Chapter 188: A One-Man War (3)

If it could be said that Sun Cheng had occupied this abandoned United States Nuclear Missile Silo as a base in the beginning simply because it was sufficiently concealed and had a massive underground space, allowing him to save a significant amount of time on construction.

Then now, he had already begun to rejoice at his initial choice.

Because this was just so damn advantageous!

"... Commander, we have discovered a large amount of surveillance equipment during our advance; it is very clear that the enemy is hiding inside this Nuclear Missile Silo..."

Captain Robert, with a bandage wrapped around his forehead, carried several pieces of heavily damaged surveillance equipment in his hands and squeezed into the Infantry Fighting Vehicle where Major William was located.

Major William looked at the injury on his head with a sunken face; it was not caused by encountering the enemy or by a landmine explosion, but rather came from the United States military itself.

That's right, the NEST unit's own equipped eight M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, while clearing mines and sweeping a path forward for the vanguard, had—despite some precision adjustments—still continued the United States military's consistent tradition of accidentally injuring their own people; one rocket unfortunately exploded not far from Captain Robert, who was inspecting the front.

What was slightly worth rejoicing about was that it did not cause serious casualties, though seven or eight United States soldiers and commanders, including Captain Robert, were caught in the blast and thus suffered varying degrees of injury.

The NEST unit's several M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems had already fired all their stored rockets and now had to stop.

However, they had indeed completed their Task; with the dense rain of rockets precisely covering a certain area, they had already cleared a reasonably safe path forward for the NEST unit's tank units.

Taking the damaged surveillance equipment from his old partner's hands, Major William looked at them and soon tossed them to the side, asking, "Still no encounter with enemy targets?"

This was probably the most stifling battle he had fought since enlisting!

The NEST unit's vanguard was on the verge of pushing to the Nuclear Missile Silo, but look at what they had been encountering!

Landmines spread across nearly twenty kilometers, Anti-aircraft missiles hiding who knows where, and surveillance equipment distributed everywhere.

Dozens of Apache helicopters circled and searched in the sky above, yet they could not find a target to strike!

Dozens of M1A2 United States main battle tanks on the ground came menacingly, yet they could not find a target to strike!

There were even nearly a thousand fully armed soldiers carefully following the advance, yet they still could not find a target to strike!

The Autobots had already been filled with a belly of anger from this unpleasant battle, and the usually hot-tempered Ironhide had even just left him; he had come to see Major William with only one request, hoping that this nominal Commander of the NEST unit would agree to his battle plan: to let them charge in with no holds barred, drag out those cowardly Decepticons hiding like moles inside the Nuclear Missile Silo, and give them a good beating.

And it must be said, for a moment, Major William truly had the intention of agreeing to the other party.

That Decepticon called Frenzy was more insidious than imagined; he cunningly hid inside the Nuclear Missile Silo, and although this silo had been abandoned for many years, it was built during the peak of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and the construction standards were entirely built according to the rigid requirement of being able to withstand a nuclear strike.

Therefore, the Bunker-busting Missiles equipped by the United States military, including the GBU-28, GBU-37, and GBU-43, were not enough to destroy the Nuclear Missile Silo.

A MOP bomb might be able to; as a heavy Bunker-busting Missile recently developed by the United States military, the power of the MOP was naturally not bad.

Last time in the battle at Tucson, the NEST unit had used a MOP bomb.

However, judging from the data collected by the cleanup unit after the battle ended, although the MOP bomb had immense power and had faithfully completed its mission—that is, causing a large amount of collapse to Starscream's underground base.

Its high temperature and explosive damage were far from as good as they had performed at the United States military test site; Starscream's underground base was still found to have its main body intact after being sorted out, which showed that it might be able to easily destroy underground facilities built by other Earth countries.

But in terms of striking underground bases built by visitors from beyond the stars, the high temperature and explosive damage of the MOP bomb were far inferior to the collapse damage it caused when destroying underground bunkers.

Not to mention, the unit cost of one MOP bomb was nearly sixteen million United States dollars.

To completely destroy the targets that might be hiding in the Nuclear Missile Silo, they conservatively estimated they needed at least four or five.

This already exceeded one-third of the total amount of MOP bombs currently procured by the United States military, so Major William was very clear that the military would absolutely not approve.

Captain Robert was also filled with a belly of anger from this terrible battle; hearing this, he irritably took off his military cap from his head and shook it with a gloomy, naturally dark, foul face.

"It's really like playing a 'Whac-A-Mole' game; this Decepticon called Frenzy is too insidious. He should still be hiding inside the Nuclear Missile Silo, but he just won't come out. If we want to ensure his destruction, besides using a MOP bomb to destroy the Nuclear Missile Silo, we can only risk going down into the silo!"

This was indeed a risk!

Major William heard the meaning in his words; Captain Robert hoped he would allow the Autobots to sortie, but he still had some hesitation!

Indeed, just on the ground, the other party had deployed so many means, causing them to already start experiencing combat attrition and not a few losses before even contacting the target.

One could imagine that below the Nuclear Missile Silo, the traps would certainly be no fewer.

But!

With his brows tightly furrowed, Major William asked him for a cigarette, lit it, and took a few puffs before finally making up his mind.

"Captain, notify the Autobots side, let them prepare to go down into the silo..."

"Commander..."

Robert looked at him with some surprise, his face full of disbelief.

Major William still had the cigarette in his mouth, but a touch of desolation flashed in his eyes.

The NEST unit, accurately called the 'Earth and Autobot Joint Military', was a joint armed force established by the United States government and the Autobot Leader Optimus Prime after consultation, with the purpose of jointly striking the evil Decepticons who had also descended onto Earth.

Although Optimus Prime had made quite a few concessions in the process of forming this unit, this Autobot Leader clearly underestimated the fear and wariness the United States government and that group of politicians had toward them.

After Major William was appointed to command this joint unit, he had been received by many bigwigs including the President, and more than one person had given him this instruction: "In cooperation, you still need to maintain vigilance against the Autobots, monitor all their actions, and pay attention to demonstrating the power of the United States military, keeping this armed force under the control of the United States as much as possible!"

Clearly, the United States government did not want to see the Autobots use the NEST unit to figure out all their trump cards; although they chose to cooperate with the Autobots, they never let down their vigilance and guard against these visitors from beyond the stars from beginning to end, and even painstakingly wanted to control the Autobots.

"Forget it, the Task is urgent. At worst, I'll go back to being my Captain..."

After making the decision, Major William felt a sense of relief in his heart.

He smiled bitterly and nodded at Captain Robert, but in his heart, he understood that, unknowingly, even he himself had admitted that the conventional military power of the United States military was truly not worth mentioning in front of those Autobots and Decepticons.

Captain Robert received his order and immediately jumped off the moving Infantry Fighting Vehicle to contact the Autobots.

Just after the Captain left, the communicator Major William held in his hand suddenly rang after a crackle.

"Commander, radar has detected incoming missiles..."

Major William's expression changed slightly; he hurriedly spat out the unfinished cigarette butt and urgently asked, "What is the situation? Can the radar determine the number and type of incoming missiles?"

"Target has been locked... confirmed there are a total of thirty missiles; the type should be Hellfire Missiles... however, this should be an unknown type of Hellfire Missile. Currently, the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Helicopter Squadrons have been confirmed to be locked by missiles and are conducting tactical evasion and counterattacks..."

"Boom..."

Before the report from the communicator was finished, a harsh explosion sounded in the sky outside.

Major William hurriedly leaned toward the side window of the Infantry Fighting Vehicle, trying to look outside.

Unfortunately, because of the field of vision, he could not see the situation outside from inside the vehicle at all.

Just as he was about to jump off the Infantry Fighting Vehicle to observe the situation, more explosions began to come continuously from the sky outside the vehicle, and at the same time, the communication channels inside the vehicle began to continuously emit voices from various channels.

"... Infrared Interference Shells cannot interfere with the incoming missiles, no..."

"All units pay attention, use air-to-air missiles directly..."

"... Damn it, what kind of Hellfire Missile is this? Infrared Interference Shells have no effect on it..."

The communication channel of the infantry fighting vehicle was suddenly filled with voices from the several armed helicopter squadrons in the sky, ranging from cursing and warnings to wailing; following the continuous sounds of explosions, it all came and ended quickly.

After the sounds of explosions outside soon ceased, Major William's heart sank, and he hurriedly raised the communicator in his hand to ask: "Data Center, report the casualties..."

Soon, there was a reply from the other side.

"Sir, nine Apaches have crashed, two are heavily damaged, and four need to return for emergency repairs... Those unknown models of Hellfire Missile are faster than the Hellfire we are equipped with, and they are not affected by infrared interference..."

Major William's body trembled slightly; this loss had already exceeded the psychological bottom line that the military could accept.

Gently covering his forehead, he leaned back against the fighting vehicle, and only after a while did he calmly order: "I understand. Intensify the search for the source of the missiles, rule out possible..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a burst of electromagnetic noise suddenly came from the communicator.

The next moment, a violent explosion kicked up a terrifying shockwave.

Before he could react, the infantry fighting vehicle he was in was directly flipped into mid-air by a violently incoming shockwave, turned upside down at a height of several meters from the ground, and soon fell back to the ground.

"Boom..."

In an instant, the caught-off-guard Major William slammed his head against the fighting vehicle's control console, which was crackling with sparks, and immediately passed out.