Perhaps Southeast Asian navies don't take the rising Chinese navy seriously, because, relatively speaking, the Chinese navy's equipment isn't necessarily superior. However, everyone knows that war doesn't happen easily, but when it does, it's never a battle fought by a single branch of the armed forces. While China's naval equipment may be unfortunate, it's still far inferior to its national strength.
Although it's a pity, it's said that acquiring this island could have advanced Malaysia's technological level in certain areas by ten years, but Zhu Naidi dared not risk public condemnation by going against the will of "those above." His courage to challenge the behemoth that is China was based on their support; Zhu Naidi is no fool... even though he felt it was a great pity.
Standing atop the HMAS Caiku, Zhu Naidi wore a smug expression. At this time, it was one of only two Caiku-class guided-missile frigates in Malaysia, the absolute mainstay of the Malaysian Navy and the most advanced frigate in Southeast Asia. If this mission was successfully completed, then the Malaysian Navy should be able to "buy" another one from Japan… well, that's a secret, not to be revealed.
But the thought of the Japanese navy's equipment, and the thought of becoming the captain of the strongest fleet in Southeast Asia, made Zhu Naidi convulse once again.
With only half an hour left, the navies of both countries had made their final preparations, just waiting for the time to run out, and then... to flatten the island!
"Zhunaidi, are you ready?" A voice came from the communicator. Everyone knew it was the collaborator, Vice Admiral Kurnia, the commander of this Indonesian naval operation... and also a hawk.
"You mean the celebratory champagne?" Zhu Naidi leered. "Or the banquet that follows? Don't worry, I've got everything ready. There are also a few currently popular young actresses. Want to come along?"
"You rascal!" Cournia laughed loudly. "Alright, let's light the fireworks before the banquet... Oh! What's going on!"
Just then, a burst of noise came through the communicator, with countless people shouting in panic. Then came a rumbling sound, and Kurnia's indistinct voice rang out: "What are all these things? Where's the radar?... God! Why can't our radar detect us? Help!"
The command room of the Leku was deathly silent, with only the constant noise from the communicator.
The screams of the crew, the rumbling of metal clashing, music, and gunshots.
"Enemy attack!" Zhu Naidi was the first to react. He grabbed the communicator and shouted, "All units, all units, pay attention! Strengthen defenses, prepare for battle... uh, battle..."
What is this thing?!
With a deafening roar, everyone felt the Caiku ship tremble. The sturdy missile frigate seemed like a small boat in a storm, its fate hanging in the balance at sea.
"Enemy attack!!" Zhu Naidi screamed at the top of his lungs. He saw the enormous thing clearly and couldn't help but tremble... It was a gigantic robot!
Is this a Transformers movie?
The robot slammed its fist into the glass, and the sturdy bulletproof glass couldn't withstand the blow, or rather, it couldn't withstand the robot's weight. Just then, a commotion erupted on the deck of the Caiku. It was as if several incredibly heavy objects had fallen onto the entire ship, causing it to draft deeper and rock violently.
"What kind of monster is this?!" Zhu Naidi groaned. The rocking of the ship had caused him to slam his head against the corner of a platform, hitting the creature squarely in the temple. While the impact wasn't enough to kill it outright, it left him dazed and confused. Combined with the sudden shock, he had lost his basic judgment.
However, loyalty is revealed in times of trouble. At this moment, its first mate pulled Zhu Naidi and ran out of the cabin, shouting, "General! Run!"
Zhu Naidi was dragged onto the deck, still dazed. The cool sea breeze cleared his head slightly. His nose twitched; the sea breeze usually carried a fishy smell, but today it seemed particularly strong… and it wasn't just the smell of seawater. More than anything, it smelled of… blood!!
The smell of blood!
The taste of blood!
Zhu Naidi, who was barely helped up by the first mate, witnessed the closest he ever came to hell in his life...
Blood! It's all blood!
The deck was a sea of red as five colossal, two-story-high robots clashed mercilessly. They used no weapons, only their massive, steel fists and legs, each with the force of a ten-thousand-ton weight. One stomp… and it was like stepping on a cockroach blocking your path on the street—what would happen after that?
That's right, in the eyes of these steel monsters, humans are just like ants!
Zhu Naidi had seen the Hollywood blockbuster *Transformers*, but it was only now that he realized the American film rating system actually made sense… When he watched the movie, he thought Optimus Prime and Megatron, those two monsters weighing tens of tons, were fighting fiercely, yet not a single ordinary person was hurt. At the time, he thought the movie was a complete joke… but now that he'd seen the real-life version, he couldn't laugh at all.
Hell on earth!
Are aliens about to invade Earth?!
But soon, Zhu Naidi discovered that it was not an alien robot.
Because here, on the steel monster's "chest"—well, by human standards it should be the chest—he saw that the chest was transparent and there was a person inside!
Yellow race!
He raised his left hand, and the robot raised its left hand as well. He turned to the side, and the robot turned to the side as well...
After ten days, Zhu Naidi finally understood what these mechanical monsters in front of him really were!
Mechs!
Good heavens...it's a mecha?!
The perfect mecha!
Has technology really advanced that much now?!
A few crew members picked up weapons and began to fight back. However, the bullets bounced off the mechs easily, causing no harm whatsoever. Zhu Naidi wanted to shout, "Use armor-piercing rounds!" But then he remembered, how could such weapons be equipped on a ship? If he survived, he would definitely report this!
But Zhu Naidi really had no hope left.
In a conventional battle, he believed that with such overwhelming superiority, the enemy would absolutely capture him alive, despite him being dressed as a high-ranking general. Because in any war, capturing a high-ranking general alive is always more effective than killing him.
But now he discovered that the other side showed no sign of stopping the killing...
They seemed like barbarians. With such overwhelming superiority, if they had ordered a ceasefire, surely none of the crew members would have wanted to continue resisting… But they kept killing, using the most primitive methods. The steel merchants were stained with blood; it was horrifying… They had no intention of negotiating, not even willing to take prisoners…
Zhu Naidi suddenly had a flash of realization... DS3987? That's the force that calls itself the All-Eat Island? The force that both the X Organization and the European Tarot fear, the force that they're even willing to join forces with, even at the cost of destroying the entire global network, to destroy?!
The previous global hacker wars were unimaginably widespread and caused unimaginable damage. Since the birth of the internet, no one could have imagined that a war in the virtual world could cause such devastation. Some might doubt this, thinking, "So what if the internet is down? What's the big deal? Besides the countless internet addicts glued to the screen, what impact could it have on real life?" Moreover, this particular cyberwar only caused a global internet outage; many people lamented that they didn't witness the mass hacking and easy money withdrawals from banks.
But how much wealth is there online now?
Security companies, portal websites, online games, communication equipment... how much loss would there be if we lost even one day?
This is the ultimate form of cyber warfare.
Even so, two of the world's top powers, two powers that are normally bitter enemies, still joined forces to simultaneously strangle SMMH, a rising force. They risked a global internet outage to eliminate SMMH. The price they paid is evident…
Zhu Naidi initially thought this price was completely meaningless, but now it seems...
Even if the cost were doubled, it would absolutely be worth it!
Watching these steel demons almost instantly crush everyone on the ship, Zhu Naidi suddenly realized that he was still a soldier. He straightened his cap and tried to keep his voice calm: "We surrender! Whoever you are, please stop this killing. I am Vice Admiral Zhu Naidi of the Malaysian Navy. We request that you cease your attack and grant us dignified treatment as prisoners of war in accordance with the Geneva Convention!"
"Dignity?" The steel mech in the center turned around, and a young voice laced with sarcasm said, "When you issued the order to attack, did you even think about so-called dignity? Sorry, Lieutenant General Zhu Naidi, you seem to have misunderstood... Under this long-standing veil of pseudo-peace, there are some things you seem to have never understood." Zhu Naidi saw the person inside the mech clearly, and his pupils immediately contracted!
This person is Chen Jiu, the first on his list of key figures, SMMH's apprentice, that amazing Chinese kid!
He sat in his mech, a cold, undisguised sneer on his face. His gaze was icy, looking at me as if I were already dead. He slowly said, "This is not a war—it's a counterattack! Since you provoked me first, then be prepared for this kind of retaliation. We're merely striking first. I know you're not the one who gave the orders for this attack, but blame yourself for choosing the wrong enemy. Our objective is annihilation. We don't need any prisoners. This is a signal to your master. Don't think that we lack the real power to resist!"
Zhu Naidi's back was completely soaked, the sea breeze making him shiver involuntarily: "I am a vice admiral. Capturing me would give you far more than killing me! I demand that you abide by the Geneva Convention!"
"The Geneva Convention?" Chen Jiu sneered. "What rubbish. The purpose of agreements is to be torn up at the last minute. And is being a vice admiral so great? You're all just pathetic dogs. In my eyes, you're no different from these sailors... Alright, enough nonsense. Say goodbye to your ship. I'm taking over this missile frigate. As for you..."
Zhu Naidi couldn't hear anything anymore, because all he saw was the mecha pointing its finger at him. A flash of light appeared, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He slowly lowered his head, and a jet of blood spurted out from his chest, piercing his heart.
"Ah... I don't even know what killed me!" Zhu Naidi collapsed heavily to the ground. Before he dissipated, he saw the mechs on the ship suddenly leap into the air, and then quickly change their shape in mid-air—their two mechanical legs retracted, turning into a flat bird shape, gliding along the sea surface at an extremely fast speed into the distance...
"Hmm... wouldn't it be great to be able to pilot a mecha like this?" That was Zhu Naidi's last thought...
March 5, 2008
Intelligence agencies around the world received a shocking message:
A joint Malaysian and Indonesian naval operation targeting an island in the Spratly Islands has ended in complete failure. The internet legend SMMH has, for the first time, demonstrated its formidable power! This weapon of war is multi-faceted, capable of low-altitude flight, gliding over sea, and even land combat! Its emergence instantly turned the tide of the battle. Utilizing stealth materials, this machine evades radar detection and is highly maneuverable in both the air and on water! Their attack was sudden. Most naval warships received no prior warning, allowing the enemy to easily launch a surprise attack.
Once these machines forcibly landed on the warship, the ordinary weapons carried by the soldiers were completely ineffective against them. These mechanical units were incredibly ruthless, leaving no survivors throughout the entire process.
Only two destroyers detected the enemy and launched a missile counterattack, but both were skillfully evaded by the enemy.
This battle marked the birth of a completely new war machine that would change the form of warfare and had epoch-making significance in the history of world warfare!
This war machine is called a single-soldier vertical robot, or simply a mech!
Chapter 370 I am Chen Xu
Since the dawn of humankind, war has never ceased, and the forms of war have continuously evolved with the development of warfare tools.
In ancient times, the Yellow Emperor fought a great battle against Chiyou. Setting aside the countless myths and legends that have survived to this day, from a purely historical perspective, many tribes in China at that time used weapons made of stone and wooden clubs, while Chiyou's tribe used bronze. An army needs the right tools to succeed; warfare evolved from stone tools to bronze, to steel, and later to gunpowder, firearms, and even weapons of mass destruction.
The nature of warfare has been constantly changing with the emergence of these weapons.
Just as the invention of gunpowder rewrote an era, the birth of mechs has unparalleled significance for modern warfare.
Take this incident, which has been dubbed the "35 Nansha Incident" by military experts from various countries, as an example. The emergence of this new type of mecha has made the navies of various countries feel a deep threat!
Aside from the advanced stealth materials these mechs possess, enabling them to evade radar detection and conduct ambushes, what truly shocked militaries worldwide was the new combat capability of these mechs.
flexible!
They can transform into small aircraft for low-altitude flight, glide over the sea, and even run on land—like Transformers. But these "transforming mechs" aren't just gimmicky transformations; they are genuinely as agile as humans. They can jump from one warship to another. Their speed may not match some cruisers, but their short-range bursts of speed and agility are unmatched by modern navies. Simply put, no other aircraft or ship can turn around or accelerate as easily as they can.
In the "35 Spratly Islands Incident," man-made, controllable mechs unleashed their power for the first time, annihilating a third of the navies of two Southeast Asian countries in a brutal and bloody operation, leaving no survivors. The Chinese navy, closest to the scene, initiated the operation, "towing" the ownerless warships back to their home base. This incident drew strong opposition from several Southeast Asian countries, who demanded the return of the warships—everyone knew these ships were the lifeblood of those two nations—but both countries remained remarkably silent about the military operation and the deaths of hundreds of naval personnel.
According to international practice, the ship must be returned. However, these warships also contain technology that the Chinese military wants... and that's probably not going to be kept.
At this point, no one cared about the "outdated" technology anymore; what mattered was where these mechs came from. Many ambitious individuals' eyes lit up even more. Now everyone knew that these mechs belonged to Tongchi Island, or more precisely, the mechanized forces under SMMH. No one knew how these forces came to be, but most people didn't even consider that question. What they were thinking about was… how to seize these mechs for themselves!
If the power and technology of SMMH in reality were merely speculation before, the appearance of the mechs has turned that speculation into reality.
Some people began to regret their actions, but many more were filled with ambition!
"Although there was a slight flaw in this plan, the situation is still under our control. Moreover, although we lost some power, that power is negligible in our eyes, and we gained something even better, didn't we?" The Emperor of Tarot convened an emergency internal video conference of the cabal. At the various terminals in this video conference room were the monsters standing at the top of the world's economy and politics. And this time, they were collaborators.
“SMMH always brings us new surprises, and this time is no exception. Mechs, what amazing tools of war! Doesn’t anyone here have any interest in them?”
The various terminals in the conference room were already buzzing with noise.
This new type of weapon of war, and a perfectly crafted one at that, is something no one would be worthy of their current positions to show no interest in. Half of the key figures in this terminal control the world's military trade; they are the world's largest arms dealers. What could be more attractive to these arms dealers than this new type of weapon of war, capable of changing the very fabric of warfare?
Moreover, there's the virtual reality world, a veritable money tree right there.
SMMH is a treasure trove!
Moreover, in the eyes of these people, SMMH, who is incredibly powerful in the eyes of ordinary people, is nothing more than a three-year-old child with a treasure in his heart. Even if he has the power to destroy the entire Internet and the current mecha team... the gap between them is as insurmountable as the gap between a teenager and a burly man.
“I agree with the Emperor. We have already paid a very heavy price, and we absolutely cannot return empty-handed.”
Yes, it was very tragic, extremely tragic.
It is now widely known that the two regions most severely affected by the SMMH attack are Western Europe and North America. The entire Silicon Valley is now forced to rely on local area networks to weather this prolonged catastrophe. Major security companies and countless security personnel are like infants in the face of SMMH; websites are directly hacked, server access is lost, and some servers storing vast amounts of customer data have even been completely formatted, then filled with new information, formatted again… This process is repeated several times, rendering the hard drives of these servers completely unusable. Unless divine intervention occurs, the data is irretrievably lost.
The losses are enormous!
Not to mention the hidden virus that is now lurking in more than half of the world's computers.
This virus is incredibly sophisticated. It directly places a shortcut named "I am a virus.lik" on the user's desktop, but it doesn't point to anything—and the phrase "I am a virus" is translated into different languages depending on the operating system—except for Chinese operating systems. This shortcut can be deleted, but it inexplicably pops up every time the computer boots up… regardless of the operating system. No security expert can explain the origin of this shortcut. It's as stubborn as a rock, possessing the characteristics of any malicious software. Running this shortcut causes "bang!" the entire computer retaliates: hard drive damage, graphics card and CPU overheating and burning out… but if you don't run it, nothing happens.
To paraphrase the CEO of a well-known European security software company in private: "It's like a pile of dung on a dining table, but nobody dares to touch it!"
Even the mainframes of the White House and the Pentagon have shortcuts to this virus... The only thing people can do now is to back up all their precious data before this virus goes viral and put it on a safe hard drive—everyone knows that the virus was dropped by SMMH, it's like a nuclear bomb, but it hasn't exploded yet... That's the true power of a nuclear bomb.
The value of a nuclear bomb lies in the time before it is deployed. Once deployed, it's essentially useless.
No one knows when these viruses will break out. Next to the virus is an equally indestructible "READ ME" file, containing a very "sincere" explanation in the languages used by various operating systems: "This virus, if not detonated, will not cause any harm to the system or computer, nor will it steal any user data. In fact, the computer where this virus resides is safer than the computer where any antivirus software resides. Because no other virus can compete with this virus for territory… I am spreading this virus only out of desperation. I strongly urge major Western powers to stop their cyberattacks against China. After the attacks stop, this virus will automatically disappear. Otherwise, let's fight to the death."