Although Long Yuehong had seen scenes of carpet bombing in Old World entertainment materials, he truly felt his own insignificance when he actually encountered it.
Those technological creations, seemingly comparable to the power of heaven and earth, expanded in different parts of the city, making it seem like this area was welcoming the end of the world. Even the strongest will and mechanical arms would be blown to pieces.
The thick smoke rising upwards, the momentary intense firelight, the constantly trembling ground beneath their feet, and the deafening roars, all allowed Long Yuehong and the others, hidden in their shelter, to truly experience what a large-scale, high-intensity war was like.
This was even more spectacular than the artillery fire Jiang Baimian had witnessed before, and even more unsettling.
He didn't know how long it lasted, but the missile strikes finally stopped, leaving only the aftermath of wind and clouds and the imminent rain.
Whirr!
Bean-sized raindrops fell, stained with countless dust particles.
Long Yuehong wiped his face and exclaimed:
"It's a good thing we weren't the target."
It was fortunate that the "Old Task Force" had evacuated Taicheng in advance and taken a break to eat.
Recalling the team leader's decision at the time, Long Yuehong just wanted to hug Bai Chen tightly and shout:
"Long live!"
Jiang Baimian rarely showed a hint of confusion, letting the rain beat on her face.
"Why would there suddenly be missile strikes?" she asked herself in confusion.
Moreover, it was a saturation strike targeting a city ruin, regardless of cost or consequences!
You know, apart from large-scale wars between top forces such as "First City," it had been unknown how many years since the Ashlands had seen missile strikes on targets.
This was simply comparable to the "Old Task Force" encountering a missing nuclear warhead, and it was even more sudden, more without warning, and more incomprehensible.
With Jiang Baimian's intelligence, she had a subtle, absurd feeling of encountering a deus ex machina at this moment.
"Can they write a script or what!" Shang Jianyao threw a rock he was holding in his hand to the ground with a thud.
He had been bored while hiding behind the temporarily found shelter, and he had been playing a game of tossing a stone and catching it.
Jiang Baimian found that she could easily understand what Shang Jianyao meant this time:
The "scriptwriter" of fate, God, felt that something had gone wrong in Taicheng and could not solve it, so he used missiles to wash the ground and forcibly end it!
Genaver had already calculated the trajectory of the ballistic missiles he had observed earlier, and pointed to a place to the northwest:
"They were launched from there. The specific coordinates need to be further collected."
Bai Chen rubbed her short hair, which was wet with rain, and speculated:
"Did a certain change inside Taicheng trigger the pre-set missile strikes?"
Even after being a wasteland wanderer for many years and seeing all kinds of things beyond cognition and common sense with the "Old Task Force," she was still shaken and difficult to control in the previous missile strikes, as if she had returned to the weakest and most helpless time.
"It's possible." Jiang Baimian responded to Bai Chen's words.
Long Yuehong stopped the subsequent exchange and looked at Bai Chen with concern:
"Why are you discussing in the rain?
"Let's go back to the car first, or put on your raincoat."
Although the "Old Task Force" members are all outstanding in physical fitness, and some are not even human, there is no need to be in the rain.
Genaver tried to reassure Long Yuehong:
"I have already detected it. The explosion did not cause radiation or chemical pollution."
"That's good, that's good." Long Yuehong breathed a sigh of relief.
Jiang Baimian then called out to the team members to collect the items scattered outside earlier and return to the car.
The rain caused by the missile strikes lasted for a while before slowly stopping. Although the sky was still gloomy, the brightness could no longer prevent the "Old Task Force" from looking at the distant scene of Taicheng.
Many buildings there had collapsed, leaving only some barely standing, more like it had experienced the end of the world than before.
Jiang Baimian, who was in the back row by the window, stared for a while and said:
"Let's retreat a little further, lest there be a few more rounds of strikes later and affect us."
"Yes, yes!" Long Yuehong in the co-driver's seat almost raised both hands and feet in agreement.
For some reason, he was a little grateful for the missile strikes just now, which forced the team's next exploration to end early.
Maybe he will be able to return to the company soon and register with Bai Chen... Long Yuehong's thoughts ran astray.
The "Old Task Force" retreated more than ten kilometers in the direction they came from, all the way to the broken road.
They did not re-camp, but sat in the jeep, waiting for a reply from the company.
About an hour later, "Pangu Biology" finally gave the latest instructions:
"When exploring Renhui Hospital, be careful of 'New World's' nodes."
"It seems that the company also suspects that there is a 'New World' node in the vegetative recovery center of Renhui Hospital." Jiang Baimian simply commented.
Shang Jianyao sighed:
"It's too late, it's too late. The company doesn't know that Taicheng has been bombed."
After speaking, he suddenly became excited:
"I haven't explored a city bombed by missiles yet.
"The kind that was just bombed."
"Let's wait a little longer. Who knows if there will be another round of strikes." Jiang Baimian calmly stopped Shang Jianyao.
She did not forget to report the latest situation to the company, and "Pangu Biology's" attitude towards this was:
"Observe for a few days to confirm whether the target location has been destroyed."
Seeing the sentence "Confirm whether the target location has been destroyed," Jiang Baimian said thoughtfully:
"Could the purpose of this missile strike be to destroy Renhui Hospital and Taicheng First High School?"
"That sounds like something the Eighth Research Institute would do." Shang Jianyao slapped his thigh.
One of the missions of the Eighth Research Institute is to prevent humans from investigating the cause of the Old World's destruction and the origin of "Careless Disease." To this end, they often destroy various buildings that hide clues, such as the secret laboratory in the No. 1 Swamp Ruins.
"From the information we have collected so far, the vegetative recovery center of Renhui Hospital is indeed likely to hide extremely valuable clues." Jiang Baimian nodded in agreement with Shang Jianyao's statement.
Long Yuehong asked in confusion:
"Then why didn't the Eighth Research Institute destroy it earlier or later, but at this time they launched missiles?"
"Before, they could only find the fake Taicheng, and they probably thought that the target location had already been destroyed." Bai Chen recalled what she saw when the team first arrived in Taicheng and gave her guess.
Jiang Baimian nodded slightly:
"We awakened 'Zhuang Sheng,' causing the dream in Taicheng First High School to shatter, and the fake Taicheng that protected the real Taicheng disappeared. As a result, the Eighth Research Institute discovered that the place they most wanted to destroy was still standing on the Ashlands."
"But how could they find out so quickly?" Long Yuehong asked in confusion.
The Eighth Research Institute didn't send anyone to guard this place.
Genaver moved his metal neck and pointed to the sky:
"There may be their 'eyes' above."
Satellites? The Eighth Research Institute has satellites that can still be used? Long Yuehong quickly understood what Old Ge meant.
Jiang Baimian "ummed" and said:
"So, after a few days, when there is nothing going on, go and confirm whether the target location has been destroyed."
…………
After waiting like this for two days, the "Old Task Force" did not wait for subsequent missile strikes.
So, they drove the jeep, circled half a circle, and entered Taicheng from another place.
The closer they got to Renhui Hospital and the First High School, the more severe the road damage was, and the more tragic the collapse of the buildings on both sides.
In the end, it was difficult for vehicles to travel. Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao had to open the door and get out, put on military exoskeletons, and overcome numerous obstacles to go to Renhui Hospital.
Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and Genaver stayed where they were, waiting for support.
Before long, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao arrived in the district where Renhui Hospital was located.
They glanced over and found that it had almost been razed to the ground.
Obviously, the missile strikes were mainly targeted here.
"The clues are broken..." Shang Jianyao made a disappointed voice.
Jiang Baimian was also a little lost and experienced the taste of failure.
She calmed down and said to Shang Jianyao:
"Let's go to Taicheng First High School to see."
The two places are not too far apart, otherwise the member of the scientific expedition team would not have mistakenly entered there in a panic.
The result was self-evident, and Taicheng First High School was also razed to the ground.
"Aren't they afraid of angering 'Zhuang Sheng'?" Even the reckless Shang Jianyao was amazed by the Eighth Research Institute's courage.
Jiang Baimian exhaled and said:
"It should involve the 'New World's' disputes."
She waved her palm covered with metal bones and said with a sigh:
"Let's go back."
After getting into the jeep, Jiang Baimian fell into silence. Although Long Yuehong was secretly happy, he didn't dare to say anything at this time.
While the jeep was driving back, Jiang Baimian suddenly raised her head and said thoughtfully:
"I was thinking, isn't it impossible that all of Ding Ling's husband's scientific expedition team died in Renhui Hospital?
"Since someone was able to escape and mistakenly enter Taicheng First High School, then there should be other survivors, um, there is a certain probability."
"Yes." Long Yuehong didn't understand why the team leader suddenly discussed this topic, but he thought there was nothing wrong with this reasoning.
Jiang Baimian looked at the windshield in front and said:
"Those survivors escaped from Renhui Hospital. After spending the panic-stricken stage, where would they go?"
Bai Chen, who was driving, and Genaver in the back row said at the same time:
"Return the way you came, leave Taicheng, and seek rescue."
Jiang Baimian nodded:
"But obviously, they failed to leave Taicheng."
At this time, Shang Jianyao laughed:
"Maybe they lost the Buddhist 'token' in Renhui Hospital, and found that they couldn't find a way out, so they wandered around the edge of the city, collecting food and looking for an exit."
This... Long Yuehong suddenly realized that this was really a direction for investigation.