The Chunky Dog destroyer had become a household name in Bird Nation, hailed as a 'hero' for defending 'national sovereignty and territorial integrity,' a feat that somewhat satiated the swelling pride of its people.
Buoyed by the accolades, the crew of the Chunky Dog was full of vigor, determined to press on with the Bird Nation government's directive to harass Dragon Nation's oil rigs, pushing the harassment to the breaking point in hopes of either forcing Dragon Nation to withdraw or securing greater concessions at the negotiating table.
As long as Star Nation stood behind them, with the four carrier strike groups patrolling the Eastern Pacific, Dragon Nation would never dare to take significant action against Bird Nation.
In fact, what made the Bird Nation government ecstatic was the lack of a major military response from Dragon Nation.
After the collision incident, Dragon Nation's East Sea Fleet arrived at the scene only to find it empty.
Subsequently, they massed forces in the East Sea for military exercises—all of which the Bird Nation government had anticipated.
As for media condemnation and student protests, Bird Nation simply ignored them; reputation was meaningless compared to the scraps tossed over by Star Nation.
On the night of Dragon Nation's Lantern Festival according to their old calendar, the Bird Nation military, under instruction from the Prime Minister, decided to launch another surprise attack against Dragon Nation.
To guard against Dragon Nation's fleet in the East Sea, this operation involved not only two Asagiri-class guided-missile destroyers displacing 4,200 tons but also one Kongō-class guided-missile destroyer displacing over 9,000 tons.
This vessel was a mainstay of the Bird Nation fleet, equipped with anti-air and anti-submarine missiles, and fitted with the advanced Aegis combat system.
It carried one Sea Hawk anti-submarine helicopter and a towed array sonar system.
To escort the Kongō-class destroyer, Bird Nation also dispatched two Abukuma-class guided-missile frigates displacing 2,500 tons, while three Chūshio-class conventional attack submarines patrolled beneath the waves.
After cruising their territorial waters for a while, this rather substantial fleet shut down all communications and stealthily infiltrated Dragon Nation's oil exploration zone.
This area was a veritable treasure trove, as Bird Nation's homeland was woefully poor in resources, instilling an ancient, predatory wildness in their blood.
Coupled with the various benefits promised by the Imperial Petroleum Consortium, the Bird Nation government was now staking everything on this venture.
The Chunky Dog, eager to repeat its success, was ready for a second act.
This time, the targets might be the wellheads or the underwater equipment, but one crucial rule remained: absolutely no weapons engagement was permitted without direct military orders, lest such action force Dragon Nation to cast aside all reservations and commence open warfare with Bird Nation.
Several nautical miles from their destination, a deafening explosion suddenly ripped through the fleet.
The officers and crew of the Chunky Dog, who had been dreaming of completing this mission and returning home for a massive celebratory orgy, were instantly turned into ghosts heading back to their ancestors.
The blast and the towering flames exposed the entire fleet.
The purpose of submerging was instantly negated, especially as they scrambled to power up their systems to search for the enemy.
Intelligence from the P3C anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft that had just returned suggested no enemy presence in the area.
Could the Chunky Dog have suffered a catastrophic failure from overconfidence? The emergency was swiftly reported to Bird Nation's high command, and soon the highest directive arrived: ascertain the situation immediately and report back; permission granted to return fire if necessary.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—every system on the fleet roared to life, bathing the sea in light.
Radar scans showed no Dragon Nation warships near the surface, and sonar detection yielded nothing.
Could the Chunky Dog truly have malfunctioned due to hubris? Just then, an observer aboard the Kongō suddenly spotted the silhouette of a non-friendly submarine on the distant horizon.
The sight chilled him to the bone.
A submarine this close had gone undetected—the Bird Nation Navy was perhaps not far from annihilation.
The news spread rapidly through the ships.
The radar displayed a blank slate, meaning the enemy submarine possessed complete anti-radar capabilities.
The running noise detected by sonar had completely merged with the ocean's background sounds, making tracking impossible.
The Sea Hawk anti-submarine aircraft overhead were utterly useless, less effective than the naked eye.
The highly trained Bird Nation commander was no amateur.
He swiftly ordered the fleet into battle stations.
The three Chūshio-class submarines and the remaining Asagiri-class destroyer immediately launched guided torpedoes, while the anti-submarine aircraft rapidly flew over the enemy submarine's position, preparing to deploy depth charges.
At that moment, the enemy submarine group suddenly moved.
Bang, bang—as the submarine cluster rapidly dove deeper, they counterattacked, launching two anti-air missiles that shot straight toward the Sea Hawk aircraft.
The Sea Hawk, lacking radar stealth, was locked on and immediately destroyed, vaporized into scrap.
Simultaneously, the submarine group launched torpedoes to intercept the Bird Nation's attack.
The first wave of 30 torpedoes sent the three Bird Nation submarines turning tail to flee.
Unfortunately, a second wave of 30 torpedoes followed immediately.
The three Bird Nation submarines could not cope with this wolfpack tactic and were sunk one by one.
After a brief exchange, the sea surface calmed, and the enemy submarine group vanished.
The commander of the Kongō understood his precarious situation; the enemy submarine group was elusive and represented a capability far beyond what Bird Nation currently possessed.
Besides reporting the situation to the military department, he immediately ordered the fleet to retreat to the naval base.
However, it was too late.
The fleet's radar alarms suddenly shrieked violently: sixty submarine-launched missiles were ascending, hurtling toward the fleet.
At this point, even if they had pinpointed the enemy submarines' launch positions, they were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of missiles—who had the presence of mind left to worry about anti-submarine warfare? The Kongō's commander died without ever knowing who they were, or how they possessed such terrifying power.
In the early hours of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Naval Commander Zhang Dahai of the Tri-Service Corps arrived with five teams of submariners aboard a stealth transport craft at a secret underground base in the Zhoushan Archipelago.
The submariners finally beheld the five Mercury-class nuclear attack submarines they had long awaited.
In recent days, they had only operated these behemoths in simulators; now, finally having the chance to take them to sea to "do the job," their excitement was palpable.
The excitement was contagious; even I felt a thrill.
After years in the service, this was my first real combat operation, and it was submarine warfare at that.
I felt no need to deliver a pre-battle mobilization speech, nor did I wish to reveal my identity to the submariners—keeping a low profile was best.
I shared the Number 101 submarine with Zhang Dahai.
During the day, we made a sweep along the East Sea.
Not only did our own anti-submarine reconnaissance fail to detect us, but we were able to observe the Bird Nation and Star Nation bases on Okinawa to our heart's content.
Sometimes, the bird-brained P3C anti-submarine aircraft flew directly overhead, yet they detected absolutely nothing.
These super-submarines delighted the crew.
When operating the old Type 091s, the noise was deafening, like drums beating next to one's ears, and the internal temperature was frighteningly high.
Now, running on high-capacity battery packs while submerged, there was utter silence inside, and the temperature was comfortably spring-like.
Even when running the nuclear reactor to recharge the batteries, the noise was very faint, and the temperature, though slightly elevated, remained well within human tolerance.
What truly overjoyed everyone was the stealth coating applied to the exterior of the submarines—the same material developed by Zhao Fang for the stealth spacecraft.
Its performance surpassed current Earth stealth materials by a factor of ten.
We submerged beneath Bird Nation aircraft carrier formations several times, and they remained completely unaware.
Even more remarkable was the diving depth.
The theoretical limit was 1,000 meters, though Hull Number 104 performed an extreme test, receiving a red high-pressure warning only when it reached 1,500 meters.
This was using the hull manufactured from 3X alloy; if a hull were built using the same alloy as drill heads, a depth of 5,000 meters might not even be an issue.
The submarine contained a food synthesizer, primarily used for creating nutrient paste.
Frankly, I disliked the taste of that synthesized food.
Furthermore, the synthesizer had been modified to include freshwater purification and oxygen separation functions, producing fresh water for navigation and living needs while extracting oxygen from seawater for internal use.
In summary, this class of submarine required no resupply and could operate indefinitely in the deep sea.
We currently could not solve the problem of deep-sea communications, requiring one submarine to surface periodically to establish contact with satellites.
Images received from the satellite in the evening showed Bird Nation fleets assembling.
Could they also be planning an operation on this special day, just like us? This speculation was confirmed late at night: the Bird Nation warships deployed, attempting to repeat their scheme, only to be ambushed midway and utterly destroyed.
The moment the news broke the next day, the entire world was once again thrown into turmoil.
The Bird Nation government issued an emergency war mobilization order, threatening to declare war on Dragon Nation if it was determined that the incident was orchestrated by them.
Star Nation, however, cared nothing for the petty national pride or dignity of foolish Bird Nation.
The White House issued a stern warning to the Bird Nation Prime Minister: if Bird Nation dared to declare war on Great Dragon Nation without Star Nation's consent, the Star Nation carrier fleet would be the first to annihilate the Bird Nation Navy.
Why would Star Nation act this way? Because they had already observed partial data on the mysterious submarines from satellite imagery, combined with the data transmitted just before the Bird Nation fleet's destruction.
This indicated that the Bird Nation Navy was entirely helpless against these submarines, which displaced at least 18,000 tons, carried an immense payload and fired missiles at an astonishing rate, all while boasting stealth capabilities so profound that their submerged noise registered below the ocean's background sound.
Even Star Nation's current anti-submarine capabilities would likely be insufficient against them.
To drag the entire Star Nation Navy into conflict over a foolish Bird Nation would be a massive miscalculation.
A significant number of senators in the White House had already proposed temporarily withdrawing the four carrier strike groups to Bird Nation's military bases, and strictly forbidding large-scale submarine escorts from entering the seas near Dragon Nation, including the Taiwan Strait, in the future.
Although there was currently no concrete evidence linking these five submarines to Dragon Nation, the matter was undeniably urgent.
In response to Bird Nation's official condemnations and statements, Dragon Nation's government issued a brief announcement: The Great Dragon Nation military's army, navy, and air force undertook only routine patrols last night and took no other action.
They issued a warning regarding Bird Nation's unreasonable accusations and provocations, stating that Great Dragon Nation would take action to defend its national dignity if necessary.
The people of Bird Nation knew deep down that this incident was absolute retaliation from Great Dragon Nation.
The question remained: when and how did Dragon Nation manage to build such formidable, numerous, and technologically advanced submarines under the constant surveillance of Star Nation satellites? Yet, Bird Nation was crippled by the lack of any concrete evidence linking the submarines to Dragon Nation.
Moreover, the area where the incident occurred was a region over which Bird Nation claimed maritime rights.
The anti-air missiles recorded by satellites and the torpedo fragments later discovered beneath the seabed were not models currently in Dragon Nation’s known arsenal.
Had Dragon Nation secretly established a unique force solely to counter Bird Nation? Dragon Nation media did not report the incident immediately, only offering objective reposts the following day.
While Bird Nation suspected their involvement, the people of Dragon Nation were steadfast in their belief that their nation’s secret forces had acted.
After half a month of suppressed tension, the entire nation erupted in celebration, an outpouring of joy no less exuberant than any Spring Festival: lanterns were hung, firecrackers were set off, and countless military enthusiasts flooded the internet searching for images and data on these new submarines.
Many young people who had previously been indignant over the nation's perceived inaction were once again filled with patriotic fervor, recognizing that the nation possessed the capability to counter any provocation, only choosing covert methods due to various pressures.
In summary, the structure of East-West confrontation subtly shifted after that night.
This naval engagement bought Great Dragon Nation a significant period of peaceful borders and development time.
Although the trumpet of war was faintly audible, everyone firmly believed that the descendants of the Dragon were worthy of their namesake, possessing the ability and confidence to face any imperialist power: those who violate our borders shall surely perish!