USA, Montana, inside Mastrom Air Force Base, Minuteman 3 ICBM silos.

At half past eight in the evening, Major Peter Hart and Lieutenant Contra came to the combat duty room to take over with their comrades on duty.

As the largest land-based ICBM launch base in the US Air Force, the Mastrom base has more than 20 missile silos and is equipped with 178 Minuteman-3 ICBMs.

The 341st Strategic Missile Wing of the US Air Force is responsible for the command and operation of the base, and in the event of a nuclear war, the wing will first launch a priority nuclear strike against the enemy's strategic command center and nuclear missile base.

Such land-based fixed missile silos are also important targets for the enemy's nuclear strikes.

The missile silos of the Mastrom base are scattered in the vast underground of the air base, covered by thick reinforced concrete, and the manhole covers of the missile silos are composed of alloy steel skeletons and concrete layers up to five or six meters thick, with a compression capacity of 28 megapascals, which is difficult to destroy directly unless the enemy's nuclear missiles directly condense the silos.

Under normal circumstances, a missile silo must have at least 10 staff members, including six guards, a silo manager, a cook, and a two-person launch team responsible for firing 10 Minuteman 3 missiles.

Don't look at the silo with few crews, but there are a lot of units involved.

According to the regulations of the US Department of Defense, two Air Force officers on duty at the underground launch control terminal of the silo must be guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

This poses a great challenge to the work of the 341st Strategic Missile Wing.

Because in accordance with the working procedures of the 341st Strategic Missile Wing. Each security officer is on duty for four days at a time, followed by three days off and a fourth day of training. Then it enters a new mission cycle, where it is deployed to different silos to perform missions.

While the personnel in charge of guarding the same place for a long time are prone to slackness, there is no room for negligence in missile protection.

Regular appraisals and rotational deployments avoid this, and the constant rotation of locations also brings a sense of freshness to the staff, thus keeping them motivated.

But it's not without its problems, just at the beginning of this year. The US 341 missile wing collectively cheated during a nuclear missile proficiency test held by the Department of Defense, revealing a big scandal.

This became the largest collective cheating in the history of the US nuclear forces. Eleven officers were implicated, and they were collectively dismissed from the military.

Major Peter Hart was transferred from the 91st Strategic Missile Wing to the 341st Wing after this incident.

In the aftermath of this incident, the 341st Wing strengthened the discipline of officers and enlisted men, and as a result of the assassination of President O'Ao Guanhai. During this time, the Strategic Missile Forces of the US military have been on high alert.

However, how long this state of affairs can be maintained, Major Hart does not know, anyway, in his opinion, on the planet, I am afraid that no armed force dares to challenge the United States, not even the Russians.

Eight hours on duty, Major Hart and Lieutenant Contra checked the duty records of the previous shift, and next. It's a long, boring wait, which will continue unless one day a nuclear strike is suddenly launched against the United States.

Both Major Hart and Lieutenant Connta were accustomed to such days. As usual, Major Hart and Lieutenant Contera chatted about his recent vacation, his beautiful wife, and his lovely daughter.

The two talked and laughed, and the topics ranged from family to women to future promotion routes.

None of them found out on the LCD screen of surveillance. The value of nuclear radiation began to rise strangely, from less than thirty micro-sheifers at the beginning. Slowly rise to fifty micro-sievers, then sixty or seventy micro-sievers.

The radiation level is rising faster and faster, and soon it is approaching the critical point of 300.

In the next second, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded.

Major Hart and Lieutenant Conterra were stunned at the same time, and suddenly stood up from their positions.

It's a nuclear leak alarm!

The two of them looked at the radiation number on the screen, and the nuclear radiation value was climbing at a high speed, 300, 320, 350, 400...... Although the unit was only a microsievert, it rose almost at a second rate, and Major Hart and Lieutenant Contra had a look of horror in their eyes, as if they had heard the steps of the Grim Reaper's call.

"Quick...... Go put on your hazmat suit!" shouted Major Hart in horror.

There was a spare protective suit in the duty room, and the two of them quickly put it on, and by this time, the radiation level had exceeded 100 millisieverts, and the radiation level was still rising rapidly.

Major Hart gasped.

Generally speaking, when the nuclear radiation is only 0~199 microsieverts, there is basically no harm to the human body.

1~399 millisieverts, there will be mild dizziness and vomiting.

400~1000 millisieverts, vomiting and dizziness will occur, and severe people will faint.

1000~4000 millisieverts, the internal organs will be damaged, there is a strong pain, and there is a danger to life.

If it is greater than 4,000 millisieverts, then life will be extremely dangerous, and the person who is strict will die.

"Lieutenant Conter, you guard here first, and I'll go find the source of the radiation!"

"Yes!"

At the critical moment, Major Hart showed the professionalism of a career officer, and Major Hart took out a hand-held Geiger counter from the toolbox on the side, and hurriedly fought in the duty room.

The warning sound on the Geiger counter was like a horn of death, and the values on it were becoming more and more terrifying.

One thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand...... The unit is millisieverts.

Without protective clothing, this radiation is already lethal.

Major Hart came to the elevator in full gear, and two guards had already fallen to the ground due to the high intensity of radiation, one of them had already bled to death, and the other had a slight cry for help from his mouth, and it seemed that he was out of breath and out of breath.

The radiation came so suddenly that the soldiers in the silo didn't have time to put on their protective suits.

Major Hart can still manage so much, according to the radiation intensity in front of him, even if he wears a protective suit, I am afraid he will not last much time.

The elevator doors quickly opened, and Major Hart rushed straight inside, and the elevator began to rise slowly.

It's almost too late!

The dripping sound of the Geiger counter is getting denser and denser, and the radiation value displayed on the LCD screen has exceeded 100,000 millisieverts.

Major Hart only felt that his scalp was numb, what the hell was going on, it couldn't be just that the protective layer of the nuclear warhead was broken, and the radiation intensity under the current moment was almost comparable to the strength of the core area when the neutron bomb exploded.

The thin protective suit could not isolate such a large dose of radiation at all, Major Hart began to feel sore, his head became heavier and heavier, and the sight of his eyes was gradually covered with a bloody color, and he collapsed silently in the elevator, and the world was silent. (To be continued)