29 Eagle’s Crash (2/2)
The building crumpled under the force of explosion, a hollow space left behind by the missile.
”Direct hit. Great shooting.”
”Target spotted. Wait! What is that! Dammit.”
”Eagle-II, report the situation. Eagle-I…”
”Crashing! Crashing! Please send assistance.” Sounds of chaos.
From the explosion, a giant emerged. No, to be accurate, it was a giant gun.
A dark red energy began to focus before ejecting a beam.
The red ray cast a straight line across the sky.
It didn’t directly hit any helicopters, but it rendered all electronic devices in the area useless.
<Warning! EMP strike>
The power armor’s EMP resistors opened suddenly, but all the devices suffered different degrees of damage before they were triggered.
Because of the EMP resistance, all communication signals were blocked.
”Fuck! EMP! Jump!” Wang Shiwu roared into the intercom. In the rapidly plummeting craft he managed to regain his foothold. With heavy steps, he walked to the door and jumped out.
Due to the power armor’s sophisticated design, it was only momentarily disabled before all functionality returned. The two helicopters, however, did not have the same fate as the EMP instantaneously destroyed all electronic devices aboard.
Wang Shiwu gaped at the giant red barrel.
[What the hell is this? A creature that can emit EMPs? Destroyed the helicopter without even directly hitting target.]
<Landing device activated.>
After he read the letters in his helmet, Wang Shiwu let out a sigh of relief.
Cracks emerged from his knees, waist and shoulder as the small turbo engine appeared under the metal surface. Wang Shiwu felt a sudden jostle before he finally regained control.
The soldiers began to land on the ground.
”Mutation virus, concentration level 97. Dammit, what is this goddamn thing?” His comrade spoke through the intercom.
”Stay alert! Make sure everything is sealed. These floating viruses are giving me a bad feeling.” Wang Shiwu checked the air filtration device. These viruses covered the filter in minutes.
The concentration was so high they were almost in chunks. The greenish-yellow appearance made their stomachs clench in disgust.
[Should we evade first?] The thought crossed his mind before he decided that he must figure out the terrifying barrel’s origin.
The helicopters were already destroyed. Even if Liuding sent support, it would be extremely dangerous.
”Be cautious of filter status, prepare for attack!”
”Roger.”
In case anything happened, Wang Shiwu cautiously recorded the picture of the battlefield and sent it to the command center. He grabbed the machine gun from his back and pushed forward.
There was no response from the command center. The virus could block radio communication?
Probable, since the ray created an EMP effect, so the virus definitely had something to do with it.
No, this was still too odd!
Normally these extremely dangerous creatures would attract other mutated creatures to feast on, but there were no rats to be seen in the area.
It was peculiar!
Wang Shiwu was drenched in sweat before he heard the screams of his comrades.
”Above us! What the hell is this?!”
Wang Shiwu immediately looked up. Energy began to fill the red biological cannon once more.
There was nothing in the sky. What was this thing shooting at?
”Fire! Immediately!”
Without any time to think, Wang Shiwu ordered the attack with his gut feeling.
Twelve power-armored soldiers focused fire on the red cannon. The bullets shot out in clusters. No one knew if it would do anything, but there were no other solutions.
Five hundred meters was the effective range of machine guns. The spark from the bullets cast a glow on each of the vicious faces as the rapidly rotating barrels unleashed its firepower.
Suddenly, the half-building-tall cannon contracted. It was no longer charging.
Wang Shiwu was surprised that their bullets were effective against this creature.
But they were proven wrong as another explanation presented itself—the energy had been filled to the maximum.
With terrified expressions, they watched as the cannon exploded.
The red flash submerged the entire area in shockwaves that emitted across the radius of explosion. Silence ensued.
A few red-colored ”meatballs” were propelled into the distance with the help of the explosion.
”Eagle-1, Eagle-II, Dark Knight Offline.”
”Life signal is changing! Target is dividing!”
The commander’s face had gloom written all over it. His hawkish eyes stared at the full-sensory screen in the air.
The 90141 crystal energy symbol disappeared and was replaced by 12 unevenly distributed energy life forms.
The mission had failed.
The commander was not saddened by the loss of the 12 combatants and 4 pilots. Under their virtual reality training program, it was easy to produce these types of talents.
But the two attack helicopters and the twelve sets of MAX-I Power Armors cost a total of 220,000 energy crystals.
This was a disaster.
As to how the mutant creatures would impact the wasteland? The future is unknown.