Chapter 95 The Enemy is at the Gates

Chen Weiguo calmed down instantly; his professional soldier's training made him immediately realize the severity of the situation.

"Speak!"

"The 'Reaper Squad' is just a decoy, and also an excuse."

Lin Yuan stared at the pale moon in the night sky, enunciating every word.

"Their real killer move is called 'Shield of Freedom'."

"Three carrier strike groups are already on their way. Their target is not an exercise, but the Daxia East Sea. The time is just 24 hours from now. Their tactical intent is very clear—a showdown."

"Either we kneel, or..."

"War."

On the other end of the line, a deathly silence fell once again.

This silence was longer and heavier than before.

It was the final suffocation before the storm arrived.

A long while passed.

A crisp sound came from the receiver, like a pencil being snapped in two.

Immediately after, came Chen Weiguo's voice, suppressing monstrous rage yet terrifyingly calm.

"I understand."

"Fine, they want a showdown, do they? Then let them come!"

"Lin Yuan, listen to me. Leave the matters here to the follow-up troops. You must immediately, right now, rendezvous with the extraction team! I will arrange a special plane to bring you back to base as fast as possible!"

"This game of chess has only just begun."

"Yes!"

...

On the other side of the globe.

The Pentagon, underground Command Center.

The air here seemed to have solidified into cement, so heavy it made it hard to breathe.

On the huge main tactical screen, the thirteen green dots representing the life signs of the "Reaper Squad" had, just a minute ago, turned into glaring black skulls one after another.

It was like candles being extinguished one by one by an invisible hand.

From making contact with the target to the entire squad being wiped out.

It took only eight minutes and forty-two seconds.

"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible!"

A four-star general sprang up from his leather swivel chair, hands braced on the console; his face, usually bearing an arrogant smile, was now filled with terror and distortion.

"That is 'Reaper'! They are super soldiers we spent hundreds of billions of dollars on, built using alien technology! They could even take on a regular armored battalion by themselves!"

"How could they be completely wiped out in less than ten minutes?!"

He turned his head and roared at the intelligence desk below, spraying saliva all over the poor technician.

"What on earth did the Daxia people use?! Was it a space-based kinetic weapon?! Or did that damn space weapon fire again?! Tell me! I want the truth!!"

"Re... Report, General..."

The intelligence officer responsible for real-time data link monitoring turned pale, as if he had just seen a ghost.

With trembling fingers, he pulled up a set of newly decrypted data waveforms.

"According to the data transmitted back by the 'Butcher' tactical terminal in the last second before its destruction..."

The intelligence officer swallowed hard, his voice trembling.

"In that area... no high-energy heat source reactions were detected."

"No explosions, no gunfire, no missile trajectories."

"What does that mean?!" The general grabbed him by the collar, his eyes bulging, "Are you saying my soldiers died of heart attacks?!"

"No... no..."

The intelligence officer was about to cry, "The data shows that at the very last moment, they suffered from a... a kind of unknown attack."

"An unknown attack?"

"Yes... if I had to describe it..." The intelligence officer pointed to the strange red curve on the screen that had instantly soared to the peak, even breaking through the chart's upper limit, "It was like... a directional, high-intensity... psychic shockwave."

"And, according to the audio recording..."

He tremblingly pressed the play button.

In the deathly silent hall, a bone-chilling sound rang out.

It was the roar of beasts, the crisp sound of bones breaking, and the squelch of combat knives stabbing into flesh.

It was the sound of mutual slaughter.

"They... went crazy." The intelligence officer slumped desperately in his chair, "They seemed to have seen something extremely terrifying... and then, started attacking each other."

"Psychic... shockwave?"

This term was like a heavy hammer, smashing down on the skulls of all the generals and staff present.

The general let go.

He staggered back two steps and plopped down into his chair.

This kind of terminology again.

Spatial gravitational anomaly. God signal. Psychic shockwave.

Every time they engaged that Eastern country, the reports that came back were like science fiction novels, or even supernatural horror stories!

This fear of the unknown was more maddening than facing a thousand nuclear bombs.

"Enough!!"

The general suddenly let out a hysterical roar.

He stood up abruptly and swept the coffee cup and files off the table. The sound of ceramic shattering was particularly jarring in the deathly silent Command Center.

His face turned blue and then pale; finally, all his expressions twisted together, turning into the madness and ferocity of a gambler who had lost his mind.

"I don't care what damn sorcery they are using!"

"I don't care if it's technology or magic!"

"Since they dare to touch my trump card, since they dare to openly provoke the majesty of the United States!"

He turned abruptly and strode to the huge holographic world map.

A finger, trembling with the ruthlessness of a desperate gamble, jabbed fiercely at the azure sea on the map—the Daxia East Sea.

"Pass on my order!"

"The 'Shield of Freedom' plan, activate immediately! Do not wait for further supplies!"

"Order the Pacific Fleet's First, Third, and Seventh Carrier Strike Groups, and all combat units in the Western Pacific, to cancel leave immediately and assemble at full speed in the target sea area!"

"General, is this... too aggressive?" A staff officer tried to dissuade him, "We haven't received the President's..."

"Shut up!"

The general turned back, his eyes like a beast ready to devour someone, "Tell the President this is an act of war! We have been attacked!"

"I don't care what method you use! Get every movable ship over there!"

"Within twenty-four hours, I want to see at least six carrier strike groups surrounding their gates like an iron bucket!"

"This time, I don't want any probing, and I don't want any deterrence!"

He gritted his teeth and squeezed those two blood-scented words from between them:

"I want war!"

...

The next day.

When the first ray of sunlight illuminated the surface of the Western Pacific, the whole world held its breath.

The calm sea was now filled with steel behemoths.

Driven by the highest command of the Eagle, a massive fleet composed of over two hundred modern warships of various types, like dark, oppressive clouds, bore down on Daxia's territorial sea baseline.

Six nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, like six moving maritime fortresses, formed a suffocating formation on the ocean.

On the decks, hundreds of F-35C stealth carrier-based aircraft loaded with live ammunition had their engines roaring, ready to take off at any moment.

The dense missile silo covers were all opened, with pitch-black gun muzzles pointed straight to the East.

The overwhelming sense of impending war filled the air with the scent of gunpowder.

All global news media went crazy.

Television, internet, radio—all channels simultaneously cut their regular programming to broadcast this scene that would go down in history.

"This is the largest maritime military buildup in human history since World War II!"

"What is the Eagle trying to do? Is World War III about to break out?!"

At this moment of global attention and panic.

The Commander-in-chief of the joint fleet, that Eagle Navy Five-Star General, dressed in a crisp white military dress uniform, appeared on the spacious bridge of the flagship "Ford".

The background was the forest of steel masts and the busy takeoff and landing of fighter jets behind him.

Facing countless cameras and microphones, and billions of viewers worldwide, he puffed out his chest.

His face bore that habitual arrogance and coldness belonging to a world hegemon.

"We have come for 'Freedom' and 'Peace'."

He spoke, his voice transmitted to every corner of the world via satellite signal.

"However, it is highly regrettable. Our intelligence agencies are convinced that a certain Eastern country is secretly developing, possessing, and using extremely dangerous, illegal, and inhumane weapons of mass destruction!"

"This behavior seriously threatens world peace and stability!"

The Five-Star General took off his military cap, his eyes becoming incredibly sharp as he stared directly into the camera, as if scrutinizing that ancient nation from afar.

"For the safety of all mankind, we hereby, representing the free world, issue the most solemn ultimatum to the Daxia government!"

He held up one finger.

"We give you twenty-four hours."

"Immediately! Unconditionally! Hand over all illegal high-tech weapons! Open all military bases! Accept comprehensive inspections by an international inspection team led by us!"

"If you refuse..."

The Five-Star General paused, a cruel sneer curling the corner of his mouth.

"Twenty-four hours from now, this fleet will take all necessary measures to 'neutralize' this threat."

"We will not hesitate to go to war to defend what we cherish—Freedom!"

Boom—!

This naked declaration of war, filled with the logic of a bandit, instantly ignited global public opinion.

World leaders held emergency meetings, financial markets instantly melted down, and ordinary people fell into panic.

Everyone's eyes were cast simultaneously toward the East.

That ancient nation with five thousand years of history.

Faced with such a military threat, with forces at the gates, nearly threatening national extinction, what would they do?

Protest? Condemn? Or submit?

However.

One hour passed.

Two hours passed.

All official Daxia channels were deathly silent.

No press conferences, no diplomatic notes, not even that classic "strong condemnation."

The entire Daxia seemed to have fallen into a strange silence.

It was like a sleeping dragon, facing a pack of jackals clamoring at its door, not even bothering to lift an eyelid.

This silence made the world feel confused and allies feel desperate.

It also made those invaders standing on the warships let out triumphant, wild laughter.

In their view, this was fear.

This was a head forced to bow before absolute power.

But what they didn't know was.

Deep within that silent land, beneath the desolate Gobi desert in the great northwest.

A behemoth named "luan bird" was slowly spreading its wings, which blotted out the sky.

Silence is not weakness.

It is the final buildup of strength before the storm arrives.