40 Racing Against the Clock

Five hours later, carrier-based aircraft had returned to the battleship, and the ground forces were on their own to defend against the coming onslaught of the insectoid army.

"Engineering! What is the base construction progress?" James shouted.

"Commander, the perimeter has been completed! Armored floor has also been laid! The fortress is under construction!" the head of Engineering said.

"Make it quick!" James commanded.

"Yes, Sir!"

...

"When do you think the bugs will come, Qin Hao?" James turned to look at Qin Hao.

"I have no idea. But judging by the intensity of the orbital bombardment this time, the bombings should have destroyed most of the bug tunnels. They would need at last a dozen hours to arrive." Qin Hao roughly calculated.

"Okay." James nodded. Now that his forces were equipped with a new type of helmet that could not only resist the hypnotization from the Shepherd but also block off the sound-wave attack of the Hollowborers, James was confident of his campaign this time.

"I have a hunch, Commander!" Qin Hao decided to tell what was on his mind after some hesitation.

"What hunch?" James asked. If it were others, he would not have given a hoot to such thing as a hunch. But it was Qin Hao, who was the most experienced soldier in fighting the insectoids in the entire 106th Division. He had got to listen to what Qin Hao had to say.

"I think the insectoids will not attack our side. We should be facing the least pressure, but the other side will face a hell lot more brutal attack." Qin Hao pointed to the south. The command post had instructed the 106th Mechanized Infantry Division to guard the east side, the 109th Division the south side, the 121th Division and 136th Division to the west and north sides, respectively.

"Don't worry about that. The 109th Division is the most badass. They have no only well-equipped but also vast combat experience. Not to mention they have two units of special forces. They are much stronger than we are!" James was jealous of the 109th Division, but he had to admit that their combat strength was above that of his 106th division.

"All right…" Qin Hao said nothing more. His gut feeling might be telling him that dangers would come in the south, but as a low-ranking soldier, his so-called sixth sense would not be accepted as a parameter in front of the combat staff.

A few hours later, the 106th Division had finished erecting their base. As the engineering unit returned to the center of the base, the combat units were deployed to station at various sentry points.

"Qin Hao!" James called out after discussing with a few combat staff.

"Yes, Sir!" Qin Hao immediately came up.

"The recon battalion is going to erect the electric fence around the perimeter. You go with them." James knew that Qin Hao had vast experience in combatting the insectoids. If he could lead the recon battalion to set up the electric fence, he could protect the recon battalion, preventing them from walking into the insectoid's traps while sharing his experience in fighting the insectoids.

"Yes, Sir!" Qin Hao nodded as he accepted the mission.

"We are counting on you, bro!" The recon battalion commander patted Qin Hao on the shoulder. He might be a lieutenant, but Qin Hao was a celebrity in the 106th Division. Everyone knew that it was a walk in the park for Qin Hao to kill those insectoids. So, no matter how high-ranking these soldiers were, no one dared to show him their attitudes on the battlefield.

People were realistic. In the comfort of the battleships, ranking spoke. But once they were on the battlefield, they could die from insectoid's attack any second. So ranking was not worth a cent here. Only the experienced could increase their chances of survival. No military officers would want to offend the experienced soldiers and reduced their own survivability.

"I am ready to go, Sir!" Qin Hao said to the recon battalion commander.

"Good!" With the wave of the hand of the commander, several hundred soldiers left the defensive wall and came under Azland Uplands.

"At what distance from the base should we erect the electric fence, Sir?" Qin Hao asked.

"Three hundred meters!" the battalion commander said. "You can call me Bott, bro."

"Okay, Bott." Qin Hao smiled.

"What do you think; is there any danger out there?" Bott cautiously brought his men 300m away from the base.

"I don't think so. The air force's bombing was so intense that those insectoids would not return on the battlefield so soon." Qin Hao's intuition did not sense any danger yet, so there should be no bugs in the surroundings.

"That's great! Hurry up, get the electric fence up!" Bott ordered.

"Yes, Sir!" The recon battalion soldiers quickly swung into action.

"Let us go to the next section." A node had been quickly erected. Qin Hao led the way as they headed to the next node.

After over an hour, they had erected half of the nodes with five more to go, after which the fence would go live.

Once the electric fence was activated, before any insectoids could come close to the base of the 106th Division, they would have first paid a heavy price. This electric fence was also functioning as an early warning system.

"Hurry up, everyone! The bugs could come any time!" Qin Hao suddenly said.

"What have you found?" Bott asked.

"It is just a gut feeling…" Qin Hao could not explain his feeling; his right eyelid was twitching, and he sensed a depressive force looming.

"All right, hurry up, guys!" Bott could not make head or tail about Qin Hao's so-called bad feeling. But he still trusted Qin Hao because Qin Hao was a heroic existence in the 106th Division.

Time was ticking away, and the recon battalion soldiers had erected three more nodes with two more to go.

"We are running out of time!" Qin Hao suddenly felt a chill run up his spine. This sensation was a sign that danger was imminent.

"Hurry up! Hurry up!" Bott was rushing his men to finish the job.

"One more node to go. You all return to base and let me handle the last one!" Qin Hao said to Bott.

"I can't. This is our mission. One platoon from the First Company stays and helps me finish the node, and the rest return to base!" Bott saw how anxious Qin Hao was and knew that time was running out. To reduce losses, he instructed most of the soldiers to return to base and only took a dozen men with him to complete the mission. After all, erecting the electric fence node was not something Qin Hao could accomplish alone.

"Okay!" Qin Hao knew that he could not finish the job all by himself. Some men had to stay back. He nodded his agreement and rushed toward the last point while the rest of the recon soldiers followed from behind with their equipment.