Chapter 334: Doppler Radar

Chapter 334: Doppler Radar

“Everyone, fold your parachutes quickly and converge on my position!”

“Stay alert!”

“No enemy traces detected yet.”

“The surrounding area is safe.”

“Keep concealed, lower your voices!”

Chen Jian issued a string of commands, and after a brief pause, a reply crackled through his earpiece.

“Copy that, I’ve touched down.”

“Received.”

“I’m on my way.”

Chen Jian lifted his gaze, spotting Ji Xing nearby as she was folding her chute; he raised a hand in a gesture, signaling her to swing left and cover the freshly landed Guo Xu.

Ji Xing understood instantly, hurried forward to aid Guo Xu in stowing his parachute, then raced toward Chen Jian’s position.

After nearly ten minutes, the airborne squad finally completed its assembly.

At that moment, Chen Jian had already locked onto the airdrop supplies using the friend‑or‑foe identification beacon.

Another twenty minutes later, the team had hauled, sorted, and fully equipped all the cargo.

It was high noon; while aloft the sun blazed with fierce intensity.

Yet when they touched the ground, a heavy fog smothered every ray of light.

The men seemed to sink into an endless twilight, the world around them real yet perpetually veiled in a vague, hazy blur.

Chen Jian swiftly launched his drone, its signal unmarred by interference.

When the aerial reconnaissance feed flickered onto his smart visor, Chen Jian finally exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Contrary to our expectations, the electromagnetic interference here is weak.”

“Most of the electronic‑warfare gear in the mountain city must have been shattered by the EMP from the nuclear blast.”

“That’s a blessing.”

“Although we still can’t establish real‑time contact with Fuxi via the cellular network, radio still reaches us.”

“Rear‑area support isn’t completely cut off; it’s merely been throttled.”

“Ji Xing!”

Chen Jian turned toward her, and she snapped her head around at once.

“I’m here.”

“Deploy the drone for rapid sweep of the surroundings, locate a reliable point to set up a staging ground, and prepare a fire base.”

“Understood.”

Ji Xing nodded in reply, and then Chen Jian issued another order:

“Guo Xu, take Zhang Chao and Liu Hao to scout the perimeter, clear any threats in the park’s green space.”

“Pay special attention to the locations I marked, examine the deer carcasses and surrounding bloodstains, and look for clues about Lin Yu’s squad.”

“You have only five minutes—move fast and return quickly!”

“Copy.”

Guo Xu, hearing the command, hesitated not a moment; after a brief briefing to the other two, he surged forward, while Chen Jian patted Li Shi on the shoulder, indicating that he should follow.

His target was a man‑made device perched on the edge of the park’s meadow.

From a distance it resembled an unremarkable streetlamp, but as Chen Jian drew near he realized the “bulb” bore none of the components he recognized.

“What the hell is this?”

Chen Jian furrowed his brow, gave Li Shi a glance, and Li Shi immediately kicked the lamp post.

“Bang!”

A deafening clang echoed, and the scouting team led by Guo Xu turned their heads instantly.

Chen Jian raised his hand to signal safety, then, with a sigh of resignation, said to Li Shi:

“I meant for you to bend it, not to launch it skyward.”

“Got it.”

Li Shi forced an awkward smile, about to speak, when Chen Jian’s gaze fell upon the broken metal rod.

Indeed, this was the lamp’s very design.

The supporting pole was hollow, and once fractured its tangled inner wiring lay exposed.

Chen Jian yanked the cable free, examined it closely, and frowned:

“Isn’t this a fiber‑optic line?”

“A base station?”

He worked without pause, tracing the cable upward, and smashed the topmost “bulb housing” with the butt of his rifle.

Immediately, a hemispherical device came into view.

“An omnidirectional antenna??”

“Fuxi!”

“I’m here.”

After a brief pause, Fuxi’s voice crackled through Chen Jian’s earpiece.

“In front of me is a hemispherical omnidirectional antenna, its surface dotted with pronounced granular protrusions that glint silver‑gray when rubbed.”

“The back of the antenna houses a complex circuit and a chip roughly three by three centimeters in size.”

“Help me identify what this is.”

“Could it be a cellular base station?”

While speaking, Chen Jian dismantled the evidently dead antenna into a heap of fragments.

Upon receiving his report, Fuxi promptly rendered a judgment.

“It sounds like some kind of signal‑emitting device, but it can’t be a cellular base station.”

“A 3 × 3 cm chip is far too large for a network base.”

“Check whether there’s a RF module and a baseband processing unit.”

“None visible.”

Chen Jian shook his head and said:

“The architecture is simple; I only see a single chip.”

“But the transmission line contains fiber optics.”

It could be some sort of ultrasonic or electromagnetic generator.

Fuxi replied again:

“I can’t see the actual image; we can take a photo first and transmit it via radio.”

“Reduce the image quality, and the transmission time can be compressed to under ten minutes.”

“Understood, I’ll take the photo right away.”

Chen Jian gave a brief reply, then immediately used the smart visor’s camera function to photograph the bulb and transmit it.

The wireless channel was occupied, the image data was decoded and slowly relayed backward, and at that moment a voice crackled in Chen Jian’s headset—Ji Xing.

“I’ve identified suitable positions; three alternatives are marked on the map.”

“Commander, the decision is yours.”

“Understood.”

Chen Jian glanced briefly at the streaming image in his smart visor, then swiftly locked onto a platform nestled between two skyscrapers.

A hallmark of the mountain city.

The spot offered sweeping aerial views while also boasting terrain that was easy to defend yet hard to assault.

Even if the mountain‑city dwellers deployed aerial units, the buildings would shield them, yet Chen Jian could easily suppress them with a heavy machine gun within the limited firing arc.

“Position selected.”

“Prepare to move out.”

Chen Jian issued the order:

“Guo Xu!”

“Lead the team back! Hurry!”

“Copy that!”

Upon receiving Chen Jian’s command, Guo Xu swiftly led the other two back, and only then did they fully acclimate to the novel experience of instant communication devices and smart visors.

Of course, the exoskeletons in march mode also surprised them, but it wasn’t the sheer power of the gear that amazed them—it was how quickly they adapted.

This thing.

So handy, so easy to master.

No instruction was needed; once donned, the three of them instinctively learned its operation.

No wonder the Huaxia forces’ combat power surged so rapidly.

Their gear has truly reached the pinnacle of adaptability.

Returning to the rally point, Guo Xu panted lightly, clutching in his hand a small scrap of cloth he had just salvaged from a deer carcass.

“Commander.”

Mimicking Ji Xing’s address, Guo Xu handed the cloth to Chen Jian.

“A fragment of clothing.”

“It must have fallen from a Holy‑blooded one.”

“They’re wounded.”

“Understood.” Chen Jian tucked the faintly blood‑stained scrap back into his gear and promptly ordered:

“Those with essential gear, assemble at the marked location on the map first.”

“Set up a fire base, establish cover, then retrieve the remaining equipment.”

“Got it!”

The group answered in unison, then followed Ji Xing’s lead, racing toward the designated position.

Two drones hovered overhead, their rotors emitting a faint hum.

Images streamed continuously into the smart visor, yet the more he watched, the more unsettled Chen Jian felt.

It was too quiet.

The entire city seemed utterly dead, shrouded in an eerie silence.

Apart from the park’s artificially‑kept creatures, no other movement stirred the streets.

The scene reminded Chen Jian of the moment he first laid eyes on Chuansha City.

Yet the problem was, this was not Chuansha.

This was a city that, not long ago, was still “alive.”

Even after a devastating electromagnetic pulse, how could it fall so silent in such a short span?

This was no natural hush.

Chen Jian’s realization struck like lightning.

As he had previously surmised, the city had not been utterly disabled.

Its core functions lay concealed underground.

Only while its subterranean systems remained active would the abandoned surface structures exude such a bizarre, death‑like stillness.

“Stay alert.”

“We may have been spotted; an ambush could come at any moment.”

“Unlock all weapon safeties; prepare to enter the building.”

“Li Shi, take the lead!”

“Copy that!”

They crossed a deserted street littered with scattered, wrecked autonomous machines, and arrived at the main entrance of the target tower.

Shattered glass, blown away by a nuclear blast’s shockwave, carpeted the ground, a scene that perfectly matched a city that had just undergone an emergency evacuation.

As Chen Jian followed Li Shi inside, his brow furrowed instantly.

Inside, there was nothing.

It didn’t resemble a “functional building” at all.

It seemed merely a shell—a “tombstone” with an exterior but an empty interior.

“Careful.”

Chen Jian whispered the command:

“Deploy the drones for forward reconnaissance.”

“Move quickly.”

“Ascend the stairs! Pass through swiftly!”

“Understood.”

The group quickened their pace, their footsteps echoing through the empty corridor.

Every time he passed a floor, Chen Jian had to push open the door linking the floor to the fire escape and peer inward, yet each glimpse yielded only disappointment.

No one, no trace of human life.

What on earth is this place??

A heavy doubt pressed on Chen Jian's mind; he felt his earlier predictions about the mountain city were being overturned once more.

But at that moment, he had no time for lingering concerns.

The immediate priority was to swiftly establish a launch base and then arrange an evacuation route!

The squad soon reached the building's rooftop, where a narrow platform unfolded before their eyes.

"Ji Xing, Li Shi, assemble the heavy machine gun, set up fire points and observation gear."

"Deploy the photovoltaic panels and configure the backup power supply."

"Guo Xu, lead a team back to the park and haul the remaining equipment."

"You have half an hour; try to complete all equipment transport within two trips!"

"Remember, do nothing else."

"If you detect any anomaly, alert me immediately!"

"Understood."

Before Guo Xu could catch his breath, he set down the cargo crate and led his team back into the building, descending the stairs they had just climbed.

Chen Jian kept his eyes glued to the drone's reconnaissance feed, and at that moment his earpiece crackled with Lei Jie's call.

"This is Lei Jie."

"Captain, the landing zone has been confirmed; take‑off and landing conditions are optimal."

"It lies 2.7 kilometers from your position, an estimated 22 minutes to reach."

"The high‑altitude balloon has been released, hovering 45 kilometers from the mountain city."

"The EVTOL has arrived at Anhan and is on standby."

"If evacuation is needed, delivery can be completed within fifteen minutes."

"Copy that, understood."

Chen Jian exhaled slowly.

All three evacuation plans were fully prepared; should any unmanageable anomaly arise, his squad could withdraw within thirty minutes.

That's a short window, isn’t it?

No matter how formidable the mountain city's denizens might be, Chen Jian was confident they could not eliminate him within thirty minutes.

Gunfire’s lethality is impartial to every moving object in this world; even a laser weapon cannot melt a projectile mid‑flight.

Chen Jian cut the drone’s feed, retrieved the cloth strip he’d taken from Guo Xu’s pack, and handed it to Ji Xing, who had just finished assembling the heavy machine gun.

"Take a look at this," he said to Ji Xing.

He spoke:

"Could this have fallen from Lin Yu and his group?"

Ji Xing took the cloth, sniffed it carefully, and replied:

"Absolutely."

"There are scorch marks—odd indeed."

"Laser weapon, not surprising."

Chen Jian shook his head, about to ask Ji Xing if the scent could trace Lin Yu’s location, when in the next instant Ji Xing frowned and said:

"No."

"The odor on this cloth is off."

Her expression shifted rapidly, her eyes growing solemn.

"Commander, do you remember that place?"

"The air force base!"

"I told you before, I once smelled the same scent there as in the mountain city."

"It's on this cloth too!"

"Are you sure?"

Chen Jian’s vigilance snapped into high gear.

"Can you now identify the smell?"

"I can’t discern it."

Ji Xing shook her head.

"It's a very unfamiliar odor. I know it exists, yet I cannot describe it."

"Understood."

Chen Jian nodded slowly.

"It's fine, that’s good news."

"This scent must be tied to the mountain city; we can continue tracking downward."

"Even if we cannot locate Lin Yu’s squad, we can find the true core of the mountain city."

"Then we’ll finally know what this odor truly signifies."

"Alright."

Ji Xing nodded slowly.

She inhaled the cloth delicately, as if trying to parse something from its tangled aromas.

Chen Jian did not interrupt her, but took her place, continuing to assist Li Shi in constructing the fire point.

When the two finished assembling the second heavy machine gun and set up a simple omnidirectional mount, the progress of Chen Jian’s image transmission to Fuxi on his smart visor reached one hundred percent.

Moments later, Fuxi’s voice came through his earpiece.

"Chief, image analysis complete."

"It’s not a base station."

"It’s a compact Doppler radar, a scanning radar for 3D modeling!"

(End of Chapter)