Chapter 101: The Raid Force Sets Out

Xuanlu Base.

As more and more refugees flooded in, tent after tent had been set up around the base. The area outside the base had suddenly become a mixed bag of all sorts, making Xuanlu's management increasingly difficult.

Of course, everything has two sides. The massive population had plunged the non-core areas of the base into chaos, and management costs kept rising. At the same time, the large population brought an enormous labor force, accelerating the base's construction.

Currently, the base was divided into three zones: the core zone, the outer zone, and the area beyond the base perimeter.

First, the core zone was centered on the castle, protected by layers of heavy firepower, generally demarcated by high-voltage electrified barbed wire fences that unauthorized personnel could not approach. Inside were an airport, barracks, cultivation center, research institute... Most of the buildings were still under construction.

The first phase of the heavy-duty rail transport had been completed, with a daily transport volume of about 5,000 tons. Considering the time needed for domestic resource mobilization and concealment, the transport volume was somewhat reduced, averaging around 4,000 tons per day.

The first and second residential zones had been completed—odd-numbered for men, even-numbered for women. The male residential zone had a total of five hundred dormitories, each accommodating one hundred people. The female residential zone had three hundred dormitories, each also capable of housing one hundred people.

The two residential zones together could hold eighty thousand people. Currently, the base had accepted seventy thousand civilians, with men making up seventy percent, women thirty percent, and children less than 0.3 percent of the total.

Going forward, Xuanlu did not intend to accept people unconditionally, but rather adopt a contribution-based system. Generally, an adult male needed to work for half a year to enter the base, and those who performed exceptionally could do so earlier.

Children under ten without parents could enter the base directly, while those with parents could enter during the day to receive education.

At the same time, free food supplies for able-bodied individuals were being gradually reduced to further eliminate parasites.

At the heart of the base, on the empty helipad, rows of elongated helicopters sat quietly parked.

Under the guidance of Li Zhiyuan, who had recently returned to the New World, Qin Le toured the crucial transport vehicles to be used in the upcoming operation.

"Cangyun-01 helicopter—the latest developed helicopter of another type, with powerful transport capability. It can carry thirty soldiers along with various heavy firepower in a single trip," Li Zhiyuan said, pointing at the helicopter in front of them.

Qin Le looked at these helicopters with a somewhat surprised expression. "Has technology advanced this quickly?"

The fuselage of the helicopter before him was more than twice as long as previous models, with rotors at both the front and rear—exactly the same design as the Cangyun helicopters from his previous life.

Xuanlu's current technological level was roughly a bit higher than that of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but it had not reached the level of the twenty-first century. How had Xuanlu managed to build a helicopter that clearly belonged to the twenty-first century?

Li Zhiyuan adjusted his glasses, wearing his signature gentle smile, and explained: "Helicopters appeared as early as the colonial war era. However, limited by the lack of powerful engines at the time, they could only be used for short-range daily reconnaissance and had no real combat capability."

"During the World War era, helicopters appeared again, but they were still constrained by engine limitations and fragile defensive capability, ultimately failing to play a practical role. In the late stage of the World War, the Empire had actually already developed helicopters that could be deployed in combat."

"That early? Then why didn't they bring them out? If they'd had these things back then, surprise attacks would have been much easier," Qin Le said, but no sooner had he finished speaking than the answer came to him.

Given how rotten the Empire was in its final days, even if it had developed them, there was no money to produce them.

"The Empire did plan to mass-produce them at the time, for rapid deployment of vanguards on localized battlefields. A large sum of funds was allocated from above, but in the end, because the money ran out, only a few were built." Li Zhiyuan spread his right hand, then folded his fingers in one by one.

"Ten thousand taels of gold, peeled off layer by layer—by the time it reached the arsenal, less than five hundred taels remained, and the final manufacturing funds were only one hundred taels of gold."

Qin Le curled his lips. "Then how did you manage to build them?"

Qin Le had long grown accustomed to the Empire's practice of padding payrolls. The further it went, the worse it got—to the point where even their vanguard units' equipment had shortages.

"Naturally, we improvised with whatever materials were available—dismantled whatever could be dismantled and pieced it together by force. After all, we'd worked so hard to develop it; we had to end up with a finished product," Li Zhiyuan briefly recounted how they had assembled a helicopter using experimental prototype engines and a pile of scrap metal.

Qin Le sincerely felt that his decision back then had been the right one—these researchers were the Empire's most precious asset.

Three hours later, all transport helicopters had been fully inspected, and over four hundred special operations soldiers had assembled on the helipad.

This raid mission concerned the success of the entire plan, and Xuanlu took it extremely seriously. Both the Vanguard units and the finest special forces were dispatched to carry out the mission together.

Qin Le looked at the many familiar faces before him, along with some unfamiliar ones, and said, "Attention!"

Thump!

The movement was perfectly synchronized, as if they were a single person.

"Under the relentless pressure from the other nations, the Republic has been pushed to the point of no retreat. In the southern bay, they dared to kill forty-seven of our compatriots. Then in the future, they will dare to kill a hundred thousand, a million, ten million of us! Your task is to seize victory at all costs—using your flesh and blood, your lives, everything you have to win victory for the Republic."

"Because without victory, there is no survival. The Republic needs people to bear the burden and march forward, needs people to make sacrifices. This is a road paved with blood and bones. Every inch of the land, every inch of blood. The previous generation has already sacrificed; this time, it is our turn."

"For the Republic, for our seven hundred million compatriots, the mission begins."

All the special operations soldiers raised their right hands, pressing them straight against their temples, their faces filled with resolve, their eyes brimming with boundless strength.

"Sir! We will not fail our mission!"

Black eagles soared through the sky, fully armed special operations soldiers sat in their seats, gripping cold firearms with both hands.

...

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat...

The sound of rotors continuously reached their ears. The soldiers in the cabin sat in their seats with their eyes closed, resting.

Zhang Sheng clutched his rifle tightly. Surrounded by the ridiculously sturdy tough guys all around him, he—the best special forces soldier—felt like a little white rabbit here.

Were these the legendary vanguards?

"Approaching the transfer point. I will now repeat the mission briefing once more."