Chapter 109: Don’t Let the Governor’s Hard Work Go to Waste.
Stopping this storm that sought to sacrifice an entire city was certainly something the Space Marines and Nuns had to do, and they would do so without hesitation.
Even if they didn’t regard the commoners in Revival City as people, that heretical cult leader who called out “false emperor,” “dogs,” and “slaves” just now had completely provoked their anger.
With those words, he had unmistakably revealed his hostility toward the Empire, marking himself as a most despicable traitor.
In a city with both the Sisterhood and the Space Marines, would these traitors still be able to realize their plan? Such a notion was the greatest humiliation imaginable.
When Gu Hang brought up the need to find a solution to prevent this disaster, both of them agreed and began to devise plans.
Sister Superior Gretel was the main force.
As the Sister Superior, aside from her combat abilities and the divine blessings she had accumulated over the years, her other primary task was to research various psionics and heretical materials, arming her mind to swiftly find targeted solutions when encountering similar issues in the future.
Chaplain Rizo had a similar background, though he wasn’t as specialized as the Battle Nuns.
He was, after all, a Space Marine, and for a long time, he had been engaged in a Redemption Crusade, so his combat duties and training were more frequent. As a chaplain, he also needed to manage the morale and emotions of his battle brothers and handle their confessions.
However, he had lived long enough and seen enough that some of his past experiences might help him make analogies in this situation.
While Sister Superior Gretel and Chaplain Rizo sought solutions to this evil ritual from a religious perspective, Gu Hang considered solutions from a psionic viewpoint.
Currently, the massive storm creature’s avatar was nearly fully reconstituted, but while it looked intimidating, it wasn’t a serious problem.
Using a 155mm howitzer again seemed overly extravagant, as each shell was quite costly, and the stockpile wasn’t abundant.
However, cheaper mortars could be used.
Pobov had already dispatched several mortar teams, surrounding the massive creature’s avatar.
Whenever it started to reconstitute its body, a few shells would rain down, blasting apart the barely reformed body, and sending it back into the reconstitution phase once again.
It was quite a pitiful sight.
Yet, despite its pitiful appearance, if it were allowed to fully stand, it would be incredibly fierce. A single swipe could send even a Space Marine flying, and even through power armor, they would be injured. Against ordinary people, it could easily wipe out an infantry squad in one blow.
Two howitzer rounds may have taken it down earlier, but that was only because the Phoenix and the Blessed Lily had drawn its attention first, allowing them to survive under bombardment.
It would be quite difficult to eliminate it with ordinary troops alone. They would likely need to deploy a suicide squad to keep the storm creature’s avatar distracted.
But, facing the storm creature’s avatar would result in heavy casualties for the suicide squad, and ordinary soldiers near the heavy artillery would be wiped out when it arrived.
Not to mention, organizing a squad willing to die was already a difficult task. Even if successful, the soldiers wouldn’t be able to hold up long.
With no real way to resist, the storm creature’s avatar would easily charge through the formation, and its movements would be unrestricted, making artillery accuracy problematic.
If they missed, a new suicide squad would be required.
Were there enough men willing to die?
They couldn’t expect newly formed units from prisoners to be up for this task; forcing them wouldn’t work.
But could they really redeploy the Space Marines and Battle Nuns to take down each wind farm individually?
Would there even be enough time?
With this problem in mind, Gu Hang devised a solution: the Quintet in orbit.
However, even if they could deal with the storm creature’s avatar, the problem of the storm itself remained.
Gu Hang initially thought that the generators and large blades were the storm’s core. But even after destroying them, only white mist-blade constructs remained, producing a gigantic storm creature’s avatar.
So, if the storm’s core lay within these mist blades and the storm creature’s avatar?
Indeed, Gu Hang could clearly see that the power of the storm creature’s avatar extended into the sky, creating a strong psionic reaction.
But the problem was that this link couldn’t be severed.
Gu Hang had attempted to use his Soul Sever ability to block it, but it was ineffective—or perhaps, he simply wasn’t powerful enough to make it effective.
The storm creature’s avatar was bombarded to pieces; the misty windmill blades were blown apart as well. But the psionic link remained intact, and the storm continued to intensify.
The torrential rain was forming floods, the hurricane itself brought a storm disaster, and lightning strikes became more frequent.
At this rate, within about three hours, Revival City would be destroyed.
Standing in the pouring rain, Gu Hang pondered over all of this.
As he used psionic vision to observe the storm creature’s avatar, which was constantly being destroyed and reformed, he thought through numerous strategies.
He began issuing command after command:
“Inform Osena: In addition to distributing food, she must prioritize evacuation. Prepare for the worst-case scenario; she has two hours. By then, she must have evacuated Revival City. During this time, I need her to evacuate as many people from the city as possible.”
“Tell Lambert: He must mobilize all forces within Revival City to assist Osena with the evacuation.”
“Tell Yan Fangxu: He must mobilize the entire former Alliance army corps to assist Osena. The troops must also withdraw from Revival City within two hours.”
“Second message to Yan Fangxu: Command all dispatched units to the wind farms to report specific coordinates of the seven wind farms to me within ten minutes. After the orbital bombardment, all troops must quickly approach the bombing sites to eliminate any surviving remnants. If anything can reconstitute, keep destroying it. This mission will last two and a half hours; if no new orders are received, troops are to withdraw immediately.”
“Connect me to the Quintet. Relay my request to Commodore Alicia: Prepare for orbital bombardment immediately. In ten minutes, I will provide coordinates, and they must carry out three repeated, precision orbital strikes on those coordinates with minimal firepower and maximum accuracy. Emphasize: Do not use heavy cannons. I am not trying to destroy Revival City.”
Pobov shivered upon hearing these orders from the Governor.
He hadn’t felt cold even when drenched by the rain earlier, but now, the wind and rain felt bone-chilling.
He hurried to relay each command through the company’s communication operators to the respective recipients.
Connecting to the Quintet was slightly more complicated, but thankfully, they had brought equipment specialized for orbital communication for this operation. After a short delay, they managed to establish the connection.
Once he finished his tasks, Pobov found himself with nothing more to do, and as he drifted into thought, he realized the implications behind the Governor’s commands.
This was a two-pronged approach.
If, in the end, they couldn’t prevent the storm, they would prepare for the worst: abandon Revival City and evacuate as much of the population as possible within the two hours.
It was, without a doubt, an agonizing decision.
The Governor had invested so much time planning and implementing countless strategies, even risking his own life, to seize the city and lay the foundation for grand transformations similar to what had been achieved in the Wasteland Society.
Revival City was intended to become a catalyst for world change.
And now, he was considering abandoning it?
Of course, as long as there were survivors, there was hope. But in two hours, under the intensifying storm, how many people could be evacuated?
The answer was clear: very few.
Not to mention the equipment, the food supplies…
But if the worst came to pass, the Governor’s choice was supremely rational.
Before everything perished, he would preserve as much as possible. The more people and resources they saved, the better.
It would be far preferable to losing everything to the storm.
Osena, Lambert, and part of Yan Fangxu’s forces were working toward this goal.
But it was clear that the Governor was far from giving up.
He was still making every effort to save the city.
The second command to Yan Fangxu and the orbital strike request to Alicia were all part of this attempt.
The three-round timed orbital bombardment would use the smallest firepower available to a starship.
The first strike alone would be enough to destroy the wind farms; the two follow-up strikes would annihilate the storm creature’s avatar that appeared after the destruction of the wind farms.
This wouldn’t solve everything, of course. Even if the storm creature’s avatar were destroyed, it would eventually reconstitute itself over time.
But the seven dispatched teams could handle the aftermath. They only needed to surround the storm creature’s remains as they had done here. There was no need for heavy artillery; mortars would suffice. Whenever it began to reform, they’d blast it a few more times. As long as there were enough shells, it couldn’t act.
The final question remained: The creature could be restrained, but how could they stop the storm?
Seeing the Governor frown, along with the helpless expressions of the Blessed Lily and the Phoenix, Pobov’s heart clenched.
He couldn’t help but silently pray:
“By the God Emperor above, please help them find a way. Please don’t let the Governor’s efforts go to waste.”
He hadn’t been the most devout believer in the God Emperor, but after hearing and thinking so much, he too now spoke such words.