Could it be from Lin Yu's group?"
Ji Xing took the piece of cloth, sniffed it carefully, and replied:
"Absolutely."
"There are burn marks here...very strange."
"Laser weapon, not strange."
Chen Jian shook his head, about to ask Ji Xing if the scent could track Lin Yu's location, when in the next moment, Ji Xing suddenly frowned and said:
"No, something's wrong."
"The smell on this cloth doesn't match."
Her expression quickly changed, her eyes growing more serious.
"Captain...do you remember that place?"
"That air force base!"
"I told you before, I smelled the same scent as Mountain City in that base."
"This cloth has it too!"
"Are you sure?"
Chen Jian immediately grew alert.
"Can you identify what the scent is now?"
"No, I can't identify it."
Ji Xing shook her head.
"It's a very unfamiliar odor... I only know it's there, but I can't describe it."
"Understood."
Chen Jian slowly nodded.
"It's okay... this is good news."
"This scent seems bound to Mountain City; we can continue tracking it."
"Even if we can't find Lin Yu's group, we can find the true core area of Mountain City."
"Then we'll know exactly what this scent represents."
"Alright."
Ji Xing nodded slowly.
She carefully sniffed the cloth in her hand, as if attempting to unravel something from the complex scent.
Chen Jian didn't interrupt her actions and instead took over her former position to assist Li Shi in setting up the firepower location.
When the two assembled the second heavy machine gun and placed the simple omnidirectional mount, the image transfer to Fu Xi on the smart goggles also reached one hundred percent.
Moments later, Fu Xi's voice came through his headset.
"Chief, image analysis is complete."
"This is not a base station."
"This is a small Doppler radar for 3D modeling scanning!"