Chapter 61: Advance, Liuqiu!

America, the Pentagon.

Fred suddenly felt as if the entire world had turned upside down.

Staring at the battle report in his hands, the room spun before his eyes.

"How, how is this possible? How could our invincible navy have half its fleet annihilated and the other half captured?!"

"One hundred and twenty warships—even if they just ran, at least one of them should have gotten away?!"

Screaming and roaring, Fred slammed the battle report down onto his desk.

His eyes bulged, filled with the utmost rage.

Pigs, they were all a bunch of pigs!

"Mr. President, we must make it clear that the enemy used a new-concept weapon."

The Secretary of Defense sat in the deputy's chair, his expression grave and solemn, though terror flickered deep within his eyes.

"A new-concept weapon?"

Fred refused to believe it. His eyes bulged wider as he bellowed,

"What kind of weapon could possibly reduce our invincible navy to such a state?!"

"Calm down, calm down!"

Defense Secretary Verno could no longer tolerate this president.

This idiot only knew how to pass the buck when things went wrong!

Bang!

Smashing his fist onto the table, the robustly built Verno stood straight up. Fixing his gaze on Fred like a ravenous wolf, he roared right back:

"It was an electromagnetic pulse weapon capable of plunging the entirety of Tokyo back into the eighteenth century in an instant!"

"You idiot, don't forget—it was you who demanded we start this war!"

"And now, Fred!"

"We have lost. The greater part of our navy has been decimated in the South China Sea."

"Those nations we once exploited have all risen up against us. Our country is on the verge of destruction, yet instead of thinking of a solution, you are just standing here pointing fingers and laying blame!"

After venting the fury burning in his chest,

Verno ignored the stunned Fred and immediately turned to instruct and reprimand his deputy:

"Organize the remaining naval forces immediately. We can no longer hold East Asia and the Middle East, but we must keep Western Europe in our hands at all costs!"

"Move, act now!"

"Yes, sir!" The deputy saluted crisply and dashed out of the room.

Watching the deputy's retreating figure, Verno let out a long, heavy sigh.

In that moment, he seemed to catch a glimpse of America's twilight.

Having lost its hegemony and the ability to project war abroad,

how could they possibly suppress the explosive, domestic crises that were reaching a boiling point?

"We have completely lost..."

Fred finally calmed down.

His face was pale, and the corners of his mouth trembled uncontrollably.

He didn't even dare to step out through the doors of the Department of Defense, nor could he bring himself to return to the White House.

At that moment, he shuddered to imagine the state of affairs back home across the country.

...

"Crash!"

"Fred, get out here!!!"

"Disgrace! This is the greatest humiliation since the founding of America!"

Across the streets and alleys of America, citizens who had learned the news through various channels burst out of their homes in shock and fury.

They took to the streets, angrily smashing everything in sight.

The fires raged all the way to the gates of the White House, drawing a crowd of no less than a hundred thousand people!

Although the mainstream media in America had maintained silence that morning, too terrified to report the news of the nation's defeat,

silence did not mean the event had never happened.

With the proliferation of short videos and independent media, the traditional American media could no longer pull the wool over everyone's eyes.

An event of this magnitude—

five aircraft carriers, five cruisers, and dozens of destroyers captured—how could it possibly be covered up?

The people could neither imagine nor comprehend it.

Yesterday, they were citizens of the most powerful nation on Earth, basking in the glory of being number one in the world.

Yet today, the tables had seemingly turned overnight.

The great Eastern nation across the ocean had practically annihilated the American fleet in a single stroke.

Worse still, the entire world had turned to attack America!

It felt as though America had become the target of universal condemnation.

Unable to understand or believe the reality, the citizens took to the streets and stormed straight into the White House.

They intended to drag Fred, the culprit behind it all, out and hang him!

They stupidly believed that

as long as the mastermind Fred was hanged, America's status of yesterday would somehow be restored.

"Hang Fred! America cannot fall like this!"

"Damn that Eastern country for stealing our wealth!"

"We cannot surrender, we must not surrender!!!"

"No, it's impossible, we cannot fail!"

...

Within the crowd, banana-Americans who regarded the United States as their ultimate faith knelt on the ground in agony.

Enraged Americans wielded hammers, frantically smashing everything inside the White House.

Yet no matter what they did, no matter how they lashed out,

this time, America was beyond saving.

Because every anti-hegemonic nation across the globe had launched an offensive!

This was the irresistible momentum of the world!

Those who conform to it prosper, those who defy it perish.

...

The Type 075 amphibious assault ship, *Nanhai*, appeared near Okinawa.

The American military facility here had already been largely devastated by a kinetic bombardment.

Although all electronic components had been rendered useless, landing on the island remained a formidable task.

After all, machine guns and artillery shells showed no mercy.

On the bridge, Captain Xue Ping stood with a resolute expression, flanked by information officers consolidating reports from various sectors.

"Static... Nanhai, Nanhai, this is Falcon. Hawk has broken into central Tokyo. Heh, that kid actually blew up the Yasukuni Shrine."

"This is Nanhai. Hawk? He's a local from Nanjing, isn't he? Understandable."

Hearing this news, Xue Ping felt a wave of exhilarating satisfaction and fully supported the young man's actions.

Good hit!

Thoroughly satisfying!

"Heh heh, indeed. Our strike wave will arrive shortly."

"What's the command from higher up this time?"

With electromagnetic pulse weapons deployed in this battle, the enemy had virtually no air defense to speak of.

The air force and naval aviation units moved through the airspace as if entering an empty territory.

Thus, Falcon had nothing to worry about and instead struck up a conversation about the objective of their current mission.

"I reckon the plan is to take Okinawa and restore the Ryukyu Kingdom!"

Xue Ping wasn't worried about the island-taking operation either. Raising his binoculars, he said easily, "Falcon, you just need to wipe out the enemy's primary firepower points. Leave the rest to the landing troops."

"It's time to show America what the hell mechanized warfare really is!"

Buzz-buzz-buzz—

The roaring sound of jet engines grew increasingly closer as a formation of fighter jets swept low across the sky.

The aircraft carried a terrifying payload of surface-to-attack missiles.

Artillery and missiles rained down indiscriminately onto the beaches.

The entire island shook violently.

In an instant,

it felt as though an earthquake had struck.

"Hold the line, hold the line! They're definitely going to storm the island, hold your ground!"

Inside the trenches, Robert's body trembled as he screamed orders to the soldiers in the distance.

Utilizing deep bunker positions, they had managed to survive the enemy's ground-attack barrage.

Seeing that the bombardment had ceased for a while,

Robert cautiously crawled out of the bomb shelter, stuck his neck out of the trench, and peered timidly toward the coastline.

However, the moment he poked his head out and laid eyes on the sea and the landing enemy troops on the beach, his pupils suddenly constricted, his jaw dropped wide open, and he muttered in utter disbelief:

"Th-this is impossible?"

"FXXK, what even are these things?"

"What on earth are we fighting against?!!!"