56: Fury of Steel, Roar of Deep Blue

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The Deep Blue’s CIWS close-in weapon system roared deafeningly! Its six-barreled 20mm Gatling cannons unleashed a dense barrage of fire into the sky at a terrifying rate of 4500 rounds per minute!

The tracer rounds wove a web of death across the azure sky, and hot shell casings rained down on the deck with a metallic clatter.

Almost simultaneously, Hongqi-10 air defense missiles shrieked skyward from their vertical launch cells, their dazzling tail flames streaking towards the diving reapers!

“Full countermeasures! Hard right rudder! Emergency evasive maneuvers!” Lin Feng’s voice boomed through the bridge.

The Deep Blue’s massive hull carved a sharp white arc on the sea, as dozens of decoy flares shot out from both sides of the ship, exploding into clouds of chaff and infrared decoys in the air.

The entire sea area was instantly enveloped in an artificial blizzard!

However, the hypersonic warheads plummeting from the sky were simply too fast! A terminal dive speed of Mach 7 meant a terrifying penetration capability of over 2 kilometers per second!

From detection to impact, the Deep Blue had only a short dozen seconds to react!

The first wave of interception occurred about five kilometers from the ship!

Two Hongqi-10 missiles successfully locked onto and destroyed two maneuvering warheads, exploding into two massive fireballs in the sky!

Shrapnel and shockwaves churned the nearby seawater into walls of water several meters high! But the remaining ten warheads, like the scythes of death, penetrated the smoke of the explosions unimpeded and continued their dive!

The CIWS barrage finally met these deadly invaders! The ultra-high-speed tungsten-core armor-piercing rounds drew bright lines of fire in the air, colliding with the diving warheads with a thunderous impact!

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Four warheads were detonated in mid-air less than a kilometer from the ship! Scorching metal fragments rained down on the Deep Blue’s hull and superstructure, producing a grating impact sound!

Several secondary antennas and radar arrays were destroyed, spewing thick black smoke!

But six warheads still breached the final defense line!

“All hands! Brace for impact!!!”

Lin Feng only managed to issue one last warning before the devastating blow landed!

The first warhead struck the sea about twenty meters off the Deep Blue’s starboard side! The immense kinetic energy from its ultra-high speed compressed the seawater into a near-solid state in an instant!

The terrifying shockwave, like an invisible hammer, slammed into the ship’s starboard side! The entire ten-thousand-ton behemoth was violently shaken, tilting sharply, and unsecured equipment on deck slid around, creating a chaotic mess!

The second and third warheads hit the stern helicopter deck almost simultaneously! The violent explosions tore two gaping, jagged holes in the thick armored deck!

A Z-20 helicopter, in its folded state, was flung by the shockwave and plunged into the sea! The stern’s towed sonar array was completely destroyed!

The fourth warhead struck the main gun turret in front of the bridge! Fortunately, the turret’s thick armor absorbed most of the impact, but the gun barrel’s hydraulic system was severely damaged, and the main gun instantly lost its ability to rotate!

The fifth warhead almost grazed the port side before falling into the sea, its near-miss shockwave causing flooding in some port compartments, and damage control teams immediately rushed to the affected areas!

And the last, most deadly warhead, headed straight for the bridge command center!

In the nick of time, the Deep Blue’s electronic warfare system played a crucial role! The final countermeasures and full-power electronic jamming caused a slight deviation in the warhead’s terminal guidance!

It did not directly hit the bridge but struck the integrated mast about five meters above the bridge!

“Boom—!!!”

Amidst the earth-shattering explosion, the entire mast was blown in half! Burning debris crashed onto the front of the bridge, and thick smoke and flames instantly obscured the forward view!

The shockwave shattered some of the bridge’s reinforced glass, and sharp fragments swept through the command center like bullets!

Several officers were hit by the fragments, their uniforms instantly stained with blood!

“Report damage!” Lin Feng climbed to his feet, wiping blood from his forehead, his voice cold and hard as tempered steel.

“Main gun traverse system failed! Stern helicopter deck severely damaged! Starboard compartments flooding, under control! Mast radar array 70% destroyed! Electronic warfare capability reduced by 40%! Casualties… 12 lightly wounded, 3 severely wounded, no fatalities!” The damage control officer reported quickly, his voice trembling with the relief of a narrow escape.

No fatalities! This was nothing short of a miracle! Under such a fierce hypersonic attack, although the Deep Blue was scarred, its core combat power remained, and its hull structure suffered no fatal damage!

This was due both to the 055-type destroyer’s robust survival design and Lin Feng’s decisive evasive and interception orders, which maximized the dispersion and weakening of the attack’s effects.

“Ark…” Lin Feng’s gaze pierced through the shattered porthole, looking towards the sea horizon to the northeast, his eyes burning with unprecedented fury.

He would remember this “gift”!

“Commander! Urgent dispatch from base! ‘Siren’ submersibles have breached the first underwater barrier! Two destroyed, but the third… is missing! Suspected to have infiltrated the waters near the main island!” The communication officer’s urgent report interrupted Lin Feng’s thoughts.

There was still a threat underwater! Lin Feng instantly calmed down.

The top priority was to ensure the safety of the base and the Deep Blue Heart!

“Order the Panshi and Liren to return immediately to support the base’s anti-submarine operations! The Deep Blue…” Lin Feng surveyed the chaotic bridge, quickly assessing the combat power, “Maintain current position, continue alert duty! Repair damage, prepare for a possible second wave of attacks!”

“Commander! The Skull Crusher fleet’s movements have changed!” The radar operator suddenly shouted, “They… they’ve turned around! They’re accelerating towards us!”

What?! Lin Feng snapped his gaze to the tactical screen.

Indeed, the Skull Crusher fleet, which had originally turned to withdraw, was now heading towards the Deep Blue at full speed! Its course was straight, and its speed had increased to combat velocity!

Clearly, seeing the Deep Blue heavily damaged, the Scarred President immediately changed his mind, intending to take advantage of the situation!

“Communications! Immediately warn the Skull Crusher! Tell them, one more step closer, and it will be considered a declaration of war!” Lin Feng ordered sharply, while rapidly considering countermeasures.

The Deep Blue’s main gun was damaged, and its electronic warfare capability was reduced; facing a heavily armored modified battleship like the Skull Crusher and its escort fleet, the situation was extremely unfavorable!

“Warning ineffective! The Skull Crusher’s response… ‘Surrender or sink’!” The communication officer’s voice was filled with anger.

“All hands! Battle stations! Target, the Skull Crusher fleet! Vertical launch system ready! Torpedoes ready! Let’s teach these pirates what modern naval warfare is all about!” Lin Feng’s voice was like a drawn sword, sharp and unyielding!

Though wounded, the Deep Blue was by no means a lamb to the slaughter!

Its vertical launch system still held dozens of various missiles, poised and ready!

Its anti-ship missiles were more than capable of tearing bloody gaps in the Skull Crusher’s outdated anti-air network!

However, just as battle was about to erupt, an unexpected change occurred!

“Alarm! Underwater anomaly! Distance… very close! Directly beneath our ship! Depth about 150 meters! Sonar signature… not ‘Siren’! Larger! More… strange!” The sonar operator’s voice suddenly rose, tinged with an indescribable horror.

Lin Feng’s heart leaped! Not “Siren”? What could it be?! An Observer underwater unit? Or…

Before he could finish his thought, the entire Deep Blue suddenly began to vibrate violently! As if an invisible giant hand, from the depths of the sea, had violently pushed the ship!

“Om————”

A strange hum, so low it was almost beyond human hearing, yet capable of making one’s internal organs resonate, emanated from the deep sea, penetrating every inch of the Deep Blue’s steel!

The lights on the bridge flickered, electronic equipment screens flashed wildly, and some even went completely black!

Everyone felt a strong dizziness and nausea, as if their souls were being drawn out of their bodies by the sound!

“Men… mental attack! Similar to the Observer’s energy signature! But stronger! More primal!” The electronic warfare officer clutched his head in pain, roaring.

“Report! The Skull Crusher fleet… they… they are also affected! Course erratic! Speed plummeting! Communication channels are full of screams!” The radar operator reported with difficulty.

Something… had awakened in the deep sea! And it was attacking all ships in this area indiscriminately!

“Sonar! Find it for me!” Lin Feng gritted his teeth, forcing down a severe headache and nausea, and ordered.

“Sonar failed! Passive array completely paralyzed! Active sonar… wait! Something is surfacing! Extremely fast! Size… My God! Over twice the size of the Deep Blue! Depth 100 meters… 80 meters… 50 meters… It’s coming up!”

The entire sea area suddenly became dead silent.

Even the waves seemed to freeze.

The next second—

“Boom!!!”

About five hundred meters from the Deep Blue, the sea surface, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer, suddenly bulged upwards!

A suffocatingly massive shadow burst out of the deep sea!

Amidst the towering waves, a terrifying, never-before-seen entity slowly revealed itself in the midday sun!

Was that… a “living” steel island?!

No, more accurately, it was a ship! A ridiculously large, strangely shaped giant ship, its surface covered with a dark red “shell” that was somewhere between metal and biological tissue!

Its silhouette vaguely resembled human ships, but its overall form was distorted like a creation from a nightmare!

On the ship’s surface, countless thick, vein-like pipelines were exposed, pulsating with a dark red glow; several grotesquely shaped main gun turrets twisted at impossible angles; and most chillingly, its bow section actually “grew” a massive “face” made of metal and flesh, and on that “face,” a pair of pupil-less purple glowing eyes were coldly “watching” the Deep Blue and the Skull Crusher!

“Deep… Deep Sea Ship-Rigged Body! It’s a Leviathan-class Deep Sea Ship-Rigged Body!” The staff officer’s voice was filled with uncontrollable fear, “They… they really exist! The Observer is just their vanguard!”

Lin Feng stared intently at the terrifying giant ship, an unprecedented sense of oppression crushing him like a physical weight.

The system log frantically refreshed with warnings:

“Alarm! Detected Leviathan-class Deep Sea Main Ship Unit! Codename: Blood Ark! Threat Level: Extinction!”

“Alarm! Detected high-intensity psychic contamination field! All personnel immediately activate neural protection!”

“Alarm! This unit carries a Deep Blue Heart Resonator! Target locked!”

Blood Ark? Deep Blue Heart Resonator? Lin Feng instantly understood something!

It was that purple brand outside the core research lab door! It wasn’t a coordinate marker at all, but a resonance beacon! Used to summon or awaken these terrifying war machines sleeping in the deep sea! And the Deep Blue Heart… was their target!

“All hands! Highest combat alert! Target, the Blood Ark! This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill!” Lin Feng’s voice boomed through the ship’s broadcast system, “This is not a war between humans! This is a battle for survival!”

The Deep Blue’s vertical launch system covers all opened, missiles ready!

The damaged CIWS struggled to raise its gun barrels!

Even the main gun barely adjusted its angle!

Despite facing such a terrifying enemy, this scarred human warship still stood tall, ready for a desperate fight!

In the distance, the Skull Crusher fleet also seemed to recover from the mental shock.

Unexpectedly, they did not flee, nor did they attack the Deep Blue, but instead… turned their guns towards the Blood Ark!

“Lin Feng!” In the public channel, the Scarred President’s hoarse and resolute roar came from the Skull Crusher, “I don’t care what that damn thing is! But it interrupted my hunt! The Iron Brotherhood’s rule—‘Kill external enemies first, then settle internal disputes’! Temporary truce! How about it?”

Lin Feng smirked coldly.

Indeed, when faced with non-human threats, even mortal enemies would instinctively unite.

“Truce established! Target, the Blood Ark! Let’s give this uninvited ‘guest’ an unforgettable welcome ceremony!” Lin Feng replied.

“Hahaha! Good! That’s more like a man!” The Scarred President’s wild laughter came from the Skull Crusher, “Brothers! Load armor-piercing shells! Aim for that monster’s eyes! Fire!”

The Skull Crusher’s old but powerful 406mm main gun let out an earth-shattering roar!

At the same time, the Deep Blue’s vertical launch system also spewed dazzling flames!

Several Eagle Strike-18 anti-ship missiles shrieked skyward!

Human artillery and the nightmare of the deep sea collided with a thunderous roar in this azure sea!