This Game Is Too Realistic

A sprawling, haphazard camp was located, only about 100 meters away from the continuous remains of the dam.

The entire camp covered about 100,000 square meters, several hundred meters in length and width, surrounded by a circle of sandbag walls, topped with barbed wire, and camouflage nets.

In the center of the camp were parked over 200 trucks, dozens of which were mounted with quad anti-aircraft guns.

About a brigade of 10,000 was stationed there.

In one of the tents, a group of officers stood.

Standing in front of the command table, General McClennan was conversing with a technical officer.

In front of the two, on the command table, lay a slightly aged holographic projector, with a pale blue light cone floating a long cylinder flashing with milky white light.

McClennan touched his chin, asking with interest, "That shield core you mentioned... Does it look like this?"

It looked a bit different from his Heart of Steel.

The technical officer smiled. "Yes, this is what we're looking for... Isn't it beautiful?"

General McClennan chuckled, "It's alright."

He didn't find the device particularly beautiful, certainly not compared to his collection.

But that didn't matter.

As long as it could help him cripple the Heart of Steel's directional shield and anti-gravity systems... That was enough.

Hopefully, once he recovered the airship, those barbarians hadn't completely ruined his treasure.

Staring at the holographic image's light cone, the technical officer's expression showed a hint of obsession, continuing to chatter. "Quark-Gluon Plasma... It's said that one cubic centimeter weighs 40 billion tons, and it can only exist stably under extremely high temperatures and pressures. One of the greatest achievements of the Prosperity Era in applied physics was finding a way to make it more stable."

General McClennan frowned. "Does this thing weigh 40 billion tons?"

That glowing cylinder looked a lot larger than one cubic centimeter.

The technical officer chuckled softly. "Of course not... The Quark-Gluon Plasma stored in the shield core is just a tiny bit, weighing about 10 kilograms. As for the light you see... That's not its actual form. It isn't something that we can see with the naked eye."

Besides McClennan, the officers looked at each other.

The overly esoteric scientific theory, in their view, was no different from the beliefs of the desert dwellers.

Both had a set of self-consistent logic and, with current technology, could neither be proven nor falsified.

After a pause, the technical officer continued, "According to related records, the Federation's Air and Space Force once deployed a Titan here to eradicate a hive that fell here. The power of its Shield Core is equivalent to that of a regular escort ship... What we need to do is find it."

Whether it was directional shields, anti-gravity devices, or neutrino channels...

Those technologies born in the middle to late Prosperity Era relied on early Prosperity Era breakthroughs in the field of physics regarding gravitons and gravitational fields.

That massless boson, the hypothetical particle deemed by quantum mechanics to transmit gravity, was boldly imagined by classical physics but never found.

During the grand Prosperity Era, physicists successfully located it through precise calculations and experiments, and provided a more detailed explanation with rigorous theory.

Although it wasn't possible to store gravitons in a glass bottle like glass marbles, it was possible to indirectly interfere with them through high-density matter, thereby indirectly affecting the gravitational field.

Including causing objects' motion vectors to deviate in curved space, including weakening or even eliminating the interactions between large masses.

The former was the technical principle of directional shields, while the latter was often applied to anti-gravity devices.

Even in the Prosperity Era, those two technologies were considered cutting-edge applications, but disrupting them wasn't particularly difficult.

Aside from cutting off power and power overloads, there was a more direct method, namely, interfering with the gravitational fields controlled by the directional shield and anti-gravity devices.

It wasn't very difficult.

They didn't need to prepare a large number of anti-aircraft gun. All they needed was another Shield Core... A glowing battery, to make a Phase Cannon to disrupt the target area's gravitational field. That would be enough to paralyze the Heart of Steel's directional shield and anti-gravity systems for a short time.

Without its shield and anti-gravity systems, it would fall from the sky.

At that point, there would be no need for heavy weapons. All they needed to do was to rush over and seize the airship.

That was also why he had requested 10,000 men from Griffin.

What?

Wouldn't the airship be damaged if it fell from the sky?

That kind of thing really didn't matter.

The most valuable part of the Heart of Steel was the Escort Ship's core inside it, including the reactor, shield core, anti-gravity device, and things like that.

As for the outer steel casing and the propellers that could drive the airship... Those cheap replaceable components were virtually worthless.

All he had to do was to bring the airship back to the Army, and it could be fixed in minutes!

General McClennan's lips couldn't help but curl into a smile. Although losing the Heart of Steel was a stain on his military career, those barbarians had been funded by the Enterprise after all, so his loss wasn't unjust.

As long as he could snatch the airship back, no one would have the right to criticize his incompetence.

It had already been a century! He was the only general who had fought the Enterprise to a standstill, which was not only not shameful but could even become a topic of conversation at noble balls.

At that moment, an officer walked into his tent, stood at attention, and saluted. "Report! General Griffin has sent a message!"

Hearing the name, a trace of impatience flashed in McClennan's eyes.

This guy is unusually fond of micromanaging, sending messages over every little thing...

He had barely arrived at his target when Griffin sent a message. He was sure he was going to be ordered around again. And certainly, it would be nothing good.

But annoying as it was, orders still had to be obeyed.

"Let me see."

"Yes!" The officer walked into the tent, handing the decoded message to McClennan.

McClennan scanned it over, his eyebrows slightly raising.

Noticing the unusual look in the general's eyes, the adjutant hesitantly asked, "Does General Griffin have another request?"

"He wants us to build an airfield here."

"An airfield?" Surprise flashed on the officer's face, and the others also exchanged glances, seeing the shock in each other's eyes.

Was Griffin going to share the planes of the ground troops with them?

That was pretty unbelievable...

"Yes." McClennan replied briefly, then walked to the wall, looking at the strategic map hanging there.

Lost Valley was south of Oasis No.9. Those locations were pretty far apart.

Bombing the Lion Kingdom from where they were clearly wasn't a good idea.

The Army had only one jet in Sunset Province, with ground attack mainly handled by propeller aircraft.

The former had sufficient range but was too few in number, while the latter, though numerous, clearly lacked sufficient range.

However... Where they were was very close to Oasis No.4.

From his current position, if he headed west west for 100 to 200 kilometers, he would see the twin peaks of the Tzobar Mountains. Once they crossed that pass, he would arrive at Oasis No.4.

Planes would fly directly over the mountains, making it much more convenient.

"... Is this guy planning to fight on both fronts?" McClennan rubbed his chin, his gaze resting on Oasis No.4.

The Camel Kingdom might not compare to the Lion Kingdom, but it was still a regional powerhouse with a population of a million. Giving him only 10,000 soldiers without enough heavy firepower... He really didn't have the confidence to take it down.

If he remembered correctly, after taking down Oasis No.9, the next target should be the Golden Lizard Kingdom, with the Camel Kingdom being the last.

But if the target wasn't the Camel Kingdom...

McClennan pondered to himself, his gaze beginning to move eastward, eventually stopping on the east side of Sunset Province where there were verdant forests and plains.

That place was just as far, about the same as from where they were to Oasis No.9. However, it was within the range of a jet aircraft!

Seeming to realize something, McClennan's suddenly revealed a look of understanding. He roared with laughter next. "Hahaha... Worthy of his title! That cunning skunk, I know what he's up to now!"

The officers in the tent looked at each other.

Wasn't he an old fox?

Why did he become a skunk now?

Reining in his smile, General McClennan looked at his subordinates and ordered sternly, "Take 1,000 men from our reserve army and level the land to the north of the camp, we're building a temporary runway there!"

The newly promoted logistics officer immediately stepped forward from the group of officers, stood at attention, and saluted. "Yes!"

In his memory, his immediate superior, General McClennan, had never taken Griffin's orders so seriously before.

It had to be something important!

McClennan turned away, continuing to look at the hanging map, a clearly malicious smile appearing on his contented face.

These ugly barbarians. They will soon pay the price for their stupidity!

A shame they will suffer a painless death like this!

...