Chapter 250 Embarrassing
Launching eighteen self-destructive drones into the sky were almost equivalent to throwing all of them into a trash can. After observing the images captured by the drones, Zhou Qingfeng asked Roma, who was in charge of the drones on the bridge, "How many drones do we have left?"
"We have only less than eighty drones left," said Roma.
"Hehe……" Zhou Qingfeng laughed sarcastically, "In other words, we can only withstand four enemy attacks at most before running out of drones."
As soon as those words were spoken, the whole bridge instantly fell silent as everyone had now realized a new problem, - they had underestimated the risk of battling at sea. Even though they were only facing several tattered antique warships, they did not really have an idea about how to fight back.
"If the worse comes to the worst, we can just sail around them. We're extremely rich in fuel anyway," said Lena Fox.
"No, sailing around them will not be a good choice," without any hesitation at all, Zhou Qingfeng rejected Lena's suggestion. "I feel that we might need to plan out our future. The world is in a complete mess right now and it may be even worse in the future. Do any of you really want to stay in one place for the rest of your life?"
The bridge was crowded with all the senior and middle-ranked members of Zhou Qingfeng's team. He glanced at his surroundings, only to find out that many people were confused. They felt that surviving in the current world was already good enough for them. Hence, they never actually thought of any plans.
"When the cataclysm first happened, I was hiding in a high-class clubhouse in Manhattan with Lena Fox. We ignored all the hate and gathered more than 100 people at that time, but in the end, more than half of them had escaped. Does anyone remember what our plan was at that time?"
Zhou Qingfeng then looked at Lena Fox. Miss Fox responded by lifting her head and smiled bitterly, "Rebuild social order and dominate the world."
"Yeah, that's right!" Zhou Qingfeng shouted. "We indeed had this incredible idea at that time. Miss Fox wanted to rebuild the Fox Foundation, while I thought, maybe I could be the President of the United States. We already had our first Black president… I guess now's the time for us to have our first Asian president."
Zhou Qingfeng's effort to ease the tense atmosphere had successfully brought a great guffaw from the crew.
"Roma, you can set up a family, while Xu Guangrong can build a big farm. Raymond, who is good at making false accounts, can be my Finance Minister and Butcher can be the Secretary of Defence. After all, we're the elites of the elites."
Everyone burst into laughter once again.
"But, if my plan was to build a nation, why didn't I go to Africa? The competition in that region is way lesser than what we have over here. The reason is that Africa is just too poorly facilitated. I really hope that instead of living in piles of mud or hunting for food on the prairies, everyone can enjoy their life in the future."
"Why didn't I go to South America? Because I don't like the lazy nature of those Latinos. They probably need more than 10 years just to build a single road and I don't think I can wait that long. But, what exactly am I looking for? I need people who have the knowledge, skills, and are willing to work hard."
"So, I'll go to any place as long as that region has these kinds of people. It just so happened that I'm extremely close to the United States, which is the home for highly intelligent people. That's why I've decided to choose the center of the United States as my primary region to undergo steady development."
"If I'm planning to return to the United States, I have no other choice but to pass through the Bahamas sea as this area just happens to block our way into the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico." Zhou Qingfeng then looked at the map and said, "So, I guess now is the time for us to come up with a plan to deal with those pirates."
When Zhou Qingfeng proposed his magnificent idea, he was actually having a headache from coming up with a plan to deal with the Bahamian pirates. Meanwhile, the pirates that occupied Nassau, the capital of Bahamas, was having a headache as well because of the sudden emergence of Polarlys.
The man who occupied Nassau was a pirate leader who called himself 'General Santos'. He was originally a retired general of the Cuban Navy. After the Great Cataclysm, he gathered a handful of men and laid their hands on several old warships before coming to the Bahamas to claim hegemony.
Nassau was an island that served as an excellent port for maritime trade handling functions. Tourism and even dairy farms were well-developed on the island. There were also more than 300,000 people on the island. People of color made up 80% of the population and the ship-repairing business was part of their main industry.
In order to enhance his strength, General Santos was trying to convene more manpower by conducting propaganda at the port. He stood on a high platform and shouted to the microphone, "Dear citizens, you don't have to worry about food. I, as your ruler, will solve this problem perfectly."
"We have already controlled the sea of Bahamas. A large number of fugitive vessels must accept our inspections, and as a result, we'll be able to collect the endless amount of resources by collecting tolls. Just three days ago, we had intercepted a cruise ship and received more than 1,000 tons of food."
"If you were to join my team, I can guarantee that you'll be able to live a comfortable life for the rest of your life. I am here to tell you another good news - my men have found a nuclear-powered vessel and a freighter filled with tens of tons of resources."
"My men had already gone out to capture them. With the nuclear-powered vessel in our hands, we'll be able to regain electricity in no time. We can also obtain a huge amount of resources. I am your leader, I am General Santos, and I can assure you that all these things will soon be presented to you. "
The motivational speech had successfully led to a big round of applause. Nassau was actually quite rich in terms of resources, with the exception of the food supply. Hence, when someone guaranteed that they no longer needed to starve anymore, they immediately responded with enthusiastic support.
General Santos was stimulated by this enthusiastic response and he responded by shouting and yelling even louder on the platform.
However, at that moment, two ships suddenly emerged from the sea.
They first saw a 100-ton port patrol ship. It was originally a mighty machine that came with several heavy machine guns. It was extremely fast and was once the maneuvering force of General Santos.
However, the white body of the ship was now charred. Its port was broken and its large deck had gone missing. A weird stifling noise can be heard when the ship finally landed on the shore.
Uh-Oh, we're in trouble……. The people at the port was originally cheering in joy, but they were now dumbfounded. Santos, who stood on top of the platform, was completely shocked as well. He initially wanted to show his strength to the citizens of Nassau, but he ended up making a fool out of himself.
"Ah…… there's no need to worry about it. It's only a war training exercise. Look at our young boys… All of them are such hardworking soldiers. Don't worry about that small ship as well. We have plenty of them anyway."
General Santos was still struggling to preach. However, at that very instant, a mini helicopter suddenly landed on the port. A dwarf jumped down from the helicopter, ran to the platform, and shouted, "General Santos, we've suffered a major setback. Our enemy was much stronger than we thought........"
"Shut up, the great General Santos will never suffer any setbacks. There's no such term in his dictionary." Santos kicked the dwarf in his abdomen.
However, when the dwarf yelled in pain, another ship slowly emerged from behind and this scene was much more tragic than that of the patrol ship. This time around, even General Santos was dumbfounded, "Oh my God! That's my main ship."
The antique, Kony class frigate had already changed beyond recognition. It originally had two turrets, each on its front and rear, but they were now bombed and the deck was upturned and cracked as if it just got slammed by a heavy hammer.
At the sight of this scene, General Santos was completely infuriated. He jumped off the platform, grabbed the dwarf's neck, and asked in anger, "What happened to my invincible fleet? What about my personal ship? I still have a missile ship."
"Don't be fooled by the size of my missile ship. As long as I can find a crew that knows how to fire a missile, it'll be my most powerful ship."
The dwarf straightened his face. He was extremely nervous when faced with his superior. He then coughed out the words "I'm sorry," in response to his superior's question.
What?!
Chapter 251 Flight Encounter
General Santos had no idea about his enemy's strength, but he did know that he was not in the same league as his enemy. Meanwhile, Zhou Qingfeng was also having trouble figuring out if the Nassau pirates still had any warships with them. Hence, they dispatched an unmanned aerial vehicle in order to spy on the pirates while heading to Abaco Island within the Northern Bahamas.
Abaco Island had a small port called Marsh Harbor. Zhou Qingfeng and the others used a small boat to land on the port in an attempt to obtain supplies and information.
The Caribbean Sea was a famous holiday destination, and the great Abaco Island was full of bright sunshine, white sandy beaches, and clear seawater as well. In the past, there were tens of thousands of people living here all year round, but the island was now filled with silence.
There was no one at all at Marsh Harbor. Zhou Qingfeng led the team and found an airport runway nearby. He also found a lot of abandoned sightseeing planes in the hangar. Unfortunately, those planes did not come with any fuel resources.
"We've lost everything. Food, fuel, and even hope. Just take anything you want. I won't be able to stop you guys anyway." An old grungy man was standing guard at the airport, and he seemed to be responsible for groundwork.
"Where're all the other people from this island?" Zhou Qingfeng wanted to ask about the situation.
"They've probably escaped," the old man shrugged. He was an aborigine on the island, and he had lived there for generations. "Riots just happened one after another inexplicably. In the past, all of our people wanted to go to the United States, but nowadays, for whatever reason, the Americans began to flood into our island."
"Do you know anything about Nassau's situation? Rumors have it that that place was occupied by a guy named General Santos, and he doesn't seem to be lacking fuel." Zhou Qingfeng asked again.
"I don't know. We've completely cut off connections with the outside world. Nobody will care about our lives anymore." The old man replied to Zhou Qingfeng's question in complete frustration.
"What about Miami?"
"No idea as well."
"What do you know then?"
"Nothing at all."
The old man stayed in his hangar and kept shaking head while countless questions were thrown at him. After throwing a few glances at the old man's sluggish eyes, Zhou Qingfeng said warmly, "My name is Victor Hugo, and I think we might be able to help each other out. I guess you must've been extremely hungry already... Maybe I should give you some bread."
"You still have bread with you?" As soon as the old man heard that Zhou Qingfeng had food, he began to salivate. He quickly got up from his rotten sofa and said, "We did have some canned fish, fruits, and vegetables. However, we've been running out of staple food since almost two months ago."
"We can exchange our flour for your fruit and vegetables." The old man almost kneeled down before Zhou Qingfeng after he heard his words.
The old man shouted at the wooden shed behind the hangar and several children soon ran out from it. They turned up with some fruits, but Zhou Qingfeng shook his head and said, "We need more. Gather the rest of the people on your island to work for us, and we'll provide you guys flour as a reward."
The old man was able to find three to four hundred people on the island, but most of them were either an elderly person or a kid. All the young men had left the island in order to find another way of living, but little did they know that it was much safer to stay on an isolated island these days.
Although there was no grain on the island, there were farms that produced fruits, vegetables, and canned food. The fleet used their flour to exchange for supplies with the people on the island. With the exchange rate of fifty kilograms of flour for half a ton of citrus, they managed to fill up the cold storage of the 'Polarlys' in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, the island's residents were cheering in joy too as they felt that they had found a new hope to live on.
"Old man, are these planes still working?" Before leaving the airport runway, Zhou Qingfeng turned his attention to all the abandoned small planes.
"Of course they do."
"Is there anyone else on this island who knows how to fly these planes?"
"I do. It's actually very simple to drive these small planes. It's probably as easy as driving a car. However, we do not have any fuel at all to start the engines."
"We just so happen to have some aviation gasoline. Perhaps you can teach me how to fly these planes."
"You guys even have aviation gasoline?!"
Shocked that Zhou Qingfeng could provide a lot of flour, the residents of the island received another big surprise - someone in this world actually still had fuel resources with them. Several Cessna series small planes were picked up at the airport. The old man served as a teacher while Zhou Qingfeng and the others served as pilots.
It was indeed extremely easy to learn the Cessna series small planes. They were safe, reliable, and relatively comfortable. Zhou Qingfeng was the quickest learner among all of them. He could already drive an actual plane within a mere 3 days of training, but before he began driving it, he had to first identify the situation near Abaco island.
Nassau will be his first destination, followed by the Bahamas, and then Miami. The cataclysm began about three months ago. Therefore, the social order had already started its own restoration process. However, when Zhou Qingfeng sought out the surrounding areas, he found out that there was also a small plane flying around Abaco Island. The plane seemed to be looking for something as well.
Both were monoplane piston propellers. During the flying process, the pilot even approached Zhou Qingfeng's Cessna and performed a trigger-pulling action against him.
"F*ck! What is this bitch trying to do?" Zhou Qingfeng's learning ability was extremely strong, but his flying skills were still relatively weak.
"What the f*ck? I'm not a fighter pilot yet!" Zhou Qingfeng instantly felt a surge of adrenaline when the other pilot began firing his machine gun and it created a splashing waterline on the surface of the sea. The plane quickly approached Zhou Qingfeng's Cessna and it seemed that the pilot was approaching him with strong murderous intent.
At that critical moment, Zhou Qingfeng decided to plunge his plane directly into the sea. With his tyrannical body, he was able to withstand the impact of the high-speed collision on the sea surface. He then quickly fired his gun to break the glass cover of the cockpit and escaped from the plane.
Even when Zhou Qingfeng was already underwater, the other pilot still refused to leave him alone. The latter fired his bullets repeatedly into the sea until he could no longer detect any signs of survival.
Zhou Qingfeng held his breath in the sea for two minutes while watching his Cessna slowly sink into the dark and deep ocean. After his enemy finally left the area, he lifted his head out of the sea and called for support using his waterproof individual soldier radio device.
Meanwhile, the pilot soon returned to the airport in Nassau. He reported to the airport via radio communication even before his landing, "The enemy's two big ships have already been found… Inform General Santos that he can now send out a fleet to begin his raid.
I just shot down an enemy reconnaissance plane today as well, and the pilot sank deep into the sea. I think you guys can start preparing the paint… It's time to draw a record icon on my fighter plane. "
Everyone from the airport instantly burst into cheers, applauding the splendid record of their own pilot.