I changed the world.

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Wang Hanjun knew that the soldier who had gone mad was most likely seeing his comrades as monsters after developing mental problems, and this wasn't the first time this had happened...

The medic quickly ran towards the wounded soldier. Just then, more than ten soldiers in Earth Defense Force uniforms rushed out of a crater not far ahead. It was unclear when they had gotten so close.

These "people" crawled on the ground using both their hands and feet, just like large lizards. Their limbs seemed to be able to stick to the ground, and they were extremely fast in the microgravity environment, rushing forward in the blink of an eye.

These people were also wearing spacesuits, but the way their limbs were twisted and how they crawled made them look nothing like normal humans.

Wang Hanjun could even see that they were still carrying firearms, and as they advanced, they pulled the triggers toward Wang Hanjun's position.

"Is it real or an illusion?" This was almost everyone's first reaction. However, these people were all well-trained elites. Although they were under tremendous mental pressure, they reacted quickly and began to fight back.

These men were exceptionally agile and fast. Two of them were clearly hit by small arms fire, but they did not stop immediately and continued to charge toward the front line while wearing their damaged spacesuits.

At that moment, the turrets on the three "Hurricane 3" maglev assault vehicles that had been stationed on the front line as a protective wall suddenly began to rotate, spraying bullets at the figure that had already charged to a distance.

The 12.7mm machine gun bullets were like small cannons, tearing the bodies they hit to pieces and halting their advance. Soon, after losing three soldiers, the dozen or so intruders were wiped out.

"Has the restriction on the IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) device finally been lifted?!" Wang Hanjun asked excitedly over the communication channel.

"Yes, Battalion Commander, we've finally taken care of these troublesome things!"

Previously, because the enemies were all "our own people," the IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) device rendered the heavy weapons of the 206th Rapid Reaction Force unusable, causing great inconvenience to everyone.

The battle was over. Wang Hanjun walked up to an enemy who had almost rushed in front of him and looked down at him. The man was wearing a combat spacesuit that was not much different from Wang Hanjun's and the others. Half of his body was shattered, and his lower body was missing. It looked like he had been hit head-on by a machine gun bullet.

The helmet was shattered, revealing his face directly into space. A normal person would have been dead long ago, but the man in front of Wang Hanjun was still alive.

But he was still writhing and struggling. At the same time, through the tear in the helmet, Wang Hanjun could see a young face. His face showed no fear or despair of impending death; instead, it wore a sickly smile, his mouth opening and closing as if he were saying something. From his lip movements, Wang Hanjun saw a word that seemed to say: "Rebels..."

A surge of anger welled up inside him, and Wang Hanjun turned his gun on that face, firing a burst of bullets...

Go to hell! You monsters!

After being hit by a bullet, his face suddenly opened like flower petals. He was shot several more times before finally collapsing...

Wang Hanjun noticed that there was a faint "thread" connecting the monster's head to the distant void, and the thread slowly disappeared after the monster died completely.

Damn it, what are these things?!

Does it manipulate these soldiers like a puppet on strings?

At this moment, Wang Hanjun felt both anger and a sense of powerlessness, even a hint of fear and despair. He knew that these "monsters" were, not long ago, real people, the elite of humanity, guardians of the border, and also sons, husbands, and fathers of others.

What on earth caused these people to become like this?!

Chapter 575 Ghost

Thinking this, he subconsciously glanced at the Suifenhe test ship, which had already been destroyed in the distance. Although the Suifenhe had been destroyed, everywhere he looked, there were those strange, thread-like substances, like a giant spider web, spread out in this airspace. The beacon tower looked like a giant beetle still struggling, caught in this giant web.

As if noticing his anger, the whispers in his ear began to grow louder again, as if a very kind voice was advising him to give up his futile persistence...

Wang Hanjun tried his best to calm himself down. He bit his tongue hard, and instantly, the taste of rust, along with intense pain, filled his mouth. Fortunately, the whispering sound subsided temporarily...

"Hey... Battalion Commander, is there really going to be reinforcements?" A slightly panting voice suddenly came through the headset. Wang Hanjun immediately recognized it as a captain, one of his company commanders, talking to him in a one-on-one chat.

"We've already informed the country, and they'll receive support," Wang Hanjun said in a deep voice. He didn't tell his subordinates that at this moment, communication had already been cut off, and they were now isolated.

"Really... When will they... arrive? This time... is so long..." The voice was somewhat muffled, and then fell silent.

"Li Haofeng, hang in there!" Wang Hanjun said seriously. He knew that everyone, whether officers or soldiers, was going through a lot of mental anguish.

Suddenly, a rapid alarm sounded through his communicator—a special alert for air raids. Simultaneously, someone shouted into the communicator, "The Ghosts! The Ghosts are back!!!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Hanjun looked up and quickly spotted the target of the attack. It was in the direction of the Suifenhe test ship in outer space, where something like a shadow was emerging from some faint black rifts, like bees swarming out of a hive, and then rushing towards the beacon tower.

"Attention everyone, use energy weapons! Use energy weapons!" Wang Hanjun gave the order through his headset.

Then, he looked around with some concern at the soldiers who were quickly taking defensive stances under the guidance of officers of various ranks. These were all well-trained elite soldiers, however, their energy weapons were insufficient.

With current human technology, firearms that use chemical combustion to generate kinetic energy are still the mainstream of individual weapons. Energy-based weapons, such as electromagnetic weapons, are mostly used to destroy electronic devices, not to attack biological targets, so their numbers are severely insufficient. However, at this point, there are no other options. They can only make the best use of all the weapons at their disposal.

Having already experienced an attack, the soldiers of the 206th Rapid Reaction Force knew that when facing the approaching attackers, all physical protection, including buildings, armor, and obstacles, would be ineffective. Therefore, they aimed all available weapons directly into the air, showing no intention of seeking cover.

Just as the soldiers were preparing for air defense, the monsters in the sky were rapidly approaching.

These things flew extremely fast, like fish swimming in space. At this moment, the two Air Shield field air defense systems deployed in the position opened fire first. The missile slots on them began to continuously release anti-aircraft missiles. Dozens of anti-aircraft missiles took off and instantly reached high speed, rushing towards those monsters...

Meanwhile, the laser weapons on the air defense system began firing. These weapons, which looked somewhat like giant spotlights, were used to illuminate and destroy incoming missiles. In manual mode, they fired a beam of light that ripped through the void like a giant sword, stirring up the monsters' formation.

Any monster struck by this ray shattered and vanished into nothingness. However, the number of monsters was vast, and although many were eliminated along the way, a considerable number were still getting closer and closer!

By now, the monsters' forms were clearer. They resembled a hybrid of skeletons and insects, possessing a terrifying, scalp-stripped skull with a long, exposed neck connected to a vertebra-like structure. They lacked human arms and legs, and below, in the ribcage area, were segments resembling insect limbs, making them look somewhat like certain myriapods. These segments folded together during flight to maintain the shape of the ribs, giving them the appearance from a distance of a group of upper-body skeletons in flight.

Two missiles exploded in the monster horde. The explosions were not very loud and did not seem to have much of a visual or auditory effect. However, they cleared a section of the monster horde, indicating that they were quite powerful.

Electromagnetic pulse missiles are used to attack electronic equipment on radar or satellites, but unfortunately, their numbers are limited. The 206th Rapid Reaction Force did not have many of these missiles in stock, and these were their last two.

The remaining missiles exploded in front of the monster's path, creating a shard of debris. These missiles were significantly more powerful than the previous two, creating a visible barrier in the air.

However, this did not pose much of a hindrance to the monsters. Some of them were torn to pieces, but most of the rest were not hindered by the fragments and quickly passed through the area where the fragments were flying.

"Second round of fire, pay attention to delaying the attack. Only shockwaves and jets will work on them; non-energy attacks are ineffective against these guys!" Wang Hanjun squinted as he observed the scene in the air. This experience was gained at the cost of huge casualties during their last attack.

Because of their bizarre appearance and their invulnerability to physical attacks, these creatures are temporarily referred to by the soldiers as "ghosts".

Before he could finish speaking, more than a dozen anti-aircraft missiles were launched into the sky. This time, the detonation direction of the missiles was delayed, and the missiles exploded one after another in the monster horde. This time, the shock wave and jet after the explosion took away dozens of monsters again.

However, the remaining monsters were still numerous, and after two attacks, the missiles entered the reloading phase and could not be fired again for a short time. The machine guns began to spray bullets, but such attacks were ineffective against these ghosts. At this distance, only laser weapons were still effective.

With no effect, the machine gun firing quickly ceased; this was merely a tentative confirmation.

These ghosts approached rapidly. At this moment, all the soldiers wore solemn expressions, and some soldiers subconsciously began to recite some religious phrases.

Chapter 576 A War with No Room for Compromise!

"May the Heavenly Venerable protect you..."

Wang Hanjun muttered to himself, "Whether in the Great Zhao or in the armies of any country on Earth, religious belief is not prohibited. Some countries even have military chaplains. Although the Great Zhao does not have military Taoist priests, because the royal family has always believed in Taoism, the nobles in various regions have followed suit."

Strictly speaking, people like Wang Hanjun only have verbal beliefs; they occasionally visit temples to burn incense during festivals, and that's about it. Deep down, he is neither open to nor critical of religion.

However, at this moment, faced with something so bizarre that it defied explanation, he couldn't help but pray, hoping that the gods in the unseen realm could truly protect this place, just to allow him to hold on a little longer...

"HAAW, get ready!"

"Electromagnetic rifle free fire!"

As the ghosts continued to approach, some soldiers carrying shoulder-mounted weapons began firing from a kneeling position. They were armed with handheld anti-armor weapons (HAAWs), originally designed to attack medium to large targets with heavy armor protection. These were rocket-propelled heavy grenades with both armor-piercing and explosive sections; however, at this point, only their explosive capabilities were needed.

As the grenades whistled through the air, the pre-modified fuses were detonated prematurely, and explosions rang out among the ghosts. However, as they were continuously attacked, the ghosts consciously increased the distance between each other. Therefore, although the attacks destroyed some ghosts, a considerable number still managed to break through.

As the HAAW was being fired, some soldiers began adjusting a strangely shaped, enormous weapon. This weapon, called an electromagnetic rifle, was designed to attack small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and could damage their electronic components. It required a special mount to fire and was not numerous; there were only about a dozen in the entire camp.

However, when set to maximum power, it is surprisingly effective at dealing with these kinds of ghosts in the sky.

The electromagnetic rifles were firing continuously, and the ghosts in the sky were occasionally destroyed in mid-air. However, these ghosts moved as nimbly as fish, and there were so many of them that hundreds of ghosts eventually reached a distance of more than a hundred meters and began to swoop down towards the soldiers below.

"Grenade launcher!" Wang Hanjun shouted.

Including his orderly, many soldiers raised their Assault Rifles 3, which were equipped with grenade launchers. These rifles, when equipped with launchers, can fire programmable grenades. These grenades can be set to explode at a distance. Originally intended to cause airbursts to increase the area of ​​damage, they have now become the most effective weapon for close-range air defense in this situation.

Compared to the limited number of electromagnetic rifles, this weapon is abundant; with the remaining hundred or so people in the camp, each person can have one.

Ordinary bullets are completely ineffective against these monsters, but the shockwave from the explosion can damage them!

Under the command of officers at all levels, rifle grenades were launched in batches at an angle upwards toward the diving ghost, exploding at a very close distance of about fifty meters above the ground, creating a continuous barrier zone.

This tactic was so dangerous that several soldiers who were too close were hit by grenade fragments, but overall it was quite effective, eliminating almost half of the remaining Ghosts.

Even so, the remaining dozens of ghosts showed no fear, nimbly dodging in the sky and avoiding the blast zone.

At this moment, these monsters had broken through the last barrier. They opened their fleshless mouths as if emitting silent howls, and their ribs, like insect limbs, spread and danced, moving like eerie multi-legged worms as they swooped down toward the place where there were living people!

The victims appeared quickly. A ghost charging at the forefront passed directly through a soldier operating an electromagnetic rifle. The next moment, a "soul" shimmering with an eerie light was pulled out of the soldier and carried into the air, still struggling in fear.

As for the soldier's body, it lay silently on the ground. The two ghosts passed each other, only to see the soldier's "soul" being torn in two before everyone's eyes, being ripped apart by the two ghosts...

Some soldiers activated their jetpacks in an attempt to create distance from the ghosts, but their speed was still too slow relative to the ghosts.

Seeing himself caught between two ghosts with no way to escape, a soldier detonated a grenade he was carrying, followed by a shockwave and flying shrapnel...

While shrapnel has no effect on ghosts, impact blasts can tear them apart.

Similar scenes unfolded one after another, but the soldiers' will to resist was extremely firm. Everyone knew clearly that this was a war between humans and aliens. As soldiers of the Earth Defense Force, they were told from the moment they joined that one day, they, or their descendants, would face such a scene.

For the continuation of the race, for the sake of human genes, so that they can continue to be passed down in this dark and desolate universe!

So that the flame of civilization on Earth will not be extinguished!

This is a war with no room for compromise!

Even when facing dire straits!

Even at the cost of sacrifice!

"Humanity will live on forever!!!"

A soldier activated his jetpack and rushed into an open area, attracting three ghosts. He roared and simultaneously detonated several grenades on his body. After the shockwave subsided, he perished along with the ghosts!

In a fierce battle that was almost a matter of life and death, the fight reached its climax at the very beginning and then quickly came to an end, with all the attacking ghosts being wiped out. However, Wang Hanjun's face showed no joy at this moment.

Just now, if his orderly hadn't blocked his way and drawn away the two ghosts, he would have almost pulled the pin on the grenade he was carrying. However, his orderly, the young soldier with the baby face, didn't make it to the end of the battle.

He detonated the grenade he was carrying...