Although called a rest station, it was more like a fortress covered with thick steel plates. Even under such intense artillery attacks, these steel plates remained remarkably sturdy. However, due to the immense power unleashed by the Sabanians' attack at this moment, the explosions upon hitting the plates generated such tremendous energy that inevitably some of it splashed over the towering protective steel plates and ignited a raging fire in the station's backyard. Immediately, the entire backyard was engulfed in flames.
"Firefighting! Hurry, put out the fire!" Seeing the vehicles parked in the yard and the supplies not yet moved into the shelter engulfed in flames, Karl shouted and rushed out of cover. Dodging the intense ground tremors caused by the artillery barrage, he briskly ran to a corner of the backyard, skillfully grabbed a high-pressure water gun, and immediately started extinguishing the fire.
Seeing the playground where the vehicles were parked already ablaze, Commander Rice immediately dispatched several elite soldiers to assist Karl in firefighting and quickly started moving the vehicles. If these vehicles were destroyed by the fire, it would cause significant trouble for their evacuation operation later. Worse, they might lose the ability to reach the next rest station by tomorrow morning.
Soldiers who remained steadfast at their defensive positions were forced to take cover near the firing ports, blindly maintaining suppression fire on the enemy in front to avoid being hit by energy splashes coming from the enemy's artillery. However, this prevented the special operations team from effectively suppressing the Sabanians with more precise firepower, allowing them the opportunity to approach the rest station.
The reason for the sudden intensification of the Sabanians' attack was because the supporting Sabanian unit that arrived was not just ordinary foot soldiers but a mechanized combat unit with powerful firepower. This force included floating fighter jets, heavy tanks that also floated, and outrageously, even a light cruiser at least a hundred meters long. The firepower directed at the rest station now came entirely from these heavy tanks and two technologically advanced light cannons mounted on the floating cruiser.
"You five! Move all the cruisers and motorcycles out of the firing range! Then help Karl with firefighting! The rest of you, hold your positions and continue suppressing the enemy! The station's armor is very strong; the enemy's current attack alone won't pierce through it!" Although the sudden fierce attack temporarily threw the special operations team into chaos, everyone was experienced soldiers, so they quickly regained their composure under Commander Rice's calm command and resumed their systematic approach to repel the Sabanians who were attempting to approach the station.
With the assistance of five other soldiers, Hao Yun quickly moved the vehicles parked in the backyard to an area not covered by energy splashes and, after successfully controlling the fire in the yard, began assisting the medical corps in treating several soldiers injured in the recent artillery attack. Fortunately, the injuries were not severe, and after simple treatment of their wounds, they all returned to frontline combat. So, Hao Yun and his team refocused their attention on the yard, ready to extinguish any sparks that might ignite again due to artillery splashes, minimizing further disruption to the soldiers engaged in combat.
Although the special operations team quickly stabilized the situation, due to the range limitations of their weapons, the artillery positioned around the rest station was being heavily targeted by the enemy, making it impossible for them to effectively suppress the enemy's firepower. As a result, their current situation became extremely passive.
Covered in smoke and dirt, Hao Yun grimaced and said, "Although this fortress is a solid defense line for those Sabanian soldiers, I really don't think it can withstand such intense artillery fire as Commander Rice claims for a long time!"
Karl wiped the soot off his nose and sighed, "Damn it! We're really unlucky! Who could have expected a Sabanian mechanized combat unit passing through here shortly after we started the war?! Because there are no Sabanian strongholds near this rest station, and we didn't encounter such a combat unit during our journey, we can deduce that this unit must have come from the opposite direction. Moreover, this combat unit probably stayed on standby on the highway not far from the rest station all day because they didn't manage to reach their designated position before daybreak. That's why they met up with the Sabanians chasing us from Terleh City so quickly after nightfall."
"No matter where this combat unit emerged from, given the current situation, I'm afraid we really can't hold out until dawn!" Dao Lao nodded in agreement with Karl's speculation, looking worriedly at the protective steel plates towering overhead. From his vantage point, he could clearly see that along the top edge of the towering protective steel plates, the intense Sabanian artillery fire had either bent or cracked them. Moreover, due to the high temperatures released by the Sabanians' artillery fire, the frontal protective armor of the rest station was gradually turning red. This caused some of the gun turrets mounted on the protective armor to temporarily malfunction due to excessive heat, forcing the soldiers defending in those areas to temporarily evacuate with their weapons and forcibly cool down the gun turrets using fire hoses before re-entering to continue fighting. However, this back-and-forth indirectly affected the special operations team's firepower suppression against the Sabanians, allowing the Sabanians entrenched near the highway to once again launch a massive attack.
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Therefore, Hao Yun and the other three had no choice but to temporarily abandon controlling the fire in the backyard and instead start cooling down the protective armor of the rest station, ensuring their comrades could maintain their attack capabilities. However, the total number of the Special Detachment Squad was limited. So, as the Sibo intensified their attack, they couldn't both maintain defensive firepower and allocate enough manpower to assist Hao Yun and others in cooling the scorching armor around the shooting pods, let alone assigning personnel to extinguish the fire that had reignited in the backyard.
"Damn it! Karl, this rest station is like the Maginot Line, looks strong but in reality breaks with a touch!" Hao Yun complained to Karl while cooling down one of the shooting pods.
Karl naturally didn't know what the Maginot Line was, but he understood that Hao Yun was griping about the insufficient defense of this rest station. So he replied with a heavy heart, "Oh my! Yun Ge, stop complaining! Who would have expected to encounter such a level of opponent today! Besides, the rest station itself is meant for shelter and dealing with small-scale enemies. It indeed doesn't have the ability to withstand prolonged heavy firepower attacks! Alas! No matter how you put it, we're just too unlucky this time!"
As the Sibo gained the upper hand in firepower and gradually advanced towards the rest station, coupled with the fire in the backyard becoming so intense due to the lack of manpower that it was becoming difficult to control, many members of the Special Detachment Squad started coughing violently due to the choking smoke. Consequently, the soldiers had to not only continue fighting the Sibo but also find ways to disperse the thick smoke around them, to avoid being poisoned by the harmful gases it contained before being shot by the enemy. This chaotic situation engulfed the entire interior of the rest station once again.
Therefore, in order to quickly reorganize the soldiers for effective resistance, Eva had no choice but to open the communicator again and issue orders to the soldiers. However, this time, Eva not only commanded the soldiers to quickly reorganize the defense lines but also instructed the soldiers carrying heavy firepower to disregard ammunition reserves and increase their attack power to delay the enemy's advance, while ordering the remaining soldiers to prepare for immediate evacuation.
Because at this moment, the surface of the rest station's protective armor had been burnt red under the Sibo's artillery attacks. Now, the red armor surface was riddled with many shell craters from the artillery bombardment. Moreover, with the strength of the red-hot protective armor significantly decreased, signs of fragmentation appeared around the shell craters. All of this indicated that the protective armor's ability to withstand artillery attacks had reached its limit. Before long, this rest station would completely lose its ability to resist the Sibo due to the failure of its protective armor. Therefore, to prevent the entire Special Detachment Squad from being buried here, they must evacuate as soon as possible.
However, how easy was it to evacuate from the rest station?
You see, in order to make the rest station's location more concealed, humans deliberately built it beneath a small valley surrounded by a small hill. Moreover, because this small hillside next to the rest station was entirely smooth and vertical, plus the emergency escape ladders and mountain roads built on the hillside for emergency evacuation were unfortunately destroyed under the cover of the Sibo's ship cannons, this left the Special Detachment Squad trapped in this valley. If the Special Detachment Squad wanted to evacuate from the rest station, their only option was to take advantage of the fact that the Sibo's encirclement around the rest station had not yet been fully consolidated and forcefully break through from both flanks.
However, under the Sibo's superior firepower and numbers, the Special Detachment Squad's attempt to break through would be tantamount to suicide. Moreover, even if the Special Detachment Squad successfully broke through, what then? After all, the Sibo had already locked onto the pheromones of all members of the Special Detachment Squad, and the Special Detachment Squad was still within the firing range of the Sibo. Therefore, even if the Special Detachment Squad broke through, they would only change from being fixed targets to mobile targets for the Sibo to shoot at will.
Every member of the Special Detachment Squad naturally understood the risks of forcing a breakout, but obviously, everyone would rather die in a direct confrontation with the enemy than be trapped in place like this, waiting to be blown up alive by the Sibo's artillery. Therefore, after Eva proposed the idea of retreat, none of the soldiers opposed it; instead, they all prepared to sacrifice themselves if necessary, to buy time for a few more Sibos to be laid out on the four-wheeled rolling body.
“Understood! You find a way as soon as possible! I'll lead a team to create chaos on the left flank shortly, to draw the enemy's attention as much as possible. Rice, once we start our action, you immediately lead everyone to break out from the right flank! Remember, once you break out successfully, accelerate as much as possible to evacuate! No matter what happens to us, absolutely do not look back! You must do everything in your power to get her back to Leenata City!” Eva straightforwardly issued orders over the communicator, without time to consider whether the Sibo would intercept her signals. At the same time, a suicide squad composed of civilians had already assembled behind her.
Of course, when Eva gave the orders, she deliberately reversed the directions of their preparations for action and the detachment's planned retreat direction. This was to mislead the Sibo into making incorrect responses after intercepting her messages. This strategic move aimed to divert more of the Sibo's forces to the right flank of the rest station, where they would attempt to intercept the feigned retreat from this location. Meanwhile, the actual main force led by Rice would have an easier time breaking out from the weaker side of the Sibo's defenses.
This deception was crucial to create a window of opportunity for Rice's team to escape successfully and maximize their chances of getting back to Leenata City, despite the overwhelming odds against them.