Wasteland Echoer

July 11th, 557th year of the New Lunar Calendar.

Crusted Federation, Extreme Cold Special Zone, Area A (Old Yashuang District), "Man-Made Lake" Federation Temporary Military Station, "Lakeside Western Camp".

Yaroslav placed his hands on the wooden edges of the sand table, staring at the interior of the sand table that almost perfectly replicated the battlefield terrain and current situation, frowning and saying nothing.

Ever since the meeting decided to lift the "cautious contact" status with the Lost People and declare the official start of war, although the progress of the federal army is not overwhelming, it has simply done nothing and stood still.

Since before he arrived at the "Man-Made Lake" military station, the Federation had successfully controlled the entire semi-sand and semi-ice field in the west, the rivers in the north, the roads in the south and part of the forest in the northeast, as well as three entrances to the "Bitter Deep Ruins".

Now, not only is entrance D of the "Bitter Relics Ruins" about to be out of federal control, but entrances A and C are also attacked by small groups of Lost Persons from time to time. The progress of the project is slow, and a lot of large machinery has been blown up, causing heavy losses.

If those Lost Ones who control the magic source power and mysterious extraordinary power are compared with Krusted's army construction, they are equivalent to the strength of the "Special Task Team" created around Ivan XXII. Compared with humans, they belong to The best of the best.

Even though the tens of thousands of troops who arrived near the man-made lake were all battle-hardened veterans with considerable strength, they were still powerless. In just three days of attacks, we lost more than 100 people.

"Something's not right, Oleg. The battle can't be fought like this. If we keep the current losses and progress, we will definitely lose." Yaroslav clenched his fist in one hand, bit his lip, and stared at the part of the sand table that belonged to the lost camp. , his tone was mixed with anger and anxiety.

Opposite him was Oleg, the deputy commander-in-chief of the "Battle of the Artificial Lake in the Extreme Cold Zone". He was fully armed at this time, wearing a white snow combat uniform and carrying a standard "Ice Thunder" produced by the Federation in the early years. Rifle, wearing white tactical gloves on both hands, holding a steel baton, pointing at the two battle points between humans and the Lost on the sand table, and said:

“The previous ‘cautious contact zone’ is now the connection between the beach and the forest on the east side of the lake. We tried to break through and seek to annihilate or expel the Lost Team entrenched here, but we have been unsuccessful.

"However, yesterday I went to personally check the situation and discovered that it was not that our [soldiers] were not strong enough, or that they were affected by sequential monsters or mental manipulation, but the artillery. The intensive artillery fire prevented us from taking a step forward."

"Artillery fire? Where is it?" Yaroslav was a little surprised, raised his head suddenly, and asked.

"At the beginning, we also suspected that our artillery team was operating too aggressively and dared to bomb intensively during the battle. But in fact, the artillery fire was not ours, nor was it created by the enemy using magic power, but real artillery shells. . The effect of the explosion, the traces left behind, and even a dumb bomb we saw confirmed that they had artillery reserves." Oleg explained.

"This is strange, Oleg, have you sent someone to check their transportation lines? The artillery produced and the shells fired require the support of the industrial system. This is not something that can be completed by one or two factories. It can block With our experienced soldiers and the firepower to counter us, I’m afraid their reserves are not small.” Yaroslav analyzed.

"Sir, according to my investigation..." Oleg responded:

"These lost people only have five or six thousand people with their families. We have four times as many people as them. We also have nearby Vasilysk and Pveginsk as transportation transits, so the supplies are just enough. You know , there are no settlers in the barren mountains and ridges of the extreme cold zone, and there are not many animals, let alone industrial production.

"In the more than two months of confrontation with us, they only built a semi-industrial storage camp. They could not produce heavy artillery at all. Otherwise, they would have been able to counterattack when the Air Force attacked before. Moreover, there are no mines around. It is even less possible to use magical means to create artillery. As for the 'Alien Heartless People', the Lost Ones of the 'Comprehension Sect' and the 'Chaos Group' have not released the 'Heartless People' to fight. We are still fighting with their elites. The Lost.

"Their original strategy was to use elites to fight head-on with our experienced warriors, and then wait for the quality of our personnel and weapons inventory to decline before launching a full-scale counterattack. However, our strategy is the opposite, a wave of three-dimensional all-round strikes that will end quickly war.

"This is a common saying often said by the Khitan people; 'One burst of strength, then another failure, three times all.' The sudden intensive artillery counterattack really makes me unable to understand. Our air and space forces have repeatedly surveyed the battlefield situation, and those young men who control the fighter planes They all reported finding no signs of artillery being transported."

"That's strange. Could it be that those independent armed forces used some kind of formation... yes, the 'jump formation' to teleport over long distances?" Yaroslav asked doubtfully.

"It doesn't look like it, but I doubt it." Oleg looked around the area, and after confirming that there was no one else, he leaned close to Yaroslav's ear and whispered:

"There are traitors within the Federation."

"traitor?"

"Yes, I heard that a part of the 'Unionists' have always supported reconciliation between humans and the Lost, using all resources to produce 'Pharmacion No. 0', wiping out all wandering careless people, and forming a racially inclusive United Nations." Ole Ge explained:

"They claim to have accepted the instructions of the 'Lord of the Night' and the 'Goddess of Light', demanding that the war be ended and peace returned before the 600th year of the New Era, when the upper and lower eras are divided. But you know, one of the reasons why the New Era crisis has not ended yet. That is, it is impossible for us to coexist peacefully with the Lost, a group of people who are better than us in terms of strength, wisdom, willpower, etc.

"Either, as time goes by, we are gradually ruled by them and reduced to lowly people; or, they are completely wiped out, and mankind wins the final victory. Those Virgins who shout all day long that 'the life of the lost is also life', They have never left a big city, and few of them have been to the battlefield.

"Usually I do some clerical work, and if I'm not good at it, I manage a few churches or provide logistics supplies. Usually if I get two new rubles, I'll quarrel with us. I'm afraid that this time, they may have a mother's heart and be deceived by the lost. He did bad things impulsively, or he was resentful of Master Vasily’s previous reduction in the distribution of supplies to them.”

"You mean, they sold military supplies to the Lost in private?" Yaroslav asked, feeling a little unbelievable.

"It's hard to say." Oleg further analyzed:

"For them, motivation is definitely not a problem. They also have influence in the strategic group. It is easy to modify a few transport information in dangerous areas. The worst is to disappear a few trucks transporting artillery and change them to be attacked." Alien monsters' attack and damage.

"Moreover, I have evidence. In the area where they fired artillery fire, I picked up several fragments, which were clearly engraved with the 'double-headed eagle and sunflower' pattern commonly used in the 'Viking' period. Now, I even doubt that those I’m afraid not all the guys from the Air and Space Army told the truth.”

After hearing this, Yaroslav had a gloomy face and remained silent as before, thinking.

Suddenly, the sky outside began to darken, and the strong wind began to howl, shaking the surrounding trees and the Crusted flag violently, almost toppling over.

The ground shook violently for a few times, and a series of gunfire began not far away. Dust began to fly around, and there was a faint sight of an approaching sandstorm in the sky.

Yaroslav, who had no good impressions of the so-called "Lord of the Night", "Goddess of Light", or even gods such as "Plamini", thought about it for almost half an hour before he seemed to have made a big decision and refused to give in. He slammed the ground on the edge of the sand table a few times and ordered:

"Oleg, temporarily stop our [soldiers] from contacting the Lost, order them to temporarily retreat back to our camp, and let them come to the entrance we control and the entrance that can be bombarded by artillery fire near the 'Bitter Relics'. How many come, Find the right time to eliminate as many as you can.

"Also, check all the weapons inventories. How many of you can you trust? Count the styles of artillery and the number of shells, so that you know what they are. Also let those with super powers from the capital form an 'assault team' to attack the lost. 's camp."

"Yes, sir, I'll get ready right away." Oleg responded.

"Well, after doing this, you still have to do something. Order the young men of the Air and Space Army to attack the camp of the Lost. Pay attention to the prescribed time and number of attacks. If you attack less than once, you will be arrested directly and sent to the capital. Treat him as a traitor and hand him over to Chief Vasily.

"It seems that the attack in the past few days has been too anxious. It's my fault. I haven't fought against the Lost for a long time, so I'm a little rusty. We still have to deal with our own problems first, and then think about attacking them. By the way, Are Oleg, Vovya, Dak, and Abena from the Order still here?"

"Probably gone." Oleg replied:

"We went looking for it the day you arrived. We heard that in the 'cautious contact zone', which is near the forest to the north of the current battlefield, someone saw them fighting several "mechanical dog-headed" monsters and then being bombarded by the explosion. In the 'Bitter Ruins' area.

"As you know, half of the Kushen ruins are connected to the 'man-made lake'. That part will be revealed only after the lake water recedes. They may have entered it through a hidden entrance."

"That's it, okay." Yaroslav sighed and continued:

"I have to go back to the 'Battle Command Center' first. I heard that you have arrested several Lost People who have sneaked into our army and are interrogating them. It just so happens that my... granddaughter Sophia has lived with the Lost People for a long time. I think it will be easier to get some useful information by taking her to ask those lost people than it is for you."