MTLNOVEL Chapter 532: Carnage
Located in the Te Wei City West City, the Black Mu 2nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment was originally an empty lot belonging to You Tai Country. Later, due to the threat of Genetic Warriors, the government of You Tai Country specially deployed this elite unit here to defend. Not far from here are the headquarters of the General Staff and the Military Action Command Committee.
Although the military strength of You Tai Country is limited by its small land area, it has a regular army of 130,000 people, organized into 3 Armored Divisions, 2 headquarters, 3 regional headquarters, 4 mechanized infantry brigades, and 3 rocket artillery battalions. They possess thousands of main battle tanks and armored vehicles, over a thousand various towed and self-propelled artillery pieces, and hundreds of combat aircraft.
With a vast amount of funds at their disposal, You Tai Country doesn't lack money, plus their relationship with the Beautiful Country is evident, enabling their army to live quite comfortably with numerous advanced equipment purchased from the Beautiful Country.
At the Black Mu 2nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment, besides the stationed You Tai soldiers, a reinforced battalion of soldiers from the Beautiful Country has recently been stationed here.
They arrived here as mercenaries, originally part of a composite reinforced battalion subordinate to the 35th Infantry Division, with around a thousand soldiers, having just arrived in Te Wei City three days ago.
"What was that sound?"
Hawks had just finished his morning exercise. As a new recruit from the Beautiful Country, he looked up and glanced around, hearing a violent explosion from afar.
"It seems like the sound came from the east."
Beside him, his training friend Will shrugged, arm around a You Tai soldier's shoulder, and jokingly asked, "Hey, buddy, is there a fireworks display today? Seems quite lively in the city!"
"Today isn't a holiday, and there's no..."
The You Tai soldier hadn't finished speaking when a piercing air raid siren began wailing madly, with the loudspeaker also broadcasting an urgent order from above.
"All soldiers immediately take combat positions, we are under attack, I repeat..."
Hawks froze, listening to the piercing air raid siren beside his ear, instinctively looking at Will: "Will, what's going on?"
Will didn't respond, instead staring blankly at the sky.
Following Will's line of sight, Hawks also looked up, seeing black dots appearing in the sky, falling towards them.
"Airstrike!!!"
Hawks felt his limbs go cold, his lips trembling, terrified and clueless like a headless chicken. They had just arrived here three days ago, the camp barely set up, with no idea where to hide from the airstrike.
Boom!
Before Hawks could devise a plan, a dozen dark shadows fell into the camp.
Those shadows were cluster bombs, exploding in mid-air before hitting the ground, dispersing hundreds of small bombs.
In an instant, it seemed as if the sky was raining iron, with a vast spread of steel beads and shrapnel swept in all directions by the explosion's shockwave. In the face of such a weapon, frail human bodies were cut down like fields of wheat, blood and screams enveloping the entire camp.
Hawks was quite lucky, he wasn't harmed by the explosion, but he was petrified. Having been in the army for just half a year, this was his first battle. Before his eyes, he witnessed fellow soldiers being shredded by sharp shrapnel, bodies torn apart, with the dying wails of countless comrades echoing in his ears.
A moment ago, his friend Will, who was chatting with him, now had only half a head left, the other half sliced off by bomb shrapnel, falling to the ground.
The smoke of death left Hawks' mind blank, standing alone amidst a crowd of hundreds.
Boom!
Another violent explosion erupted, making Hawks sluggishly turn his head.
He saw two drilling bombs consecutively hitting the headquarters of the You Tai Country's General Staff and Military Action Command Committee.
The drilling bombs pierced through the building, then delved into the military bunker beneath, spewing a torrent of earth from underground. Amid the explosion, the building slowly collapsed, creating a massive crater twenty meters wide.
The senior commanding officers who had taken refuge in the air raid bunker after the airstrike alert were permanently buried deep underground alongside those two drilling bombs.
More bombs continued to fall; with thousands of soldiers stationed here, it was obviously a major target for the attackers.
Heavy air bombs lodged in the military camp, creating terrifying craters. Around each crater were scattered human limbs and blood.
"Ahhh! Fake, God!"
In a breakdown, Hawks screamed and ran instinctively, regardless of direction.
In fact, he didn't even know where he was running to, only that he couldn't stop, completely dazed by the bombing.
A few other lucky surviving soldiers were also running and hiding, but occasionally someone wasn't as lucky, torn apart by bombs.
Those aerial bombs dropped with such power that it wasn't safe even within a few hundred meters. Those closer would be blasted into a pulp, far from leaving a whole body; there wouldn't even be a sizable chunk left intact.
Escaping to a ruined high ground, Hawks' mouth gaped open, and he suddenly stopped his fleeing steps, staring ahead in shock.
In Hawks' terrified vision, the capital city of You Tai Country, Te Wei City, lay ahead, where explosions erupted one after another, flames soaring into the sky, illuminating every corner of the city.
On the streets, the You Tai people were panicked and fled in all directions, their expressions twisted in extreme fear.
Countless black dots fell from the sky; those were bombs and missiles. Under this airstrike, buildings were destroyed one by one, debris scattered, as if unable to withstand this merciless blow.
The Azriel Sarona Tower, standing at a total height of 238.4 meters, was now blown in half, the collapsing section crashing to the ground, billowing smoke and dust. Many You Tai were hopelessly crushed beneath the fallen building.
The once majestic Divine Hall was now reduced to ruins, and the weathered stone bridge, too, turned to dust in this sudden airstrike.
Thick smoke billowed across the city's sky, with occasional sporadic anti-aircraft fire trying to fight back, but they were quickly hit with pinpoint precision by cruise missiles, destroying those attempting to intercept the air defense missiles on the ground.
Even the factory area outside the city did not escape, bombs dropping like the sickle of death, coldly and mercilessly thrown at the rows of factories, flames engulfing everything in an instant. The huge explosions followed one after another, the intense shock waves toppling factory machines, dust flying, obscuring the sky.
The capital of You Tai Country trembled and wailed under the airstrike, like a ravaged woman, covered in scars and too appalling to behold.
Boom!
Suddenly, a bomb dropped far from Hawks.
It was a two-ton aerial bomb, the platoon-size unit gathering there disappeared in an instant, blown to an unknown hellish place by the bomb, followed by shock waves sweeping in all directions.
"Shit!"
Hawks only had time to curse before the shock wave knocked him down, rendering him unconscious.
Who knows how long passed, but when Hawks groggily woke up again, shaking off the dust from his body, he realized the airstrike had stopped.
The Te Wei City that appeared before Hawks had long since become lifeless, its appearance unrecognizable, the streets filled with burned-out vehicles, smoke and fire leaving only cold, lifeless bodies behind.
"Is... anyone there?"
Hawks checked the time; only half an hour had passed since the bombardment, yet the Te Wei City seemed completely changed. Feeling lonely and helpless, he shouted loudly and used the radio to call out to his teammates.
No one responded for a long time, and just as he felt a bit disheartened, the ground underfoot shook slightly.
A Meva Tank from You Tai Country appeared at the street corner, followed by a second, a third, along with armored vehicles and soldiers.
It was a mixed force of You Tai soldiers and Beautiful Country mercenaries, survivors regrouped from the air raid, with heavy equipment sparse and around a hundred people, many wounded, their morale low and looking very miserable.
"Hey hey hey, brother, I'm here."
Overjoyed, Hawks ran forward, scrambling.
"Gather up, soldiers still alive get close, civilians go hide and evacuate, we have no time to protect you now."
The unit continuously used loudspeakers to speak out, some civilians trying to plead for military protection and help, but were mercilessly refused.
Hawks smoothly joined the unit and was immediately questioned by the unit's leader, a You Tai captain named Ken Yangte.
"What unit are you from, and are you alone?"
"Who... who are the enemies? My original station at the Black Mu 2nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment has been completely bombed flat now."
"It's definitely the Jieke Group, they've all declared war on us. As for where the enemy is, we currently only know they're from the sky. They carried out carpet bombing of our command center, air defense system, heavy troop formations, ammunition depots, etc. We now have severe losses, a 30,000-man force, who knows how many are left."
As Hawks successfully joined the unit, he became increasingly numb with each question, realizing Te Wei City originally garrisoned 30,000 soldiers, including quite a few Beautiful Country mercenaries, and that such a high-intensity air raid caused overwhelming losses, instilling genuine fear in Hawks.
Similar fear gripped most soldiers present, terrified by the air raid's horrific casualties.
"Everyone listen to me, the air raid is over, our nation's warplanes have taken off, we must find those damned bombers and tear them all apart."
Captain Ken Yangte shouted loudly to boost morale.
Yet many remained fearful, his words having limited effect.
Like Hawks, revenge was the last thing on his mind. All he wanted was to go home to his mother quickly, then march to the Black Palace to protest, kicking the butts of the Congress lords who sent him here to die.