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Chapter 2590 Surprise Attack on Stormy Night Island (First Update, Please Subscribe)
A war of words!
Over the next 72 hours, countries continued their war of words on various platforms.

On one hand, they accuse the other of being a hegemonic power, while on the other hand, they accuse it of creating a humanitarian disaster.

Meanwhile, they were all vying for supporters, engaging in a back-and-forth battle at the UN General Assembly and on various occasions, making it a stage entirely for diplomats.

But will this crisis escalate from diplomacy to war?
No one knows, but everyone knows the answer.

"They will definitely make a move!"

In an ABC news program, the expert interviewed stated this bluntly.

Then the expert's tone became extremely certain:

"Therefore, we must see one thing—if the Thang Long side refuses to accept the ultimatum, then what awaits them is war, without a doubt."

Furthermore, according to currently available intelligence, Moscow is also making every effort to transport various air defense weapons to Rōryū, clearly indicating that they also have a very clear understanding of the future.

In response to the expert's answer, the news anchor asked another question:

"So you think war is bound to break out."

He paused slightly after the expert finished speaking, then turned his gaze to the camera and said in a very serious tone.

War will definitely break out in 72 hours.

This is the judgment made by the whole world.

After all, the biggest characteristic of the SEA over the years has been that it never engages in empty talk, and it truly is so. All the countries that deal with it are very clear about this bottom line.

His bottom line is clear and unambiguous; once crossed, there will be consequences.

As it turns out, even now, after so many years, SEA has not changed its principles.

As the world watched the developments, the carrier battle group led by the USS West Irian sailed out of port and entered the relevant waters.

At the same time, air power from the SEA and ASEAN allies is also being deployed to Siam.

War is inevitable; it's just a matter of time.

At midnight on April 5, after the 72-hour ultimatum expired, diplomats and military attachés from all over the world sat in front of their televisions awaiting the latest news.

Some of them contacted their friends in the military through their own channels, trying to get some updates.

But there was no news.

Time passed by, second by second, and everyone, regardless of their position, seemed somewhat anxious.

In his office at the Moscow representative office in Chang'an, Mikhail frowned deeply as he watched the stagnant news on television. He took a deep drag on his cigarette and muttered to himself:
"What's going on? Why haven't they attacked yet?"

The ambassador standing to the side said,

"Perhaps they're waiting. After all, they couldn't have made a move the moment they arrived. Maybe something else has happened?"

Mikhail waved his hand and then said:
“That’s what they’ve always done. Their ultimatums are never just empty words; they don’t do empty talk.”

Indeed, just as he said.

There's no empty talk here. Over the years, this seems to have become a consensus among outsiders regarding Chang'an.

However, every war needs a seemingly insignificant beginning.

Everyone was watching the news, watching the hosts in the live broadcast discussing when the war would break out.

The war had already broken out, but in a different form that no one knew about.

Under the night sky, all was quiet. The sea shimmered in the breeze, and the waves rose and fell.

Twenty nautical miles southeast of Stormy Night Island, a nuclear submarine, the USS Tuna, was moving at a stealthy speed, approaching its target like a deep-sea behemoth.

Inside the submarine, red lights illuminated the face of Major Zhang Hongen, the captain of SEAL Team Three, as he examined the equipment of the fifteen team members before him.

"Everyone, check your equipment."

Zhang Hongen's voice wasn't loud. Under his command, the team members conducted a final check of their equipment, including tactical radio communication, and the sound of a test call rang out in their headsets.

After the equipment check was completed, Zhang Hongen glanced at the luminous diving watch on his wrist; the hour hand pointed to 2 a.m.

According to the plan, they would travel by dry transport boat at a speed of three knots to approach the reefs on the west side of Stormy Night Island. That area was a weak point in the defenses, riddled with reefs and turbulent underwater currents, but it was also the safest landing point.

Special transport vessels carried by nuclear submarines are unique to the SEA.

The SEA has long been a world leader in special operations tactics research, with submarine deployment of special forces being a tactic dating back to World War II. However, implementing this tactic requires the submarine to surface, with special forces soldiers advancing into enemy-occupied territory in rubber rafts. This is extremely dangerous; if detected by enemy patrol aircraft or ships, the submarine faces certain destruction.

To address this, a new tactic was invented. Special forces soldiers donned diving suits and entered and exited the submarine through torpedo tubes. However, since the torpedo tubes were only about half a meter wide, the process of entering and exiting was still extremely dangerous for the burly special forces soldiers, and could even be fatal.

To optimize the deployment process, the military developed a special transport boat—a small, all-electric transport boat powered by lithium batteries. Due to its small size and battery power, the boat has a range of only 66 nautical miles, or about 120 kilometers.

Although this means that nuclear submarines must get within 20 nautical miles of the target to release the midget submarine.

However, with these transport boats, special forces soldiers can travel directly to the mission area without wearing diving suits or experiencing changes in water and air pressure. If a suitable landing site is found, the special forces soldiers may not even need to change into diving suits.

However, only in very rare circumstances can the team members operate as if they were fighting on land, without needing to wear diving suits. Each person has a pistol slung over their thigh and a silenced AR15A2 carbine on their back, with night vision goggles and laser designators mounted on tactical rails below the rifle.

"We have arrived at the starting position. Commando, prepare."

The captain's voice came through the headset.

Zhang Hongen nodded and turned to walk towards the hatch first. The heavy steel hatch slowly opened, revealing a ladder in front of them. The transport boat was secured to the submarine's deck and connected to the submarine's exit via connecting pipes.

The team members entered the submarine like they were entering and exiting it, climbing ladders to get in. Zhang Hongen was the first to enter, while the deputy captain Zhao Yun was the last.

After the last crew member boarded the submarine, the submarine crew closed the deck hatch, while Zhao Yun personally closed the transport boat hatch.

"Door closed!"

"Door closed!"

Zhang Hongen spoke into the intercom:
"Request the immediate release of the 'Ghost'."

"Agreed to release the 'Ghost'!"

Pressing the release button produced only a slight tremor inside the vessel. The connector between the transport boat and the nuclear submarine was released, and the small transport boat slowly separated from the nuclear submarine, disappearing into the sea like a whale.

The electric motor operates at low power, and its noise is extremely low, even far below the background noise of the ocean, enough to completely blend it into the sea.

The sea was calm, with only the propellers of the transport boats stirring the water as they headed toward their target.

Zhang Hongen sat in the driver's seat, his eyes fixed on the screen in front of him. On the screen, the outline of Stormy Night Island resembled a sleeping behemoth, appearing and disappearing in the night. To the west, the reefs stretched across the sea, the white wakes left by the waves crashing against them like the bared teeth of a beast, menacing and full of danger.

At this moment, the "Ghost" was like a ghost ship underwater. The submarine below the surface of the water only had its periscope continuing to observe the target. The GPS signals received through the periscope antenna provided the transport ship with accurate navigation.

Under satellite navigation, the pilot adjusted the course from time to time to avoid the reefs. Although only seventy-odd hours had passed, it did not mean that the navy had done nothing. The navy had long been familiar with this area and had even sent frogmen to conduct reconnaissance of Stormy Night Island many years ago.

This foresight enabled the commando team to fully understand the situation in the area and carry out the infiltration mission with ease.

"800 meters from the landing point. Watch out for undercurrents."

Zhang Hongen could feel the transport boat swaying slightly, as the underwater currents were trying to push them toward the shallows to the south.

The driver decisively increased the throttle and simultaneously turned the rudder, allowing the transport boat to cut through the undercurrent at a slight angle. The team members gripped the handrails tightly, their bodies tilting slightly with the swaying of the transport boat, but not a single person made a sound.

At 2:45 a.m., the transport boat successfully reached the edge of the reef group. Then, the submarine continued to travel until it stopped only a dozen meters away from the sea. This was a deep-water bay in the reef. After the transport boat stopped, the folding hatch was immediately raised.

"Captain, we can set off now."

Zhang Hongen nodded, raised his hand to signal his team members to prepare to go into the water, and then took the lead in untying the straps on his body. He then stood up, revealing half of his body at the hatch, and then pushed himself up with both hands and jumped into the sea.

The seawater was neither too hot nor too cold. He adjusted his breathing and then swam towards the reefs. His teammates followed closely behind, one after another entering the water, like a group of silent sharks, approaching their target underwater.

A few minutes later, Zhang Hongen's hand touched a hard rock. He looked up and could see the outline of the top of the reef through the shimmering water.

He raised his hand in a stop gesture, and the team members immediately stopped paddling and hovered in the water. Zhang Hongen slowly swam upwards until his head broke the surface.

He quickly scanned his surroundings. Several clumps of low shrubs grew on the rocks. Not far away, a barbed wire fence stretched along the edge of the rocks, beyond which lay a flat beach, at the end of which stood several sentry posts.

The enemy is now right in front of them.

(End of this chapter)