Chapter 138: with translation of chapter title

"Torch Dragon" AI's synthetic voice calmly broadcast on the encrypted channel, as clear and calm as a Go referee counting points:

【Battlefield Control Rate: 94.7%】

【Remaining Organized Resistance: Collapsed】

【Scattered Troops Mop‑up Progress: 87%】

【Suggestion: Dragon Rider units conduct grid‑based sweeping, Dragon Chant units establish a tech recovery zone; high‑value target transfer can be launched five minutes later.】

This voice is not just an order; it is a proclamation—proclaiming that the sky, land, and every radio wave of this valley have been brought under Torch Dragon's absolute control.

The true encirclement hunt has begun.

The twelve standard "Iron Wolf‑Assault" units of the Dragon Riders spread out like a pack of mechanical wolves; under Torch Dragon's unified dispatch, their trajectories overlap neither nor leave any blind spots.

These drivers were personally taught by Li Yang and Chen Guang using simulators and the Torch Dragon AI training module, and their operating style bears a clear Dragon Chant imprint.

Efficient, precise—each step seems to have been computed by an optimal solution.

An Iron Wolf suddenly turned amid the rubble, its mechanical feet scraping a short screech on the wet, slippery rock, and its right‑arm non‑lethal sonic cannon locked onto the target as the turn completed.

A white‑elephant sniper hid in a rock crevice, still holding his rifle.

With a soft "pfft," a special‑frequency sound wave was precisely injected into the crevice.

The sniper cried out, dropped his rifle, and clutched his ears as he curled up on the ground.

"Torch Dragon, the G‑11 sector target has been subdued," the driver said in a calm, unfluctuating voice.

【Confirmed. The target's vital signs have been marked as "combat‑ineffective."】

【Sector cleared. Please proceed to H‑5 via the navigation line—three personnel carrying technical documents are attempting to flee toward the stream.】

"Received."

The navigation line lit up on the driver's helmet AR interface, showing the optimal path that bypasses all obstacles.

The driver need not think at all; he only needs to follow that glowing line—this is the exclusive route Torch Dragon calculates in real time for every unit on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the battlefield, the Longyin Research Institute's own guard detachment was displaying a different combat logic.

This roughly thirty‑person unit is currently operating in three‑person teams.

They wear not the Dragon Riders' standard "Iron Wolf" but individually customized versions of the Iron Wolf exoskeleton.

Each set has its own unique modifications and paint job, and the functional modules vary from person to person.

A guard squad leader callsign "Gray Fox" has his exoskeleton fitted with an expansion pack on the back, integrating a micro‑drone nest and a small signal jammer.

At this moment he is crouched beside an overturned command vehicle, the tablet on his arm displaying Torch Dragon's sent‑through interior‑structure X‑ray of the vehicle.

"The vehicle's data core has a physical destruction device," Gray Fox said, his gaze sweeping quickly across the X‑ray.

"But the backup power is still connected… Torch Dragon, can you remotely blow its fuse?"

【Attempting… the target vehicle uses an old‑style physical fuse that cannot be blown remotely. Recommend on‑site handling.】

"Received."

Gray Fox gave a hand signal, and a teammate behind him immediately stepped forward.

This teammate's exoskeleton right hand had been modified into a multifunctional mechanical hand; the fingertips shot out tiny probes that precisely entered the door lock.

Three seconds later, the door popped open with a "click."

Inside, a white‑elephant technical officer, sweating profusely, was trying to pry open a metal box with a screwdriver.

That was the safe for the vehicle's data recorder.

"Don't move," Gray Fox said, his gun already aimed at him. "Hands off the box."

The officer froze, then slowly raised both hands.

The mechanical‑hand teammate stepped forward and carefully examined the safe.

"It has a vibration sensor and an acid‑destruction device… but the trigger mechanism is quite old‑fashioned."

He pried open a side cover plate, cut two wires, then entered a code.

This code had just been reverse‑engineered by Torch Dragon after cracking the vehicle's communications system.

The safe clicked open, revealing a dozen or so military‑grade solid‑state drives.

"Data intact," the teammate reported.

【Confirmed. Tagged as "High‑Value Technical Intelligence‑01." Please hand it over to the Dragon Chant tech recovery team.】

Not far away, Wang Hao and Chen Guang had already brought several technicians to set up a temporary analysis point.

Seven or eight customized Iron Wolf exoskeletons formed a circle, their support arms unfolding into makeshift workbenches covered with various testing equipment.

"Hurry, hurry, bring the drives over!" Wang Hao exclaimed, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

"Let Brother Hao see how many backdoors those Eagle Country bastards hid in their exoskeletons!"

Chen Guang, meanwhile, was more interested in another prize—a basically intact "Mountain Hound" exoskeleton.

He crouched nearby, his scanner emitting a faint hum.

"The power core is a hydrogen fuel‑cell stack, its peak output only a third of our Dragon Core micro‑reactor," Chen Guang said without looking up.

"But their energy‑management system is interesting… three‑layer isomorphic redundancy control, likely to guard against EMP attacks."

"All flash and no substance," Wang Hao snorted.

"Why not just slap on a shield generator and be done with it? By the way, speaking of shields, Old Zhao, have our numbers come out yet?"

Zhao Kaiyuan stood a bit farther away, having spread out several data‑recording modules taken from the shield generators of the Justice Beast.

His exoskeleton's left arm was fitted with a high‑precision multi‑parameter analyzer, and he was now plugging its probes one by one into the module interfaces.

"The combat data looks better than the lab results," Zhao Kaiyuan said, rare smile spreading across his face.

"The low temperature on the plateau boosts the superconducting loop's efficiency by 5.8%, but the instantaneous power fluctuations from frequent cycling are indeed a problem."

"Look at this curve—the shield's stability time when taking the third armor‑piercing round is 0.07 seconds longer than after the first two shots."

"0.07 seconds?" Li Yang also stepped over, having just finished inspecting that tank‑cutting Justice Beast.

On the battlefield I've already died three times. Need to modify the control algorithm.

"Already working on it." Chen Guang interjected, "The 'Torch Dragon' simulated seventeen optimization schemes based on combat data; we can test them on the test bench after returning to base."

Several top technicians were right there on the battlefield discussing technical details, completely ignoring the surrounding environment.

Around them, other Dragon Chant Guard members vigilantly kept watch; the variously modified "Iron Wolf" exoskeletons formed a mobile defensive perimeter.

But the most shocking scene on the battlefield came from three Prison Beast units at the valley's center.

Under the command of the Torch Dragon, they did not continue to participate in the mop-up, but instead did something more symbolic.

The three mechs stood in an equilateral triangle, each a hundred meters apart.

They simultaneously activated the shoulder-mounted holographic projection modules, and three massive light curtains unfolded in the air, remaining clearly visible even under the plateau's strong sunlight.

What was played on the light curtains was edited battlefield footage:

"Prison Beast" airdropping, flipping tanks, hard-resisting missile salvoes, laser-cutting tanks, shields blocking armor-piercing rounds—each segment is an intuitive display of technological domination.

But even more deadly, real-time comparative data scrolled alongside the footage.

Comparisons of protective coefficients between Dragon Scale Armor and Mountain Hunting Dog Armor, energy density comparisons between the Dragon Heart reactor and hydrogen fuel cells, penetration depth comparisons between laser weapons and traditional artillery—

For every datum, Dragon Chant's equipment led by at least an order of magnitude.

These images and data were broadcast by the Torch Dragon in multiple languages and frequency bands, circulating throughout the entire valley region.

Not only visual, but also radio broadcasts, and even directly transmitted into each white elephant soldier's ears via directed sound-wave generators.

Psychological warfare—begun.

"What… what exactly are we fighting against?" a young white elephant soldier slumped to the ground, blankly staring at the mech on the light curtain that sliced a tank in one blow.

"Monsters… they've created monsters…" the veteran beside him muttered.

The speed of surrender began to increase.

White elephant soldiers in droves walked out of their hiding places, dropped their weapons, and raised their hands.

The Dragon Cavalry's Iron Wolf squad moved forward in an orderly manner, collecting weapons, searching personnel, and concentrating them for supervision.

Finally, over ten senior officers were surrounded in an open space at the valley's center.

Before them, a speaker on an Iron Wolf emitted the calm electronic voice of the Torch Dragon:

"The battle has ended."

"You can choose to continue meaningless resistance, with the outcome being becoming a casualty statistic."

"Or, lay down your weapons and accept prisoner-of-war treatment in accordance with international law."

"Countdown: thirty seconds."

A huge countdown number appeared on the light curtain.

29…28…27…

The commander looked around.

His troops had collapsed, heavy equipment was completely destroyed, communications were totally cut, and morale had dropped to zero.

More importantly, the technological gap displayed by the opponent had completely shattered his—and every officer present's—will to fight.

When the countdown reached fifteen seconds, he trembled as he undid his waist holster.

The pistol fell onto the gravel ground, emitting a dull thud.

Then came the second officer, the third…

When the countdown stopped at '7', the last officer also lowered his weapon.

The voice of the Torch Dragon sounded again:

【Confirmation: enemy command chain has fully surrendered.】

【Battlefield control rate: 99.3%】

【Commencing final cleanup procedure.】

The entire valley seemed to exhale at that moment.

The Dragon Cavalry troops began to tighten the encirclement, gathering the scattered prisoners into several designated areas.

The Dragon Chant Guard squad sped up technical recovery—those wrecks, hard drives, and even living technical officers were all precious 'data'.

Wang Hao watched batch after batch of prisoners being escorted past, then nudged Chen Guang: "Hey, you think… did we go overboard this time?"

"I reckon the world's intelligence agencies are all in an uproar."

Chen Guang pushed up his glasses: "According to Torch Dragon's monitoring, during the battle six reconnaissance satellites adjusted their orbits to lock onto this area, and outside the boundary there were at least four high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft circling."

"On the electronic spectrum we also intercepted seventeen dense reconnaissance signals from different sources."

"So they can see everything clearly, right?"

"That's exactly what we want them to see." Li Yang walked over, his face flushed with excitement.

"If they don't see clearly, how will they know how strong we are? How will they know what attitude to adopt when dealing with us in the future?"

Feng Yan also ended his call with Lei Jindong at this point and walked over to the group.

He looked toward the distant, dejected prisoners, then lifted his gaze to the azure sky.

"They won't just look," Feng Yan whispered, "they'll try every means to figure out how we did it."

As if to confirm his words, the tablet on Chen Guang's arm suddenly emitted a sharp alarm.

Everyone's gaze snapped toward it.

"Abnormal signal detected!" Chen Guang's fingers flew across the screen.

"Distance… northwest of the valley, straight-line distance 4.7 kilometers."

"The signal characteristics are strange—it's not white elephant equipment, nor does it resemble common reconnaissance gear…"

"It lasted only a short time, just two seconds, then disappeared."

"Can we track it?" Feng Yan asked.

"'Torch Dragon' is already under retrospective analysis, but the signal is too clean, almost leaving no traceable electromagnetic signature," Chen Guang furrowed his brows.

"It's like… professional intelligence‑gathering equipment, and the operator knows how to evade our surveillance."

Zhao Kaiyuan slowly spoke: "It seems some 'guests' don't want to be merely spectators."

Wang Hao grinned: "Isn't that exactly what we want? Brother Hao, I've been wanting to try out those new 'little toys' we've been working on for a long time."

"Those Mechanical Spiders, dragonflies, haven't found a chance for real combat yet!"