Chapter Sixty-Four: The Counterattack, Part Two

On the way, Optimus Prime eliminated a considerable number of transport troops and fighter squadrons sent as reinforcements. His audacious actions quickly drew Skynet’s attention, prompting the enemy to dispatch countless flying terminators to intercept him, all of which were destroyed by Optimus Prime and the Transformers following behind.

Though Optimus Prime’s advance was remarkably smooth, the situation at the base was far from easy. As time passed, more and more large terminators, such as the Reaper, joined the siege. Their thick armor proved nearly impervious to electromagnetic rifles unless a fatal spot was struck. Fortunately, the Dimensional Expeditionary Force possessed large-caliber electromagnetic cannons and rockets capable of inflicting devastating blows. Nevertheless, the shells fired by these massive terminators before their destruction caused severe casualties among the defenders, even those clad in powered exoskeleton armor. After all, exoskeleton armor could not withstand the shockwaves of explosions, let alone direct hits. Such moments were invariably gruesome: bodies and their exoskeletons blasted apart into a heap of debris, viscera and blood splattering those nearby.

This dealt a crushing blow to the morale of the Dimensional Expeditionary Force soldiers. Since the end of World War II, they had never witnessed such carnage in battle. The resistance, however, coped far better, for they had grown numb to such tragedies. With every fight, they lost many comrades, sometimes entire units; death had become the prevailing theme of their world.

The arrival of large terminators made the already tight ammunition consumption even worse. Wang Jing was now tasked not only with transporting various munitions but also with bringing in new personnel to fill the ranks of the fallen, including a significant number of Transformers. These weapon-laden Transformers quickly stabilized the front, but this doubled the rate of ammunition consumption, for their victories were built upon torrents of firepower.

Later, to improve efficiency, the staff of the main dimension decided to deploy mortars and howitzers against the enemy. This decision eased the strained supply chain, since only shells needed to be transported, rather than entire vehicles as with rockets.

Skynet, suppressed on the ground, shifted its offensive focus to the skies, rapidly increasing the number of missiles launched. This placed enormous pressure on the newly established air defense system, since interception rates for anti-aircraft missiles were not perfect, and inevitably one or two missiles would slip through the net. At such times, close-range air defense missiles and the phalanx system were needed for the final interception.

Despite the near-perfection of the air defense system, saturation attacks still allowed some missiles to penetrate and strike their targets.

Unluckily, the destroyed target was the base’s power transmission lines. The main control room was plunged into darkness, rendering all previous efforts void. The power system was soon restored, however, and through the monitors, Wang Jing saw that it was Jazz who had acted as a makeshift wire, transmitting electricity. Judging by his agonized screams, Jazz could not hold out much longer.

Seeing this, Wang Jing immediately hacked off a length of cable from the temporary base in the main dimension and connected it to the severed transmission lines. When he released his grip, Jazz collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Wang Jing quickly sent him back to the main dimension for treatment once the war ended.

The recent blackout had rendered all of Moos’s efforts futile, but fortunately, Optimus Prime had succeeded in capturing a Skynet base.

“Wang Jing, we’ve taken a base. We’ve preserved its servers—send me Moos’s data, I’ll implant it,” said Optimus Prime.

“Alright, I’ll send the data now. Wait there; I’ll dispatch troops for garrison.”

“No problem!”

After receiving Moos’s data, Optimus Prime promptly installed it in the server at the control room. Before long, Moos seized control of the base’s servers, and with new computing power, its offensive speed increased dramatically, quickly recovering lost ground.

In response, Skynet scattered its firepower and launched attacks, but Optimus Prime and the Autobots successfully held them off. Though it was a strenuous defense, and several Transformers were destroyed, reinforcements eventually arrived.

The reinforcement was, in fact, Wang Jing himself. With the help of a supersonic stealth aircraft, he swiftly reached the base Optimus Prime had occupied. To ensure adequate ammunition at the main base, Wang Jing had filled the entire warehouse before leaving. Upon arrival, he transported a large volume of munitions and garrison personnel from the main dimension and the Wandering Earth dimension. Once the garrison was deployed, Optimus Prime and his team advanced to the next base.

To maximize self-sufficiency, Moos allocated part of its computing power to activate the terminator production lines in the factory, supplying whatever support it could to the defense forces.

Then came the second base, following the same pattern: Optimus Prime held the position, Wang Jing arrived to organize defenses and supply ammunition. This strategy diffused Skynet’s offensive pressure and enhanced Moos’s capabilities in a short time.

However, Skynet soon adapted. When Optimus Prime's assault made a base’s loss inevitable, Skynet ordered the terminators to detonate factories storing nuclear batteries. The resulting explosions not only obliterated the base but also injured several Transformers.

This “if I can’t have it, neither can you” approach gave Wang Jing an idea. He requested several tactical nuclear warheads from the main dimension and instructed Optimus Prime to hurl them at Skynet bases, obliterating them outright.

This method worked for a few attacks, but Skynet soon concentrated its firepower, destroying the warheads before they could reach their targets. Though the nuclear warheads did not detonate, their nuclear materials were scattered far and wide.

This forced Wang Jing to abandon the tactic. After all, a world saturated with nuclear radiation would be useless to the main dimension, and it violated the original goal of eliminating Skynet.

At this point, the governments of the main dimension and the other three dimensions cooperated, purchasing all the supercomputers from each dimension, activating them with the Spark, and sending them to the terminator dimension to join the struggle against Skynet.

With the influx of high-speed computing power, Moos’s strength was fully unleashed. After more than a week, Skynet was forced back to its final base, ultimately sealed within the chip of a T-800 terminator.

Thus, the superintelligent Skynet, which had ravaged the world for over a decade, was finally defeated. To ensure Skynet had no hidden backups, the United Government of the main dimension decided to conduct a thorough search of the entire terminator world.

The celebrated Moos was tasked with this operation, using Skynet’s own terminator robots as search tools.

It was an action laden with irony—using your own creations to destroy you. If Skynet possessed human emotions, it would surely curse humanity for its shamelessness and ruthless ingenuity.