Chapter 232: Astonishment

Luzon.

Panay Island.

Tieshi Navy Base.

A shrill air-raid siren wailed across the base.

Throngs of sailors swiftly and methodically returned to their posts from the training grounds and barracks.

On the bridge of the *Great Luzon*, the first Super Luzon-class Amphibious Assault Ship, Captain Hu Zhengyue (January Hook), who also served as the task force commander, picked up the intercom:

"Department heads, report your personnel status by department number."

"Group 1, Command, all personnel present..."

"Group 2, Navigation, all personnel..."

"Group 3, Communications..."

"Group 4, Radar..."

First Mate Du Haifeng quickly recorded the status of each department on his bio-tablet, then reported to Commander Hu Zhengyue:

"Report! Total crew of 1,123. All 1,123 are present and accounted for. Over!"

"Verify the status of the other ships."

"Roger that!"

「Three hours later.」

The *Great Luzon*, a fully loaded amphibious assault ship with a displacement of 55,000 tons, led the Luzon Task Force. Accompanied by the newly commissioned *Negros*, a Luzon-class amphibious assault ship, as well as four Manila-class Frigates and four supply ships, the fleet sailed majestically toward the Malacca Strait.

The rapidly expanding combat power of the Luzon Navy was now under the intense scrutiny of satellites from America and a certain major Eastern power.

The moment the fleet left its home port, all powers with satellites over Southeast Asia quickly learned that the Luzon Navy was on the move again.

Xing Island.

The Southeast Asian Black Ship had already moved its branch headquarters directly inside the United States Army’s Changi Base.

Tom, who still held the title of acting Governor, hurried with a file in hand toward another area of the base—the office of the base commander, Sullivan.

"Those Luzon monkeys sent out another small fleet? Are you sure it’s not a routine patrol?" Sullivan asked, putting down the document in his hands.

Tom shook his head. "No. Their route indicates their most likely destination is the Malacca Strait."

"What have you found out about that new amphibious assault ship?"

Tom pulled another file from his briefcase. He opened it to reveal a dozen or so thin pages. The first page was a satellite image.

"We only know that its displacement is around 55,000 tons, the flight deck is 220 meters long and 40 meters wide. We have no intelligence on its propulsion, weapons, or carrier-based aircraft for now."

Sullivan looked puzzled. "Why is its shape so strange? And are you sure it’s 55,000 tons? Why is its flight deck shorter than a Wasp-class?"

"I consulted with the warship design department back home. They gave two possibilities. One is to reduce its electromagnetic wave reflectivity and achieve radar stealth. The other is to reduce water and wind resistance, thereby cutting fuel consumption and increasing its operational range."

Sullivan laughed. "Heh, a bunch of monkeys who just climbed down from the trees, always indulging in flights of fancy."

Tom did not echo Sullivan’s contempt. It was a fundamental principle for an intelligence officer: never view any enemy, no matter who they are, with arrogance.

He reminded him, "The Luzon Navy’s current size has already expanded severalfold. I believe it’s necessary to take them seriously."

Having seen the intelligence on the Luzon Navy, Sullivan reined in his earlier arrogance and began to re-evaluate this former subordinate.

The Luzon Navy currently had four fleets: the Pacific First Escort Fleet, the Pacific Second Escort Fleet, the Ceylon Ocean Third Escort Fleet, and the current task force heading for the Malacca Strait.

Its warships over 10,000 tons included: one Super Luzon-class Amphibious Assault Ship, six Luzon-class Amphibious Assault Ships, 14 Manila-class Frigates, and 15 supply ships, with a total tonnage of 673,000 tons.

This didn’t even include their near-shore patrol ships of several thousand tons, coast guard cutters of several hundred tons, or their eight ancient training vessels.

As for the Luzon Navy’s submarines, the Black Ship had not obtained any accurate intelligence either.

Furthermore, Luzon had also sold one Luzon-class Amphibious Assault Ship—the *Kela*—and four Manila-class Frigates to the Siamese Navy.

They had also sold six Manila-class Frigates, twelve 3,000-ton class patrol ships, and a large number of several-hundred-ton class coast guard cutters to Hongsawaddy.

Clearly, Luzon’s shipbuilding industry had developed to a rather unexpected extent.

In truth, the Black Ship was unaware that a large number of warships and submarines were currently under construction at the New Luzon Shipbuilding Company’s military shipyard. The acceleration brought by new technologies had caused the outside world to underestimate the speed of Luzon’s shipbuilding.

Nevertheless, even with just the publicly known 673,000 tons of warships, many powers were already caught off guard.

The speed of the Luzon Navy’s expansion, coupled with its frenzied energy, stirred memories for many people.

After all, historically, there was another nation in the Asia Region that had been just as fanatical.

It, too, had been swept by nationalistic fervor. It, too, was an Island Country. It, too, was situated on a tectonic plate boundary, constantly battered by typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanoes. It, too, was poor in energy and resources, had a population of around one hundred million, and was similarly ambitious.

And it, too, had its doors pried open by America.

’What the fuck?’

Sullivan was suddenly struck by a sense of déjà vu.

He quickly tried to reassure himself that it was just a coincidence.

Besides, even if Luzon could truly replicate some of the miracles of that mad dog, Sullivan believed they couldn’t make any significant waves. Since America had been able to cripple and tame that mad dog, it could do the same to Luzon.

This wasn’t the pre-World War II era anymore.

Without nuclear weapons, they were ultimately just ants. Even if this ant was a bit stronger, Sullivan didn’t give it a second thought.

But the thought of nuclear weapons prompted him to ask quickly, "Tom, have any nuclear enrichment facilities been discovered within Luzon, Hongsawaddy, or Siam?"

Tom shook his head. "No. I’ve had headquarters run satellite surveillance. We’ve screened the areas around their hydroelectric and thermal power plants for now, but no nuclear enrichment facilities have been found."

He then added, "None of the three regions have any uranium deposits of industrial value, nor have they purchased any large-scale high-speed centrifuges. They haven’t even shown any intention of doing so. I don’t believe they have the capability to develop nuclear weapons."

"Good." Sullivan’s expression relaxed considerably.

As long as Luzon, Hongsawaddy, and Siam weren’t pursuing nukes, then everything was still within controllable limits.

Sullivan, remembering something else, quickly asked, "Tom, weren’t you trying to stir up trouble between Luzon and its neighbors? Why hasn’t there been any news?"

At this question, Tom looked embarrassed. "Luzon and Malaysia reached a joint development and cooperation agreement for the southern sea. And Java doesn’t seem to want to provoke Luzon."

"What about to the north?"

Tom replied with a headache, "Don’t even mention it. Luzon seems to have lost interest in developing the maritime area off the coast of Palawan Island."

Sullivan looked puzzled. "Aren’t they short on oil and gas? Why would they give up on those undersea oil and gas fields?"

"I don’t know. It seems they reached a deal with Malaysia and are now trading LNG ships for their natural gas and oil," Tom said, equally confused.

The real reason they thought Luzon had backed down on oil and gas development off the coast of Palawan Island was their ignorance of the Homo Sapiens Company’s extraction technology.

Right now on Palawan Island, the Homo Sapiens Company was, in fact, already secretly extracting the surrounding undersea oil and gas resources.

It’s just that their extraction method was somewhat unconventional.

That was why the outside world thought Luzon had given up on the oil and gas resources off the coast of Palawan.

With its mastery of long-distance underground horizontal drilling technology, the Homo Sapiens Company couldn’t be bothered to bicker with its northern neighbor. They just secretly extracted the oil and gas, figuring they could just deny everything later.