Chapter 1860 - 1396: Who's Afraid of Whom in This World!

The standoff lasted about three minutes.

Finally, the Delta Squad leader made the only reasonable choice: surrender.

When the news reached the base, Lemont slammed his fist on the table: "They did it on purpose! This is deliberate!"

"What should we do now?" Ryan asked, "They have detained eight of our people."

Lemont forced himself to calm down.

He walked to the map and began to reassess the situation. The Tenth Division exercise, the direction of tank deployment, the orientation of anti-tank missiles, and now the detention of US Army soldiers...

These fragments pieced together form a terrifying picture.

"Notify Baghdad." Lemont said in a low voice, "Just say... we might be surrounded, the Tenth Division seems to want a coup."

"But the evidence..."

"There's no time to wait for evidence." Lemont interrupted him: "If we wait until the evidence is conclusive, it might be too late. Now, immediately notify headquarters, request emergency support. Meanwhile, activate all defense systems, prepare..."

He didn't finish speaking.

Because at that moment, the base's alarm system suddenly went off.

It wasn't a manually triggered alarm, but an automatic sensor activation.

Vibration sensors, infrared sensors, acoustic sensors outside the walls, all nearly simultaneously sent alarm signals.

Lemont rushed to the surveillance screens.

Infrared images showed numerous heat signals appearing in the open areas surrounding the base.

Not from one direction, but from all directions.

East, west, south, north, countless hotspots representing vehicles and personnel were moving towards the base.

The quantity was so large it exceeded the screen's display range.

"Damn..." Ryan muttered: "They really dare to make a move!"

Lemont grabbed the radio and shouted across all channels: "All hands, take positions! Repeat, all hands, take positions! We are surrounded!"

The inside of the base exploded into chaos.

Soldiers rushed from the barracks towards defensive positions.

Armored vehicles rolled into predetermined locations, heavy machine gunners climbed onto firing platforms.

Snipers entered the watchtower, observing the situation outside through thermal imaging equipment.

Lemont ran up the command tower and raised his binoculars.

Even without night vision equipment, he could see.

On the plains surrounding the base, countless headlights were lighting up.

Not just dozens, but hundreds, densely packed and forming a sea of light.

Those headlights were moving, advancing towards the base from all directions.

More frightening, beside some large vehicles, he could see the silhouette of tank turrets.

Not light tanks, but main battle tanks, the low and lethal silhouette of T-72s.

"They've deployed tanks..." Lemont lowered the binoculars, swallowing hard: "Samir is truly crazy."

Ryan also came up, holding an encrypted satellite phone: "Headquarters responded. They are verifying the situation, but advised us: do not open fire unless attacked. This is a political issue, not a military issue."

"A political issue?" Lemont almost laughed: "Thousands of soldiers and dozens of tanks have surrounded us out there, and you're telling me this is a political issue?"

But reason told him Ryan was right.

Once fire is opened, there is no turning back.

That will lead to not a small-scale conflict, but a direct confrontation between the US Army and the Illigo Government Army.

It means a full-scale escalation of war, meaning the United States' seventeen years of effort in Illigo will be destroyed.

The headlights grew closer.

Now, even with the naked eye, it was visible.

Leading the charge were BMP infantry fighting vehicles, followed by armored personnel carriers, and behind them were main battle tanks.

They're not charging at full speed, but advancing steadily, like a huge net slowly tightening.

Five hundred meters outside the base walls, they stopped.

Then, all the headlights simultaneously went out.

Darkness descended again, but more terrifying than before.

Because now, Lemont knew, in that darkness were four thousand soldiers, dozens of armored vehicles and tanks, countless gun barrels and cannon barrels, all aimed at his base.

The silence lasted approximately two minutes.

Then, a voice came through a loudspeaker, speaking in English:

"US Joint Task Force Base, this is the Illigo Army's Tenth Division. You have been surrounded. Please Commander Lemont come out to talk. Repeat, please Commander Lemont come out to talk."

The voice echoed in the night sky, clear and cold.