Chapter 609: Get Up!

Chapter 609: On Your Feet!

"The Heart of Steel is in danger?!"

The Enterprise embassy to the Alliance.

Staring at Eclipse's expressionless face within the floating holographic window, Yi Chuan slammed his hands onto the desk and sprang to his feet, his mouth agape.

His limited imagination utterly failed him; he could not fathom what could possibly threaten that airborne steel fortress.

Standing amidst a shimmer of pale blue light particles, Eclipse merely gave a curt nod and flicked an index finger through the air, transferring the radar imagery sent from the Heart of Steel over to Yi Chuan.

Beholding the dense swarm of red dots crowding the screen, Yi Chuan felt his scalp tingle with dread.

Watching him stand there struck utterly speechless, Eclipse continued.

"The biological forces mobilized by the Church of the Torch exceed ten thousand. Their exact morphology consists of winged, humanoid mutants capable of flight—suspected to be an upgraded variant of standard mutants—utilizing a swarm attack pattern. According to our integrated battlefield assessment, the probability of them breaching the defensive fire net has reached eighty-three percent. The Heart of Steel is currently preparing for deck combat."

"The Alliance Administrator requests that we honor our treaty and dispatch immediate reinforcements."

Gazing at the images flickering across the holographic display, Yi Chuan's anxiety flared, yet a faint sense of unease crept into his mind.

If the situation truly was that perilous, why hadn't Chu Guang evacuated the airship?

The man surely knew what he meant to the Alliance; he wouldn't be fussing over something as trivial as pride at a critical juncture like this, would he?

However, now was not the time for such contemplation.

By the time he deduced the reason, everyone might already be dead.

Yi Chuan locked his gaze onto Eclipse's eyes.

"Can you establish contact with Chu Guang from your end?"

Eclipse shook her head.

"He is commanding the battle on the front lines. I cannot reach him."

Yi Chuan cursed silently to himself, but with no other choice, he took a deep breath and spoke.

"Fine. I understand."

Terminating the transmission, he tapped his index finger gently against the desk. Once he had sorted his thoughts, he immediately dialed Enterprise's aviation base in the northern region of the Alliance.

The moment the connection went through, Yi Chuan spoke up before the other side could even offer a greeting.

"Our allies are in trouble. I am requesting the deployment of the Twenty-Sixth Commando Unit to Jinchuan Province to handle an emergency."

The commander of the aviation base frowned slightly.

"The Council has not authorized any military operations in Jinchuan Province. The relevant motion should still be under debate. Your request does not follow proper procedure."

Unsurprised by the refusal, Yi Chuan suppressed his impatience and continued.

"According to the fine print of the safety regulations and related interpretive clauses, when a catastrophic crisis arises that threatens the survival of the regime, emergency protocols can be activated, bypassing Council authorization. I will submit a formal report later to explain the necessity to the Council."

As he spoke, he forwarded the images and battlefield assessment report sent by Eclipse all at once to the officer in the holographic projection.

Yet, upon reviewing the document, the commander’s brow furrowed even deeper.

He was well aware of that particular clause in the regulations, but the problem was that just yesterday, rumors said the frontline forces were advancing irresistibly...

How had things turned so dire in the span of a single day?

"I understand the basic situation... but does the current scenario actually meet the criteria of that clause?" he questioned in an uncertain tone. "The only thing in danger is the Heart of Steel."

Yi Chuan replied with utmost gravity.

"But the Alliance Administrator is aboard that airship! You must know what that man signifies to the Alliance at this stage, and to the entire River Valley Province. We cannot afford to lose this ally under any circumstances. This is no time for hesitation—I need your men to move immediately, right now!"

Hearing this, the officer’s expression finally shifted, and he gave a solemn nod.

"Understood."

Sinking back into his chair, Yi Chuan breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good that you do!"

Almost the exact instant he hung up, alarms blared across the aviation base nestled on the southern bank of the Tianshui tributary, and the entire facility sprang to life like a tightly wound clockwork gear.

The engines of two "Killer Whale" transports resting on the tarmac roared to life, as commando soldiers clad in power armor and exoskeletons jogged up into the cabins.

Loaded alongside them into the holds were ground fire-support platforms, including "Cerberus" unmanned vehicles, as well as various new gadgets sent over from Ideal City.

With the Twenty-Sixth Commando Unit fully boarded, the two Killer Whale transports throttled up, lifted into the pitch-black night sky by the brilliant blue arcs of their thrusters.

Watching the cabin doors slowly seal shut, Su Ming, seated inside, turned to his squad leader, Yun Song, his face a mask of utter confusion.

"Do those guys really need our help?"

Back in the Great Wasteland, he had witnessed firsthand the sheer combat prowess of those fierce bastards.

If even they found the situation difficult, he doubted a single commando unit could do much to change the outcome.

Eyes fixed on the mission briefing on his tablet, Yun Song replied dismissively.

"That's not for us to worry about."

In truth, a sliver of doubt lingered in his own heart as well.

A distance of over eight hundred kilometers...

Even at full throttle, everything would likely be over by the time they arrived. It was hard to imagine that man casually waiting there for them to show up...

...

Outside the Heart of Steel.

Howling through the darkness was not just the biting high-altitude slipstream, but also a swarm of fanged, snarling mutants flapping their fleshy wings.

They resembled the gargoyles of ancient myth, or the unmounted bat-riders of War3; their heavily fibrous pectoral muscles and chitinous armor could withstand standard rifle rounds, and though the head was their sole weakness, their thick skulls were not easily pierced.

However—

The eyes were an exception.

Ye Shi had not expected the dagger he threw out of sheer instinct to score a critical hit, sinking directly into the creature's eye socket.

Driven by the mechanical force of his exoskeleton combined with his own modest strength, the blade drove straight into the beast's brain like a steel spike.

Watching the shadow plummet into the dark clouds below, Ye Shi summoned every ounce of his strength and finally scrambled back into the jolting cabin.

Though he wanted to hurl a few mocking remarks at a certain D-rank researcher, the sight of her pale, terror-stricken face made him hold his tongue.

Looking at it from another perspective, if he only had one life to live, he probably wouldn't fare any better in a situation like this.

When it came down to it, she was just a student ordered around by her advisor.

Perhaps sharing a student's identity yet living such different fates made Ye Shi feel a sudden pang of sympathy for her.

"Are you alright?"

Jiang Xuezhou bit down hard on her pale lips, struggling for a long moment to speak, when a piercing shriek suddenly ripped into one side of the cabin.

Turning her gaze there by sheer reflex, terror was instantly stamped into her eyes, though this time was far better than the last; instead of directing the battle in her head, she cried out.

"On your left!"

Almost the exact instant the words left her mouth, Ye Shi had already raised his muzzle, aiming squarely at the left hatchway.

"Rat-tat-tat-tat—!"

Orange-yellow shell casings continuously ejected from the chamber, a long thick tongue of fire licking from the muzzle.

The sharp-fanged, sharp-mouthed alien took the full burst, splattering blood climbing from its chest up to its forehead; its claws went limp as it fell toward the pitch-black clouds below the cabin.

But the aliens targeting this transport were clearly not just this one.

Having finally latched onto a "Viper," these flapping-winged aliens were not about to let it break free easily; they swarmed toward the iron beast in a frenzy.

Some surged into the cabin, while others crawled toward the two pairs of engines on the belly, smashing wildly at those fiery nozzles.

Listening to the incessant gunfire banging inside the cabin, the pilot gripping the controls turned pale with tension, stomping the rudder to spin the fuselage, trying to shake off the aliens clinging to the hull.

But those creatures' claws were like hooks, firmly gripping the fuselage skin without budging; even if thrown off, they flapped their wings twice and stuck back on.

As for Ye Shi standing in the cabin, he was tossed left and right, but thanks to his quick eyes and hands, he hooked the cable from his exoskeleton onto the anti-slip bar inside; otherwise, he would have been flung out just now.

"MMP!"

Cursing under his breath, Ye Shi was about to crawl up from under the seat when he suddenly felt the fuselage lurch, and then his butt left the cold metal floor.

Jiang Xuezhou, sitting in the opposite seat, was pale, the tight seatbelt digging deep into her shoulders as she spoke in a trembling voice.

"We're falling..."

Almost at the same moment her words fell, a shout came from the cockpit.

"Engine power lost!"

Ye Shi, gripping the seat with one hand and aiming his rifle at the outside with the other, shouted anxiously.

"What the hell happened?!"

The pilot, both hands on the yoke, turned back sweating profusely.

"Something's clogged our plasma nozzle!"

Ye Shi immediately panicked.

"Can it be fixed?!"

The pilot in the cockpit seat was even more frantic, staring at the wildly jumping indicators on the panel with despair.

The plasma engine in the belly was the most vulnerable part of the entire aircraft; clearly, this was not damage that could be repaired from the cockpit.

"Accelerator coil damaged! Needs replacement! No... it's hopeless."

"Damn it!!!"

Watching the deck accelerate away outside the cabin, Ye Shi gritted his teeth and made a decision, throwing his rifle to Jiang Xuezhou.

"Catch!!"

Hurriedly catching the rifle that slammed into her chest, Jiang Xuezhou grunted, and before she could catch her breath, she saw Ye Shi scrambling toward the hatch on all fours, and asked in surprise.

"What are you going to do?!"

Ye Shi didn't answer her; his hands were already on the hatch edge, his head poking out, his right foot on the cabin sill.