Jiang Ye's expression was grim.
If what the Ice Green Planet Elder said was true, then the outcome of the battle was hard to predict.
During this period, he had somewhat figured out the patterns of development indices. Once a gold mine was unearthed, it could easily boost the development index by tens or even a hundred points in a short time.
This meant that if Ice Green Star managed to unearth that gold mine before midnight tomorrow, the tide of victory could very well turn!
Jiang Ye couldn't sleep.
He couldn't afford to fail now. He had to race against time, push the development index up one last time, and boost the numbers!
With only a day left, undertaking new engineering projects was unrealistic. There was only one option left.
Jiang Ye sent a message to Isabella:
"I need to go to the new military base on the other side of the desert immediately. Can you give me a ride?"
Isabella: "Where are you?"
Jiang Ye: "The hot spring area."
Isabella: "Wait there."
Jiang Ye immediately got up to change. In less than two minutes, a scorching bright light shone through the window, accompanied by the roar of a landing spacecraft, like an earthquake.
He hurried downstairs. The familiar delivery spacecraft landed on the open ground. The lights of the entire ship dispelled the night of the hot spring area, and dust swirled in the light.
The tail ramp of the spacecraft slowly opened, and the ramp landed directly in front of Jiang Ye. A familiar figure stepped out and waved.
"Hurry up, handsome. We take off in twenty seconds."
Isabella was still in her pajamas and slippers, clearly woken from bed and coming without even bothering to change.
Jiang Ye boarded the ship and fastened his seatbelt.
In just three minutes, the spacecraft landed at the new military base on the other side of the desert.
Isabella didn't linger. After Jiang Ye disembarked, she immediately ascended with the spacecraft, likely heading home to sleep.
A night wind picked up nearby, and dust swirled in the air. Jiang Ye covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve and walked into the military base. The troops had already been alerted and were quickly assembling.
Che Zhen appeared from nowhere and saluted Jiang Ye.
"All personnel assemble. We are about to commence a 24-hour rapid advance. We depart in twenty minutes. Jiang Ye said, "Prepare a Spider for me."
"Yes!"
Just fifteen minutes later, the troops were assembled, a total of two hundred Spider armored vehicles, their small orange-yellow lights glowing in the night, forming a neat and imposing formation.
Jiang Ye sat in the foremost vehicle, rapidly tapping on the control screen to connect with all units. With only two hundred Spiders, he could personally command the entire operation.
"Satellite shows there's a sandstorm in this area that will last for four to five hours," Che Zhen reported over the comms channel.
Jiang Ye seemed not to hear him. He drew a route on the screen – two spiraling lines, winding forward, meeting every fifty kilometers, like two entwined serpents.
"I'll take one team, route 1. Che Zhen, you take a team, route 2," Jiang Ye ordered.
"Yes!"
"All units, pay attention. This mission is extremely urgent. From tonight until midnight tomorrow, we must advance without stopping, at maximum speed. Set scanners to wide-area coarse scan," Jiang Ye said. "The two crew members in each Spider can take turns resting. In case of emergency, they will operate together."
"Alright, let's move out!"
The Spiders poured out of the base in columns and, led by Jiang Ye, accelerated to speeds of over a hundred kilometers per hour, skimming across the wasteland almost as if flying.
The sandstorm was relatively small at first. An hour later, ninety-eight kilometers from the base, the sandstorm had intensified to the point of obscuring visibility.
Looking out from the Spider's cockpit, all that could be seen was rolling sand and darkness. Only a few meters of ground were visible underfoot.
In the bottom right corner of Jiang Ye's screen, two prompts had repeatedly popped up:
[Heavy sandstorm, pause recommended]
[Scanning malfunction, current air quality too poor]
However, none of the unit captains spoke. The comms channel was silent, everyone focused on the journey.
No one was intimidated by this harsh weather. As long as the commander didn't give the order, they would charge forward.
One hundred and fifty kilometers from the base, Jiang Ye's Spider occasionally experienced stability issues. The Spider's legs missed their footing, causing the entire cabin to jolt slightly, though not significantly.
The sandstorm had become so severe that it was hindering their progress.
After careful consideration, Jiang Ye finally gave the order:
"Everyone must be tired. At the next rendezvous point, everyone stops and rests temporarily, to recover."
A few minutes later, all the Spider armored vehicles came to a halt.
To reduce wind resistance, the Spiders huddled together, lowering their height to one meter. They were like a cluster of animals huddling together for warmth in the cold wind.
When advancing at full speed, the only sound was the hum of the engines. Now, everything was quiet. The sound of the sand, like rain, gradually penetrated, dense and sharp, as if chainsaws were cutting the Spider's outer shell, sending a shiver down one's spine.
Jiang Ye glanced at the screen:
[Wind speed: 18 m/s]
This was already a fierce gale, laden with sand. If a person were out in the open, they would struggle to walk. If knocked down, they might not be able to get up for a while, and there was even a risk of being buried alive by the sand.
However, the armored vehicles were unfazed by this weather. All Spiders currently had 100% integrity.
"Wait a moment. When the wind speed drops to 15 m/s, we'll advance again," Jiang Ye ordered. "Everyone eat and drink something."
The soldiers inside the Spiders took out their provisions and wolfed down their late-night snacks.
Advancing in such harsh weather made everyone nervous and highly focused. Energy was consumed quickly, and without eating, they would soon be overcome by hunger.
Jiang Ye remembered he had forgotten to bring snacks, but when he casually pulled open a drawer, he found a bag of fist-sized buns, still warm. Besides the buns, there were four packs of biscuits and six bottles of water, neatly stacked.
He picked up a note attached to the biscuits:
"The buns are pork and vermicelli filling and crab roe filling. Wishing you a pleasant campaign. Liu Jizi."
Jiang Ye suddenly realized it was from her, and it was quite thoughtful.
He grabbed a bun and took a big bite.
The screen continued to display prompts:
[Wind speed: 18.3 m/s]
[Wind speed: 18.5 m/s]
[Wind speed: 19 m/s]
The wind speed kept increasing, and the pattering sound of sand hitting the walls became more frequent. Jiang Ye had the illusion that he, too, had become a sand-worm burrowing beneath the desert, surrounded by a turbulent sea of sand.
He didn't know how long they would have to wait like this. If the wind speed increased further, it would be more troublesome.
Jiang Ye checked the satellite information from the panel. The satellite was his, and only he could access it.
The sandstorm covered a vast area, its edge even reaching Shale Town. However, the wind speed near Shale Town was only three to four meters per second, posing no significant danger.
The troops were currently in the upper left corner of the sandstorm. If they slightly changed direction and advanced towards the front right, they could reach a valley in fifty kilometers. The wind speed in the valley area was only five meters per second.
Jiang Ye did not issue an order immediately. He waited patiently for two minutes, observing the direction of the sandstorm's movement.
Unfortunately, the sandstorm was moving diagonally and would not leave quickly. The sandstorm in the nearby area would last for several more hours.
"We have to move. Staying here would mean waiting for more than half a day."
"Alright, prepare to advance. Set speed to eighty. Everyone try to stay concentrated and block the wind for each other," Jiang Ye opened the comms channel.
The Spiders stood up, shaking off the thick sand.
Hundreds of Spider legs began to move, quickly reaching a speed of eighty kilometers per hour, advancing ferociously through the rolling yellow sand.
Ten kilometers, twenty kilometers, thirty kilometers...
Finally, the wind speed suddenly decreased, and visibility improved.
Jiang Ye ordered all Spiders to turn on their high beams, concentrating the light in one direction.
Majestic mountain rocks loomed into view, like reefs in a turbulent sea. A series of low mountains lay ahead. They had reached their destination.
Jiang Ye breathed a sigh of relief. With the wind-blocking valley, they could at least take some shelter and avoid being exposed to the dangerous sandstorm.
The troops also slowed down, approaching the rocky mountains cautiously, scanning for an entrance.
A red warning message suddenly popped up:
[Detected large number of carbon-based life forms. Open fire?]
Jiang Ye froze and looked at the valley on the screen. On the rocky slopes on both sides of the valley, large areas were marked in red, as vibrant as a forest fire. Each red dot represented a life form!
They had stumbled into an alien nest!