This Game Is Too Real-Chapter 773: Landing on North Island!
Billowing waves covered the sea as a majestic cruiser, named Laken after the fiercest sea beast in this region, tore through them.
At its construction, Shelter No. 70 had equipped it with the most advanced anti-ship systems and a surface fire control radar, theoretically making it an unmatched opponent even against the combined destroyer fleets of the North Federation and the South Sea Union.
The battle would be decidedly one-sided, a slaughter with no suspense!
Tension filled the bridge, the radar operator’s eyes glued to the screen.
The moment he saw the ripple on the screen, he exclaimed reflexively.
"Reef No. has appeared!"
"The target is proceeding along the planned route! In about five minutes, we’ll be detected by their radar!"
For now, Reef No. remained oblivious, continuing to play the role of the seemingly harmless "bait."
Hearing the radar operator’s report, Captain Fu Hongyi of the Laken nodded.
The window for attack was just five minutes.
However, that time was more than enough—even painfully long.
By the time Reef No. realized that it was Laken approaching them, not flying fish, they would hardly have a chance to pray before their anti-ship missiles sent them to feed the fish at the sea bottom.
Still, the thought of attacking former comrades made Fu Hongyi’s feelings complicated.
Seeing everyone looking towards him, he spoke slowly.
"Can we establish contact with them?"
The communications officer sitting at the terminal shook his head.
"We can’t get through! They’ve gone into radio silence as planned..."
Exactly as expected.
Although he hadn’t truly intended to contact them, Fu Hongyi sighed softly and ordered the combat units at all levels to prepare.
Seeing that everything was ready, his executive officer hesitated.
After a struggle, he asked quietly,
"Are we really... going to do this?"
The captain remained silent for a moment, then adjusted his cap.
"The tide of battle changes swiftly; hesitation invites defeat... sink it."
Time was running out.
The South Sea Alliance’s ambush fleet was nearby; the Laken needed a swift and decisive victory before immediately altering course to rendezvous with the main force.
It was ironic that though the fleet in the Southern sea area had been established to guard against the Army, it had yet to encounter even a shadow of the Army. Their only "achievements" had been against their own.
This fleet would have been better off non-existent.
Fu Hongyi couldn’t help but wryly smile to himself.
Perhaps after cleaning up the chaos at home, Mr. Charles would allow their crews to truly serve a purpose.
At least elsewhere in the Wasteland...
"Fire control radar has locked onto the target!"
"’Rapids’ anti-ship missile ready!"
"Safety is off!"
"Ready to fire!"
A series of announcements echoed in the bridge, but just then, an untimely voice rang out.
The operator at the sonar control terminal suddenly screamed.
"Sonar system detects an unknown object approaching!"
Fu Hongyi’s pupils dilated sharply, countless possibilities flashing through his mind, all converging into despair.
"Launch torpedo decoy—"
Before he could finish, the left side of the Laken was struck as if by a sea beast itself, causing the entire ship to shake violently.
Everyone in the bridge slammed against the glass windows as if weightless, quickly being engulfed by the flames and heat that erupted.
From afar, the cruiser named Laken looked like a chopstick snapped in the middle, slowly sinking into the sea amidst roaring flames and the fireworks of its ammunition explosion.
It all happened in an instant.
From the torpedo strike to the cruiser’s sinking, it only took one brief minute. In this age of beyond-visual-range warfare, spotting your adversary was already too late.
About 20 nautical miles to the west of the cruiser, an attack submarine slowly surfaced, revealing its bridge equipped with radio equipment.
They had been lying silent here for three days, still as a real reef at the ocean floor.
Silent radio waves sent a triumphant report back to the Naval Command at Anle Island.
"This is ’Shark’s Tooth,’ Laken has sunk. We will proceed as planned to meet with the rest of the fleet."
After the report, Shark’s Tooth submerged again and changed course toward the direction of the main fleet.
The bridge fell unnaturally silent.
Unable to stand the quiet, one officer quietly slipped away from the bridge to the corridor, only to find someone already there.
Seeing his somber face, the man whistled to lighten the awkward silence.
"Adding Cold Night, we’ve now taken down two allied heads."
"Are they even allies?"
"Sort of. At least, we trained together before."
The awkwardness eased no better this time, and the corridor quieted down.
Standing at the door for a long while, the officer sighed and said,
"...end this quickly."
He didn’t know how future generations would judge these troubled times.
Perhaps sinking to the bottom of the ocean is the real liberation.
...
The Shark Teeth submarine, having completed its mission, continued towards the original target.
After sailing a distance according to the planned route, the Reef destroyer found itself neither sunk nor met with any reinforcements, falling into a "vacuum period" of its mission.
Anle Island’s Naval Command had not assigned it a next combat mission, and it was clearly unnecessary to continue following the original course.
Not long after, the sonar system of the Reef destroyer detected the wreckage of a cruiser that had sunk to the ocean floor.
Zhang Ruowen did not hesitate and ordered an immediate move towards the area where the Laken had sunk.
Although the probability of those sailors surviving was slim, he still decided to try and save them.
Save as many as possible.
As for the Alzu residing in his mind, it had already vanished without a trace, whether it was merely silent or truly disappeared.
Nevertheless, whatever it was, after all this ended, he was going to have a minor surgery to remove that thing.
The bionic chip was indeed useful, but he, no longer feeling any confusion about the future, did not need to listen to the so-called "Heaven’s gospel."
Meanwhile, at the North Island Naval Command, a deadly silence spread like a plague among everyone’s hearts.
Charles’s pupils dilated, his eyes bloodshot and his fists tightly clenched.
At this moment, he was like a wild beast stirred into a frenzy.
Those standing by his side dared not even breathe loudly, let alone make a sound, for fear of provoking the beast.
"...Useless."
Charles harshly cursed, holding back the pain in his heart, and calmly looked towards the commander beside him and said, "What about our main fleet? Have they spotted the enemy fleet?"
"Not yet... Should we dispatch a destroyer to track and sink the Laken with a sonar wave?" the commander asked nervously, glancing at Charles, but unexpectedly, he was met with a torrent of abuse. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
"Are you a pig! We’re down to just two destroyers! Rely on a single destroyer to cover our battleships?"
Such a bunch of incompetents!
Watching the commander bow his head in silence, Charles cursed a few more times and calmed himself down, then returned his gaze to the sea chart.
Not counting the destroyer about to be dispatched, he now only had three ships under his command.
One battleship and two destroyers, an extremely unbalanced configuration.
On the other hand, the South Sea Union kept getting more ships and crew: three destroyers, one cruiser, three nuclear submarines, and a submarine carrier that hadn’t shown up yet.
However—
His side still had a chance.
If the Sea Edge battleship could wipe out the four South Sea Union combat vessels in one swoop, his subordinates on the Flying Fish and Defender destroyers could still wipe out the remaining four submarines, maintaining a sliver of chance for victory!
But why?
Charles stared unblinkingly at the sea chart, his eyebrows furrowed tightly.
Why had his battleship still not located the South Sea Union fleet?
Could they be using some new type of anti-radar coating or some special interference device?
If Reef No. was a decoy, the South Sea Union fleet must be ambushing nearby...
Wait!
Charles suddenly realized, his pupils almost shrinking to their limits.
They already know that I know Reef No. is a decoy.
They must have also guessed that the Sea Edge battleship would be waiting nearby.
Just like they had guessed that the Laken cruiser would go near Reef No., deducing the movements of the Federal main fleet consequently was only logical.
After all, he wouldn’t let a cruiser attack hundreds of miles alone; the main fleet must be waiting somewhere within a hundred miles.
"If I were Li Minghui..."
"I certainly wouldn’t send my only base face to the battleship but would take advantage of the battleship’s absence to attack North Island Port..."
His lips trembling, he muttered softly, as a drop of cold sweat slid down Charles’s forehead once again.
This time it wasn’t just him.
Everyone in the command room, listening to his muttering, snapped back to reality.
North Island was their target!
The final battle had begun!
Realizing this, Charles widened his eyes and yelled regardless of everything.
"Have the Sea Edge return to defense immediately! Immediately!"
"Yes!" the communications officer replied nervously, hastily operating the terminal to send the message.
At the same time, the radar operator in the command post turned pale and exclaimed,
"A large number of aerial targets are approaching us! Total number, 1447!"
That voice acted like the fuse to a powder keg, causing noisy chaos to instantly erupt.
"It’s decoy flares! Activate the main illumination radar to lock the target airspace! Turn on the optical observation system!"
"Have the anti-air missiles on standby! Quick!"
"Radar has burned through the targets! Only 20 left... Damn it! Why are there still so many?!"
"Electromagnetic Pulse bomb exploded near our airspace! Anti-pulse devices working effectively!"
"Foil strips! They’ve deployed a large number of foil strips! I can’t see clearly anymore!"
"They’re just tricking us... Send our fighter planes to meet them! Fast!"
In just one minute, the originally calm as water North Island Command instantly boiled over like heated water!
In the park at the heart of North Island, where the lawn had been converted into a temporary runway, four "simplistically designed" fuel-powered fighter planes slowly emerged from spacious hangars and dashed along the runway toward the sky.
In the distance, the sky twinkled with a dazzling flash of light, a result of the foil strips scattered through the air.
Farther away, Alliance planes were speeding towards them, their numbers still unknown!
Seated in their respective cockpits, the four pilots all had faces marked with tension.
Although they had flown 200 hours of training missions before, this was their first time on the battlefield.
Before the Alliance reached the Southern sea area, the Federation hadn’t developed an air force and had no reserve of relevant technical personnel. The two LB-1 fighter planes were purely a product of the "bare-bones brick" design philosophy, even copying and modifying the fire control and radar systems from destroyers.
If the opponents were the Alliance’s first-generation jet "Soaring Clouds," or a bunch of mass-produced propeller planes, these machines might still stand a chance.
But that was obviously not possible.
At the same time as Mr. Charles finally noticed the strategic movements of the South Sea Alliance, 100 nautical miles away from North Island, a huge submarine slowly surfaced amidst the rolling waves, revealing its formidable silhouette!
It resembled a giant whale surfacing, except instead of spouting water, it launched jet planes catapulting into the sky!
Two L-10 "Thunder" fighter planes and two P-2 "Lightning" attack planes were catapulted into the sky, quickly forming an arrowhead formation in the air, heading towards the skies above North Island.
The former was a collaboration between Goblin Technology and the Alliance Scientific Expedition Team, while the latter was the crystallization of a century and a half of Huge Rock Military Industry technology!
Both were powered by small controllable fusion reactors and plasma propulsors; their energy systems left the Federation’s LB-1 far behind.
In fact, the Alliance had also developed a special "Underwater Carrier-based Aircraft" for the "Conch Submarine Carrier."
But since most prototypes crashed during training, and they couldn’t solve the mass production issues in time, they regretfully couldn’t make their debut in this battle.
Sitting in the cockpit of the Thunder Aircraft, Falling Feather took a deep breath and quickly glanced at the radar screen.
Watching the red dots appear on the radar, his eyes gradually sharpened, his left index finger flipping the switch for the missile radar and guidance head, then his hand moved to the throttle.
"Enemy aircraft detected! All units, attention, disengage weapon safety, free to engage!"
A uniform response came through the communication channel.
"Yes!"
Four pale blue plasma trails, like daggers piercing the sky, soon intermingled with four trails of burning light after breaking through the clouds.
After a beyond-visual-range missile exchange, both sides quickly entered close combat.
Trails of tracer fire danced wildly in the air, mixing with the flickering bright white flares, like fireworks blooming in the clear sky.
This battle had no suspense from the start.
The North Federation’s newly formed air force, green and freshly equipped, ran out of missiles and, facing the experienced Alliance pilots in a dogfight, was utterly outplayed.
An LB-1 had its wing severed by cannon fire, turning into a fireball plummeting towards the sea.
Ignoring the pilot ejecting from the plane, Falling Feather’s aircraft plunged directly into North Island’s airspace, firing an EMP warhead-carrying anti-radar missile at the radar installation as it skimmed low.
The ravaging electromagnetic pulse instantly paralyzed the radar’s internal electronics, blinding the North Federation’s island air defense like losing an eye, its once sharp air defenses suddenly lost their accuracy.
Two P-2 "Lightning" attack planes simultaneously launched a total of eight ground-to-air missiles, obliterating the exposed coordinates of the launch devices.
Including the launchers for air-to-air missiles and the wells for anti-ship missiles!
The South Sea Alliance’s main battle fleet moved closer to North Island’s nearby waters, two destroyers raised their main guns, and under the guidance of drones, began shelling North Island’s military port and the nearby barracks.
At this point, North Island’s air defense capacity had effectively ceased to exist, and its ground resistance forces were also on the verge of collapse.
Had the Federation had even a single destroyer nearby, this raid would not have proceeded so smoothly, nor would it have allowed Alliance planes to approach within 50 kilometers of the island.
However, there are no "what ifs" on the battlefield.
Victory or defeat was determined in a moment of absentmindedness on one side.
The naval and security forces stationed on North Island quickly assembled.
Clearly, Charles understood perfectly what the Alliance would do after achieving air supremacy.
Before the Federation’s fleet could respond, he had to hold off the Alliance at all costs!
At the same time the confrontation in the air was decided, four "Viper" small transport planes parked in the hangar of the Conch Submarine Carrier were successively lifted to the upper tier via elevators.
The steep deck was the most distinguishing exterior feature between the Conch Submarine Carrier and the "Dolphin Cargo Submarine".
In addition to its spacious internal structure, the top of the former also had catapult tracks suited for ships’ aircrafts and was modified into a deck and apron for conventional airplanes to take off and land.
A total of twenty-four heavily armed infantry, wearing "Xiaguang" power armor, had already assembled next to the "Viper" transport planes. Their hands held not only light and heavy machine guns but also ferocious anti-materiel weapons like the 37mm Heavy Cavalry Gun.
Though there were only two squads gathered here, their firepower was not to be underestimated!
They were the best-equipped unit of the Alliance, possessing exceptionally strong individual combat abilities—the Burning Corps!
Placed in Ten Peaks Mountain or the wastelands of the Weifu, this force of just over twenty soldiers could easily annihilate a thousand team of Mutants!
Waves lapped against the hull, and white foam washed over the proud bow.
Wearing "Dragon Cavalry" power armor, Old White walked in front of his brothers, lifted the visor of his helmet, and loudly proclaimed,
"Our air force brothers have taken down the enemy’s crown, now it’s our turn to pull the rug out from under them!"
"Our target is the central airport on North Island, we need to ensure the runway remains intact and suppress anything that aims its barrel at you!"
"Remember to control the combat zone, avoid harming civilians!"
"Yes!" Roaring shouts filled with high morale echoed on the deck, and excitement filled the eyes of all the players.
Responding to those fiery, battle-ready pupils, Old White closed his helmet visor, and neatly swung his right hand.
"Move!!!"
Following the command, agile figures quickly boarded the ready Vipers.
Light blue plasma streams spurted from the engines, towing the streamlined bodies of the planes away from the deck and racing toward North Island, skimming the tips of the waves.
At the same time, North Island was engulfed in smoke and fumes pervading the air.
Especially on the southern side of the island.
From the military harbor to the edge of the settlement, an entire stretch of land appeared as if it had been plowed by a bulldozer, leaving nothing but a devastated wasteland.
150mm naval guns had thoroughly swept this area, with even a nearby shipyard catching two errant bombs that blew open its dome.
The four "Viper" transport planes pierced directly through the pitch-black smoke, like swords thrusting into the belly, breaking through the coastal defenses of North Island.
Dizzied by the bombings, the naval infantry hurriedly poked out of their cover, raising their rifle barrels to fire into the sky.
But the 7mm bullets were far from enough to threaten the Vipers, leaving those without anti-air weapons to merely watch helplessly as the planes sped toward the heart of the island.
Leaning on the shattered ruins, the captain of the exoskeleton-clad Marine Corps took out the walkie-talkie and roared desperately into the communications channel.
"...This is the Southern Defense Line!"
"The enemy air forces have broken through our airspace! Their target appears to be the airport in the very center of the island!"
"We... can’t stop them!"
Mr. Charles, who had just retreated to the Presidential Palace Basement under the protection of the Marine Corps, had barely caught his breath when he received the disastrous news from the front lines.
When he heard that the Alliance’s target was not the Presidential Mansion, his heart instinctively relaxed.
However, before he could fully relax, his heart, which he had just let down, immediately rose to his throat.
The airport!
The Alliance’s target was the airport!
"No! We absolutely cannot let them seize the airport!" he roared, grabbing Lundy, the commander of the Marine Corps by his side, "Take your men there! Don’t worry about me! You must at all costs hold the airport!"
If the Alliance were to occupy the airport, the Alliance’s transport planes would be able to land directly on the island.
By then, even if the Federal Fleet returned to defend, it would be too late, and there would be no ports left in the Southern sea area for the Federal Fleet to resupply.
With Mr. Charles tugging at his collar, Lundy felt hot sweat on his forehead and back.
"But you..."
"I said, don’t worry about me!"
Mr. Charles roared furiously, rudely cutting him off, and forcefully pushed him toward the door, watching him stumble toward the corridor, then toward the exit of the basement.
Once that figure disappeared, he turned his murderous gaze to a crowd of dusty officers.
"And you! All of you, get out!"
No one dared provoke him.
Just as people had sat down, they frantically shuffled their butts off their seats, trembling as they exited the door, leaving the room to him.
The room quieted down.
Mr. Charles composed his breathing, and it took a good while before he managed to calm himself.
The room was eerily quiet, as if he was left alone in the world.
He heard his own breathing, even his heartbeat.
It seemed to be the end...
His ambition had come to a ragged end before it even began.
But why?
Why couldn’t these fools just do as he said!
In agony, he closed his eyes, his hands cradling his deeply wrinkled face.
If the Laken had sunk the Reefs as planned, and the ambush fleet had devoured the South Sea Alliance Fleet as planned, not just Anle Island, but Ring Island and even Potato Harbor would have been at his feet!
He would have then sailed his warships into Silver Moon Bay’s port, conquering the Camel Hump Kingdom and continuing westward, moving inland toward Poluo Province! Sweeping up the Everflow River, until the front lines advanced to West Sail Port controlled by the Army!
He would’ve built an unmatched vast empire on the seas! Young men in the Wasteland could do whatever they wished!
Yet this bunch just had to oppose him!
Refusing to even listen to his plans!
For a moment, his vision seemed to hallucinate, as if he wasn’t crouching in the basement of the Presidential Mansion, but sitting in the palace of the lord of the world.
But that was just for a moment, a dreamlike vision quickly dissolved like soap bubbles, pulling him back into a dark abyss called reality.
Staring at that hazy light, a name suddenly came to mind.
Perhaps the only person who could save him.
His throbbing throat mustered a trembling voice.
"Alzu."
Silence enveloped the room.
The guy was the same as ever, liking to vanish at critical moments, no response no matter how he was called.
Yet, unlike before, he had never placed his hopes on an outsider, but now that guy was his only lifeline.
"Alzu!"
Faced with that unresponsive silence, a trace of panic rose in his heart, and he shouted again.
"Alzu! Get out here!"
This time, the voice in the void finally responded.
Yet the tone, devoid of energy, dashed the flicker of hope he had just kindled.
"Why bother coming out?" Alzu sighed leisurely, watching the frantic Mr. Charles.
Seeing him act as if he were an outsider, Mr. Charles was completely angered.
"Don’t you act indifferent! You said we were allies, sharing glory and loss alike! Lend me a hand, help me! What about those biological weapons of yours! Bring them all out! I still have a fleet, there’s still a chance if they make it back! I haven’t lost yet!"
Alzu silently looked at him, a trace of pity suddenly appearing in his eyes.
He hadn’t always been like this.
Or perhaps all "people" are this hideous in the last moments of their lives.
In the time at Brocade River City, he attributed failures to the unreliability of the Holy Land, complained that Luo Gan had given up too soon, and concluded, "An imperfect divinity is worse than humanity," "It should be humans commanding the followers on earth to build their Heaven," and proposed to the Saint Heir the necessity of establishing "Sanctuary No. 2."
Though most Pioneers opposed him, the benevolent Saint Heir granted him the power to use the functions of the Holy Land as a human.
While he was preaching in the Southern Sea District, he always employed puppet-controlled indirect methods, using the "Power of the Godly Spirit" to support a "king" on earth, playing chess through this king.
However, the outcome was so disappointing...
"I never said you lost, but... clearly, you already know your fate, even lost in delirious fantasy."
Watching those hands reaching desperately at his collar, then helplessly passing through, Alzu chuckled bitterly, his cloudy eyes filled with exhaustion.
"... Saint Heir above, your Servant has done all he could."
