"How...beautiful!" Old Ma exclaimed. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.
There's actually nothing special about this kind of sunrise. That kind of sun has been rising in the east and setting in the west on Earth for almost five billion years, and it will take another five billion years for the changes predicted by scientists to occur.
So, praising a sunrise like this is simply a form of sought-after praise. After all, the expedition members hadn't seen the sun in three and a half months, while some of the children back home might be seeing it for the first time. Of course, perhaps in the future, a new generation of children will equate sunrises with storms, and every sight of the sun will signal the approach of a major snowstorm.
"What beauty?" Li Wenjia continued to ask, "What are you looking at?"
"The beautiful mountains and rivers of our motherland."
It should be the beautiful land of the past, but it may not be the same now. Where there are people, there is home, and where there is home, there is country. This is not home, at least not yet.
"What about you? What are you looking at?" Lao Ma felt that he had found meaning again, and his mental stress was reduced a lot.
"Me? I'm looking at our future."
"Where is the future? Why can't I see it?"
"The future can't be seen, but it can be felt. I say, Lao Ma, have you ever flown a kite? Fly a kite in a storm."
After that, the two of them looked at the beautiful scenery and chatted for a while, and then returned to the temporary command post at the foot of the mountain before the blizzard passed.
Lao Ma immediately convened a combat meeting. Several staff officers and soldiers present at the time attended the meeting, and the content of the meeting was also synchronized to the expedition team's internal network.
This snowstorm was a godsend. The drones couldn't take off in such strong winds, which provided the expedition team with a brief window to cross. However, they hadn't yet figured out the details of the terrain in the strike zone. If they set out rashly, getting lost in the snow and wind would almost certainly happen.
"Let's take this national highway that was expanded before the war. Although the journey is longer, it is much safer than the nearby highways and dirt roads. It will be safe after we reach the end. Then continue along the shore without stopping and drive all the way to Zhacai Market." Ma Dongsheng tapped a few times on the holographic map, and a zigzag yellow highlighted line appeared on the map.
The route is about 32 kilometers long. They need to walk 7 or 8 kilometers southwest and then walk the remaining distance northwest. If everything goes well, they may see the Yangtze River again in one to two hours.
"If they take the highway, they need to pass through many tunnels, most of which have collapsed. If they encounter obstacles halfway, they may not have enough time. As for dirt roads, they have to use their two feet to walk on those roads." A staff officer explained.
"In terms of equipment, we need at least three tow trucks and six heavy tracked vehicles. They cannot use electronic sensor systems, so their fault tolerance rate will be very low. Once they break down on the way, it means they have to be abandoned, and the drivers will not have a chance to be rescued." Another staff officer said, this was obviously the result they had discussed.
Li Wenjia immediately interrupted, "They don't require a driver; they're remotely controlled by wires, and the fiber-optic wheels are mounted on the tanks. We're already preparing forty kilometers of fiber-optic cable, and that weight is negligible for a heavy tank. Do you know anyone who's good at gaming? If so, sign up!"
"What if the fiber optic cable breaks? It's over 30 kilometers away, and the wind is blowing!"
"If it's disconnected, activate the AI and use the offline data disk. Set it to decoy mode to draw away some of the firepower. As for fault tolerance, I suggest doubling the number of tanks, as we're on a tight timeline."
Everyone present found this method feasible, and the modification work on the tanks had already begun at the base.
"What should we do about manpower?" a soldier raised his hand and asked.
Ma Dongsheng replied solemnly, "The time has come to test us. The country and the people need us. Combat personnel will be given priority, with volunteers as backup. All of them will be in Gladiator III tanks, two people in a team. Remove all the loadouts and armor plates. What we need is speed and maneuverability. There is no core personnel for this mission. Whoever reaches the other side and brings back the collected data will be the core!"
Someone raised their hand again, but this time it was someone from the base who was attending the meeting.
"I know it will be relatively safe when we go in. But if we come back too late and the drones have already been launched..."
"We will be reunited sooner or later."
The number of online listeners suddenly dropped significantly, but a dozen or so still stayed. Lao Ma's words had pretty much nailed it. To put it more clearly, if you can't return, no one will come to save you. You'll just have to die there. Or survive in the wilderness, waiting a few years until the rear forces have enough resources to rescue you or reclaim your belongings.
"I have another question," asked a staff officer who had been silent since a while ago. "Just now you said you wanted to go straight to Zhacai City. Why not choose the nearest small station? I remember that most of those stations are similar to ours. Logically, the soldiers should be familiar with them. Why go far away? If you choose this city, the travel time will be at least half."
"Look, I'm going to cancel the 'establish contact' option. For this operation, we can't reveal our own information. Instead, we'll focus on gathering information about the metropolitan area, supplemented by gaining their trust. In other words, this is an infiltration operation."
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