85: The mysterious disappearance of the B-series bomber

Upon arriving at the air base, Fang Le suddenly thought of the more than twenty b series strategic bombers seized from the U.S. Military.

During the strategic relocation of his main forces from Darwin City, those bombers were temporarily left at the Darwin City airport, guarded by a squad of Anti-War Army soldiers, plus 50 Mechanical Warriors.

They weren't brought along because there was a lack of airfields capable of landing large warplanes here.

Although the Alice Springs airport could accommodate them, it was an undeveloped field, very crudely constructed, and lacked cover. A few enemy shells would render the aircraft useless.

Now, it was time to transfer those bombers from Darwin City.

"Old Yue, contact the remaining troops in Darwin City and have those bombers transferred here, into this mountain base."

Yue Hanshan: "Yes, Commander-in-Chief... but wouldn't it be better to fly them over at night?"

Currently, the U.S. Military is constantly monitoring the Darwin City airport using military satellites.

Once those warplanes take off, they will be detected by military satellites. In such a situation, the movements of stealth warplanes are easily ascertained, and subsequently, the location of the mountain base might also be exposed.

Fang Le: "Alright... summon those bombers over tonight."

As night fell, within the air force sub-base of the mountain base, Fang Le stood in the terminal building, watching the movements in the sky outside on a large screen.

Suddenly, on the large screen, a few high-up stars were obscured by something.

Haha, they're here—

Soon after, more than twenty heavy bombers, one after another, taxied in through a ground entrance of the air force base, using arresting gear due to runway length limitations.

As the last bomber successfully landed and entered the hangar, the ground entrance of the base also closed, leaving no visible abnormalities from the outside.

Only after seeing the strategic bombers, loaded with 200 Mushroom warheads, enter the base did Fang Le truly relax.

—

While Fang Le was at ease, the U.S. Military was in a state of chaos.

In the U.S. Military Darwin Air Force Base operations command center, communication soldiers continuously reported:

"Monitoring shows B Series Bombers have risen from Darwin Airport..."

"Preliminary estimation of flight direction is due south..."

"Military satellites have lost their aerial position..."

"Infrared detection found no targets..."

At the same time, in the Western Hemisphere, which was experiencing daytime, the Pentagon Department of Defense.

Secretary Savitz and Speaker Claire, along with other high-ranking officials, immediately learned of this intelligence and began an urgent analysis.

Savitz: "Those bombers leaving the airport at night, one possibility is that the Anti-War Army has a major military operation. However, their flight altitude is not high; if it weren't for cloud cover along the way, military satellites wouldn't have failed to track and lose their location."

Although military satellites' infrared detection capabilities can still work at night, military satellites are at least 400 kilometers above the ground. Coupled with cloud obstruction, and even the influence of ground sandstorms, it is normal for satellites not to detect low-flying stealth bombers.

"And with low-altitude flight, the bomber's stealth effect against the ground will decrease, which does not conform to operational procedures. Therefore, the deployment of these bombers is not for combat; another possibility is higher."

"The Anti-War Army merely wants to transfer those bombers."

"We have organized several secret military operations in recent days, attempting to seize or destroy those bombers stationed in Darwin City, but all have failed. The Anti-War Army must also be feeling the urgency."

Claire nodded: "Exactly, they flew south, which is also the direction the Anti-War Army has moved to."

"And we can now largely confirm that the Anti-War Army's new stronghold is in the great canyon of the MacDonnell Ranges."

"Those great canyons are not suitable for emergency landing bombers, and building temporary airport runways at the bottom of the great canyons is not that easy."

"So, those bombers are highly likely to land in the Alice Springs area. There's an undeveloped airport there... With determination, it's not impossible to temporarily dig some underground hangars at that airport to store the aircraft."

Thinking of this, Savitz and Claire felt joy and eagerness in their hearts.

Claire: "Should we make a move?"

Making a move meant, after locating those bombers, using precise navigation and long-range bombardment to destroy those bombers along with their Mushroom Bombs.

And while the bombers would be destroyed, the Mushroom Bombs would not detonate from conventional bombardment, meaning the Anti-War Army would have no means to threaten the U.S. homeland!

Although such an action would actively violate the ceasefire agreement, the benefits were irreplaceable.

This interest was too significant.

Savitz therefore decisively stated: "Make a move!"

"Once those bombers are confirmed to have landed at the Alice Springs airport, have all our land-based missiles within range, including mobile missile launchers, prepare for long-range attacks, and have the air force wing stationed in Australia act overnight to conduct air-to-ground strikes—"

Next, just wait.

Thus, several hours passed.

Savitz and Claire waited from morning until afternoon.

No reports of related actions came in.

What's going on?

Savitz simply contacted the high-ranking U.S. Military officials stationed in Australia directly, questioning the progress, but received an unexpected answer:

"Minister, our deployed personnel, from intelligence officers to armed helicopters and ground troops, have searched many locations centered around Alice Springs, including the undeveloped airport in Alice Springs, repeatedly, but have not found the slightest trace of those bombers."

What?!

Savitz and Claire were both shocked.

Could it be that the landing area for those bombers was not the Alice Springs area?

But that's near the Anti-War Army's foothold.

Bombers wouldn't have gone to other cities in Australia; that's illogical.

Having achieved nothing, Savitz couldn't blame anyone. He could only say: "You've worked hard."

While it was daytime in the U.S., it was still night in Australia.

These personnel had been out all night, searching for several hours, which was indeed very tiring.

They continued searching for another half-day, still finding nothing.

Savitz and Claire were completely bewildered at this point.

What the heck—

Could more than twenty heavy bombers just disappear like that?

—

Fang Le had no idea that the U.S. Military had been up to so much in the middle of the night.

After touring the mountain base, he went to sleep.

As he slept, he had a dream that he was aboard a spaceship, traveling in outer space.

When he woke up, he realized that the so-called bridge in his dream was just his base bedroom, and the captain's command chair was just the bed he was lying on.

Sigh, overthinking things.