Wang Qiang drove around the airport perimeter, circling it for a full lap.
Half an hour later, the sergeant finally gave up. He had kept his head sticking out the window the whole time, and his neck was nearly broken.
He spun the steering wheel, slammed the accelerator to the floor, and the battered military jeep let out an unwilling wail before charging into the boundless wilderness.
Dodging large chunks of rubble and potholes that appeared every now and then, he zigzagged along for another twenty minutes.
The jeep accelerated, and amid the roar of the engine, it suddenly charged up a rubble slope with a drop of more than ten meters.
The vehicle hung in the air for an instant before crashing heavily back down.
Li Wei's body jolted with it. Then, all at once, her view opened up.
Within her field of vision, a marching column appeared out of nowhere, stretching so far that neither its front nor its rear could be seen.
A steel flood rolled forward across the gray-white wasteland.
Tens of thousands of soldiers, countless military trucks, infantry fighting vehicles, and self-propelled artillery formed a gray river surging northward.
Among the ranks, the "Mountain Ogre" heavy mechs advanced in wheeled cruising mode with their four legs folded away. Each one resembled a moving hill, silent and oppressive.
Smoke and dust billowed across the sky, and the entire earth trembled faintly.
Wang Qiang swung the jeep into a beautiful drift, steadily entering the flank of the marching column and speeding along in the direction the formation was moving.
Li Wei leaned against the window and watched the nearby scene.
The military trucks were packed with soldiers wearing "Dragon Scale Armor" powered exoskeletons.
Most of them had already leaned against the truck beds and fallen deeply asleep.