Feng Jun walked out of the house and looked up at the sky; the gray-green radiation clouds silently floated above, creating a suffocating and oppressive sight.
It was already noon, but only a few rays of sunlight penetrated the radiation clouds.
Recently, the weather had started to warm up, and southerly winds became more frequent, yet the radiation clouds in the sky showed no signs of diminishing.
This nuclear war directly altered the structure of the atmosphere.
After securing the Refuge, Feng Jun had a long conversation with Ling Jiu, describing the bizarre storm cloud he witnessed during the Zombie Tide.
Ling Jiu didn't provide Feng Jun with an answer, but after the Quantum Communication Tower was established, Ling Jiu used the robots in the Refuge to release two high-altitude meteorological balloons into the atmosphere.
These two balloons could ascend to the exosphere, over a thousand kilometers high, which is within the range of near-Earth orbit.
However, these two meteorological balloons did not reach their intended altitude; they were destroyed in the stratosphere and mesosphere by violent air currents and atmospheric collisions.
Nevertheless, the detectors in the balloons still transmitted some data, which Ling Jiu analyzed using the Quantum Computer.
The old atmosphere had been completely shattered, with countless radioactive components and high-energy particles filling the upper reaches of the entire atmosphere.
Strong convection and super thunderstorms occurred there almost every moment.
Compared to the atmospheric environment before the Doomsday, the difficulty for humans to launch spacecraft now was more than 20 times greater.
Combining the data analyzed by Ling Jiu’s meteorological balloons with the information stored in the Refuge, even if there truly was a nearly intact ground-attack battleship in Shangqing City, the probability of this starship re-entering near-Earth orbit would not exceed 20%.
When Feng Jun asked Ling Jiu, she gave a very definite answer: whether it was the Ming Empire, the Soviet, or the United States of America, their space warships were basically built directly at spaceports in space.
Although they could fly within the atmosphere, there was no consideration for landing on the ground and then launching into space again.
Because of the need to overcome Earth's gravity, launching a starship from the surface is much more difficult than in space, and it would also need to overcome gravity again.
Starships that land on the ground would need to be refitted with large-thrust external engines.
Moreover, due to the terrible atmospheric conditions of the Doomsday, even with large-thrust external engines, the probability of a starship breaking through the violent atmosphere and returning to space would not exceed 20%.
After receiving Ling Jiu's analysis data, Feng Jun had a rough conclusion in his mind: even if there truly was a nearly intact orbital strike ship in the Shangqing City Wasteland, it wouldn't matter; this starship would essentially be a mere decoration.
Furthermore, the veracity of this news could not be confirmed; it was highly likely a smokescreen released by the Blood Bell Gang to deceive the Zhu Hong Business Association, with the aim of luring the Zhu Hong Business Association's main forces out of Huaicheng District.
Feng Jun ascended the city wall, standing on the watchtower and looking towards Huaicheng District.
This farce seemed to be nearing its end.
Currently, it appeared that the Blood Bell Gang and the Red Hand Mercenary Group had the upper hand.
No matter what Zhu Wenyao was thinking, from the moment she dispatched armored troops out of Huaicheng District, she had already fallen into a trap.
At this moment, within the Shangqing City Wasteland, four N1 Tanks of the Zhu Hong Business Association were lined up in a single file, forming a long snake formation as they moved along the street.
Around the tanks, numerous light armored vehicles and heavy armored soldiers in heavy power armor drove in parallel.
A dense UAV swarm also hovered in the sky, responsible for aerial vigilance and reconnaissance.
Inside the third tank in the middle sat Li Hao, the Commander of this unit; he was listening to his subordinate, the adjutant, report on the march.
Li Hao had been leading his troops in tracking the Blood Bell Gang's forces, circling around the Shangqing City Wasteland for most of the day.
The cumulative distance traveled had exceeded fifteen kilometers, which was very close to the center of Shangqing City, and even very near the nuclear crater containing the Blood Nest.
The number of zombies and Mutants was increasing, and just now, N1 Tank No. 1, which was responsible for leading the way, had killed two humanoid Mutants.
“According to intelligence from the UAV, the Blood Bell Gang’s forces have been active five kilometers ahead of us.
Currently, there is no information about the starship.
Our UAV has expanded its search range, but still found nothing,” the adjutant reported truthfully.
“This damned Blood Bell Gang, what exactly is that fat bastard Fang Xinglong planning?” Li Hao slammed his fist on the armrest of his seat, venting his emotions.
“Where are the Hongwen Gang’s forces?” Li Hao continued to ask.
“We are at the ten o’clock direction, about ten kilometers away.
I just spoke with their Commander; they are also monitoring the Blood Bell Gang’s movements,” the adjutant said.
After a moment of thought, Li Hao said, “Continue to track them, and slowly deploy an attack formation.
Wait another twenty minutes; by then, whether we find the starship or not, launch a direct attack and annihilate this Blood Bell Gang unit.
Tell the Hongwen Gang’s forces to prepare for cooperation; we absolutely cannot let the Blood Bell Gang escape.”
Li Hao, like Hu Kun, was a Commander of the Zhu Hong Business Association.
Unlike Hu Kun, he was completely self-made, the kind of ordinary person who had struggled and climbed their way up in the Doomsday.
Although his command ability was far inferior to Hu Kun, who came from a professional background, he was much more decisive than Feng Jun in his actions.
He had already sensed that something was wrong; before this departure, he had strongly opposed driving such important armored forces, especially a large number of N1 Tanks, into the Shangqing City Wasteland at such a critical moment.
In his opinion, the current news could not be confirmed as accurate.
And leading the armored forces out of Huaicheng District at a critical moment was a mistake, even though this was also a good opportunity to annihilate the Blood Bell Gang's forces in the wasteland.
The Blood Bell Gang did not have much heavy equipment; their troops' Meteor Hammer heavy tanks only focused on defense and mobility, with attack power far lower than the Zhu Hong Business Association's N1 Tanks.
Those biochemical Cyborg were also just idiots skilled only in close combat.
As long as the Hongwen Gang could help cut off the Blood Bell Gang's retreat, Li Hao could then eliminate all of the Blood Bell Gang's forces in the wasteland.
After the order was given, all units began to move.
The four N1 Tanks started to move separately towards their predetermined positions.
The plasma shields were fully charged and deployed, and a faint, almost imperceptible semi-circular shield enveloped the four tanks.
Twenty minutes passed quickly.
Li Hao stubbed out the cigarette in his hand and gave the order to attack.
Just as the Zhu Hong Business Association's forces were preparing to attack, a thick blue beam of light directly struck the foremost N1 Tank No. 1.
The plasma shield reacted immediately, and colorful lights appeared around N1 Tank No. 1, blocking the massive blue beam.
Li Hao saw this scene and bit his lip nervously.
The dazzling colorful light was an indication of the plasma shield overloading before failure.
On the Battlefield, if the plasma shield produced this extremely dazzling colorful light after being attacked, it meant that the shield's defense was about to fail.