Chapter 108: Those Who Draw Swords Against Me Shall Have Their Swords Destroyed
It had been a full 36 hours since the nuclear detonation when Lu Yuan went down to inspect the ground.
When he first heard that a nuclear bomb had exploded less than three kilometers from the camp, his heart skipped a beat, but upon hearing that no one had died directly from the nuclear blast wave, the weight on his mind was temporarily lifted.
However, only by witnessing it firsthand could he realize that the damage caused by this close-range nuclear detonation could not be simply ignored.
The entire camp lost 40% of its power generation capacity and nearly 15% of its industrial output.
It was true that the internal structures of the buildings were not destroyed, but whether they were still sturdy enough was questionable; at least the scanner's conclusion was that there was 'a certain risk of collapse'.
Their wall surfaces were much more severely damaged than the structures, and whether for insulation or aesthetic purposes, they required extensive repair or replacement.
Additionally, due to radioactive dust contamination, many areas in the camp needed decontamination work, otherwise, taking off combat suit helmets would be out of the question in the future.
This would inevitably consume tens of tons of precious water resources.
Apollo, you've committed heinous crimes! Seeing the Executive Officer walk over, the players still in the camp gathered around him, their eyes burning with the fire of revenge.
“Good morning, Executive Officer.”
“Executive Officer!”
“Good morning, Boss!”
“Boss, should we retaliate with nuclear weapons?”
“Yeah, Boss, we can't just let this slide, can we?”
“Apollo only detonated nuclear bombs totaling 24 million tons of TNT equivalent, but our five combined have a power of 60 million tons!
Lu Yuan could completely understand the employees' idea of giving them a taste of their own medicine.
This was the first reaction of all normal humans.
“Alright, how do you want to carry out nuclear retaliation? Where will the target be?”
This question stumped everyone.
Bombing Oasis City was definitely not an option; Cangyuan would need the labor force there in the future.
Bombing the large oil fields outside the city? That wasn't very good either.
Although that was the lifeline of Oasis City, building space battleships in the future would require obtaining a large amount of carbon elements from crude oil. Bombing the oil fields, even if they could be successfully occupied later, would be time-consuming and laborious to resume production.
But why was the Executive Officer asking this way?
Was it hoping that we would realize that tit-for-tat retaliation was not worth it, and thus we should endure, be sensible, and stay calm?
Act as if this never happened, or issue a statement and protest?
We understood the reasoning, but this felt a bit too cowardly, didn't it?
“We can drop one outside Oasis City!” someone suggested. “It doesn't need to cause substantial damage to the city, just enough to show our stance.”
“Right! Let Apollo and the noble lords in the city also see the mushroom cloud and feel the hot wind of the nuclear explosion! This can demonstrate our determination and strength!”
“So, they dropped nuclear weapons on us, and you think if I drop a bigger one 8 or 10 kilometers away from Oasis City, that counts as evening the score?”
Lu Yuan's tone was calm.
“This...”
“Furthermore, I need to remind everyone that nuclear deterrence is a game played in peacetime. The rule of demonstrating strength through nuclear tests is based on the premise that everyone defaults to not starting a nuclear war, which does not apply to the current situation.
“Let's put yourselves in their shoes. If you were the decision-makers of Apollo, and you saw an opponent who was nearly wiped out by a nuclear strike, and after recovering, they only dropped nuclear bombs in places that wouldn't cause you substantial harm, what would you think? Would you think your opponent was tough?”
The players lowered their heads one by one and fell silent.
Not only would they not feel tough, but they would even think the opponent was cowardly, their bottom line completely seen through, allowing them to act even more recklessly in the future.
A soft persimmon.
And on second thought, before carrying out the nuclear strike, Apollo didn't first test a nuclear bomb to show you their strength, and then send a few lackeys to extort and demand conditions.
The other side wasn't some cosmic hooligans, but a mature company!
In the history of mankind, which military operation revealed its claws beforehand? Operation Barbarossa, the attack on Pearl Harbor, it seems neither did—
“Then, Executive Officer, judging by your tone, you plan to actually use nuclear weapons to cause substantial damage, is that right?”
Someone reacted.
What else? Why would I come here to say these things to you, to give you platitudes?
“Let me correct that, it's not 'substantial damage,' but 'destructive damage,'” Lu Yuan said.
“Up until now, Apollo still thinks we are a bunch of bandits who stumbled upon high technology, and they have never formally engaged in dialogue; they believe we don't have weapons of mass destruction, don't have the ability to launch long-range strikes in space, and don't even know that we have long since replicated their friend-or-foe identification system.
“I don't plan to easily give up these intelligence advantages; I will let them erupt with maximum energy at the appropriate time.
”
The players looked at each other.
What does that mean? So, is the scheming dev still writing the plot? Please don't disappoint everyone!
Don't end up like a Hollywood movie, where only the villains can use nuclear bombs and play conspiracies, while the good guys are passive throughout, only able to send agents to dismantle nuclear bombs.
That's too cliché, we're not buying it.
Lu Yuan didn't explain further and walked directly towards Caoyuan, who was staying behind.
“How is the prisoner interrogation going?”
Caoyuan: “Report! They've probably confessed everything they should have. Based on their statements, we've drawn the architectural layout of the Moon mine, including the security personnel's dormitories and the location of the armory.
“It's just a pity we couldn't get any information about zero element from them. These people are really not very educated; they know nothing about the principles, only that zero element production is relatively constant, it's very expensive, and space travel must use zero element, making it a strategic resource that all forces are eager to obtain.”
Lu Yuan: “Alright, that's okay. Have everyone familiarize themselves with the layout in advance to avoid friendly fire as much as possible and preserve the Helium-3 mine production facilities. What is the mine's defensive strength?”
Caoyuan: “There are approximately 25 security guards, 9 space fighters, one radar unit, and two sets of anti-aircraft missiles.”
Lu Yuan: “Hmm—what about Oasis City?”
Caoyuan's mouth curved up.
“Haha, their boss is probably regretting it bitterly. Oasis City lost more than half of its assets this time. Currently, it only has two space fighters and two 'hummingbirds' left, and all its nuclear warheads are depleted; although the ground forces didn't suffer heavy losses, in the short term,
they probably won't dare to venture out of the city again.”
“Has the Moon mine not sent troops back to reinforce?”
Lu Yuan felt this was somewhat unusual.
“We haven't detected any spacecraft entering the atmosphere yet. Perhaps they think we're severely weakened and there's no need for reinforcement?” Caoyuan offered his guess.
“Maybe. It's also possible they're waiting for more reinforcements, and then the two forces will converge and launch a joint encirclement against us,” Lu Yuan murmured.
“Yes, that possibility cannot be ruled out.” Caoyuan's mouth returned to its normal angle.
The Moon Helium-3 mine has 9 fighters. If they are still waiting for more reinforcements, that would be a considerably large fleet.
And during this time, how many fighters can the industrial ship produce? Three? Four?
According to the previous chat with Black Smoke, it wouldn't exceed 5 at most, right?
It always feels like the difficulty curve of this game is a bit steep!
Where exactly is it supposed to be easy-going?!
“Anyway, let them be. Let's continue to push forward with our own plan.”
Lu Yuan waved his hand and turned back to look at the players.
“Nuclear energy is the ticket to space, and nuclear bombs are just basic firecrackers of the space age. Now, we have successfully recovered nuclear fusion technology and withstood the test of nuclear war. I can say with one hundred percent certainty that Cangyuan is ready to return to the vast Star Sea and rebuild the Star Sea Dynasty!
“And this is inseparable from the efforts and dedication of every employee. Everyone has done very well!”
Applause started sparsely, then grew enthusiastic, and some people raised their arms and cheered a few times.
This time, Lu Yuan could feel that there was no 'business component' in the players' reactions; everyone was indeed encouraged, but honestly, the response wasn't particularly enthusiastic.
This was normal.
How high could the morale of a group of people who had just been hit by a nuclear bomb be? How could they get hyped up just because the boss painted a picture?
Moreover, from their perspective, this 'painting a picture' was just a piece of real-time plot performance.
No substance, Boss.
We must come up with some practical means to boost morale!