Chapter 1109: Sea Beast Threat

Soon, the silence in the conference room was broken by Commander Gao Jianguo. He placed his hands on the cold podium, leaned forward, and scanned each member of the Standing Committee with a sharp gaze:

"Okay, let's not talk about the past for now. The most urgent task is to find out the details of this new force."

"The fact that they were able to land in Jinling and establish a base means they've at least solved the most basic takeoff and landing issues, and may even have gained a foothold. For us, this presents both a crisis and an opportunity."

He stood up and began to give instructions in a clear and organized manner:

"First, contact and probing. Order the Air Force to prepare a Y-9 electronic reconnaissance aircraft, equipped with the necessary communications and detection equipment, and escorted by two G10As. Mission objective: Fly to the airspace outside Jinling and attempt to establish communication with the enemy."

Li Qirui, the theater's chief of staff, immediately added, "Plan your route carefully, avoiding the known high-risk airspace surrounding the Nanjing mother nest and circling primarily over Gucheng Lake. Use the international distress frequency, the military emergency channel, and our established universal identification code, repeatedly broadcasting code communications to identify yourself and your purpose: Eastern Theater Command, seeking dialogue."

Gao Jianguo nodded in agreement and continued, "If they can build an airport that can accommodate large transport aircraft, their engineering capabilities and organizational skills must be quite high."

"This contact is to first ascertain the other side's attitude, whether it is friend or foe; second, to obtain as much basic information as possible about the other side, even if it is just listening to their words or observing their actions (radio response style, aircraft reactions, etc.)."

"Second, intelligence activation. Intelligence department, immediately attempt to activate any 'dormant' reconnaissance units that may still exist in the western and northern regions of Jinling."

The so-called dormant units were left behind when the Eastern Theater Command left Jinling. Although they left in a hurry at that time, it did not mean that the Eastern Theater Command had completely given up control of the defense zone.

There are 'dormant units' like this almost everywhere in the war zone. The only thing to consider is how many of them can be activated after so much time has passed...

After all, in such an extremely complex situation as the end of the world, anything can happen...

Mentioning these 'dormant' reconnaissance units, a rare flicker of tenderness and guilt flashed across the eyes of Gao Jianguo, commander of the Eastern Theater Command.

"They don't need to conduct high-risk close-in reconnaissance. They just need to report on the local macro-movements—what flags they're flying, their personnel and equipment, their attitude towards survivors, and so on."

"Third, maritime support. The Navy dispatched a light fleet, centered around a frigate, to cruise near the Yangtze River estuary."

"The mission is not to engage in combat, but to demonstrate our presence and build momentum, letting the enemy know that this sea area is not unclaimed territory. Our Eastern Theater still exists and maintains considerable naval and air power. At the same time, we must closely monitor the Yangtze River waterway to see if the enemy has any intention of advancing in that direction."

"Does the navy have any questions about this mission?" After saying that, Eastern Theater Commander Gao Jianguo turned his head to look at the theater naval commander, Lieutenant General He Wenhai, who was sitting below the conference table.

The reason why the entire war zone evacuated to Zhoushan was to solve the problem once and for all, and to take advantage of the natural dangers of the ocean to build an absolutely safe rear base.

However, as the end of the world progressed, the ocean, which was originally thought to be an impenetrable moat, gradually revealed its ferocity and became almost the strictest father in the entire Eastern Theater.

Several riots severely whipped the Eastern Theater, a seriously injured behemoth that had cowered down and was licking its wounds.

It feels like when you are low on health in a game and want to go back to the fountain to recover, but the fountain's rays suddenly move and start attacking you frantically.

Since the Eastern Theater Command retreated to Zhoushan, there have been 17 recorded large-scale sea monster attacks, an average of more than one per month, and countless small and medium-sized attacks.

In the onslaught of these sea monsters, large and small, the Eastern Theater Command's naval surface ships lost over one-third, and the officers and soldiers suffered heavy casualties...

Every time we repel a tide of sea monsters, it's like pulling teeth from the mouth of a giant beast. We rely on pre-set mines, coastal defense missiles, air support, and the lives of the garrisoned officers and soldiers...

To this end, the Eastern Theater Command has been embarking on a strategic shift and returning to land since three months ago...

However, the development of the land-based city has only just been completed. The subsequent transfer of personnel, equipment, industrial equipment, etc., under the harassment of sea monsters, will be a very difficult and even long task...

Here, we have to mention the terrifying characteristics of the sea beast tide.

The first is the terrifying and endless number: each beast tide is not just dozens or hundreds of individuals, but tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of individuals, pouring in from all directions, as if all the malice of the entire ocean is concentrated here.

Even if you repel one wave, there will soon be a second wave, a third wave...it seems like you can never finish killing them all...

Secondly, they are highly aggressive and have clear targets: the sea beasts appear to be unusually sensitive to and eager to attack engine noise, metallic signals, heat sources, and so on, proactively and systematically attacking any surface vessel or operating facility close to the coast...

The third is coordinated operations, which are difficult to predict: different types of sea beasts will show disturbing coordination between each other.

During a certain sea monster attack, the Eastern Theater discovered that the sea monsters had a clear division of labor: small units attracted fire, medium units waited for opportunities to destroy, and large units charged head-on. There were even special individuals capable of releasing bio-electromagnetic pulses or mental interference...

This highly organized appearance had caused the Eastern Theater to seriously suspect that some highly intelligent creature had evolved in the ocean, hiding behind the scenes and directing the attack...

The fourth is the home advantage. Once a ship encounters a tide of sea beasts while sailing on the ocean, it is almost like death, because the number of sea beasts can be infinite, but the ammunition of the ship must be limited.

Moreover, even if the ship had unlimited ammunition, it would be impossible to withstand the close-range melee launched by the sea beasts after approaching the bottom of the ship. In that case, using any heavy weapons would be tantamount to blowing oneself up.

.....