Chapter 231
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Chapter 231: Communication Interrupted
"Alright! I’ll help you!" The white man in a suit suddenly sighed, turning around, but in his hand was an MK-23 handgun, the dark muzzle pointed at Muhammad Magee.
"You…" Muhammad Magee barely managed to say a word before the gun fired.
His head snapped back, a bloody hole suddenly appearing in his forehead. Brain matter and fragments of skull burst out from the back of his head, splattering against the headscarf. The hint of joy on Muhammad Magee’s face froze instantly as his heavy body collapsed to the dusty ground, motionless and breathless.
The sudden gunfire startled the nearby survivors. Before they could react, the man in the suit casually waved his hand, and the two armed personnel who first disembarked from the helicopter leveled their AK-74s at them and unleashed a volley of gunfire.
Screams, gunshots, and the sound of ricocheting bullets mixed together as the surviving East Turkestan militants from the Lapis Lazuli Castle, who had dodged the attacks from the Night unit and the bombardment of J-10 fighter jets, couldn’t escape the automatic gunfire from their own.
The white man didn’t look back as he boarded the armed helicopter, its cross-shaped rotor blades quickly spinning to begin another warm-up.
In an instant, there was no one left alive in the Lapis Lazuli Castle. After emptying two magazines, the two armed personnel silently climbed back into the helicopter, which then took off and rapidly flew eastward.
"Potato, how’s the Dragon Knight?" Captain Huang De shouted towards Fang Xiaoyan, who was standing high up connecting with satellites using communication and electronic warfare equipment. Since he saw the J-10 drop the cloud explosive bomb, he had not seen the fighter jet again, and all the electronic devices malfunctioned at the same time, making him quite worried that someone had used electromagnetic weapons.
"No good, this equipment still has malfunctions; most of it is unusable. I’m trying to fix it." "Potato" Fang Xiaoyan waved her camouflage-shell-sized electronic device.
"Don’t worry, good people have divine protection; Captain Lin will be fine." Squad Leader Han Xiaoren patted Captain Huang De on the shoulder. "I just don’t know which wicked guy used electromagnetic pulse weapons. Now we’ve lost contact with the base for the short term."
Although the electronic devices carried by both squads had some electromagnetic defense capabilities, it seemed the electromagnetic storm was too powerful, directly burning out many devices. The electronic communication personnel from the two squadrons were still trying to make repairs.
Because it was invisible electromagnetic waves, neither Captain Huang nor Captain Han realized they were in the attack center of the electromagnetic weapon. For electromagnetic waves traveling at 300,000 kilometers per second, a distance of just a few kilometers is almost instantaneous.
After successfully evacuating from the Lapis Lazuli Castle, the two squads merged into one, adding several stretchers for the injured intelligence personnel and informants. Reconnaissance personnel were released nearby to follow the predetermined secret route for evacuation.
This route had some supplies pre-buried along the way, ready to support the team at any time.
Captain Huang De looked back at the rescued hostages on the stretchers in the middle of the group. Although there were many dangers during the operation, it went relatively smoothly. The intelligence personnel and informants were rescued, and the traitors were killed on the spot. In the end, the entire castle was consumed by the 500-kilogram cloud explosive bomb. The whole operation could almost be considered perfect.
However, Captain Huang De furrowed his brow, showing no excitement after completing the mission. He expressed his concerns to Captain Han Xiaoren: "I find it strange. How could these East Turkestan militants have such weapons? Did they really need so many missiles to take down a fighter jet? It makes me nervous. If it weren’t for believing in Captain Lin’s excellent skills, an ordinary pilot would have been shot down by now."
"This castle is supposed to be a stronghold for the East Turkestan militants, right? I’ve heard they stored a lot of supplies. I think they were afraid the fighter jet would destroy everything, so they struck first with concentrated fire to bring it down." Captain Han Xiaoren pondered for a moment. While he thought Captain Huang had a point, he didn’t believe a bunch of disorganized East Turkestan militants could devise such a complex scheme in this situation.
After all, two squads catching them off guard was unplanned. The final cloud explosive bomb ended the battle; how could there be any ulterior motives behind it?
"We’ve made contact! We’ve made contact!"
Inside the team, Fang Xiaoyan, the female soldier nicknamed "Potato," shouted with joy, joined by the cheers of another communication personnel from the second squad.
"What’s happening? What’s happening?"
Captain Huang De rushed over anxiously. Losing contact with higher command meant losing intelligence support from above.
"Don’t worry; I’ve replaced many fuses with good components from other devices. But for now, I can only ensure coded communication, which needs translation. This old thing hasn’t been used in a long time, so I need to adjust first." The female soldier, Fang Xiaoyan, who had become the communication savior, held a telegraph key, rhythmically tapping it as another communication personnel raised an antenna as high as they could with one hand, while holding a small pot towards the sky with the other hand.
"Everyone take a break!" Captain Han Xiaoren timely ordered to halt the advance for a temporary rest.
The moving team immediately scattered, seeking hidden corners as per routine, while several soldiers ran towards nearby high ground for lookout duty. Being in unfamiliar territory made caution a necessity.
"What’s going on?" Captain Huang De exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the contraption in "Potato’s" hands. How did a good voice communication device turn into a telegraph station? It felt like stepping back in time.
"I rigged it up temporarily; many components got burned. It’s already good enough that it works." "Potato" Fang Xiaoyan rolled her eyes at her squad leader, listening to the returning signals through her headphones while continuously tapping the key.
If they hadn’t brought communication devices equipped with appropriate spare parts designed to handle such situations, compatible with interchangeable modules, these two communication personnel would have had a tough time crafting their own solutions with soldering irons.
The constant beeping sound surrounded them as Fang Xiaoyan, the female communication personnel known as "Potato," tapped away. After a while, she took a notebook, bit the pencil, and began translating. When she finished, she tore off the page and handed it to the anxious Captain Huang De.
"What is this?" Captain Huang De’s eyes widened as he received the paper, not even having looked at it for long before suddenly shouting, shaking the paper in his hand, appearing very agitated.
"What’s wrong?" Captain Han Xiaoren leaned closer, appearing more composed than Captain Huang De in his shock.
"Captain Lin has been shot down! The optical reconnaissance satellite confirmed it!"
After reading the words on the paper, Captain Han Xiaoren lifted his head to exchange a shocked glance with Captain Huang De, both appearing equally stunned.
"How is that possible! I clearly saw him flying off with so many missiles; how could he…?" Captain Han Xiaoren recalled that after the cloud explosive detonated and a few explosions sounded in the distance, he no longer heard the roar of the fighter jet. Due to the distance, he assumed Lin Mo’s fighter jet had escaped with supersonic maneuvers, just like before.
That guy could launch missiles like it was an everyday occurrence; there was no one else in the world who could use cannons to fire missiles like him.
But now, he never expected the base would report that Lin Mo’s J-10 was shot down. At this moment, Captain Han Xiaoren’s expression matched that of Captain Huang De, both looking grim.
It was as if a master of all martial arts was suddenly taken down by a small kid with a brick—utterly unbelievable.
"Don’t worry; the Dragon Knight is fine; he successfully ejected and parachuted!" "Potato" Fang Xiaoyan handed over another piece of paper, which contained recently decoded information.
"Kid, what’s your deal? If you have news, bring it all at once; you scared us half to death." Captain Huang De shot a fierce glare at the female communication personnel who seemed to only partially transmit messages.
Captain Han Xiaoren, on the other hand, found it amusing, unsure how to differentiate between being shot down and successfully ejecting.
"The password translation relies entirely on manual efforts. Do you think I can make it fast? It’s already remarkable that I can remember the password in this age; I reported to you as soon as possible." Fang Xiaoyan, code-named "Potato," pouted, completely ignoring the captain’s frustrations. Modifying the communication equipment into a telegraph station was already an effort in itself.
Translating was even more brain-intensive, converting those peculiar beeping signals into codes, then translating it into text, and then making sure to comprehend the context was crucial for the two squads that had lost communication contact.
"Good thing he parachuted; that’s the most important part. As long as he’s okay. I told him before, jump early, jump early. Now look, he still made us so anxious."
After learning that the satellite spotted the parachute launch, the two squad leaders sighed in relief in unison. This was the only airstrike force that Night had competent enough to rely on, a treasure recognized across the entire unit.
"Tell command that we’re sending a small squad to rescue the Dragon Knight; ensure his return!" Captain Huang took the initiative to lead the ground rescue mission, instructing Fang Xiaoyan to contact the higher-ups.
"Yes!" Fang Xiaoyan started tapping again.
The Night base quickly replied with a short message, without further division into two parts.
