Chapter 401: The vanished battle line
"Vroom..." "Vroom..."
The roar of vehicle engines became the dominant sound as wheeled and tracked vehicles, armored and unarmored alike, shuttled along the border supply routes.
Powerful floodlights lit the surroundings as brightly as day.
Squads of high-spirited soldiers sat aboard troop transports. Most had fought on the front lines; every one of them was a veteran.
They wore neat Cold-Weather Mountain Camouflage and carried rugged new weapons.
"Tap, tap... tap, tap... tap, tap..."
Even in the mountains, footsteps throughout the camps and battle lines remained perfectly synchronized.
The border lay at a high elevation, but the soldiers' physical fitness had improved enormously. Altitude sickness had all but ceased to be an issue.
In the mountains and forests beyond the border battle line, large numbers of combat engineers had finished their work and were returning to the border one group after another.
Along the ridgeline, cranes rumbled as they hoisted their loads.
A heavily armored hatch cover was lowered precisely onto the top of a hulking structure.
"Assembly complete! Engage mechanical coupling!"
Inside the behemoth, an operator inserted and turned a Key. The lights beside both the manual and automatic coupling controls came on. He pressed the automatic coupling button, and a series of muffled mechanical sounds rang out.
"Clack..." "Clack..." ...
Every joint in the armed defense station locked tightly together. Structural fastening and high-strength mechanical clamps provided two layers of security, with a design strong enough to keep the connections intact even if a violent impact deformed the entire structure.
A dozen seconds later, the whole station lit up with searchlights, and its armored combat turret rose into position on top on a hydraulic lift.
Mechanical roars sounded everywhere. As far as the eye could see, Mobile Armed Defense Stations, originally designed