Miss Beautiful C.E.O and her system

"Kilo 1, orders received," a reply quickly came back.

"Enemy units are preparing to use mortars to strike at our sisters. I need you to destroy them. Athena will read out the coordinates; you can calibrate them easily with her help. Laser-guided ammunition only. Remember, we only hit our targets, nothing else."

"Roger, Kilo 1 setting up mortar position."

"Move fast, we don't have time. We aren't afraid of being hit, but that doesn't mean civilians are invulnerable. We cannot allow that stain to follow our careers. Understood?"

"Understood!"

Upon receiving Tang Ziyi's orders, Kilo 1 operators swiftly took a stronghold and set up a perimeter, while two members brought two long tubes and boxes of ammunition—shells—from the technicals.

Although the battlefield had moved into the inner circle and they were resting outside, appropriate measures to protect themselves from being flanked were necessary.

Why did Spirit Fox operators know how to operate a mortar system? Well, they didn't. The answer was simple.

Because Athena designed and manufactured the system in a way that the weapons operated with minimal human input, one could learn and familiarize themselves with it easily.

The operators merely needed to know how to differentiate between different shell types and handle them. The rest was up to the autonomous system.

Not to mention, most of the Spirit Fox operators were retired veterans. They could share knowledge and experience about precautions and basic weapon handling with those who didn't understand.

Since Tang Ziyi demanded precision, the operators extracted the laser-guided munitions from the boxes and laid them on the ground. The two placed these shells inside the reloading mechanism.

A 60 mm tube, portable in size, was not comparable to the ones equipped on Kilo 2 and Kilo 3, which used 120 mm—a big one.

The mortar system was connected to their PDA—tablets equipped on the vests. After inputting the coordinates read out by Athena, the two mortars swiveled and adjusted their trajectory automatically.

Before the connection, the operators had to plug in the wire to use the system to avoid any interference. Afterward, the operators could disconnect the wire and use wireless mode or continue with the wire connection.

The manual advised—or Athena recommended—wire connection in a safe environment, which led to the two members staying connected with the mortar system.

This method safeguarded mortar users from enemy fire and allowed them to operate from a safe distance. Your adventure continues at My Virtual Library Empire

Although Athena, Tang Ziyi, and Ling Qingyu had great trust in their technologies, preparedness for the worst was never wrong.

The system was connected with GPS satellites—Ling Qingyu's private ones—which could also take over other satellites if necessary to ensure high accuracy. As long as the operators carefully entered the coordinates, everything was fine.

Of course, even if the operators knew nothing about coordinates, the map generated by Athena for military purposes on the application screen allowed the operators to simply tap on the location, and the system completed its task beautifully.

For now, the enemies' locations were precisely recorded by Athena, and the above mode of tapping on the map wasn't necessary.

In fact, Athena didn't need to call out the numbers. She could directly control the system and complete everything. But that would do good for no one, and she might even expose herself too much.

"One round of shelling! Fire!" the leader ordered.

The two operators placed a few shells on the reloading mechanism, selected the number of rounds, and tapped on the fire button.

Metallic clicks were followed by the whining of the actuators; two metal palms grabbed the shells while the actuators lifted them above the tube and released them into the tubes before snapping back to their original position.

Boom! Boom!

"Another set of coordinates, fire!"

A little shockwave brushed their hairlines into a mess. Their eyes squinted to adapt to the strong airflow. The operators input another set of coordinates and repeated the action.

Boom! Boom!

Two more rounds of shelling ensued, and every location marked by Athena was shelled.

...

Tang Ziyi watched the live video footage. The thermal mode kept its eye steady on the enemy's mortars.

She sneered at the gangsters' readiness and left the laser-marking job to Athena. The three drones precisely lased their targets accordingly with the timing of the mortar shelling, which could only be conducted by Athena.

No amount of training could achieve this successful result by humans. Computerized operations by AI changed everything. And Athena wasn't a simple AI.

Tang Ziyi saw a few gangsters calibrating the mortars, their hands moving fast to adjust the height and whatnot.

A pity, her Spirit Fox was faster. In the battle for timing, her subordinates had already fired.

From the feed, her eyes gazed at the white straight line depicting a laser beam from above.

Sure enough, in the next seconds, a shell landed on the mortar position and exploded. The explosion triggered secondary detonations when the gang's munitions also blew up.

A powerful small mushroom cloud elicited a cruel smile from Tang Ziyi. She switched her view to the next targets. Similar scenes unfolded.

Spirit Fox's attack was continuous, leaving no chance for the gang to withdraw, escape, or alert others.

They stood zero chance to counterattack, and these mortars might have been their final straws of despair. Everyone near the explosions was killed or injured severely. They could never survive without rapid medical care, and who would provide it?

Furthermore, a secondary explosion would definitely quicken the process of sending them to death.

"Kilo 1, good effect on target. Enemies neutralized. Brilliant work, girls!" Tang Ziyi wasn't reluctant to praise.

"Thank you, command. What's next for us?"

"Prepare to support other teams if necessary. Otherwise, take a rest. Out."

Tang Ziyi: "Athena, are there any more similar important targets?"

"None at the moment, Aunt."

"Hmm, keep scanning and alert me if you find any suspicions."

"Okay, Aunt."

Tang Ziyi put away the tablet and walked in the direction where Ling Qingyu had left. The battle in the city was completely done.

If the gang knew what was the best option—surrender! Now, Tang Ziyi had a headache and needed to discuss this issue with Ling Qingyu.

Should they accept surrender? It was one thing to do something behind others' backs; it was completely different to expose your own crimes in front of the military.

Although none of the bastards here deserved a light sentence of imprisonment, ordering a pure execution would affect Spirit Fox.

After all, from a psychological perspective, she didn't want a war maniac to appear among her ranks. Control was still essential.

She found Ling Qingyu moving around Kilo 7 operatives, carrying a large tube of 120 mm.

"At ease, girls. Targets have been eliminated," Tang Ziyi informed the hasty Kilo 7 and patted the curious Ling Qingyu.

"Done already?" Ling Qingyu asked with disbelief. She had just stepped out, and the gangsters were killed.

"They aren't professionals to begin with. Why surprised?" Tang Ziyi furrowed her brow. "We are giving face to them that we haven't ended the battle within two hours."

"Well," Ling Qingyu didn't say more. She had to agree with Tang Ziyi's statement. Now only 80 Spirit Fox operators were deployed.

If another 200 more were added, they would have already captured the city by now. Ling Qingyu was eager for the Y-20 aircrafts promised by Gu Yi.

These aircrafts were something she couldn't buy even with huge amounts of capital. Connections and ultimate social skills were essential.

Who knew if she might be able to gain more aircraft from the government through Gu Yi's channel?

In fact, Athena had already hacked the world's network and downloaded the necessary data. With her capabilities, Athena could manufacture any latest technology with ease.

Ling Qingyu was trying to buy time and avoid unwarranted attention. As long as Gu Yi gave her word, she could produce fighter jets, helicopters, and ships to arm Spirit Fox—J-10, J-20, and J-35.

Or, she could find and control a new island or buy one from a poor nation to facilitate her future base establishment.

Actually, she preferred weapons from Country A, in contrast to Country C. Quality versus quantity—who would refuse?

Nonetheless, Athena's products had an extremely high benchmark! It didn't matter where the weapons originated as long as they came from Athena's hands.

So, Ling Qingyu decided to pick the most beautiful ones and equip them in her army. Country R's seemed more appropriate and reasonable to appear in her hands, especially since there were black market sales of aircraft in the past years when the country struggled to revive its economy.

In the future, SU-57s, SU-30s, or SU-35s flying in her name made Ling Qingyu drool. Alyssia's military jets weren't bad either. In terms of design, the Rafale fighter, in particular, was really beautiful.

However, if aircraft from Country A, Alyssia, or Country C popped out of her armed group, those nations would be like wolves investigating thoroughly, affecting her future plans.

These issues were too far away to consider. Ling Qingyu shook her head. Since Tang Ziyi came up with the Virgin Gunship, there might be stealth aircraft too.

"Just as I thought, they are now surrendering," Tang Ziyi delivered the good news.

"Hey, congrats. How did they surrender?" Ling Qingyu smiled and hugged Tang Ziyi, who rolled her eyes at someone who always knew the timing.

"I mean, not all have surrendered. But the waves will affect their psychology. We just need to maintain this momentum and pressure. Gradually, we'll witness a mass surrender."

"What if they can't? You know, sometimes, a dead squad can change their mindset."

"Desertions, mutiny, and chaos among their own ranks. Anyway, all of these will benefit us."