Chapter 954 - 7: The Shattered New American Dream

The helicopter exploded on impact, and the power of the Chimera tank’s laser cannon was so formidable that it even made Jack feel threatened!

As the laser dissipated, the ground beneath the Chimera tank was filled with corpses and wreckage. The helicopter was sliced in half, crashing to both sides. Some unlucky drones had been melted into scrap metal, and the buildings that were grazed had massive holes, testifying to the terrifying power of the weapon.

V watched all this, his mouth agape: "Oh wow... is this thing even more powerful now..."

When the laser cannon fired, the heat could even be felt on V’s skin. Being directly hit would be unimaginable.

If it weren’t for Jack being alive and moving at an incredible speed, she couldn’t think of a way to break through those soldiers, and without a way to get close...

The consequence would be death, there was no other outcome.

Lille was also somewhat surprised: "Indeed, it’s more powerful. I remember the one in Dog Town wasn’t this fierce."

V quickly became extremely excited: "Doesn’t that mean we could wipe out all the New America troops here?!"

Lille turned to look at V, at his innocent face he hadn’t seen in a long time, a little helpless: "Are you dreaming? A single tank taking down an entire army, we have to run, do you understand!"

"Oh, how do we run?"

Suddenly, Jack, who was on his back, let out a deep laugh: It’s been a while since I’ve seen such a scene.

The laser cannon has its limits. Based on Lille’s judgment, the conventional sustain time for the Chimera tank’s laser cannon is one minute, meaning at best, this tank can fire for one minute straight.

Military Technology’s ground units certainly couldn’t handle them. Don’t even mention Jack; now there’s also a Chimera tank. Capturing them alive or defeating them head-on is impossible.

What concerned people were the continuously coming air units: helicopters, fighter jets, even bombers and missiles launched from silos could all potentially appear...

The battle had to be finished quickly.

Lille turned his gaze towards the rocket silo beside the Space Air Force Base, where a space plane stood.

Data showed it was a space transport plane for orbital construction, on standby, with its fuel almost fully loaded.

Huff——

Steam emitted from the Chimera tank, as its biometric giant limbs adjusted their position, the humming of its core slightly echoing through its steel body.

"...Of course, we’ll sprint with all our might. Jack, show me how fast you can run—"

Hearing this, Jack immediately grabbed the three of them and leaped from the Chimera tank, transforming into a large pickup truck mid-air, hitting the ground heavily!

While V and Jack, the two of them seemed to be dreaming: around them, the metal seemed to come alive, undergoing precise transformations, gears turning, structures reconfiguring, joints opening and closing...

It was as if they were dreaming!

Bam!

The car hit the ground without any pause, racing towards the endless wilderness—

Behind them, an apocalyptic scene was unfolding!

A mushroom cloud hundreds of meters high was rising!

Both Jack and V, who had been holding their breath, finally resumed breathing at this moment, feeling the intense thrust, feeling as if they had just danced a perfect dance on the edge of a knife, leaving behind a scene that defied common sense, they were both exhilarated and astonished, just as when they first sped away in this car:

"Unbelievable!!!!"

"Eat shit, New America!"

Boom——

The violent shockwave pushed them forward.

...

The Chimera tank is a nuclear-powered tank, equipped with conventional machine guns and missiles, but its primary weapon is a laser cannon. It utilizes a high-energy-density nuclear reactor to effectively harness energy, ensuring its endurance.

In the European Union, nuclear energy is more often used for large-scale production, while in the hands of Military Technology, miniaturization technologies for various energy sources are key projects as they favor super soldiers and military units.

The dazzling red laser was clearly visible all the way from the Pentagon. Under the observation of surveillance drones, it appeared extremely flashy, showcasing the might of New America’s military industry.

Two years ago, a Chimera tank was reactivated in Dog Town, while the world primarily focused on the nuclear bomb that sank the Arasaka Aircraft Carrier, the Chimera tank was also a key point of interest:

This tank was initially just a product of bureaucratic whim within Military Technology. They believed that a mobile super laser cannon would be very useful in ground combat. However, it evidently did not sell well...

The Chimera tank controlled in Dog Town could be said to have served as a massive advertisement, magically bringing in orders from other companies for Military Technology, and they even produced three units using their own production line, one of which is now positioned on the outskirts of the Space Base.

The dazzling laser made Miles in the Pentagon feel somewhat proud:

This is New America’s military industry!

Compared to kinetic weapons, the greatest advantage of laser weapons on the ground is that they’re absolutely unavoidable, yet as the distance to the target increases, the difficulty of maintaining energy levels increases exponentially.

Similarly, the top-tier laser weapons in the European Union, which is one of the few major countries in this world, are merely oversized flashlights at a distance of one-kilometer, but the Chimera is different—

In an extreme state, this shot requires only a momentary contact, and it can even destroy low-flying aircraft!

The dazzling laser completely blinded the observation equipment, and Miles confidently shook the cup in his hand:

For some unknown reason, the European Union seemed to have suddenly plunged into massive turmoil, so as long as New America projected a strong and tough image, improving state power was just a matter of time, perhaps she could also restore the glory of the US Dollar...

However, this sense of smugness immediately halted when the image resumed normalcy:

The power of this shot had already been verified, as it indeed took down a helicopter...

But the problem was it took down one of their own helicopters!

Not just that, the communication arrays, towers, antennas, and building exteriors of the Space Army were all left with a scorching red-hot trail, perfectly outlining the path of the laser, all the way to...

All the way to the space transport plane in the adjacent rocket silo!

The valuable space plane had a red-hot gap punched through by the laser, and the launch platform was crumbling, soon causing the unsecured transport plane to tilt to one side...

Miles’s pride quickly turned into terror:

She was not just a politician, she was once a soldier, the trials of the battlefield allowed her to become the kind of composed politician she was now, she even felt that there was nothing in this world that could terrify her anymore, not even the prospect of losing her own life...

But at this moment, witnessing the devastation on the screen and the soaring energy index alert frightened her:

The progress of New America in unifying Night City had been delayed for a long time, the next growth point was already set for outer space, for the Space Army, for the EBM contract...

And now, it was all over!

A massive collapse destined to shrink the market seemed to have already appeared before her eyes, and she panicked!

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

Bang!

The dazzling laser completely turned the screen white, and the next sequence of events was so clear, it didn’t even require drones to be seen:

A huge mushroom cloud was rising in the direction of the Space Air Force Base, the red fireball even painted the entire sky, and to those on the ground, it felt like the end of the world—

The space plane exploded!

As a space transport plane designed for orbital construction tasks, although it wasn’t designed to be weaponized for explosive damage, nor meant to prevent explosions from occurring, the amount of fuel it carried far exceeded any non-nuclear missile or bomb.

Miles, her legs going weak, fell heavily into her chair.

This was the end of New America’s dream.