Chapter 702 - 333: The Power of Technology (Part 2)

Chapter 702: Chapter 333: The Power of Technology (Part 2)

"Exactly!" Yang Zhen said confidently, using his finger to firmly lock the abandoned gold mine with a red circle on the screen.

"This abandoned mine tunnel is their perfect trading location! It’s well hidden, capable of evading aerial reconnaissance."

"It’s also secure, with only one entrance to defend. Plus, it has a quasi-motorway directly connecting to the outside world! There’s no more perfect trading point than that!"

Lin Yu’an’s macro-strategic deduction and Yang Zhen’s precise positioning based on high-precision intelligence, in this moment, perfectly aligned!

Yang Zhen stood up, his face full of immense confidence and killing intent.

"Alright, the battlefield has been determined. Now, it’s our Night Owl’s turn to confirm if the enemies have taken their positions!"

He turned to the communications officer Xiaoli and ordered: "Xiaoli, prepare to deploy the drone! We’re going to the sky right now to see where these bastards really are!"

"Xiaoli, start from our current coordinates, conduct a fan-shaped sector search downstream along the canyon, focusing on reconnaissance of all open riverbank areas."

"Maintain a flight altitude of three hundred meters, this height might penetrate most low-lying fog layers. Use wide-area thermal source search mode."

"Understood!"

Xiaoli quickly opened a hard-shell tactical case, taking out a folded, technologically advanced military quadcopter drone.

It was entirely black, allowing it to blend into the night as much as possible. A dual-light gimbal, like a hawk’s eye, was mounted underneath the drone.

Xiaoli expertly unfolded the drone’s arms, checked the battery and gimbal, and a few seconds later gave Yang Zhen an OK hand gesture.

Yang Zhen glanced at Xiaoli, who was doing the final checks, and added a crucial instruction.

"We’re currently in the bottom of the canyon, signal obstruction is severe. Switch to Starlink relay mode, communicate with the drone via satellite link to ensure foolproof operation."

"Roger that! Starlink mode activated, connecting to satellite... connection successful!" Xiaoli reported.

Lin Yu’an watched silently from the side, feeling a chill. He knew that after linking to the satellite, the operational radius of the drone was no longer limited by the meager ground radio signal.

Instead, it could reach any corner covered by satellite signals, and this is the truly terrifying aspect of modern forces.

"Take off!"

Accompanied by a barely audible buzzing sound, the drone ascended vertically, quickly disappearing into the fog and darkness above the camp.

Everyone gathered around Xiaoli and his remote screen.

The screen displayed a grainy black and white world with blurred edges.

The dense fog severely interfered with the thermal imaging signal, making the entire picture look like it was covered in frosted glass, with distant objects becoming indistinguishable.

"Signal decay at 30%, image quality degraded," Xiaoli calmly reported, "However, the core sensor is still functioning normally."

"Interference of this intensity is enough to hide weak heat sources the size of a human, but definitely can’t hide a bonfire!"

The drone flew silently above the upper layers of the fog, and the blurry footage scrolled across the screen rapidly.

Lin Yu’an could feel everyone’s hearts in their throats; conducting aerial reconnaissance in such weather was a gamble.

As time ticked by, the drone had flown nearly five kilometers, but the screen’s images remained unclear, showing only large patches of dark black representing low-temperature mountain ranges.

Just as even Yang Zhen’s brows started to knit together, Xiaowang suddenly pointed to a corner of the screen, "Captain, look here."

Everyone immediately leaned in. In the upper left corner of the screen, amidst a blurred gray background, a faint white halo was flashing persistently!

"Strong infrared source!" Yang Zhen’s eyes lit up with excitement, "That’s it! It’s diminished by the fog, but it’s definitely a fire! Xiaoli, lock onto it!"

"Lower altitude, close in for reconnaissance! Even if we have to penetrate the fog, I want to see clearly what’s down there!"

"Understood! Lowering altitude to one hundred fifty meters, penetrating the fog!"

As the drone descended, the interference on the screen worsened, and the image even momentarily snowed.

But once the drone broke through the densest layer of fog, the image suddenly became clear!

The blurry halo transformed into a dazzling, scorching white light mass—a bonfire!

Around the bonfire, several smaller humanoid and canine thermal spots were clearly visible!

"Caught you, bastards!" Yang Zhen punched the air firmly.

Xiaoli switched the camera, and the screen instantly changed from black and white to a grainy green night vision view. The drone hovered silently above the target like a phantom.

In the image, everything by the bonfire was clearly displayed before them.

Two professionally pitched camouflage tents.

Four indistinct silhouettes sat around the bonfire, busily working on something, with several heavy canvas backpacks piled nearby.

On the perimeter of the camp, three smaller thermal sources occasionally lay down or walked around, diligently carrying out sentry duty—those were three hunting dogs!

"5.2 kilometers from us, coordinates locked," Xiaoli reported the crucial data.

"Well done!" Yang Zhen punched the air again, then immediately picked up the handset, connecting to the command center.

"Report to command center, at 19:27, we successfully located the poacher camp through aerial technical reconnaissance! Coordinates..."