At the same time, this also led to the fact that the only large-scale ground battle that truly took place was the one during the breach of the first line of defense. After that, the so-called second line of defense no longer involved direct armed forces for Su Wu to face. Instead, he had to contend with bombs and automated weapon platforms hidden throughout the city, as well as underground shelters serving as logistical hubs. Tens of thousands of mechanical units surged past the first line of defense, flooding into the grand urban area of Steel City.
Compared to previous battles with humans, the fighting within the city became more silent and brutal. Both sides of the conflict had completely transformed into machines of steel, with no concept of surrender or death. All participants would fight to the last moment. In such high-intensity combat, even though the Artificial Intelligence commanding Su Wu's side had overwhelming computational power, losses were still inevitable. From time to time, a Spider Robot or Machine Dog would be hit by a proximity mine hidden in the ruins or buildings along the streets. Occasionally, a Combat Drone circling in the air would suddenly be targeted by concentrated fire from several automated anti-aircraft machine gun platforms, torn apart by the crossfire and reduced to a burning wreck.
[Zone 3027 combat loss rate has risen significantly. Judged to be due to the presence of 10 high-altitude weapon platforms in the area.]
[Dispatching three Combat Drone Swarms to eliminate the threat.]
[Zone 0102 has detected an excessive number of active tracking mines.]
[All combat units in the area are to retreat.]
[Deploying electronic decoys.]
[Zone 7516 has suffered heavy casualties from enemy heavy artillery.]
[Total threat ranking has risen to 10th in the battlefield.]
[Initiating long-range rocket strikes.]
As the battle unfolded, the Artificial Intelligence divided the entire combat zone of Steel City into over ten thousand zones. These zones were not fixed; they dynamically adjusted as the mechanical army advanced and shifted. During the most intense moments, adjustments were made in milliseconds. Within each zone, the Artificial Intelligence would classify and mark the enemies, prioritizing the elimination of high-threat targets. If the potential losses from engagement were deemed too high, external heavy firepower support would even be called in.
In this way, with massive computational power and absolute numerical superiority, despite some losses, Su Wu's side maintained a rapid overall advance across the battlefield. In less than half an hour, they broke into the underground shelters that served as the central nodes of the defensive lines, engaging in close-quarters combat with the Steel City Alliance.
In one underground shelter, a Tempest II Military Power Armor appeared at a corridor corner, attempting to support a nearby Steel City Alliance squad that was in dire straits. However, the moment it appeared, the Spider Robots that had been besieging the squad immediately turned their weapons toward it, firing their new Electromagnetic Rifles, which were comparable to military sniper rifles. Dozens of rockets launched from Spider Robots specialized in long-range strikes also homed in on the Tempest II Military Power Armor. For a full 15 seconds after its appearance, the Power Armor was pinned down by the intense fire, unable to make any effective movement or counterattack. Eventually, it was locked onto by a Heavy Main Battle Spider Robot's Electromagnetic Cannon (Railgun), which fired two shots, breaking through its defenses and reducing it to an expensive pile of scrap metal.
Meanwhile, in another battlefield, the Steel City Alliance, having gathered over 60 combat robots, finally seized an opportunity to surround a lone Heavy Main Battle Spider Robot. However, when they concentrated their fire on it, a large blue arc suddenly appeared around the robot. All the high-powered rockets fired at it were prematurely detonated by the arc. The explosions licked the cold metal armor of the Spider Robot, causing no damage. Instead, it gave the robot time to rotate its Electromagnetic Cannon and, with nearby reinforcements, launch a counterattack.
By the third hour of the war, the entire southern region of Steel City, designated as the second line of defense, had essentially collapsed. Shelters were continuously being fully occupied by the Spider Robot Army. At this point, the final outcome was clear; it was only a matter of time.
In the Steel City Joint Command Center, Liu Qing stood before a massive map of the city. His expression shifted from initial shock upon hearing that the invaders from Jianghe City had completely breached the first line of defense in less than half a minute, to stunned disbelief as even the most advanced pre-apocalypse military weapons, such as Power Armor and Annihilation-class tanks, were quickly neutralized by the invaders. Now, watching almost the entire southern district fall, he was utterly despondent, his eyes devoid of fighting spirit. Reflecting on his earlier confidence just hours ago, it all felt like a dream. The gap between the two sides was too vast, leaving him no room for command once the battle began—only the option to wait for surrender.
Accompanying him in this loss of morale were the hundreds of people in the command center. As the place in the Steel City faction with the most access to frontline intelligence, they were the most acutely aware of Su Wu's overwhelming strength. Su Wu was a colossus against whom no one could muster the will to resist.
Jianghe City, Rural Compound, Underground Control Center.
Su Wu gazed at the holographic map of the Steel City battlefield, constructed from real-time data collected by hundreds of reconnaissance drones. His expression remained largely unchanged. Victory in the war was a foregone conclusion. If it were otherwise, all the Spirituality and research resources he had poured into technological advancements would have been for naught. At this moment, Su Wu had only one demand for the Artificial Intelligence commanding the frontline: to complete the occupation as quickly as possible. As for how much destruction this process entailed, it was irrelevant. Having mastered the Electric Arc Furnace technology and invested significant Spirituality into maximizing recycling technology, Su Wu saw little difference between intact and damaged resources. Even scrap metal could easily be restored to most of its value.
By the fourth hour of the war, the main force of 200,000 Spider Robots began to disperse, spreading out in independent squads from the frontline southern district to other areas. This shift in formation indicated that the Artificial Intelligence had confirmed the absence of large-scale organized threats in Steel City, allowing for a bolder approach to accelerate the city's occupation and minimize the time for local factions to flee or transfer resources upon realizing the inevitability of defeat.
Simultaneously, in the newly pacified southern district, the Artificial Intelligence began consolidating resources, allowing 30 merchant convoy trains stationed outside the city to enter in batches for loading. With each convoy capable of transporting tens of thousands of tons, the combined capacity of 30 convoys was enough to haul back most of the southern district's rare resources to the Rural Compound in one go.
"I underestimated the value of the largest pre-apocalypse industrial production base in East Asia. Even after all this time, there are still so many high-grade resources here," Su Wu thought to himself as he quickly reviewed the inventory list compiled by the Artificial Intelligence. The quantity of high-grade resources far exceeded initial estimates, filling him with a sense of satisfaction as if he had harvested a bountiful crop. Just by transporting back the first batch of 300,000 tons of precious resources, the gains from forcibly occupying Steel City, even at the risk of provoking the East Asian government, would not only break even but yield substantial profits.
"With these resources, I can immediately begin constructing 20 Icebound-class Land Battleships and 10 Twin-Winged Helicopters. I can also build two more Pioneer-class Land Destroyers. Hmm, even that won't use up all the resources. The rest can be invested into modifying the Base Vehicle and researching the Land Cruiser project."
The importance of the Icebound-class Land Battleship was self-evident. A single one could support a merchant convoy capable of traversing all of East Asia, delivering tens of thousands of tons of resources to any corner. It was the cornerstone of Su Wu's rapid rise to his current level. As for the more powerful Pioneer-class Land Destroyer, Su Wu currently possessed only one. Building two more would double his high-end military force.
Additionally, constructing Twin-Winged Helicopters, modifying the Base Vehicle, and researching the Land Cruiser were all highly resource-intensive projects. With this influx of resources, Su Wu's pressure in these areas would be greatly alleviated.
"Abundant resources are indeed the way to go. With this, the overall strength of the Rural Compound has taken a significant leap forward."
Closing the resource inventory list, Su Wu stood before the holographic map, zooming in on the southern district of Steel City. He watched as a merchant convoy train slowly entered a shelter there. The 300,000 tons of rare resources were just the beginning. Once the entire city's resources were fully inventoried, Su Wu could scarcely imagine how much his military arsenal would expand.
After spending a few minutes calming his excitement, Su Wu shifted his focus from Steel City to the Qinling Mountains, the Kuang River Basin, and the surrounding areas of Yu'an City. At that moment, nearly 500,000 Spider Robots were deployed in the former, forming dozens of defensive layers to contain the Amethyst Crystal Entities, while 200,000 were stationed in the latter, safeguarding the large-scale transfer of resources from the Yu'an City area and the Kuang River Basin to Jianghe City.
In terms of deployment scale, Su Wu had essentially opened three large-scale battlefields simultaneously. However, thanks to the immense productivity of the Super Factory, maintaining these three theaters posed little pressure. Moreover, with the imminent acquisition of Steel City's unimaginably rich resources and the expected surge in weapon production, Su Wu's logistical strain would be further alleviated.
"For now, everything else is proceeding as planned in terms of production and construction. It's just the Amethyst Crystal Entities—every time I take my eyes off them, they seem to evolve a bit more," Su Wu mused.
He noticed that whenever he tried to relax or encountered good news, a glance at the Qinling Mountains' Magma Canyon area, where the Amethyst Crystal Entities were, would inevitably douse his spirits. There was never any good news from that region.
Pulling up the monitoring data from the weapon platforms on both sides of the Magma Canyon, Su Wu used the Artificial Intelligence to perform some calculations. He discovered that some of the Amethyst Crystal Entities had developed wing-like structures, not only capable of jumping but also briefly flying. Moreover, for the first time, they seemed to have developed a sense of retaliation.
Watching several winged Amethyst Crystal Entities attempting to breach the ammunition storage area of a weapon platform, Su Wu remained silent for a long time. Finally, he decided to dispatch the only Pioneer-class Land Destroyer he currently possessed, along with its Crystal Detector, to the Qinling Mountains, where it would remain stationed.
"We need to continue strengthening the defenses in the Qinling Mountains. Additionally, production and research must be accelerated. We can't fall too far behind the Amethyst Crystal Entities."
February 6th.
Thick clouds once again enveloped Jianghe City. Amid the dark sky and howling snowstorm, a row of intensely bright indicator lights slowly illuminated the core area of the Rural Compound's surface, pushing back the surrounding darkness. By the light of these indicators, one could clearly see that the 10-meter-thick layer of soil and rock that once covered the Rural Compound's underground shelter had been completely removed. In its place stood a 20-meter-high circular turret base, cast from Rapid-setting Cement, directly atop the first underground layer's exterior wall.
"For the longest time, all shelter construction work took place below a depth of 10 meters underground. This was the right approach when the Rural Compound was small and weak. The 10-meter-thick layer of soil and rock was enough to protect the then-tiny shelter, measuring only a few hundred square meters, from the surface's storms, extreme heat, and cold. However, as the shelter's scale expanded, maintaining this structure gradually became more symbolic than practical. The 10-meter-thick layer of soil above the shelter's roof might not offer as much defense as 10 centimeters of Rapid-setting Cement. Moreover, after the Amethyst Crystal Entities developed the ability to dig through rock and soil, this layer became not only useless but also a hindrance to the shelter's defenses."
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