Chapter 863: ALL-OUT WAR 17

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

The sound of automatic rifles and light machine guns firing filled the entire battlefield with spurting tongues of flame.

However, everyone noticed that the tongues of flame were constantly diminishing.

"Help, Point Four needs support!"

"Point Seven, four enemies have converged... quick, RPG!"

"Hill Five has fallen..."

"174th Company has lost contact..."

"Retreat... we need to retreat!"

The sounds of screaming, calling for reinforcements, and shouting to retreat were constant; Tombstone was suffering the most difficult battle since its inception.

Inside a moving command vehicle, the several commanders of Tombstone all had pale faces without exception.

When NEST was first established, due to a terrifying hypothesis about Autobots infiltrating the United States military, the Pentagon, although it ultimately approved the creation of NEST, maintained extremely strict control over personnel and equipment.

They only gave NEST the establishment of a regiment, and although the equipment was mobilized according to the organization of a United States mechanized unit, even at its peak, NEST was not at full strength.

Later, Tombstone was rebuilt on the foundation of NEST.

However, because the United States had already completely fallen out with the Autobots when Tombstone was established, the mission of this unit at its inception expanded from the NEST-era strikes against evil Decepticons to include all extraterrestrials, including Autobots.

Consequently, the subsequent expansion of Tombstone did not suffer the same suppression as in the NEST era.

In fact, because the CIA, the largest intelligence agency in the United States, attempted to control this armed force, it received unprecedented support.

Therefore, Tombstone had been sailing smoothly since its inception, getting whatever personnel and equipment it requested.

Although the Pentagon, out of vigilance toward the CIA, never loosened its grip on the scale of Tombstone, still stubbornly insisting on only a regimental establishment.

However, in other aspects, the Pentagon did not offend the CIA too badly, giving them almost whatever they asked for.

Thanks to this, although it had only been rebuilt for about a year, Tombstone was now almost at full strength, and its various weapons and equipment were even stronger than a regular United States mechanized infantry regiment.

It is just a pity that although Tombstone had previously launched several encirclement and suppression campaigns against Decepticons at home and abroad, and had indeed achieved some results, killing some Decepticons.

But their opponents this time were clearly not the small numbers from the past, so much so that after the Army Aviation and Air Force transport planes dropped the bulk of Tombstone and their equipment, they had barely occupied a few positions and had not yet finished building their defensive lines.

The Decepticons, numbering as many as thirty or forty, had already charged to the front and launched a cold-blooded massacre of Tombstone.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

Boom!

The sounds of explosions and gunfire became increasingly sparse, and the screams of the Tombstone soldiers thinned out accordingly.

After the previous United States cruise missile bombardment, most of the surviving Decepticons were Advanced Warriors, and almost every one of them possessed the ability to face an elite, fully armed United States company alone and annihilate it in a very short time.

Although Tombstone was equipped with large-caliber artillery and many heavy weapons, it is a pity that the United States military overestimated their combat effectiveness and underestimated the Decepticons.

So much so that the ground battle they pinned their hopes on lasted less than an hour before only sporadic, short bursts of gunfire could be heard.

Tombstone was almost completely wiped out.

"Tombstone has been almost completely annihilated!"

Sun Cheng received this intelligence almost immediately, with an efficiency no slower than the United States military command center.

He felt very pleased about the destruction of this special United States unit.

Tombstone was a special counter-attack unit established by the United States military specifically to target extraterrestrials.

Unlike the NEST era, Tombstone, deeply influenced by the radical intelligence agency CIA, had shown a completely different, aggressive posture since its reconstruction.

Whether in North America, Europe, or the Middle East, where United States influence is deep, or in East Asia and even the Pan-Pacific region, over the past year or so, Tombstone had been tracking the trails of lone Decepticons, and once they latched on, it was a fight to the death.

The same was true in South America; some Decepticons even deliberately lured Tombstone to South America, where they had several brief skirmishes with the Decepticon patrol under Sun Cheng.

Although still very weak, Base No. 2 had also noticed that the United States military was deliberately targeting the weaknesses of Cybertronians and researching weapons that would cause them greater harm.

In a sense, if they sat by and watched Tombstone continue to develop, relying on the scientific research strength of the most powerful military power on Earth behind them, perhaps in a few years, Tombstone would truly be capable of threatening Autobots and Decepticons above the Advanced Warrior level.

Therefore, Sun Cheng secretly applauded the Decepticons for almost completely wiping out this special unit.

With the Black Market involved, he could not openly move against Tombstone, at least the Americans had not openly moved against him either.

Both sides had their own needs, and a relatively fragile cooperative relationship had gradually been established; at least Sun Cheng was not prepared to destroy it for the time being.

The Decepticons crippling Tombstone actually saved him a lot of trouble.

The United States military is not like some traditional land-power nations where soldiers possess a firm will to face death without fear on the battlefield.

The rout of Tombstone and the previous Canadian mechanized infantry brigade would make the United States military more cautious about sending ground troops into the fray.

Plus, the Autobots were also traveling with all their might and were almost about to reach the battlefield.

Sun Cheng calculated the time and issued an order.

"Pass the word down, prepare to launch the Temperature Difference Bomb!"

"Yes!"

The four Golden Eagle Fighters hovering in outer space, upon receiving the order, decisively aimed the Temperature Difference Bombs already loaded into the launch bays at the positions on the ground and fired.

"This is an attitude!"

Sun Cheng explained to the Pioneer, who still did not understand why he had to intervene.

"The Decepticon Legion, with the return of Megatron and the arrival of Shockwave and the main force, will become the common enemy of the Autobots, us, and humanity. For a long time to come, neither the Autobots, nor us, nor humanity will have the ability to face the Decepticon Legion alone!"

He crossed his hands in front of him, his expression exceptionally serious.

"We need to unite, even if it is only a superficial union."

"This time is a stepping stone. I think Optimus Prime must have realized this too, which is why he traveled thousands of miles from Africa to the Arctic Circle to support the United States, with whom they are not on good terms, in order to repair the relationship between himself and humanity!"