At a moment when the Philippines desperately sought international solidarity, the heads of state of the great powers, who usually held court with booming pronouncements to the world, had all clamped their mouths shut. Not a single one offered an opinion on the recent incident, and the expected condemnations of "Star City" were utterly absent.

The Filipino government sadly realized they had been abandoned by the entire world. Every nation was using this punitive action as a litmus test to gauge the true might of "Star City"; they were nothing more than a mere whetstone.

The President of the Philippines was currently riddled with deadly regret. Had he known this would be the outcome, they would sooner die than have heeded America's coaxing to attack "Star City." Now that trouble had erupted, the US was dusting off its hands and leaving them alone to bear the brunt of "Star City's" wrath.

The entire globe watched this unfolding situation with bated breath, yet "Star City" seemed to make no move. What these observers did not know was that precisely as "Star City" convened its press conference, a super-submarine, capable of displacing one hundred thousand tons, had quietly slipped away from the abyssal depths beneath "Star City," accelerating toward the South China Sea in the territory of Huaxia.

After traversing for a full day and night, this super-submarine belonging to "Star City" materialized near Huangyan Island in the South China Sea. They had maintained strict submersion in the deep ocean, and astonishingly, not a single soul had detected their arrival in the vicinity of the Philippines.

Once the external world had been completely swallowed by darkness, the super-submarine began its ascent to the surface. Floating there, the upper hull retracted sideways, unveiling a flat expanse of runway within the submarine’s interior. Parked upon this impromptu airfield were two massive, ready-to-launch, anti-gravity fighter jets.

These two anti-gravity fighters lifted vertically into the sky, then rapidly veered off in diverging directions, precisely following the target distribution data programmed into their systems.

Once the two fighter jets had vanished, the super-submarine instantly retracted its upper hull, reverting to a sealed submersible, and sank back into the seabed. The entire operation was clean and swift; nobody had the slightest indication they had ever been present.

The entire Philippine Air Force consisted of a meager five fighters, supplemented by several dozen aircraft designated for various other roles, and over a hundred helicopters—this was the totality of their aerial power. Liu Hui’s objective was absolute: to annihilate every single aircraft belonging to the Philippines, ensuring that apart from the birds, nothing else would fly in their skies.

As for the Philippine Navy, their warships were nothing more than dilapidated hulls, most over thirty years past their service life. After "Star City" had sunk the three largest among them, their naval strength had been drastically reduced, leaving them incapable of defending their nation. But Liu Hui was intent on being even more ruthless; he meant to ensure that not a single Filipino vessel could ever put to sea again.

The punitive action against the Philippines was merely the continuation of "Star City’s" strategy of "killing the chicken to frighten the monkeys"—unless the Philippines was made miserable enough, the intended terrifying effect would never be achieved.

Under the constant surveillance of "Star City’s" orbital satellites, the precise locations of every Philippine naval and air asset were locked down. At this moment, the two anti-gravity fighters were merely en route to deliver their opening salvoes.

Soon, one anti-gravity fighter arrived above the Philippine Air Force base situated in Manila. It was 9:00 PM local time. All the Philippine aircraft were safely tucked away inside their hangars; they had absolutely no inkling of the arrival of the hovering fighter, nor could they have conceived of an imminent attack.

After locking onto its targets, the enormous anti-gravity fighter began launching a barrage of high-explosive shells via its electromagnetic cannon toward the ground. Instantly, the airbase erupted in violent explosions. Every aircraft parked within the hangars was annihilated in the blasts; not a single plane escaped destruction.

In a span of just over two minutes, this single anti-gravity fighter unleashed over a thousand high-explosive rounds onto the small Philippine airbase. The destructive power of these munitions was staggering; the entire base was reduced to rubble. From a distance, one could see a raging inferno consuming the area.

After confirming the results of its strike, the anti-gravity fighter rapidly ascended, rocketing toward the Philippines’ other airbases. Its mission for the night was to systematically eliminate all of the nation’s air power, guaranteeing no Philippine aircraft would take flight the next day.

Simultaneously with the assault on the airbases, attacks targeting the naval bases commenced. At the Philippine Naval Base in Manila, over thirty various types of vessels were moored—all small displacement ships, and all their hulls were aged beyond three decades.

One anti-gravity fighter materialized over the naval base like a phantom. After utilizing its spiritual energy wave radar to lock onto the warships below, it initiated fire from its electromagnetic cannon.

Under the meticulous control of its fire control system, five hundred high-energy rounds per minute were launched. In an instant, the old vessels below were struck, followed by more and more warships being hit. Their hulls were fragile; they detonated violently almost immediately upon impact.

The anti-gravity fighter executed its attack with blinding speed. In a mere three minutes, it destroyed all thirty-plus vessels of various types harbored at the base. These ships began to burn following their explosions before sinking into the seabed. Then, before the enemy’s rudimentary air defense systems could even register a threat, the fighter sharply pulled up, soaring into the pitch-black night sky, vanishing from the vicinity of Manila to proceed to its next naval strike mission.

In the Philippine night sky, a lone helicopter was conducting a routine patrol when suddenly, a shell streaked in from the distant heavens. The projectile struck the helicopter with pinpoint accuracy, causing it to explode and plummet downward.

Off the Philippine coast, a patrol vessel was underway when two shells descended from the air. The patrol boat was immediately struck, detonated, and sank.

Although the Philippines, upon receiving reports of the attacks on its air and naval bases, realized that "Star City's" punitive campaign had begun, they immediately ordered their surviving ships and aircraft to scatter and hide. Yet, with constant satellite surveillance from orbit, the pitifully few remaining Filipino vessels and planes could not evade destruction; both were annihilated by the two anti-gravity fighters.

Consequently, over the course of a single night, the two anti-gravity fighters practically crisscrossed the entire Philippines, striking naval and air assets everywhere, leaving the nation stripped entirely of its maritime and aerial capabilities. Although casualties among naval and air personnel were not overwhelmingly high, they were left with no ships that could sail and no aircraft that could fly.

The following morning, "Star City" formally released a statement announcing that their sanctions against the Philippines had commenced the previous evening. To prevent the escape of "pirates," they had destroyed every single Philippine military aircraft and naval warship.

"Star City" further confirmed that all personnel who perished alongside the aircraft and warships were identified as pirate elements. "Star City" simultaneously declared that due to fears of these pirates escaping by air, all civilian flights in the Philippines must cease operations immediately, or they would be shot down. Furthermore, to prevent maritime escapes by these pirates, all Filipino fishing vessels were ordered to remain docked; any attempt to venture out to sea would result in immediate sinking.

The reaction from the Philippines was one of earth-shattering lamentation. They broadcast video footage on television showing the results of "Star City’s" overnight sanctioning spree. Their air force had lost a total of one hundred and thirty-seven aircraft of various types, including even the President's personal jet. Their navy had lost one hundred and twelve warships of all kinds. They reported 457 dead and 723 severely wounded. In one night, the Philippines was left without a single flyable plane or a single seaworthy vessel.

On television news broadcasts, the Philippine side heavily featured the corpses of their deceased naval and air force personnel, hoping to garner global sympathy. They simultaneously appealed for the United Nations to convene an emergency General Assembly, urging the world to collectively sanction "Star City" to prevent further humanitarian catastrophes.

What surprised the Filipino government, however, was the utter lack of support for their cries of distress. Even their supposed patron, the United States, responded that they were still in deliberation and could not offer a satisfactory answer.

The American President was, in fact, in a meeting, discussing the details of "Star City's" punitive action from the previous night.

"That is all the intelligence we have managed to gather," Director 'I' stated flatly.

"Are you telling me that despite deploying our orbital satellites and ground surveillance personnel, we still failed to detect how the opposing force reached the Philippines and launched attacks on both their air and naval bases?" the Secretary of Defense inquired.

"Precisely. Apart from the brief moments when they exposed their presence while launching weapons, we found absolutely no trace of this mysterious combat aircraft," Director 'I' replied, pulling up images on the screen.

"Even though we managed to photograph these things, we still cannot clearly discern what they actually are, only that they possess immense size and the capability to hover motionless in the air."

"Star City's" anti-gravity fighters employed a dynamic simulation array that allowed their fuselages to blend seamlessly into the night sky. Consequently, even when captured by cameras, the resulting photographs appeared heavily blurred. Only upon extremely close observation could their true forms be discerned.

The President of the United States felt an ever-deepening sense of dread. He was stunned that despite his best efforts—mobilizing every satellite for surveillance and pre-positioning operatives at the Philippine air and naval bases—he still could not uncover the ultimate weapon held in reserve by "Star City."