194: Chapter 194 Digital Freedom! Fully equipped and ready to go!

After leaving the meeting, Lin Zhou did not delay at all and immediately threw himself into the preparations.

The judicial auction in Hong Kong went surprisingly smoothly.

Perhaps it was because the ship was quite old, or maybe the shipping market had been sluggish recently, but there weren't many companies participating in the auction.

After a few rounds of sporadic bidding, Lin Zhou's agent secured the "Haifeng No. 8" for 41.2 million RMB.

When Chen Yuan learned that the final price was several million less than the budget, his voice on the other end of the phone rose several octaves; he was as happy as if they had won a great battle.

The day after the funds arrived, the handover procedures were expedited and completed.

This 10,000-ton cargo ship, flying the Panamanian flag, thus changed owners.

Through a shell company Jack had registered in the Cayman Islands, Lin Zhou legitimately became the shipowner.

He gave the ship a new name: "digital freedom".

This name not only echoed the name of the Cyber Freedom Republic but also embodied his ambition to break through geopolitical shackles and sail toward the vast blue sea in the future.

As soon as the handover procedures were completed, a team of Chinese technicians, carrying the title of "Special Appointed Engineers of the Sudan Port Authority," boarded the "digital freedom" docked at Nansha Port with several tightly sealed shipping containers.

The leader was a man in his thirties named Lei Peng, with dark skin and a lean, sturdy build.

He simply saluted the adjutant He Jun, who had come to receive them, and didn't say much, but his sharp gaze made people afraid to look him in the eye.

As soon as they boarded the ship, they headed straight for the deck.

Under Lei Peng's command, the containers were placed by a crane in the reserved positions in the middle and rear of the ship.

When the containers were opened, they contained exactly the "Economic Coastal Defense Kit" that Director Zhou had mentioned.

Two RMK-30 remote weapon stations pointed their pitch-black 30mm gun barrels toward the sky, gleaming with a cold metallic light.

Several anti-tank missile launchers were also set up nearby.

The antenna for the MSR-210 radar was installed on the side of the bridge.

Once the outer shells of the containers were closed, these devices were completely invisible from the outside.

Throughout the entire installation process, Lei Peng and his team were efficient and highly skilled.

Wiring, connecting power, and debugging the fire control system—all the work flowed seamlessly without a single wasted movement.

The few former special forces veterans sent by He Jun watched from the sidelines, all remaining silent.

They exchanged glances privately, all understanding that the skills of this group of "engineers" were far superior to their own.

Meanwhile, another procurement operation was underway simultaneously.

Through an agent, Jack placed a large order with DJI headquarters for ten Matrice M350 RTK industrial drones, plus thousands of low-end FPV drones, along with the necessary batteries, high-definition image transmission systems, and ground station systems.

This order, totaling nearly three million US dollars, greatly excited DJI's sales department, who thought some Middle Eastern tycoon was preparing another large-scale light show.

Since these were purely civilian products with no export restrictions, the transaction proceeded without any obstacles.

Three days later, three thousand brand-new drones arrived at Nansha Port and were loaded directly into the cargo hold of the "digital freedom".

Inside the cargo hold, the sailors Lin Zhou had recruited had been waiting for a long time.

When they saw the drone packaging boxes piled up like a small mountain, their eyes lit up.

"My God, three thousand of them! Is the Lord planning for us to form a drone army?" a young sailor couldn't help but exclaim.

Lin Zhou smiled and said to everyone, "Brothers, don't just stand there! The new toys have arrived! The requirement is simple: make these 'toys' a bit more 'interesting'!"

He patted the box. "Simple modifications shouldn't be too hard for you all, right? Assemble one hundred sets first; we'll deal with the rest when we reach our destination."

A portion of the sailors immediately formed a temporary modification team.

Learning from the various makeshift methods used on the Russia-Ukraine battlefield, they performed all sorts of DIY modifications on the drones, with the attack payloads ranging from artillery shells to explosives.

The other group focused on practicing the controls; because the operation was simple, they quickly mastered it and initially possessed combat capabilities.

A few days later, the "digital freedom" departed from Nansha Port, with one hundred "magically modified" suicide drones ready for immediate launch in the cargo hold.

The fleet consisted of two ships: one was a bulk carrier fully loaded with "Miracle Seed", and the other was the unassuming "digital freedom" following closely behind.

According to the scheduled route, the fleet would first head north, and in a certain sea area of the East China Sea, join the Chinese naval formation preparing to head to the Gulf of Aden for escort missions.

Hitching a ride with their own people's escort was the safest step in Lin Zhou's plan.

After two days of sailing, at the precise coordinate point provided by Jack, two massive gray warships appeared on the horizon; they were a Type 052D destroyer of the Chinese Navy and a comprehensive supply ship.

In the bridge of the "digital freedom", Lei Peng held up his binoculars, watching the majestic warships in the distance, his previously tense facial features softening.

"Contact the formation, report our identity, and request to accompany them," he ordered the captain beside him.

After a simple exchange of communications, the cargo fleet successfully joined the periphery of the escort formation.

With the protection of two 10,000-ton destroyers, the atmosphere in the bridge immediately became much more relaxed.

But this peace did not last long.

On the second day of entering the high seas, two high-speed moving light spots appeared on the radar screen.

"Report! Bearing 2-9-0, distance 40 nautical miles, two warships of unknown nationality detected, approaching us at high speed!" The radar operator's report caused the atmosphere in the bridge to tighten suddenly.

Lei Peng picked up his binoculars and quickly locked onto the targets.

"It's the Arleigh Burke-class," he lowered the binoculars, his tone devoid of waves, "The Americans are here."

The nerves of the personnel on the bridge tightened.

The two American warships made no attempt to conceal themselves, sandwiching the entire escort formation between them, one on the left and one on the right, maintaining a distance of over ten nautical miles while sailing alongside.

They made no provocative moves, but their intentions were self-evident; their target was that cargo ship carrying the seeds.

The two destroyers just trailed them at a distance that was neither too far nor too close, posing like hungry wolves coveting a sheep pen, clearly wary of the existence of the sheepdogs (the Chinese fleet) and waiting for the moment they would leave.

"Notify the seed cargo ship to maintain course and speed; do not pay attention to them," Lei Peng issued the order. "All combat stations enter Level 1 alert. Turn on the fire control radar, but do not lock on."

Over the next two days, this silent standoff continued on the Pacific Ocean.

The Chinese fleet remained unmoved, maintaining its established escort rhythm.

The two American warships also followed patiently all the way.

No one spoke much in the bridge, and the atmosphere became increasingly oppressive.

Everyone knew in their hearts that the real test would only begin after the Chinese fleet left.

Two days later, the escort formation reached the scheduled separation point.

The Chinese destroyers sent a farewell signal and then turned toward the Gulf of Aden.

On the vast sea, only the two cargo ships remained.

The two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers that had been trailing them, after circling for half a turn, also turned their bows and accelerated away.

Watching them disappear over the horizon, the crew's nerves, which had been tense for several days, finally relaxed.

"It seems the Americans have given up," the captain said.

Lei Peng, however, shook his head. He walked over to the nautical chart and pointed to a spot on the route ahead.

"No, they are just handing over the stage to another group of actors." His finger was pointing directly at the entrance to the Strait of Malacca.

"Pass the word down: from now on, the real war begins."