Fang Huai’s tone was extrely calm.
Sang Wu, however, furrowed his brow, "Captain Fang, you’re going in there too? It’s very dangerous inside!"
Fang Huai grinned, "Where isn’t it dangerous here? Isn’t it dangerous just 100 ters from our tank? Don’t worry, if I really have to die, my brothers are all here, and although I’m the commander and shouldn’t go in, I’ll just pop in to understand the situation and co right out to support you all later."
As he said this, he hesitated briefly before picking up the two-way radio in his hand.
"Wang Peng, Wang Peng, co to Command!"
Shutting off the valve and disrupting the flow would require them to endure at least five or six hours inside, and if nothing unexpected happened, coming out would an a great accomplishnt.
Fang Huai had no intention of stealing credit that belonged to Sang Wu and the others; he was not lacking in accolades, but with two pipelines on both tanks 102 and 106, and four valves, they were exactly short one person, Second Squadron was just right to fill one in.
He was about to be promoted officially, and for Second Squadron, it was ti to train so young reserves.
Yu Ming and Wang Peng were both good, but Yu Ming had better academic performance than Wang Peng. He should be able to get into the Military Academy. The nomination spot should go to Wang Peng, the less experienced one.
In the past two years, Second Squadron had sent four n to the Military Academy. Continuing to send these young n whom he had personally trained, he could be more reassured about advancing the Squadron’s innovative concepts and military heritage.
...
The valve was nothing to look at.
It was only slightly larger than the old-style steering wheel.
There was no dramatic episode of walking through flowing fire; they found a safe path along the peripherals of several tanks, joined by a few technicians organized from the oil depot to guide them. Besides the heat, there was nothing else around the two tanks.
Beneath the platform, it was all firefighting water shimring with color, clearly with crude oil floating on top, and the backdrop of Tank 103 fiercely burning a few dozen ters away was indeed heart-stopping to behold.
Fang Huai breathed a few lungfuls of the surrounding air and felt that the half-hour limited air supply was indeed a burden, helped them unload it one by one and placed it beside them on the ground, ensuring they had the maximum physical strength to shut off the valve before he ca out.
Fang Huai’s calm deanor reassured the four soldiers shutting off the valves.
It wasn’t just his calmness; the danger directly facing Tank 103 was in no way inferior to the two adjacent tanks.
Plus, while shutting off the valves provided so shelter behind the large tanks, there was absolutely no cover in front.
Returning to base, Cao Yi was utterly flustered. Upon seeing him, Cao Yi started yelling:
"The situation is dire! It’s not cooling down! The tank body is too thick, hard to blow up, but now that it’s completely ignited inside, cooling it down is even harder!"
Fang Huai’s eyes also scrutinized the situation above.
Such a robust tank could withstand a missile strike. Before an explosion, there certainly would be so precursors.
The fire was burning very fiercely, with flas rolling up almost to their overhead, but there were still no signs of explosion, which indicated that their cooling efforts must be working.
Fang Huai clenched his teeth and declared resolutely:
"Defend the large tank at all costs! Wait for additional forces to co in as reinforcents! Since this most crucial position is entrusted to us, we must defend it till the end!"
...
This end ca swiftly.
Just twenty minutes later.
Fang Huai heard a voice co through the Command channel on the radio, saying that the Director and the Corps Captain had arrived and wanted to inspect each position.
Upon hearing this news, Fang Huai’s right eyelid twitched uncontrollably.
He had heard that today’s fire was particularly strange.
The first squadron on the scene experienced an explosion, Chief Cong experienced an explosion when he arrived, and their two squadrons witnessed an explosion upon arriving.
And now two big bosses were coming...
Fang Huai dared not dwell on it deeply.
But within a few minutes, Murphy’s Law kicked in.
"What’s going on? Why has the water supply stopped?"
The high-pressure water suddenly weakened; they had been fighting fire while continuously adding water, and the amount sprayed was huge. Now, with no incoming water, the drivers had no choice but to reduce the water pressure.
Fang Huai imdiately picked up the Command two-way radio, looked behind him and asked, "This is Position Number 1! What’s the situation with the water supply network?"
"The remote water supply truck engine seems to have been overloaded and the cylinder exploded! Hang on, we’re releasing pressure from other water lines to get water to you!"
The other side also understood the importance of Position Number 1; voices were anxious, clearly trying to find a solution.
Fang Huai imdiately turned back to observe the large tank.
Fireballs surged forth; with their heat-resistant suits, the actual temperature at the scene didn’t seem to rise much, but observing the fire, it seed to have stretched farther than before, already rolling from 30 ters above to their rear.
They were initially just cooling the tank body with high pressure and two 80 water cannons; other lines were being used to push and sweep the ground level fire, maintaining the position. Now, without the high pressure to restrain it, the two automatic water cannons’ power felt like barely tickling the tank, shooting into the black smoke, barely visible.
For so reason, Fang Huai kept feeling a buzzing in his ears like tinnitus, which made him sowhat uneasy.
Upon turning to look a mont ago, he also spotted the large road dragon in the back that hadn’t been evacuated in ti and had been caught in the flowing fire, now just a burnt-out skeleton, which made his heart skip a beat.
"High pressure, retract the support legs first!" Fang Huai issued the order decisively.
"Fang Huai! Are we retreating?" Director Zhang of Changsha Special Division 1 asked.
Fang Huai licked his lips and said, "The screeching sound is getting louder! Take advantage of the fact that the water hasn’t arrived yet! Move the high-pressure position back a bit!"
This ti, Director Zhang nodded repeatedly.
"I hear it too! Just now I wasn’t sure if it was my hallucination, but I thought I saw a white light!"
A Number One Staff from Changsha nearby imdiately chid in, "It’s not a hallucination! Director Zhang! I saw it just now too!"
The white light could be from a small explosion inside, or it could be due to a crack from inside to outside the tank, causing suddenly exposed flammable materials to ignite as they were expelled from the tank.
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