CHAPTER 473: CHAPTER 234: THEY LET ME GO

Meanwhile, at base 011.

Chen Jian stood behind the glass curtain wall of the fully operational intelligent production workshop and asked Lei Jie, who was beside him:

"There’s still no new information coming from Mountain City, is there?"

"No."

Lei Jie shook his head and replied:

"Since the last communication, no matter how we’ve tried to contact them, we’ve received no response."

"It’s pretty clear that their discovery of those so-called Mountain City people’s communication devices was just a fluke."

"Or perhaps, their luck was just extraordinarily good."

"Think about it, how many conditions have to be met to cause such an accident?"

"An electromagnetic pulse triggered by a nuclear bomb caused Mountain City to fall into functional paralysis, and they just happened to meet a Mountain City person carrying a terminal to hunt them down, who wasn’t eliminated by the nearby monsters running rampant due to the chaos, and happened to restore communication in the correct way...."

"Honestly, the chances of all these conditions aligning are not much better than winning the lottery."

"It’s impossible to expect them to find another opportunity to establish communication."

"We could even say that their chances of survival are very slim..."

"Indeed."

With Lei Jie’s words, Chen Jian slowly nodded.

Lin Yu’s situation was indeed grim.

He’s not just deep behind enemy lines anymore.

To be precise, he’s deeply entrenched in the enemy’s lair.

With no available support, surrounded by incomprehensible enemies.

And the equipment and technology those enemies possess even surpass that of the Huaxia Army.

How difficult is it for them to survive in such a situation?

----But on the other hand.

What if?

Thinking of this, Chen Jian spoke again:

"No matter what, until we receive definitive news of their deaths, we should assume they are still alive."

"Standing idly by is not an option; we must do something."

"But what can we do?"

Lei Jie shrugged.

"Our power cannot reach Mountain City, and our delivery capabilities are severely lacking."

"To launch an attack on Mountain City at this time would be a fool’s dream."

"The most reliable strategy now is the one we discussed earlier, to conduct continuous nuclear bombardment on Mountain City."

"However, we can only achieve this target consistently when the next generation of long-range bombers is available..."

"How long will that take?"

Chen Jian frowned slightly, then asked:

"What kind of technology is planned for the next bomber model?"

"Airship."

"Airship?? Blimp??"

Chen Jian was dumbfounded.

"No, you’re not talking about the thing I’m thinking, are you?"

"It’s exactly what you’re thinking."

Lei Jie laughed and retorted:

"How about it, doesn’t it suddenly carry a bit of a cyberpunk flavor?"

"Who would have thought that the most sci-fi general-purpose artificial intelligence would coexist with the most retro airship in the same world, at the same time?"

"Isn’t it quite magical?"

"It damn well is magical...."

Chen Jian clicked his tongue:

"Is there really no other solution?"

"None."

Lei Jie replied:

"Honestly, developing bomber technology is not that simple; our Mosquito Bomber was entirely a product of opportunism."

"It can fly because we originally had a lot of motors that were meant for drones."

"But if we want to continue making the body larger?"

"Motors are clearly insufficient, and we can’t manufacture aircraft engines or high-thrust aircraft engines."

"So that leaves us with only one last option, doesn’t it?"

At this point, Lei Jie paused for a moment and then said to Chen Jian in a consoling tone:

"Actually, airships aren’t as.... bad as you might think."

"When designed properly, they can be quite useful."

"Especially since with our current technology, we can make airships with pretty high ceiling limits."

"In this way, their survivability will also increase."

"Compared to a bomber, they’re much more reliable, right?"

"That’s true..."

Chen Jian sighed.

What else can be done?

The current situation at the 011 base is evident; you can only do so much with your capabilities.

He didn’t dwell more on the issue with Lei Jie but skipped over the topic, returning to the matter at hand.

"Let’s set aside the airship issue for now; we are actually facing a more immediate threat."

"Mountain City has missiles, and we are within their range of coverage."

"And to ensure safety, relying on passive defense is obviously not possible."

"In any circumstance, we should find a way to maintain electromagnetic suppression over them."

"The nukes must be deployed----and they need to be deployed quickly."

"How about it, do you have a plan?"

"Yes."

Lei Jie’s expression suddenly turned serious.

"Let’s send out a bomber for the mission."

"We can fly to Han Shui first, replenish there, then head to Anhan, and from there, launch an attack on Mountain City."

"In theory, this route shouldn’t pose too much risk."

"The biggest risk lies in the bombing action itself."

"This might be a one-way mission with no return."

"And the cost of the mission isn’t just a bomber but also a pilot who was hard to train."

"The biggest issue I’m facing now is deciding who to send."

"Jiang Yu definitely can’t go, but even if it were someone else, I’d be reluctant...."

"That’s your problem."

Chen Jian exhaled a long breath.

"Sometimes, as a commander, you have to give such orders."

"Understood."

Lei Jie nodded and said no more.

The two left the intelligent workshop and walked side by side into the elevator.

Neither spoke further, but both of them felt complicated emotions.

They took the elevator back to the living quarters. After parting with Chen Jian, Lei Jie intended to find Jiang Yu for a discussion, while Chen Jian went to the operations command room to check on the latest developments of the refugees in Jinling City.

But just as he was pushing open the door of the command room, a voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Captain!"

Chen Jian turned back to see that the person was Ji Xing.

"What’s the matter?"

As he continued to walk into the command room, he said:

"Come in and talk."

Ji Xing obediently followed him into the room and closed the door before speaking solemnly:

"Captain, are we going to Mountain City?"

"There’s no specific schedule at the moment----our preparations are not yet sufficient."

"However, if you ask whether we should go, the answer is definitely yes."

"And we need to go as soon as possible."

"Can I go?"

Ji Xing asked immediately after.

"You??"

Chen Jian was taken aback.

"Of course, you can go...but as I recall, you don’t have much attachment to Mountain City anymore, right?"

"What’s going on? Why are you suddenly making this request?"

The other side, Ji Xing, took a deep breath and then slowly spoke:

"I’ve been thinking about the information Lin Yu transmitted back over the past few days."

"He’s already confirmed that the monsters near Mountain City are controlled by the ’Mountain City people’ inside."

"And in places where the monsters cannot reach, that Mountain City person is still hunting them down."

"It’s very unreasonable."

"They survived by eliminating that controller."

"But what about me? How did I survive?"

"I feel... it wasn’t that I survived."

"They let me go!"