Spark

(one more chapter)

At this time, in the command room.

Carl Thomas looked at the latest aerial image, and the expression on his face could be described as mournful.

Just now, the entire aircraft carrier formation can be said to have experienced the darkest 20 minutes in decades. Everyone is ready for the possible impact. When it had time to cool down, it was put into use again. The shield ships were ready for battle, and even the nuclear submarines lurking in the distance were put into combat readiness.

Regarding the other party's so-called sea trial, Thomas had long been prepared, and also expected that the other party would conduct demonstrations like this.

Even further, he also expected that the opponent's attack would "yaw" and land on the periphery of his own exercise area, or directly near the island country's fleet.

This is also the basis for his "no counterattack" order.

Because he knew that the opponent would not start a fight, and once his own side took the initiative to attack, at least in terms of international public opinion, the justice of the entire action would be lost.

He just wanted to watch the other party get frustrated, and watch the other party have no choice but to choose the last path after exhausting all means but still unable to provoke his side.

But obviously, his calculations were in vain.

the reason is simple.

The power of the opponent's actions far exceeded his imagination.

Especially the scene on Chiwei Island, it can be regarded as groundbreaking.

You know, it is a "giant" island reef with a length of 500 meters and a width of 160 meters. Even though the main body of the island is just a rocky mountain and the base is not strong, in Thomas' cognition, there is still no Conventional weapons, which can completely destroy it in a single attack.

——

But it is true.

During the first batch of fighter reconnaissance, FA-18 even failed to find any traces of this small island on the sea surface. They reported in the encrypted channel in great horror that Chiwei Island had completely disappeared.

The news nearly made Thomas jump out of his chair—what weapon could do that?

Are there other considerations other than nuclear warheads?

For a moment, Thomas even wanted to report back to the turret immediately, notify them of a national emergency, sound the alarm, and let everyone on the ground hide in an underground shelter.

But after all, he still did not issue such an order.

There are three points he considered.

First, our own nuclear early warning system did not detect any sign of an ICBM launch, and the other party was obviously only acting according to the scheduled test plan.

Second, he still does not believe that the opponent really dares to provoke a war in this way.

In his opinion, even if the two sides want to fight, it should be a small-scale conflict first, and gradually expand the conflict.

These small-scale conflicts must have erupted because of the routing of civilian ships, because this is the correct direction of development.

How can anyone drop a nuclear bomb as soon as they come up?

Even if it is their own side, even if they receive an active attack, they will not throw away the last hole card.

The exchanges between the two countries, whether they are peaceful coexistence or tit-for-tat, are all business.

Thomas believed that the opponent was a smart person, and it was impossible to do business like this.

Third, the entire fleet, including the early warning aircraft and fighter jets that were close to the waters of Chiwei Island when the explosion occurred, did not encounter EMP effects other than normal electronic interference, which does not conform to the characteristics of a nuclear bomb explosion.

——

Facts have also proved that his prudence and sensitivity gave himself and his country a chance.

After those two explosions, there was no other movement from the other party. They even took the initiative to remove the peripheral electronic interference and restore the direct communication channel between the two parties.

This undoubtedly shows that the other party has no intention of declaring war.

But how did that island disappear?

Thomas couldn't figure it out.

Judging from the latest photos taken by the reconnaissance plane, the island has not completely disappeared. The attack should have hit the main mountain from the side, and then flattened the entire mountain, leaving a hole in the sea with a diameter of at least 15 meters. Deep pits with a depth of more than 3 meters.

According to the calculation of the explosive power at sea, such an explosive power has reached at least 15 tons of TNT, which is close to the explosive power of a small nuclear warhead.

Total Nitrogen Anion Salt Bomb?

Suddenly a thought flashed through Thomas's head.

He remembered that not long ago, someone mentioned this concept in a technical training he attended.

According to the information with extremely limited memory, the power of this explosive is indeed several times that of TNT.

Yes, that's the only explanation

Thinking of this, beads of sweat suddenly appeared on Thomas' forehead.

He suddenly realized that if Huaxia really came up with a new type of explosive that was only slightly weaker than nuclear weapons, then the situation facing his side would probably be more complicated.

Yes, this new weapon can completely bypass the nuclear binding of various countries and achieve the purpose of mass destruction.

In fact, the so-called nuclear bundling does not simply take the characteristics of "nuclear" as the target of bundling. Its essence is to restrict the use of certain weapons shared by many parties and capable of achieving mutual destruction.

But what if there is a weapon that is both powerful and unique?

At this time, it becomes extremely difficult to counteract it.

You cannot simply use the principle of nuclear bundling to achieve restrictions on such weapons. The reason is very simple. It is impossible for many countries in the nuclear bundling chain to reach a consensus in a short period of time.

It is even impossible for one's own side to make timely judgments and decisions, because this involves a "total equivalent" issue.

The nuclear weapons held by nuclear-armed countries in the world are all based on the ability to destroy major cities and major functional areas of all other nuclear-armed countries in the world.

In the logic of the balance of terror, once any country launches nuclear weapons, other nuclear-armed countries will launch nuclear bombs at all members of the club within a very short period of time, regardless of whether they are friends or enemies.

The purpose of doing this is to ensure that no one can survive a nuclear war and that no one can gain an advantage "independent of the battlefield".

But in the face of new weapons of mass destruction, everything changed.

First, its production capacity is insufficient to cover all nuclear-armed countries.

Second, it has the characteristics of cleanliness.

This also means that when a country that possesses such weapons declares that it wants to use such weapons against a certain country, then he must only use them against this country.

This is an alternative "security statement" and an extremely bizarre "peaceful deterrence".

It is completely different from nuclear weapons, and it gives other countries the opportunity to choose peace.

If the ultimate secret of nuclear weapons is "everyone is buried with me", then the secret of new weapons is "I only want you to be buried with me".

Yes, of course the US can declare its determination to carry out a nuclear counterattack—or in other words, this is almost an inevitable choice.

But the problem is that this is an open, unchallenged decision.

Then came the scariest part.

When China's new weapon is aimed at the United States, all countries that have the opportunity to choose peace will become enemies of the United States.

Because they would not want to be buried with the US side.

At this moment, Thomas fell into an ice cave.

He hoped that the deduction he had made in a short period of time was wrong, but after thinking about it repeatedly, he found that this set of theories was absolutely right.

So, he immediately turned his head, and said to the carrier-based aircraft formation commander Gildi who was standing beside him:

"We must establish contact with China immediately. I suspect that they have mastered the fourth-generation nuclear weapon technology."

"We need to confirm their intentions and figure out exactly what they're trying to do."

"This is by no means a trivial matter—immediately send people into the waters of Chiwei Island to inspect the explosion site and confirm the power of the explosion."

"At the same time, report to the corner tower and request an emergency meeting."

"Tell them we are facing the most dangerous event in thirty years, even more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis!"

Hearing his words, Gildy immediately widened his eyes subconsciously. He looked at Thomas in disbelief, and asked in a puzzled tone:

"Thomas, do you know what you're talking about?"

"Tell me, what is 'more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis'?"

"This is a serious judgment! Once it is confirmed by the turret, the whole country and even the whole world may change because of it!"

"Thomas, you're freaking out but they're just an easy try."

"Even before this, we have anticipated their situation. They will definitely miss it. Their purpose is to threaten the island countries and make them disengage from us, isn't it?"

Thomas shook his head slowly but firmly, and replied:

"The core of this problem is not where the attack landed - if it was just a normal missile, even if it landed on my deck, I wouldn't be as nervous as I am now!"

"But it's not... Its charge is not ordinary TNT, RDX, or PBX, but a total nitrogen anion salt, and it may even be metal hydrogen!"

"You know what that means? It's the nuclear bomb of the new age!"

Gilday opened his mouth, but said nothing.

Thomas was about to continue explaining to him, but at this moment, the correspondent who had been sitting on the sidelines listening to the information from all parties suddenly stood up and brought him unexpected news.

"Mr. Thomas, the turret has just synchronized the latest information with us."

"Fifteen minutes ago, the other party released the latest report on this test, in which they claimed that the sea test was a complete success."

"However, due to weather, electromagnetic interference and many other factors, one of them did not land in the scheduled test area."

"Jiaolou regards this report as a statement of goodwill and asks us not to engage in hostile actions for the time being. At the same time, they have already started contacting Huaxia."

"Did they say, what the hell kind of bomb was that?"

Thomas anxiously interrupted the correspondent's report and asked impatiently.

The correspondent on the opposite side was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head and said:

"No, they didn't mention this one."

Hearing this, Thomas let out a long sigh of relief.

His emotions, which had almost collapsed to the limit, finally eased a little at this moment.

The other party did not release information about new weapons through public channels, definitely not out of the principle of confidentiality.

On the contrary, to some extent, this is an opportunity for one's own side.

An opportunity to reconnect.

Judging from the reaction of the turret, they have obviously guessed the change of the situation from the latest information just like themselves.

This is a good thing.

Thomas nodded slightly, and said to the correspondent:

"Try to contact the Liaoning aircraft carrier formation, I want to communicate directly with them."

"Of course, first inform the turret and get their approval."

"clear."

The correspondent turned and left, while Gildy was still confused.

He didn't understand the current situation at all, let alone Thomas' expression.

He just thought that this public report was a bit funny.

"It's ridiculous. The weather affects the landing point? Will anyone really believe this kind of saying?"

"What's more, this report alone is already contradictory --- while talking about a great success, it is also saying that it has deviated from the goal."

"I even have a feeling now that maybe they really caused the yaw due to an accident. After all, with their technology, it is already very good to be able to do this and let it fly into the sky."

"enough."

Thomas interrupted Gildy with a frown, and then said:

"Gildy, you're not an idiot."

"Before you laugh at your opponent, you should at least know where you stand!"

"Do you think they simply did a sea trial?"

"Do you know that our tens of months-long layout is almost about to be shattered?!"

"We can only try to salvage the defeat carefully, and you, for God's sake, don't be stupid anymore, okay?!"

Gildy stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what to say for a while.

Thomas, on the other hand, turned around and left, preparing for his momentous call.

Of course, this is by no means the same as greetings between friends, you can dial out directly by finding the number.

Before the actual communication is reached, the two fleets will face several games.

But Thomas was ready.

——

Obviously, he was not the only one who was ready.

Just as Thomas received the message from the turret, on the other side, the Liaoning formation had set sail again.

From the attitude of the corner tower, Luan Yijun knew that Plan No. 2 had achieved complete success.

That being the case, now, the time to reap the fruits has come.