Chapter 322

Chapter 322: The Protest of the Common People

These dangerous reefs scatter like stars across the South China Sea. As long as they aren’t in shipping lanes, no one will spend time and money to remove each one.

From another perspective, if the terrain shifts, these reefs could suddenly become small islands. This would escalate into territorial disputes, a big deal for neighboring countries, as a rocky outcrop means a piece of exclusive economic zone.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, these reefs, which have not offended anyone, are only marked by each country’s hydrographic survey ships on nautical charts.

“I see the reef, lock on!”

With the help of the Light Mirror Technique, five kilometers ahead, a flat rock the size of a table emerged at a distance of over a hundred meters, resembling a yak. It is difficult to name such little reefs, and they are most often identified only by their geographic coordinates.

When dropping aerial deep-water bombs, there’s no laser lock. It’s all about the seawater as a stabilizing platform, and accuracy relies entirely on feel. Lin Mo aimed carefully. The “Dark Sabre” immediately released a cloud of localized supersonic sonic boom smoke from both wingtips, resembling ribbons descending from a celestial being.

The aircraft suddenly felt lighter as two stout aerial deep-water bombs flew out from a slight angle from the wings.

Lin Mo employed a single-point drop technique; the two aerial deep-water bombs flew almost in a straight line.

After a diagonal glide at a 45-degree angle for five hundred meters, a massive blast erupted from the sea behind him, a black plume of smoke rising as the two aerial deep-water bombs struck the rock simultaneously, leading to an intense explosion.

This wasn’t a splash upon hitting the sea but a direct impact against the rock. The force of the collision surpassed the explosive threshold of the aerial deep-water bombs, causing fuses that typically require seawater pressure to activate to malfunction in an instant.

Within a radius of 150 meters, the water was instantaneously colored by the shockwave; the pale blue, transparent seawater over nearby shallow coral reefs immediately turned murky. Countless droplets of water were launched skyward, falling back like rain, creating a turbulent surface, while another reef a hundred meters away flickered in and out of sight amid the waves.

A flat rock, about the size of a table, was obliterated without a trace. If this were detonated on land, it would have created a fifteen-meter-deep pit.

This weapon could sink submarines, and its detonation effect on the ocean’s surface was spectacular. It’s easy to imagine how much aircraft carriers would dread having such devices malfunction and land on their decks.

“Beautiful!”

The co-pilot, “Shock” Liu Jihua, couldn’t help but cheer; the instructor hit the target perfectly, with not even a centimeter of error, and it was two hits in a row.

“I’m coming too.”

The second “Dark Sabre” followed Lin Mo’s lead, targeting another rock the size of a yak and simultaneously dropping two aerial deep-water bombs.

Boom!

Another massive explosion rang out, but the power was clearly weaker than Lin Mo’s two bombs detonating together.

“Uh, instructor, one didn’t explode; it missed the target.”

“Shock” seemed to see something dark swirling in the rising waves.

“Hmm, missed it; I see it—it’s 50 meters from that rock, in shallow water,” Lin Mo observed keenly, spotting a dark object resting on a coral reef about two meters underwater in the murky shallows.

“Uh! What to do? What to do!” Captain “Shock” Liu Jihua panicked. Having an aerial deep-water bomb left here was not a good situation, and he had nothing like another aerial bomb to trigger it again.

If a nearby fisherman or some idle person stumbled upon it, it could lead to major trouble.

“I’ll handle it!”

Lin Mo sighed, aiming the nose of the aircraft at the water layer where the bomb was, locking on with the Light Mirror Technique!

“What are you… hissing…”

Captain “Shock” Liu Jihua gasped, watching as Lin Mo’s “Dark Sabre” dove down, the cannon under the belly unleashing a stream of fiery bullets aimed straight at the sea surface.

The instructor was actually providing backup shooting for himself!

Almost all the rounds landed in the same area, and the position of the unexploded aerial deep-water bomb was momentarily enveloped by a hail of 30-millimeter projectiles, with water columns shooting up densely, resembling a fountain.

Unlike explosions on the surface, detonations underwater were extraordinarily earth-shattering.

A sudden flash of red light erupted, and massive seawater was hurled into the sky, forming a large umbrella of water mixed with countless corals that rapidly expanded.

On a coral reef platform, about a thousand square meters and just two meters above sea level, a large pit and a wide area devoid of water appeared in mere moments.

The 250-kilogram high explosive directly blasted away or displaced the nearby seawater.

“Instructor, you’re really amazing.”

“Hehe, it’s nothing. With more practice, you can do it too.”

Lin Mo smiled gently, as if he had heard such praise many times before.

Kota Kinabalu port, as the southern flank of the U.S. military’s first "island chain" base network, serves as an important support point for U.S. operations on the Indochinese Peninsula. It controls the main maritime route from the western Pacific to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, supporting both land operations in Southeast Asia and naval operations in the southwest Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

At the same time, it is the capital and economic center of Sabah, East Malaysia. A direct flight from Shenzhen, China, takes only about three to four hours, with round-trip tickets costing just over 1,000 yuan.

However, this military base rented from Malaysia has sounded its emergency alarm since dawn. As a primary supply and support base, it doesn’t have much military strength. There are only 500 U.S. Marines, two squadrons of AH-1Z "Viper" attack helicopters, and several coastal patrol ships.

Typically, it is used for accommodating aircraft carrier task forces and attack submarines for rest and repair.

“Colonel Marshall, the ‘Hampton’ will arrive in one hour! The Chinese carrier-based aircraft could appear at any moment.”

In the office of the base commander at Kota Kinabalu port, a communications officer reported.

“I understand. How are the ‘Viper One’ and ‘Viper Two’ squadrons prepared? Have the ‘Julie’ and ‘Vice Admiral Hank’ frigates set off to greet them?”

“The helicopter squadrons are ready and will take off in fifteen minutes. The two frigates left the port five minutes ago, heading north to welcome the ‘Hampton’.”

“Good, everything as planned. I remind all departments to avoid any friction with the Chinese, even in the face of provocation; no locking on or attacks are allowed.”

“Understood!”

As he watched the communications officer leave, Colonel Marshall Hoover, whose rectangular face was adorned with stubble, glanced at the busy personnel toward the port and sipped from his coffee cup, dipping a donut in before taking a bite.

“Let’s hope things don’t get worse,” Colonel Marshall Hoover chewed slowly on the soft, sweet donut, which had a slightly burnt aroma.

Recently, he had learned about the inexplicable mishap of the "George Washington" aircraft carrier task force in the South China Sea, which left them covered in mud and blood, almost losing face before the Chinese.

Not long after, the Los Angeles-class attack submarine “Hampton,” while scouting the Chinese aircraft carrier training ship for anti-submarine training, was inadvertently discovered and forced to surface. It is now being driven out of the South China Sea and heading toward Kota Kinabalu port, the military base he oversees.

The Marines at the base quickly gathered and began preparations. As a military facility, they could not allow the Chinese to act without restraint; it was unimaginable how audacious the Chinese had become, over just a second-hand aircraft carrier from Russia.

Many shared this thought, holding in a breath of anxiety.

After leaving the boundaries of the South China Sea, the "Shilang" aircraft carrier training group’s “Haijiao” and “Pocha” frigates, along with the “Jing Ke” submarine and helicopter, halted escort duties and turned back.

Only Lin Mo’s squadron of carrier-based aircraft continued to escort overhead.

At this point, they could vaguely see the coastline on the horizon; it was Malaysia. As for the airspace where the Chinese aircraft were, it had already become Malaysian airspace.

However…

For an air force like Malaysia’s, which could not even gather 100 combat aircraft, the arrival of the Chinese carrier-based aircraft left them shrugging in helplessness. They were informed of the Chinese aircraft’s approach by the Americans.

With Malaysia’s outdated coastal radar, it was nearly impossible to detect the stealthy J-15 "Dark Sabre"; they couldn’t even catch a glimpse of it on the radar screen.

The Malaysian Air Force could deploy only 18 Su-30 "Flankers," 8 F-18 "Hornets," 18 F-5 "Freedom Fighters," and 13 BAE HAWK trainers, while the 14 MiG-29s imported in ’94 had been retired.

This was already barely sufficient for covering the entire country, and logistical support was quite challenging.

Let alone facing the Chinese "Shilang" aircraft carrier training ship, even the six J-15 "Dark Sabres" under Lin Mo’s command were more than they could handle.

The Malaysians could only lament, “We can’t take it!” as a feeble consolation.

The high-ranking officials acted as if they hadn’t noticed, keeping quiet, hoping that if they didn’t speak up, the common people wouldn’t know the Chinese aircraft had come here.

Compared to the indifference of the Malaysians upon spotting the Chinese carrier-based aircraft on their coastal radar, the U.S. Marines stationed at Kota Kinabalu port displayed a bit more concern.