Chapter 120: Locking onto the Electromagnetic Railgun

After a period of diligent effort, Jackson finally gathered a wealth of intelligence on the Galaxy Empire. To his astonishment, he discovered that the previously known Goba Xiaofu had successfully established a new empire—the Galaxy Empire. This empire had already merged with many of their original kin, and its total population had now reached over thirteen million.

He even uncovered plans revealing that after winning this battle, the Galaxy Empire intended to leverage their victory to increase their influence, aiming to subdue or ally with more of their original kin—a cunning strategy indeed.

What startled Jackson even more was the revelation that the formidable forces of the Galaxy Empire were simultaneously attacking the human Gando tribe located in the Ulangumu region. There, they encountered a fierce clash with a space warship from the Gomar people hailing from the Sirius system.

What made Jackson break out in a cold sweat was the intelligence suggesting that the Gomar ship was not only collecting Earth's resources but was also transporting a large cache of strange items, suspected to be some form of large-scale, devastating weapon.

This was Jackson’s greatest fear. The presence of such unnatural weapons could spell catastrophic danger for all life on the planet. Resolute, he vowed that if the Galaxy Empire’s forces could not stop the Gomar’s transport, he would stop it at any cost.

It was with this resolve that Jackson conceived a bold plan, though he was fully aware it might entail unforeseen risks.

Nearby, Li Longfang and the others watched Jackson deep in thought, choosing not to interrupt for the moment. After a while, sensing that Jackson had reached a decision, Li Longfang decided to ask him.

“Captain, what should we do now?”

Jackson replied, “There’s nothing we can change at this point. At least we’ve completed our mission. I only hope that humanity can unite in the future. For now, since the enemy is also embroiled in internal conflict, we can still buy ourselves some time and space to prepare.”

Li Longfang responded, “Yes…”

Suddenly, Zhao Chengming rushed over. “Captain, the enemy forces are increasing—likely reinforcements have arrived. What are your orders?”

Jackson glanced over and said, “Don’t worry. They are the Galaxy Empire’s terror troops. The nation has just been established, and they are not fully prepared. Their small contingent equipped with advanced weapons serves as the main force encircling the terror troops of the Olmei Empire. The reinforcements here are neither well-equipped nor strong because this is not their main front. However, the Galaxy Empire’s forces are vast; even if they aren’t the main force, there are still many of them. For now, we follow the plan and return to the Crater Base. You arrange for 200 to cover our retreat. We’re pulling back.”

“Understood!” Zhao Chengming acknowledged.

Meanwhile, at the Olmei Empire’s headquarters in the Uliyasutai region, acting commander Kaba Dur began organizing the withdrawal. Upon receiving orders from Yuri Gotnei, he and his staff immediately started discussing how to neutralize the greatest threat to their retreat—the electromagnetic railgun.

At that moment, a guard entered the conference room, stammering as he reported, “Report… a call… asking for Dur… for the commander… from enemy frontline command.”

Kaba Dur’s temper flared, but there was also a hint of fear. He immediately rushed out to take the call, followed by other officers.

On the line, Kaba Dur declared, “Hello, this is Kaba Dur, acting commander of the Olmei Empire’s expeditionary forces!”

Soon, a voice responded: “Ah, Director of Intelligence, this is Jilong Conde. Do you remember me?”

Jilong Conde’s tone was both proud and somewhat regretful.

Kaba Dur was puzzled. “Jilong Conde… that name sounds familiar.”

“I’m surprised you forgot,” Conde said. “Remember when you inspected the Mountain Base? You mentioned that the human Southern Dian Kingdom was remote with an appropriate population size; since our Mountain Base was nearest to it, more intelligence should be gathered about that kingdom to prepare for future control. Have you forgotten?”

Kaba Dur snarled, “So it’s you, you bastard! I even took your mother to the Coastal Base for treatment, and now you’ve become a traitor to the state, scoundrel!”

Conde replied calmly, “I will always remember your kindness, Director, but now we serve different masters. Yet, out of old gratitude, I’m calling. Consider this: your rear line is cut off, your army is half destroyed, and your air force is non-existent. Our electromagnetic railguns have sealed your aerial retreat. Surrender, and I guarantee the Galaxy Empire’s leader will welcome you.”

Kaba Dur scoffed, “Leader? You mean Goba Xiaofu? That guy calls himself leader? Ridiculous. If he’s the leader, then I’m the king of the universe.”

Conde retorted, “The true leader should have compassion. Does Yuri Gotnei? His region can’t even guarantee basic resource supply and discriminates against our original kin. Now, those kin have answered the call of our great Galaxy Empire leader, all rallying under his banner. Doesn’t that speak volumes? Why do you still stubbornly serve Yuri Gotnei?”

Furious, Kaba Dur shouted, “I will never betray our leader! Those primitive kin are fools—they can never integrate into civilized society.”

Conde said, “Every civilization evolved from a primitive society. If we can integrate, so can they. We are brethren, not to be divided…”

Before Conde could finish, Kaba Dur abruptly hung up. Nearby, a staff officer asked, “Commander, shall we annihilate the enemy completely?”

Conde answered, “No need for extremes. Our goal is to defeat them. If they surrender, capture them. If they fight to the death, so be it. But above all, we must give them a chance to start anew. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

The staff officer left to relay the orders.

Back at the Olmei Empire’s new headquarters in Uliyasutai, after hanging up, Kaba Dur violently smashed objects in frustration, ignoring attempts to calm him. A guard then ran in, reporting, “Commander, we’ve tracked the enemy command’s location through previous signals and successfully pinpointed the enemy’s electromagnetic railgun position by tracing several projectile trajectories.”

Kaba Dur asked excitedly, “Where?”

The guard pointed on the map, “The enemy command is around Altai. Their electromagnetic railgun is at Arlag Mountain.”

“Good. Order the intelligent missile units to strike the enemy command with conventional weapons. Also, dispatch the air force with smart cruise nuclear missiles to Arlag Mountain to ensure precise destruction of the enemy’s electromagnetic railgun.”

“Yes, sir!”

A staff officer then asked, “Commander, why not destroy the railgun directly with missiles?”

Kaba Dur replied with frustration, “Can’t you see? Our priority is a safe retreat, which means securing the air corridor first. Using only long-range missiles, we can’t guarantee 100% destruction. Having personnel confirm the kill on-site provides the best assurance. As for the enemy command, its destruction is secondary—just draw their attention to cover our air force’s strike on the railgun. Don’t forget how our space warship was destroyed.”

“Yes, sir.”

The officer bowed his head in embarrassment and withdrew.

Meanwhile, east of Brunei, Jackson led Special Operations Teams One and Two, along with a thousand warriors, steadily retreating toward the Crater Base. Behind them, the Galaxy Empire’s pursuers pressed hard, their numbers swelling to over two thousand.

However, Li Geer believed these were merely fleeing units from the Olmei Empire. The elite forces, especially the air force and armored units, had been redeployed to Brunei and Ulangumu for battle. Thus, Jackson and his group managed the pursuit with relative ease.

After considerable effort, they finally glimpsed the Crater Base again and surged forward, eager to reunite with Zhou Yongli’s contingent.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Empire’s forces chasing from behind were equally reluctant to lose their trail. They instinctively assumed the human group ahead was serving the Olmei Empire, so they resolved not to let a single human escape and to capture at least one alive for intelligence purposes.