Chapter 42 The Naval Battle That Year

In August 2026, the Ocean Administration issued a navigation warning. From the 20th to the 24th, the first joint live-fire combat confrontation military exercise between the two countries with the strongest military capabilities in the world would be carried out in the waters of the southern hemisphere of the earth, attracting global attention.

"General! A call from the headquarters!"

"Speak!"

"The headquarters has approved the request for the confrontation exercise!"

"Any special instructions?"

"Win!!"

When two highly developed informatized troops conduct an exercise confrontation, the entire battlefield appears extremely quiet, with only the whispers of the commanders and technicians and the tapping of keyboards.

No one even knows the location of the opponent's command base.

The veteran on the island of the aircraft carrier "Rian" was already in his old age, with snow-white hair and a hoary beard. However, his body was still upright, as if he would never bend. His eyes revealed sharp glances as he stared straight into the distance.

The troops dispatched by both sides were composed of highly intelligent war machines and drones, all with the same goal: to destroy the opponent!

As the countdown gradually came to an end, the expression on the veteran's face became even more determined.

His cheeks turned slightly red, whether due to nervousness or excitement, and his tightly clenched hands were trembling slightly without his realizing it.

"Thirty years of waiting, all for showing our might today!!!"

"O!!! NO!!!"

No one could have imagined that this conflict would end in such a brief way.

It was a swarm after swarm of "bees" soaring into the sky.

Some of their operators were even thousands of miles away.

On the sea, the electronic reconnaissance ships with huge radar island superstructures were constantly cruising and hovering. While ensuring their own data links, they were also engaged in a silent confrontation, making the whole ship filled with the pungent smell of ionized electricity, making people's hair stand on end.

In a distant inland area.

They were a group of young people who, in the eyes of ordinary people, were addicted to games.

They were the generation that the older generation thought had wasted their lives on idle pursuits and was going to be a failure.

And they were also the idols that the younger generation cheered for on the electronic competition field.

And here, they all had a unified name.

"Skywalkers."

Head-mounted closed AR display helmets.

Semi-reclining ergonomic seats.

Highly sensitive control systems.

Voice feedback "Queen Bee" AI.

And the result of all this was a crushing start.

With the operators as the mainstay and the AI clusters cooperating with the operators' micro-operations, relying on their personal sensitive reactions and with the assistance of AI, they could even control the attitudes of nearly a hundred drones with a speed of Mach 1.

War had never been so simple and unrestrained.

When the opponent's naval vessels were surrounded 360° by the swarm of "bees", the "Phalanx" close-in weapon system on the vessel, which had a 29-millimeter caliber, a firing rate of 4,500 rounds per minute and could lock 46 targets simultaneously, spewed out tongues of fire that seemed so powerless.

"Where are our drones?!!!"

Beyond the line of sight, on the aircraft carrier of the Blue Side, the tall and burly admiral with blond hair and blue eyes, his eyes bloodshot, was clutching the collar of the communication soldier tightly and roaring. Saliva flew all over the command room in his out-of-control state.

In the command room of the Red Side, the leader of the Skywalkers couldn't help but raise a smile at the corner of his mouth as he watched the air-to-ship missiles launched by the QM drones, which were hiding far away, arriving late on the screen.

The commands in his mouth were clearly conveyed to the distance as if he were chatting casually.

"The long-range air defense missiles are responsible for intercepting at a distance. The medium-range interception is the responsibility of the 'Wasp' and 'Big Mouth Bee' swarms. The close-in weapon systems will take care of the close-range defense. Keep some reserve air defense missiles and don't let a single one get through!"

"Since they've made a move, don't let them go back!"

"The 'Black-tailed Bees', sting down those six 'eagles' in the sky for me!"

Thousands of miles away, in the defense building of the Blue Side, the military and political high officials of the Blue Side were silent as they watched the satellite images on the screen.

It was a long time before a hoarse and slightly puzzled voice sounded.

"Where are our swarms of 'bees'?"

Someone responded awkwardly:

"Mr. President, each QM drone costs twenty million dollars. If we form them into swarms, the defense budget will probably need to be increased significantly."

"Then why can they do it?"

The mouth of the person who had just responded twitched slightly at this moment.

"Mr. President, this is a very complicated issue.

Maintaining technological balance and high-precision weapon systems has always been our traditional advantage.

We can't give up our own advantages and compete with the other side in the production capacity of such disposable weapons."

As he said this, he spread his hands helplessly and said:

"This doesn't conform to the consistent interests of our military, and it's not scientific either!"

"But we lost!"

"Mr. President, we didn't lose!"

At this time, an officer stood up:

"The QM drone unit is carrying a super-large-range EMP bomb. I think according to the characteristics of the opponent's relatively simple equipment, they simply can't defend against the impact of the electromagnetic pulse!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Use it quickly!"

"Mr. President, the use of such a large-scale weapon requires your authorization!"

The originally eager voice seemed to think of something and suddenly fell into thought:

"Are you sure this isn't a real nuclear weapon?"

"Of course! After all, I don't want to go home tomorrow and find it in ruins."

"Use it! Start the authorization."

He looked at the dense mass of the Red Side's drone swarm, which was hard to tell whether they were missiles or drones, getting closer and closer to the QM drone unit in the shared satellite data link, and sighed helplessly:

"I hope it's not too late."

As soon as the words fell, the originally clear screen was immediately replaced by a scene of garbled code and snowflakes.

He turned his head in confusion and looked at the officer who had spoken.

"As you can see, Mr. President, our drones can't defend against such a super-large electromagnetic pulse either."

"Shit!!!"

"How many did we lose? All of them?"

The officer's gaze shifted slightly to one side. After a moment, he said in a sorrowful tone:

"Under your personal command, Mr. President! Although we lost six QM drones, a fully loaded standard unit of QM drones, a new unmanned warship, and about two billion dollars' worth of intelligent unmanned equipment.

However, at the cost of no casualties, we strongly struck the opponent's military intentions and safeguarded our interests in the waters of the southern hemisphere and globally.

The administrative and military benefits of this are immeasurable!"

The president was shocked by the officer's report:

"Isn't each QM drone twenty million dollars? Why does a unit of six planes cost two billion dollars!"

"Mr. President, a single QM drone only costs twenty million dollars. But a fully loaded QM drone squadron and a fully loaded newly modified unmanned combat platform together cost two billion dollars."

"So we won?"

"At least we didn't lose!"

Thousands of miles away, the veteran looked at the snowflakes on the screen and the battle damage report in his hand and smiled indifferently.

"This deal isn't a loss!"

...

"I think I'm at a loss!"

"Where are you at a loss?"

"Is this plan just generated by Pangu AI?"

"Yes!"

"Then how can you have the nerve to resell it to me for four thousand yuan! Do you think I'm a fool?"

"No."

"Hmm?"

"Actually, we can also create a training exercise plan and a dietary guidance plan for you according to your goals and living habits. But formulating such a plan requires a long period of observation, adaptation, and modification.

Generally, we only offer this service to our long-term members."

Song Han pointed at the tablet in his hand and emphasized:

"The exercise plan of Pangu AI has stronger universality. It's enough for us to use it as a foundation. After all, what we're selling is our experience, not the plan itself."

"I've been training in your gym for so long! Am I not a long-term member yet?"

"Actually, whether you're a long-term member or not is secondary. The key is that this kind of plan requires at least a hundred classes. All in all, it will cost more than twenty thousand yuan."

"Do you look down on me?"

"No, no. Well, Brother Ao, shall we swipe the card first?"

...

"Take care, Brother Ao! Let's continue training our legs tomorrow!"

Song Han looked at his performance ranking and showed a proud smile on his face:

"Now that I'm relying entirely on my experience to make a living, I won't be replaced by AI and forced to be laid off again, right?"