"This is impossible. Don't forget, I was the one protecting your little lover at the time. So, I saw everything happening in the enemy lines. Given the situation then, Eva and her team were barely handling the enemies right in front of them, so how could they notice what you guys were doing further away? Eva probably started doubting us after the chaos in the rest station, possibly because we disappeared for a while during the most turbulent period, coinciding with the destruction of the Mechanized Combat Unit of the Sobos." Dream Jia analyzed, while adding a provocative term like "little lover" directed at Haoran.
"Yeah. Jia Mei'er's analysis makes sense. Captain Eva probably linked our mysterious disappearance with the sudden destruction of the Sobos' heavy firepower, which led to her suspicions of us." Haoran pondered with a serious tone, while pretending not to hear the underlying implications in Dream Jia's words, to avoid being criticized again. Of course, when mentioning Eva, he deliberately added the suffix "Captain" to her name, maintaining enough distance to dispel any jealousy from Dream Jia and let her know he had no improper intentions towards Eva.
"Ugh! How many times have I told you! Stop calling me Jia Mei'er! How come you can never remember?!" Dream Jia snapped sharply, while using two fingers to pinch and twist Haoran's ribs forcefully.
Fortunately, Haoran's constantly upgrading physique had increased his resistance to pain to a high level, preventing him from crying out in pain from Dream Jia's attack. However, judging by his instantly reddening face, Dream Jia's pinch was not just physically painful; it was also full of anger and jealousy, showing no mercy whatsoever, causing Haoran to endure a painful torment.
Of course, how could Dream Jia not perceive the implications in Haoran's words? So, her angry appearance at the moment was mostly an act. In reality, Dream Jia's slightly flushed cheeks were not due to anger but because she felt the gesture of reaching out to pinch Haoran's rib was too intimate. Haoran, of course, also realized this. Therefore, his reddening face was not entirely due to the stabbing pain between his ribs but also included a large amount of embarrassment and excitement due to the surge of adrenaline. It was precisely because of this that Haoran not only endured the pain in his ribs but even harbored a perverse thought of hoping that Dream Jia would continue pinching him for a while longer.
Dao Lao, on the other hand, adhering to his usual style of enjoying watching the excitement without caring about the seriousness of the matter, leisurely leaned against the back of his chair, eating a chocolate cake he sneakily took from Dream Jia's seat. He watched the two teasing each other on the side, while also secretly thinking with a sinister smile, "Hmph! Look at you two, such a stench of rot! Hey! If Eva could come over now and see the two of you frolicking in front of her, wouldn't that be a very lively palace drama? Ahem!"
After a journey of eight or nine hours, the Special Operations Squad finally arrived at the second rest station. This rest station was almost identical to the previous one in terms of size and architectural style, except that it had dozens more workers and some large construction machinery, making it look busier. After asking the members, they learned that these workers were responsible for maintaining and repairing the damaged rest station, while ensuring that each rest station stored sufficient supplies. The reason why this engineering team stayed here was that they had just completed the maintenance work here two days ago, and shortly after leaving, they encountered a Sobos mechanized combat unit on the highway.
According to the reconnaissance by the engineering team members, it turned out that the combat unit entered a semi-hibernation state on the highway because they failed to enter the Sobos stronghold before dawn. Since the firepower of this engineering team was far inferior to that of the Sobos mechanized combat unit, they did not dare to launch an attack on those units in semi-hibernation and could only withdraw back to the rest station, planning their next move after the mechanized combat unit left. In addition, based on past combat experience, the engineering team believed that Sobos units equipped with heavy firepower like this combat unit would not appear randomly. Therefore, in the absence of confirmation of whether there were other enemy activities with similar firepower in the vicinity, they decided to stay here for a few more days and wait until it was confirmed that there were no dangers around before leaving.
Luckily, after Eva and the engineering team exchanged information, everyone finally confirmed that they had encountered the same mechanized combat unit. Moreover, in this area, there was likely only this one mechanized combat unit of the Sobos. If not, either the Skeleton Special Operations Squad would have encountered them on their way, or they would have engaged in battle with them last night. Of course, Eva and the others could not guarantee that there were no other Sobos mechanized combat units heading in this direction. However, from the current situation, those enemies should be far enough away that they wouldn't cause trouble for everyone in the short term.
In addition, after considering the opinions of the engineering team, Eva and the others had to consider whether they would encounter another mechanized combat unit of the Sobos when dealing with the Sobos infantry units chasing them in the next few days. Even if the Skeleton Special Operations Squad could now join forces with the engineering team to resist the enemy, Eva still believed that they were unlikely to be a match for those mechanized combat units.
Therefore, if a situation similar to last night were to occur again, wouldn't they have to rely on that mysterious power once more to overcome the enemy? But, is that mysterious power truly reliable? Will it come to their aid again? These are unpredictable questions. Moreover, Eva and the others also feel that they cannot pin their hopes on suppressing the unknown mysterious power.
At this point, the members of the special forces adjusted their relaxed mindset that they had regained on the journey, and once again tensed up in the current uncertain situation. Consequently, everyone's expressions turned serious as they busied themselves more intensely. Because everyone understood that tonight, besides dealing with nearly a hundred Westbok soldiers chasing after them, they might once again face attacks from other Westbok mechanized combat squads.
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Watching Carl occasionally pray for good luck, hoping they wouldn't encounter the mechanized combat squad of the enemy again tonight, Haoyun couldn't help but shake his head and think, "See, even if you question the gods in every possible way, in moments of crisis, you can't help but think of them and hope for good luck under their protection. Therefore, the gods in the hearts of the beings of the lower realm sometimes represent not only mysterious beliefs. Because sometimes, gods also serve as carriers of actual beliefs in critical moments, appearing in the hearts of every being in the lower realm."
Time quickly returned to night amidst the tense preparations for battle. However, unlike last night, tonight, it wasn't until about three hours before dawn that the footsteps of the Westbok people gradually echoed on the silent highway. The Westbok, who had been chasing them all the way from Terlech, finally tracked them down here based on the pheromones left by the Skeleton Special Forces on the highway, and just before daybreak, calmly launched an attack on this rest station once again. Fortunately, this time there were no additional mechanized combat squads joining the battle. Therefore, although tonight's battle was still intense, without heavy firepower support from the Westbok, they could do little to threaten the rest station beyond engaging in long-distance exchanges with the defenders inside.
The entire battle gradually subsided as the sun rose after about two and a half hours of continuous fighting. With the intense firepower of the defenders, the Westbok soldiers were still firmly suppressed a hundred meters away, and after entering a semi-dormant state again, they immediately ceased fire and ended the battle.
Due to the addition of the engineering team and the Westbok's lack of heavy firepower support, Eva and the others not only easily withstood the enemy's attacks with only a few minor injuries, but also inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy's active forces. This significantly reduced the pressure that the Special Forces would face during the evacuation in the next few days. Furthermore, over the next few days, the Special Forces continued to be favored by good luck, allowing them not only to arrive safely at the rest stations every day, but also to easily hold out in the nightly defense battles without the support of Westbok mechanized combat squads, until the next sunrise.
The Special Forces thus continued to move from place to place for several days in a row, finally arriving along the highway at a section where mountains rose to the left and a vast grassland stretched to the right. With clear skies today and exceptional visibility, coupled with Haoyun's heightened visual acuity due to his enhanced physical abilities, he could clearly take in the panoramic view of this flat grassland.
It was precisely because of this that Haoyun quickly noticed that although the entire grassland was covered with lush wild grasses, the scenery here failed to evoke a comforting sense of being in nature. Even though the ground was teeming with dense wildflowers and grasses, they couldn't conceal the countless shell craters and piles of scrap metal remnants of combat machinery. Moreover, during the half-hour drive of the Special Forces along this highway section, wreckage of various war vehicles was still visible everywhere. Seeing this, Haoyun couldn't help but sigh, realizing the immense scale of the battles that had occurred in this area and how intense the situation must have been back then!
Finally, after reaching a section where a slope on the left front slanted down, resembling the wreck of a submarine, the Special Forces all disembarked from the highway in an orderly manner and continued deeper into the plains along an obvious, artificially constructed unpaved road. What surprised Haoyun and the others was that, during the next few hours of journeying deep into the grasslands, they still saw traces of battle left on both sides of the plains. Moreover, the further the convoy advanced, the more pronounced these traces of combat became.
Looking at the war remnants visible all over the grasslands on both sides, Haoyun couldn't help but recall the terrifying scenes he had witnessed when he first arrived on the planet of Aelph. He couldn't help but gasp and ask, "Wow... Carl, what place is this?"
Carl, who had been unusually quiet since the convoy entered this area, responded with a somewhat solemn tone after hearing Haoyun's question, "This place is called the Land of Destruction. It's the mandatory route to Rena Tower City and also the main battlefield where we resist Westbok's attacks."
After a brief pause, Carl continued, "Since the Savior appeared, humanity has gained the strength to resist the Westbok. Especially under the leadership of the Savior, humans relocated their population from the original cities and resettled in places like the Rena Plateau, making human cities even harder to breach. Because of this, the Westbok no longer dare to launch attacks on human cities as recklessly as they did initially."
"To better attack the main city of humans, the Westbok reduced the frequency of their small-scale attacks on us and instead focused more on organizing larger-scale, more destructive siege battles. However, as you can see, even though the Westbok mobilizes all their forces each time they attack, their final fate always ends up lying on this grassland. It's for this reason that we've named this grassland the 'Land of Destruction,' symbolizing that any enemy daring to invade the main city of humanity will perish here. And this has been true not only for over ten thousand years in the past but will also be so in the future."
Looking at the endless expanse of mechanical wreckage on the grassland, Hao Yun couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "To conduct such large-scale warfare, not to mention who wins or loses, just the consumption of national power itself is astronomical and incalculable! Not to mention that humans have been continuously drawn into wars of this scale for over ten thousand years. I really don't know how humanity has managed to endure all this. You are truly magnificent!"
Carl smiled and replied, "Yes, humanity is indeed remarkable. Besides greatness, another important reason why we have persisted until now is that wars of this magnitude don't happen every day. After all, during each major conflict, the Mastanians need to mobilize all their forces. So, when they are repelled by human defenders, they inevitably suffer massive losses in manpower. This forces the Mastanians into a period of wise restraint after each failed siege, where they must undergo prolonged replenishment of their forces before being capable of launching a fresh large-scale war against our main cities."
"So, how long until they launch another major war against humans?" Dao Lao asked.