The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse
Chapter 459 - 452

Chapter 459: 452

The weather balloon was delivered, along with several hydrogen bottles for inflation and a valve adaptor for filling the balloon.

Originally used by the meteorological soldiers of the aviation and missile forces to predict the weather, the balloon was neither large nor heavy, and could ascend carrying measuring instruments. Now, to attract the attention of the aliens, they could just continue using the instruments that came with those balloons.

Gao Yuan was tasked with carrying the gas bottles, which weighed a mere twenty kilograms for a forty-litre capacity, with the weight of the hydrogen inside being negligible. This weight was like a feather to Gao Yuan; had it not been for the bulky size of the steel bottles, he wouldn’t have minded carrying ten or even eight of them on his back.

The battle was drawing closer to the command center. By now, the sound of the artillery could be heard very clearly. The conflict, which had begun during the day, continued until ten o’clock at night. However, given the enemy’s rate of movement, a whole day had passed without them breaking through Satan’s defense line, which indicated that the enemy’s offensive had been contained.

For mechanized units using tanks and armored vehicles, being stuck in a war of attrition meant failure. Therefore, there was no doubt that, despite the difficulty and several deployments of the reserve forces, Satan was gaining the upper hand.

"The route has been confirmed, all preparations are ready, we can depart now."

After Li Jinfang spoke to Gao Yang, Gao Yang glanced at his watch and said, "Fellows, let’s go."

There was no ceremony for departure, no last words from superiors, nor was there anyone to see them off. Gao Yang, leading a part of Satan’s group, quietly left the command center.

"We need to take a big detour to avoid the enemy’s frontline and patrol units. It won’t be easy to infiltrate Malakal, but reaching the outskirts of Malakal City should be no problem."

Gao Yang, cradling his rifle, took the passenger seat, with Li Jinfang driving and Grolyov in the back, where an M2 heavy machine gun was mounted in the middle.

Gao Yuan and Xinghe were in one vehicle, driven by Fly.

In another vehicle were Rabbit, Crow, and the Tyrannosaurus, Ailin.

Gao Yuan, who was still not used to the habit of Satan’s group mixing real names and nicknames, didn’t even know what Rabbit’s real name was.

The people of Satan knew each other well; they could call each other whatever they wanted, but Gao Yuan could not simply call out Rabbit’s nickname.

"Hey, Fly," said Gao Yuan, "I’m really happy to meet you today. I never thought I’d be sitting in the same vehicle with you, let alone heading into battle. It feels like a dream just thinking about it now."

The language barrier was there, but with Xinghe as a good translator, there was no problem. Still, Gao Yuan stumbled through his dialogue with Fly in English.

Fly drove and laughed, "Uh, being a sports star isn’t as joyful as being a mercenary, really. As a star, you have to live in the spotlight, and my companions cannot be in the spotlight. So during the years I was a star, I wasn’t happy. So... I don’t like the apocalypse, I don’t like alien invasions, but I really enjoy the feeling of being with my brothers."

Gao Yuan did not fully understand but after Xinghe translated, his first thought was that this Fly must be crazy—disliking being a star yet enjoying being a mercenary?

After Fly had spoken, he suddenly became very serious and said, "I have a question for you. Can that Ark of the Covenant cure infertility issues? Due to some reasons, my wife can’t get pregnant, and I want to know if the ark that can cure all diseases can cure this kind of problem?"

This question didn’t require Gao Yuan’s response; Xinghe directly said, "Of course it can."

Fly sighed with relief and said, "That’s great, I thought it might, but I still wanted to ask to be sure. Gentlemen, I need to concentrate on driving now, we can talk more later."

Gao Yuan still wanted to talk to Fly about baseball pitching and grenade throwing, but since Fly had mentioned the need to focus, he decided to hold off for now.

They needed to take a considerable detour to get around the frontline where the fighting was happening, as well as the Sanitation Worker’s patrol teams. When factored in, it amounted to at least two hundred kilometers with no roads and a constant need to be alert to the conditions on the road, which meant driving was actually not that relaxing, and the speed couldn’t be too high either.

Four hours had passed when the assault vehicle in front began to slow down, and then all three cars came to a stop in a V formation.

Gao Yang raised his night vision goggles and observed for a long time before saying softly, "We are roughly ten kilometers from Malakal. We’ll leave the vehicles here and proceed on foot. Search and advance in formation, move out."

Gao Yang casually picked up a hydrogen gas cylinder and started moving forward with Satan’s formation.

With only ten kilometers to go, this distance wasn’t far. Even if they released the Weather Balloon here, it might be fine. But for Gao Yang, it wasn’t just about testing the aliens’ reaction with the balloon; he also wanted to use the aliens’ possible attack to completely destroy the Sanitation Worker’s base in Malakal.

Therefore, they still needed to get closer, but it wasn’t necessary to enter Malakal City, nor was it necessary to forcefully release the balloon in a situation where they could be discovered by the enemy.

Satan’s search and advance tactics were very fast. Li Jinfang and Ailin were at the very front, with Gao Yang in the middle behind them, followed by Grolyov, Rabbit, and Crow. As for Fly, he was walking alongside Gao Yuan and Xinghe.

Such a formation seemed a little strange; according to Gao Yuan’s understanding, as a precision shooter, shouldn’t Gao Yang be at the back rather than in front of the machine gunner?

In other words, Satan’s group was surrounding Gao Yang in the middle, be it assault troops, snipers, or machine gunners. Everything was moving around Gao Yang as the core. However, to note, the world’s mainstream combat formations don’t arrange firepower in this way.

But Satan was certainly very familiar with this formation; their pace was very quick, and communication was hardly required throughout the journey, not even a need for hand signals. They moved quickly when needed and definitely slowed down when necessary. The wide-spread team moved in a coordinated manner as if they were one entity.

An expert in the craft, Gao Yuan who was barely an insider, could tell at a glance that Satan’s level of understanding was indeed reaching a terrifying level.

If a stop was needed, they all stopped together. Suddenly, the entire team halted, and then Fly turned his head towards Gao Yuan and Xinghe and whispered, "Get down!"

Fly still had to notify Gao Yuan, but the others acted without any communication, uniformly lying down behind a hillock. After about ten minutes, Li Jinfang looked up and checked his surroundings before standing up and signaling with his hand, prompting the whole team to rise and continue moving silently forward.

Fly whispered to Xinghe, "That was an enemy patrol fixed in position. From here on out, we’ll frequently encounter enemy patrols. If I tell you to take cover, you need to react quickly, understand?"