255: Chapter 255 The Fourteen-Nation Combined Fleet and the Embargo Act

Jiangcheng, the master control room on Underground Level 3 of Chenguang Factory.

Just as Lu Chen finished saying, "Let them look for their electricity in the sky," Wu Dong spun around abruptly.

Wu Dong's eyes were fixed intently on the screen full of frantically jumping garbled code, and he slammed his palm heavily onto the desk.

"Boss, before the external network was completely disconnected, I intercepted the top-secret minutes of an emergency UN meeting."

Wu Dong's voice was tight.

"Led by The Pentagon and jointly signed by fourteen Western nations, they have just forcibly passed the 'Global Air, Land, and Sea Embargo Act' under the pretext of responding to unconventional technological threats."

Lu Chen lowered his head, toying with that paint-chipped plastic lighter.

"They move quite swiftly."

Lu Chen said indifferently.

Wu Dong pulled up the recently cached military satellite cloud map and zoomed in on the East China Sea area.

"It's not just the act; they've brought out everything they've got."

Wu Dong pointed at the dense red dots of warships on the screen.

"Seven full carrier strike groups, including the USS Ford whose deck we just stepped on, have arrived. Plus the destroyers and nuclear submarines from the UK, France, and Japan, there are a total of eighty-one capital warships forming a joint punitive fleet."

Wu Dong swallowed hard.

"They have already reached the edge of our territorial waters in the East China Sea. All domestic ocean-going merchant ships have been intercepted, and the three major coastal ports are completely paralyzed."

The atmosphere in the master control room instantly dropped to freezing.

Wei Jianguo and Song Changming exchanged glances, neither speaking. Eighty-one capital warships—this firepower configuration was enough to wipe a medium-sized country off the map three times over.

The red encrypted dedicated line phone on the desk suddenly rang.

Old Zhou scrambled over to pick up the receiver, listened for only a second, and immediately handed it to Lu Chen with both hands.

"Boss, it's from the capital—the Old Chief."

Lu Chen picked up the phone and didn't say a word.

"Little Lu."

The Old Chief's voice on the other end was unprecedentedly grave.

"This time the commotion is too big. The fourteen-nation fleet is massed in the East China Sea, directly assuming a level-one combat readiness posture. The phones at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been ringing off the hook, several old guys have slammed the table in the conference hall, and the country is in an uproar."

Lu Chen gently rubbed the metal windproof cover of the lighter with his fingertips.

"Chief, why the rush?"

Lu Chen's tone was calm and devoid of fluctuation.

"How can we not rush?"

The Old Chief lowered his voice, "This time they are determined to flip the table and completely lock down our economic lifeline. Do you have confidence in that iron contraption underground? If not, I will risk a nuclear war to protect you."

Lu Chen laughed.

"Chief, let them make a scene."

Lu Chen leaned against the metal console, pulled out a pack of double happiness, and took out a cigarette.

"The more the fleet gathers, the better. Let them all come together; it saves me from having to search for them one by one all over the globe. It's quite tiring."

The other end of the phone fell into a dead silence for five seconds.

"Three days."

Lu Chen put the cigarette in his mouth.

"Within three days, I will make the words 'embargo' a historical joke."

Click.

Lu Chen hung up the phone.

He turned to look at Old Zhou.

"Go issue a notice: the whole factory is on holiday for three days. All non-essential ground personnel, including those one million workers sheltering, must enter the underground air-raid shelters."

Lu Chen's tone turned cold.

"Distribute the reserve high-energy nutrition bars. Eat up and wait for further instructions."

"Understood."

Old Zhou turned and ran out.

Lu Chen reached out and pressed the factory-wide broadcast communication button in front of him.

"Da Biao, Zhang Qiang."

"Here."

Da Biao's muffled roar came through the loudspeaker.

"Take your two thousand brothers."

A glint of violence flickered in Lu Chen's eyes.

"Put on the Hellhound heavy armor, enter the reserved troop cabins inside the chassis within ten minutes, and secure your positions."

"Where are we going for a stroll, Boss?"

Da Biao asked excitedly.

"Out to sea, to watch fireworks in the sky."

Lu Chen released the broadcast button and turned his head to look at Wei Jianguo.

"Old Wei, stop staring at the blueprints, ignite it."

Wei Jianguo ripped off his hard hat. Wearing heavy protective gloves, he strode to the center of the console and gripped the red master control lever tightly with both hands.

"Primary power unit activated."

Wei Jianguo roared with bloodshot eyes.

"Pulse cycle initiated, backflow protocol disengaged."

Click, click, click.

The muffled sound of mechanical gears meshing echoed deep underground.

The massive energy flow drawn from afar from the US military nuclear bases in Japan and South Korea poured madly through the matrix channels into that pure black inverted triangular chassis.

On the holographic monitoring screen, the armor on the bottom of that two-hundred-meter-diameter giant steel monster, with its tens of thousands of fist-sized apertures, flipped instantly.

The eerie blue anti-gravity engine nozzles lit up in unison.

There was no roaring sound at the scene, nor was there the smell of aviation fuel.

Only a low-frequency humming sound arose, and the surrounding air seemed to distort.

Gravity throughout Underground Level 3 began to fluctuate, and the teacups on the tables floated into the air.

"Engines at full load, power closed-loop perfectly converged."

Wei Jianguo shouted, his hands trembling.

The door was pushed open forcefully.

Colonel Lone Wolf, dressed in deep green camouflage, strode in. His face was weathered. He glanced at the chassis floating in mid-air, swallowed a mouthful of dry saliva, and walked straight up to Lu Chen.

"Factory Director Lu."

Lone Wolf pulled out a pack of special-supply cigarettes and offered them.

Lu Chen shook the double happiness in his hand and didn't take it.

Lone Wolf lit one himself and took a deep drag.

"The higher-ups had me bring a secret order."

Lone Wolf stared into Lu Chen's eyes.

"The situation in the East China Sea is currently completely out of control, and the other side may launch a preemptive strike at any time. The high-level decision is: if your mothership's launch is obstructed, the military has already unlocked the launch authorization for thirty-two Dongfeng-series conventional ballistic missiles."

Lone Wolf lowered his voice.

"With just a word from you, the coastal positions will unleash a barrage of ten thousand guns immediately. Even at the risk of sparking a full-scale war, we will tear a hole in this iron net for you."

Lu Chen lifted his chin slightly.

He lit the double happiness in his hand, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled the blue smoke.

"Go back and thank all the Old Chiefs for me."

A cold smile curled the corners of Lu Chen's mouth.

"Why use a butcher's knife to kill a chicken?"

Lone Wolf's brows knitted together.

"Factory Director Lu, the other side isn't pirates; they are seven full, heavily armed carrier strike groups."

Lone Wolf reminded him.

Lu Chen flicked the cigarette ash.

"Today, I will let the whole world see what a true carrier killer is."

Lu Chen pointed to the behemoth below.

"And while I'm at it, I'll coin a new term for them: from now on, that place will be called the carrier graveyard."

Looking at the arrogance in Lu Chen's eyes that regarded the world as nothing, Lone Wolf's throat bobbed, and he said nothing more.

Late at night, in the international waters of the East China Sea.

The sea breeze was briny, and waves several meters high crashed against the steel hulls.

The commander-in-chief of the joint fleet, US Four-Star General MacArthur, stood in the highest command room of the flagship.

Outside, the horizon was densely packed with the silhouettes of various warships, and the probes of countless air-defense radars rotated at a constant speed in the night.

Three high-definition cameras were set up nearby, and Global News Network was conducting a live broadcast.

General MacArthur adjusted his crisp military uniform tie and picked up a glass of champagne from the table.

"The Easterners have never understood how to respect power."

General MacArthur faced the camera, his chin held high.

"The fourteen-nation joint punitive fleet has come here for only one purpose: to use an order of steel to teach them what the rules are."

He took a sip of champagne.

"Any ship or flying object that dares to break through this blockade line, regardless of size, will be torn to shreds within 0.1 seconds. I guarantee it."

The live broadcast signal was cut.

An adjutant walked over and handed him a tactical panel.

"General, monitoring in the direction of Jiangcheng is normal. All of their coastal ports have completely entered a state of paralysis in accordance with the requirements of our act, and not a single ship dares to leave port."

General MacArthur scoffed.

"This is the difference in foundation."

General MacArthur threw the goblet onto the table.

"As for the junk in their underground shelter, if they dare to show their heads, our three thousand anti-aircraft missiles will teach them to recognize reality."

Time passed.

Jiangcheng, the eight-thousand-mu foundation pit in the north of the city.

The factory area under the night veil was dead silent; all personnel had already entered the shelters.

Underground Level 3.

Lu Chen walked to the huge explosion-proof glass window.

Da Biao's muffled report came through the headset.

"Boss, all two thousand brothers have entered the troop cabins, and the magnetic buckles are secured."

Lu Chen pressed the microphone.

"Chief Engineer Song, open the hatch."

Lu Chen's tone was icy.

Rumble.

The camouflage mountain armor plates atop the massive eight-thousand-mu foundation pit slowly slid apart to both sides, revealing the pitch-black pre-dawn sky over Jiangcheng.

"Prepare for liftoff."

Lu Chen issued the final order.

At daybreak, the first ray of red morning light tore through the mist on the horizon, shining on the undulating steel decks of the joint fleet.

General MacArthur was lying on the leather sofa in the command room, resting his eyes.

Suddenly, the deep-space detection radar on the flagship's core master console erupted with a rapid red alarm.

"Unidentified flying object detected."

The radar operator's voice changed completely in terror.

General MacArthur sat up abruptly.

"What type of fighter jet, and what is the distance?"

General MacArthur strode over.

"It's not a fighter jet... General."

The radar operator was trembling all over, staring intently at the huge red shadow on the screen that obscured all the grid lines.

"The radar cross-section exceeds that of an aircraft carrier, speed is Mach 5, and it is still accelerating, breaking the sound barrier."

General MacArthur shoved the radar operator aside and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window.

In the mid-air toward the Chinese interior, thick clouds were torn apart by a powerful anti-gravity magnetic field, creating a vacuum channel dozens of kilometers long.

A massive, pure-black shadow was ignoring all aerodynamic rules, bearing down straight toward the heads of this fleet.