Chapter 248 Encounter of the Warship
When Xu Guoqiang and Yan Tao finally left the room, the fiancee came out from under the table as if she just got out of a swimming pool. Zhou Qingfeng withdrew himself out of her body and some unknown white liquid could be seen in her.
"How dare you…" The fiancée was extremely satisfied to the extent where she even began to stutter. After quite a long time, she recovered her strength and escaped the office.
Meanwhile, Zhou Qingfeng had already spent almost one month in the world of 2016 and as usual, he was now required to return to Polarlys of Wasteland. Fortunately, he managed to bring a large amount of low-value anti-inflammatory drugs with him.
Due to the frozen time space in year 2030, Polarlys had left New York for only two to three days and was heading for South America at full speed. Zhou Qingfeng secretly dropped the medical supplies he brought with him into the warehouse before returning to the deck.
Although it was a very relaxing experience to be in the middle of an ocean, it was also extremely boring. After experiencing the exciting period in the beginning, everyone started to realize that they did not have much things to do in the middle of the sea. The fleet managed to get a lot of seafood from the sea by using the variety of fishing tools but another issue soon came up - fresh fruits and vegetables were being consumed quickly. As the future was filled with uncertainty, the morale of the crew had dropped rapidly.
After a few minutes, the drone finally found the fast approaching vessel. An extremely old warship had appeared on the reconnaissance display and it seemed to be a product from either the 1970s and 1980s.
"What kind of warship is this?" Zhou Qingfeng asked the crowd.
Polarlys and Bird-of-paradise were not the only ships on the sea. There were plenty of other clever people who knew that they will be better off living on the ocean. Allen Derrick, who had been promoted to captain, communicated with the surrounding ships on a daily basis via radio. On the other hand, the management team under Lena Fox's team was responsible for detecting useful information in the message.
"The entire east coast of the United States is now a complete mess but some small cities have slowly regained their peace."
A large map was being projected on the walls of the captain's room, represented in red and green colors throughout the eastern coast of the United States. The danger areas were labeled in red while the safe areas were labeled in green. Noteworthily, New York was still labeled dark red.
"South America was not in a good state as well. According to the information we've received from reliable sources, many countries in South America have directly disintegrated. Many warlords have begun to divide territories and even engage in fierce exchanges of fire." Lena reported the current form of their surroundings to the higher ranks of the fleet.
"Where can we go then?" Butcher was already bored even though he was only in the middle of the ocean for a mere two to three days. "I'm now thinking of walking on the shore. I don't want to stay on this boat forever."
Butcher's complaint caused everyone to chuckle. Mox, who had recovered, even punched the old bastard. Everyone then cast their eyes on Zhou Qingfeng. Although he was the youngest, he built his prestige up from nothing.
"Bahamas is now the closest Southern big island to us. Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, has a good port facility. We should be able to add some fresh resources over there for awhile," said Zhou Qingfeng. He then thought to himself, It doesn't really matter whether it's a local or remote area. It'll be fine as long as we're far away from the upcoming nuclear bomb attack.
The public did not have any particular opinion about Zhou Qingfeng's suggestion. Hence, they soon began their journey to the south!
Bird-of-Paradise was a burden. The fleet had sailed in the ocean for more than twenty days before reaching the outer seas of the Bahamas. When everyone felt that they could finally land on the shore and have a good rest, someone used the International Maritime Rescue Channel to make a loud announcement on the radio.
"Mayday, Mayday. We need help. I'm the captain of the 'Sedalene'. We've encountered some pirates. For the sake of God, someone please save us. There are a lot of innocent women and children on board. Please, come and save us."
After receiving the notification, Zhou Qingfeng quickly rushed to the bridge of the ship. Captain Allen Derrick pointed at the chart and said, "The said ship is about 40 nautical miles away from us and we can already sense their presence using the radar. The ship seemed to have stopped in the middle of the ocean, but for now, we don't know what kind of pirates are attacking them."
The drone quickly flew over. Just more than a dozen minutes later, Captain Derrick issued an alert, "The radar shows that there's a ship heading in our direction. It's very fast, more than twenty-four knots, and it seems that their radar has discovered us as well."
"Is it a speedboat?"
"No, radar reflected waves show that the ship weighs about a thousand tons. It feels almost like a warship."
The high ranks of the fleet were completely dumbfounded when they heard the news. They would never have expected that someone was still willing to consume their precious fuel and sail at an extreme speed three months after the cataclysm. Although their tank was filled with fuel, Zhou Qingfeng still ordered his men to drag it with the Polarlys in order to reduce fuel consumption.
"Unlock the connector and speed up the Polarlys to attract their attention. Activate the engine of Bird-of-Paradise... It needs to flee temporarily," Zhou Qingfeng gave out orders in this crucial moment.
The two nuclear reactors of Polarlys instantly showed strong advantages - they had incredible output power with ease. They accelerated the 30,000-ton ship to a maximum of 24 knots in order to act as a decoy for the 'Bird-of-Paradise'.
Butcher looked at it for quite a while before saying indefinitely, "This ship seems to be a design of Kony class frigates. I'm pretty sure that it's built in the Soviet era. Do you still remember the Spam cans that we got from the underground parking lot of NYPD headquarters? This thing, too, is certainly old enough to be my grandparent. "
Lena asked in disbelief; "I thought the entire military force has disappeared... How can there be anyone out there who still knows how to drive a warship?"
"This kind of old-fashioned warship can be very easily driven as long as you can find yourself a sailor. On the contrary, as the modern warships are more technologically advanced, professional soldiers are required to control them."
However, no matter how old the ship was, it being a warship was still an undeniable fact. As the two sides approached 15 nautical miles, Zhou Qingfeng quickly ordered a turn, but the old ship from opposite them accelerated to reach the high speed of the 27th knot and continued approaching them instead.
"Damn it! I think those bastards have just locked their missiles on us," said Captain Allen Derrick after looking at the radar screen. As they were only 15 nautical miles away from each other, the drone was able to capture the scene where their opponent had begun to open fire.
"Look out for collisions!" Zhou Qingfeng had no other choice but to shout loudly. He knew that individual bravery will not work in the middle of the ocean, and the outcome of naval battle usually heavily relied on the sturdiness as well as firepower of the ship. However, no matter how exceptional Polarlys was, he knew that it was just nothing but a scientific ship.
Their opponent's artillery was about 70 millimeters in diameters and it could reach a maximum distance of about 16 to 17 kilometers. Polarlys just so happened to be in their opponent's range. When the ship drew an arched tail over the ocean, countless cannon shells dropped from the sky and landed on the other side of their ship.
The shells landed a few hundred meters away from the ship, but it was still more than enough to cause startle among the fleet. Meanwhile, Mox, who stood on the bridge of the ship, said with a hoarse voice after observing their opponents' attack, "They're probably having some problem with their fire-control radar. Otherwise, there's no way they'll miss the target by such a large margin."
"I'd rather they miss us by an even larger margin," it was the first time Zhou Qingfeng encountered a naval battle. He could not do anything except watch their opponent's shell slowly fall from the sky. "If I were to think about this situation earlier, I'll definitely get a warship or even a torpedo boat instead. I'm just not used to watching myself getting attacked and not being able to do anything about it at all."
However, apart from escaping desperately, there was nothing else the people on Polarlys could do. Fortunately, after chasing them for over hundreds of miles, the warship began to experience issues from the old turbines, making them unable to sail any further. Hence, the old warship had no choice but to give up their pursuit.
After escaping the battlefield, everyone stared at each other; it seemed that they were currently experiencing something drastically different from the better life they had envisioned. An old warship was actually able to drive them away.
Zhou Qingfeng shouted in anger, "How dare they stand in my way! This will not be the end of it!"
Chapter 249 Self-destructive Drones
For the following two days, Polarlys ran into the old Kony class frigate three times. If it were not for the strong engine on Polarlys, the radar, and the drones which covered large areas, they might have already been assaulted.
Lena Fox listed for more information, "According to our database, these 383 Moncada frigates belonged to the Cuba Marine. They haven't been used for quite a while. I wonder who got them out."
Who got them out? Soon, they will know the answer.
After two days of chasing, the people on that old frigate realized something special about Polarlys. They have done their research on Polarlys and the result was shocking. Polarlys was a nuclear-powered ship, it would never run out of fuel!
Thus, they sent a helicopter to Polarlys and called it with the public channel. It landed on Polarlys' deck after receiving permission.
A dwarf came out of the helicopter. He looked at Zhou Qingfeng and his mates around him, and laughed, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Bahamas! Your ship seems really great, it's the only ship that could compare to our 'Great General'."
"'Great General'? Do you mean that old and rusty Kony class frigate?" Butcher said sarcastically. "I'm pretty sure that thing is gonna fall apart in like, a few days."
"Your ship is advanced and huge, but you couldn't get rid of our so-called 'old and rusty Great General'," the dwarf laughed out loud. "I know where you came from and I know where you're heading to. But, if you wanna get through to the Bahamas, you'd have to pay taxes to the great General Santos. I've noticed that you have two ships, just one of them will do."
"That sounds really reasonable." Zhou Qingfeng asked coldly, "So, are you guys just staying here and stopping the people who come to Bahamas?"
"No, no…, we're not stopping people. We're just collecting some reasonable taxes." The dwarf swung his head and said, "Don't you try to find another way, our patrol boats are all over this area. The frigate isn't the only thing we have."
"You're no different from the pirates!" Lena Fox said angrily.
"I don't care what you say about us, if you think we are pirates, then the entire Caribbean is covered with pirates. Also, if you're willing to pay with one of your ships, we'll make sure you're safe during the journey with our Great General. Otherwise….."
The dwarf was trying to convince Zhou Qingfeng and obviously, Zhou Qingfeng was not going to buy any of it. He grinned and said, "Do you think we can't do anything with it?"
"Oh…, did I say that?" The dwarf made a funny face and laughed, "You're absolutely right, that's what I meant. How do you fight against a warship with a cargo ship and an expedition ship? You have to yield in front of the great General Santos. There's no other way."
It was an unpleasant meeting; the dwarf left with the helicopter. He shouted at them before leaving, "This is your only chance to solve everything peacefully. I'll see all of you at the prisoner camp next time."
After the dwarf left, Zhou Qingfeng gave commands to the captain, Allen Derrick, with a wireless radio, "Track them with the radar and drones, I wanna see where their base is."
After around thirty minutes, Derrick reported back, "That helicopter went in the direction of Nassau and we have a situation there. There are three high-speed boats showing on the radar coming towards us. One of them is traveling at an extremely high speed, more than forty-five knots. It looks like a missile boat or something."
It would be a big problem for Polarlys if it really was a missile boat; Polarlys would not be able to escape. Zhou Qingfeng immediately commanded them to avoid it and said, "Send those self-destructive drones. We have no choice but to fight."
Zhou Qingfeng got tons of good stuff from the logistic center of Skull and Bones. There were more than hundreds of drones. There were not a lot of high-performance military drones but there was a huge amount of normal delivery drones.
Once Zhou Qingfeng gave out the commands, the launching slides were set up. A few normal-looking drones were taken out of the storages. They used to be very convenient and useful transportation tools but now they were being transformed into tools for war.
Meanwhile, the dwarf on the helicopter was on his way back to Nassau. When he saw that there was an obvious wave on the sea, he realized it was their missile boat, "Hahaha…, tough luck for them! They can't escape it."
The dwarf shouted to the pilot, "Turn around! Let's see how they're going to deal with the missile. I can't wait to see their hopeless faces. Unfortunately, no one could control those missiles, otherwise, we can get rid of them easily."
The helicopter turned and quickly caught up to the missile boat. It was a missile boat named 'Bumble Bee 2'. Even though it was old, it could be a huge threat to a normal ship.
"Quick, quick, quick! We have some old stuff but they are good," the dwarf shouted and yelled at the helicopter. In the air, he could even see Polarlys from afar.
At that instant, three drones appeared and came closer to the missile boat very quickly. Meanwhile, the driver of the missile boat was focused on the great Polarlys that appeared on their radar. The 30mm installer cannon on the missile boat was ready to launch.
"Oh, no!" The dwarf on the helicopter immediately realized the destructive drones. He tried to connect to the people on the missile boat with wireless radios but their channels could not be connected to. Without a choice, he took the risk. He asked the pilot to lower the helicopter and waved at the missile boat. He was hoping that the people on the boat would realize something.
In the cabin of the boat, the people soon realized the helicopter and the dwarf waving at them. As soon as they were notified by the dwarf, they saw the three drones coming towards them. Obviously, the drones were not coming for good reason.
"Get 'em down!"
"Turn, turn, turn the cannon!"
"Damn it, stop those drones."
The missile boat started to travel to the left and right repeatedly. At the same time, the cannon that was supposed to aim at Polarlys changed its direction. One of the cabin crews holding a rifle started shooting into the sky.
In the midst of the gunshots, one of the drones was hit and immediately fell into the sea. Following that, an explosion ignited and set off a huge wave.
Twenty kilograms of bombs were actually very powerful. The explosion in the water caused a huge wave and it hit the missile boat. The boat hit by the wave started to shake. A few from the cabin crew who were shooting at the drones fell into the sea.
In the meantime, the other two drones did not stop. They lowered and came from both sides of the boat. The moment the dwarf on the helicopter saw the destruction of the missile boat, he was completely astonished.