The convoy drove along Heding Road toward its designated objective, the scenery on either side of the road flashing past like slides in a projector.
After selecting the combat units to deploy, Nathan Cole silently called out to the System in his mind. "System, if I use airdrop mode, how do I choose the drop zone?"
[Commander, selecting an airdrop zone works exactly as it does in the game. Once you click the airdrop button on the control panel, you will understand.]
"System, are the vehicle crews and combat vehicles airdropped together, or do personnel and vehicles descend separately?" Nathan continued asking.
[Commander, in order to enhance combat capability, the System uses integrated vehicle-and-crew airdrops.] The System's answer was concise and clear.
Nathan was startled. An integrated vehicle-and-crew airdrop?
That was no ordinary difficulty.
As far as he knew, only the Russians had managed it a handful of times worldwide so far, relying on their fearless, go-for-broke spirit—and perhaps a little "blessing" from vodka.
This kind of airdrop imposed extraordinarily high demands on technology, equipment, and personnel quality. The slightest mistake could result in a horrific crash that destroyed both vehicle and crew.
"What about the infantry units? Do they ride in the same aircraft as the vehicles?"
[Yes, Commander. Infantry units being airdropped will deploy from the same aircraft as the combat vehicles.]
Hearing the System's explanation, Nathan could not help clicking his tongue in amazement. "Damn. As expected of the System!"
The System's miraculous capabilities truly astonished him.
Integrated vehicle-and-crew airdrops were fraught with difficulties, and putting troops and vehicles aboard the same aircraft for an airdrop was no simpler.
To ensure that personnel and vehicles did not interfere with each other in the air and landed safely, countless issues had to be overcome: airflow, weight balance, release timing, and more. The complexity of it all was beyond imagination.
Yet now, the System had effortlessly accomplished all these tasks that were nearly impossible to achieve.
Thinking this over, the taut string in Nathan's heart relaxed somewhat.
Since the System was this capable, he felt there was no need to ask about a whole series of complicated, highly technical matters—such as the maximum weight for heavy-equipment airdrops, whether the BTR-82A Wheeled Infantry Fighting Vehicle met airdrop requirements, or the extraction system, main parachute system, separation system, and cushioning system.
With the System, this miraculous powerhouse, backing him up, it seemed that the impossible could always be made possible.
Just as he had thought before, how the airdrop worked was the System's concern. What did it have to do with him, the commander? He only needed to sit back and reap the benefits.
Having figured that out, Nathan opened the reinforcement menu. Under the [Infantry] option, he selected a six-man infantry squad, a nine-man infantry squad, and a Tigr-M armored vehicle.
Then, under the [Armor] option, he selected a BTR-82A Wheeled Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
Once everything was selected, Nathan verified the entries in the pending-airdrop section at the bottom of the reinforcement menu, then eagerly pressed the airdrop button.
Then, something incredible happened.
A satellite map of the area surrounding the convoy gradually appeared in the previously blank area of the control panel.
Nathan swiped around the map a few times, but no selectable airdrop zone appeared.
In other words, there was no yellow grid like the one he could select in the game.
"System, how large is the airdrop range I can currently select?" Nathan asked urgently.
[Commander, at your current rank, the available airdrop range extends five kilometers in every direction from your position.]
"Tsk. That's a little small," Nathan said, clicking his tongue in dissatisfaction.
A five-kilometer range could not even cover all of Heping Town. It was truly restrictive.
At their current location, the two sides of the highway were either residential compounds, villages, and factories, or rough, uneven terrain. There simply was nowhere suitable for an airdrop.
Nathan pulled down the personal terminal hanging from his chest, opened its map function, and began checking ahead along Heding Road.
After looking for a while, he saw on the map that there was a large open area across from Pigzuiling Village in Dingyuan Town.
Nathan rapidly recalled the terrain there. In his memory, that area was flat and open, and it happened to sit at a highway junction. It was ideal for an airdrop.
Ten more minutes of driving brought the convoy near Pigzuiling Village.
Nathan looked at the map on the control panel and saw that the yellow grid had indeed appeared, precisely in the area he had selected earlier. His heart leaped with delight.
He immediately announced over the radio, "All vehicles, pull over and stop."
Following his order, the vehicles pulled over and stopped one after another along the roadside.
"All vehicles, strengthen security. No one dismounts without orders." After saying that, Nathan selected the open ground to the left of the highway as the drop zone on the panel map.
Once he pressed the airdrop confirmation button, a thirty-second countdown appeared on the panel.
Seeing that, Nathan grabbed his binoculars, flipped open the armored vehicle's roof hatch, and leaned out to scan the sky.
Before long, a deep aircraft rumble rolled through the air.
Along with the sound, a tiny black dot appeared in the distant sky.
The dot drew nearer and nearer as its altitude steadily decreased. Through his binoculars, Nathan could clearly see that it was an Air Force Il-76MD-90A heavy transport aircraft.
The massive transport continually adjusted its flight attitude, its enormous silhouette becoming clearer and clearer, like a moving fortress in the sky.
Inside the KamAZ-6350 8×8 high-mobility cargo truck, Aaron Wells and the other two had been chatting idly. They had found it strange when the convoy stopped at the roadside, only to suddenly hear the roar overhead.
They looked out from the rear of the truck bed and soon spotted the transport aircraft flying closer and closer.
"Captain Wells, is that reinforcements coming in, or are they airdropping supplies?" asked the young police officer who had complained earlier, his eyes wide with curiosity.
Before Aaron could answer, the other officer excitedly chimed in, "Damn, they even deployed an Il-76MD-90A. Looks like the virus barely affected them—their organization is still fully intact!"
"You two just watch. Don't make wild guesses. We absolutely don't ask what we shouldn't ask," Aaron said, though his neck was stretched out as far as it could go and his unblinking eyes remained fixed on the transport aircraft overhead.
When the Il-76MD-90A descended to around two thousand meters, its rear cargo ramp slowly opened, and an extraction parachute was rapidly deployed.
Under the powerful pull of the extraction parachute, an enormous container-like object was dragged from the cargo hold.
The extraction parachute then pulled open the parachutes atop the container, and twelve enormous main chutes inflated in succession.
Immediately afterward, another container slid out of the cargo hold, its parachutes opening smoothly in midair.
As the containers descended, the side door of the Il-76MD-90A's cargo compartment opened, and the infantry Nathan had selected jumped from the side of the aircraft.
They moved with practiced agility, rapidly adjusting their posture in the air before opening their chutes and descending toward the designated location.
At that moment, Nathan stood there with his binoculars raised, wearing a completely dumbfounded expression.
What?
What the hell had he just seen?
Was this fucking plausible?
Was this science?
Afraid that he had seen wrong, he lowered the binoculars, removed his goggles, and vigorously rubbed his eyes.
When he looked up again, he found that he had not imagined it.
The Il-76MD-90A had really dropped two container-like things.
That was right—it was exactly the same airdrop method as in the game.
Unless something unexpected happened, the eight-wheeled vehicle and the Tigr-M were inside those two huge containers.
Although the numerous huge main and auxiliary parachutes provided tremendous air resistance, the two large containers still continued falling at a considerable speed.
As they neared the ground, their retrorockets ignited.
With a thunderous boom, immense flames erupted, and their descent speed abruptly dropped.
At the same time, the cushioning airbags beneath the containers inflated and deployed.
Then the separation system activated. Once the parachutes detached, the two huge containers landed steadily, kicking up clouds of dust.
Seeing this, Nathan excitedly ducked back into the vehicle, slammed the back of the driver's seat several times, and shouted, "Quick, quick, quick! Drive! Get to the landing zone!"
Vehicle One shot off the highway like an unbridled horse, throwing up a cloud of dust as it raced toward the drop zone!
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register