The blizzard had raged for two days and two nights before finally beginning to subside.
The temperature in the affected region had dropped to minus seventeen degrees Celsius, accompanied by fierce winds. Snowfall was generally over a meter deep, with hailstones of various sizes mixed in the drifts.
Vast swathes of rainforest had frozen to death. Trees often became entire pillars of ice, resembling prehistoric specimens encased in polar ice. Their branches were almost entirely snapped off, buried deep beneath the snow. Low-lying vegetation was completely invisible, submerged by the snow as if it were seaweed drowned by a white ocean.
Jiang Ye woke up in the morning, put on his robe, and carried a large cup of black sesame paste to the combat command center.
On the command center's large screen, footage of the frozen region was being broadcast.
The footage was shaky, and occasionally, as the perspective shifted downwards, one could see two metallic paws treading through the snow.
"Is this on-site footage transmitted by the airdropped mechanical dogs?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Not mechanical dogs," a staff member shook his head. "It's snow leopards."
"Mechanical snow leopards? A new model, which factory produced it?" Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow.
"Born from their mother," the staff member replied. "They aren't produced on factory assembly lines. It's a type of large mechanical snow leopard mother, two stories high. Feed it mechanical parts and it produces mechanical cubs in its abdomen after drinking machine oil and electrolyte."
Jiang Ye nodded and asked no further questions, slowly sipping his black sesame paste while watching the footage on the big screen.
More than one mechanical snow leopard was searching, so the footage was divided into over twenty perspectives, making it look a bit like a surveillance room at first glance.
The deeper they went, the deeper the snow became, the more broken trees there were, and animal corpses began to appear.
The bodies of various small animals, wrapped in fluffy white snow powder, peeked out from the snowdrifts. Some looked like they had frozen to death, their bodies intact, while others had clearly been killed by hailstones, their heads caved in, and their fur stained with blood.
The mechanical snow leopards seemed to have a sense of smell, occasionally digging in the snow and quickly uncovering groups of frozen animals.
Jiang Ye mused that this weather weapon was indeed devastating, causing indiscriminate death to plants, animals, and fungi alike.
After all, this was a tropical rainforest where the coldest temperature of the year never dropped below fifteen degrees Celsius. The local fauna had no ability to withstand the cold. A sudden drop of over forty degrees meant hardly any creature could survive.
A guard brought Jiang Ye breakfast, which he ate slowly, holding the plate.
An hour later, the traces of the Gante army were finally found.
Initially, there were scattered corpses, in groups of three or five, huddled together and frozen stiff. They had piles of firewood nearby but couldn't light them, likely due to the blizzard.
There was also a black machine gunner, tightly clutching a heavy machine gun, surrounded by spent shell casings. He probably used the gun barrel for warmth after running out of ammunition, but still couldn't survive.
Continuing forward, a few mechanical snow leopards incidentally found many burnt-out large firewood piles with no bodies around them.
Those large firewood piles seemed to have burned with great intensity, melting and refreezing the surrounding snow into ice, revealing the black and green ground.
The mechanical snow leopards showed great interest in these firewood piles, investigating them repeatedly before transmitting their analysis reports.
The main methods used by those who were there last night to avoid freezing to death and successfully light bonfires were as follows:
The first method involved lighting firewood piles on high ground and constructing windproof and snowproof walls in advance.
High ground had less accumulated water and snow. By placing a low wall of earth and wood around the bonfire, a low-wind, low-snow environment could be created, making it easier to ignite the firewood.
The second method was to build windproof and snowproof walls on the leeward slope.
The method was similar to the first, but the effect was slightly worse on the leeward slope because the thick snow on the uphill slope would melt and collapse when heated. Many of the bonfire traces had unburnt wood at the top, frozen in place.
The third method was the bomb-lighting method.
At several bonfire campsites, a large pile of mortar shells and rocket shells were found nearby, all with their casings emptied of explosives. It was likely that the Gante soldiers used the extracted explosives to start fires, which ignited fiercely and could not be extinguished by ordinary winds and snow.
The fourth method was the cave-lighting method.
Some Gante soldiers chose not to build fires in the open but dug caves on the hillsides and filled them with firewood to ignite. Judging by the construction, as long as the fire in the cave was large enough, the heat would transfer through the soil. Moreover, these caves produced very little smoke, making them extremely concealed.
In addition to the methods of starting fires, there were also many animal carcasses with their skins stripped off, revealing red muscles like anatomical diagrams. It was likely that some Gante soldiers had attempted to weave animal skins into clothing, but it was unknown if they succeeded.
Jiang Ye silently marveled that, compared to animals, humans were indeed intelligent, finding ways to survive even amidst such drastic changes.
Suddenly, one of the snow leopards spotted a building in the distance.
The entrance to the small building was covered by snow.
Near the building, Gante soldiers armed with guns were patrolling, seemingly a small underground barracks, likely built to evade satellite observation. The Gante army's surface barracks had long been destroyed by missiles, forcing them to go underground.
This snow leopard did not advance further but moved sideways, cautiously observing the barracks.
Concurrently, the combat command center became busy.
"Enemy camp discovered, coordinates A-115, 114!"
"Prepare to launch, 3, 2, 1, launch!"
"Trajectory normal! Estimated impact in five minutes!"
"Qi Qi Zheng Company, proceed immediately to the target area!"
The screen suddenly burst with dazzling gold as a high-yield missile struck the barracks entrance, burrowed down, and detonated, causing the ground to instantly split open with numerous cracks, and terrifying flames erupted.
The patrolling Gante soldiers were instantly pulverized, tossed into the air like toys, and then engulfed by thick smoke.
The mechanical snow leopard quickly retreated but was still hit by a toppled giant tree, and the screen instantly went black.
Immediately afterward, new footage appeared.
A small military spacecraft was visible, with many mechanical soldiers waiting inside, calibrating their weapons.
Through the spacecraft's windows, more military spacecraft could be vaguely seen, flying at high speed over the snow-covered dense forest.
Qi Qi Zheng Company was the closest unit to the recently bombed barracks.
When the weather weapon began to unleash its fury, many of Jiang Ye's army's small units were airdropped into the tropical region, ready to attack at any moment. The weather weapon that created the wind and snow merely forced the enemy's tracks to reveal themselves; it was these ground units that were responsible for eliminating the enemy forces.
Soon, the Qi Qi Zheng Company's spacecraft arrived above the bombing site.
It was clearly visible that the ground within a five-hundred-meter radius had been riddled with cracks by the powerful underground explosion. Thick smoke was still billowing out, as if a small volcano had been forcefully blasted open.
The spacecraft landed rapidly, and the mechanical soldiers, carrying their guns, disembarked and quickly stormed into the underground barracks.
The initial stretch was all ruins. The metal doors had melted from the intense heat, turning into a soft, liquid state. Large fragments of burning supplies littered the ground, with smoke as thick as at a fire scene, suggesting this level was a warehouse.