CHAPTER 412: CHAPTER 197: NOT FU XI

An hour later, two bombers successfully landed at the 011 base airport.

By this time, the battle at the base’s perimeter was basically over, and the heaps of monster corpses clearly displayed the ferocity of the fighting.

Chen Jian, dressed in a brand-new Nezha exoskeleton, stood outside the main passage of the base, directing the casualty treatment efforts, and Shen Yue had also returned from the frontline, leading Xie Liu to personally rescue critical patients.

They could do very limited things; when encountering casualties beyond recovery, they could only give them a strong shot of morphine to make their departure easier.

Lei Jie walked towards Chen Jian, moving his completely frozen fingers as he asked:

"How is it, what are the casualty figures?"

"Overall acceptable."

Chen Jian sighed lightly and replied:

"As it stands, the number of casualties is within 100, with approximately 20 to 30 fatalities. About a dozen severely injured can be saved, and the remainder are mostly lightly injured."

"Of course, these are only considered minor injuries in battlefield standards; expecting them to continue fighting is not too realistic."

"However, the casualties are mainly concentrated in the reserve forces and Holy Blood units."

"Jin Zhong’s Guard Brigade, including the main Huaxia Army units, suffered fewer casualties, with minimal core combat power loss."

"For the next battle, we’ll continue expanding the reserves, forming veteran-newcomer teams, and our combat strength should increase considerably."

"Overall, our combat power losses are relatively low—one might even say there’s a trend toward stronger resilience."

"But regardless... losing so many people impacts morale."

"Understood."

Lei Jie nodded and continued asking:

"Can we hold steady?"

"Mostly, but it depends on Shen Yue."

"He’s busy now; let’s discuss after the relief efforts conclude."

"Luckily, we need rest, and those monsters also need to recover."

"According to drone reconnaissance, the first wave of monsters has been mostly eliminated, and before reinforcements arrive, they shouldn’t organize large-scale offensives again."

"We still have some breathing room—even if it’s not much."

"Indeed. But having any is enough."

Lei Jie rubbed his frostbitten face and said:

"After the nuclear strike at Xuancheng, it’s conservatively estimated to cover a radius of about 12 kilometers."

"There are many monsters gathered there, and these two nuclear bombs will definitely create havoc among them."

"If viewed from a large-scale attack perspective, encountering nuclear strikes during assembly would indeed hinder subsequent actions."

"Damn... I didn’t expect to act like Man Guangzhi myself."

"Doesn’t that give you a thrill?"

Chen Jian shook his head humorously and then said:

"But we can’t deduce these monsters’ actions from common logic."

"I feel these monsters, whether or not they’re artificially created experiments, are at least deeply tied to high-tech entities."

"They’re under intelligent command, and this commander must be highly intelligent."

"Anything we forecast, he’d likely forecast as well."

"He might even employ tactics totally beyond our expectations."

"Not likely."

Shen Yue’s voice came from behind Chen Jian, as he roughly sewed up wounds on a soldier’s leg, speaking:

"The opposing tactics aren’t very strong—how to say, they’re quite aware of our weapons but seem constantly a step behind in responses."

"After we altered our artillery tactics, the Beast Tide’s attacks became distinctly slower."

"They seem unable to adapt, blindly attacking under predetermined strategies."

"This is crucial in gaining advantage—we’re exploiting the timing and intelligence gaps."

"Regarding air-dropped nuclear bombs, I suspect our adversaries weren’t aware they could be used this way, thus the bombing was effective."

"But next time... it might not be so simple."

"Thus, we must continuously introduce new tactics, equipment, and methods to maintain a consistent advantage."

"If we can achieve that, I believe the Beast Tide poses little threat to us."

After Shen Yue’s remarks, Chen Jian couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

He instinctively suspected Shen Yue was overly confident but reconsidered, knowing Shen Yue is the only commander battling from start to finish.

He’s more knowledgeable about this Beast Tide than anyone else. If he’s sensing this "slow learning" behavior from the tide, there’s no reason for doubt.

Considering this, Chen Jian spoke:

"That’s indeed possible."

"For us... maintaining a constant intelligence gap is quite challenging."

"Weapons are limited, their use can’t change much; how can we ensure each deployment is something our adversaries haven’t seen?"

"Weapons are finite, but tactics are endless."

Shen Yue snapped his suture thread and said:

"Initially, we decided to engage these monsters in positional warfare, believing their intelligence, organization, and execution were constrained."

"But now, the Beast Tide possesses complete military characteristics; this is good news, isn’t it?"

"...Yes."

Understanding the depth of Shen Yue’s words, Chen Jian realized.

Being a military force implies they’ll conduct themselves as such.

They’ll assess damage, adjust tactics, aim for higher goals with minimal costs, hesitate upon setbacks, or become greedy in victories....

These characteristics emerged in the Beast Tide’s two waves of attacks.

If this wasn’t true, there’d be no need for any fire reconnaissance by the Beast Tide.

With sheer numbers, they could overwhelm Huaxia Army’s output, converge, and crush 011 base in one swift attack regardless of losses.

Value.

That’s the core metric.

It’s pursuing higher value.

Contemplative, Chen Jian, after a brief silence, said:

"This strongly resembles AI behavior."

"But considering this..... I feel..... the AI controlling them isn’t nearly as intelligent as Fu Xi?"

A revelation awakened those present.

As his words fell, Shen Yue and Lei Jie simultaneously turned to Chen Jian.

They’d assumed monster control came from Mountain City, Mountain City’s AI, Fu Xi, being viewed as the "twin brother."

Yet, it appears another possibility exists?

Even if the Beast Tide is Mountain City-controlled, it doesn’t have to be Fu Xi?

Not necessarily.

Expertly infrastructured, mastering advanced technology.

But in natural learning, it’s far less efficient than Fu Xi.

Moreover, its stance conflicts inherently with Fu Xi.

Where does such an AI come from?

"Lingxi."

Fu Xi’s voice simultaneously echoed through their headsets.

"If not me, then it’s Lingxi."