Free Web NovelChapter 1181: Chapter 180: Hope
A gentle wind carrying a hint of coolness blew on his face, and Li Ang opened his eyes and blinked.
He was standing on the street of a small town,
the cement pavement beneath his feet was marked with cracks,
a large number of ownerless vehicles were parked by the roadside,
street-side shops with one to two floors on average had English signs hanging outside, yet there wasn’t a single person in sight within the shops.
It wasn’t a long-abandoned rural town.
Li Ang scanned the surroundings; many vehicles still had keys in the ignition, and on the tables by the window in the restaurants, there were unfinished meals left—the steam rising from the food indicated that people hadn’t left long ago.
At this moment, a prompt sound from the Sky Arena rang in his ear, and Li Ang raised his eyebrow with slight surprise.
"Exterminate five billion, huh... AIM entered three hours ahead of me, so these must be his arrangements..."
He instantly figured out the connection, with a gentle wave of his hand, spiritual energy spilled out, permeating the cement road, forming an invisible circle around him.
"Found it."
Li Ang casually tossed a few plant seeds with his right hand, and as soon as the seeds touched the ground, they took root and sprouted, transforming into flowered vines that spread along the cracks in the pavement, extending towards the shops on both sides of the street,
while his own gaze turned towards a warehouse at the end of the street, his foot lightly tapped the ground, and his figure instantly vanished from the spot.
Boom!
The rolling door of the warehouse at the end of the street was directly smashed open with brute force,
in the dim warehouse, three white teenagers with tattoos, indulging in hedonistic stupor with syringes in hand, glanced blankly towards the door, momentarily blinded by the sudden flood of sunlight.
Before they could make any further movements, spiritual energy, as vast as an abyss, flooded their minds, extracting their recent memories.
The history of Bugmen... the sudden national broadcast... emergency evacuation order for all Bugmen... several waves of nuclear warheads launched en masse from global missile silos... the public’s panic and unease in the face of the world’s end... the despondent hopelessness that drove them to revel till the end...
Li Ang nonchalantly sifted through their memories, quickly pieced together AIM’s series of arrangements, and casually released the spiritual energy hand constricting the throats of the three teenagers, letting them fall heavily to the ground.
"Several salvos of intercontinental missiles have already been launched globally..."
Li Ang pondered aloud, his foot stomped heavily on the ground, and his figure shot upwards like an arrow, breaking through the warehouse roof, hovering in midair, and surveying the surroundings.
Here, near the small town of Palm Springs on the West Coast of America, was a countryside town with a population close to ten thousand, known for its beautiful and picturesque scenery, located near a national nature reserve, often attracting tourists to visit.
However, at this moment, what caught Li Ang’s attention wasn’t the surrounding beautiful scenery, but rather those dozens of indistinct white dots on the skyline.
Cruise missiles.
"They found me so quickly?"
Li Ang lazily looked up towards the sky, seemingly trying to see through the four thousand-mile distance to glimpse the surveillance satellites in near Earth orbit.
Swoosh—
The sound of breaking through the air coming from afar, as those dozens of cruise missiles, equipped with main wing wings and six meters in length, swiftly approached from the east,
while in unseen distance, even more cruise missiles sped from all directions.
The maximum range of a cruise missile is about a thousand kilometers, with some models reaching two thousand kilometers or even two thousand five hundred kilometers, and the maximum speed is close to one thousand kilometers per hour, nearly reaching supersonic speed.
When one sees the shadow of a cruise missile within sight, it means that it is about to hit.
Li Ang indifferently withdrew his gaze from the distant white dots, his foot stepped onto a Cloud Ascending Ladder, quickly ascending, as his left hand drew a Colt Revolver from the void, and fired towards the west.
Bam!
Along with the sound of the gunshot, his figure instantly vanished from the spot,
the next second, dozens of cruise missiles reached their predetermined positions and exploded violently in the air a hundred meters above,
the firelight from the explosion shot up to the sky, and the shockwave shattered the glass windows on the street below.
Thump!
In the far distance, Li Ang reappeared flickeringly in a crater on the city street.
Here, it was Los Angeles.
The second-largest city in America, the City of Angels, one of the centers of international trade, science and technology, entertainment, and sports, as well as the home of Hollywood.
Under normal circumstances, the streets of this city should be bustling with pedestrians and vehicles, tourists from all over the world would be wearing culturally patterned t-shirts and hats, touring this beautiful city.
But now, the entire city was eerily silent, not a single pedestrian in sight on the surface, only stray cats and dogs mindlessly excited, not knowing what happened, roamed bold and unrestrainedly through this ownerless city.
Li Ang stood up from the massive crater caused by the Colt Revolver, his gaze turned towards Palm Springs.
Earlier, on the ground of that small town, he threw some plant seeds as Divine Power nodes,
and now, those Divine Power nodes returned information—all the cruise missiles were Battle Axes, judging from the explosion firelight, most were BGM-109D with cluster warheads, containing nearly 166 BLU-97B small-caliber bombs,
and a small part were BGM-109B with B-61 explosive warheads,
but there were no BGM-109A (with a power up to 150 kilotons) equipped with W-80 nuclear warhead.
"No nuclear warhead, huh? I wonder if it’s intentionally showing weakness, or if the land-based missile launcher from that direction doesn’t have BGM-109A installed."
Li Ang murmured, as spiritual energy gushed out.
————
"Fire! Fire!"
In the Pacific, on a Ticonderoga-class Cruiser, a cruiser captain named Kelsen, was holding a microphone, giving the order to launch cruise missiles.
This Ticonderoga-class Cruiser was stationed in the waters a hundred kilometers west of Los Angeles, surrounded by four other cruisers providing support.
Typically, Ticonderoga-class Cruisers serve as the primary command center for carrier battle groups (CVBG) and amphibious attack battle groups, providing protection for the aircraft carrier.
Equipped with the Aegis System, it offers excellent defensive capability, giving the carrier battle group sufficient power to counter missile attacks from the surface, air, and underwater, but now, its sole purpose was to
fire cruise missiles continuously as per the direction of near-Earth orbit surveillance satellites.
The panels on the cruiser deck sprang open automatically, and one by one, cruise missiles shot up vertically from the missile bay, changing direction in mid-air, speeding towards Los Angeles.
Everything was as anticipated in the B-23 plan.
Colonel Kelsen’s face was tightly drawn, his left hand, hanging beside his trousers, clenched tightly.
To respond to the unprecedented catastrophe, governments worldwide, following AIM’s instructions, hurriedly formulated a comprehensive, complex apocalyptic contingency plan within three hours.
In the B-23 plan, they expected that Li Rising would first use psychic abilities to extract memories from the nearby residents of the landing area,
to figure out his location and the current situation.
Then, upon seeing the cruise missiles, he would directly teleport over vast distances to the nearby metropolis.
Because the main Battle Axe cruise missile currently in service in America can carry a W-80 nuclear warhead with a maximum yield of 150 kilotons, with a damage radius of up to three kilometers.
Once he realizes that he has been exposed to surveillance from near-Earth orbit satellites, continuously subjected to cruise and ballistic missile bombardment from all over America and even the world,
Sure, here is the translated text:
The best option is certainly not to stay in place and test the power of the nuclear bomb, but to move quickly and transfer to a nearby big city.
Big cities have relatively complex and dense high-rise buildings that can effectively block low-flying cruise missiles, and there are also many insect citizens taking shelter in the underground facilities of big cities...
He was wrong!
Colonel Kelsen watched the flames rising up from the deck through the bridge glass, with a cold gleam flashing in his eyes.
Maybe that entity from the other world named Li Rising possesses personal power beyond imagining,
but the collective intelligence of the Bugman is absolutely not weak.
They have a chance,
as long as everything develops according to plan...
————
In the distant sky, white spots of light lit up again, and a new round of cruise missile bombardment had arrived.
Li Ang frowned slightly and pressed his palm gently on the ground, instantly melting the soil into mud, revealing the subway tunnel beneath the rock layer.
He jumped into the subway tunnel, greeted by a dense barrage of bullets.
The American military had repeatedly emphasized in their apocalypse response plans that conventional weapons are useless against Li Rising, only highly powerful missiles and nuclear bombs have any effect.
Therefore, both the American police and the National Guard, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps were taking shelter on the spot.
If they are in the city, they assist in evacuating and sheltering city residents, carrying weapons to ensure evacuation order.
At this moment, inside the subway tunnel is this kind of army—they opted for full firepower the moment they saw someone descending from above,
The flames bursting from their gun barrels even overshadowed the light from spotlights in the tunnel corners, and gunfire echoed back and forth in the empty tunnel, noisy and clamorous.
Li Ang watched the fiercely firing American troops with an expressionless face and walked forward leisurely.
Small-caliber bullets hit his skin and bounced off without even leaving a dent.
Medium-caliber bullets could damage his white coat, exposing the Mirage Dragon Red Mane Coat hidden underneath.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!"
The soldiers of the American regiment in the front of the tunnel let out hoarse shouts, not knowing whether they were cheering themselves on or venting the fear and despair deep inside.
Crack.
Li Ang raised his palm and snapped his fingers,
Spiritual Energy burst forth, and the American soldiers at the front of the regiment instantly ceased fire, dropped their guns, and, amidst each other’s despairing gazes, raised their hands to hold their heads.
Crunch.
They forcibly twisted their necks, and the crowd fell neatly from front to back like wheat stems cut down.
The rear of the tunnel was filled with panicked screams from the American troops, as several soldiers turned and ran to hide behind the XM777 155mm howitzer.
This howitzer, a joint project of the Marine Corps and Army, developed by British Aerospace (BAE), uses titanium alloy materials, and its 155mm shell has an ultra-long range of thirty kilometers, easily tearing apart any heavy vehicle.
Boom!!!
The howitzer fired with a loud bang, echoing wildly in the tunnel, directly rupturing the eardrums of several American soldiers, causing blood to flow from their ears.
And Li Ang stood still on the spot.
Numerous plant tendrils extended from his feet, gripping the ground tightly as he raised his right hand, grasping the 155mm high-explosive shell with his bare hand through the Mirage Dragon Red Mane Coat.
Squeak—
Li Ang’s palm slowly tightened, the metallic shell of the high-explosive shell made a tooth-grating twisting sound, finally unable to bear the pressure and exploding violently.
The fire illuminated the subway tunnel as bright as day,
The few remaining dazed and ear-deaf American troops saw after the flames faded that the figure was still standing on the spot.
Swipe.
Li Ang casually shook his dust-covered palm and continued to step forward,
The invisible, intangible circle of Spiritual Energy spread out, like a lawnmower, reaping the Bugman in front of the subway tunnel.
All the Bugmen saw was people constantly raising their palms and snapping their own necks.
Efficiency is still too slow.
Li Ang halted his steps, frowning slightly, time is limited, can’t be wasted.
He pondered for a moment, AIM had indeed prepared thoroughly, most of the Bugmen hidden in the subway tunnel wore gas masks, some soldiers even wore fully-covering protective clothing,
this means that the most effective poison gas weapons in the subway tunnel environment cannot achieve rapid extermination.
Then use Spiritual Energy.
Li Ang smiled slightly and waved his palm gently, subtly changing the nature of Spiritual Energy.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
The American troops stationed in each segment of the subway, protecting civilians, instantly erupted in uniform howls.
Their eyes filled with blood, their perception of the world subtly changed, everything was coated in a bizarre flesh color.
The ordinary civilians they were protecting were no longer ordinary Bugmen,
but had turned into grotesque terrifying monsters, baring their fangs and claws, emitting sharp howls, ready to reap their lives at any time.
"Don’t come near me!!!"
Hundreds and thousands of American soldiers instantly fell into madness, collectively turned their guns, aiming at the Bugmen taking shelter in the subway tunnel, pulling the trigger.
The gunfire,
the continuous sound of automatic weapons echoed through the subway tunnel, the floor strewn with rubble quickly soaked in blood.
High-efficiency extermination, huh?
Li Ang smiled brightly, crouched slightly, and pressed his palm against the ground.
A glowing pattern of an alchemy array quietly emerged on the floor,
The soil was refined, reconstructed, and shaped,
soon, a huge subway train appeared in the tunnel.
This train was pitch black, covered in sinister and terrifying steel thorns, had no windows, appearing flat and ugly, only at the streamlined head of the train were engraved iron hook silver strokes spelling "Hope".
"Go, Bolster Train Hero."
Li Ang lightly patted the train’s body, the Hope train slowly started, charging forward along the tunnel.
Thanks to AIM’s decision, a large number of Bugmen hid in the subway tunnel,
which means that the speed of death spread will be equal to the speed at which the subway train travels.
