Chapter 654 - 596: Is This It? The Mother of Bombs!?

"Don't play tricks."

Song Heping warned Willie, then let go.

In fact, what these Americans do has nothing to do with him.

But in Song Heping's view, there was something peculiar about this mission.

Miles was hiding something, and so was Willie.

He didn't like the feeling of being kept in the dark.

A mission already fraught with great danger could easily lead to the team's doom if the cooperating party harbors secrets.

Willie returned to the computer to maintain communication and contact with the B-2 bomber crew and Dax.

In the shroud of night, the B-2 entered the periphery of the attack range.

The pilot issued a ready-to-drop bomb signal, and the bombing officer began to verify coordinates along with parameters such as customs, speed, distance, and so on.

The onboard computer quickly provided the final answer, inputting the parameters into the combat guidance section of the GBU-57A Ground Penetrating Bomb.

Although it was unlikely that the Ata Organization had anti-aircraft weapons, let alone the ability to shoot down helicopters, to achieve the optimal penetration effect of that GBU-57A, the B-2 was flying at an altitude of about 10,000 meters.

Once everything was ready, the bomb bay doors of the B-2 opened, and the bomb release button was swiftly pressed before it banked right to return to the flight path.

On the ground, Song Heping squatted behind a large rock, looking up at the sky.

In that darkness hid a terrifying killer at this moment.

He had never seen the kind of effect this legendary Ground Penetrating Bomb could achieve.

In Illiguo, Song Heping heard from Samir about the time the Americans dropped a Ground Penetrating Bomb in Illiguo during the first Gulf War, which was later referred to as the "Ameriyah incident."

Ameriyah was actually the designation for a bomb shelter, located within the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a large-scale air-raid bunker built in the 1980s. Sadam had spent tens of millions of US Dollars to construct this bunker.

On the night of February 13, 1991, in order to avoid the attack of the bombing forces, thousands of civilians hid inside the bunker. The US Army's F-117 bomber dropped a bomb codenamed "Bunker Buster," a massive Ground Penetrating Bomb.

This bomb was different from ordinary bombs, as its insides held extremely strong explosive powder and acidic materials that could puncture and shatter hard walls in an instant upon explosion.

At the same time, the bomb carried a second wave of thermal radiation attack capable of destroying all living beings that survived the first wave within several kilometers.

To ensure the effects of the explosion, the F-117 dropped two bombs consecutively on the site of the air-raid bunker.

The first Ground Penetrating Bomb went through 10 feet of reinforced concrete, hitting the hot water tank in the bunker, which was buried over twenty meters underground with walls 6 meters thick. The Ameriyah air-raid shelter, like a deflated balloon, was instantly penetrated.

A few minutes later, the second bomb followed, instantly igniting a roaring fire. The missile explosion generated a residual heat of over 4500 degrees, almost immediately engulfing civilians who couldn't react in time. Elderly and children were burnt to ashes, and more than 1100 people hiding in the underground bunker burned to death, with only 14 surviving.

"Did you hear that?"

Just as everyone was sitting by the pile of stones, holding their breath waiting for the sound of the explosion, Jiang Feng suddenly whispered next to Song Heping.

"Heard what?"

"It sounds like the bomb is coming down."

"Nonsense, it's three kilometers away."

"I think I really heard it, the bomb is flying..."

"It's your heart that's flying..."

Boom—

Just as Song Heping was teasing Jiang Feng, suddenly everyone heard a faint rumble in the air.

Yes.

It was the piercing sound produced when an object rapidly hits the ground, dragging air with it.

"Damn! Your ears are really sharp!"

"Of course!"

Seeing that Song Heping complimented him, Jiang Feng was quite proud.

"Military physical before enlisting, submarine troops' physique."

Song Heping laughed: "As if we aren't all the same."

After speaking, he got up and walked over to squat beside Willie.

This guy was touching his chin with his hand, eyes glued to the drone feed.

Song Heping asked, "Dropped?"

"Yeah," Willie nodded, "the bomb is gliding."

"How much mountain can it collapse?"

Song Heping was very curious about the effects of the bombardment.

"The first one that fell is the GBU-57A, for penetrating the ground. The second one, GBU-47, that's the key, used for killing."

"GBU-47!?"

Upon hearing this name, Song Heping felt his hackles rise.

Because this thing is known as the "Mother of Bombs," a weapon that's on par with the Russian's "Father of Bombs," both heavily tinged with the Cold War era.

Both are massive Thermo-baric Bombs (upgraded Cloud Burst Bombs), of roughly the same weight, and if we have to compare the performance of both comprehensively, it's a case of each having its own strengths.

The Mother of Bombs focuses more on precision attacks, with GPS guidance, putting a lot of effort into precision strikes, with concessions made in bomb body, thus lesser power; whereas the Russian Father of Bombs is truly about miraculous feats of brute force, lacking precise guidance, almost like the no-brainer upgraded version of a conventional bomb loaded with cloud burst agents, without other components like guidance heads, boasting a tremendous power, four times that of Mother of Bombs!

And now, he was about to witness the use of the most powerful conventional bomb on Blue Star, how could he not feel exhilarated?

Moreover, looking at the manner of deployment, the US Air Force had indeed taken comprehensive considerations, following the same approach as in Illiguo.

One for penetrating defenses; the second to infiltrate through the big hole made by the first, and expanding the destructive effect.

Suddenly, on the drone's surveillance feed a bright light appeared.

It was as if someone had lit a match inside the lens.

First a sizzle, then a flame burst forth, not particularly large.

And then the flames quickly went out.

"That's it?"

Jiang Feng scratched his head in puzzlement.

"Doesn't seem like there's much of a reaction?"

"There is."

Song Heping, looking at the screen, said: "Look, people are starting to run out of the cave."

Willie glanced at his watch and succinctly uttered a single word: "One minute."

Through the screen, one could see people fleeing the mountain.

But there were also people running into the cave.

The whole scene did not show the kind of widespread panic and flight one might expect.

It was as if someone poked into an anthill with an object, but there was little commotion, some ants were scurrying out, yet most did not disperse.

The long minute finally passed.

Suddenly, on the Main God Mountain through the drone's monitoring screen, another burst of flame appeared.

The location was virtually identical to the last one.

But what followed was completely different.

This explosion was clearly much more potent than the last.

The dazzling flames turned the drone's screen into a white expanse, and the thermal imaging detected screens filled with intense heat radiation.

"Hit!"

Willie clenched his fist and waved it vigorously through the air.

After a full ten seconds or more, the screen finally began to return to normal bit by bit.

In the lens, Song Heping saw that one corner of the mountain seemed to have collapsed, showing a change compared to the previous terrain.

But the change wasn't significant.

Instead, around the Main God Mountain, sentries and patrol members originally stationed nearby were now dead on the ground, like ants scalded by a kettle of boiling water lying haphazardly around the mountain.

This showed that the explosion's instantaneous power was extremely great.

Everyone on or below the mountain within the radius of the blast was stone dead.

Initially, Song Heping thought at least a third of the Main God Mountain would be destroyed.

Now it looked like there was only a slight indention.

"Seems like not much has changed..." Song Heping seemed somewhat disappointed: "It started off pretty scary."

Jiang Feng said: "Maybe it's internal damage, after all, it detonated inside."

Song Heping said: "Something's not right..."

He stared at the screen and saw figures starting to appear around the Main God Mountain.

That's right.

They were people running for their lives.

More and more...

Just like ants fleeing from a nest built on the ground.

More and more people appeared in the drone's camera.

Song Heping grew more and more astonished as he watched.

Wasn't it supposed to be just a company or two?

Oh my goodness!

There were dozens of people just in the camera's view.

"Wasn't it said that everyone would be dead after one bomb?" Jiang Feng said: "How come there are so many survivors? This bomb really isn't up to par, huh? Mother of Bombs? Got weak-kneed seeing a man, did it?"

He said this in English, deliberately for the two Americans to hear.

Willie also felt that something was wrong and immediately contacted the command center.

"Command center, request drone clean-up of the remaining enemies!"

Suddenly, there was a flicker in the sky, like the flick of a lighter, briefly bright and then gone.

Soon, another explosion appeared on the screen.

A 227 kilogram JDAM "Joint Direct Attack Munition" bomb fell directly among the crowd that had fled.

The people blown away were clearly visible on the drone footage.

Then, another drone dropped another JDAM "Joint Direct Attack Munition."

After two explosions, there were about a dozen to twenty bodies more on the ground.

Dax suddenly said: "They want us to confirm identities."

"Confirm? How are we supposed to confirm?!" Willie became agitated: "Let them come and confirm themselves!"

Dax shut up.

After a while, as if he heard something through his earpiece, he said, "Superiors are requesting confirmation again… wait a moment…"

He pointed at the computer screen, his expression suddenly tensed.

"What's that!?"