It was a large piece of military reclamation land under the guise of civilian farmland, and a fifteen-kilometer long tunnel extended directly from the base into the valley. Perhaps this runway originally had other purposes, or it could have been a temporary traffic junction during war, but it was now being used as a runway for Lin Mo’s jet fighter.
Lin Mo was shocked by the magnitude of the small part of the information about the Dark Night base open to him. It was almost like a complete kingdom. When they mentioned developing jet fighter capabilities, they did it decisively at once. The entire design of the base seemed to have been planned in advance from when it was still a blueprint, and there had been no need for major transformations for decades. This was how advanced the design concept was at that time. Was this the so-called ideology of ‘digging deep tunnels and keeping vast stores of grains’ for active preparation for war at the time of construction? It was simply crazy.
The information on the battle strategy tablet deeply intrigued Lin Mo, bringing him surprise after surprise. In order to build this special combat military force in this peaceful era, the military had spared no resources, regardless of the cost. The staff also consisted only of elites. It was no wonder that just a small amount of personnel was enough to support a variety of combat methods and tools.
…
Dididi! Dididi! Dididi!
From out of nowhere, the sound of an electronic alarm clock jolted Lin Mo awake on his soft bed. He opened his eyes and found the beeping sound coming from the tablet still in his arms.
It actually has such a function? Lin Mo rubbed his eyes and sat up on the bed.
In fact, every tablet was not merely just a personal computer, but it was also a personal terminal that wirelessly connected to a high-performance supercomputer. It was a bit like a diskless workstation.
In addition to its basic computing functions, a large number of complex calculations were transmitted to its display after the giant server unit processed them. It also had a cloud service function. As long as the tablet was on, it had an encrypted wireless connection with the giant server and was ready to accept new commands at any time.
Didi! The sound suddenly changed, and a simulated artificial voice came from the tablet. “There is a new command. Do you want to read it?!”
Lin Mo tapped the screen, and it changed into a command display window. “Second Lieutenant Lin Mo, please arrive at the fitness center before 9 a.m. Breakfast is ready in the cafeteria. Do you need it sent to you?!”
“No need. I’ll head there to eat myself!” Lin Mo replied verbally.
“The command has been confirmed. Done!” responded the tablet’s voice control system automatically.
Lin Mo pursed his lips. The hidden side of this world was really hard to imagine.
In fact, it was not only the military. Apple’s Siri system on the iPhone and IBM’s ViaVoice system had the same functions. Compared to the ones used in civilian mobile phones, the system used by the Chinese military was extremely robust, with the hardware support of a high-performance omnidirectional microphone, and it was already close to an intelligent system.
“Yo, yo, yo! It even has such a feature?! This isn’t a computer but a brain!” Gold Coin said with a sour tone. It had transformed into a metal snake and slithered out of nowhere after it had finished processing the fragmented parts. It swam up to Lin Mo’s left wrist and twisted a few times to morph into the same watch as yesterday. Then, for some reason, it released the last portion of the ‘B Mashina’ song all of a sudden.
The heavy metal music seemed to be screaming at Lin Mo about Gold Coin’s existence. This guy was actually competing to be doted on with the tablet like a child seeking attention. Lin Mo shook his head. Simply ridiculous.
Could this Giant Dragon’s brain have started to become abnormal now that it was in another world?! It digested Lin Mo’s laptop in one night, and while it had not fully integrated the laptop into its body, the Giant Dragon had gained quite a lot from it. Gold Coin had new functions like an electric horn, a radio, storage, and a calculator. It had even swallowed a crystal oscillator, allowing it to tell the time accurately. It was more than enough to be an alarm clock. There were a few non-metallic parts that it was reluctant to discard but could not fuse with, so it had hidden them in its body, which was why it could not shrink to its minimum size.
Although Lin Mo was angry at Gold Coin for ruining his laptop, he mainly used it to check information. There had been a lot of documents stored on the hard disk, but at least Gold Coin had saved them, and it could at least be used as a USB flash drive now.
After washing up, Lin Mo enjoyed a sumptuous buffet-style breakfast in the cafeteria. Then he went to the fitness center in the training ground. He took a look at the watch that Gold Coin had turned into. It was pretty reliable at least. It was only half-past eight, and Lin Mo was a little earlier than expected.
The training ground was very lively at this moment. There were continuous gunshots in the shooting range on one side. On the other side was sports equipment that quite a few people were using for physical fitness. There was also a sparring area where people sparred while wearing protective gear. There were not only combatants, but even non-combatants were breaking a sweat here as they trained happily.
Here, even the cooks were sparring and shooting on target. As the saying went, ‘One was marked by the company one kept’. Even the civilian staff should not be underestimated.
Lin Mo attracted a lot of attention as a new face on the training ground. Some of them whom he met yesterday immediately greeted him and started to introduce the people around him. The gazes on Lin Mo gradually changed from curiosity to astonishment. It seemed like gossip was rampant everywhere.
“Second Lieutenant Lin Mo!” The tall, strong man playing with a machine gun on a square table by the shooting range waved at Lin Mo.
“Hello! Big Li! Good morning!” Lin Mo replied with a smile.
“Come. Let’s have fun together!” Big Li was very straightforward, and he was not bitter about being defeated by Lin Mo yesterday.
Lin Mo looked at the pile of gun parts on the table in front of Big Li. It seemed like Big Li was maintaining his weapons.
Big Li’s handiwork was so fast that his hands nearly produced afterimages. He put together an automatic rifle in a few short breaths and handed it to Lin Mo. “9mm caliber. You can’t see something as good as this outside. It’s fantastic! Want to try it?”
Lin Mo took the thick gun and pulled the bolt. This black and thick muzzle was definitely not from the small-caliber gun family from various countries but a customized model.
Small-caliber rifles were light, had reduced recoil, and were easy to handle, and the bullets had a high initial velocity. Even civilians could learn how to use it quickly. The bullets were lightweight, meaning it was easier to carry around a large number of them and suitable for intensive firepower assault operations. However, its effective range was about three hundred meters, and distance limited its lethality.
Large-caliber rifles had high lethality within an effective range of five hundred meters. The most famous of which was the AK47. Nonetheless, the recoil was not something ordinary people could withstand. It was definitely at the mass killing level, just like the large caliber-rifle in Lin Mo’s hands. One glance, and you would know that it was intended for specially trained, powerful men. Its recoil would probably send a typical man flying away.
Big Li took out a box of bullets and two magazines from the box of ammunition and handed them to Lin Mo. His eyes were provocative. “You have the upper hand in strength. Let’s compare marksmanship!” He seemed as though he did not care about what had happened yesterday just seconds ago, but now he showed dissatisfaction in his heart and wanted to get back at Lin Mo in other aspects.
It turned out that Lin Mo did play with guns, even grenades, when he was at the Air Force base. But seeing the never-before-seen large-caliber rifle, Lin Mo was excited. It had a cool shape, and he could feel a rush of exhilaration running through him when he held it in hand. He stroked the cold and hard gun body and nodded. “All right! Five hundred yuan!”
He did not want to compete for nothing. He took out five hundred yuan from his pocket and slapped it on the table. The other party should know the rules.
“Five hundred yuan it is! Let’s see who is faster at three consecutive shots!” Big Li grinned and nodded vigorously. He quickly assembled another gun of the same caliber. Big Li was simply a monster in a normal army, and he picked up a heavy machine gun as though it was as light as a sack.
There was no difference in which gun you used when practicing here. People competed in stability, accuracy, and ruthlessness. Whoever had mastery would win hands down. A master would be able to use any weapon, even a faulty one, and still be able to injure the opponent. Proficiency would automatically correct its flaws.
Lin Mo entered the range with Big Li and found an empty target.
They exchanged glances but did not say another word and raised their guns at almost the same time.
Dadada! Dadada! Dadada!
Three rapid, almost rhythmic sets of gunshots rang together almost instantly.
The contest between Lin Mo and Big Li immediately attracted a lot of attention. They wanted to see if the strong dragon could not beat the local snake, or if the newcomer would be more capable.
They did not aim deliberately and only fired according to the feel in their hands. The paper targets were changed automatically after every three shots.
After both of them emptied thirty rounds each, they turned to the counter.
The LED screens showed their results. “10 ring, 10 ring, 10 ring, 10 ring!”
Big Li was a little smug. He felt like he did well just now, and his results were actually all 10-ring bullseyes, which was a rare achievement even for him. Not one bullet missed, and the middle of all ten paper targets was smashed through without a single one entering into the 9-ring range.
His gaze shifted to Lin Mo’s target screen and stiffened at almost the same time as the rest.
This guy actually achieved the same results as him! Hitting ten 10-ring bullseyes.
“Newcomer, awesome!” the onlookers shouted.
“Our Big Li isn’t half bad as well. All his bullets hit their mark.”
“It’s a tie!”
It was not easy to hit the bullseyes with such rapid shots.
Big Li’s complexion was looking a bit bad. They might all be 10-rings, but he was more familiar with guns than Lin Mo. It was Lin Mo’s first time handling this 9mm large-caliber rifle nicknamed the ‘Corkscrew’.
The Corkscrew, as its name implied, would burst open the head of a person like opening a bottle of beer.
“No, Big Li lost!” Someone suddenly cried out just as everyone was agreeing with the tie.