freenovelworld Chapter 916
Chapter 916
The message delivery from the US is always slow, especially in times of such catastrophic failure, like a cat whose tail has been stepped on but is still trying to remain calm.
The horrific news of "three hundred Poseidon's Sword special forces soldiers being wiped out by an unidentified force in the Cuban jungle" was reported cautiously by the Virginia naval captain, as if he were handling a hot, highly concentrated bomb, as it was passed up through the ranks. Ultimately, it exploded in a higher-level roundtable conference room.
This time, the person who smashed the cup was a member of parliament of even higher rank and power. It was said to be a priceless porcelain vase that had been looted since the Qing Dynasty. With a "crack," it shattered into pieces, just like the fate of the three hundred soldiers.
"Excuses! They're all excuses for incompetence!"
The congressman was so angry that his signature red nose was trembling. He pointed to a stack of reports on the table covered with words like "unidentified mechs" and "hellfire sea," spitting as he spoke.
"Are you trying to tell me that we didn't encounter some uncultured guerrillas there, but aliens from Mars? Or that the Soviets secretly built a Gundam? These incompetent intelligence idiots! Besides making up science fiction stories to scam budgets, what practical things can they do?"
His voice pierced through the heavy oak doors, causing the secretaries in the corridor to involuntarily shrink back.
"There are no monsters, and no laser weapons!"
He banged his pipe hard on the table, giving the final and most "reasonable" assessment.
"That was a cunning trap! It was despicable poison gas! It could even be our soldiers suffering from food poisoning due to acclimatization! It could never be that ridiculous 'Iron Man'! Tell those Navy guys, I don't care what dirty tricks those monkeys used, this slap in the face is not only to the Navy, but also to the United States!"
"This is no longer a problem that can be solved by covert operations. This is an act of war."
A ruthless glint flashed in the senator's eyes.
"Since petty theft won't work, let's just tear that house down!"
"I authorize the Navy to immediately put the First Carrier Strike Group of the Sixth Fleet on high alert. Go ahead and show those jungle rats how ridiculous their underhanded tricks are in the face of real 10,000-ton behemoths and heavy artillery."
……
And so, the enormous war machines roared to life once more.
Three days later, on a clear morning that should have been perfect for fishing boats to set sail and catch lobsters, the unique sapphire blue waters of the Caribbean were shrouded by an endless, dark, steel-like cloud.
“That’s an entire navy, my God.”
A fisherman, hiding on a distant lighthouse, held up a monocular telescope passed down from his grandfather, his lips trembling.
On the horizon, a massive aircraft carrier, its decks teeming with fighter jets as densely packed as a flock of eagles, slowly rolled in like a moving island. Around it, several destroyers and cruisers circled like loyal dogs, their towering radar antennas and jungle-like cannons brazenly asserting their unshakeable sovereignty over the sea.
On the bridge of the flagship aircraft carrier USS Olympus.
A gray-haired but vigorous vice admiral leisurely sipped a cup of hot coffee, gazing at the faintly visible coastline in the distance. The "Death Jungle" that had claimed the lives of three hundred warriors was now, in his eyes, nothing more than a tiny dot on a map that could be easily erased.
"Sir, the sonar department reports that the underwater acoustic environment is a bit strange."
The first mate walked over, holding a voiceprint recording sheet in his hand, his brows slightly furrowed.
"Strange? What a strange method?"
The lieutenant general nonchalantly blew on the steam from his coffee.
"There are too many 'fish'. There are strange little echoes all over the water, like schools of fish, but not quite, and their movement is... a bit too regular."
"Dolphins? Or some other marine creature?" The lieutenant general shrugged. "Don't make a fuss. Don't let those cowardly special forces freaks catch your 'nervousness.' This is our inland lake."
He chuckled.
"Send the USS Freedom forward. Conduct a deterrent bombardment of that area. Give those jungle bastards a knock on the door first."
"Yes."
Three kilometers ahead.
The destroyer USS Freedom was a battle-hardened veteran ship that had survived the baptism of World War II. It cleaved through the waves like a burly man preparing to teach a naughty child a lesson, charging menacingly towards the nearshore waters. The two intimidating twin-mounted guns at the bow began to slowly rotate, their muzzles raised high.
The captain was issuing orders from the conning tower, and all the sailors were busy at their tasks methodically. They were relaxed, even somewhat bored. In their view, this was just another routine shore bombardment, utterly devoid of any danger.
however.
In the abyss two hundred meters underwater.
The true Grim Reaper makes no sound.
That wasn't a school of fish.
Dozens of spindle-shaped objects, completely covered in black wave-absorbing skin, almost blending into the dark deep sea, are silently suspended in the water using a unique, completely silent magnetohydrodynamic propulsion system.
They were like a pack of mechanical wolves awaiting the hunt. And at this moment, the enormous vessel churning the water and making a tremendous noise overhead was their long-awaited first meal.
An encrypted instruction was transmitted to their core processor via a low-frequency signal.
"attack."
Hunting Mode: Activated.
[Supercavitation system: Initiated.]
next second.
Beneath the calm, mirror-like surface of the sea, a terrifying, suffocating power suddenly erupted.
Accompanied by a low, steaming sound like boiling water, several white streaks of water reached a crazy speed of 200 knots, defying the common sense of traditional hydrodynamics!
Like underwater lightsabers, they instantly pierced through the distance of several kilometers.
"Sir...Sir! Sonar has detected a high-speed object! It's right here...Oh my god, it's so fast!"
The sonar operator on the Freedom didn't even have time to utter the terrifying word "Torpedo".
"boom--!!!"
A deafening roar that could be clearly heard even from an aircraft carrier several kilometers away.
To everyone's astonishment.
The massive 10,000-ton warship that had been swaggering about moments before seemed to be lifted up from below by a giant hand from the deep sea.
Its keel emitted a heartbreaking crack. The entire warship bent almost into a "V" shape in the middle, like a plastic toy violently broken by a child. A towering column of water, mixed with steel fragments, fuel fireballs, and countless human bodies, rose hundreds of meters into the air like a volcanic eruption.
There's not even a second hit needed.
Less than thirty seconds.
That steel monster that once symbolized ocean dominance was broken in two.
The bow soared to the sky, then crashed heavily back into the sea, creating a massive splash. Then, amidst a huge whirlpool and a sickeningly metallic clang, it gurgled and sank rapidly beneath the surface of the sea where it had once thought it could sail freely.
All that remained was a layer of black, shiny oil that had spread across the sea surface, and a few scattered life rafts that couldn't even send out a cry for help.
silence.
A deathly silence enveloped the once invincible fleet.
"Oh, God……"
On the bridge of the flagship "Olympus," the exquisite coffee cup that had just been held fell to the floor with a "clatter." The expensive Brazilian coffee splattered all over the lieutenant general's trousers, but he remained oblivious, like a wooden statue.
His mouth was agape, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. He couldn't understand it. This was completely beyond all the experience and common sense he had accumulated in his thirty years in the Navy.
No planes. No other warships. Not even a torpedo trail was visible.
It's like that ship exploded on its own due to some kind of mysterious, uncontrollable curse?
"Did it...did it hit a reef?" The lieutenant general's voice was dry, like a rusty gear. "Or...did the ammunition depot...explode?"
No one could answer him. Everyone looked utterly bewildered. Hitting a reef in a deep-water area clearly marked on a modern nautical chart? The explanation was so absurd that even an uneducated cook wouldn't believe it.
"Quickly! Search and rescue! No, alert! Anti-submarine aircraft! Find it! Dig three feet into the ground and find out what it was doing!"
The lieutenant general roared almost hysterically.
The entire fleet instantly shifted from "outing mode" to "panic mode." A chilling battle alarm echoed across the sea. Several Siren helicopters and anti-submarine aircraft, equipped with the latest anti-submarine technology, took off from the deck, swarming like a disturbed hornet's nest over the area where the "Freedom" had sunk.
The active sonar made a frantic "clanging" sound, searching every inch of the underwater space for any suspicious metallic echoes.
"Report! The underwater environment... is too clean."
The sonar operator, drenched in sweat, took off his headset, his face blank with confusion.
"Aside from the noise of the ever-spreading wreckage of the warship, we... couldn't hear anything. There was no submarine noise, no traditional torpedo engine noise. The underwater world was as quiet as a tomb."
"Impossible! How could a grave eat people?!"
The lieutenant general grabbed the microphone and roared at the entire crew.
"That's a trick! It's the Russians' new silent submarine! They must be hiding beneath the thermocline!"
The fleet once again descended into a frantic "virtual performance." The destroyers aimlessly dropped depth charges into the deep waters. Huge white plumes of water rose and fell, but aside from killing hundreds of tons of unfortunate tuna and making the sea even more murky, they gained nothing.
This sense of powerlessness, this feeling of "not even knowing where the enemy is," took root like a poisonous vine in the hearts of every sailor. It was far more agonizing than the direct exchange of cannon fire.
Fear began to spread.
Is this Grim Reaper, which is invisible, inaudible, and intangible, yet capable of splitting a steel behemoth in two with a single strike, truly something created by humankind?
"boom--!"
It was like plucking a string that was already stretched to its limit.
Another outbreak without warning.
Closer to the core of the fleet, a light cruiser responsible for flank escort was suddenly struck by a heavy blow.
This time it was below the port waterline.
The violent explosion paralyzed all of the ship's power almost instantly. Although it did not sink immediately like the previous one, the secondary explosion that occurred minutes later, accompanied by a massive fire and flooding, was like a dazzling display of death fireworks, delivering a devastating blow to the hearts of everyone in the fleet.
Followed by.
"Boom!" A third sound. A frigate that tried to turn around and escape was also caught up by some force and its stern was brutally torn apart. Like a gecko with its tail cut off, it spun around on the sea, waiting for its death.
"A devil...there's a devil here..."
A young radar observer could no longer bear the pressure. He threw away the unresponsive green display screen, buried his head in his hands, and huddled in a corner, trembling.
The lieutenant general gripped the railing of the command platform, his knuckles white from the force of his grip. His prized fleet was now like a child lost in a dark forest, its head being smashed one by one by unknown monsters.
"Retreat! Damn it... everyone retreat!"
He finally gave that shameful order, but it may have saved the lives of the rest of the people.
The massive steel mass, like a frightened herd of elephants, abandoned the burning remains of its companions amidst chaos and smoke, and also abandoned the once invincible dignity of a great nation, and fled in disarray back the way it came on the dark Caribbean Sea.
In this so-called "cat and mouse game".
The old cat, which looked fierce and strong, realized this for the first time.
This time, what was hiding in the hole waiting for it was not a mouse.
Instead, they were a group of abyssal piranhas covered in black scales.