Chapter 198: Rocket Bomb

To report the warning as quickly as possible, the lookout tower's alarm system has been further improved; a huge bell has been hung at the entrance, connected to a clockwork device, with the control switch located on the lookout tower.

Because An Ruosuo joined, the efficiency of these devices has been raised another notch.

"Someone is coming."

Since An Ruosuo and the other person joined, more than ten days have passed, but Chen Mu still dare not relax his vigilance; the calm of Qingbei is somewhat abnormal—logically, if the other side were really conducting surveillance, there would be no reason for them not to know that An Ruosuo and the other person have come here.

Chen Mu, Tang Jing, and the others reacted quickly; their first step was to go up to the lookout tower to assess the situation.

Based on the alarm just sounded, the enemy is still some distance away, so there's no need to be overly anxious.

"Qingbei?" Dong Junwei said worriedly on the elevator.

"It's possible."

"Have they finally come?" Last time we were able to repel Yi Zhong thanks to the element of surprise, but now, with Qingbei's strength plus the fact that they've been secretly watching us for so long, they must have come prepared—it won't be as easy as last time.

"Don't worry; unless they decide to fight to the death, we still have the advantage, otherwise they wouldn't have waited this long to attack." Chen Mu comforted.

"That's true, but why have they been silent for so many days, only to show up now?"

"Perhaps, as Xiao An said, internal struggles within Qingbei have drained too much of their energy." Chen Mu said.

An Ruosuo nodded: "Yes, in external battles, nobody dares to go all out for fear of suffering too great a loss and losing their position when they return."

"If that's really the case, our chances of winning should still be quite good."

As they spoke, they all went up to the lookout tower.

Today it was Sun Yuan and Lu Liangliang's turn on duty; they skillfully made room, handed over the telescope, and pointed out the enemy's position.

Chen Mu picked up the telescope and looked.

He saw roughly a dozen people coming along the main road toward them.

Because the distance was too great, even with the telescope he could only tell their number, not make out their features.

Chen Mu handed the telescope to Tang Jing, then to Dong Junwei, and finally to An Ruosuo.

"Looks like it's Tong Bin and his group."

An Ruosuo's voice trembled slightly, as if that name had brought her bad memories.

"Are you sure?" Chen Mu frowned.

Tong Bin, one of Qingbei's three senior officials and of the same rank as Song Yu, has come here—obviously not a good omen.

"I recognized them by their build and movements; it should be correct." An Ruosuo tried to stay calm, but fear still showed: "They're here to capture me and Yang Li..."

Things have indeed come to pass, but now that we're at this point, worrying further is pointless.

"Why would they come via the main road?" Dong Junwei asked, holding the telescope, puzzled: "With Qingbei's strength, taking a side path shouldn't be a problem—doing this now would obviously expose them."

"Maybe they just don't care."

"Huh?"

"As Xiao An said, Qingbei has numbered and monitored every human gathering point within the school; we are monitoring point number nine, but at first they didn't know who we were—only after the incident of Yi Zhong's intrusion did they start paying attention to us."

"So what?"

"So they know at least part of our strength, and are aware that we possess explosives."

"But they still dare to come openly via the main road, which suggests they came prepared?" Dong Junwei frowned.

"Perhaps they also want to apply psychological pressure on us."

Chen Mu didn't know that Tong Bin, but from An Ruosuo's description he sounded like a rough brute, and the current situation seems to confirm his overbearing, domineering nature.

"If that's the case, should we take the initiative to attack?" Dong Junwei asked.

"Of course."

Chen Mu hesitated not at all: "No matter what, we should give it a try; even if it has no effect, we can at least learn their methods. Moreover, our equipment has been upgraded—something Qingbei probably doesn't know about—and I'd guess Cao Zishan can hardly wait any longer."

"As expected."

The next moment, Cao Zishan's voice came from the intercom speaker on the lookout tower:

"Senior, should we carry out a defensive attack?"

His voice was urgent and excited.

The communication line connects the ground and all levels of the lookout tower, so currently all three tiers can communicate without obstruction.

Cao Zishan naturally received the alarm right away and immediately entered a state of combat readiness.

After so many days of practice, he is now practically itching to try it out.

The high-position gun platform is somewhat more spacious than the lookout tower; although only Cao Zishan is there, its weapons stockpile is greater.

On the ground beside him are rows of huge bombs placed.

These spherical explosive devices have a diameter somewhat wider than Cao Zishan's shoulders, making them hard to encircle, but the stone balls are fitted with ten finger‑thick holes, similar to a bowling ball, obviously intended for easy gripping.

For an ordinary person, pushing such a large stone ball would be difficult.

However, for Cao Zishan, who once dragged frog carcasses, it's nothing.

Strength has never been an issue for him; as a human‑shaped gun turret, the main problem is accuracy, but after these days of training the results are quite respectable—at least he now has real combat capability.

Besides the stone balls, the most striking feature is a row of huge stone spears mounted on the wall.

These stone spears are almost twice a person's length and much thicker than ordinary spears.

If you look closely, you'll see their material is exactly the same as that of hand grenades.

This is Qiming's latest‑style weapon.

The user Cao Zishan named them "Super Invincible Rocket Bomb"—of course, as their makers, Dong Junwei and Chen Mu do not acknowledge this name.

Put simply, it's just a large hand grenade reshaped from spherical to spear‑like.

Even for stone balls, once they are reduced to a certain size, air resistance becomes significant, so the hand grenades used on the high‑position gun platform are enlarged to the size of a small steel bead.

Even so, it cannot be called perfect.

Under these circumstances, the spear‑shaped explosive came into being.

Not only does it reduce air resistance, making throwing more convenient, but because it hasn't been verified in actual combat, it still retains the original hand grenade.

Because external affairs have always been under Chen Mu's jurisdiction, especially during wartime, according to Qiming's regulations, Chen Mu has supreme wartime command authority, so Cao Zishan directly asked him.

Chen Mu walked up to the communication speaker and slapped its mouth with one hand.

This is the pre-call alert tone, letting the other party prepare.

【65> He leaned close to the communication mouth, after several hesitations, then said: "After entering firing range, free fire."

He moved close to the communicator, after hesitating several times, he finally said: 'After entering firing range, free fire.'