Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1177 - 1170: Special Operations

Chapter 1177: Chapter 1170: Special Operations

She paused for a moment, not leaving any room for Cheng Ziang to explain, but continued, "Firearm weapons have developed to a point where they have almost reached their zenith. No matter how much they are improved, these kinetic weapons powered by chemical propellants have hit their limit. That is to say, whether it’s the most advanced Type 47 Bullpup Assault Rifle or the AK47 Automatic Rifle from over a hundred years ago, the fundamental difference is not very significant. We cannot expect to gain much advantage in terms of weaponry unless the enemy is equipped with nothing more than matchlock guns."

"Under such circumstances, it’s pure folly to think that deploying a small number of elite forces could confront the potentially vast enemy armies. Moreover, Otherworld strictly limits the level of Earth’s technology, further narrowing the gap between us and the enemy. Hence, it is nearly impossible for us to gain any significant quality advantage."

"We indeed have won battles before, more than once, but we must see the truth. Early victories were entirely reliant on advanced and aggressive tactics, not an overwhelming advantage in terms of weaponry. In the later stages, we mainly depended on the magical forces of Otherworld, such as Feng. To sum up, blindly believing that we can defeat the people of Otherworld with Earth’s technological superiority alone is as foolish as when the multinational forces of Earth launched the Second Otherworld War."

"Understood!" Cheng Ziang nodded in complete agreement.

He hadn’t really thought it through, his plan was simply to air-drop a few teams to capture the targets and then evacuate by plane. In this process, he clearly made a fundamental mistake by assuming that not everyone was as capable in combat as his small team.

This Advance Team was the first to be dispatched by Headquarters, and through years of fighting in the south and the north of Otherworld, they had accumulated a wealth of combat experience. If everyone was like them, his plan, despite its flaws, could still be considered risky but potentially successful.

However, the reality was that most of the mobile forces they could now mobilize were novices, many of whom had been conscripted from college life to Lipei. If it weren’t for the immense defense pressure, they would probably still be attending college.

Although these subspecies had been subjected to military training since childhood, they had never really fought in wars. The only combat they experienced was the cheerful clashing in a virtual space, completely devoid of the fear of taking a life with the weapons in their hands.

Thinking of launching a decapitation action with such an inconsistent quality of troops required more careful consideration.

"So what do you think we should do?" Cheng Ziang asked.

"Not to mention other aspects, just speaking of troop deployment: initiating this operation would require at least two hundred people for perimeter support. Lack of quality cannot make up for lack of quantity. Without sufficient personnel for support, relying solely on a few special forces units is unlikely to achieve anything substantial. If they encounter the main enemy forces, annihilation is inevitable. Furthermore, we also need an airboat to serve as the Command Center, to direct operations close to the target area and to facilitate team evacuation," Tangmo suggested.

"Two hundred people... You also know the pressure of defense in Lipei; isn’t that a bit too much to ask?" Cheng Ziang said with some difficulty.

"I think if we explain the facts, Headquarters should find no reason to refuse our request," Tangmo said.

"And your reason for thinking so?" Cheng Ziang asked.

"You’re aware that Headquarters is currently engaged in only two military operations: one is aimed at annihilating the enemy’s large forces, and the other is the decapitation action to arrest the mastermind behind the scenes. Overall, the annihilation warfare relies mainly on the reconnaissance of Mobile Troops and the support of Artillery, and does not require a large number of soldiers. Any surplus force is mainly used to assist in defending Lipei and to prevent internal issues—essentially a passive defense. Rather than having them deployed passively, it’s better to mobilize them to participate in another military operation, to coordinate with our action. As long as we make our case logically, I believe they should agree to our plan and allow the mobilization of these forces originally intended for defending Lipei," Tangmo said.

"This mobilization of so many people..." Cheng Ziang said hesitantly.

"The mobilization is my responsibility, not yours—no need to feel burdened," Tangmo said.

"I just feel..." Cheng Ziang looked at her and said with a wry smile, "you are capable of both planning and executing. With you here, there’s no need for me to do anything at all. Luo’er might as well not come back, and you could just take command of the Advance Team in the future."

"Don’t say that. I’m simply analyzing the essence through the appearance of things. In some aspects, we still need to rely on your strength. As for that last bit, whether I’m in command or not, I need Luo’er to come back!" Tangmo said.

"In this respect, you still resemble Moumou..." Cheng Ziang shook his head as he spoke.

Following Tangmo’s plan, they mobilized a mobile troop of almost thirty people to participate in the decapitation action. Besides the mobile troop, Wang Xu also approved their request and allowed them to call on the mountain troops sent by Princess Melia to coordinate with the decapitation action.

The mountain troops of Princess Melia were best known for their exceptional speed and mobility, making them the epitome of light infantry tactics.

These troops were mostly from the Masya mountain range and had grown up mastering rock climbing and mountain scaling, as agile as monkeys. They were able to move swiftly in the Masya mountains and were even more at home on the Odelanqi Plain.

The need for these swift mountain troops was due to the necessity of deploying them in the designated area on time. Since airboats couldn’t carry that many people at once, they could only transport members of the mobile troop executing the decapitation mission; the rest had to march on foot into the predetermined area.

With everything ready, on one hand, Cheng Ziang ordered Baiyue and others to train these Otherworldly variants of the mobile troop to proficiently use advanced magic equipment. On the other hand, he also frequently communicated with Fulanta, who was lurking behind enemy lines, obtaining a lot of intelligence about the insurgents from him.

Intelligence showed that the insurgents were holed up in a residence about a hundred and fifty kilometers away from Lipei. The area still belonged to Lipei’s jurisdiction, but due to its remoteness, the headquarters had difficulty keeping it under control for the time being.

The average distance between Lipei’s jurisdiction and the main city of Lipei was about seventy kilometers, but the jurisdiction was not a neatly shaped circle, extending over one hundred and fifty kilometers from the main city at its furthest and just over thirty kilometers at its nearest.

A distance of over one hundred and fifty kilometers was already the limit for the existing support weapons. Although the army had rocket artillery, its precision in the Otherworld was extremely poor, so they could only count on covering a large area. Concerned about causing innocent casualties by firing over such distance, they ruled out the plan to use artillery bombardment.

As for airstrikes from carrier-based aircraft, this was indeed feasible. However, headquarters wanted captives, so they decided to send troops to capture them instead.

Hitching a view with Fulanta, times had been tough for him lately. Cheng Ziang kept asking him for intelligence, and he had no choice but to comply, which led to him sneaking out regularly, arousing the suspicions of Saiye and his associates.

However, without concrete evidence, they could do nothing to Fulanta for the time being. Following several devastating raids, the strong military power displayed by Earth’s forces had intimidated many in the organization, with a considerable part harboring thoughts of surrendering. In such circumstances, any mutual distrust could likely lead to the organization’s dissolution.

"We’re discussing matters here; why do you always run off?" Saiye appeared very angry at Fulanta, who had suddenly left and then reappeared, but he restrained himself from lashing out.

"I have a stomachache; I’ve felt unwell these past few days, and Lipei keeps losing battles," Fulanta said, frowning.

"These are just occasional setbacks. As long as we rally ourselves, we still have a chance to force the Otherworlders to submit," Saiye said.

"What do you think are the reasons for these losses?" Pelas asked as he moved his prosthetic hand, having had to wear a false hand since Feng had chopped off his last time.

"What else could it be? Sending so few, it’s simply a death march. Lipei is already on guard, and Princess Melia of Masya has also sent reinforcements to Lipei. Sending such a small force for minor skirmishes is simply not enough to make the Otherworlders submit," Fulanta said irritably.

He was intentionally guiding Saiye and the others to commit a large force to amass, which was the task assigned by Cheng Ziang.

In fact, looking back at the past battles, the thing headquarters feared the most and was most worried about, was the tactic of small-scale raids. If this blossom-everywhere strategy continued indefinitely, then Lipei would be unable to return to normal operations for a long time. Whether headquarters would eventually bow to these insurgents was truly an unknown.

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