"Yes, Division Commander!"
The orders went out.
Deep behind Li Guozhong's defensive positions, a vicious gleam flashed in the eyes of the thousand-plus soldiers of the exoskeleton armored regiment lying in ambush.
They had lain hidden for so long.
They had not even had time to use the toilet, wearing things like diapers instead!
All of it had been for this thunderous strike.
"Brothers, storm Blue Force's division headquarters! Capture Li Guozhong alive! Charge!"
In the dense forest, over a thousand soldiers in exoskeleton armor charged toward the rear positions, carrying Type 56-1 light machine guns.
Blue Force's tank regiment immediately moved to intercept them.
But the dense forest was too close to the positions.
The exoskeleton armored regiment crossed the tank positions with losses of less than half its strength.
Without lingering to fight, they rushed into the streets and alleys.
Exoskeletons were more agile than tanks and gave the soldiers wearing them tremendous strength.
A single soldier could operate a light machine gun!
Once they entered the streets and alleys, their firepower was ferocious.
The guard regiment defending division headquarters immediately closed in on them.
Both sides unleashed concentrated fire.
Countless soldiers were declared killed under the exercise rules.
At Blue Force's division headquarters.
"Division Commander, the enemy's exoskeleton armored troops are less than five kilometers away! If we don't relocate headquarters now, we risk being captured alive!"
"Latest report: the enemy has advanced another kilometer! With paratroopers guiding them to our location, they're clearly coming straight for headquarters!"
"Division Commander, please relocate!"
The clamor around Li Guozhong did not rob him of his judgment.
Ignoring the operations staff officers, he asked the communications soldier instead,
"Any word from the reconnaissance team?"
"Not yet. We lost contact an hour ago. Could they have..." The communications soldier looked dejected, hesitating as he spoke.
"They may indeed have been killed, but there's another possibility: they've penetrated deep into Red Force's core area and gone radio silent, simply to avoid detection by the enemy's electronic reconnaissance battalion."
At that, Li Guozhong could not help clenching his fists.
The decisive move was almost upon them.
Old Kong, are you ready?
At the exercise observation area.
Before the big screen.
The entire battlefield lay in plain view.
After finishing his final calculations, Luo Bing shook his head helplessly.
"I'm afraid Young Li can only hold out for another two hours at most. I never imagined that even the fully equipped 8th Marine Armored Combined Arms Division would suffer such a crushing defeat."
"It's consistent with last night's prediction. Blue Force lacks the terrain advantage, and Red Force's exoskeleton armor has indeed made a difference."
A trace of puzzlement flashed through Zhu Guodong's eyes as he spoke.
"But as soon as the exercise began, Young Li sent out a reconnaissance team, breaking it into smaller units to infiltrate Red Force's core area. They seemed to be heading for division headquarters."
"I'm curious. With so few troops, he couldn't take headquarters even if he found it. Just what is that reconnaissance force supposed to accomplish?"
"It's baffling!"
Luo Bing chuckled. "Whatever the point is, Blue Force is already doomed to lose. It's about time we left. There's no point watching any longer."
Zhu Guodong nodded in agreement.
Ten minutes later.
At Blue Force's division headquarters.
The communications soldier stood at attention and announced loudly,
"Reporting, Division Commander! Urgent battlefield intelligence! The vanguard of the enemy's exoskeleton armored regiment is less than one kilometer away!"
The staff officer beside him turned pale with shock. Even Li Guozhong, who had remained as steady as Mount Tai, trembled.
Less than a kilometer meant they could fight their way to headquarters' doorstep in under half an hour.
"Division Commander, let's withdraw!"
"Division Commander!!"
"..."
Everyone in headquarters began urging him.
Li Guozhong was finding it a little hard to hold on, too.
But he knew that even if they withdrew, defeat would only be a matter of time.
Ring, ring-
A landline suddenly rang urgently, and the communications operator answered at once.
Then his eyes lit up.
"Reporting, Division Commander! Our forward scouts report that they've located the enemy division headquarters! Coordinates: 79°33′E, 32°51′N."
Bang!
Li Guozhong slammed a fist onto the table beside him, splashing water out of a cup.
Everyone shot him startled looks.
He paid them no heed and immediately made a call.
"Yixue, Tong Yao, your target is Red Force's division command headquarters. Coordinates: 79°33′E, 32°51′N. You two have ten minutes. Capture every last one of them alive!"
The reply came, "Five minutes is enough," and the call ended.
"Old Kong, oh, Old Kong. This time, I want to see how you cry!"
Li Guozhong tossed his phone to the communications soldier.
He had him connect it to headquarters' large display.
The communications soldier was bewildered. There hardly seemed to be anything to see on the pitch-black phone screen.
But an order from the division commander had to be carried out.
Once it was connected, everyone discovered that the screen was split in two, displaying two separate feeds.
But it was so dark that they could not make out what they were looking at.
Just then.
A deafening sound suddenly erupted from the screen.
The black cloth covering the mechas was shattered by the vibrations.
The view suddenly opened up.
Two sharply contoured mechas, gleaming with a metallic sheen, appeared before the eyes of everyone in headquarters.
Bold, savage steel wings, fierce, menacing railguns.
And the four enormous vectoring nozzles on their backs, along with the cross-shaped red light suddenly flaring in their eyes.
The instant they appeared, they nearly blinded everyone watching.
At that moment.
The entire headquarters fell deathly silent.
Countless people stopped breathing.
Their eye sockets split along with their eyeballs.
Their racing hearts felt as though they might leap out of their throats.
After a brief silence, the chief of staff's trembling voice rang out.
"D-Division Commander, are those things real?"
"They look great, but what good will a couple of mecha models do?"
"We should still evacuate..."
The overlapping voices around them were cut off halfway.
Brilliant blue flames suddenly blasted from the backs of the mechas on the screen.
The next instant, they shot straight into the sky.
The tremors from the two mechas together were extraordinarily violent, as though a small earthquake had struck.
The shaking reached headquarters directly and tangibly.
The staff officers froze.
Their bodies trembled slightly.
"Holy shit, they really are mechas!"
"Am I dreaming?"
"My God, I nearly dropped to my knees just now!"
"..."
Everyone in headquarters slowly recovered from their shock.
The excitement on their faces steadily grew.
Every one of them became worked up.
At last, everyone understood: the secret weapons their division commander had mentioned were these two mechas.
Thanks to the mechas' holographic simulation system, those in headquarters could also see every aspect of the two machines in detail on the screen.
Everyone was immersed in shock and excitement.
They could not calm down for a long time.
Upon receiving their orders, Wang Yixue and Tong Yao immediately piloted their mechas into action.
They flew one behind the other, with Wang Yixue leading.
Less than a hundred meters above the ground, she opened the throttle, showing off a sonic-boom takeoff.
Unwilling to fall behind, Tong Yao likewise pushed up her speed.
The instant the two sonic booms appeared above the exercise base.
They drew the eyes of over ten thousand soldiers fighting below.
Every one of them froze in shock, rubbing their eyes furiously.
Even after nearly rubbing their eyeballs raw, they could still see the mechas overhead.
Apparently, their eyes were not playing tricks on them!
Many soldiers on both sides who had already been exchanging fire simply called a temporary halt, looking up at the sky and muttering, "Holy mother, what the hell are those things?"
Trailing sonic booms that tore through the sky, the two mechas vanished from above the military exercise base.
They flew out of the city.
At Red Force's division headquarters.
Division Commander Kong leaned back in his chair, both legs resting on the table in front of him.
He hummed a little tune.
"La-di-da, la-di-da..."