Chapter 789: Chapter 562 Night Patrol
Medium wave transmission possesses outstanding directivity, and if the signal plan transmitted by Division 149 at this moment were to be laid out, one could clearly see that the signal’s transmission area is indeed a narrow fan shape. At the center of the fan shape is the nearby friendly Division 117, while the tip of the fan shape coincides with the area covered by the Gardot Empire’s Frontier Army on the map.
The information was unsurprisingly acquired by friendly forces, but it didn’t stop transmitting, instead, it spread even further.
…
Inside the 62nd Intelligence Battalion of the Gardot Empire’s Frontier Army, hundreds of soldiers sat in front of screens, busily analyzing signals.
When the signal reception equipment intercepted signals from the Federation, these soldiers engaged in their routine signal decryption work.
The Federation’s radio transmissions frequently changed their ciphers, and the intensifying work of encryption and decryption each day meant that as long as the two sides were in a standoff, the virtual world’s war would never cease.
When the intercepted information was fed into the cryptographic database, it wasn’t long before the equipment suddenly emitted a series of beeping alarm sounds.
Decryption successful?
Surprised at the information displayed on the screen, the soldiers hurriedly pressed the direct communication button to their superior officer.
Moments later, a Lieutenant Colonel dressed in the Gardot Empire’s blue military uniform rushed in. After reading the decrypted information, his expression fluctuated.
How had the Federation, which had been using seven-and-a-half generation ciphers to transmit information, suddenly switched to seventh-generation ciphers?
What was the authenticity of the information they had unintentionally intercepted?
What exactly was the Federation’s conspiracy? Were they really planning to make the Fire Hills region the entry point, or were they attempting to draw their attention?
After a long while, the Lieutenant Colonel finally got through to the Frontier Army headquarters of the Empire on a dedicated line.
…
“This is a night patrol, wear your helmet properly. You’d be very unlucky to get taken out by a stray bullet,” Bench rambled on to Mu Fan.
Every soldier in the 27th Infantry Battalion could be said to have multiple roles. At least “Bench,” the Junior Sergeant, was both a mechanized and a reconnaissance soldier.
That this infantry battalion had successfully defended an area of over twenty square kilometers with less than a hundred men was already a miracle.
Mu Fan was only allowed to go on the weight-bearing patrol after assuring several times that the enormous marching backpack wouldn’t slow him down.
At this moment, he awkwardly wore a heavy, defense-oriented tactical helmet and held an explosion-proof shield that covered half his body, warily bringing up the rear of the squad. Ahead of him was Bench, who acted as a temporary teacher.
After a final self-check before the night patrol mission, the seven-man squad finally set out.
The night on Planet E75 arrived much quicker than on Blue Capital Star; in Bench’s words, two-thirds of the time here was spent in darkness.
And this darkness was particularly cold. In Mu Fan’s eyes, the six soldiers ahead had all put on their thick marching uniforms and turned on the night vision in their tactical helmets.
Nobody noticed that Mu Fan at the rear of the squad hadn’t activated his night vision device but instead kept his eyes exposed.
Trudging on the rugged mountain path, foot deep and foot shallow, in Mu Fan’s view, these people had all been laughing and joking before donning their equipment. But once they commenced their night patrol mission, they seemed like entirely different people, including the talkative Bench, who only pointed out a few key points to Mu Fan at certain locations.
This feeling of sneaking silently through the night transported Mu Fan back to his days on Loga Star.
“Hoo-loo-loo~ Hoo-loo-loo~”
Suddenly, a strange screeching sound arose from the rock layer ahead, and Mu Fan involuntarily tensed up, lifting his shield awkwardly.
It seemed that Bench, standing in front of Mu Fan, sensed the movement behind him and immediately turned around to whisper, “Don’t be nervous, that sound comes from the unique cavities in the rock layers of the Fire Hills area, indicating that there’s a deep underground gorge beneath the area ahead. We have to be careful when we move through here. We don’t know how deep it is down there; anyone who falls in never comes back. Stay close, and don’t you dare slip.”
The Night Patrol Team paused for a moment before carefully proceeding in single file. During this time, Mu Fan quietly kicked a pebble off the path, which rolled down the smooth rock face into the depths below, only a few clinking collision sounds could be heard before the silence took over…
The depth must have exceeded a hundred meters.
After circumventing that area with the team, Mu Fan’s view suddenly cleared.
Now they were still passing the shadowed side of the hills and what emerged before them was an apparently flat valley. On the other side of the valley, the undulating hills continued.
With his excellent eyesight, Mu Fan clearly saw craters scattered across the so-called flat valley surface.
His teammates quietly lay down, and Mu Fan followed suit, pressing himself against the warm Rock Fire Stone. The leading Sergeant pulled out high-power infrared binoculars, exhaling cold breath through the gaps in his windproof mask, as he watched the other side carefully and began to adjust the scale on the eyepiece.
“What’s wrong, is there a problem on the other side?”
“That’s the Frontier Army’s defensive area, observing their defensive changes is a routine task,” Bench said in a lowered voice, then noticing the surprise on Mu Fan’s face, he asked, “Have you not been using night vision this whole time?”
Mu Fan nodded, “My vision is good at night; wearing night vision goggles actually makes it inconvenient.”
Hearing Mu Fan’s response, Bench quietly gave him a thumbs-up.
With the Galaxy Federation spanning such vast territories, it was not surprising to come across exceptional people; Mu Fan’s capability, in his eyes, was even more superb than the strength offered by the Exoskeleton Armor.
Mu Fan didn’t linger on this topic but squinted across the valley and asked, “How can you make out their defensive setup in this situation?”
Hearing Mu Fan’s question, the Sergeant paused his observation, turned to Mu Fan with a grin, and said, “You use these, look. The Frontier Army is under unified command, unlike us, who are independent from each other’s divisions. That’s why they have better treatment than us; this place is especially cold at night. We’re in the Fire Hills, but they’re not – it’s just a regular hilly area without Rock Fire Stones for warmth. So, by watching for unusual temperature spots in the eyepiece, we can pinpoint their defensive zones.”
Bang!
Suddenly, a rock in front of the Sergeant exploded, shattering into fragments.
The Sergeant immediately ducked behind the rock, cursing under his breath, “These persistent Night Herons, that new guy over there, keep your body low, tilt the shield up a bit and see, mind the angle.”
Not understanding the Sergeant’s intention, Mu Fan still complied.
The shield had barely been exposed for a moment when a loud bang burst upon it, but due to the shield being tilted at a 45-degree angle, the bullet ricocheted off.
Mu Fan’s arm didn’t flinch.
This surprised the Sergeant, who clicked his tongue in admiration, “Not bad, kid. The Night Heron’s sniper rifles pack quite a punch; even at a distance well over four kilometers, that kinetic energy could knock back a grown man.”
Mu Fan grinned without a word, while Bench quietly explained the newcomer’s strength was indeed formidable.
“Let’s move, the Night Heron has spotted us; time to switch vantage points for surveillance. The temperature anomaly I just observed seems to be significantly higher than the last couple of times – have they increased night patrol efforts?”
He muttered a frown, then signaled with his hand to follow, and the group began to move while crouched.
During the stealthy transition, Bench informed Mu Fan that “Night Heron” was the collective name for the Frontier Army’s reconnaissance snipers.
When they reached a protruding rock, the Sergeant leader once again carefully peeked out before pulling back and said, “Something’s off about their defenses; it looks like there’s been an increase of about ten percent. We’ll have to report this to the Major later.”