“Zeon, come and catch me! Come on!!!”
Inside a speeding convertible, a man in a Hato soldier's uniform was carrying a rocket launcher.
He pulled the trigger, aiming at the Zaku that had turned its head to look in their direction.
The rocket flew straight, trailing flames.
“Childish!”
Inside the Zaku’s cockpit, Lieutenant Jans sneered, pulling the control levers with both hands, and the Zaku outside immediately turned around.
He used the inverted L-shaped shield on its right shoulder to directly withstand the rocket.
There was a loud explosion.
The air blast and smoke expanded simultaneously, but the next second, the Zaku raised its hand and shattered them, adjusting its 120mm caliber machine gun.
The muzzle pointed at the moving convertible.
Target locked.
“Damn bugs.” Lieutenant Jans watched as the auxiliary crosshairs on the screen overlapped, and immediately pulled the trigger.
The convertible speeding down the road completely disappeared in the explosion, leaving only shattered debris falling with a clatter.
Boom!
An explosive shockwave and smoke erupted behind the Zaku.
“Who!” Lieutenant Jans, enraged and humiliated in the cockpit, turned the control levers. There were two guys on the tall building to the right.
Another rocket flew over.
The explosion was useless against the Zaku's super high-tensile steel armor; it couldn't penetrate, but this provocative attack…
…still made Lieutenant Jans very angry.
“These damn bugs dare to resist!”
A red murderous aura flashed in Lieutenant Jans’s eyes. He gripped the control levers, twisting his body sharply, and the Zaku outside turned.
Bang, bang, bang…
The 120mm caliber machine gun held in its hand fired continuously, shattering the entire building.
The explosion caused massive destruction in the middle of the building.
The middle of the building directly collapsed, and the soldier on the rooftop, carrying a rocket launcher, fired his last rocket in a scream.
It missed, flying straight into the sky.
“Go to hell!”
Lieutenant Jans controlled the Zaku to run over quickly, treading heavily on the ruins of the building with its weighty steps.
The smoke from the collapsing building obscured the Zaku's figure.
Red light gleamed in the smoke.
The Zaku's monocular sensor on its head had locked onto the enemy, who was on a building a thousand meters away.
Someone was observing from there.
“Still want to hit me? You wish!”
Lieutenant Jans gripped the control levers, making the Zaku assume a starting posture in the smoke, its right leg pushing hard against the ground.
The immense pressure caused a footprint to sink directly into the ruins, and the next second, the Zaku charged forward rapidly.
Its extremely fast running speed was almost terrifying.
Especially the soldier observing from the distant building, who was so frightened that he couldn't even hold his binoculars steady.
Before he could say anything.
The Zaku’s left hand swept across the rooftop of the building, and the observer on the roof, along with the others, instantly perished.
“Success!”
Commander Duo Gang, observing from a distance, saw the Zaku's speed and excitedly clenched his fist.
“Just like this, pull him away! Lure him to the back!”
“Including the armored units behind, lure them all away!”
Duo Gang commanded, while using his communicator to contact the squadron of spacecraft behind them, which was all the aircraft they could find.
“The Zaku has entered the trap, get ready!”
As he hung up the communication, Duo Gang’s eyes were filled with tears. Behind that Zaku was a blood-soaked land.
“Everything is up to you, Lord Suli!”
On the other side.
On the ruined road, a group of militiamen with mobile rifles rushed out fearlessly.
They opened fire on the armored vehicle parked by the roadside.
rifle bullets struck the armored vehicle, clanging and ricocheting off. rifle bullets were completely ineffective against this type of armored vehicle.
The armored vehicle rumbled to life.
The machine gun on top rotated.
“Run!”
The militiamen who had been firing, seeing the armored vehicle start, quickly fled backward. A militiaman who turned to run stumbled over loose stones on the ground. When the militiaman in front turned to pull him up…
…the armored vehicle’s tracks had already rolled over him.
“No!!!”
The militiaman watched in horror as his fallen comrade was crushed directly by the armored vehicle's tracks. He raised his rifle.
He roared with a heart-wrenching fury, pouring all his anger into the bullets, but the armored vehicle's sturdy exterior…
…only produced a few sparks when hit by bullets.
It was useless.
“Retreat, pull them back!”
The militiamen, firing and retreating, shouted, tears streaming down their faces and falling into the blood on the ground.
This battle to the death erupted in various places.
Small teams of three to five, or two working together, used various methods to attract the armored forces, including the steel tanks.
They lured them towards the right side of the urban area.
Zeon originally intended to annihilate the resistance on Iphix Island, and the direction these fearless militia teams fled was certainly where the last resistance forces were located.
The armored forces showed almost no hesitation.
They all rolled towards the urban area on the right. The casualties of the more than three thousand legion soldiers led by Duo Gang were rapidly increasing.
This was the second hour since the war began.
In the combat command center on Iphix Island, many people despaired at this sight. There was indeed a glimmer of hope.
But in these two hours, the personnel losses were too great.
The only good news.
Was that a part of Suli’s plan had been completed: using the urban depth of Iphix Island to separate Zeon’s armored forces from their landing forces. This step had been achieved.
The most crucial step.
Was how to capture the Zaku.
There was no way to restrain those armored forces, no matter how many militia units gathered in the left urban area for the Twin Dragon plan.
Once the close-quarters combat at the docking pier began…
…Zeon’s armored forces would definitely return to support.
Moreover, what if Zeon sent reinforcements again from the docking pier? These possibilities made many people almost collapse.
But more people were in action.
Suli, wearing a space combat suit, raised his visor, clenched and then unclenched his fists. He was nervous too.
Everyone was working hard, and he was the most critical link.
Only by capturing the Zaku would they have a chance of winning.
Although the Zaku seemed invincible, its design was actually for combating fleets in space.
It was not adapted to gravity environments.
Iphix Island here had gravity.
This greatly restricted the Zaku's mobility, keeping them grounded instead of moving quickly in zero-gravity environments with the help of flight backpacks and leg thrusters.
The Zaku's combat power on land was even inferior to the aquatic armor manufactured later based on the Zaku model.
In the descent battles on Earth, the Earth Federation, lacking mobile suits and without the original Gundam, relied on aircraft and artillery.
They could still fight the Zaku, albeit with extremely high losses.
But it also proved that the Zaku was not invincible.
“Sir, everything is ready!”
The young man walked over and said. Suli got up from his chair and looked at the guy, “What’s your name?”
“Reporting, Commander, my name is Yong Qi!”
“Good boy, good name!”
Suli praised with a smile. He didn’t know this young man, nor had he heard of him. This boy just happened to be here.
“Yong Qi, that’s great!”
Suli raised his hand to lower his visor, adjusting his breathing. The previous world modification had given him three special rewards.
Perfect Piloting Ability.
Body Enhancement Trinity.
And the most crucial, the Universal Repair Core.
Suli didn't feel much about the Body Enhancement Trinity, only that he was now full of energy and felt no fatigue whatsoever.
This was crucial for him.
As for Perfect Piloting Ability… Suli closed his eyes. He could clearly feel his control over various vehicles.
It was like moving his own arms and hands, flexible and precise. Even now, if he were asked to open a soda bottle cap with an excavator bucket, he could do it with his eyes closed.
This was his capital for seizing the Zaku.
Most importantly, this Universal Repair Core, an orange-yellow cubic crystal like a Rubik's Cube.
It could restore mechanical creations to their peak condition.
“Yong Qi.”
Suli walked out with determined eyes. He would not let those people die in vain. The hymn composed by humanity’s lives would never be a tragedy!
In the urban area to the right of the docking pier.
Explosions were continuous. The original intention was to use the high-rise buildings there to contain Zeon’s armored forces.
But under intense bombardment…
Let alone buildings over ten stories high, even solid bunkers couldn't withstand such bombardment. The collapsing buildings tilted haphazardly.
Debris was everywhere.
The armored vehicle's tracks rolled over it, and the Zaku next to it, holding a 120mm caliber machine gun, turned and opened fire.
It directly blasted an approaching car, which was like a moth to a flame.
“Strange, why did it suddenly go quiet?”
Qiao Jie, Warrant Officer, in the Zaku's cockpit, frowned as he looked at the screen, where occasional firing points appeared.
They were also instantly destroyed by other armored vehicles.
But years of military experience told him that things were not that simple. Silence often marked the beginning of the next battle.
Qiao Jie, Warrant Officer, opened communications, hoping to contact Lieutenant Jans, the pilot of the other Zaku.
“Lieutenant, you’re pursuing too fast…”
“Of course! I’m not some coward. I’ve already killed my way to their government building. Look, this is their flag!”
In front of the Iphix Island Government Building.
The green monocular Zaku extended its left hand, grabbed the flagpole in the plaza, and easily pulled it out, like holding a toothpick, then casually threw it away.
“Warrant Officer, don’t you think you’re wasting too much time?”
Lieutenant Jans snorted unhappily, “Two hours and seventeen minutes have passed since the battle began! At your rate of advance, are you going to wait until dark to report?”
“I don’t want to hear your sophistry! My teammates in the MS Training Corps are braver than you, smarter than you, more loyal than you, and younger than you!”
“However, they can only pilot training machines, while you can pilot a Zaku. That’s not fair! Historical remnants like you should be swept into the trash.”
“You are just a bunch of cowards! If it weren’t for the Dawn Uprising led by Karma, Lieutenant, you old-fashioned soldiers would still be bastards serving as dogs for the Earth Federation Forces and not daring to resist!”
Hearing the roar of the Lieutenant, who was ten years his junior.
Qiao Jie, Warrant Officer, uncharacteristically didn’t retort, merely closing communication and continuing to control the Zaku to clear out the remaining firing points.
Lieutenant Jans, having vented his anger, was about to control the Zaku to blast the city hall building into ruins.
Suddenly, he saw a passenger spaceship rapidly approaching the side of the building, flying at a very low speed.
It looked as if it was going to crash into them.
“Very good… I admire your courage and ignorance.”
Lieutenant Jans’s face once again showed a sinister smile. He enjoyed using the Zaku to crush those inferior people who overestimated themselves.
Hearing their wails was the only way to demonstrate his might!
The Zaku turned to face the approaching airship, its 120mm caliber machine gun raised, aiming at the airship.