George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 349

< Chapter 348 >

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The moment the People’s Liberation Army launched its feigned airstrike towards Lanzhou, Delta Force breached the silo and initiated the gunfight.

The ruthless efficiency of Delta Force, the elite of the elite, proved unstoppable by the base’s personnel, who were more accustomed to paperwork than combat. It might sound like a video game scenario, but that was the stark reality.

While the base personnel fired blindly down corridors, barely exposing themselves, Delta Force advanced relentlessly towards the control room. Their movements were fluid and precise, their shots honed by cutting-edge equipment and rigorous training.

Ultimately, technology serves only as a support. In warfare, humans remain the decisive factor. While aerial combat might eventually become automated, ground warfare still depends on boots on the ground.

These soldiers, though part of what was supposed to be China’s most secret and secure facility, could only manage to fire their weapons and attempt to secure doors. However, even these basic defenses presented a significant challenge to Delta Force, as the silos were equipped with explosion-proof doors. Each door required Delta Force to either breach it directly or find a way around it.

Bypassing the doors wasn’t particularly difficult, as Delta Force possessed detailed blueprints of the silo, including areas unknown even to the base’s personnel.

This wasn’t necessarily due to Delta Force’s superior skills, but rather because they had acquired the silo’s blueprints with the covert assistance of elements within the Communist Party.

“Damn it, another explosion-proof door! We’re out of options for bypassing or breaching this one! Let’s pull back!”

No matter how elite, Delta Force couldn’t secure every silo. Given enough time, it might have been possible, but this was a race against the clock, not a general suppression operation. The threat of a nuclear launch loomed large.

The moment Delta Force withdrew from these silos, several bunker buster bombs were deployed.

Seventeen B-2 stealth bombers, escorted by F-22 Raptors, were already en route from Afghanistan. The United States was committing its maximum available air power over Lanzhou.

While B-52s or B-1s might have been the typical choice, this operation was designed as both a feint and a surprise attack.

The feint aimed to draw the Lanzhou warlords’ attention towards the People’s Liberation Army. To that end, the PLA’s air power began its diversionary flight towards Lanzhou ten minutes before the operation commenced. The warlords would have been alarmed by the sheer number of aircraft appearing on their radar.

The surprise attack involved severing all communication lines to and from the silos from the operation’s outset. Wired lines were cut, and wireless communication was jammed by electronic warfare. The silos, housing weapons capable of global destruction, were effectively transformed into isolated underground bunkers.

Ironically, the Delta Force team that entered last reached the control room the fastest.

The silo was in chaos, a result of the bombs and gunfights initiated by Delta Force. While they couldn’t eliminate every guard while bypassing obstacles, each successful bypass brought them closer to the control room. Soon, they stood before its door.

“This way! They’re coming from this way!”

With the hinges of the explosion-proof door shattered, the door crashed to the floor. Before the smoke could dissipate, several canisters rolled into the control room.

“Grenades… no, flashbangs!”

This was a devastating blow to those focused solely on the explosion-proof door. The intense light and sound of the flashbangs disoriented them, leaving them with afterimages and ringing ears, unable to discern direction.

“Damn it! Flashbangs!”

Reacting belatedly, they fired wildly towards the presumed location of the breached door, but Delta Force was no longer there. Instead, their shots struck innocent machines and friendly fire.

A person disoriented by a flashbang is incapable of reloading. Within five seconds, the barrage ceased. Unable to reload, they could only focus on regaining their senses.

Delta Force seized the opportunity. They moved swiftly, restraining the soldiers, sometimes with brutal force.

“You fucking trash! You subhuman scum!”

While operational protocols emphasize suppressing emotions for rational decision-making, the successful completion of the mission unleashed pent-up feelings. Primitive violence erupted.

They were fortunate if they were only beaten, and even more so if they avoided being struck with a rifle butt. A rifle butt to the head often results in a fatal cerebral hemorrhage. Delta Force, aware of this, inflicted as much pain as possible without killing, though some teeth were inevitably lost in the process.

As per the Communist Party’s request, the official objective was suppression, but the top priority was preventing a nuclear launch.

“There’s a limit to how much you can resist! Is your goal mass murder? You Hitler-like bastards!”

To the Delta Force team that had subdued the silo, these men deserved such treatment. Destroying the Three Gorges Dam? That was nothing short of a civilian massacre. Fueled by a sense of justice, Delta Force continued a cycle of violence.

With reason clouded by adrenaline and a convenient justification, they resorted to unrestrained violence. Only a Buddha could maintain composure in such a situation, but a Buddha wouldn’t be engaged in combat.

Did the soldiers simply endure the abuse? The answer was complex.

“It’s all over anyway.”

One of the officers muttered in Chinese, a language none of the Delta Force members understood. Their selection was based purely on skill. While some teams might have included Chinese speakers, this one did not.

Ignoring the glares of the Delta Force members, he continued to speak to himself.

“We did what we could.”

This was the moment the airstrike began, and simultaneously, the moment the commander-in-chief issued the launch order from the command center in the bunker.

However, with all silos either destroyed or subdued, the commander-in-chief’s order was rendered meaningless.

The scene was intense, with every second crucial, but the outcome was concise and almost anticlimactic. Delta Force subdued the silos, and those they couldn’t were destroyed by bunker busters. That was all.

The real problem lay with the ‘conventional missiles’ – the domestically produced and Russian-imported ballistic missiles that China had been steadily accumulating since the Soviet era.

Despite intense countermeasures, dozens of intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) were launched under the commander-in-chief’s orders.

However, these were largely interceptable. Fighters filled the sky, an unprecedented defense against ballistic missiles. While historically unproven, their capabilities had been assessed as adequate in an unavoidable situation.

“If we don’t stop those, our comrades and people will die! Stop them even with your bodies!”

Theory became reality. Rather than relying on skill or training, the interception was achieved through sheer numbers and a willingness to sacrifice. All the ballistic missiles launched from the outskirts of Lanzhou were shot down.

However, the fighters around Lanzhou couldn’t intercept missiles launched from other regions.

“Ballistic missile launch confirmed.”

“Initiate interception operations!”

Did the remaining missiles successfully strike the Three Gorges Dam? No.

Thousands of ballistic missile interceptors soared into the sky.

The interceptors steadily eliminated the ballistic missiles, one by one, until all were destroyed.

So, was the Three Gorges Dam intact?

“What is this?”

It was not. Scorch marks and cracks marred its surface, and water began to seep out, slowly at first.

“Is it a misfire?”

The missile that struck the Three Gorges Dam was fired from close range, making a misfire impossible. The culprit was a group of Lanzhou rebels who had infiltrated the mixed interception unit.

The army defending the Three Gorges Dam was a hastily assembled coalition.

The US military assumed it was solely composed of the People’s Liberation Army, while the PLA believed it consisted only of reabsorbed Guangzhou warlords.

After absorption, the warlords’ forces were integrated back into the PLA’s structure, but the Guangzhou Military Region was not preserved intact. The integration process was chaotic, with mixed units and new recruits. A more gradual merger would have prevented such errors, but the lack of time led to a critical failure.

In this chaotic environment, intercepting a missile traveling at the speed of sound from close range was impossible. The only opportunity to stop it would have been the instant it was fired.

However, with thousands of interceptor missiles launching to defend against the main attack, the rebels’ missile went unnoticed. The problem was the limited firepower. Against a normal dam, this would have been sufficient, but the Three Gorges Dam was a massive structure holding approximately 38 billion tons of water.

As the water leaking from the widening cracks grew from trickles to streams, and then to torrents, a sense of impending disaster spread.

When those torrents became a massive waterfall, everyone realized they were entering a stage beyond their control.

Ironically, this marked the end of the long Chinese civil war and the beginning of a desperate struggle for survival.