Hearing the staff officer's baffled report, Vostok immediately snatched the receiver to speak directly with Major General Hippocrates, the commander of the Tianyu City garrison.
"This is Vostok. What exactly is happening in your sector?! You claim you haven't detected a major Eastern Spirit force, yet your division has been fractured?! Explain!" Vostok demanded sharply.
"Report, Supreme Commander! I... I don't understand it myself! All my units are currently suppressed! My men manning the perimeter trenches are completely pinned down; they can't even raise their heads!
"I have no idea what tactics the enemy is employing, but they have effectively paralyzed my entire division! When I dispatched quick reaction forces to reinforce the perimeter, they were ambushed en route! The convoys were stalled by precise small-arms fire, suffering horrific casualties! And... we still haven't even visually identified the enemy's positions!" Hippocrates reported, his voice tinged with panic.
"How is that possible?! You said they don't have heavy weapons!" Vostok pressed, struggling to comprehend the situation.
"They don't! But when we mobilized our armored personnel carriers, they accurately shot our drivers through the viewports, disabling the vehicles! When we deployed our tanks, they systematically destroyed the main gun barrels and the external heavy machine guns, rendering the armor completely combat-ineffective!
"When my infantry attempted to secure the surrounding buildings for cover, they found the enemy already waiting in ambush inside! The moment my soldiers entered the structures, they were slaughtered! And any unit caught out in the open streets is being methodically picked off!
"Their marksmanship is terrifying. It's almost one shot, one kill! Our officer casualty rate is catastrophic! The frontline commanders are being assassinated the moment they expose themselves! I've lost contact with nearly my entire subordinate officer corps!" Hippocrates shouted desperately.
"What?! What kind of unit is this?! Do you have any idea?! A force this capable doesn't just materialize out of thin air! There must have been some preliminary signs of their infiltration!" Vostok demanded, his mind racing.
"We truly didn't detect anything! No signs whatsoever! When our perimeter checkpoints were initially attacked, we assumed it was a disorganized uprising by the local civilians who had scavenged some weapons. It happens occasionally.
"But it quickly escalated far beyond a civilian uprising! My entire division is currently paralyzed!" Hippocrates continued to explain his desperate situation.
"This is bizarre. What is your current combat-effective strength? How long can you hold out?" Vostok asked, recognizing the severity of the crisis.
"Report: I don't know! I have lost communications with the vast majority of my division! The only force I can confirm is still combat-effective is my personal Guard Battalion, which is currently securing my headquarters. As for the rest of my men out in the city... I honestly don't know their status. With the officers dead, the chain of command has completely collapsed!" Hippocrates confessed bleakly.
"What?! Damn it! Consolidate your remaining forces! Order any unit you can still reach to fall back and establish a tight defensive perimeter around the city center! Do not attempt any further offensive actions! I will dispatch reinforcements immediately!" Vostok ordered, realizing Tianyu City was on the verge of falling.
"Supreme Commander, we need immediate support! If this were a conventional Eastern Spirit army, I could hold the line! But I don't even know what I'm fighting! How am I supposed to mount a defense when I don't even know the enemy's capabilities?!" Hippocrates pleaded, his voice cracking.
"Just hold the line! Reinforcements are mobilizing now!" Vostok barked before slamming the phone down.
"Strange. What kind of unit is this? We don't even know how they bypassed the perimeter checkpoints and infiltrated the city center!
"And what exactly is this force? No artillery bombardment, no massed infantry charges, no tanks, no armor... what exactly is Hu Hao attacking us with?!" Vostok muttered, rubbing his temples in sheer frustration.
"Are we deploying reinforcements?" Vitali asked, watching him closely.
"Do we have a choice?! I can't just abandon a full division! Furthermore, we still lack a clear picture of the tactical situation. I am ordering a division from Jiliang City to deploy to Tianyu City immediately! Assuming the highways are clear, they should arrive in four hours at most!" Vostok declared his decision.
"They might not make it. Hu Hao's forces have already secured numerous towns along the route between Jiliang City and Tianyu City! If our division marches out, Hu Hao will undoubtedly ambush them! Reaching Tianyu City will be incredibly difficult!" Vitali warned him.
"They must try! Order them to move at maximum speed! Breakthrough at all costs!" Vostok insisted.
"Supreme Commander, deploying the Jiliang City division is a massive risk. Not only will they face brutal ambushes en route, but stripping Jiliang City of its primary garrison leaves it completely vulnerable! Hu Hao's forces will undoubtedly launch an offensive against Jiliang City the moment the defenders leave!" Vitali argued, trying to dissuade him.
"They must deploy! Simultaneously, order a division from Qutong City to redeploy to Jiliang City to backfill the garrison! Execute the orders immediately!" Vostok commanded. He simply could not ignore a desperate plea for reinforcement from a frontline division.
Meanwhile, Hu Hao was highly satisfied with the unfolding operation. The Special Operations Regiment was performing brilliantly. The operatives were demonstrating seamless coordination, dynamically forming ad hoc assault teams, neutralizing their targets, and instantly dispersing back into the shadows.
Across Tianyu City, chaotic firefights erupted constantly. The Allied forces were completely disoriented, firing blindly into the darkness while desperately launching flare after flare in a futile attempt to locate their attackers.
BANG! BANG!
Hu Hao moved fluidly through the ruins alongside a small assault team. Spotting a squad of Allied soldiers frantically searching the street below, he shouldered his sniper rifle and fired twice in rapid succession. Two Allied soldiers dropped dead. Before the others could even react, Hu Hao and his team had already vanished into the next building.
"Do not leave your apartments! Remember, your lives are the priority!" Hu Hao reminded the terrified civilians cowering in the hallway as his team bounded past them.
The civilians weren't entirely paralyzed by fear, however. Upon breaching the buildings, Hu Hao's operatives had immediately identified themselves as the Eastern Spirit National Defense Force.
This realization had sparked profound relief and excitement among the trapped populace. If the firefight hadn't been actively raging outside their windows, many of them would have likely rushed forward to embrace the soldiers.
Hu Hao led his team to a new overwatch position, scanning the rain-swept streets. The Allied forces had wised up; they were currently cowering inside their fortified barracks and checkpoints, refusing to step outside.
But their passive defense was futile. The heavy snipers systematically targeted their fortified positions, punching through the walls and forcing the survivors out into the open, where they were immediately engaged by the marksmen. Grenadiers utilized underbarrel launchers to accurately drop high-explosive rounds through shattered windows, obliterating any clustered Allied squads.
The brutal, asymmetrical combat raged on. Once an assault team cleared an Allied strongpoint, they immediately pushed deeper toward the city center.
Simultaneously, other Special Operations teams were systematically clearing the perimeter trenches. They stalked through the muddy ditches, eliminating the pinned-down Allied defenders with silent, lethal efficiency. They had no intention of leaving a single Allied soldier alive.
The battle raged continuously from 8:00 PM until nearly 11:00 PM. Over those three grueling hours, the volume of gunfire and explosions within the city steadily dwindled.
The Special Operations Regiment had successfully collapsed the Allied perimeter and pushed all the way to the city center, directly threatening Hippocrates's headquarters. The Division's Guard Battalion had established a final defensive perimeter outside the subterranean bunker, desperately trying to halt the advance. But the heavy snipers continued their methodical work; every sporadic BANG signaled the end of another Allied guardsman.
"Commander! We are completely surrounded! But... we still haven't visually identified the enemy's main positions! They refuse to engage us in a frontal assault!" a staff officer reported frantically to Hippocrates inside the bunker.
"Hold the line! High Command has confirmed reinforcements are en route! If they maintain their pace, they should arrive in two hours!" Hippocrates sat rigidly in his chair, his expression an emotionless mask.
It wasn't that he was cold or indifferent to the slaughter of his men; he was simply paralyzed by absolute helplessness. His soldiers were dying by the hundreds, yet they hadn't even seen the faces of their executioners.
"Two hours?!" the staff officer gasped, staring at him in disbelief. He wanted to demand how they were supposed to survive another two hours against this invisible meat grinder, but seeing the sheer despair etched into Hippocrates's face, he swallowed his words. He knew the Commander had no answers.
"Report! Hao-ge, Corps Commander Wu is on the secure line!" a communications officer whispered, creeping up beside Hu Hao.
Hu Hao was currently positioned on the roof of a high-rise less than a kilometer from Hippocrates's headquarters, observing the final assault on the Guard Battalion through his scope. Hearing the report, he lowered his rifle and took the receiver.
"This is Hu Hao. What is it, Commander Wu?"
"Hao-ge, whatever you're doing in Tianyu City, you've kicked the hornet's nest! A full Allied division just mobilized out of Jiliang City! They've crossed into our sector and are marching hard directly toward Tianyu City!
"I currently have a full division deployed along their projected route! Should I order them to establish blocking positions and ambush the relief column?!" Wu Kexiao asked urgently over the radio.
"Negative. Let them pass. This is perfect! I only committed the first wave of nine companies tonight! The other two waves haven't even fired a shot yet! Tell your division to stand down. Let the Allied column march straight to Tianyu City; the Special Operations Regiment will handle them!" Hu Hao ordered calmly.
"Hao-ge... what about the Tianyu City garrison?!" Wu Kexiao asked, utterly stunned.
"They are on the verge of total annihilation. But since the Allied coalition is graciously sending us fresh targets, we'll slow our pace and wait for them to arrive! Alright, unless the relief column deviates from its route to attack your positions, do not engage! If they try to maneuver elsewhere, then you crush them!" Hu Hao concluded.
"Yes, sir! I... I understand!" Wu Kexiao replied, his mind reeling.
Hu Hao had just casually stated that a mere nine companies—roughly a thousand men—were on the verge of annihilating an entire entrenched Allied division! The sheer combat power of the Special Operations Regiment was beyond anything Wu Kexiao had ever imagined.
(End of Chapter)