99: Chapter 99 The Joint Fleet of the Three Kingdoms Loses Contact

Ending the call, President Chen Ran put away his phone and walked over to Anvil, the leader of Heavy Hammer, who was conducting a final inspection of the boat. Anvil was a square-faced man with an expression as hard as rock.

"Is everything ready?" President Chen Ran asked.

"It is. The boat has been modified with added armor and a concealed compartment. All equipment is jungle-appropriate, either exchanged through the system or obtained through special channels. Ammunition, provisions, and medical supplies are sufficient. Three hundred men have been divided into thirty ten-man squads and have already moved out in batches along different routes toward the first assembly point. We are in the fastest group by boat," Anvil reported concisely.

"Hmm. This forest is different from the sea. Poisonous insects and fierce beasts are minor issues; the real trouble is the miasma, toxic swamps, and invisible bacteria and viruses. Tell the brothers to take the protective medicine provided by the system on time and carry insect repellent powder with them. If you come across fruit or insects you don't recognize, don't touch them randomly. We are going there to find something, not to serve as fertilizer for the Amazon."

President Chen Ran instructed. His knowledge of the rainforest mostly came from data and system infusions. He knew it was an ecosystem more complex than the deep sea, where countless creatures hunted and defended themselves in various unexpected ways—such as snakes that camouflaged as branches, poison dart frogs hiding toxic venom under their leaves, and electric eels and caimans lurking in the water.

"Understood, it has been emphasized many times," Anvil nodded.

"Let's go."

The boat slowly left the noisy Manaus pier, sailed into the wide channel of the Rio Negro, and headed deep into the rainforest.

The city scenery on the shore was quickly replaced by an endless wall of green. The air became more humid and hot, and various strange sounds came from the depths of the dense forest, carrying primitive vitality while also hiding unknown dangers.

President Chen Ran stood at the bow of the boat, watching the towering trees entwined with vines pass by on both banks, but his heart was on that deep blue sea thousands of miles away.

Almost at the same time as the iron-hulled boat President Chen Ran was riding disappeared around a bend in the Rio Negro, in the dark waters over two thousand meters deep in the South Pacific, the "Ghost" submarine, like a dormant deep-sea beast, hovered silently in the freezing seawater.

The submarine captain, "Abyss," watched three clear light spots on the sonar screen, which were moving at cruising speed, unhurriedly, towards the direction of Deep Blue Nation.

"Targets locked. Depths 2010 meters, 2050 meters, 1980 meters. The spacing fits the attack window." Abyss's voice rang out in the absolutely quiet command cabin. "Initiate the Silent Storm Protocol, phase one: blinding."

"Fire."

An invisible electromagnetic pulse swept across the sea surface once again.

The three warships, which were executing a "deterrence patrol" mission, instantly repeated the same mistake.

All lights flickered and went out, radar screens turned pitch black, and radio channels fell deathly silent. The massive warships glided slowly forward under inertia, but they had become floating steel coffins, with the interiors plunged into darkness and panic.

"Phase two: armor-piercing. Calculate the weak points of the keels. Prepare special armor-piercing shells."

"Fire."

Several slender, specially made projectiles with preset shaped charges and delayed fuses were silently fired from the Ghost submarine's concealed launch tubes. They traced almost invisible paths through the seawater, precisely drilling into the vital parts of the three warships below the waterline.

"Bang... crack... boom!" A muffled sound, heavily wrapped by the seawater, came from the bottom of the ships, followed immediately by the ear-piercing screech of metal being violently torn apart!

The immense water pressure instantly tore open and expanded the breaches, and the freezing seawater poured into the cabins in a violent manner.

"Hull damaged! Water entering from multiple locations!"

"We can't plug it! It's too fast!"

"Abandon ship! All hands aban..."

Shouts, running footsteps, the sound of twisting metal, and the roaring of seawater were mixed together, but they were quickly swallowed by the boundless darkness and terrifying pressure.

In less than ten minutes, the three thousands-of-tons modern warships tilted, broke apart, and were then ruthlessly dragged by the deep sea of over two thousand meters into the abyss of eternal silence at an almost absurd speed.

On the sea surface, only a few rapidly spreading oil slicks remained, reflecting an eerie luster under the sunlight, as if they were the insignificant traces left behind after a giant beast had finished its meal.

The "Ghost" submarine carefully scanned the surroundings, confirming there were no signs of life or suspicious residue, and then, just as it had appeared, it silently turned around, dived into deeper darkness, and followed the pre-set safe channel back to its lair located in an underwater cavern.

A few hours later.

"The USS Sterett has lost contact!"

"HMAS Waller has no response!"

"The signal for HMNZS Te Kaha has disappeared!"

The same panic played out once again in different command centers.

When the satellite images were transmitted back, and only glaring oil slicks remained in that sea area, a chill shot straight from the soles of the feet to the scalps of those at the US Pacific Command, the Australian Navy Headquarters, and the New Zealand Ministry of Defence.

It was happening again! The same script, the same result!

Three ships—more than last time and with better performance—but in the same sea area, in the same way, without any warning, without distress signals, without traces of battle, they vanished into thin air!

Global public opinion exploded instantly, even more violently than the last time.

"My God! This time it's a trilateral joint fleet!"

"Has the Devil's Triangle expanded to the South Pacific?"

"It's definitely an attack! A man-made attack!"

"Who did it? Who could silently take out three top-tier warships at the same time?"

"President Chen Ran! It must be him! He just left Deep Blue Nation!"

"But he's in the Amazon! We saw it on the livestream!"

"He may be in the Amazon, but that doesn't mean it wasn't his people who did it!"

"Deep-sea monster? Alien technology? Or... some kind of underwater weapon we can't understand?"

"What does Deep Blue Nation say?"

"What else can they say? 'Nothing observed, we express our deep regrets, please pay attention to navigation safety,' obviously!"

"Damn, I can already recite this routine by heart!"

"The US has lost a lot of face this time! Along with Australia and New Zealand, the three navies have become the laughingstock of the whole world!"

"Just how strong is President Chen Ran's backing? This isn't just an ordinary private armed force, is it?"

All kinds of speculation, fear, and conspiracy theories spread at a viral speed.

That sea area in the South Pacific was depicted as a death zone that swallowed warships.

High-level naval officials from various countries held emergency secret meetings, and looking at the satellite map of that blank sea area, their scalps went numb.

There was no evidence, no clues, only a chill that seeped into the marrow and a sense of powerlessness.

The US was furious and, in conjunction with Australia and New Zealand, issued the strongest condemnation statement, pointing the finger directly at Deep Blue Nation, threatening to conduct investigations and retaliation using "various means, including military ones."

But it was all thunder and no rain.

How to investigate? Send ships again? Send planes?

That sea area is now, in everyone's mind, synonymous with the entrance to hell.

And at the center of all this storm, President Chen Ran was riding in an iron-hulled boat, deep into the heart of the Amazon Rainforest.

The boat stopped at a tributary, and the shore was an even denser, impenetrable primeval jungle.

President Chen Ran jumped off the boat, his heavy military boots stepping onto the soft, rotting layer of fallen leaves, making a slight "squelch" sound.

The air was filled with a strong scent of decay intertwined with new life, and countless insects he couldn't name buzzed in his ears.

A Heavy Hammer team member walked over and handed him an encrypted tablet, on which the headlines of the outside world and the global shock caused by the "loss of contact" of the trilateral fleet were simply scrolling.

President Chen Ran glanced at it, swiped his finger across the screen, and closed the news page.

He looked up at the canopy that almost obscured the sky, as a few brightly colored macaws flew by, screaming.

"There are really a lot of mosquitoes in this forest." He slapped a spotted mosquito that was trying to crawl into his collar and said to Anvil, who was clearing vines with a machete nearby, "Tell the brothers to check their protection well, and don't let these little things take advantage. The real trouble is still inside."

Anvil nodded, wiped the sweat and camouflage paint off his face, and repeated the order in a low voice into his headset.

President Chen Ran took a deep breath, and the humid, sticky air surged into his lungs.

The storm on the sea thousands of miles behind him was temporarily thrown to the back of his mind. Before him was the green hell that had swallowed countless adventurers, and also the location of El Dorado, where legendary endless wealth was hidden.

He gripped the handle of the survival knife at his waist, his eyes becoming sharp.

"Let's move."

President Chen Ran leaned against the trunk of a giant tree with exceptionally developed buttress roots and wiped the sweat constantly seeping from his forehead.

In front of him, a camera that had been modified by the system, possessing super-strong encryption and direct satellite connection functions, was glowing with a faint red light.

Nearby, several Heavy Hammer team members were hiding in deeper shadows on guard, almost blending into the surrounding environment.

He adjusted the microphone hanging on his chest and revealed a smile to the camera that was a bit shiny from being soaked in sweat, but still handsome.

"Hello, to all the old friends in the livestream, and to the new friends, good afternoon everyone... or rather, I don't know if it's afternoon or morning now; you have to rely on luck to see the sun in this forest."

His tone was relaxed, as if chatting about daily life. "I am President Chen Ran, yes, the Deep Blue Nation president who doesn't do his proper job and ran into the Amazon. Our current location... is probably about thirty kilometers inside a certain tributary of the upper Rio Negro. I can't tell you the specific coordinates, for fear of poachers or... um, those with ill intentions."

The chat exploded instantly, with comments in various languages scrolling crazily, too fast to see clearly, but the translation plugin automatically presented the main meaning on the micro-display inside President Chen Ran's helmet.

"Ahhh, Brother Ran has started the stream!"

"Mr. President, please be careful!"

"Is this background really the Amazon? Is it not a studio?"

"What kind of tree is that next to you? It's huge!"

"Are there mosquitoes? Are there snakes?"

"The person in front talking about snakes, don't scare us!"

"Mr. President, can you talk about the construction of the new port in Deep Blue Nation? (Dog head)"

"The person above is in the wrong place!"

"Looking at the background, it seems like he really is in a very deep forest..."