Chapter 284: Damn it, what the hell is that?

Boom! Boom! Boom!

86 rocket artillery positions opened fire simultaneously, and 516 Rocket Shells dragged long tails of fire as they soared into the sky, carving blinding orange-red arcs across the dark heavens.

"Beautiful!" General Maikewosi slammed his fist onto the command console in excitement. "Look at this spectacular scene! People of Long Country, open your eyes and look—this is true power!"

The Rocket Shells whistled as they ascended, the dense firelight illuminating the entire frontline as if dawn had arrived early. Each Rocket Shell carried a 200-kilogram High-Explosive Bomb head, enough to cause devastating destruction within a 15-meter radius at the point of impact.

516 Rocket Shells meant that an area of nearly 8 square kilometers would turn into a sea of fire within minutes.

"Flight time 45 seconds, expected to hit all targets in 4 minutes and 15 seconds," the fire control officer reported calmly.

Everyone in the command headquarters held their breath, staring at the red dots on the large screen representing the Rocket Shells; they were flying toward the Long Country positions at a speed of nearly 300 meters per second.

"Long Country's Anti-aircraft weapon Radar still shows no reaction; judged to be completely caught off guard," the electronic warfare monitoring officer reported excitedly.

"Too perfect!" Maikewosi was almost jumping for joy. "They don't even know what's happening!"

The Rocket Shell swarm had already flown one-third of the distance, forming a spectacular "Fire Dragon" in the dark sky, whistling toward the Long Country positions.

The Rocket Shell swarm had already crossed a no-man's-land on the frontline and was rapidly approaching the Long Country positions.

At the Long Country Frontline Command, an alarm sounded piercingly.

"Enemy Rocket Shells have been launched, total of 516, expected to enter the interception zone in 30 seconds!" the Radar monitor reported loudly.

Li Mingyuan remained surprisingly calm; he raised his hand to glance at his watch, a cold sneer tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Waited long enough. Notify all anti-aircraft units to prepare to welcome our 'guests'."

"Yes!" The Communication Officer immediately connected to all anti-aircraft units. "All units pay attention, 'Steel Umbrella' fully activated, interception code-named 'Dawn Operation', execute preset plan!"

Within seconds, the long-silent "Steel Umbrella 2.0" system awakened.

The sky remained dark, but the Long Country positions were activated as if by an invisible electric current; dozens of concealed anti-aircraft units unfolded rapidly, Radar antennas began to rotate, missile launchers rose from their camouflage, and the Integrated Circuit Control System was fully activated.

At this moment, the Di Guo reconnaissance plane reported the first anomaly.

"Sir, strange... the Long Country positions are not in chaos, I don't see soldiers panicking or retreating, they... they seem to be organizing some kind of defense?"

General Maikewosi frowned. "Impossible, they have no time to react at all. Continue monitoring!"

The second anomalous signal came from the electronic warfare monitoring console.

"General, we have detected abnormal signals! Multiple never-before-seen frequency bands have appeared in the Long Country radio spectrum, as if some kind of new interference system has been activated!"

"What interference? What could they interfere with? The Rocket Shells have already been launched, there is no communication guidance!" Maikewosi replied dismissively, but his voice already carried a hint of unease.

Just then, a panicked report from a frontline officer arrived:

"Report to command! The Rocket Shell flight trajectory is showing anomalies! In the sky... in the sky, a large number of unidentified objects are heading toward our Rocket Shells! It's... it's anti-aircraft missiles! Long Country has anti-aircraft missiles!"

"What?!" Maikewosi stood up abruptly. "Impossible! Long Country does not have the capability to intercept Rocket Shells, this is impossible!"

But reality gave him no chance to argue. Above the frontline, an incredible scene was unfolding.

Li Mingyuan stood before the command console, his hands pressed against it, his eyes fixed on the large screen.

"Long Core Control System operating normally, all interception units in position, begin execution of interception!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the night sky suddenly lit up.

First, beams of blue-white light shot from the Long Country positions into the sky; those were the Radar search signals of the "Steel Umbrella 2.0", carving an invisible web in the darkness.

Subsequently, dozens of launch units fired simultaneously, and hundreds of small interceptor missiles shot into the sky with sharp whistling sounds.

At the same time, the "Longxin No. 2" Integrated Circuit Control System was performing incredible calculations—the speed, direction, and altitude of every enemy Rocket Shell were calculated in real-time, the optimal interception path was generated within microseconds, and the launch angle and timing of the interceptor missiles were precisely controlled to the millisecond.

The pitch-black night sky was suddenly illuminated, as if dawn had arrived early.

The first wave of interceptor missiles hit the foremost enemy Rocket Shells; in an instant, over a dozen dazzling orange-red fireballs bloomed in the sky, lighting up the entire battlefield. Immediately following were the second wave, the third wave...

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Continuous explosions echoed in the high altitude, and "flowers of fire" bloomed one after another across the dark sky, like a fireworks display prepared specifically for the Grim Reaper.

On the Long Country positions, the soldiers had originally been lying nervously in their bunkers, waiting for the enemy Rocket Shell attack.

When the first round of explosions came from overhead instead of from the ground, they looked up in confusion, and were immediately stunned into silence by the sight before them.

"Damn it! What the hell is that?!" a young soldier stared blankly at the explosions in the sky.

"It's... it's our Anti-aircraft weapon! It shot down the enemy's Rocket Shells!" the veteran Liu Dashan replied with a trembling voice.

"How is this possible? Rocket Shells can be shot down too?" The surrounding soldiers whispered to each other in disbelief.

And at the anti-aircraft unit positions, the technical soldiers operating the "Steel Umbrella 2.0" were also stunned.

"Hit rate over 85%! The system is running perfectly!" The Technical Supervisor's voice changed pitch in excitement. "Theoretical data has become reality! Chief Engineer Li is simply a god!"

At the Frontline Command, Li Mingyuan calmly issued order after order:

"Interception density in the third sector is insufficient, adjust fire coverage for units 9 and 12!"

"The enemy's second batch of Rocket Shells is about to enter the interception zone, adjust the launch rhythm of the interceptor missiles to avoid any gaps in firepower!"

"Pay attention to maintaining system cooling, prevent the 'Long Core' Chip from overheating!"

Under his command, the "Steel Umbrella 2.0" system displayed incredible performance; hundreds of enemy Rocket Shells were intercepted and exploded at an altitude of several thousand meters above the ground.

Of course, there were some that slipped through the defensive net and landed on the Long Country positions; the sounds of explosions and the tremors reminded everyone that this battle was not flawless.

But compared to the "devastating blow" that had been expected, this loss was insignificant.

At the Di Guo command headquarters, the atmosphere had shifted from excitement to fear and confusion.