Chapter 826: Infiltration Operation

The guard post at the reservoir’s staff access entrance was quite simple: a single lamp illuminating the doorway and one soldier standing guard without a rifle. The pistol in the holster on his belt was not much of a threat, but the radio hanging from his shoulder was.

The light was not particularly bright and could not illuminate very far. So even when Wild Boar armor approached quite close, it did not attract the soldier’s attention. Standing in a blind spot was certainly another reason.

The countdown to the agreed time reached zero on the internal screens of all the armor, and Bonnie immediately activated its electronic-warfare jamming function.

Disordered radio waves jammed every channel. If anyone noticed immediately, the only thing they would hear on the radio would be powerful static.

At the same time, Minotaur destroyed the cables used for external communications.

Since the area around the reservoir was quite desolate, all kinds of lines followed the same conduits to reduce maintenance difficulties. Therefore, the cables Minotaur destroyed included telephone lines, communications network cables, power lines, and so on.

However, the reservoir had its own power-generating capabilities. To maintain the secret base’s normal operation, it was also equipped with large generators. So disabling the power facilities from outside and bringing the entire base to a standstill was not very realistic.

When the secret base was not in operation, the reservoir’s generators could even supply power back to the external grid. That alone showed how much electricity it could generate.

Being able to cut off communications was already enough to establish a considerable offensive advantage.

Unlike Green Arrow Duck, whose normal method of movement relied on levitation to glide along like an ice skater, the smaller Wild Boar armor, which was primarily based on Isu technology, could walk and run normally like an ordinary person.

However, in order to move quickly and quietly, its low-altitude levitation skating function had not been removed. It was originally an auxiliary function of the gravity-manipulating system and did not take up much additional space.

As the attack began, Wild Boar armor rapidly approached the sentry from behind and locked him in a chokehold.

It had no intention of simply snapping the soldier’s neck. But whether it was suffocation or cutting off the blood supply to the brain and rendering him unconscious, both methods were too slow, and the time it would take him to wake up could not be controlled.

So Wild Boar armor simply drove in a dose of powerful anesthetic!

This was a potent anesthetic capable of knocking out even creatures with physiques superior to ordinary humans, such as vampires. Dealing with a mere U.S. soldier was naturally no problem.

The gangsters on the streets of Los Angeles had once had the honor of becoming test subjects. At this dosage, an hour of sleep was practically guaranteed. Even if the physical condition of an American soldier allowed him to wake up earlier, thirty or forty minutes would still be more than enough.

Wild Boar had little sympathy for the unconscious soldier. Once it released his neck, the American soldier collapsed to the ground like a discarded sack.

The position was somewhat awkward, but fortunately his face was not pressed against the ground, so he could still breathe normally.

The armor’s sensors could easily determine a person’s vital signs at close range. Therefore, the Aetos armor following invisibly behind him did not need to ask, “Is he dead?”

Wild Boar’s method of opening the door could neither be called delicate nor particularly brutal. The staff entrance had never had much protection to begin with. It was nothing more than a thin metal door with a knob lock.

So Wild Boar simply tore the lock assembly off, and the metal door swung open.

Once inside the dam, they followed the predetermined route. This route passed through secluded corridors where few soldiers were active, so the two suits of armor advanced quite quickly.

However, Wild Boar was not blindly charging toward the interior. Whenever they passed some important points he had marked, he would stop and set up some small devices or inspect the junction boxes mounted on the walls.

Although Bonnie armor was conducting electronic interference outside and Minotaur armor had destroyed the physical lines connecting the base to the outside world, the wiring inside the dam had not been damaged. Internal wired communications were still functioning.

Wild Boar had no intention of immediately destroying the base’s internal communications as well. When most methods of communication were cut off, the remaining methods would inevitably carry the bulk of the information.

Furthermore, wired communications were less convenient than wireless communications, which placed considerable restrictions on the exchange of information within the base.

So Wild Boar installed a relay device for eavesdropping. It could be remotely burned out at any time to destroy the line. For the moment, he only needed to listen in on the base’s internal communications. There was no need to disable every communications line just yet.

However, when the two suits approached the stairway leading to the underground facilities, Wild Boar armor stopped and began surveying the latest situation.

“What’s the situation there?” Minotaur asked over the internal communications channel.

Because all their systems were interconnected, the two suits that had not entered the dam could easily access the visual feeds from Wild Boar and Aetos. So although they were waiting outside, they were hardly bored.

At this moment, both Minotaur and Bonnie had taken potato chips or dried meat from the small storage compartments in their armor and were munching away. Gilgamesh had even brought along a bottle of beer.

Since only the lower halves of their helmets were opened, they still needed the screens in the upper halves to watch the “live broadcast.” So when Wild Boar armor stopped, Gilgamesh appropriately asked the question.

Wild Boar explained through the internal channel as well. “The corridors we passed through still belong to the dam. Although the U.S. military has stationed guards there, there aren’t many of them. But once we go down these stairs, we’ll be entering the secret military base.

“This is the only entrance connecting the base to the dam. The security down there isn’t like what we encountered earlier, where there’s only one person standing guard. There’s also a machine gun covering the entrance and exit. I need to confirm the latest situation before I can make a move.”

Under these circumstances, trying to quickly deal with all the guards to prevent them from reporting the situation by landline meant that slowly injecting them with anesthetic was hardly a good idea.

Moreover, because of the distortion field generated by Isu technology, Wild Boar could not use ranged attacks while invisible. It would have to either approach for close combat or deactivate the camouflage before it could fire anesthetic darts from a distance.

Wild Boar was not fixated on using anesthetics to deal with these enemies without taking a single life. He had stopped simply to consider the best method of attack and how to completely prevent the enemy from raising the alarm.

Once he had made his decision, Wild Boar walked downstairs without hesitation. The distortion field remained active. Before launching the attack, staying invisible could still give him a certain degree of advantage.

However, the moment Wild Boar armor stepped out of the stairwell, the machine gun guarding the passage suddenly flashed with muzzle fire. An uninterrupted roar of gunfire nearly deafened them in the enclosed space.

Because the indoor space was limited and the distance was short, the weapon defending the passage was only a light machine gun. The dense stream of machine-gun rounds was not enough to penetrate the distortion field. Every bullet was randomly deflected left or right, striking wildly outside the area protected by the field.

Wild Boar had never expected to be testing the defensive strength of the distortion field under circumstances like these. It actually stood there dumbfounded without moving.

“How did they detect me?”

The Aetos armor following behind had likewise just descended the stairwell and was now standing halfway down the flight. After replaying the earlier footage, Cassandra seemed to realize something.

“I think I know why. The area covered by the distortion field is somewhat large. In a narrow passage, it can easily affect objects that get too close, causing them to appear distorted and warped within the field of vision.”

Wild Boar was speechless.

“So these soldiers basically saw a shadow and started shooting? This… they’re certainly well trained.”