Not enough Japanese devils to kill? 1.4 billion people volunteer for the Battle of Shanghai.

Target distance: 812 meters.

Wind direction: Southeast, wind speed 2.1 m/s.

Humidity: 76%.

"Atmospheric pressure: 1013 hPa".

"Target wall thickness: 1.2 meters, reinforced concrete, grade approximately C30."

"Recommended ammunition: Special attack-resistant round, 12 kg TNT equivalent explosive charge, 0.05-second time-delay fuse."

Zhao Tiezhu looked up at Bian Yun: "For the first test shot, I suggest aiming at the load-bearing wall below the command room on the third floor. If the penetration effect is as expected, fire the second shot at the same spot to create structural damage."

Bian Yun nodded: "Okay."

Then, he walked to the gun emplacement and looked at the building.

In the darkness, several windows on the third floor of the building were still lit. Faint shadows could be seen moving about, and even faint...music could be heard?

They were really having a party.

They genuinely believed they were safe.

Inside the building, on the third floor, is the command center.

Lieutenant Colonel Suzuki was already half-drunk. He was embracing a geisha, his hands groping her inappropriately.

The geisha forced a smile, but her eyes were fixed on the window—where the night was deep.

Suddenly, Lieutenant Matsumoto rushed in, his face deathly pale:

"Lieutenant Colonel! There's...there's movement outside!"

"What's that noise?" Suzuki impatiently pushed the geisha away. "Are those Chinese starting to make noise again?"

"No...it's the sound of heavy machinery! And...strange lights!"

Suzuki walked to the window and looked out through the bulletproof glass.

In the darkness, there were indeed faint lights in the direction of the Eight Character Bridge—not firelight, but some kind of...cold white, stable light.

Like a searchlight, but more focused.

"It's probably the Chinese setting up new artillery positions," Suzuki said dismissively. "Let them set them up. They won't be able to break through this wall before dawn."

He turned around, ready to continue drinking.

Just then—

Baziqiao Warehouse.

Zhao Tiezhu's hand rested on the firing lever.

This veteran, who had spent his entire life handling artillery, had a heartbeat as steady as a pendulum.

Through the digital scope, he looked at the target 812 meters away—the third floor of the building, fifteen meters to the right, where the load-bearing wall was located.

"Target locked."

"Ballistic parameters have been set."

"Insurance cancelled."

Zhao Tiezhu looked at Bian Yun.

Bian Yun took a deep breath and roared, "Fire!"

Zhao Tiezhu pressed down the firing lever.

The firing of a 155mm howitzer is not a "bang" or a "boom".

It's a roar.

A roar so heavy it resonates in your chest, rising from the depths of the earth.

The flames spewing from the muzzle weren't a single ball, but a thick, continuous stream of fire lasting half a second. The recoil caused the entire cannon to lurch backward half a meter—even with a recoil mechanism and even with the gun mount fixed to the concrete ground.

The sound only caught up with the shell the instant it left the barrel.

Boom-! ! !

Like a giant beating a drum.

Dust fell steadily from the warehouse ceiling.

Projectile flight time: 1.6 seconds.

The special attack projectile spun in the air, its armor-piercing cap gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

812 meters is almost a direct hit for a 155mm shell.

Lieutenant Colonel Suzuki heard a muffled thud coming from afar, and he instinctively turned to look out the window—

Then he saw it.

A black dot rapidly magnifies in the field of vision.

too fast.

It's so fast that my mind can't keep up.

0.05 seconds later——

The shell hit its target.

It didn't hit the glass—it hit the wall two meters below the glass.

Upon impact, the armor-piercing cap shattered, and the main projectile struck the 1.2-meter-thick reinforced concrete at a speed of 900 meters per second.

The first layer of concrete crumbled like a biscuit.

The internal steel mesh tried to resist, but it was torn apart like a spider web by the 48 kg kinetic energy of the projectile and the 12 kg TNT equivalent charge.

The projectile penetrates the wall, and the time-delay fuse detonates after 0.05 seconds.

boom--!!!

It was not an external explosion.

It was an internal explosion.

In the middle of the wall, at the location where the steel reinforcement is most concentrated, 12 kilograms of high-energy explosives were detonated.

Inside the building.

Lieutenant Colonel Suzuki felt a sudden jolt beneath his feet.

It wasn't shaking, it bulged upwards—the entire floor arched upwards by half a meter, and then collapsed with a roar.

He lost his balance and fell to the ground. His ears were filled with a sharp ringing, and his vision was blurred.

Then he heard it—the sound of concrete cracking. Not a "crack," but a "crunching," like the bones of a giant beast breaking.

Spiderweb-like cracks spread wildly across the wall, centered on the point of impact. Dust and debris sprayed out from the cracks, as if the wall were bleeding.

All the ceiling lights went out, and sparks flew from a short circuit in the wiring.

"Lieutenant Colonel!!!" Matsumoto's scream was faint amidst the echo of the explosion.

Suzuki struggled to his feet and saw—a hole more than a meter in diameter in the load-bearing wall. It wasn't an ordinary hole; the steel bars along the edges were all twisted and turned outwards, as if a giant beast had bitten it.

From deep within the hole, one can see the night outside the building.

A cold wind blew in.

It smelled of gunpowder.

And...the taste of death.