Chapter 22: The Beginning of the War!

At nine o'clock that evening, the federal government had announced its plan of action regarding the Buenos Aires destruction event. They would launch a direct attack on the Arachnid species and invade their home planet of Klendathu to eradicate them completely. However, saying it was one thing, and actually doing it was another. Klendathu was far from Earth, with countless Bug planets in between, and the plasma cannons along the direct flight path were as dense as fishing nets. To go and cause trouble for the Bugs on their own turf, they would first have to clean up the Bug planets along the way, otherwise the fleet wouldn't even be able to pass through.

The next day, training resumed as usual. However, due to the Buenos Aires destruction event, the training regimen for the new recruits had been altered. There was less physical training and more live fire exercises. Everyone could guess that war might be imminent. When their basic training was over, this batch of new recruits might soon have the opportunity to face off against the Bugs.

"Andy!"

"Keep your gun pointing forward, don't turn around with your gun!"

"Archille!"

"Hold your gun steady, don't shake it back and forth!"

Beside the laser simulation exercise field, Zhou Yuan held a teaching cane and shouted loudly at the recruits inside. After becoming the squad leader, he had many more duties to perform. He was relieved of much of his own training and became Simms' third assistant, devoting his time to helping supervise the new recruits' training.

Originally, squad leaders didn't have such great authority. But he was an exception, and Simms said he didn't need to undergo any more basic training. Zhou Yuan was quite satisfied with this arrangement. There was almost nothing he could learn from the new recruits' camp that would be of any help to him now. It was better to help Simms manage the recruits and learn from the sidelines, such as in the current laser simulation exercise.

It was different to fight oneself and watch others fight. Real-time tactics were always not very profound when fighting oneself, but when watching others fight, one's mind was full of tactical ideas. This would be very helpful for his future, so he took it very seriously.

While supervising, Riko was his "number one target". In the original plot, as a squad leader, Riko made a wrong decision that indirectly led to the accidental death of a recruit. He and Riko had a good relationship, so he naturally wanted to prevent the tragedy from recurring.

"Kid, I hear you really want to kill Bugs?"

After another round of simulation, Simms gestured for the recruits to rest for ten minutes before walking over to Zhou Yuan and asking.

"Yes, sir!" Zhou Yuan nodded seriously, repeating the words he had said to Zarax earlier.

"I just want to blast the Bugs head-on, or be torn apart by the Bugs."

Simms sighed heavily again after hearing Zhou Yuan's answer, as if recalling the past, and said with emotion, "That's what I used to think too. That's why I went to the Talisis Fortress."

"The Talisis Fortress?"

Zhou Yuan was briefly taken aback and began to recall this place. Talisis was a place name on Mars, located at the caldera of an ultra-large extinct volcano, and now it had become a yellow-stone plateau at an altitude of three thousand meters. The Talisis Fortress was built there, like a house built on a lonely island, surrounded by a yellow ocean.

In his understanding, it was the worst environment in all of Mars, and it was difficult to even see any greenery there.

"Sir, is there a Bug infestation there?"

Zhou Yuan roughly understood Simms' meaning, and if he could kill Bugs there, he wouldn't mind going there.

"Every day there is!" Simms long sighed again, seeming to recall the past, and said with some fanaticism, "But that's not a good place, yet every year there are hot-blooded rookies who want to go there."

"You should know that the Bugs have very strong thermal sensitivity, strong enough to detect all living people within one kilometer, even if you're wearing space armor."

"Not only that, the Bugs are also very sensitive to various types of energy, and the a, β, and γ that can make people turn into mud can only make them more excited."

"And electromagnetic waves, their strongest is electromagnetic wave sensing, then following radio waves to find humans." Zhou Yuan added.

"That's right!"

Hearing Zhou Yuan's words, Simms' eyes lit up and he said with some fanaticism, "Do you know what's in the Talisis Fortress?"

"There are two life transformation towers, two climate balance towers, and even Mars' only large communication window is located there!"

Meat shields!

Zhou Yuan suddenly realized, anything that Bugs liked, they had it there, so the Talisis Fortress was a meat shield! One side guarded four life towers while attracting firepower for other bases on Mars. No wonder Simms said that every year there were hot-blooded rookies who wanted to go there. 

"Because that is the front line of Mars!"

"Sir, can you help me with something?" After a brief moment of thought, Zhou Yuan's lips curled up with a confident smile.

"What is it?" Seeing Zhou Yuan's expression, Xin smiled approvingly and asked in cooperation.

"Take me to the Tarsus Fortress!"

"Ok!"

... ...

At night, Zhou Yuan sat on his bed and opened the public screen to search for the Tarsus Fortress.

"Cool!"

As soon as he saw the pictures of the Tarsus Fortress, Zhou Yuan's eyes lit up.

The Tarsus Fortress was built around four life towers. The four life towers stood inside the Tarsus volcano, surrounded by steel buildings rising from the ground, enclosing the entire Tarsus volcano.

At first glance, it really looked like a steel fortress growing out of a volcano, with no cover around it, just a high-altitude plain.

Zhou Yuan could already imagine the scene when the insect disaster broke out.

The Tarsus Fortress stood alone guarding the four life towers, with swarms of insects pouring in from all directions, and all one could see were insects.

This feeling...

"If you're a man, come to the Tarsus Fortress!"

Zhou Yuan clenched his fist suddenly, with no hesitation in his heart.

He had made up his mind to go to the Tarsus Fortress!

Although the infantry corps and special operations forces were both excellent, waiting for the insects to come to them was much simpler than actively seeking out the insects.

This time, he really had to thank Xin.

Although the recruit period was only one month, after passing through the recruit camp, one could be considered a real mobile infantry.

But rookies were still rookies after all, and the units they were assigned to after training wouldn't let them go to the battlefield right away. What if they burdened the veterans?

So after being assigned to a unit, the most common thing in daily life was still training.

It's just that compared to the recruit period, there was only the qualification to go to the battlefield, and they would only be arranged to go to the battlefield in emergency situations.

Frontline bases like the Tarsus Fortress often fought against insects and would select experienced soldiers when replenishing personnel. Rookies wouldn't even have a chance to go there.

"Time to sleep!"

After the short excitement, Zhou Yuan entered his dreams with anticipation.

Sleep early, arrive at tomorrow earlier!