38. The Army Moves Out

The Army Moves Out

At first, the abnormal weather around Sanguang City did not attract much attention.

Heavy fog was common in Sanguang. A morning fog of such small scale hardly merited concern.

Then the strangeness worsened.

Out of nowhere, the local atmosphere began showing sharp rises in temperature and pressure. Humidity reached saturation within minutes. Electromagnetic interference stronger than that of the most violent thunderstorms disrupted meteorological sensors across the region.

Meteorologists brought the phenomenon to the authorities’ attention almost exactly when every signal in and around the area suddenly vanished.

Mobile phones stopped working. Landlines failed. Radar and lidar could not function normally. Even satellites specifically designed to see through cloud cover found nothing useful.

Even if that had been the end of it, plenty of people across the country would have dropped everything to investigate.

But it was not the end.

A stable, persistent source of high pressure and high temperature continued pumping energy into the surrounding air mass, affecting the entire region on a massive scale.

Thunderstorms, tornadoes, abnormally violent rainfall, hail, and similar extreme-weather events spread outward one after another. Atmospheric circulation tried to find equilibrium and failed every time.

The Emergency Management Agency’s plans and forecasts had not accounted for anything like this. Soon, all available personnel across Sichuan Province had been mobilized.

Urban search-and-rescue teams and mobile emergency response support units rushed toward the region alongside armed police, spreading out to assist towns affected by the slowly expanding front of extreme weather.

When military drones sent toward the apparent source of the phenomenon failed to return, the authorities decided to prioritize evacuation of surrounding areas until they understood more about what was happening.

While the main bodies of the Emergency Management Agency and the military went to work, dozens of smaller investigative teams were sent out to gather intelligence.

When none of these well-trained teams, all prepared for the harshest environmental conditions, reported back, the Emergency Management Agency and the military naturally concluded that this must be the work of an enemy across the sea.

Yes, weather control might still belong in the realm of fantasy.

Yes, there was currently no scientific explanation for what they were seeing.

But none of that changed the facts: the phenomenon was too consistent to be random; the effects on communications were too thorough and uniform to be accidental. This was deliberate.

Military forces from at least three theater commands were mobilized, with emphasis placed on ground troops and support units. The weather severely limited aircraft operations, while the failure of communications and sensors seemed specifically designed to suppress drones, missiles, and other unmanned combat systems.

For the first time in more than a generation, the most advanced military on Earth went into action without reliable intelligence, without a concrete plan, and without any real understanding of the enemy’s capabilities.

That produced a cautious response, especially after all scouts were wiped out.

Rather than rush blindly into an unknown and potentially lethal situation, the army dug in.

They dug trenches, built fortifications, brought in artillery, stockpiled supplies and ammunition, and established as secure a perimeter as possible around the “abnormality.”

When the first enemy forces attacked, that decision proved wise.

At first, when very small and highly agile drones emerged from the signal-denial zone, they glowed on thermal sensors, and when cameras captured images of them, they created immense confusion, doubt, and fear.

The sight of tiny winged humanoids breathing fire stunned and even panicked many analysts. Some more devout civilian leaders were paralyzed by hesitation.

For…