Chapter 628: Chapter 360, Great Success_2
The three hours they had been allotted were nearly up.
After a moment of thought, Gu Hang sent out a message using Spiritual Energy.
“Abandon your current targets and head back at full speed.”
The two squads, in the heat of battle, were mowing down the enemy with little resistance; the vital Anti-Orbit Cannons had been destroyed one after the other.
But there was no need to worry about the discipline of the troops.
Though somewhat confused, since it was Mr. Gu’s order, nobody would disobey.
…
Everyone began to retreat.
It wasn’t until the two teams reunited and returned to the central core area that Gu Hang felt his heart finally ease a considerable amount.
During this process, Ge Wajia hadn’t shown up yet.
However, in the subspace, the terrifying turbulence couldn’t be ignored anymore and Ge Wajia still hadn’t appeared.
Taking the opportunity to flee before it arrived was really the best choice.
Leaving a third of the manpower and nearly all the Spiritual Energy users here was precisely to ensure they could escape at any moment.
The demons trying to retake this position were held back by the troops; the Spiritual Energy users maintained the teleportation formation, ready but not activated, in case they needed to start it and escape instantly.
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That was Gu Hang’s requirement.
The assault plan had been bold in conception, but extremely cautious in execution.
Cautiousness meant safety.
The few hundred men present were the elite of the forces Gu Hang had built up over the years. The Knights and Mecha, along with their self-produced Black Boxes, totaled just over twenty; there were six War Dogs. Most had been brought here. Not to mention the training of the Interstellar Warriors, not only consuming blessing points and productivity but also needing time for the growth of the new soldiers’ superhuman organs.
Bringing over six hundred, close to seven hundred people, and now only over four hundred returned, the losses were indeed significant.
But Gu Hang had no time for sorrow.
Troops were raised for a thousand days, and a sharpened blade was meant to be used at a critical moment.
And now was that critical moment.
No matter how great the losses, achieving the objective was what mattered most.
And now came the last step—safe evacuation.
The rearguard was set in place, and they would be the last ones to go back; the others, according to the pre-arranged and rehearsed plan, stepped onto the teleportation formation one by one and were transported away.
The last rearguard squad, after tossing all the explosives and temporarily destroying the passageways to repel the enemies at hand, also stepped into the teleportation formation.
Leaving didn’t require the same caution as sneaking in had.
There was neither time nor courage to use the subspace under Ge Wajia’s control for illicit transit any longer.
However, the current location, the core area of Fino City, overlapped with subspace, causing high interference with Spiritual Energy teleportation.
To rip open space and perform long-distance teleportation to leave Fino City was too risky due to the high chance of getting lost in subspace interference.
Getting lost equated to total annihilation.
But Gu Hang had a solution.
The Storm God Kingdom was an excellent stepping stone, part of subspace and controllable by themselves, providing active support, with the highest safety for Spiritual Energy teleportation to leap there. After the leap, Gu Hang would tear open a gateway from the Storm God Kingdom to the real world. The required beacons had already been prepared inside Mingyan City, ensuring a seamless return from the Storm God Kingdom to the real world.
In fact, the entire journey went exactly as Gu Hang had hoped.
The terrifying turbulence in the subspace made everyone anxious, but in the end, Ge Wajia was a step too late.
Looking at the sky over Mingyan City, Gu Hang felt immensely relieved.
Now that they were here, he didn’t have to worry about that fatso showing up.
A demon of that magnitude could only appear in places where the subspace erosion was particularly severe—like the core area of Fino City.
The marginal areas of Fino City couldn’t sustain its existence, let alone now that they were inside Mingyan City.
The veil of reality in Korolya hadn’t become so fragile yet, so there was no need to worry about that great filth coming here to cause him trouble.
Once Gu Hang felt at ease, he let Matins and the team go down to rest, while he himself ascended to the highest point of Mingyan City.
The view was not bad, but Fino City, hundreds of kilometers away, was still out of sight. Yet he stood there, gazing in that direction.
Meanwhile, he connected with the frontline combat forces’ communications.
After a few words, Gu Hang had a rough understanding of the current frontline situation.
Although he and his elite forces had withdrawn, there were still millions of regular troops inside Fino City.
Having suffered heavy casualties, piercing into the city had significantly contributed to disrupting the cohesion between subspace and the real world. Without them, Gu Hang’s earlier operation leading troops into the heart of Fino City would have been much more difficult.
Now that their mission in Fino City was accomplished, there was no need for these regular troops to continue to hold out.
An hour ago, a gradual withdrawal of forces from the frontline had already begun.
They would have a whole day to evacuate from Fino City.
After one day, the Orbital Bombardment from the Tianma Fleet would be launched with full force, aiming at the destruction of an entire Nest Capital.
Though the time was short and the task heavy, it wasn’t without good news.
The difficulty of withdrawal, compared to a frontal assault and occupying a part of the city, was simply not on the same level.
It wasn’t just the difference between attack and defense, or retreat, but primarily due to the inexplicable reactions that emerged from the enemy forces two to three hours ago.
Their command system seemed to have malfunctions, and many of their units became disoriented. The assaults on the human-occupied positions slowed, significantly reducing their pressure and allowing them at least to catch a breath.
The troops whose defensive pressure had drastically decreased began to withdraw step by step, abandoning the forward positions one by one. The rear positions had to be held for a while, waiting for those in front to retreat before they could start moving back.
The entire evacuation operation and plan were relatively orderly.
Retreat is not collapse. The greatest difference between the two lies in the organization of the troops.
Though the Plague Demon Army had suddenly become chaotic, they were still aggressive. Blindly running and losing organization would certainly lead to significant casualties in the pursuing process, and the speed of withdrawal might not even be that fast.
Given the current circumstances, the majority of the elite forces should be able to withdraw safely. And after 24 hours, most of the forces should be able to evacuate.
And if there really are forces that haven’t withdrawn by then…
There would be no other choice.
Objectively speaking, given a scale of about a million people and the enemy entanglement, one day might not be enough to withdraw all the troops in good order.
But there was no alternative.
By then, any forces that hadn’t withdrawn would likely go down with Fino City.
Gu Hang really didn’t want to witness that scene, feeling somewhat like he had betrayed his frontline soldiers. But he had to be cold-hearted and make the necessary decisions when needed.
After the Demon Engine in the core beneath Fino City was destroyed, Gu Hang ensured that it would be impossible to build another Demon Engine capable of raising a Void Shield within a day’s time in the inner parts of Fino City.
And if given two days, that probably still wouldn’t happen.
But with three days, he wasn’t sure.
Gu Hang wouldn’t dare to set the time of the orbital bombardment to a particularly critical point.
What if, in order to evacuate a few more regular troops and the time was extended to two days, a Void Shield actually came up?
Then the deaths of so many before would have been in vain.
The related bombardment orders had been transmitted to the Tianma Fleet; the final deadline for evacuation had also been communicated to Li Kexi, the front-line command.
The rest was to wait and watch the grand fireworks show of Fino City.
All in all, Gu Hang was in pretty good spirits, as everything was largely within his plan.
But just as he was smiling and had time to ask someone to make a cup of hot tea, just as he took the first sip, he suddenly felt a great shock in his heart:
He felt a powerful presence had struck a severe blow to his Storm God Kingdom!