When the bombers found the beast tide, they began their bombing mission, unable to let the beast tide continue to approach the Great Wall.
The powerful bombs were dropped from the air and exploded upon hitting the ground. The "boom, boom" sounds of explosions tore the mutated beasts apart. Even though their bodies had grown larger, mutated beasts were still just wild beasts. In the face of modern technology, they had no advantage.
However, even after the bombing, the beast tide continued to advance towards the Great Wall, indicating that the Beast Kings were unaffected. The beast tide was controlled by the Beast Kings, who possessed extraterrestrial elements in their minds. While they lacked superpowers, they had the ability to control surrounding wild beasts. In terms of combat power alone, the Beast Kings were not particularly strong, but after controlling the mutated beasts, their combat effectiveness changed. Relying on their numerical superiority, the beast tide posed an immense threat.
"Report to Headquarters! Bombing mission complete, but the beast tide was not significantly affected and is still advancing." The bombers immediately reported the results to Headquarters.
Upon hearing this, Headquarters fell silent for a long time before replying, "Return to Yanjing, rearm with ammunition, and continue bombing. Under no circumstances can the mutated beasts cross the Yan Mountains, especially not allow the beast tide to enter the North China Plain from Shanhaiguan or Zhangjiakou."
Yanjing was already facing the threat of mutated birds. Fortunately, Yanjing had a large number of soldiers who could still barely maintain the defense of the city. If mutated beasts also broke through the encirclement and attacked the city, it would truly be a dire situation.
Headquarters was determined to successfully block the mutated beasts. If they reached the walls of Yanjing, the city would undoubtedly fall into great chaos. Therefore, no matter the cost in ammunition, the mutated beasts had to be contained. It was said that the major cities outside the pass had already fallen, and if Yanjing could not be defended, the Central Plains would also be in danger.
Thus, the bombers flew day and night, continuously bombing the beast tide using satellite positioning. During this period, satellites also observed giant mutated beasts within the beast tide. These mutated beasts were clearly enormous, with lengths of twenty to thirty meters, comparable to dinosaurs from a hundred million years ago.
"Beast Kings detected. These Beast Kings are estimated to be sixth-tier mutated beasts, including brown bears, Siberian tigers, wolverines, and black wolves, totaling fifteen." After satellite detection, the intelligence department had clearly found the weakness of the beast tide.
Under normal circumstances, beast tides were formed under the leadership of Beast Kings. Therefore, as long as the Beast Kings were killed, the crisis of the beast tide would be resolved.
"Immediately have fighter jets equipped with missiles to attack the Beast Kings." Upon learning of the Beast Kings' appearance, Headquarters immediately made arrangements. For these giant Beast Kings, ordinary bullets were useless. Missile bombardment was necessary to produce the desired effect.
Fighter jets bombed daily, using various types of bombs: incendiary bombs, white phosphorus bombs, cluster bombs, and fuel-air explosive bombs. Many areas outside the pass had turned into scorched earth. Normal armies would have surrendered long ago under such bombardment, and even if they didn't surrender, they would have been routed. Unfortunately, they were not facing ordinary armies but fearless beast tides. As long as there were living mutated beasts, the beast tide would continue to advance.
The bombers, armed with missiles, took off. Wu Zhenyuan was among this group. Over thirty fighter jets, equipped with missiles, departed, each carrying four missiles, totaling over a hundred missiles. This was clearly more than enough to deal with fifteen Beast Kings, a task as simple as Zhang Fei eating bean sprouts.
Before departing, Wu Zhenyuan said to his team members, "You are all young. Launching missiles is not your responsibility, so I, your captain, will go. You all perform well in Yanjing. When I return, we will continue to fight the mutated birds."
The team members quickly said to Wu Zhenyuan, "Captain, be careful and return safely."
Wu Zhenyuan then departed. He had experienced four years of combat in the apocalypse and was now a highly skilled pilot. The task of killing the Beast Kings was entrusted to him, and if he succeeded, he would undoubtedly become a combat hero.
However, just as Wu Zhenyuan and the other thirty-plus pilots reached the designated area, a message came from command: "Beware of your surroundings, mutated birds are approaching! Retreat immediately! Cease your attack and return to the city quickly."
It turned out that the satellites had detected countless mutated birds taking flight from the surrounding forests, preparing to encircle the front-line fighter jets. They had to retreat quickly. Relying on the speed of the fighter jets, they could escape before the encirclement was complete.
But Wu Zhenyuan and the others understood that the continuous bombing in the preceding days had alerted the mutated birds. The mutated birds would certainly spend a lot of energy preventing bombing in the coming period, and there might be no more opportunities to intercept the Beast Kings.
Wu Zhenyuan, realizing this, said into the intercom, "This is a golden opportunity. If we miss it, killing the Beast Kings next time will face immense obstacles. Therefore, someone will have to sacrifice, and this sacrifice falls to us. We request to continue the fight."
Command understood the thoughts of the front-line fighter jets and approved Wu Zhenyuan's actions: "Then proceed with the mission. Ensure the Beast Kings are killed as soon as possible. Satellites will help you lock onto the Beast Kings, but once the encirclement forms, it will be difficult for you to leave, so you must be quick."
Killing the Beast Kings had now become a race against time, as the mutated birds had clearly understood the importance of protecting the mutated beasts from entering the pass. Numerous mutated birds had also arrived at the designated routes. If the mutated beasts had air support, their speed in crossing the Great Wall would greatly increase. The mission had to be completed as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, in addition to fighter jets, there were also reconnaissance planes at the front line. These planes were equipped with radar devices that could detect surrounding objects, making it not difficult to locate the Beast Kings. Soon, the fighter jets found the Beast Kings and locked onto their targets before commencing their attack.
The missiles, launched at high speed, were too fast for even the Beast Kings to dodge. When the missiles hit the Beast Kings, they caused immense destructive power, shattering the Beast Kings instantly.
A large black wolf, hit by a missile, had its hindquarters disappear. Seeing this, the pilots felt a slight relief, but for a moment, the black wolf was not dead. Instead, it roared towards the sky, and then another fighter jet fired a missile, hitting the black wolf's head, finally dispatching one Beast King.
After the front-line combat, the pilots discovered that the Beast Kings had very tenacious vitality. On average, two to three missiles were needed to kill a Beast King.
"We should conserve our missiles and save them for breaking through later. We still need to return to Yanjing as much as possible," one pilot said.
Wu Zhenyuan replied, "Let's kill all the Beast Kings first. Otherwise, our continued efforts will be meaningless."
The group searched for another ten minutes, locating all the Beast Kings in the beast tide. Amidst the dense beast tide, the Beast Kings' massive forms were easily visible. These Beast Kings possessed the ability to command ordinary mutated beasts, much like the Corpse Kings controlled zombies.
The fighter jets continued to launch missiles, killing the Beast Kings. When the Beast Kings discovered the fighter jets, they tried to use ordinary mutated beasts to protect themselves, but facing the missiles falling from the sky, the Beast Kings had nowhere to hide.
"Mission accomplished, prepare to return." The pilots, seeing that all the Beast Kings had fallen, knew the mission was over and it was time to withdraw.
Command quickly reminded the pilots, "Maintain your altitude, preferably ascend higher and break through the clouds. Very few birds can fly to the clouds. As long as you fly high enough, the mutated birds' encirclement will be useless."
The pilots responded immediately to the command's instructions: "Understood. We will ascend immediately and ensure a safe return."
Despite the mutated birds having grown significantly, many birds had not increased their flight altitude. While size was a factor in flying higher, it was not the only one. Different wing types allowed for different flight altitudes. For example, birds with long wingspans like albatrosses could fly higher than sparrows with shorter wings.
Therefore, even if surrounded, by ascending to a higher altitude, they could escape the birds' encirclement.
"We can already see the clouds. There shouldn't be any danger now, right?" one pilot said jokingly. The new fighter jets were far superior to birds, their speed alone far exceeding the birds' limits. No matter how they flew, birds could not reach supersonic speeds, but fighter jets could.
The pilot looked at the fighter jets slowly catching up below and breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed they had escaped the encirclement, and it wasn't as tragic as they had imagined.
However, at that moment, the reconnaissance plane detected an anomaly and quickly warned, "Beware of unidentified flying objects in the clouds."
As soon as the words were spoken, a string of black shadows emerged from the clouds and rushed towards the fighter jets. Upon closer inspection, they realized these were black swans. Swans could fly over the Himalayas, so their flight altitude was naturally high. Unexpectedly, the black swans had been waiting in the clouds.
"We're done for, we can't dodge! Protect your heads!" the pilot in front shouted.