Chapter 988: Chapter 988

"Captain Fiss, we’ll be arriving in Ilan City soon."

A soldier clad in sleek, all-encompassing black armor leaped onto the large command vehicle. Amid the distant rumbling, he made a beeline for the middle of the vehicle where a blond middle-aged man sat reading documents.

The armor covering his head quickly retracted to the sides, revealing a younger face beneath.

At that moment, the officers sitting on either side of the blond man heard the sound and turned their gaze upon him.

The blond man set aside the documents in his hand and looked at the soldier, "How much farther?"

"About one hundred and twenty kilometers,"

The soldier looked at the blond man, lifted his wristband, and swiped it past a sensor inside the command vehicle. A picture filled with flames and armies was projected in the center of the vehicle, "This is the scene captured by remote reconnaissance drones; Yiwis Space System’s mercenary corps is besieging the city."

"It seems a lot has happened since we left Kaye City."

Captain Fiss watched the photo projection intently, observing the Sky Behemoths and the supersonic fighters within it; he looked up at a brown-haired officer in front of him, "How is our marching speed right now?"

"The southern part of Ilan City is mountainous. Because we are escorting the grain convoy, we’ve taken roads that are flatter and safer, which also means a considerable detour."

The brown-haired officer stood up, raised his hand, and unfolded a map of their march for everyone to see, "At our current pace, even if we start at full speed, it would take at least two hours to reach Ilan City."

"We don’t have enough time,"

Captain Fiss glanced at the war-torn photo, "Ilan City won’t last another two hours."

"If we abandon the convoy, we could go faster."

The brown-haired officer hesitated for a moment and spoke slowly.

Captain Fiss asked in a low voice.

The brown-haired officer pondered for a moment before responding.

Captain Fiss looked down at the map before him, raised his hand, and drew a line through a section of overlapping mountains, "Can we take this route?"

The brown-haired officer examined the map and hesitated, "But if we take this route, we’ll have to give up our heavy firepower."

"Ilan City’s high walls won’t lack for heavy firepower,"

Captain Fiss shook his head, raised his hand again, and marked a point on a mountain near the high walls, turning to another thin officer, "Can the artillery troops take a separate route up the mountain and set up missiles and long-range cannons here, providing direct long-range support?"

The gaunt officer looked puzzled, "But with such a distance, won’t there be interference from flying exotic beasts?"

Captain Fiss paused and pointed upwards, a sharp cry intermingled with distant booms echoing overhead,

"Do you hear these booms and cries? Flying exotic beasts are extremely sensitive to sound. In such a large battlefield, there will hardly be any within a hundred kilometers. Of course, there are bound to be some disturbances, but we can’t worry about that now."

Then he slowly stood up and looked at the officers around him,

"The situation is developing faster than we anticipated. Our original plans need some adjustments. The fourth battalion will stay behind to protect the convoy, the artillery troops will take this path up the mountain, and the remaining three battalions must gather immediately. Leave all heavy weapons and logistics behind for the convoy, we must reach Ilan City within half an hour!"

He glanced at the exoskeleton armor on the nearby soldier, then at the seated officers around him, "The Sky Behemoth might be impressive, but our gear is no slouch either. It’s time for the entire Federation to see if our merchandise is worth the price!"

The atmosphere inside the command vehicle froze for an instant before all officers stood up almost simultaneously and said loudly, "Yes, Commander!"

North City Command Center of Ilan City

"This is Scott’s office?"

He Ao looked at the simple and clean door in front of him and turned to the young officer ahead.

"Yes, it’s also where he rests and sleeps,"

The young officer nodded. He looked at the electronic lock on the office door and quickly explained, "Scott doesn’t allow anyone into his office, and it’s not connected to the network. Except for him, no one can open this door."

"It’s said that a lot of expensive alloys provided by the Yiwis Space System were used when this office was built. If you need explosives, just let me know."

"Okay, I understand,"

He Ao lowered his head to look at the electronic lock, "Let me take a look first."

The young officer nodded, and just as he turned halfway around to leave, he stopped and looked at his wristband.

Then he looked at He Ao, a bit tense and embarrassed, he said, "Mr. Lin En, Commander Mid has asked me to inquire whether we should send a message to warn the Kopis Mercenary Corps that their army is about to breach the security perimeter. Should we?"

At that moment, He Ao’s bracelet vibrated. He lifted his hand and glanced at the message on the bracelet; it was the prompt that the encryption device Eve sent him had been cracked.

He Ao put down the bracelet, shook his head and reached out, while holding the electronic lock in front of him, he said, "Keep all channels silent; send no messages and respond to no communications from the Kopis Mercenary Corps."

The young officer paused, hesitating before asking, "Are we really not sending any warnings?"

He Ao shook his head, took out a data cable, and connected Eve with the electronic lock in front of him.

The young officer was visibly hesitant, but he finally nodded, retreated to the side, and replied, "You can call me for anything."

He Ao nodded slightly.

Accompanied by a soft click, the entire electronic lock quietly opened, a testament to Eve’s successful hacking.

He Ao gently pushed the door, but it did not budge.

He gently pressed on the alloy door.

This door and the walls of the surrounding offices were made of reinforced super alloy; breaking through forcibly would require significant effort.

He looked down at the electronic lock in front of him, then at the side he discovered a hidden cover. After opening the cover, a complex mechanical key slot came into his field of view.

"Do you have anything small and key-shaped?"

He Ao turned his head back, looking towards the young officer behind him.

The young officer was taken aback.

It took him a while to understand that He Ao was referring to a mechanical key that fits into a lock. In the Federation, where electronic locks were ubiquitous and people were accustomed to biometrics and passcodes, mechanical keys had all but vanished, leaving only some records in student textbooks.

"Will a nail file work?"

After pondering for a moment and recalling the likely shape of a ’key,’ the young officer asked cautiously.

Then the young officer fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a slender iron strip with a frosted texture.

He Ao examined the strip; it was slightly smaller than the mechanical lock hole but could fit in and would suffice for the task.

He inserted the strip into the lock, his Divine Sense spreading from it, and in an instant, a detailed image of the lock’s complex core structure materialized in his mind.

He quickly located several key points within the lock core and directly moved them using his Divine Sense, then held the nail file and gently twisted it.

With a soft sound, the door swung open in response.

The young officer standing behind He Ao’s eyes widened instantly.

He Ao handed the nail file back to the young officer, pulled open the alloy door that was a full forty centimeters thick, and walked into the office.

The young officer looked at the nail file in his hand, observing it carefully, as if trying to find what made this nail file different from any other.

Meanwhile, He Ao had already entered the office.

A cold wind that seemed capable of freezing one’s soul met him as he stepped inside, as if not a purposely set trap or an ambush but rather an atmosphere that had always existed in the office. It simply stirred and brushed past He Ao’s body as he opened the door.

The entire office was situated within the command building, with the sky and night curtain outside, yet standing at this office’s doorway gave He Ao a sense of gradually descending to the deepest recesses of the earth.

He Ao steadied himself and looked up at the ’furniture’ in front of him.

Scott’s office was sparsely decorated—a simple wooden desk, a wooden chair, and several scattered wooden shelves stocked with books.

There were no firearms or bladed weapons, his office decor more befitting of a literature-researching teacher than a military general.

He Ao’s gaze settled on the paper books on a shelf near the door, scanning through the titles one by one.

The content of these books was mostly political literature and advanced tutorials on war game strategies.

His steps continued inward, as he slowly scanned over Scott’s ’collection’ on the next bookshelf.

North City Command Center·Third Brigade Command Room

"Mr. Lin En said not to raise the alarm?"

Commander Mid looked somewhat bewildered at the young officer in the projection before him.

"Yes, Mr. Lin En said not to raise an alarm and not to respond to any messages from the Kopis Mercenary Corps."

The young officer spoke slowly.

Commander Mid leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples slightly, "The troops of the Kopis Mercenary Corps have already approached the border of the security zone?"

"Yes, the vanguard forces should be breaking through the boundary any moment now, and in a little over an hour, their main forces will enter siege range."

The young officer nodded.

"How long is ’a little over an hour’?"

Commander Mid leaned in his chair and asked rapidly.

"At most seventy minutes."

The young officer paused briefly, speaking slowly.

"It seems we should be thankful they didn’t bring a large air force, or else they might already have started attacking the city by now."

Commander Mid let out a sigh, he slowly rose to his feet, walked around the table, and then looked at the young officer again, sighing, "Do you know what message I just received?"

The young officer was taken aback.

"Scott has returned,"

Commander Mid sighed again.

At hearing this, the young officer’s expression also changed instantly, "When?"

"Our sentinels in the city saw his troops quickly returning to the city."

Commander Mid massaged his forehead, "But marching through a city filled with skyscrapers is much slower than in the wilderness. The Saint Ilan District is also far enough from us that, at their current pace, they’ll probably take a little over an hour to return. By that time, inside and out, they might just come together."

The young officer was already somewhat dazed, and after a brief panic, he hurriedly said, "We should tell Mr. Lin En about this."

Commander Mid waved his hand, sighing, "I’ve already sent him the message just now."

The young officer immediately asked.

At that moment, Commander Mid’s wrist communicator vibrated.

He lifted it, glanced at the screen, then showed the content to the young officer.

There was only a brief reply,

Wilderness Outside North City

Roaring machines sped across the vast night, as a man with a goatee stood atop the war bastion, his head lowered, looking at the holographic map before him.

The wilderness outside the North Gate of Ilan City was divided into two parts: one-third of the western side was mountainous, while two-thirds of the vast eastern part was plains.

The goatee-man carefully examined the areas on the map, his eyes continually moving toward the surrounding mountains.

At that time, an agile officer strode up, stopping beside the goatee-man, "Captain, our vanguard forces have broken through the city’s security zone boundary."

"Have we received any alarms from Ilan City?"

The goatee-man still looked down at the three-dimensional map in front of him, asking casually.

"No, we haven’t received any messages from the Ilan City Defense Army,"

The officer shook his head, "All of our provocations to the City Defense Army have also remained unanswered, and our inside agents in the city have yet to send us any messages."

"What about the city defense systems?"

The goatee-man continued to inquire.

"All city defense cannons seem to not be ignited, there are no signs of any attacks, and the missile launch portals have not opened,"

The officer said hesitantly, "The behavior of the Ilan City Defense Army is a bit strange?"

The bearded man’s head still wasn’t raised as he pointed at the map, his tone even,

"Stabilize the formation, maintain speed, keep moving forward!"

An officer replied and backed away.

Meanwhile, the bearded man kept his head down, gazing thoughtfully at the map before him.

South City Command Center

Accompanying the violent explosion, officers walking in the hall were jolted abruptly.

Yet, at that moment, nobody cared about the sudden shaking, as the officers scurried beneath the massive holographic projection of the Shadow of the Sky Behemoth, quickly passing information and orders.

"General, the gates are damaged, we can’t hold on much longer."

A staggered officer rushed forward, handing over the documents to Corvey.

"Hold as long as we can,"

Corvey inverted the documents onto the control console before him, "How many missiles do we have left?"

The officer said swiftly amidst the shaking, "Use them sparingly, at most we have just over ten minutes left."

"Pull out all the old stock from the warehouse,"

Corvey watched the smoking remains of three Sky Behemoths with a steady gaze on the projection in front of him, "They won’t last much longer either."

"General, but there’s more than just Sky Behemoths out there!"

The officer’s eyes widened.

"Every bit we can take down counts; if these large things get into the city, the deaths will be on our heads,"

Corvey slammed the table, "Go quickly!"

The wavering officer stood up and rushed to the side.

At that moment, a middle-aged officer approached, clutching a storage chip, "We’ve received a compressed packet of communication data from an unknown source; it seems to be software, signed by Mr. Lin En."

"Where did it come from?"

Corvey paused and asked in a low voice.

"The source is uncertain, but judging from the direction of the transmission, it should be from the Wilderness, behind the Yilin Space System army."

The middle-aged officer hesitated for a moment, "Mr. Lin En should be in the city now. Should we open this program? Could the data packet be a virus?"

"Get an offline device."

Corvey raised his hand and looked towards the back of the hall, speaking quickly.

In a very short time, an old screened device was brought over.

The middle-aged officer swiftly plugged the chip into the device.

Corvey raised his hand to work on the device, unzipping the compressed packet.

Soon, the device screen flickered, displaying an installation progress bar that swiftly completed before the naked eye.

"Hello, I am the Artificial Intelligence Eve – Military Type,"

Following that, a little girl in a red dress appeared on the screen, looking up as if she could see Corvey, who was intently watching the screen, "Please connect me to a physical antenna."

"Pull out an antenna."

Corvey extended his hand immediately.

The middle-aged officer glanced at the little girl on the screen, searched around, opened a console, and pulled out an antenna cable.

However, the cable was a bit short; Corvey directly took the device, connecting the cable to it.

After plugging in the antenna, a successful link symbol popped up in the hands of the girl in a red dress,

"Pairing, please wait."

"Pairing successful, receiving data packet."

The red-dressed girl in the screen raised her hand, and a window popped out of her palm,

"You have a tactical collaboration invitation from the Nolanca Mercenary Corps, please check."