Chapter 292

Chapter 292: Maritime Hegemony

“Our planes are our planes! The navy is powerful! The air force is powerful!”

“Great job! Long live China!”

“Get lost back home, you Philippine scoundrels!”

Well, Lin Mo should be considered part of the land aviation. Poor guy, after all, he was affiliated with the ground troops.

The decks of three Chinese law enforcement ships were crowded with people. They saw Chinese aircraft carriers dispatching fighter jets for the first time. Excitement filled the air as they waved their hands, cheering, with tears of joy in their eyes.

After so many years, China’s fighter jets had been limited by their operational radius, unable to swiftly assist in the southernmost regions of the South China Sea, near the Spratly Islands.

The appearance of the “Dark Sabre,” although only one aircraft, declared China’s sovereignty in the South China Sea to nations across the Asia-Pacific.

This was no joke; wherever the gun barrels pointed, that was where the territory lay.

Well, the Filipinos achieved their goal by successfully provoking China’s fury. One fishing boat became a tragic victim, and everyone on board paid the ultimate price for their impulsiveness and foolishness.

Two nearby Filipino warships that had been watching the scene hastily retreated, their patrol boats swiftly following suit.

Other Filipino fishing boats didn’t stand a chance; those willing to sink to the bottom and feed the fish were welcome to do so.

In this maritime area, the aircraft carrier could pass through without worrying about whether others wanted to argue with it. In the hangars beneath the flight deck, there were not training aircraft, but a full complement of real carrier-based fighters, well-stocked with ammunition. This did not account for the destroyers in the carrier group and the submarines lurking below the surface.

The training ship Shilang, while called a training vessel, could transform into a real combat carrier at any moment. This Chinese ship training academy’s No. 83 carrier training cluster had everything expected of a combat aircraft group.

“Today’s pilots are so incredible! It’s making me dizzy just watching! Just now, when the Filipinos shot at our planes, I was almost scared to death. How can they be so bold? Are they really fishermen?”

Captain Dou of Fishing Enforcement No. 310 felt a huge weight lift off his chest and began communicating with the captains of Fishing Enforcement No. 303 and Marine Surveillance 84 over the radio.

Hearing Captain Dou’s remarks, the captain of Fishing Enforcement No. 303 said indignantly, “What nonsense! They are clearly pirates! If I had known, I would have just rammed my ship straight into these bastards. What’s a few broken fishing boats compared to our precious fighter jets and pilots? Selling off all the Filipino boats and letting their people die wouldn’t even make up for it.”

“I was just as startled. That plane was flying so low, I thought it was going to crash into the sea at any moment. Its flying skills are impressive! Pilots are different from us boaters—way faster reactions. They must have received special training. I should get my son to become a pilot next year. Then we can patrol together—one in the sky, one on the sea.”

Captain Zheng of Marine Surveillance 84 was completely mesmerized by the dazzling maneuvers of the J-15 “Dark Sabre” above the sea. He even entertained the thought of having his son train to fly planes too.

“That sounds like a great plan, old Zheng. Your 84 ship can still operate for over a decade. You might just get to patrol the seas with your son.”

“Those Filipino guys finally dispersed! I almost thought I was going to be trapped here. Just imagine, if over a dozen boats banded together, if we had tried to break through, we definitely would have capsized. The Filipinos would have claimed that ‘Chinese law enforcement ship capsized a Filipino fishing boat, innocent fishermen drowned at sea.’ They could easily fabricate a few names and claim missing persons or deaths to turn public opinion against us. If we stayed put, we wouldn’t be able to leave until we ran out of water and food—it’s infuriating just to think about such disgusting tactics.”

“Captain Wang of 303, you’re upset? I’m even more furious! How could they hide firearms? If we really put our hearts into it and stormed one of their fishing boats for a forceful inspection, we could definitely find more guns. Just wait and see how the Philippine government explains that! This is clearly an organized and premeditated harassment operation. Look at those two Filipino warships, the ‘De La Pinar’ and ‘Raja Humabon’; they didn’t even respond to our signals! From a distance, it was obvious they were providing cover for those Filipino fishing boats. As soon as we fell into their trap, they would likely spring into action against us. If we ended up trapped for ten days or two weeks, it would be a huge embarrassment for us Chinese.”

“Thank goodness our fighter jets came; otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.”

“Exactly, exactly!”

“Quickly transmit the videos and relevant evidence we collected via satellite so that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can lodge a protest with the Philippines. Those guys are truly the most disgusting bunch, always scheming these repulsive tricks, turning this area into a contested zone so they can stake their claim and gradually transition it into their territory.”

“310, we’ll send you the information we gathered in a bit. Make sure to compile it and report it all at once. The higher-ups will use it to deal with those Filipinos.”

“Understood.”

The three Chinese law enforcement ships adjusted their headings towards the southeast, monitoring the fleeing fishing boats as they reported today’s events back to the sea.

On the now somewhat calmer sea surface, only a few debris remained floating, with faint traces of red blood visible, attracting many hungry sharks and tiger sharks from the distance.

The aircraft carrier’s combat aircraft being deployed had completely shifted China’s approach to the South China Sea issue from diplomatic protests and military exercises to real military retaliation.

The fishing boats and human remains floating on the surface served as the best evidence; the Chinese were not afraid of war—they would get rid of their enemies completely.

“Mission accomplished, beginning return!”

Lin Mo glanced at the two Filipino warships and the four patrol boats trailing a string of “fishing boats”—scattered and panicked, quickly dwindling the distance between them.

The Filipino warships were no longer concerned about their own “fishermen” behind them; they feared the two anti-ship missiles attached to the Chinese plane.

“What a bunch of foolish guys!” Lin Mo lifted his finger from the cannon fire button near the joystick but still did not deactivate the weapon system. Behind the assertion of sovereignty lay hegemony; this was a universal rule of the strong. Someone could not sleep soundly next to him. His cannon fire posed no error; correspondingly, the Filipinos would pay the price for it.

It was anticipated that the training airspace for the carrier-based aircraft would inevitably extend to this area in the coming days.

Slowly pulling up the nose of the aircraft, Lin Mo adjusted his heading towards Shilang. Of course, if the Filipinos refused to admit defeat and sent their fighters to take a shot at him, the “Dark Sabre” carrier-based aircraft was not like those three law enforcement ships below. Lin Mo already had a record of flipping two Su-30s with a MiG-21 without firing a single bullet.

The ACE aerial combat ace did not come by chance.

Among pilots worldwide, the total flight time before retirement would not exceed 30,000 hours; typically, a normal pilot had only around 10,000 hours. Meanwhile, Lin Mo had over 8,000 hours of flight experience since signing the dragon deity contract with a gold giant dragon at age fifteen, with most of that time spent in combat scenarios. Even his training time involved keeping an eye on the gold giant dragon, which could strike at any moment. Therefore, Lin Mo’s mental resilience and response capabilities to unexpected situations far surpassed the pilots of this world.

The differences in foundation and starting point allowed Lin Mo to quickly emerge from the ranks of ordinary pilot trainees, establishing eligibility as an ACE aerial combat ace. Every dragon knight was nearly an ACE among the aerial knights, whether in the Su Lan Empire or China.

Beep! Beep!

On the return flight, a mysterious signal flickered on the aircraft’s phased array radar, which activated automatically at regular intervals while cruising. It was very weak but didn’t escape Lin Mo’s attention.

“What is this?”

Lin Mo’s Light Mirror Technique almost overlapped with the radar display, so without the Gold Coin controlling the black box, the cockpit’s surveillance camera wouldn’t capture Lin Mo’s technique. In fact, even the semi-transparent Light Mirror Technique was difficult to capture clearly with the internal camera that had average resolution. The focus on the camera while flying did not need highly detailed footage; aside from the default wide-angle lens, there was no autofocus or any other functions.

The phased array radar of the J-15 “Dark Sabre” had better performance than that of land-based fighters, capable of detecting targets over 300 kilometers away and assisting the fire control radar in locking multiple targets. However, the power and energy consumption were significant, so it couldn’t be left on for long except at full power during combat; it would only activate regular scans for a few seconds every few minutes while cruising.

This faint anomaly prompted Lin Mo to quickly load another Light Mirror Technique to optically scan the area where the signal appeared. Currently, humanity had no excellent optical stealth technology for large equipment, so Lin Mo’s Light Mirror Technique was virtually a nemesis to the mainstream stealth technologies.

Likewise, with the assistance of the Light Mirror Technique, the enemy was almost unable to implement effective over-the-horizon attack methods against Lin Mo.

In the circular image depicted by the Light Mirror Technique, two single-engine jets appeared, resembling the F-22 “Raptor,” their twin tail fins painted with lightning shapes, and one side bearing the painted letters “F-35.”

American aircraft?

What are they doing here in the South China Sea?

Lin Mo felt puzzled. There were currently no U.S. military bases in the Philippines and the mainland. The direction they were coming from was not Malaysia or Singapore; rather, it seemed they had flown in from Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, which seemed a bit far off.