Chapter 63 Self-Destruct Sequence Initiated!

General Xu slapped his forehead in a sudden realization.

He had seen the manufacturing process of the Eradicator drones firsthand while at the R&D base. General Lin was entirely correct: while the destructive power of the death-ray weapon was undeniably immense, its accuracy was a fatal flaw. The reason it had successfully struck that bizarre giant wolf earlier was simply because its target was large enough.

However, expecting more than twenty Eradicators to destroy such a tiny target now meant that even the slightest deviation in accuracy could risk accidentally injuring Ji Ling, undoubtedly compounding the perils Ji Ling was already facing.

The two men immediately fell into a state of anxious tension.

If they relied purely on conventional bullets, accuracy could indeed be guaranteed; these soldiers had undergone the most rigorous training, so hit rates were not a concern.

Yet, the offensive power of ordinary bullets made it exceedingly difficult to pierce the outer armor of an Eradicator.

Hearing the conversation between the two generals over the radio, Ji Ling, who was flying mid-air and dodging continuously, immediately spoke up, "Generals! I can destroy it with my divine power! Requesting permission to attack!"

Upon hearing Ji Ling's words, General Lin and General Xu exchanged a glance.

"How certain are you?" General Lin asked immediately.

"Good enough!" Ji Ling narrowly dodged a death-ray blast and said, "There's no time to think, General! I can feel my divine power hitting rock bottom! If this drags on any longer, I'm a dead man either way!"

"Very well! Attack approved!" General Lin was decisive this time, granting permission without hesitation.

Hearing the four words granting permission to attack, Ji Ling immediately aimed at the out-of-control Eradicator drone and unleashed a divine strike!

An attack driven by divine power was devastatingly destructive to human-made creations.

With just a single strike, the rogue Eradicator drone was shot down, trailing black smoke as it plummeted onto the summit of the cliff.

Everyone let out a long breath.

Ji Ling also descended onto the mountaintop, his steps unsteady and staggering; it was painfully obvious that his physical stamina and divine power were nearly completely exhausted.

Nangong Lingyue hurriedly stepped forward to support Ji Ling, saying weakly, "I'm so glad you're here..."

Meanwhile, watching the live broadcast feed as Ji Ling shot down the Eradicator drone, rendering his plan a failure once again, Ji Yun felt rage burning in his eyes.

Ji Tianxing's gaze also rested on Ji Yun with disappointment.

Obviously, both father and son felt that sacrificing an Eradicator drone just to kill Ji Ling was far too high a price to pay.

Yet now, an Eradicator drone had been destroyed just like that.

And yet Ji Ling was still alive and well!

Having suffered a heavy loss without gaining anything, how could Ji Tianxing and Ji Yun not feel resentful?

Right now, however, father and son dared not show their true feelings and were forced to swallow their burning fury.

...

The moment Ji Ling finished speaking, having exhausted his physical strength, he collapsed into Nangong Lingyue's arms.

Nangong Lingyue immediately cried out anxiously into the radio, "Someone come quickly! Ji Ling, he—he has passed out!!!"

General Lin immediately waved a hand at several soldiers, who broke into a sprint toward the peak.

At that very moment, however, the operator who had previously been controlling the rogue Eradicator drone stared fixedly at his console and suddenly screamed, "Quickly tell Ji Ling and Nangong Lingyue to get away! Hurry!!!"

General Lin's brow twitched violently. "What is it?!"

The operator shouted in panic, "The console shows that the Eradicator's self-destruct sequence has been activated! The Eradicator houses 1.8 grams of special biochemical explosive inside! It's a special explosive made from the energy of bizarre creatures, and its explosive power is enough to blow that peak to pieces!"

"What?!" General Lin's eyes widened instantly. He turned his head toward the mountain peak, opening his mouth to speak into the radio.

The next second.

A mushroom cloud slowly rose, accompanied by a heaven-shaking explosion.

Everyone stood frozen in place, staring at the mountain peak that had just been blown to smithereens.

The expressions on everyone's faces were immensely complex.

Dull shock, pity, anguish, and hatred intertwined together.

It was as if they were already looking at Ji Ling's final end.

In the military broadcast hall, father and son Ji Tianxing and Ji Yun exchanged glances, a trace of a smile simultaneously surfacing on their faces.

They had completely forgotten about this detail!

Because death-ray weapons had currently been successfully researched and weaponized only by the Dragon Country, equipping them on military drones...

Due to the unique nature of death-ray weapons, their exorbitant value, and the strict confidentiality surrounding them—designed to prevent enemies from capturing them in the event of battlefield damage and thereby acquiring the core technological secrets of the death-ray weapon—the Eradicator drones equipped with these weapons were specially fitted with a composite outer shell made of nanomaterials and supermetals. The sole purpose was to minimize the possibility of them being shot down.

The 1.8 grams of special biochemical explosive housed inside served as a double insurance for this secrecy.

Once an enemy's weapon pierced the special nanomaterial and supermetal composite shell and crippled it, to prevent the enemy from acquiring it and even to deal one final heavy blow to the enemy, a self-destruct program had been embedded in the system.

Once the airframe damage exceeded eighty percent, the self-destruct sequence would automatically initiate, detonating the 1.8 grams of special biochemical explosive within thirty seconds.

The power of this explosion was equivalent to thousands of tons of conventional high explosives.

It was enough to shatter a mountain peak!

Moreover, the explosion was not a one-time event.

It was a chain reaction.

Ji Yun's eyes burned with excitement; he had almost forgotten about this.

Even if the death-ray weapon hadn't taken Ji Ling's life, Ji Ling had actually dared to land right beside the wreckage of the Eradicator drone after shooting it down.

That was nothing short of courting death!

At that moment, on the beaches of the Eastern Theater of Operations, the two generals and the hundred thousand surviving soldiers watched with eyes split wide in horror as explosions echoed one after another from the distant peak, accompanied by mushroom clouds rising in succession. They plunged into utter despair.

Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that the Eradicator drones built to protect their country would one day turn their weapons against their own people.

Nor could they have imagined that the self-destruct sequence originally designed to prevent enemies from stealing secrets...

Would shatter the hopes of the Eastern Theater's last hundred thousand soldiers with their own hands, blowing up their..."savior."

An atmosphere of profound sorrow permeated the entire military force. The chain explosions at the mountain peak had completely obliterated the entire mountain. If it had been a sufficiently massive mountain, that 1.8 grams of special biochemical explosive might not have been enough to raze the elevation entirely.

Yet that mountain happened to be a slender, isolated peak.