It is at least 800 meters above the surface, dark and cold, but the roar of engines can be heard in the wide channel.
A Thunder transport plane and two escorting Viking fighter planes located at the front and rear shuttled through it, heading at a constant speed to the city of Eden, where millions of humans gathered and had the same name as the Garden of Eden in the Bible.
The maze-like intricate routes and structures form the first line of defense. I can't help but marvel at how humans in the old world could build such a large-scale underground system.
After the flight formation passed the corners one by one, descended to a deeper area, and then gradually slowed down after sailing for a while, because the front was about to enter the second line of defense set by Eden.
On the surface, it appears to be empty, but in fact, the Edenians have secretly deployed remotely controlled electromagnetic mines.
The mines had been detected and the pilots, who had been warned in advance, deliberately slowed down.
Inside the Thunder cabin.
"I am the captain of the Abraham, Major Poliyev, number eden003369, calling the Eden tower to request passage permission."
Victor is wearing a wired headset and trying to contact Eden.
In addition to Victor, Mark and others, who looked uneasy, were also sitting on seats that were too large and did not match the size of ordinary people.
Sitting opposite was Angron, who had been using the holographic screen to handle various matters, while the six gladiators wearing Terminator power armor chose to stand.
"Hey...~"
At this time, the communication first sent back a busy signal. Victor waited patiently for a few seconds, and then heard a low, slightly old voice asking:
"Major Poliyev, this is Admiral Femini Okar. Please explain why you are flying a warship of unknown type and why you have two fighter planes that look like the old era."
Admiral Okar?
Knowing the identity of the other party made Victor frown slightly, but he did not pause and responded immediately:
"General, the situation is somewhat special. The Abraham has crashed, and the transport plane and the two fighter planes I boarded belong to an organization called Umbrella. My crew and I were also rescued by Umbrella, and they also
Claiming that it will assist Eden to completely eliminate threats from machines."
"Umbrella? Completely solve the machine?" The general named Okar was stunned, and then said: "Major, do you know what you are talking about? This is the real world, not a virtual world, nor a dream.
Therefore, Major, your application for passage will not be approved. However, I will send the Joshua and Samuel to your current location, disarm you, and then escort you back to Eden with an unknown type of transport aircraft and fighter planes.
Major Poliyev, I hope you can understand this decision, I cannot put Eden in danger."
Hear the words.
Before Victor could reply, Angron had already used one of the holographic screens in front of him to immediately switch to the communication, still interjecting in a kind tone:
"General Okar, let me introduce myself first. I am Angron, the supreme commander of the Umbrella Eighth Legion and the Wrecker Legion.
For me, I can certainly understand your decision. After all, thinking from your Eden perspective, this is the most correct decision.
But we can only accept waiting here and accompany Joshua and Samuel to Eden. We cannot accept the option of disarming, besides...
You, Eden, do not have enough strength to force us to disarm. The reason why you asked Major Poliyev to contact you and apply for passage is just to express our goodwill."
After hearing Angron's words, the communication fell into a brief silence.
But soon, Okar's tone was much heavier and he replied: "What if we insist on asking for an initial decision?"
"What the outcome will be cannot be explained clearly with words, but words can determine the outcome." Angron responded with a faint smile.
Then, he kindly reminded: "General, you have fifteen seconds to think about it."
Although Angron has a gentle temper and is friendly to others, and his original intention is to peacefully enter Eden through negotiation, it does not mean that he will accept the proposal of "disarming".
After all, sometimes giving the other party too much "respect" will be regarded as "weakness" by the other party.
However, Angron still gave Eden "enough" time to think. If it was Leon, John or Russ who came to negotiate...
Um…
Those brothers are not as "calm" as Angron.
"You are threatening, Mr. Angron!" Okar said sharply.
"Ten seconds left." Angron answered the question.
On the other hand, Mark, who was sitting opposite, and the crew of the Abraham, all looked nervous and solemn to the extreme.
But this group of Edenians did not rush to dissuade Angron. They must know that they had witnessed with their own eyes the army of machines preparing to invade Eden.
That scale was enough to bring about the fall of Eden.
But Angron told them that he had completely destroyed that army.
If Eden is allowed to launch an active attack, all battleships will be engulfed by endless sentries before they reach the best position to release electromagnetic pulses.
Therefore, Mark and others, who can clearly distinguish the difference in strength, naturally also understand that this is not a situation where they can interrupt or intervene at will.
As for Victor…
The major was very calm, as if he had expected from the beginning that the situation would evolve into what it was now.
And based on Victor's understanding of Eden, when the military learns of Umbrella's true strength and the common goal of "eliminating the machine", misunderstandings and conflicts will be easily resolved, but the Parliament, especially the Church...
He will definitely do all kinds of little tricks.
Even though there is a formidable enemy like machines, and an extremely harsh living environment, humans in this world are still divided into multiple factions, and they have never stopped fighting for power.
At this time.
"Five seconds." Angron reminded again.
"…" The communication remains silent.
Five seconds pass.
Confirming that the Eden military seemed to stick to its original decision, Angron couldn't help but shake his head slightly and said in a slightly regretful tone:
"Although I don't want to cause misunderstanding, sometimes a proper display of strength can be helpful for peaceful negotiations. See you later, General Okar."
After speaking, Angron directly cut off the communication with Eden, and then ordered all the pilots: "Assault towards Eden as planned, and leave the threat to me to deal with it."
"Yes, sir."
"Mr. Angron..." After hearing the content of Angron's order, Mark summoned the courage to ask: "Will you launch an attack on Eden?"
Angron smiled again and did not answer directly, saying: "I hate humans killing each other, although sometimes I have to face it...
Fortunately, based on my judgment of your Eden's comprehensive strength, I should be able to have a calm talk with Eden's top management before any bloodshed occurs."
Said.
Outside the cabin.
The two Viking escorts rushed towards the electromagnetic minefield deployed by the Eden military at lightning speed.
Waiting for the formation to pass through the minefield...
"Boom! Boom!"
The electromagnetic mines were manually detonated one after another, releasing electromagnetic pulses that were enough to radiate the entire area and completely engulf the flying formation.
———————
…
at the same time.
The top level of Eden.
The space here is extremely spacious, and the overall structure is a huge column, pointing vertically downward. Standing on the edge, you can even see the bottom layer a hundred meters below.
On the way from the upper floor to the bottom floor, there are air corridors of different widths that intersect with each other, and the large number of gates placed on the bottom floor indicate that there is a cave underneath.
The top here is an arched dome with alternative mirror lights, providing daylight-like lighting to the entire area.
In addition, there are a large number of military fortifications in the uppermost area, as well as parallel fixed turrets with mostly calibers of 40mm, 60mm, etc.
On the surrounding platforms, there are gates connecting different channels.
On the largest platform in this area, there are large facilities for towers and command purposes. At the same time, there are many docking ports on the edge of the platform for electromagnetic warships to berth.
It can be seen that this is the military fortress and port of Eden, always prepared for harassment and invasion from machines.
The interior of the command facility.
"General!" A civilian soldier wearing old-fashioned headphones and a light gray uniform turned to look at the rear and reported: "44% of the landmines have been successfully detonated!"
This place looks like Umbrella, or the command center of a UNSC military base, but there is no holographic projection device here, and all civilian soldiers use old-fashioned keyboards and monitors.
An officer standing in the center, wearing the same type of light gray uniform, with an old face, put his hands behind his back and fixed his eyes on a large hanging screen.
And this officer was Admiral Femini Okar, whose first conversation with Angron was fruitless.
"Very good." Okar nodded in response after hearing the soldier's report, and said, "Put the motion detection screen on the home screen."
"yes."
Soon, the large screen screen will switch.
I saw three red dots lined up in a picture that looked like a building blueprint, and I continued to move forward without slowing down at all.
Immediately, another soldier reported: "General, the target is still moving, which means that the opponent's vehicle has the ability to defend against EMP (electromagnetic pulse)."
"I see." Okar was not too surprised and asked: "How long will it take for Joshua and Samuel to reach the frontline position."
"It's expected to be half a minute."
"Inform the captains of the two battleships and order them to coordinate the defense of the frontline position in charge of Lieutenant Colonel Holt, and shoot down the three unknown vehicles on the spot." O'Car ordered.
"yes."
"General!" At this moment, another correspondent suddenly said: "Priest Lucis, please call!"
"What the hell is that bastard doing..." Okar showed undisguised disgust.
But in the end, he had no choice but to compromise. He whispered to himself, turned around, walked to the correspondent and said, "Connected."
"Okay general."
After receiving the approval, the correspondent immediately operated to make the screen of the control console show the figure of the priest.
Okar looked at the woman wearing gorgeous decorations, red robes, thick eye shadow, and unidentified patterns on her face, and said in a deep voice:
"Dear Priest Lucis, our military is on a mission. What's the matter?"
"General...I heard that Major Polier and a group of outsiders are trying to get close to Eden, is that true?"
The Priestess named Lucis spoke unhurriedly.
If Okar was restraining himself from showing disgust and disgust, then Lucis directly showed his aloofness and contempt for all living beings.
Match her outfit...
He is like a magic stick.
But to be able to have an old general address her with an honorific title when she was under forty years old shows that Lucis has considerable influence in this city of Eden.
heard asking.
Okar did not deny or conceal anything, and said: "Yes, if the priest has nothing else to do, then please wait until our military handles it, and then..."
But before he finished speaking, he was suddenly interrupted by a soldier: "General! The target has rushed through the front line! We are about to arrive at Gate 4!"
"What?!" Okar said in shock, and quickly looked at the large screen.
The dynamic detection of the screen showed that the three red dots had "smoothly" passed through the frontline position jointly defended by two warships, and were about to reach the No. 4 gate at the front of the command facility.
Seeing this situation, Okar couldn't help but question: "What happened to Lieutenant Colonel Holt's troops?! Where are the Joshua and Samuel? Even if a wave of machines comes, it will not fall immediately! What is going on?
?!"
"We have lost contact with Lieutenant Colonel Holt and the two battleships..." The soldier who interrupted the conversation between Okar and Lucis also couldn't believe the facts and said his guess:
"The troops deployed in the frontline positions... may have been wiped out, General."
"Three planes...only three planes..." Okar's hands couldn't stop shaking, and his voice also trembled as he spoke.
In addition to the two electromagnetic warships transferred to support, a total of more than 5,000 soldiers were deployed at the front line, including large-caliber artillery, electromagnetic weapons, and forty APUs (armored personal units/mechanical armored infantry units).
With such firepower, it fell in an instant...
This shows that the strength gap between Eden and Umbrella is no longer on the same level.
"General!" The correspondent sitting next to Okar said excitedly after seeing the information coming from the secondary screen of the control console:
"Communications at the frontline base have been restored! Lieutenant Colonel Holt also sent back the latest information, saying that they were attacked by unknown means just as they prepared to face the enemy, causing a splitting headache and being unable to act or think normally. Now they have returned to normal.
.
Therefore, the lieutenant colonel is ready to lead the troops and attack those three targets together with us!"
??
After hearing the intelligence agent's report, Okar was confused at first, but soon understood Angron's intention of "showing mercy".
So the general gathered his thoughts and said to the correspondent: "Tell Lieutenant Colonel Holt not to act arbitrarily, and also ask Joshua and Samuel to stay at the front line and wait for follow-up orders."
With that said, Okar looked around at all the soldiers present and said solemnly: "Open gate No. 4, wait for Major Poliyev and others to enter the port, and then notify the guard company to prepare to meet Mr. Angron with me."