73: Four-star General Aris’ nightmare!

The night battle in Darwin City continued, with the U.S. Military retreating steadily, their lost ground being recovered inch by inch by the Anti-War Army.

Eventually, after leaving behind numerous casualties and prisoners, the U.S. Military largely withdrew from Darwin City.

The prepared U.S. Military long-range artillery units then implemented a fire blockade on all entrances and exits of Darwin City.

With this assistance, the U.S. Military forces that had withdrawn from the city finally reached a safe zone. The first half of this night was extremely perilous.

At this moment, in the U.S. Military Commander-in-Chief's office, besides Commander-in-Chief Aris, there was only the kidnapper, Senator Pearson.

Although Aris was kidnapped, he could listen to reports from his subordinates via the office phone and issue regular orders. As long as these orders were unrelated to the kidnapping, Pearson would not interfere.

Pearson said sarcastically, “Your People's Army is very busy.”

Aris did not answer, merely snorted coldly, but a call he received shortly after made his expression change drastically.

“What, only about 24,000 troops returned from the retreat?!”

Aris's mind instantly became chaotic.

The 70,000 troops who had not yet participated in the siege battle had left, leaving him with nearly 30,000.

Now, only 24,000 had withdrawn, didn't that mean several thousand people hadn't made it out?

So, the fate of those people… Aris's face looked very grim.

Regardless of whether these people all died in battle or became prisoners, it would be an enormous humiliation for the U.S. Military.

In modern warfare, especially for a military superpower like the United States, to lose nearly 20% of its combatants in a single retreat!

Senator Pearson chuckled.

“According to my estimation, the number of your soldiers detained in Darwin City must be around 5,000.”

“The Anti-War Army is a principled force; they will not deliberately abuse or massacre prisoners, so most of these people should survive as long as they don't stubbornly resist.”

“Even for the sake of these few thousand prisoners, I think you, Commander, should agree to a ceasefire and negotiations, shouldn't you?”

Aris sneered, “My People's Army has no prisoners… those soldiers died gloriously in battle.”

Clearly, to prevent the exposure of the large number of U.S. Military prisoners, and to completely eliminate the Anti-War Army, the enemy.

Aris intended to also eliminate his own people when he bombarded the city with powerful weapons later.

Senator Pearson pouted, saying nothing more.

Silence fell in the room for a while.

Then, about an hour later, the phone rang again.

At Senator Pearson's request, Aris pressed the speakerphone button, so Pearson, who was sitting on the sofa, could also hear clearly.

The person on the other end of the phone said with a mix of confusion and worry, “Commander, an unusual incident has occurred.”

“The associated signal of our Tindal Air Force Base has disappeared from the command system.”

“Before it lost contact, a distress signal was sent, but the signal content was incomplete and its specific meaning could not be identified.”

What?!

Aris was instantly shocked.

Tindal Air Force Base is a base located in Australia.

The distance from Darwin City is approximately 300 kilometers.

This base did not directly participate in the current battle.

However, to cope with emergencies, the U.S. Military had newly deployed some forces at Tindal Base this time.

Including four types of B-series heavy bombers.

There were more than twenty of them in total.

Just heavy bombers alone were not much.

The key was that almost all of these heavy bombers were equipped with nuclear bombs, some even the most powerful 3-phase W88 warheads!

The total number of warheads from these nuclear bombs combined exceeded two hundred!

This number could rank among the top nuclear-armed countries in terms of Holdings!

So, Aris was like a cat whose testicles had been grabbed, jumping up instantly.

“What, something could happen to Tindal Base?!”

“What are you doing? Couldn't you send more people to guard it there?”

“Quickly contact our people in that vicinity… No, send a few helicopters directly to check, ground forces must also go, I want to know the specific situation as soon as possible!!!”

After giving the orders and venting his anger, Aris remained restless.

Nothing can happen, absolutely nothing can happen.

If something happened to those bombers, the ripple effect would far exceed the war itself!

Amidst his mental turmoil, Aris noticed Senator Pearson's smiling gaze opposite him, and in an instant, he understood something, looking up in surprise and asking, “Was it you who did this?”

Pearson chuckled.

“Of course, do you have any other suspects besides us?”

Aris instantly understood a lot.

It turned out that the Anti-War Army's frantic breakthrough in the city that night was not their biggest move; assaulting Tindal Base was the true critical point.

Aris forced himself to calm down, stating, “I admit, because your breakthrough in the city was too fierce, I couldn't foresee your other intentions in advance, nor could I spare too many troops to protect Tindal Base. I was careless.”

“But, hmph, Mr. Pearson, even if you seize Tindal Base and those bombers, do you have the capability to pilot them into combat?”

“I know you have some excellent air force pilots, but the F35A and B-series heavy bombers are completely different types.”

Aris asked this probing question, hoping that even if the Anti-War Army could capture the base, they wouldn't be able to pilot the bombers there.

If the bombers couldn't be effectively piloted, they would just be targets on the ground, or easy prey for anti-air fire.

Senator Pearson replied vaguely, “The Anti-War Army's true strength far exceeds what your People's Army can imagine.”

Just then, another call came in.

“Commander… our People's Army air force tried to contact the bombers at Tindal Base, but none responded. Subsequently, those aircraft simultaneously removed themselves from the command sequence.”

What?

Aris's mind was again in chaos.

All combat aircraft are incorporated into the overall command sequence during wartime and assigned identification signals.

If an enemy aircraft is captured by the enemy, our command headquarters can remove it from the command sequence, and the captured aircraft will be identified as an enemy.

When those aircraft simultaneously and voluntarily cut off contact with headquarters, there are two possibilities: first, all aircraft were rigged with explosives and detonated at the same time.

Another possibility is that all aircraft had pilots in them, and everyone agreed to cut off contact together.

The first scenario would at least allow Aris to breathe a sigh of relief, as without the aircraft, the nuclear warheads would be stranded, making it very difficult for the enemy to transport them away.

The second scenario… would mean that the Anti-War Army might have sent over a number of pilots equivalent to the number of bombers.

These people might not all be proficient in operating B-system bombers.

But they certainly wouldn't be novices!

This latter scenario was extremely terrifying.

Aris dared not delay and immediately ordered, “Immediately raise the alert level for the entire People's Army and all bases… No, also notify Australia, and have dozens of bases across Australia, regardless of their type, open all radar early warning functions and report aerial situations at any time!”

Even after making these arrangements, Aris remained uneasy.

Then, about half an hour later, another phone report came in.

“Commander… Tindal Air Force Base, the hangars… the hangars and runways are empty.”

“Our deployed heavy bombers are all gone.”

Ah?

Aris instantly felt dizzy.