"Director Su Wu."
"Please deploy another 400mm rocket to the battlefield center."
Qi Jingyu's voice held some finality, as if he had already made up his mind.
"I will fire in 15 seconds."
Su Wu responded calmly without hesitation, glancing briefly at the report from his artificial intelligence system.
This was the official shelter's war, and he didn't need to get overly involved. It was enough to provide the promised fire support as agreed.
On the surface, near 4th Shelter.
With the detonation of another 400mm rocket, a massive shockwave ripped through the ground.
The armored forces of the official shelter, hidden on the battlefield's edge, began advancing into the center of the battlefield, engaging in close-quarters combat with the Snowwind Mercenary Corps.
The disparity in individual combat effectiveness quickly became apparent.
Soldiers from the official security team, wearing heavy bulletproof vests, often needed to empty a magazine before hitting three or five rounds onto Snowwind mercenaries.
And even when these rounds hit, they were typically deflected by the mercenaries' exoskeleton armor, causing little to no damage.
However, once the Snowwind mercenaries counterattacked, their superior firearms with higher stability and rate of fire made it easy to severely wound an official security soldier in just a few shots.
Under these circumstances, the casualties among the official security forces surged at an alarming rate.
In the end, only the heavy weapons mounted on tanks and armored vehicles managed to prevent total collapse.
"Phantom tanks, move forward and clear the path."
"Fire rockets to suppress."
"Call in artillery support."
Qi Jingyu's expression darkened, but he remained calm and composed.
He sent out his trump cards: three non-standard heavy tanks, used as vanguards to draw enemy fire, while firing numerous rockets to lessen the pressure on the heavy tanks.
On the battlefield, the three heavily relied-upon Phantom tanks successfully withstood the sniper fire from the Snowwind Mercenary Corps.
They led the security forces, inching forward by one kilometer. However, as time passed, they began to fall into a stalemate.
With many auxiliary security soldiers falling, the three Phantom tanks also began to struggle.
Several times, enemies in exoskeleton armor nearly closed in to flip the tanks with explosives.
Seeing the situation worsening, Qi Jingyu had no choice but to order a temporary retreat.
This retreat exposed a large gap in the security forces' defenses.
Seizing the opportunity, Snowwind Mercenaries relentlessly pursued and counterattacked.
"It's my turn."
Su Wu, who had been closely monitoring the situation, did not wait for Qi Jingyu to call for help this time.
He actively sent the mechanical cluster, which had been standing by, to the battlefield.
In the darkness, illuminated intermittently by explosions, rows of spider robots and machine dogs, their cold metal surfaces reflecting the light, silently entered the center of the conflict.
Electromagnetic arcs representing electromagnetic weapons began to flash across the torrential rain in waves.
In contrast to the abysmal accuracy of the security forces, the machine cluster, operated by artificial intelligence, had an actual hit rate exceeding 70%, using nearly recoil-less electromagnetic weapons.
Many Snowwind mercenaries, clad in exoskeleton armor, were hit repeatedly in weaker areas like their visors and joints, causing severe damage. Some died instantly, while others barely survived, their movements no longer as nimble as before, quickly being blown apart by nearby explosions.
While the mechanical cluster inflicted significant casualties on the Snowwind Mercenaries, their relatively weak defenses were exposed under the intense counterattacks.
At every moment, Su Wu's spider robots and machine dogs were cornered, suffering devastating damage or being destroyed outright.
"Attacked by drone swarms."
"Spider Robot #039 has been destroyed."
"Hit by rocket fire."
"Machine Dog #103 to #107 are offline."
"Under heavy machine gun fire."
"Spider Robot #055's mobility has been reduced, showing signs of damage to the battery pack."
"Machine Dog #162's head is damaged, losing targeting ability."
Su Wu watched calmly as one by one, his mechanical units were eliminated.
Through these battle outcomes, he silently analyzed the combat capabilities of the enemy and thought about ways to improve his mechanical cluster.
For him, this was a valuable experimental opportunity. Only by using this precious real-world combat data could he make targeted modifications—adjusting the algorithms controlling the robots' behavior, reducing their weight to improve speed, or enhancing short-term firepower output.
The performance of the mechanical cluster on the battlefield, and the outcome of the fight, were secondary concerns.
After about ten minutes, both sides could no longer bear the massive losses inflicted by the ongoing, high-intensity combat.
The scope of the battle gradually began to shrink, almost subconsciously.
More and more people began to withdraw from the battlefield, retreating to the rear for rest.
At this point, the spider robots and machine dogs, which had been active at the front lines, had been so successful in causing casualties that they had attracted too much hatred from the enemy. Their numbers had been reduced by about 90%, leaving only a handful scattered around the edges, escorting the last group of official soldiers off the battlefield.
"Thank you for your help."
"If it weren't for you, we would have been finished."
In the online joint command center, after the security forces set up a temporary defensive line a few kilometers away, Qi Jingyu, his voice hoarse from shouting, expressed his gratitude to Su Wu.
"What's your next move?"
"Are we just going to continue the stalemate?"
Su Wu asked.
"I don't know."
"We took so many advantages in the surprise attack,"
"And still couldn't crush them."
"Next, we might try negotiating.
"Otherwise, I'm afraid we won't last much longer."
Qi Jingyu's face showed a bitter expression.
After such a disaster, he, as the overall commander, would certainly bear responsibility for the outcome.
No matter how things developed from here on, it was likely t
o be beyond his control.
At that moment, a sudden roar echoed.
The sound seemed to come from where Qi Jingyu was positioned.