Due to the limitation of hardware power, it is not easy to control these half-baked "drones" with exoskeleton. Although the data link takes effect almost immediately and allows all sub-units of the combat unit to identify friendly signals, they are not low, slow and small hunter series drones after all, but artillery shells flying at a speed of two to four Mach.
Song Yinglong, who had a criminal record, soon felt mentally exhausted - above his head, tens of thousands of small things carrying destructive power were circling like a whirlwind, with almost no sound, only fleeting flashes and heat signals announcing their existence.
What kind of scene is this? Is it power in the palm of your hand, or is it the world around you?
Song Yinglong's answer was not that. At that moment, he recalled his horrific experience of hanging out with the mob.
——Life is so fragile, never expect to gain any benefits from war.
The familiar memory made fear overwhelm everything. At this moment, even more simulation training would not be of much use. Just like the retreat a thousand years ago, he instinctively wanted to get away from the deadly halo. Then his hands trembled and the operation was deformed. In just a moment, those "drones" that were supposed to descend gradually turned into free-falling stones.
Puff puff puff puff…
The rapidly falling "rocks" accurately struck the lava below, each one creating several ripples. However, the high viscosity of the lava meant the waves naturally dissipated before they could travel very far, replaced by more bubbles. The fiery lava pool remained as calm as ever, as if the previous bombs had been mere moths drawn to a flame. It accepted everything, good and bad, with an open heart, yet remained silent from beginning to end.
The imagined explosion did not occur - nor did the angry curses from teammates that might have come to my ears.
"Okay, let's pack up. It's going to be a tough battle next." Liu Haiyang said calmly in the local channel.
Song Yinglong stepped onto the transporter, and the hatch automatically closed. The cabin pressure then quickly rose to a stable level. He entered the passenger compartment and saw Liu Haiyang sitting alone by the window. Zhuangzi had replaced Xiao Fan as the new driver. "Where's Xiao Fan?" was the question he urgently needed to answer.
"Oh, for safety reasons, I asked him to go back first. It just so happened that the forward base was short of people. I think one less person in the team should not have much impact on the mission. Moreover, the irradiated strong magnetic environment is too harmful to the mechanical body, especially the consciousness chip. If an accident happens, even if he is a non-combat casualty, it will not look good on everyone's resume." Liu Haiyang answered with his legs crossed.
"Brothers, stop talking nonsense." Zhuangzi was multitasking. "I suggest you adjust your exoskeleton to protection mode. We're about to enter..." He narrowly avoided a collapse, but his poor driving skills caused both of them to stumble. "We've entered the impact zone! Damn this broken road!" He yelled, slapping the dashboard on the driver's seat.
The transporter must have been equipped with an automatic driving system, but Zhuangzi had apparently turned it off. Driving this heavy machinery manually was already difficult, especially since this guy was a complete novice. They stumbled along the pre-mapped terrain, driving 23 kilometers around the edge of the crater, then accelerating from a cliff to the spire's support structure, briefly activating the vehicle's onboard anti-kinetic propulsion lander.
The supporting structure is an I-shaped structure tilted upward at a fifteen-degree angle. Its upward grooves are marked with distinct segmented shapes, like the sections of bamboo—clearly not a single piece, but rather a patchwork of prefabricated modules. These prefabricated modules are largely identical, with reflectors and safety signs installed at intervals. Presumably, their builders considered traffic needs from the outset, but most of them have been baked in by the high temperatures, rendering them useless.
Therefore, when the transport vehicle moves on it, it will inevitably scrape against the side fenders, and the primer on the front of the vehicle will soon be worn off, revealing the white engineering plastic inside.
Fortunately, this little problem does not affect driving safety much, it is just a bit embarrassing.
The real trouble remained the harsh environment surrounding the supporting structure. As the mileage increased, more and more functions on the carrier shut down, until finally even the headlights and external viewfinders failed. They were forced to open the protective armor of the windows and continue forward using the weak lighting from below.
Driving without lights is a nightmare for most drivers. Except for a few racers speeding on familiar racing roads and outlaws striving for the last bit of freedom, basically no one is willing to try it.
Unfortunately, time waits for no one. The group of three missing one person will never be able to wait until dawn in this dark world. They can only try their best to control the steering wheel and rush all the way to the end.
Soon after, after Zhuangzi had uttered a few more curse words, the truck slowly slowed down and finally stopped at the entrance of a maintenance lane. The two people in the car were quickly attracted by the sudden change in speed and moved closer to the driver's seat.
Looking at the manual gate emitting green fluorescence, Liu Haiyang meditated for a moment and said, "Zhuangzi, stay outside to meet us. Xiao Song and I will go inside to take a look. Let's set a two-hour deadline. The exoskeleton can't operate for long in protective mode. If we're not back in two hours, drive the car back to the base to find us."
"Isn't this right? Why do you leave me outside alone? This car is unable to provide support now, and we are already short of manpower!" Zhuangzi clearly refused because he knew that was not an order.
"That's fine." Liu Haiyang agreed immediately, then looked at Song Yinglong and asked, "Is it okay for us to leave our backs to you?"
"He can do it! I promise..."
"Yes, it will definitely work this time." Song Yinglong interrupted Zhuangzi's attempt to act like a good guy and answered with a clear conscience.
"I hope you are telling the truth." Liu Haiyang shook his head and walked to the storage rack in the crew cabin. He took down an alloy crowbar and a bundle of carbon nanorope from it, then turned around, faced the two men, and began to give a speech before the action. "Gentlemen, please be mentally prepared. Due to environmental limitations, most of the equipment we carry this time can no longer be used, but where there are people, there will be sticks and ropes. I believe that with our ingenuity, plus these two primitive tools, we will be able to cope with all the difficulties ahead." After he finished speaking, he took another look at the things in his hand, shook his head again, and then threw them to the two men.
——Burning fire sticks and ropes is just for peace of mind.
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