At this moment, the sky was gradually brightening as the sun rose.
The sickly golden-red hue was cast over the city of Daguk.
Song Heping stood inside the command post, his entire view occupied by a massive integrated display screen.
The screen showed real-time footage transmitted by the high-altitude drone "Hawkeye," with every detail remarkably clear.
"Indeed... couldn't hold back any longer."
Everything unfolded as he had anticipated.
For the extremely fanatical religious extremists, this provocation was intolerable.
To them, some things were more unbearable than death.
As if to confirm his judgment, within the next second, numerous dark spots emerged from the buildings in the inner city of Daguk.
Each dark spot was a terrorist.
At first, there were a few individuals, followed by increasingly more.
The dark mass of people resembled a filthy deluge breaking a dam; the remaining, most fervently armed extremist factions within the city commenced a suicidal charge.
Wielding AK-47s and RPG-7s, they wildly fired aimlessly into the sky, their speech slurred in obscure dialects as they bellowed extreme slogans, shooting madly at any militia and mercenary they could see.
Previously hidden and camouflaged within buildings, armed pickups and armored vehicles stormed out of courtyards, with Toyota pickups outfitted with outdated DShK heavy machine guns or the more powerful ZPU series anti-aircraft machine guns awkwardly yet fiercely charging forward among the crowd.
Even more terrifying, mixed within the convoy were a few trucks that seemed particularly bloated, with welded-shut cabins and truck beds covered by heavy tarps—suicide car bombs!
This was the signature tactic of the 1515 Armed.
Once these powerful suicide car bombs got close, they could not only cause extensive casualties but would also instill immense shock and fear in those not yet affected, thereby undermining morale.
They recklessly accelerated, intending to blaze a bloody path for the subsequent troops through their own destruction.
Their formation was chaotic, but the charge was rapid, infused with a kind of hysterical, do-or-die frenzy, purposefully targeting that "execution ground" to the west of the city.
"Time to get our hands dirty."
A murderous intent flashed in Song Heping's eyes as the forefinger of his right hand swiftly and accurately swiped across several preset communication icons on the touchscreen, his speech abruptly quickening; a series of clear, ruthless commands burst forth, instantly transmitted via encrypted data links to each combat unit:
"Artillery unit, full firepower coverage! Target area Alpha to Gamma, cover enemy breakthrough paths and subsequent echelons! Turn this ground over completely for me!"
"Second Battalion, abandon frontal search and destroy mission, immediately mobilize southward, seize the high ground on H-7, H-8, and completely block their retreat route; since they're all charging out desperately, don't let them go back! Remember, not even a mouse should be let back!"
"Abu You Brigade main force, press down from the left-wing Hill No.3, use maximum firepower to flank the enemy's midsection, cut them off in the middle, and encircle them!"
"Call all air units, prioritize hunting high-value targets—technical vehicles and suicide trucks! Repeat, priority order: suicide trucks, armed pickups, personnel clusters. Do not allow any suicide vehicle near our frontline positions!"
The first to respond was the artillery unit of the militia that had long calculated all variables and waited silently.
In an instant, the ground began to shake violently.
Deployed at concealed rear positions, the 122mm and 152mm howitzers, along with 120mm heavy mortars, roared with thunderous outrage!
This was no longer the sporadic harassing shelling of before but genuinely destructive saturation bombardment.
The sky was filled with the hiss of projectiles tearing through the air.
A few minutes later, a deadly shower of steel and flames poured precisely onto that open area and along the 1515 Armed's charge path!
Boom!
Boom boom boom!
Boom boom—
Relentless explosions were deafening, as if they'd never cease.
Massive fireballs soared up one after another, black smokes mixed with dirt blasted skyward, and...
Human remains were blown into the air, mingled with debris and stones, raining down to the ground like raindrops.
Furious shockwaves spread fiercely around, causing those near the epicenter to suffer internal injuries, bleeding from all orifices, and flipping lighter pickups like toys, tearing them apart.
A 1515 Armed extremist charging at the forefront, still firing his AK-47, had a 152mm howitzer shell explode less than five meters away in the next second.
After a blinding flash, he and over a dozen comrades nearby vanished instantly, leaving behind nothing but an expanding dark red stain and a few charred, smoldering scraps of cloth.
A pickup truck equipped with ZPU-2 anti-aircraft machine guns, part of the 1515 Armed convoy, tried to speed through the artillery blockade line but ran over a burning tire thrown by the shockwave.
The driver instinctively turned the wheel sharply, causing the vehicle to lose control and overturn, skidding into a crater.
Immediately afterward, another mortar shell landed precisely on the edge of the crater, turning the pickup along with the occupants still inside into twisted, burning wreckage.
The open field turned into a living Purgatory in an instant.
The charging 1515 extremists fell like harvested wheat, collapsing in sheets.
Blood stained the scorched earth, shattered limbs, and entrails scattered everywhere.
The screams, blasts, crackling of burning vehicles, and the unconscious moans of the dying intertwined into a brutal battlefield symphony.
Yet the ground artillery fire was merely the prelude to this multi-dimensional slaughter.
In the sky, US air units that had been hovering at high altitudes along the edge of the battlefield—A-10 "Warthog" attack aircraft and F-15E "Strike Eagle" fighter-bombers—dove down with the howl of predators that had found their prey.
"Warthog One, visual confirmation of target area. Multiple technical vehicles and suspected bomb trucks identified. Requesting attack authorization."