Chapter 974 - Arranging It Clearly (2/2)
“Alert! Unknown target discovered!”
It was more than ten minutes later that the Kunde floating base, which had become blind, was suddenly cured of its ‘cataracts’. They found, to their surprise, a scout troop on the surface.
Everybody within the base received a shock, scurrying around like ants.
The intelligence report was quickly sent over to the commander of the floating base. In his office, the commander opened his eyes wide as his anger rose.
“When did this group of enemies land, and why didn’t you spot them earlier? Were you neglecting your duties‽”
The leader of the radar operators defended his team. “The radar did not even respond, and it was probably avoided by the enemy’s scouts with more advanced camouflage!”
“It’s too scary. With this sort of technology, if they chose to ambush us, we would have long fallen!” The base commander had a frightened look before turning furious. “Sneaking in like that, do you think we don’t exist!”
“Commander, think about it. The opponent has this kind of strength, yet they chose not to ambush us but land on the surface instead. Why is that so?”
Hearing this, the commander’s eyes flashed, and he abruptly slammed the table, bellowing, “I understand now. They obviously know that we’re here, but they chose not to attack because their manpower is insufficient, and they are not confident about getting rid of us! To actually not even put us in their eyes, swaggering before us to collect intelligence, they’re too arrogant. We have to make them pay the price!”
Pausing briefly, the commander rose up and shouted, “Order the fleet to encircle the enemy. Don’t let a single one of them escape!”
From his side, the Vice Commander added, “Commander, with all due respect, we should try to capture a few of them alive. The upper echelons wish to research them. This is a chance for us.”
The Commander’s eyes lit up, and he added with a joyous expression, “That’s right. I almost forgot. The upper echelons want these supers, and now that they have sent themselves up to us, we can just capture them and bring them back with us!”
…
In the abandoned military base, Nero’s troops were in the midst of exploration. The power supply had been disconnected for a long time. Thus, the area was dark and completely silent. Everyone could only hear each other’s breathing and footsteps echoing. The atmosphere reeked of horror and suspense.
Nero released several small mechanical pathfinder bees, which radiated a strong light, leading the way in front and illuminating the underground base.
Without electricity, the access control of the base was rendered invalid, and doors could only be forcibly opened. A few high-energy ray guns were enough to turn the closed metal door into a pile of red molten steel, so they were unobstructed throughout.
After walking with the team for a while, Nero’s bad feeling grew stronger, and he could not help but open his mouth.
“Commander, I feel that something is amiss here.”
“Which part?” the captain asked.
“I can’t put a finger on it.”
“In that case…” The captain frowned before giving out the order. “Take a few men with you to follow us from a short distance behind. Take care of our retreat route. I’ll go with some others to check out the abnormal energy source.”
The captain picked a few members to follow Nero while he led the rest to continue ahead.
Nero waited at the same spot for a while before the voice of the captain was heard from the communicator.
“We’ve arrived at the area of the strange energy source, but there’s nothing here.”
Nero’s heart constricted, and he immediately opened his shared vision. He saw through the captain’s eyes an empty warehouse, without even a single hair.
However, the signal marked by the radar referred to that area. The coordinates were exactly the same, so they could not have turned into a wrong area.
“Is it a false alarm by the radar?” Nero swallowed. “Or…”
Boom!
Before he could react, a violent shock burst out!
“Warning! High-energy strike detected! Please avoid it!”
Boom!
The sound of artillery bombardment rang near his ears, and the support columns of the underground base suddenly collapsed!
The structure of the base disintegrated in an instant, and the floor tiles shattered, turning into a bottomless pit leading deeper down.
Nero only had enough time to open his shield to protect himself before being blown out by the shockwave of the explosion and smashing through the walls of the hallway, falling straight down.
From the communicator came exclamations from his teammates, but he could not care less when he could not even take care of himself. He was filled with anxiety.
Why were we ambushed‽
We clearly confirmed that this planet had no troops stationed!
At this moment, Nero could not think of any other explanation. In his eyes, there was only one possibility.
Dammit, this colonial planet was a trap! The enemy must have deliberately planned for this ambush! We’ve fallen for it!
Just as this idea flashed past his head, Nero hit the bottom with a heavy thud.
Bang!
A human shaped pit was formed, and a large cloud of smoke appeared.
Si!
The huge impact reverberated in his body, and he could not help but grit his teeth in pain.
But before he could stand up, a large piece of metal dropped toward him!
Nero only had the time to raise his hands and reactivate his shield, protecting himself.
Boom boom boom!
Debris rained down, covering every inch of Nero’s sight and burying him directly.
…
At this moment, in an abandoned city not far away, the Kunde fleet who had realized there were enemies had begun to exchange fire with the troops that had remained behind.
Rumble!
On top of the abandoned military base, there were several Kunde battleships docked. Their weapons were brought out, and they launched a bombardment at the base.
Boom!
Only when the entire base was reduced to ruins did those battleships finally stop firing.
The hatch opened, and a squad of Kunde armored soldiers jumped out of the cabin, landing on the ground and carrying their weapons to the base.
The life signals of Nero and his team were exposed to their radar, and the goal of the soldiers was to capture this small group of supers who were without the protection of their fleet.
“Good! The combat operation is a success!”
At this moment, the commander of the Kunde floating base smiled with satisfaction from the command room.
He, however, was unaware that a group of camouflaged mechanical soldiers was hovering outside the window, silently watching his every move.