"I also brought a new weapon developed by the White Tower with me into Leto this time. It was too expensive and the technology was too complicated. Only two were made. One was supplied to the expeditionary force at the front line, and the other was sent to Leto. This new weapon is highly confidential, and I cannot reveal it even now. But wait a little longer, and you will be able to see it with your own eyes."
After listening to what August said, Xia Zhiyang said, "Hmm," "I understand."
It occurred to him that since the day he was founded, he seemed to have developed many habits without realizing it.
Try not to talk if you can, because you don’t know if there are any eavesdroppers around you.
Even your closest friends cannot reveal certain information because you are not sure whether this person who is a friend today may become an enemy tomorrow.
The best way to keep a secret is to keep it in your mouth, let it rot in your heart, and finally die with it.
And, no curiosity.
August was doing two things at once. While bringing the main surveillance footage into the equipment room, he also took the opportunity to explain the built-in equation of the fifth question to Xia Zhiyang.
Xia Zhiyang listened for a few seconds, then remembered something. He hurriedly turned on the recording function of his personal terminal and quickly recorded what August said about the problem-solving process.
After recording, he smiled a bit silly: "A year ago, I never dared to think that one day someone from the White Tower would actually give me a lecture. It's like a dream! I must record it to commemorate it!"
August hesitated to speak: "Has Qi Yan explained the question to you?"
Xia Zhiyang nodded: "Yes, Qi Yan is very good at explaining questions. Even though the questions are difficult, he can make a poor student like me understand them! Why do you suddenly ask this?"
Without answering Xia Zhiyang's question, August just patted him on the shoulder, making Xia Zhiyang look confused.
In the surveillance footage, the sky over Leto was unusually clean and clear. The cruise planes that usually filled the sky had been shot down, and white smoke was emitting from the armed hovercraft parked on the ground. From time to time, rebels would rush past on the streets.
Seeing the guns in those people's hands, Xia Zhiyang felt a little uneasy and confirmed with August again: "Professor—"
After opening his mouth, he didn't know how to continue asking.
Will Leto's civilians be injured or killed? Will these historic buildings be damaged? When large buildings raise their shields, is it possible that they also protect the enemy
But he was also aware that Leto was now facing a war, a war that was not completely controllable. The Alliance had done its best to make the most appropriate arrangements, but it was impossible to take everything into account.
As if he could see what he was thinking, August said, "Just now, the Alliance has issued a reminder to all Leto residents to close doors and windows of civilian buildings immediately and avoid going out unless necessary. All hovercrafts should land immediately and people on the streets should seek shelter nearby. For public buildings with protective shields like Turan College, people have already rushed there with weapons to assist."
He concluded by saying, "Never underestimate people's desire to survive. What humans fear most is death, so death will stimulate their infinite potential. Similarly, humans are also social creatures with a high sense of sociality and cooperation. In terms of numbers alone, the rebels are the weaker party."
Xia Zhiyang understood what August meant.
As far as he knew, most of the elite rebels were guarding the starships, always on guard against sudden attacks from the Alliance. Therefore, the number of rebels active on the ground in Leto was not large.
This small group of rebels was able to suppress the civilian population of Leto for a long time, relying only on fear, weapons, and the threat of starships floating in the air.
But now it's different.
Once the Alliance garrison begins its offensive against Leto, "fear" will crack like glass.
Faced with the large number of Leto civilians who have broken free from fear and are full of anger, the small number of rebels may not be able to show off their power as before.
Xia Zhiyang felt a little relieved.
At this moment, Xia Zhiyang's personal terminal installed on his left wrist lit up, and then a voice came from the built-in communicator connected to the auditory nerve: "The ground rebels are heading to the ISCO equipment center, please pay attention."
Seeing that Xia Zhiyang seemed to be listening to something seriously, his eyes narrowed slightly, and August asked, "Were we discovered?"
Xia Zhiyang tried his best to make his voice sound steady: "Yes, the rebels are on their way." He shrank his fingers hanging by his side, and finally clenched them tightly, "Don't worry, I will do my best to protect you!"
The Third Rebel Army.
In the command room, Fritz stood in front of the monitor and pinched the jewel button on his white scarf. “Do you think the expeditionary force will catch up?”
"Yes." Butler, who had a dark complexion and looked fierce when he was not smiling, said affirmatively, "The expeditionary army relies on a certain advantage. If they allow you and I to return to the Divine Court and stop fighting in the middle, they will lose this advantage.
Moreover, this star region was too unfamiliar to them, so they could not dare to temporarily change their position. Similarly, they did not dare to return the same way. Once their way was exposed, it would be impossible for them to come back through that road. Therefore, they could only move forward, and could not dodge left or right, nor could they retreat. "
Fritz realized: "So the wise man had foreseen that the expeditionary force would catch up."
Butler said coldly: "You can wait until you save your life before saying this to the wise man."
Hearing the sarcasm in Butler's words, Fritz raised the corner of his mouth and said slowly: "Butler, it seems that after all these years you still haven't figured out what you or I are to a wise man? A legion commander? A beloved general? No, none of those. We are just obedient dogs that bark nicely."
The implication is that since we are all beasts, we should stop making such ugly and sarcastic expressions.
Butler's lips tightened and he didn't say anything else.
Just as the Third and Sixth Legions were fighting and retreating, planning to drag the expeditionary force into the range of the space fortress, the detector's image suddenly indicated an abnormality.
Fritz looked up at the sound and saw the alarms indicating high energy source and high speed were blindingly red. The most important thing was that the system could not determine what had caused the alarm!
Suddenly, Fritz gripped the armrest of the chair tightly, having a bad feeling.
At the same time, before the fleet was about to enter the range of the space fortress, Fritz ordered to slow down.
He knew very well that the starship's defense system would not be able to withstand the space fortress for long. If he wanted to win a glimmer of hope for himself, it would be best to find an opportunity to lure the expeditionary force in and then quickly get out of the range.
The wise man asked him to die, but he was not willing to do so.
Even ants are greedy for life, let alone humans.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, two consecutive high-energy particle cannons suddenly drew a white rainbow from the expeditionary fleet and accurately hit the protective net of his main ship!
The strange thing is that after the two missiles, there was no follow-up and the protective net did not break. The entire starship was forced to move several stars towards the direction of the Divine Court due to the extremely strong thrust.
Almost immediately, the shrill alarm sounded inside the ship, which was disturbing.
Amid the alarm, a trembling voice suddenly sounded: "Report! We have captured images of the expeditionary force's new weapons! This miniature ship - no! This is a mecha! A humanoid combat mecha!"
When he said the last word, the ending tone was directly split.
After a moment of stiffness, Fritz leaned forward and ordered in a deep voice: "Say it again, what is it?"
This time, the person reporting was much more fluent, and answered loudly with a hoarse voice: "It's a humanoid combat mecha!"
Before he finished speaking, Fritz saw the so-called "humanoid combat mecha" through the viewing window with his naked eyes, without the need for any equipment.
Against the pitch-black background of space, the humanoid mecha was dark grey in appearance, with the cold beauty unique to metal. It was several meters tall, with perfect lines. It was unknown what kind of paint was used on the fuselage, and it did not reflect any light as it passed through the flames caused by the explosions around it.
Humanoid combat mechas are not a very new concept.
Many years ago, both the Alliance and the rebels invested countless financial resources and energy in research, but they soon discovered that the input and output of humanoid combat mechas were not proportional and there were many problems.
First of all, compared to a starship, a mecha needs to raise its arms or kick its legs like a human. To complete these basic movements, it needs a powerful and smooth operating system, and it also needs to overcome problems such as center of gravity tilt, resistance, and overall coordination.
Secondly, although the humanoid mecha has high maneuverability, compared with micro-ships and destroyers, its huge size will make it a conspicuous target on the battlefield and it is extremely vulnerable to precise attacks from enemy artillery fire.
Of course, the most important issue is energy.
Compared with a starship of the same size, a humanoid mecha consumes six times or more energy. After the collapse of the space source superposition state, the Alliance and the rebels have not been able to find a new energy source that can support the energy consumption of humanoid mechas, has high density and light mass, and does not increase the weight.
It was obvious that the Alliance had found it before the rebels.
Due to the lack of precedent, no one knows how powerful this humanoid mecha that suddenly appeared has and to what extent it can achieve.
At this moment, Fritz heard his own heartbeat amid the noisy voices and alarms.
A layer of cold sweat appeared on the palms of my hands.
Then, Fritz understood the purpose of the expeditionary force's launching two high-energy particle cannons - to move the position of his main ship.
The light blue flames emitted from the thrusters of the humanoid mecha deepened, and its speed increased immediately. It rushed into the range of the Space Fortress like lightning, and headed towards Space Fortress No. 6 with a clear goal!
Due to its extremely strong maneuverability and flexible structure, the mecha moved forward, stopped, and turned sideways, almost dodging all the bombardments from Space Fortress No. 6.
During these few seconds, the starship where Fritz was located became a strong shield, which was at the precise angle to block the firepower from the side of Space Fortress No. 7!
Inside the mecha cabin, the human chest is squeezed at extremely high speeds, which will produce a noticeable feeling of suffocation. Qi Yan suppressed the discomfort and said quickly: "Mei Jielin, fire another high-energy particle cannon and two particle cannons, and let the enemy starship help us block the side fire attack."
In Qi Yan's eyes, everything on the battlefield was transformed into a calculable mathematical problem with almost zero error.
Mei Jielin immediately replied: "No problem!"
Lu Fenghan, who was sitting in the driving seat, was only wearing a standard shirt with his collar slightly open. He was highly focused as he controlled the mecha and was already not far from Space Fortress No. 6.
After the space fortress is transformed into an artillery position, it becomes a real long-range weapon. Almost no starship can completely avoid the dense rain of bullets. However, it has a fatal flaw - the closer to the space fortress itself, the sparser the artillery fire. If you stick close to the fortress's hull, you will hardly encounter any artillery fire.
That's the safe zone.
Lu Fenghan has extremely strong individual combat capabilities, quick on-the-spot reaction, and whole-body coordination. Coupled with his strong physical fitness, he drives a humanoid mecha through a hail of bullets with little chance of even scratches on the body of the mecha.
There was only a short distance left to the space fortress. Lu Fenghan's sharp lips tightened. He quickly switched the joystick and pulled it back hard. The super pulse cannon on the shoulder of the humanoid mecha burst out and instantly melted the outer shell of the fortress.
A few seconds later, the super pulse cannon pierced through the ammunition depot. As Lu Fenghan retreated suddenly, Space Fortress No. 6 exploded silently!
The firelight illuminated the surroundings.
In the Chanyuan, Mei Jielin, who was in charge of the cover, did not dare to blink: "If my score in operating the mecha was higher than that in commanding the past two days, I would be the one bombing the space fortress coolly over there now!"
"Let's not do that. When you went up there, you fumbled around and couldn't start the mecha for a long time. You're not as reliable as me." Wei's eyes lit up. "I don't know if the military can mass-produce it in the future."
"I think it's a bit risky. Not to mention that the cost will make those people in the Ministry of Finance bang their heads against the wall with tears and snot. The energy of the humanoid mecha is the same as the energy that supports the maneuverable jump of the starship, which comes from the collision of mineral substances. According to the energy consumption rate of the starship alone, the ore on the nameless star discovered by Command and Qi Yan will be consumed in a short time. The humanoid mecha consumes more fuel. Unless this energy can be artificially manufactured, the mass-produced mecha will only be an expensive large toy that cannot be moved."
Mei Jielin snapped her fingers and started planning early, "Let's wait until the battle is over and see if we can find a chance to fly around in the mecha!"
In just a few words, Lu Fenghan had used the same trick to cause Space Fortress No. 7 to explode, and it was suddenly stopped in mid-air and turned towards the nearby space fortress.
While Mei Jie Lin was diligently covering for Lu Fenghan, she sighed, "Did the commander really not secretly conduct relevant training beforehand? The fluency is amazing! Whether it's firing a cannon or drawing a beam sword to chop, there's not a single sluggishness in the movements!"
She paused and thought, "That's right, Qi Yan is also in the mecha cabin."
Wei Yin didn't respond: "What do you mean?"
"You males have a mating instinct. Don't you all like to shake your bright feathers? Look, the commander is doing that right now." Mei Jie Lin said with a "tsk tsk" sound. "But the commander is fighting so fiercely, as if he is unsatisfied and has no place to vent his energy."
At this time, Po Jun suddenly said: "Miss Mei Jielin, your description is not rigorous enough. The general has not been dissatisfied recently."
There was silence on the communication channel.