3 Transmigration... this can't be right! (3)

Boom! Bang! Boom!

Deafening explosions and rattling gunfire accompanied with the occasional roaring of cannons and missiles sounded endlessly throughout the industrial district.

Desperate defence units hid cautiously behind walls and sandbags to avoid the onslaught from the hail of bullets and the shower of explosives. Although it seemed the defence was outnumbered badly, many explosive traps and pitfalls for small vehicles were scattered throughout the area, impeding the incoming invasion. Furthermore, special machine gun and sniper positions that were known to only trusted members of the military littered the buildings, strengthening the defence against lighter units.

It seemed a bit much for an industrial district, but this was no simple industrial district. It was the birth place of all the new weapons and vehicles owned by the GreyFort military as well as the research facilities for nuclear fission and effective nuclear power absorption. It was practically the most important district in the entire GreyFort continent!

And now opposing forces had somehow gotten through the ranks of their elite squadrons fighting on the war front, and traversed the countryside to reach this remote yet infinitely important area.

A young man, located in the most secure tower of the industrial district, was frantically typing commands to the defence system, attempting to activate all the crucial defence mechanisms while disabling the damaged ones to prevent unnecessary explosions which may cause damage to the system.

His left screen displayed a map of the entire district with the status of all the defences while his right screen gave an overview of the conditions of the defence forces. Over half of the defence mechanisms were not activated, a quarter of them were destroyed. This meant that their defence power was only a forth of what it could truly demonstrate. Many units from each defence force squadron began to turn grey, indicating the system's determination of loss of life or inability to fight.

Although the situation looked dire, Cheng Ye knew that with the invading force alone, there would be no possibility of their defences being breached. It was only a matter of time before all the defence mechanisms activated and when that were to happen, the enemies would be completely eradicated!

Turrets began to activate all over the district, each with a RPM of over 1200, spraying down constantly at the approaching opponents. Tank piercing cannons worked earnestly to destroy the slow moving bringers of destruction as well as the fast moving jeeps and bikes.

A quarter of an hour of slaughter passed with a flash. By now, the hail of bullets had lessened to periodic shots that did not exceed one per second. The defence units roared in victory as they charged out of their positions, rushing down the remaining, demoralised enemies while securing the area once more.

Cheng Ye stretched his arms back, pulling each finger to relieve the strained muscles and the stiffened ligaments. Although they had defended the attack quite neatly, he was still extremely worried. This industrial district was supposed the be an well kept secret to only the workers and the high up officials. The workers were closely monitored, so there would have to be a defect in the higher-ups.

Just as Cheng Ye was about to write the defence report alongside the warning to the general consisting of their leaked position and a possible defect in the ranks, a spot on the map blinked a crimson red before dimming, finally showing a dull grey.

Cheng Ye rushed forward to the monitor in a panic before wiping away the glimmering sweat on his forehead in relief. It was only an air defence turret that had exploded, most likely from external damage sustained during the intense gun fire.

Cheng Ye picked up the intercom before relaying a message to the squad captain closest to the scene, "Investigate what happened and report back."

He was shortly replied, "District Commander Cheng, it wasn't a damage related failure of the air defence turret. It was a timed bomb left behind by the enemy. Thankfully nobody was near if as if detonated or els..."

Cheng Ye ripped off the headphones connecting the the intercom and leapt back into his chair, red dots appeared all over the map, all seemingly targeting air related defence turrets and machine gun turrets.

Sh*t

Cheng Ye knew what was coming, there was truly only one possibility if the enemy took this course of action. They were going to bomb all the facilities in the district! Without air defence, how could they defend?!

It was genius, scarily genius. This plan sacrificed thousands of their troops in return for a long term benefit.

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

The radar began picking up a large number of bomber type planes, each heading towards different locations in the district that had factories or storage facilities.

F*CK

There was nothing Cheng Ye could do. He watched the entire process with a panic stricken face and a dull, numbed mind.

The planes left silently after a thorough ten minutes of bombing. The landscape in the district was filled with destruction and flames roared amidst the fallen facilities. Cheng Ye sank to his knees, he had been too careless in his defence! How else would the enemy be able to succeed in this operation? There were many options he could have taken to prevent this event, and yet now, it was long in the past, unalterable, untouchable.

A faint growling of plane engines rang in his ears once more. Wearily, Cheng Ye looked back to the radar. The bomber planes before were shown as a small dot, however the newly arriving plane was huge, at least a military grade freighter plane.

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

The alarms sounded once more, however Cheng Ye knew it didn't matter what that plane was bringing, they couldn't stop it. He watched helplessly as a silver, metallic object was released from the freighter plane. Judging from the size of it, there was probably enough power to blow the entire district apart.

"I guess this is the end..." Cheng Ye trailed off into thoughts of his life and the infinite amount of things he had yet to achieve, reality was truly harsh.

The metre diameter bomb passed vertically by his window and a blinding flash of light followed by intense sound waves swept across the entire region. Cheng Ye closed his eyes in defeat, the last thing he felt was the floor below him giving away.

● ● ● ● ●

"You! Are you alright?"

A dim voice entered Cheng Ye's consciousness, it was soft, hazy but existent.

"Is he breathing?"

He could feel the cold stony floor.

"Patrol Captain Vader, what is happening here?"

He could feel the cold wind brush gently against his wounded body.

"We were doing basic patrols through the streets when we saw him lying dead silent on the floor."

He could hear the distant conversations.

"Go ahead, try and rouse him then."

He felt a rough hand pull him upright before shaking his torso left to right.

"Vader that's not how you do it! Let me check his condition first."

Delicate fingers pried open his tired eyes. The light was blinding, forcing his pupil to dilate. It was painful, but as the fingers released his eyelids, he was able to keep them open.

Cries of surprise circled the surrounding people as he sat up before murmuring, "Where am I?"

Cheng Ye could see the girl, her curious green eyes and the mass of curly hair contrasted greatly against the police like uniform that she wore, however they served to make her even more appealing to look at. She smiled widely at him before taking his hand and answering, "We're in the City of Neverwinter. Do you remember what happened to you?"

The City of Neverwinter? He had simply never heard of such a place existing on Earth. Nevertheless, Cheng Ye answered with a hoarse voice, "We got wiped out by bombs. It was my fault. It w-was my f-fault!"

Tears began to cassade down his face as he remembered the helpless looks of the surviving defense soldiers.

"I think we should bring this one to Lady Nightingale and the King. We don't have any ways to help him."

"Yes, call for Nana while you're at it."

The remaining people picked Cheng Ye up before carrying him slowly to the castle.

"Vader, why do we always get these odd jobs?"

Vader shook his head silently.