Chapter 354 Preservation of the Lunar Front

In the encrypted communication channel, Wang Mingyuan's hoarse voice carried obvious electrical noise, but to all the cultivators on the Guanghan Defense Line, it was more deafening than any celestial music.

"Click!"

Chen Ge pushed the Extreme Yang fuel throttle valve on the back of the mech, a sinister smile spreading across his face beneath the hydraulic mask.

"Did you hear the command?"

He swung the brand-new Star Iron Ship-Slaying Blade with one arm, and three feet of pure gold flames suddenly shot up from the blade, leaving a dazzling trail in the dark vacuum.

"All troops, charge! Chop them to pieces!"

"boom--!!!"

The Xuanwu Armor, which had just finished drinking, instantly transformed into a falling meteor.

At the bottom of the Aitken Basin, the massive black gate had just drained all the main entities in the vicinity in order to condense that "spear." At this moment, only a few thousand low-level multi-legged mutants that had not had time to merge remained at the edge of the crack, like rotten shrimp stranded on the beach after the tide had receded.

Before they could react, the steel Grim Reaper above them had already crashed down, having lost the cover of the magnetic field.

"Sizzle—"

Chen Ge charged headlong into the monsters' formation. The combined weight of his 300-ton mech and the violent kinetic energy of his thrusters smashed two of the mutated creatures into a spray of black liquid. With a swing of his left arm, his ship-slaying blade sliced ​​through a monster that was about to spew corrosive liquid in two, as easily as cutting hot butter.

The extreme Yang True Fire surged wildly through the wound, leaving the monster no room to struggle before it instantly turned into ashes.

"Three groups! Flank from the left! Don't let them retreat back into the doorway!" the vice-captain roared into the channel, crushing the limb of a mutant with one foot, his heavy sword slicing through the surrounding shadows like a windmill.

There are no tactical maneuvers, and no need for defense.

This was a one-sided massacre driven purely by venting anger. With Earth's continuous logistical support, the defenders, relying on their new armor and the overflowing reactor energy, pushed the battle line back to within a hundred meters of the Black Gate.

Twenty minutes later.

"Pfft..."

The last multi-legged mutant was pierced through by six heavy swords simultaneously and burned into nothingness.

At the bottom of the Aitken Basin, apart from the numerous craters vaporized by the high temperature and the black water residue that emitted a burnt smell, there was not a single living thing that could move.

The deep black rift seemed to sense the complete reversal of the situation. It stopped spewing out monsters and instead began to shrink and close extremely slowly, eventually becoming an extremely deep, yet silent black abyss, like the closed eye of a dead fish.

"Huff... huff..."

Chen Ge hovered less than fifty meters from the crack, the heat dissipation vents on the back of his mech hissing out white cooling mist. He stared intently at the motionless crack for a long time before slowly lowering the ship-slaying sword in his hand.

"Captain Chen, the radar is cleared. The frequency band has completely disappeared." The vice-captain approached, his mech's chest armor covered in dried black stains.

"Stand firm. Each squad, take stock of casualties. Engineers, repair damaged armor." Chen Ge's voice was tinged with extreme exhaustion, but his tense back finally relaxed slightly.

……

Earth. 700 meters underground in Kyoto, in the joint control room.

"Bang."

The military representative tossed his sweat-soaked cap, which he had been clutching, onto the table and let out a long sigh. He grabbed a half-empty bottle of mineral water from the table and gulped it down in one go.

"Old Wang, the alert on the moon has been lifted. The monster has retreated."

The military representative wiped the water stains from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and turned to look at Wang Mingyuan, who was leaning back in his chair rubbing his temples.

"The Guanghan Base is now firmly planted on the moon. However, those five hundred young men have been working tirelessly in the sky for several days, pushing themselves to the limit. Resources can be replenished, but manpower can't keep up."

Wang Mingyuan put down his hand that was rubbing his temples and opened his bloodshot eyes.

"I know. The phase of holding out is over."

He reached out and pulled over the microphone next to him, his gaze sweeping over the busy operators in the control room.

"Lin Feng, draft the tactical instructions for the Supreme Command."

The typing stopped immediately, and Lin Feng sat up straight, his fingers hovering above the keyboard.

"First: Guanghan Base has been removed from the 'Desperate Defend' status and has officially entered the 'Level 1 War Duty' status."

"Second: Restore all interstellar teleportation arrays to full power. The three major heavy industry sectors of Jiangnan, Shudu, and Xin Chang'an, immediately prioritize the transfer of 30% of their stockpiled ammunition and Extreme Yang purification fluid to the moon, and fill the base's ammunition depots."

"third……"

Wang Mingyuan paused for a moment and turned to look at the military representative.

"Activate the [Lunar Surface Rotation Warfare Plan]. Notify all major global defense forces to immediately dispatch the first batch of fully-staffed reserve cultivators via teleportation arrays to take over the defense."

"Send Chen Ge and his group back to Earth to rest. Not a single one of them is allowed to stay up there and try to hold on."

……

The far side of the moon. The second basement level of the Guanghan Base.

Chen Ge had just climbed out of the mech's cockpit, his boots landing on the oil-slicked metal mesh floor. Having removed the heavy exoskeleton, he looked as if he'd been pulled from water; his combat suit was completely soaked with sweat and blood, and the haphazardly wrapped bandages on his right arm were still oozing blood.

"Captain Chen, the latest instructions from Kyoto."

Ma Cheng rushed over from the communications station, clutching a newly printed tactical instruction sheet in his hand. He grinned, his face scrunched up with soot.

Several defense soldiers who were bandaging each other's wounds or resting on supply boxes with their eyes closed all managed to open their eyes when they heard the sound.

Chen Ge took the instruction sheet and scanned it with his eyes.

"Captain... what did your family say? Do we still have to keep guarding this ditch?" The new recruit with a broken leg, who had just been given quick-drying gel, leaned against the supply box, rubbing his hands together with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation.

Chen Ge looked at the instruction sheet in his hand and remained silent for two seconds.

He raised his head and looked around at the group of soldiers who were exhausted to the extreme, yet had just trampled the abyss under their feet.

"Don't worry, everyone."

Chen Ge folded the note in his hand twice, stuffed it into his pocket, and casually picked up a bottle of liquid spiritual energy replenishment water next to him and unscrewed it.

"Orders have been issued that the Guanghan base will transition to routine wartime duty."

Chen Ge tilted his head back and gulped down a large mouthful of water, his Adam's apple bobbing, then wiped his mouth.

"In addition, the first batch of new recruits will arrive in an hour via the inter-star teleportation array to take over our shifts."

The underground base was quiet for a moment.

Everyone stared blankly at Chen Ge.

"Damn it. You should have said so earlier!"

Old Li slapped his newly repaired hydraulic leg on his mecha, pulled a cigarette—which looked like it had been squeezed countless times—from his pocket, and stuffed it into his mouth. His voice trembled. "I was just wondering if I was going to die on this damn rock for the rest of my life... Can I go home now?"

"I can go home now."

As Chen Ge watched the group of cultivators who were cursing and starting to remove their armor and rest, a truly relaxed smile finally appeared on his lips.

"Hurry up and pack up your broken belongings. Once the replacements arrive, everyone will be teleported back to Earth."

"To hell with the nutrient solution! I'm going back to eat two pounds of braised pork from mutated demon pigs!" The vice-captain kicked away an empty ammunition box at his feet, leaned against the wall, and his eyes suddenly reddened.

In the silent and oppressive underground base, a weak yet extremely unrestrained laugh finally broke out.