The Fifth Brother Slips into the Ocean

  Silver lightning flashed across the dark night sky, as if weaving a dense spider web between heaven and earth.

  On the Ka-27 helicopter, Lu Chengwen suddenly thought of a middle school language textbook. Although Lu Chengwen had long forgotten the name of the article, he felt that the helicopter at this time was like the swallow in the article, the swallow that flew back and forth in the thunderstorm.

  "Major, fifteen minutes left."

  Hearing the captain's shouting voice from the earphone, Lu Cheng quickly came back to his senses. "Got it. Continue searching and advancing, report immediately if anything is found."

  "Understood." Yan Yunxiang, sitting on the left side of the cockpit, made a face at his partner on the right and shook his head with a bitter smile.

  This was indeed an unusual task, and to this day, Yan Yunxiang had no time to mourn the three fallen comrades, nor even to feel sad for the seriously injured Kong Zhihao.

  More than 20 special forces soldiers took out over a hundred armed militants within ten minutes.

  As the clouds dispersed, the helicopter returned to the camp, the battle had already ended. Immediately, he took this batch of special soldiers, the wounded Kong Zhi Gao, the bodies of three comrades, and that mysterious cargo back to the destroyer patrolling in the Gulf of Aden. After refueling, the Ka-27 took off again with Major Lu Chengwen and two other special soldiers, two large auxiliary fuel tanks, and that mysterious cargo.

  Always south, south again, and still further south, flew for three whole hours.

  In fifteen minutes, they will reach the maximum flying radius of the helicopter. At that time, whether or not they find that damned submarine, they must return.

  Yan Yunxiang looked at his partner again in the morning, hoping to gain something, but the result was very disappointing.

  At this time, the electronic antenna fairing under the helicopter's nose was rotating at a speed of ten revolutions per minute. The electromagnetic waves swept over the surrounding sea surface again and again, but there was no gain except for the echoes caused by the waves.

  In general, over-the-horizon search radars are controlled by professional electronic warfare officers.

  This time, in order to carry more fuel and increase the helicopter's flight distance, two other crew members stayed on the destroyer, with the radar operation handed over to the co-pilot.

  "Captain, it seems that submarine didn't make it after all, we have to head back."

  "Return trip?" It wasn't until then that Yan Yunxiang realized that more than ten minutes had passed.

  "If we don't return soon, we'll all become sharks' breakfast." The co-pilot looked over at Detian Yunxiang, "This sea area has been searched several times, there won't be any discoveries."

  "Alright, prepare for return voyage."

  "No way!" Before Yan Yunxiang could react, Lu Chengwen had already entered the cockpit. "Captain, we can't return now, we have to take us to the submarine. Does this plane still have 15 minutes of fuel left? If we haven't found the submarine after 15 minutes, it's not too late to return then."

  "But..."

  Yan Yunxiang had just opened his mouth when the co-pilot hastily said: "That's wartime reserve oil, it can only be used in combat, we..."

  "I'm telling you, if we don't get taken aboard that submarine before dawn, war will break out!"

  Both pilots were taken aback, it was clear that Major Special Forces was not joking.

  "Keep flying forward, you must find that submarine!"

  Lu Chengwen's words had just fallen when a bright spot appeared on the radar screen in front of the co-pilot. The co-pilot immediately shouted: "Found it, about three nautical miles ahead, take a look, is that the submarine you're looking for?"

  "Colonel, look quickly!" Yan Yunxiang also saw that submarine rushing out of the sea.

  The "gun octopus" burst out of the turbulent sea like a shell, until one-third of the hull was exposed in the air before it crashed heavily onto the surface. Immediately afterwards, the submarine was swallowed up by the huge waves again, and when the conning tower re-emerged from the water, the submarine was already floating on the surface.

  "Go after them, contact the submarine and have them send out divers, get ready for reception."

  Lu Chengwen had just left the cockpit when a second signal appeared on the radar screen. The co-pilot hesitated for a moment and said to the captain, "Lao Yan, what's going on?"

  "Second submarine?" Yan Yunxiang glanced at the radar screen and his gaze returned to the front.

  "How can there be a second submarine? Isn't there only one submarine?"

  "Send word to the 'Squid'! We must get them away as quickly as possible!"

  At this time, the fuel warning light has come on, indicating that the remaining fuel is less than half of the loaded fuel.

  Inside the cabin, three special forces soldiers were all wearing diving suits and stuffed a box containing mysterious goods into a special underwater propeller. The helicopter arrived above the submarine, and the three special forces soldiers walked to the hatch one by one. As the helicopter's altitude slowly decreased, an officer on the submarine gave a green light signal for jumping into the water, and Lu Cheng was the first to jump out of the cabin, falling straight into the sea. Immediately afterwards, the other two special forces soldiers pushed the underwater propeller into the ocean and then jumped into the sea.

  "'Gun Octopus', goods have been delivered, now it's up to you."

  After making a final contact, the Ka-27 helicopter turned around and flew away to the north.

  On the conning tower of the submarine, Hua Jianfeng glanced at the helicopter flying away and immediately picked up his binoculars to look in the direction where the periscope had discovered the helicopter.

  You're still quite bold, daring to follow me up here! Hua Jianfeng smiled coldly, but in his heart he was thinking of how to resolve the trouble before him.

  The "Houston" definitely recorded the characteristic noise of the "Gun Octopus". Fortunately, the sea was too rough and the "Houston" could not take a photo of the "Gun Octopus", nor could it see its appearance.

  If possible, Hua Jianfeng really wanted to take the initiative and use torpedoes to solve the problem.

  "Major, everyone has come to rescue you."

  "Are they all rescued?" Hua Jianfeng looked over at the captain who had just climbed up.

  "Three special troops, one underwater propeller, all in the No. 3 water cabin. I had someone make them a hot cup of coffee, they looked like they were frozen stiff."

  "Prepare to dive, go find the deputy commander and have him take over command, get rid of the 'Houston'."

  After the last lookout went down, Huajian Feng left the command platform and locked the upper and lower airtight hatches.

  Within half a minute, "Gunboat" had dived into the sea and was descending rapidly at an angle of twenty degrees.

  Under the leadership of the cook who delivered coffee, Hua Jianfeng arrived at the No. 3 water soldier cabin. More than 20 water soldiers living here had been driven away by the chief engineer, and there were only three special soldiers wrapped in towels in the cabin, as well as the muffled underwater propeller covered with canvas.

  When he saw Hua Jianfeng, Lu Chengwen hesitated for a moment.

  Submarine soldiers wear casual clothes made of hemp cloth when they go out to sea, so it's hard for outsiders to identify the captain from their attire.

  "I am Hua Jianfeng, captain of the 'Qiangwuzi'... you..."

  "I am Lu Chengwen, Major of the 'Lion' Special Forces and commander of this operation."

  Hua Jianfeng quickly sized up Lu Chengwen, his expression changing slightly.

  "Haven't we met before?" Lu Chengwen was also recalling, wondering if he had seen this young captain before.

  "No, we haven't met before." After glancing at Lu Chengwen again, Hua Jianfeng said, "During last year's exercise, I collaborated with Colonel Xiang Tonghui from your unit, so I know what kind of unit you are."

  After hearing Lu Cheng's self-introduction, all the doubts in Hua Jianfeng's mind were cleared.

  "Commander Xiang is our leader, so in a way, we're also kind of acquaintances."

  "Is that so? Then the gift you sent me is not small at all." As he spoke, Hua Jianfeng glanced at the underwater propeller. Intuitively, Hua Jianfeng knew that there must be something very important inside the underwater propeller. Because special forces use "one-time" underwater propellers when executing combat missions, which do not need to be recovered and reused. The three special soldiers brought it onto the submarine, indicating that the propeller, or rather the goods inside, were extremely important.

  "This... " Lu Chengwen immediately changed the subject, "Commander Huating, can I have a private word with you?"

  "Delighted beyond measure."

  Hua Jianfeng gave a nod to the wheel machine chief who followed him, as well as several officers and soldiers who were watching from outside. Lu Chengwen also nodded at the two special soldiers behind him, letting them leave the water soldier cabin. Afterwards, the two of them separately closed the watertight doors at both ends of the cabin.

  Inside the command center, musicians stared intently at the electronic depth gauge as the numbers jumped up and down non-stop.

  200 meters, 250 meters, 300 meters... When the reading became 330, Le Jia Cheng pressed down on the helmsman's shoulder. "Five degrees up at the bow, ten degrees down at the stern, maintain speed."

  The helmsman intuitively adjusted the depth controller's exponent to 330, then fine-tuned the speed controller's exponent, and finally stabilized the direction controller that looked like a car steering wheel. Next, the submarine's autopilot system took over adjusting the vessel's navigation status, without requiring direct manipulation by the helmsman.

  A nuclear submarine with a displacement of several thousand tons is not a car, and it took about ten or twenty seconds for the submarine's speed to come down.

  "How was it? Did you hear?" Le Jia Chengzhao looked back with a long gaze.

  Sonar Long pressed his hands on the headphones, intently listening and occasionally glancing at the sonar screen in front of him. He adjusted the control knob on the sonar panel. After a while, he shook his head towards Musician Cheng.

  "Nothing found!?"

  No discovery, not the best answer, but the worst answer!

  Before surfacing, the "Houston" was just a short distance ahead of the "Octopus". A submarine is not an airplane and cannot run out of the detection range of passive sonar in just a few minutes. Not being detected means that the "Houston" was not within the detection range of the "Octopus"'s passive sonar, but rather in its blind spot, which is right behind it.

  "Hard to port, control your speed and depth, don't make any noise." Le Jia Cheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at Sheng Na again. It was certain that when the "Gun Octopus" quickly dived down, the "Houston" did not dive immediately and slowed down its navigation speed, falling behind the "Gun Octopus".

  It seemed like he heard something, Sheng Nalang raised his hand and signaled everyone to be quiet, and then his face changed.

  The loud crash that followed immediately made every officer and soldier on the submarine feel a chill from head to toe.