Chapter 37: Cage
While Tom completed his troop deployment and set up the encirclement, the Monster Birds in the small plain were still engaged in fervent and passionate courtship activities.
Totaling over a million Monster Birds were playing, frolicking, and mating there, a scene of spring’s arrival and all things thriving with vitality.
Watching this scene, Tom’s mouth curved into a cruel smile.
Then... fire!
As Tom gave the order, a total of 1,000 artillery pieces spread across a 50-Kilometre front around the small plain simultaneously fired.
Amidst a silent roar, the ground suddenly trembled.
Violent muzzle flashes erupted from the cannons, and in the next moment, massive shells plummeted at twice the speed of sound towards the small plain below.
A few seconds later.
A thousand fireballs suddenly exploded on the small plain, and the ground at this moment shook violently as if an earthquake had struck.
As the fireballs detonated, in an instant, at least tens of thousands of Monster Birds were blown to pieces.
Amidst flying flesh and blood, the Monster Birds, who had been immersed in the joy of the breeding season, were instantly stunned.
Before they could recover, the second round of artillery fire, along with a torrent of high-speed machine gun bullets, had already arrived.
Huge ammunition belts were fed into the heavy machine gun chambers like an assembly line, then spent casings flew out, piling up beside them, while bullets spewed from the muzzles at high speed, striking the Monster Bird flock along with the cannon shells.
At the same time, the Clones serving as infantry were not to be outdone.
They held large submachine guns and had already spread out among the mountains surrounding the small plain, occupying advantageous elevated firing positions.
For a time, guns and cannons roared in unison.
An endless deluge of bullets and shells instantly poured down onto the small plain like a flood.
Tom realized that in just over ten minutes, he had bombarded this small plain with at least 100,000 artillery shells, over 100 million heavy machine gun bullets, and tens of millions of submachine gun bullets!
Calculating with a heavy logistics truck carrying 100 tons, in just these ten-plus minutes, the entire payload of 50 large trucks had been expended!
Not to mention the extra fuel, food, oxygen, and other supplies he had to pay for just to get the payload of those 50 trucks to the front lines.
A thought flashed through Tom’s mind.
"I’ve long heard that war is about logistics. I didn’t quite understand it before, but now I finally do.
At this rate of combat and consumption, even if my base and population expanded tenfold, it wouldn’t last very long.
Fortunately, this battle won’t take too long."
Under the bombardment of thousands of tons of shells and bullets, the small plain was a mess.
In just those ten-plus minutes, at least 500,000 Monster Birds were killed!
By this point, the Monster Birds’ original joy and excitement had long vanished; facing this cataclysmic strike, they began to flee frantically.
For a time, those flying upwards, flying outwards, and running outwards were in utter chaos.
At this point, relying on artillery bombardment was no longer feasible.
The reason was simple: they had dispersed, and the effectiveness of artillery bombardment would be greatly reduced.
But it didn’t matter.
Armored vehicles and tanks, already prepared, roared down like tigers descending from a mountain.
Behind them, large numbers of infantry Clones, wearing specialized spacesuits, carrying submachine guns, and burdened with heavy magazines and grenades, followed along.
When they saw Monster Birds gathered together, a tank shell would be fired. For isolated Monster Birds, the infantry would unleash a burst.
Sometimes, when encountering a large number of Monster Birds, the infantry would use the tanks as cover, leaning against them and furiously unleashing bullets. They only needed to hold out for a few minutes, and support from nearby would immediately arrive to wipe out all the Monster Birds.
One thousand tanks and armored vehicles, like unstoppable beasts, charged wildly across the battlefield. Wherever they went, a path of blood appeared.
On the outskirts of the battlefield, although the artillery and heavy machine guns could no longer indiscriminately sweep, as that would cause friendly fire, they still occasionally targeted areas without friendly forces, providing strong support for the battle.
Additionally, a significant portion of the heavy machine guns were aimed at the sky.
They could sweep indiscriminately because their own side had no flight capability, so anything flying was a Monster Bird, and they could just shoot them.
In the sky, numerous Monster Birds, trailing long exhaust plumes like jet fighters, flew frantically; some wanted to fly over and attack their side, while others just wanted to escape.
But no matter what they wanted to do, they were all met with a burst of machine gun bullets.
Tom didn’t care how many bullets were fired. He had brought enough ammunition anyway.
Tom only wanted one thing.
When they saw Monster Birds, just shoot them! The Clones’ fingers should preferably be welded to the triggers, shooting continuously, without stopping!
The bullet barrages from numerous heavy machine guns created an unbreakable cage, confining all the Monster Birds within it.
Tanks, armored vehicles, and infantry Clones, like killers within the cage, charged and slaughtered indiscriminately, rapidly harvesting the lives of the Monster Birds.
Thus, amidst the roaring gunfire, the number of Monster Birds still able to move on the small plain and still able to fly in the sky grew smaller and smaller.
The battle lasted only a little over an hour before it was nearing its end.
After the final assault, Tom finally breathed a sigh of relief.
All Monster Birds still capable of fighting had been eliminated.
He didn’t know if there were any left in space, but at least at this moment, there should be no Monster Birds left on Loshen Star that could fight.
Then... it was time to clear the battlefield.
Tom felt genuine joy.
So many Monster Birds, how much body fluid must there be... If all that body fluid was collected as an additive, how many high-quality Clones could I cultivate...
Although the previous battle was intense, and countless Monster Birds were blown up and shattered, it didn’t matter.
The temperature on Loshen Star was too low; even if their body fluids flowed out, they would quickly freeze into ice.
He only needed to "scrape" a layer off the surface here to collect all the body fluids.
Subsequent filtering and purification would then separate out the impurities.
The heavy trucks, now empty, began to enter the field. The infantry Clones transformed into battlefield cleanup personnel and began to clear the area.
During this process, Tom also collected many Monster Birds that were injured but not yet dead.
Tom would not kill these Monster Birds; instead, he collected them all, intending to transport them back to the base and raise them as livestock.
After three full days of busy work, the battlefield was initially cleared.
The large trucks, which had been empty, were now all full again.
A large amount of valuable items still remained on the battlefield, but it didn’t matter; they could be collected slowly later.
Over 3,000 vehicles had all assembled.
Time to go home!