Chapter 450

Chapter 450: Fireworks and Christmas Trees

“Wow! Is that a nuclear bomb? What powerful force! Did the North Koreans secretly place a nuclear bomb in their base, or did the Old Russians load nuclear warheads onto their missiles?”

Seeing others staggering from the shockwave, Lin Mo sidestepped a fir tree that had become uprooted and was falling down. It was indeed a well-grown fir tree that could have been decorated as a Christmas tree, but now it was unfortunate. After years of decaying, it would probably return to the earth.

The massive ground tremors and the shockwave in the air caused tremendous destruction. Many unstable trees fell, and the forest was filled with creaking sounds as trees collided and branches snapped.

Chunks of frozen soil and cement flew from the explosion’s center, raining down on the forest like hail, some flying as far as ten kilometers away.

Perhaps the explosion site had now become a super pit; if he weren’t in a hurry, Lin Mo would have liked to run back to take pictures of the explosion site.

“Are you all alive? If you’re alive, make a noise! Just a friendly reminder, it’s not a nuclear bomb; no nuclear radiation has been detected, but this force is almost like a mini-nuclear bomb.”

Old Pan’s voice came through the headphones. He would probably feel the residual shockwave soon, but at that distance, its power would be barely like a gentle breeze—insignificant.

“I’m still alive, damn it, what tremendous force! I, Old Chen, have really seen a lot.”

Squadron Leader Chen Renkai staggered out of a snow pile, shaking his head as he brushed off the snow from himself. The earlier shockwave had tossed him right into the snow pile.

Others were also getting up from the ground, with a few soldiers pinned under fallen trees, but the Dragon Guard tactical armor had protected them well. They quickly activated their laser cutters, and amidst the red sparks flying, they soon freed the trapped soldiers.

Everyone responded, confirming that they were safe. The two squad leaders finally felt relieved. No matter whether they were North Koreans or Russians, they couldn’t be underestimated. A moment of carelessness could lead to a painful bite.

The Old Russians shooting three Iskanders might not have been without intention to trouble the Chinese.

“Squadron Leader Chen Renkai, the snow is too heavy, and the path is even harder to navigate. Why don’t we find a place to rest for the night?” Squadron Leader Zhang Zhenyu looked around at the chaos. If they weren’t equipped with the most advanced tactical armor, several of them might have been seriously injured just now.

They were only a little over two kilometers from the North Koreans’ underground base, yet the power of 10 tons of TNT and three missiles represented a super massive explosion.

Just 10 tons of TNT could shatter any building in the world into pieces, even more decisively than the 9/11 airplane crashes into the buildings.

“We keep going! After another five kilometers, we’ll set up camp for the night. We’ll rest well and continue once the sun rises. Old Pan, be careful.”

Squadron Leader Zhang Zhenyu pulled up the electronic map and marked a camping spot with his pupil’s location. This point appeared simultaneously on all Dragon Guard visor displays and on the tactical information platform of the ground-effect vehicle, Bamboo Dragonfly.

No longer worried about Russian missiles, the team turned off their tactical armor’s assistance systems. Although they were quite helpful, they consumed too much power. They would need to replace a vanadium battery before returning.

As they continued onward, fragments from the explosions still fell from the sky like scattered raindrops.

Upon arriving at the temporary camping spot marked on the electronic map, the soldiers from both squads used their laser cutters to fell trees and cut them into planks.

It was an efficient way to tackle the task.

After an hour, without nails, they had constructed a large wooden shelter like building blocks. The walls were made from two wooden stakes driven into the ground, stacked with planks.

To prevent the cold air from seeping through, they stuffed the gaps with ice and snow and covered the outside with branches. Naturally, they utilized their tactical knives to cut the wood, leaving open ventilation, and then lit a bonfire in the center of the wooden shelter, finally adding some warmth to resist the cold Siberian winds.

Although the tactical armor had a heating system, it still consumed too much energy.

Excess planks were laid flat on the ground, creating two layers to block the cold from the ground, as the icy chill from the frozen ground was even harsher than the cold wind. Without nails, they had to improvise, and they only needed to be even for one night.

This wooden shelter could barely accommodate a hundred individuals, just enough for the two squads to huddle inside. If it weren’t for the Old Russians’ urgent missile launches, they might have spent the night inside the North Koreans’ underground base.

Everyone carried folding outdoor tents in their backpacks, made of thick waterproof, tear-resistant fabric, supported by four elastic carbon fiber frames crisscrossed for stability. When folded, the weight was no more than two pounds, and it could be set up like a small yurt just by throwing it down. With blankets inside, it could comfortably fit three people.

Though it couldn’t withstand much cold, it effectively blocked cold winds, and regular insects couldn’t bite through the fabric, making it very convenient for outdoor camping.

Such tents were almost standard for everyone. However, considering the shelter’s space, they only took out one-third of the tents, providing an extra layer of insulation inside.

Despite lighting the bonfire and having the wooden shelter to shield them from the flying snow and cold wind, the temperature inside the shelter remained below minus twenty degrees Celsius.

The treasure boxes were piled beside them, and everyone took out their rations and special supply alcohol, Red Star Erguotou. A sip in the cold weather could warm the blood and help prevent frostbite.

The specially designed cold-resistant food packages each came with a chemical heating pack. By pulling a small plastic string, they could generate nearly 120 degrees of chemical heat for about five minutes. To keep the temperature up, they gathered all the food together to heat, which also provided warmth for their hands.

After quickly filling their stomachs, a few people stayed vigilant at the wooden shelter’s openings while setting up alarm devices. The rest then began to rest, preparing to continue their march after dawn when the snow would ease.

No one within the Dragon Guard had taken off their armor. It was a joke; the temperature was as cold as a freezer, and with only thin cotton clothing, without the Dragon Guard’s insulation, they’d turn into frozen corpses before dawn.

While someone kept watch, no one thought anyone would attack on such a snowy night in Siberia. Activating infrared detection was sufficient.

Just as Lin Mo finished packing for the night, he heard a pleasant ringtone from his phone. Looking at his wrist, he saw it was a call from Chen Haiqing.

Wow, there’s actually signal from China Mobile in this remote area, where not even birds would poop! This was unbeatable, like global communication coverage almost rivaling a saturated nuclear strike area.

Of course, the Dragon phone’s signal stability played a significant role as well.

He turned to the two squad leaders squeezed into the same tent and said, “I’ll take this call.”

Although the squad leaders were surprised, especially Squadron Leader Chen Renkai, who was astonished by how Lin Mo’s watch had become a phone again, the two nodded, indicating Lin Mo could go ahead.

Now that the mission was over, Lin Mo used a special encrypted SIM card. Even if someone tried to track his location, they would be powerless to do so. Even the highest authorities at the data center of China Mobile couldn’t inspect the military backdoor, and the mobile phone communication stations within Russia, when connecting to China Mobile’s communication protocol, would inherently lack location judgment and user information, only recording an encrypted data stream.

Decrypting? That wasn’t something that could be done in a short time. Even if decrypted, the timeliness of the intelligence would render this data worthless.

Lin Mo then walked outside the wooden shelter. The moment he connected, he bluntly asked, “Hello! ‘Three Yellow Chick,’ what are you doing awake at this hour?”

Why didn’t you call earlier or later? Now you’re waking me from my dreams just as I’m about to sleep.

“Damn it, I was saying, where have you been running off to lately? You’ve been missing for so long; I couldn’t reach you at all! If I hadn’t heard from someone at the company that they talked to you recently, I would have thought you fell asleep under a flag! Hey, what do you mean, at midnight? What time zone are you in?”

“Three Yellow Chick” Chen Haiqing wasn’t someone easily ignored either, and he matched Lin Mo’s sharp tongue.

As the conversation continued, Chen Haiqing quickly realized something unusual. He had already seen daylight and eaten breakfast, while Lin Mo mentioned it was midnight—clearly, based on time zones, he must be somewhere in the western corner.

He hadn’t figured out that Lin Mo wasn’t in China but in the distant Ural Mountains of Russia.

Uh, even falling asleep under a flag, what was that? The tongue battle was intense.

Realizing he couldn’t compete with this young master in a war of words, Lin Mo wisely changed the subject, “I just participated in the astronaut selection.”

Recently, he had contacted the National Defense Star about alloy formula files and had been exchanging technical documents with the Aerospace Department. Chen Haiqing probably heard the news and called right away.

When Lin Mo was at the Fifth Aerospace Training Center and the Night base, trying to contact him via phone was nearly impossible. Both locations were signal jamming zones for civil communication tools. Mobile phones, regardless of whether it was China Mobile or China Unicom, or even civilian walkie-talkies, wouldn’t work.

Even the specially designed SIM cards were incompatible with those two unique areas’ communication modules, completely blocking mobile signal communication frequencies. Changing SIM cards wouldn’t help at all.

Volume Ten