Chapter 61: Core and Tower

"Bang!"
"Bang bang!"
"Bang bang bang!"
The body of the Type-86 bullpup rifle shuddered with each and every discharge.
Within Long Teng’s orange-tinted eyes, there existed only the enemies inside the room before him.
Clearing room by room, fighting room by room,
Watching individual after individual collapse into pools of blood.
Within Long Teng’s bloodshot eyes, there existed only the enemies directly ahead.
Those Yangji Rangers, clad in olive-green camouflage, had ridden in on helicopters surging out from the rifts, rapidly seizing the high-rises near the Third Ring Road that commanded the main thoroughfares leading to the White Tower.
The Javelin missile launchers and shoulder-fired rocket propelled grenades in their hands posed massive obstacles to Long Teng’s advancing armored column.
Moreover, the sturdy concrete architecture of Long Teng’s central metropolis severely diminished the effectiveness of armored firepower and self-propelled artillery.
The only viable course of action now was to plunge deep into the concrete jungle and root out the enemy fire points through close-quarters indoor urban combat.
"Get out of the way! Take cover!"
The dense fire of a Minimi machine gun cut down yet another Long Teng soldier who had attempted to rush into the room.
"Pull him back! Quickly!"
Long Teng signaled the special operations troopers beside him to drag away the fallen armored infantryman.
Swiftly, he poked his head out,
delivering a short, controlled burst toward the makeshift fire point inside the room constructed from sofas and wooden tables.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!"
Although the Ranger machine-gunner was momentarily suppressed,
he quickly recovered from behind the sofa barricade and once again unleashed a dense torrent of lead.
"Hunter 5-1, hold your position! You must not allow the Long Teng Special Forces to push any further!"
"This is an order!"
The commands blaring through the headset radio hammered fiercely against the room's entrance, accompanied by steel-cored machine gun rounds.
Cement shrapnel chipped away by the bullets splattered across Long Teng’s face, carving several small bleeding gashes.
Yet Long Teng had no spare attention to give to the flowing blood.
"Forty-millimeter!"
"Commander, this is indoors! Using high-explosive grenades will—"
"Use them!"
"There's no time!"
Long Teng’s gaze revealed a ruthless determination.
"Forty-millimeter!!!"
With that, a heavy-set special operations soldier carrying a shoulder-fired 40mm rocket-propelled grenade launcher stepped right beside the doorway.
"Three counts!"
The burly man wiped the blood and grime from his face and nodded.
"One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
"Cover! Provide cover!"
"Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!"
A crossfire net woven from multiple rifles enveloped the enemy fire point.
Taking advantage of the moment when his comrades emptied half a magazine to suppress the enemy machine-gunner, the burly soldier stepped forward.
"Whoosh~~!"
The high-explosive grenade slammed toward the fire point like a swift arrow!
"Boom! Crash—clatter—"
A violent explosion resonated,
immediately followed by the sound of various paneling and rubble scattering violently throughout the room.
"Keep your profile low!"
Long Teng felt a blast of debris mixed with the scent of blood rush outward from the room, accompanied by the immense heat generated by the explosion.
"Sea Hawk Three, cover the rear!"
"Brothers of the Vanguard Company, leave the front to us!"
With a single leap, Long Teng surged into the spacious conference hall.
It was evident that when the raid occurred, the company had been in the middle of some sort of meeting.
Shattered mugs scattered across the floor still held remnants of green tea.
Only now, that green tea was mixed with flecks of minced flesh.
"Captain, movement!"
Pouring into the room in a single file, the Sea Hawks aimed their muzzle tips as half a human figure slowly emerged from the smoke.
It turned out to be the Ranger machine-gunner, coughing up blood as he stepped out from the haze.
Both of his arms had been sheared off by the explosive grenade, and the tactical vest on his chest was riddled by explosive shrapnel like a hornet’s nest.
Blood poured like columns from his mouth and his wounds.
The blood of the Yangji people, just like that of countless innocent Long Teng citizens, was also bright red.
"Check the rooms!"
Long Teng signaled Sea Hawk Team Two to sweep the remaining enemies within the space, while he and the other members kept their weapons raised and aimed at the swaying Ranger.
The large conference hall was in absolute disarray, littered everywhere with shredded flesh and severed limbs.
"No remaining enemies, Captain!"
"Zhuang-ge’s rocket just now wiped out at least a squad of Rangers!"
"Heh, I knew that kid had it in him!"
The deputy commander patted Xiaozhuang on the shoulder.
A warm smile appeared on the face of the man hailing from Longxi Province.
"Hahahaha!"
The dying Yangji soldier emitted a bizarre, eerie laugh.
"You... cough, cough... and Long City are both finished! Hahaha~"
"You have no gods! Nothing can save you!"
The Yangji soldier continuously coughed up blood,
yet he pushed through his last breath to speak.
"Our god... has torn open the path for us to your subterranean stronghold..."
"Our god... will use the White Tower, which you worship as a miracle, to march your inferior race toward destruction with his own hands!"
Disregarding the agonizing pain brought by the splintered wood and rubble piercing his legs, the Yangji soldier collapsed to his knees,
as though praying to the heavens above—
except that the hands meant for prayer had already been reduced to pulp.
"Bulls***! At death's door and you still talk this much trash!"
Long Teng cursed in the Yangji language,
preparing to reward the invader with a bullet.
"Captain! Someone’s still alive in the side room!"
The shout from a special operations trooper slowed down the finger squeezing Long Teng’s trigger.
Yet the smile on the Yangji soldier’s face grew increasingly frantic!
"For now, heaven and earth still permit these inferior lives... cough, cough... to linger."
"There's still a pulse, Captain! Still a pulse!"
"It's a little girl! She's still breathing!"
The special operations troopers turned the girl's body over, attempting to lift her up.
"Until... the day the impious and wicked people... cough, cough... meet their judgment!"
The manic grin on the Yangji soldier’s face reached its absolute peak.
"No! Put her down!"
"Fast!"
The chaotic debris scattered by the explosive grenade had masked the tripwire hidden beneath the unconscious little girl.
"Booby trap!!!"
"Get down!"
"The raging yellow fire shall burn away everything!"
"O invincible God of Yellow Vapor! I salute you!!!"
"Boom!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The plastic explosives concealed in the corners of the conference hall were detonated in unison,
accompanying the Ranger's malicious grin,
plunging the entire room into a sea of fire.
"Captain!"
Seeing flying shrapnel hurtling directly toward his head,
Xiaozhuang threw himself in front of Long Teng, blocking every single fragment with his own body.
Xiaozhuang's breath ceased instantly.
"Big Brother! Big Brother!"
Amidst the chaos, the deputy commander rushed over.
Grief-stricken, he pushed Xiaozhuang aside and hoisted up the blood-stained Long Teng.
"Where is Sea Hawk Two?"
"Captain..."
"Where is Sea Hawk Two?!"
Long Teng’s gaze swept across the remnants in the room: a single remaining combat boot and a Kevlar helmet stained with shredded flesh.
At that exact moment, he suddenly recalled how those young men of Sea Hawk Two looked on their very first day attending special forces training.
This year, the youngest among them was only twenty years old.
As for the unconscious Long Teng girl, only a single severed foot remained.
"Captain, Team Two..."
A thick scent of bloody dust invaded Long Teng’s nasal passages.
Over a dozen human lives—whether wicked, innocent, or heroic—
had vanished entirely within the span of eight minutes.
Yet the war raged onward.
The explosions outside the high-rise and the dense rattle of gunfire continued to echo in Long Teng’s ears.
"Sea Hawk Four, assume Team Two’s tactical position!"
"Understood!"
"Brothers of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Company, continue covering our left flank!"
"Objective unchanged: sweep the remaining buildings in Sector C5, eliminate enemy anti-tank fire points!"
"Search and advance!"
"Understood!"
Clutching his steel rifle tightly, Long Teng charged through the smoke and dust generated by the explosions,
bursting into room after room.
The special operations troopers behind him were now reduced to just over eighty men.
He, a lieutenant colonel captain,
now held a strength comparable to a lieutenant deputy company commander.
Bullets zipped past the edges of his helmet,
and grenades traced graceful arcs over shattered barricades,
detonating right beside him.
The hurtling rubble and stone made the wounds on his face ache even more fiercely.
Yet he and the brothers by his side did not stop.
The Long Teng Special Forces, like a Sea Hawk with broken wings,
continued to weave through and smash the enemy within the crumbling high-rises of Long City’s Second Ring Road.
The rifles, light machine guns, and 40mm launchers in their hands
poured the flames of vengeance upon those blond-haired, blue-eyed invaders.
The anti-tank fire points established by the Yangji Rangers were dismantled and destroyed one by one.
The White Star flag used to humiliate Long Teng was hurled heavily from the upper floors down to the ground.
"Survive! Fight on!"
"Until the enemy is driven out of Long City!"
Hugging this conviction tightly, Long Teng led the fifty remaining members of the special forces
charging all the way to the final fire points flanking the main avenue leading to the White Tower.
"Ugh, ah!"
After fowling the very last Ranger within the fire point with a single shot,
Long Teng looked out at the main avenue where the main force of the 9th Armored Brigade was surging forward,
and could not help letting out a long breath.
"This is Sea Hawk, my unit has cleared all enemy anti-tank fire points. Repeat, my unit has cleared all enemy anti-tank fire points!"
The mission was accomplished. The heroic Long Teng Special Forces and armored infantry had used their own flesh and blood
to sweep away the obstacles blocking the steel torrent of Long Teng on its charge toward the White Tower.
Captain Long Teng felt that he could finally catch his breath.
"Sea Hawk! This is Headquarters!"
"Respond if you copy!"
Urgent radio chatter transmitted through the air.
Long Teng guessed there must be yet another new assignment.
Yet, as a son of the Long Teng nation and a lieutenant colonel of the Long Teng Special Forces,
he had long since resolved to dedicate his life to this country and this world.
Even if this man named after the nation did not originally belong here—
he hailed from another distant, great country,
but that was already a very, very long time ago.
"Sea Hawk acknowledges!"
"Sea Hawk, we have received intelligence from the intelligence department."
"The remnants of the enemy Marine 8th Brigade and 76th Ranger Regiment have completely seized the White Tower."
"The White Fox Reconnaissance Battalion and garrison troops guarding the tower have all perished..."
Long Teng’s gaze darkened.
He had shared a rather close relationship with someone in the White Fox Reconnaissance Battalion.
Presumably, she...
"Listen! According to further intelligence, the enemy utilized heavy helicopters to airlift three neutron warheads from the rift."
Neutron bombs: a type of nuclear weapon capable of effectively killing personnel within a blast zone without destroying architectural fortifications.
Long Teng’s heart skipped a beat at this terrifying name.
"The neutron bombs are all laced with Void Vapor."
"Upon detonation, the shockwave combined with the Void Vapor will destroy all organic life forms within Long City!"
"Extreme danger!"
"And the Yangji military intends to detonate them at the White Tower!"
"Thus opening the White Tower!"
Those four words—"opening the White Tower"—
tightened Long Teng’s chest far more severely than "neutron bomb" ever could.
"What consequences will follow once the White Tower opens?!"
"The annihilated civilizations of our predecessors have already told us!"
"Sea Hawk! You are ordered to rendezvous with the remnants of the 77th Army Aviation Regiment immediately."
"Utilize helicopters to launch a rapid surprise assault on the enemy's White Tower defense!"
"The 38th Infantry Division and 9th Armored Brigade will coordinate with you to launch a general offensive!"
"The Yangji people dare to launch a suicide attack!"
"We, too, must possess the determination to burn our boats and break our cauldrons!"
"Good luck to you all!"
"Long live Long Teng!"
Long Teng’s gaze swept across the special operations troopers behind him who had just caught their breath and paused for a sip of water.
He sighed softly!
"Sea Hawk acknowledges!"
"Mission guaranteed!"
Along the main thoroughfare leading to the White Tower,
batches of Type-86 main battle tanks and Type-84 infantry fighting vehicles roared forward in the direction of the White Tower.
Diesel engines churned out billowing clouds of black smoke,
as the iron dragon exhaled its breath and pushed toward the towering White Tower.
Armored infantrymen wiped down gun barrels whose temperatures had soared from fierce firing,
gazing through the firing ports at the gradually cooling black basalt giant sphere outside
and the White Tower shining with pure radiance right beside it.
Between the high-rises,
dozens of "Seahorse"-class helicopters, their fuselages scarred with bullet holes yet pressing on in flight,
roared overhead.
Long Teng and his soldiers sat inside the cabin,
gazing down at the capital below, engulfed in magma and the fires of war,
as they flew toward the distant White Tower that would decide the fate of Long Teng.