The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse
Chapter 574 - 567: The Wheel of Fortune Turns

Chapter 574: Chapter 567: The Wheel of Fortune Turns

Li Pengfei was so angry it made his liver hurt.

To say that he, the highest commander of the Uranus Troops, knew jackshit was bad enough, but for this driver to dare defy military orders in battle, just this alone, executing him a hundred times would still be too lenient.

However, at this moment, Li Pengfei couldn’t really pull out a gun and shoot his command vehicle driver, because the driver might be right.

Although an infantryman by training, Li Pengfei had developed a strong command acumen for employing tanks and armored vehicles in battle, but when it came to face-to-face armored combat, Li Pengfei was indeed a complete outsider.

Commanding armored vehicles in battle and fighting from within an armored vehicle were two entirely different matters.

The armored command vehicle basically had no combat capability, with only a 7.62mm machine gun for self-defense that was more for show, and the command vehicle ought to be a strictly protected asset, but now, it was being used as bait to attract enemy fire.

Li Pengfei wasn’t stupid, he quickly understood the driver’s thinking, so although he was seething, he refrained from continuing to yell and scream.

To have an armored vehicle ram into a tank, setting aside whether there was even a chance to hit it, even if it did, it might not necessarily incapacitate the tank. And then, even if the tank were indeed incapacitated, the enemy didn’t have just these four tanks.

First dodging left and right, always shielding behind another armored vehicle, then suddenly the command vehicle driver swerved sharply, driving quickly towards the other side as if making a break for it.

The enemy tank muzzles flashed with fire, but both armored vehicles remained unscathed.

"The command vehicle should be the primary target, to cover their escape we must create the illusion that we are trying to flee," the driver said.

Once again the driver turned sharply, sending the command vehicle racing toward the tank formation that was still blocking the enemy ahead, but after not going far, the driver swerved yet again, turning back.

The sharp turns made Li Pengfei sway from side to side, and once more he looked out the window, only to see two tanks coming from the direction they had just come from.

They were the enemy, but why wouldn’t they fire?

After a brief moment of thought, Li Pengfei figured it out. It wasn’t that the enemy couldn’t fire, it was that they didn’t want to fire, and there was only one reason for this.

The aim of these tanks was to seize Gao Yuan, dead or alive they had to have him. Discovering the tanks and armored vehicles leaving, they would naturally assume Gao Yuan was in one of the armored vehicles.

Now for the enemy, it was a multiple-choice question, selecting one target out of two armored vehicles to destroy, but they couldn’t determine which vehicle held Gao Yuan, so they chose not to fire.

But the enemy, cautious of damaging valuable equipment, hesitated to use their main cannons, fearing the depleted uranium rounds would not only destroy the armored vehicles with their significant incendiary effects but also potentially burn Gao Yuan’s body beyond recognition.

The enemy was wary but not out of options.

If they couldn’t use the main cannon against the armored vehicle, large-caliber machine guns would suffice.

A string of tracer bullets came at them; the command vehicle, despite erratic speed changes, was still hit repeatedly by machine gun fire. However, most bullets missed, and only two penetrated the relatively thin armor of the command vehicle.

The command vehicle was never meant to be used for charging into battle. Looking at the two bullet holes that had suddenly appeared, Li Pengfei couldn’t help but say, "What else can we do?"

Just at this moment, from the adjacent street, several more tanks appeared, followed by armored vehicles,

all belonging to the enemy, totaling at least more than ten.

The Sanitation Worker’s move was clever, using the enemy’s communication disruption to prevent them from forming a unified command, they dispatched their main force to engage and suppress the armored troops of the Solar System Company while quickly sending an elite unit through the inevitable gaps in the expansive and imperfect lines of the Uranus Troops, circling around to strike from behind.

No, this wasn’t to destroy the Uranian defenses from the flank or the rear; the Sanitation Worker’s sole objective was to capture Gao Yuan. They were just a few minutes too late, allowing Li Pengfei’s rescue team to act first.

Those few minutes were crucial, but now the enemy had semi-encircled the remaining two armored vehicles of Li Pengfei’s team.

Modern tanks and armored vehicles are not equipped with fire control systems for show. Even if they dared not use tanks, firing with the armored vehicles’ machine guns could still destroy Li Pengfei’s vehicles. The only option was to retreat, to fall back into the main force’s position.

Being outmaneuvered by the enemy, Li Pengfei felt a mix of anger and shame.

The enemy’s tanks were making room, allowing the covering armored vehicles to serve as the primary attacking force.

Two armored vehicles were fleeing, with enemy tanks and armored vehicles in pursuit. An enemy armored vehicle fired, and the shells hit the low-rise civilian houses.

Having escaped the skirmish, thanks to Malakal City’s advantageous terrain, Li Pengfei’s command vehicle had temporarily dodged a bullet. If the enemy’s armored vehicles caught up, and they ended up on the same street, they would be completely finished, and that wouldn’t take long.

Li Pengfei once again shouted helplessly, "Hold them, hold them, buy them some time."

Miracles don’t always happen at the most critical moment, but before the enemy’s armored vehicles could catch up, suddenly streaks of continuous flashing lights started appearing in the sky.

Even the most advanced tanks are like sitting ducks in front of armed helicopters; this is the very reason why natural predators exist.

Anti-tank missiles destroyed the front Abrams tanks one after another, sometimes three or four missiles hitting a single tank at once, which was a tremendous waste of firepower, but could also be construed as a saturation attack—an uncommon sight—solely to annihilate the enemy’s offensive in an instant.

Then, before Li Pengfei and his team even realized they had aerial support, rockets, anti-tank missiles, and machine guns—every weapon an armed helicopter could wield—were being unleashed upon the ground.

The distinctive sound of explosions from behind finally caught Li Pengfei’s attention, and at that moment, You Zixing had already looked back and said in extreme astonishment, "The enemy’s tanks have been destroyed!"

At this crazed and chaotic moment, figuring out what was going on was not easy, but Li Pengfei quickly understood what had happened.

A helicopter appeared above them, then quickly passed over and descended, so Li Pengfei soon shouted with joy, "Helicopter, our helicopter!"

To ensure safety, the command vehicle didn’t stop but continued driving a bit further, and a Black Hawk helicopter accompanied them in flight right above until the helicopter began seeking an open area to land. Li Pengfei then jubilantly said, "Go meet up, meet up with the helicopter!"

The scene was similar with helicopters picking up personnel, but the sentiment was entirely different. When You Zixing opened the rear hatch of the command vehicle, the helicopter’s door also opened, and then he saw Ram jumping down from the helicopter first.

What goes around comes around, and now it was Ram’s turn to have the upper hand with aerial superiority.