Chapter 136: Attacking the Gate of Hell

"We can help you with this, but what's in it for us?"

"You must realize that behind them stands a space-faring civilization capable of interstellar colonization. If you drive the current people off this planet, it won't be many years before they return with a massive fleet," Wang Jing said.

"Then what do you want?"

"We want to understand the characteristics of a planetary consciousness like yours, as well as the superconducting ore. Of course, you can rest assured that our extraction technology will not destroy the surface vegetation."

After thinking for a moment, Eywa agreed to Wang Jing's request.

Once the agreement was reached, Eywa sent Wang Jing's consciousness back into his own body.

Wang Jing opened his eyes. What came into view was the exact scene from right after he had accepted the branch of the Tree of Souls; the surrounding scenery was identical to before, and the numerous Na'vi were still holding hands, swaying their bodies and chanting.

Wang Jing looked at Li Yiyi beside him and asked, "How long has it passed since I grabbed the branch?"

Li Yiyi was clearly taken aback by the question, but he quickly recovered. "Ten seconds have passed from just now until now."

"Ten seconds!" Wang Jing murmured, repeating it with a nod, and then said to Liu Peiqiang, "Have the troops get ready. We launch an attack on Hell's Gate Base in thirty minutes!"

"Yes!"

After giving the order, Wang Jing returned to the prime material plane and said to M.O.O.S., "Pull up the sky surveillance footage from ten minutes ago for me."

"Understood."

The next moment, a ten-minute video appeared before Wang Jing. He fast-forwarded to the moment he accepted the branch of the Tree of Souls. Just as Wang Jing expected, the scene of him meeting Eywa was also projected into the sky, albeit in fast-forward.

The original ten-minute conversation was compressed to under two seconds, so fast that it was like a flash.

Just then, Song Guohua walked over and said, "Through the footage just now, we found your mother. Do you want to go see her?"

Hearing Song Guohua's words, Wang Jing was stunned. After waiting for a long time, he shook his head and said, "Forget it. I'm used to being alone, and as far as I'm concerned, she and I are nothing more than strangers connected by blood."

"Alright, I respect your decision. But you can come find me anytime if you change your mind."

"Hmm!" Wang Jing nodded, put on his combat armor, and returned to the Avatar plane.

Thirty minutes later, the dimensional expeditionary force launched its attack on Hell's Gate Base on schedule. Jake, who had been tied to the tree, also linked up with his Avatar at this moment.

Yet when he opened his eyes, what he saw was a large number of soldiers clad in armor and armed to the teeth. Immediately afterward, Jake spotted several heavy tanks the likes of which he had never seen before.

Merely looking at the thick barrels of those tanks was enough to tell that their firepower was absolute devastation.

Just as Jake watched those heavy tanks rapidly rumble past on the adjacent road, a familiar roar echoed from overhead.

Looking up through the dense branches and leaves, he could faintly make out a dozen fighter jets gliding across the sky.

These scenes scared Jake into instantly severing his link with the Avatar. Awakening from the linkage chamber, Jake threw open the lid and shouted, "Military! A massive military force is heading toward us! They don't just have tanks; they have fighter jets!"

In his panic, Jake even tumbled out of the linkage chamber.

Grace ran over from the side and helped the fallen Jake to his feet. "What is it? Tell me slowly!"

"The military, the Na'vi, and that group of environmentalists have formed a massive army! Quick, notify Colonel Quaritch to prepare—"

Before Jake could finish his sentence, a massive explosion erupted outside the habitation module.

At the Hell's Gate landing pad, raging fires broke out, and a large number of armed helicopters and TVA-37B space shuttles were destroyed by air-to-surface missiles launched by the Transformers.

Inside the command center, Colonel Quaritch heard the explosion and immediately asked his adjutant, "What's going on? Where did that explosion come from?"

However, the base's intrusion alarm answered the Colonel's question quite effectively. Listening to the piercing sirens and flashing lights, Quaritch roared, "Intrusion alert! Get everyone to take up arms and fight back!"

Immediately, everyone around grew busy. At this moment, a communications officer brought up footage of the raging fires burning on the base's landing pad.

Gazing at the scene before him, Colonel Quaritch immediately knitted his brows. "How many aircraft do we have left, and why didn't the radar detect them in advance?" he demanded.

"Colonel, the radar we're using is obsolete military surplus from the last century; it cannot identify stealth fighters," the comms officer replied.

Just then, Parker initiated a video call to inquire about what was happening.

"It's very simple. We've been attacked, casualties are extremely heavy, and we need reinforcement!" Quaritch said calmly.

"What? On this planet, besides us, there's only that bunch of damned blue monkeys! Who else could possibly attack our base?"

"It's probably that group of environmentalists, but rest assured, I've already dispatched all troops to handle it!" Colonel Quaritch said with confidence.

Yet the very next second, a sudden explosion slapped the Colonel squarely across the face.

"Damn it! You'd better handle it, or we'll all die here!" Parker pointed at Colonel Quaritch and roared loudly.

"I will!" Colonel Quaritch said with a gloomy expression before cutting off the video call. He turned to the comms officer nearby and asked, "Where was that explosion just now?"

"Report, it was our anti-air missile battery." As the comms officer spoke, he pulled up the surveillance footage of the anti-air missile battery, which had already been reduced to a giant crater.

"Do you know where the attack was launched from?"

The comms officer rewound the surveillance footage by a few seconds, and Colonel Quaritch watched as a missile diagonally plunged down from above.

At this sight, a trace of sheer disbelief flashed through the minds of both the Colonel and the comms officer, but the stark reality was right before their eyes, forcing them to believe it.

However, the next moment, Grace's video call unraveled Colonel Quaritch's confusion. Slamming his hand heavily onto the desk, the Colonel said angrily, "That's no mere environmentalist group—that's an actual army! Someone has set their sights on the fat prize of superconducting ore and wants to steal the fruit of our labor!"

"What should we do?" Hearing that it was an army, Grace also began to panic. She was well aware of how brutal resource wars could be; Jake's own paralyzed legs had been injured in war.

"Don't worry, your researchers aren't soldiers. As long as you voluntarily surrender, you'll be fine."

Hearing Colonel Quaritch's words, Grace finally let out a sigh of relief, but then asked anxiously, "What about you guys?"

Colonel Quaritch did not answer Grace's question. Instead, he directly hung up the video call, turned to the comms officer beside him, and said, "You take command from here!"

With that, he grabbed his sidearm, a resolute look in his eyes, walked firmly toward the hangar, and boarded his custom AMP suit.