Chapter 196: Plasma Annihilation Strike! The End of the Netherworld Operation!
Seeing his two soldiers dejectedly return to their posts, the officer with the lieutenant insignia couldn't help but sigh silently.
How he wished to walk freely under the blue sky and white clouds, living like a normal person.
But with the terrifying Netherworld creatures lurking outside, who would willingly hide in this sunless underground prison?
The lieutenant turned his head, gazing at the surveillance footage of the surface world, as his mind drifted to the tragic events of nine years ago.
Nine years ago, a severe accident occurred at a nuclear power plant in Moldova, leading to the escape of "Netherworld" creatures from a laboratory.
Within a week, these entities caused the deaths of seven million innocent people.
Such staggering casualty numbers and such a horrifying mass-death event immediately shocked governments around the globe.
To prevent public panic and subsequent societal instability, governments imposed a complete information blackout.
The three soldiers stationed at the time were informed that the crisis had been effectively controlled, and the nuclear plant accident had not further deteriorated.
Shortly after, stationed in the city of Sana, the soldiers received orders from their brigade command to reinforce nuclear shelters and prepare for an imminent war.
Soon, an alliance led by Britain and the U.S. rapidly occupied Moldova and prepared to advance eastward.
In retaliation, Eastern European nations launched countermeasures in rage.
Both sides clashed fiercely in the city of Vinnytsia, deploying military-grade Netherworld soldiers in this so-called "invisible war."
However, to the shock of both the Allied and Eastern European forces, in just half a month, casualties surged from 30,000 to 160,000.
The month-long Battle of Vinnytsia ended in mutual destruction for both sides.
But once war begins, it is nearly impossible to end.
The conflict between the Allied and Eastern European forces prompted other global powers to ignite wars of their own, using them to divert attention from domestic economic crises and internal conflicts.
Soon, multiple wars erupted.
"Damn it…"
"The war should have ended with those warmongering executioners fed to the Netherworld creatures outside."
"Let these power-hungry elites see what kind of terrifying monsters they've unleashed!"
As the lieutenant recalled this, a surge of anger rose within him. The sins were committed by these powerful individuals, yet countless innocent civilians bore the consequences.
Swallowing dryly to ease his parched throat, he lamented.
The Battle of Vinnytsia became the fuse for all subsequent tragedies. The appearance of Netherworld soldiers was soon exposed online.
At that moment, everyone realized that this invisible war had transformed into a "new-age meat grinder." Anyone could fall victim to the Netherworld.
Shortly after the battle concluded, Eastern Europe's covert espionage operations failed, leading to an extreme faction within Britain and the U.S. launching a nuclear missile at Latvia.
This missile became the new trigger for escalating wars, plunging the world into a "nuclear winter."
Pollutants and debris hurled into the near-Earth orbit formed a dense "cloud of filth." Deprived of sunlight, Earth's temperatures plummeted rapidly.
In this post-apocalyptic era of nuclear warfare, most governments on Earth collapsed.
The global population on the surface was reduced by over three billion, with only a few nations and regions retaining relatively intact infrastructure.
Before the survivors could rebuild their homes, the Netherworld—now out of control—became the ultimate threat.
These tormented and enraged Netherworld soldiers began attacking everything in sight, whether human or animal.
Although survivors knew the Netherworld entities couldn't penetrate ceramic or pure iron, nor withstand high-energy weaponry, the lack of technology and resources left them defenseless.
Desperate, they retreated underground for survival and production.
"Sir, I still have a wafer cookie here. You should have it."
Amid his sorrowful memories, a soldier handed over a rare piece of food to the lieutenant.
"I'm not hungry. Keep it for yourself."
Though his tone was cold, the lieutenant felt a rare warmth. These soldiers had become his brothers in life and death.
Seven years ago, the three soldiers were ordered to maintain basic order in Sana and guide citizens to the underground shelters.
Meanwhile, their brigade's main force was stationed on the city's northern outskirts, preparing to intercept the advancing Netherworld army.
This was to buy more time for refugees to reach the shelters.
Tragically, the brigade was annihilated within ten minutes, unable to withstand the overwhelming Netherworld forces.
The lieutenant and fewer than 500 soldiers, along with over 30,000 refugees, were the last to survive, relying on pre-stored supplies to endure.
However, without self-sustaining production lines, those trapped in the shelter were depleting resources day by day.
When food and supplies ran out, they would face a grim choice: risk death by gathering resources on the surface or perish underground.
It mirrored the desperate plight of Tang dynasty citizens in the Siege of Suiyang over a thousand years ago.
The moment the supplies ran out, cannibalism would become inevitable.
Thus, when the lieutenant saw his soldier offering precious food despite shortages, he was deeply moved.
"Here, take it."
The soldier then handed the cookie to another, who also hesitated to accept it.
They had long resigned themselves to the cruel reality—death was inevitable. Fear and sorrow seemed pointless now.
Suddenly, an alarm blared, snapping all three soldiers to full alert.
They donned their helmets and rushed to the source of the alert, where the hyperspectral monitor revealed a massive Netherworld army advancing toward the shelter's eastern entrance.
"Damn it!"
The lieutenant cursed as he saw the force heading for the weakened eastern wall.
Realizing the danger, he immediately raised the alarm and reported to the major:
"Major, the eastern gate is under attack by a large Netherworld force targeting a weak point in the wall!"
The major responded, "Lieutenant, Evacuate to the southern zone immediately. We'll deploy vehicles for an emergency retreat."
"Yes, sir!"
Following the order, the lieutenant prepared his men for retreat.
But one soldier hesitated, asking, "What about the refugees? Who will Evacuate them?"
"That's not our concern. We don't have time to help them!" the lieutenant replied grimly.
Although it wasn't heartlessness, the dire circumstances left them no choice. A soldier's duty was to follow orders.
"Move quickly and rally the others to head south. Time is running out!"
Before he could finish, the soldier shook his head, saying, "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I can't abandon the refugees."
With that, the soldier grabbed his plasma rifle and additional batteries, determined to stand his ground against the Netherworld.
Seeing the soldier's resolve, the lieutenant simply said, "Take care," before leaving with another soldier.
The lone soldier sprinted toward the refugee camp.
But before long, the lieutenant returned, saying, "Southward Evacuation is blocked. We're all trapped. Let's face the end together."
At that moment, an earth-shattering tremor shook the shelter.
Boom!
The violent rush of air currents, seismic tremors, and deafening roars caused the survivors in the shelter to experience symptoms of tinnitus, dizziness, and even fainting almost instantaneously.
At the same time, the sudden shockwave directly destroyed the power systems in the shelter. The floodlights illuminating the base camp abruptly turned into dim, crimson emergency lights.
The entire shelter resembled a scene from hell.
No one knew how much time had passed before the lieutenant and soldiers, leaning against the muddy walls, managed to shakily stand up.
Before they could fully recover from their dazed and bewildered state, another explosion erupted not far behind them.
"Was it the Nether Army breaking through the defenses?"
The lieutenant was utterly dumbfounded. The earlier tremor was unlike anything the Nether could cause. To the untrained eye, it might seem as though someone had detonated a hydrogen bomb outside.
Clack! Clack—!
At that moment, a series of dense footsteps suddenly echoed through the corridor. A soldier instinctively picked up his plasma rifle, preparing to fight the Nether to the death.
But his rash move was stopped by the lieutenant.
"No, listen to those footsteps—it must be reinforcements!"
The lieutenant was overjoyed. He knew the Nether couldn't possibly produce such sounds. The fact that they could hear footsteps meant the newcomers were human!
Just as the lieutenant pushed the soldier aside to greet what he believed to be incoming human reinforcements, his expression froze. The joy on his face instantly turned to a rigid, stunned look.
Because the "people" who emerged from the corridor were not humans—they were clones, equipped with mechanical exoskeletons and wearing skeletal-like respirator masks.
These cloned soldiers were controlled by the tyrants who followed them. As soon as the tyrants stepped out of the corridor, the cloned soldiers amplified their voices through their mask devices, issuing a command:
"Surrender immediately, or face death!"
---
Eight hours later.
V soared swiftly over the city of Sana in a Hawkeye shuttle. From the high-altitude vantage point, he could see that the desert metropolis had been entirely flattened.
Only a few buildings remained as fragmented ruins, standing lonely amidst the wasteland.
The desert, now covered in flying sand, was littered with crystallized, glassy materials—obvious remnants of high-temperature blast weapons.
The cause of this devastation, as well as the violent tremors in the underground shelter, was the deployment of a 350-kiloton TNT-equivalent plasma bomb by an RCS-class armored cruiser in near-Earth orbit.
The core material for this plasma bomb was helium extracted from the moon.
Li Ang 's preparations over the past few days had been focused on harvesting sufficient quantities of helium from the moon and manufacturing metallic helium through ultra-high pressure and ultra-low temperatures.
Under nearly 4 million times atmospheric pressure, the engineers of the megacorporation successfully refined stable metallic helium.
To ionize the metallic helium into plasma, it needed to be heated to over a million degrees instantaneously.
Thus, the plasma bomb deployed against the Nether Army required a 2-kiloton metallic helium bomb as its "fuse."
The moment the metallic helium ignited, a blue plasma fireball reaching a temperature of around 1 billion degrees erupted, spreading outward with a massive shockwave before gradually dissipating.
The humanoid condensed soldiers from Netherworld might be immune to plasma rifles due to insufficient energy output. However, facing a plasma fireball exceeding a billion degrees, their fate was annihilation—leaving not even ashes behind!
---
"Such a spectacular scene. The last time I saw something like this was when the Infinity dreadnought used its laser cannon to bombard a planet. But that was in a vacuum, so we couldn't hear the sound."
Standing beside V, Jackie Welles chuckled and said, "V, good thing those survivors took shelter 60 meters underground. Otherwise, they'd have ended up buried alongside the Nether."
In fact, long before the cruiser deployed the plasma bomb, the corporation's investigators had already identified the underground shelter's existence. Otherwise, they wouldn't have risked dropping such a devastating weapon.
"It seems the boss has already prepared for wiping out the Nether."
V gazed out the window, observing the survivors who had been relocated to the western desert by the company's cloned soldiers.
On the ground, soldiers marked with the megacorporation's "LA" insignia were maintaining order and distributing food and water to the survivors.
All the soldiers conducting cleanup operations were mindless clones controlled by polymer devices and commanded by the tyrants. They followed every order unconditionally.
"Honestly, I feel like leading a squad myself to take out the remaining Nether forces. Those ghostly things scared me half to death before!"
Jackie's mood darkened as he recalled the harrowing skirmishes in Sana City a few days ago. It was the first time he'd nearly suffered a major setback, and if not for V's quick draw, he might not have made it out alive.
"No worries. The boss's lab is apparently developing some kind of antimatter shield. Once that's ready, you can fight as many ghosts as you like," V replied with a grin.
Though he wasn't sure if such a shield could truly withstand the Nether, the plasma bomb's tactical capability ensured there wouldn't be many of them left.
The remaining operations would focus on sweeping out lingering Nether forces and eliminating all threats.
Naturally, these tasks wouldn't be assigned to V or the other Astartes warriors.
Boom—!!
At that moment, more shuttle formations emerged above V's craft, tasked with deploying miniature plasma bombs to exterminate clusters of Nether forces worldwide.
Large Nether forces would face plasma bomb strikes, while smaller groups would be eliminated using plasma sniper cannons—modified from Tsunami Defense System rifles and Covenant energy pistols.
The immense firepower of these cannons far surpassed that of the plasma rifles V had used previously, ensuring a single, decisive kill.
"It looks like this Nether operation is just about wrapped up," V mused.
Reflecting on everything that had happened over the past days, he realized that this parallel Earth was even more dangerous than Pandora. On Pandora, they'd dominated and crushed the Na'vi natives, even enslaving their deity, Eywa, within a day.
But on this Earth, the Nether had forced them to spend countless days developing bombs and weapons to achieve victory.
"Yeah, it's finally over. Now I just want to head back, relax with Misty, and have my mom cook up some corn tortillas and steamed pork," Jackie laughed, nudging V with his elbow. "You should join us. Bring along Judy, Johnny, Panam, and Song So-Mi."
V nodded with a smile. "Sure."
---
Far away, beyond the star gate at the multiverse base, Li Ang stood on the central control platform, monitoring real-time data and front-line visuals via holographic screens. He noted that the corporation's forces had completely secured the situation.
All "suspicious heat signatures" on Netherworld Earth were now being bombarded by plasma bombs dropped from shuttles.
For larger and denser Nether forces, the RCS-class armored cruiser would deploy massive plasma bombs from near-Earth orbit.
In essence, anything could be destroyed—it was just a matter of energy output.
Under the precision strikes of plasma bombs and the relentless assaults of countless Hawkeye shuttles, the Nether forces would soon be eradicated.
As for the ecological impact on this Earth? The planet was already ravaged by human nuclear wars, with sunlight barely reaching the surface. A few plasma bombs wouldn't make much difference.
Besides, the question remained whether this Earth could even sustain its spherical form much longer.
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