Chapter 127: Something Happened to Blue Skyheart (5/10)

"Where is Manager Lan?" Zhu Lan frowned, looking at Lan Tianxin's secretary, Xu Jing.

"Boss? I don't know where the manager is. It seems she didn't come to work today!"

Zhu Lan frowned. "Call her and ask!"

"Oh!" Xu Jing nodded, picked up the phone on the desk, and dialed Lan Tianxin's number, but it showed that the phone was turned off.

"Boss, the manager's phone is off!"

"I see."

Zhu Lan turned and headed to his office. "Red Queen, pull up the video footage of Lan Tianxin."

Red Queen appeared and waited a moment. "Boss, I cannot find a signal for Lan Tianxin. Her phone location shows it is in her apartment, but according to the nanobots, the phone was left on the table, and there are clear signs of a struggle!"

"I knew it!" Zhu Lan said. "Use the satellites and find her for me!"

"Understood!"

Zhu Lan picked up his phone and made a call.

"Hello?"

"General Li, Lan Tianxin has disappeared. There are signs of a struggle in her room. I think someone has taken her!"

"What are you saying?" Li Hongjin was shocked. Who was Lan Tianxin? She was the General Manager of Fantasy Technology and knew many of the company's secrets. She had always been protected by the female security guards of Fantasy Technology, and secretly by Ministry of State Security personnel. Yet, Zhu Lan was telling him she had gone missing?

"Yes. I am starting an investigation here; I'll leave the customs and airports to you!"

"I understand. I will have people start investigating immediately!"

On the other end, Li Hongjin hung up. After a moment of thought, he picked up a special phone. "Su Mei, what are you doing? The General Manager of Fantasy Technology has been kidnapped. What are you people paid for?"

Su Mei was still wondering why Li Hongjin was calling her, but upon hearing the news, she was stunned. "That's impossible. Our people are still monitoring the location; there hasn't been any movement!"

"Hmph, get people to every customs checkpoint, airport, and pier immediately. Investigate all surveillance footage. If Lan Tianxin has been taken out of the country, you can just pack your bags and go home!"

Without waiting for Su Mei's explanation, Li Hongjin hung up. Still uneasy, he personally called the head of the Coast Guard to increase patrols and crack down on all smuggling vessels.

Laicheng was instantly set in motion.

Upon receiving the news, Su Mei immediately ordered the security detail to enter Lan Tianxin's apartment. The scene inside shocked everyone; the apartment was in total chaos. She had clearly been abducted, and they hadn't even noticed.

Furious, Su Mei dispatched all available personnel and requested support from above. She knew the importance of Fantasy Technology better than anyone—some things must absolutely never be leaked. Now, a key member of the management team had been kidnapped, and, more importantly, her team hadn't detected a thing. It was no longer the time to assign blame; finding Lan Tianxin was the highest priority.

"Boss, I found it!"

Zhu Lan looked up at the video displayed by Red Queen. It was captured by a hidden camera—one of the many nanoscopic cameras Red Queen had installed everywhere. Even if you looked closely, you would only see what looked like a grain of metal. These cameras transmitted video in real-time to the Canglan Base, but there were tens of thousands of them around Fantasy Technology, and even Red Queen could not immediately notice anything unusual.

In the video, several foreigners carrying a large suitcase got into a car. The car drove continuously, specifically choosing small alleys because they lacked surveillance cameras. The car eventually reached the coast, where a small boat picked up the suitcase. The video ended there.

"Did you find her?"

"Boss, I used nine satellites to check every ship in the South China Sea from last night until now, and found nothing. There is only one possibility: the other party used an underwater vehicle—a submarine!"

"Quite a feat!" While the South China Sea might not be as strategically vital as the Yellow Sea in guarding the capital, it wasn't a place just anyone could enter. For a submarine to sneak into the waters of Laicheng, it must have been a heavily modified, clandestine vessel. By removing certain equipment to lower the acoustic signature and reduce the chance of detection, such a submarine usually lacks offensive capabilities—it is essentially a stealth-class vessel. Because it sacrifices space for sound-dampening equipment, it lacks room for other gear.

"Can you track it?"

Red Queen nodded. "Although the submarine is well-disguised, I hacked into China's South China Sea sonar network and discovered some anomalies. Using Russian spy satellites, I have captured the submarine's trail!"

"Excellent. What tools do we have?"

"Boss, if you want to track it, you must rely on your Canglan Mark II. I have upgraded it; it can operate at a depth of 500 meters. We don't have enough other equipment to keep up!"

"In that case, prepare it!"

Red Queen nodded. Zhu Lan bypassed Li Hongjin, entered a secret passage, and descended deep into the Canglan Base. The Canglan Mark II had been completely modified, becoming smaller and approaching the level of a Mark VI.

"Transmit satellite imagery!"
"Target locked!"
"Open the launch tunnel!"
"Begin signal simulation!"
"Signal simulation complete!"
"Ready for launch!"

*Boom!*

Canglan shot through the secret tunnel, burst out of the base, and instantly vanished into the sky. At an altitude of 10,000 meters, Zhu Lan pushed the speed to Mach 2, heading toward the Pacific Ocean.

"Boss, I have some bad news."

"What is it?"

"I've identified the submarine. It is a Sea-Wolf class, belonging to the U.S. Navy's special infiltration fleet. It has carried out many secret missions, and globally, there is almost no equipment capable of detecting its presence!" Red Queen explained, displaying an image of the modified Sea-Wolf class submarine.

"And?"

"Satellite imagery shows the submarine is heading toward the Pacific, and it is being met by an aircraft carrier strike group. They are expected to rendezvous in two hours!"

Zhu Lan could clearly see a carrier strike group sailing across the endless ocean. Through the satellite images, he could also spot three faint signals; he knew these were the escort submarines—two attack-class and one strategic-class. A three-submarine escort provided both offense and defense for the carrier.

An aircraft carrier strike group is a mobile sovereign territory and a mobile command center. To handle any task, a full strike group carries a strategic nuclear submarine, both to hide in the carrier's noise signature and to provide nuclear strike capabilities when necessary. The Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarine is a key part of the U.S. sea-based nuclear deterrent. Half usually accompany carrier groups to form a massive strike force, while the other half roam the world's oceans, only attacking when ordered.

The carrier group's nuclear force is a deterrent, but the nuclear force beneath the waves is destructive. While the Ohio-class sub accompanying the carrier carries warheads of roughly 500 kilotons, the ones roaming the deep ocean carry extinction-level warheads.

Though powerful, Canglan was not enough to face a full carrier strike group. Zhu Lan wasn't foolish enough to test the might of a carrier group, especially since the Canglan mecha didn't carry weapons capable of destroying warships.

"How much time do I have?"

"Estimated arrival above the 'Connecticut' is in ten minutes. You will make contact in twenty minutes. Boss, you only have a thirty-minute window. After that, you will be detected by the external radar of the USS George."

Indeed, the carrier coming to meet them was the USS George, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.

"Is that so? If time is short, then increase speed!" Zhu Lan pushed the speed to Mach 2.8, a white streak cutting across the sky.

"Is this the place?" A few minutes later, Zhu Lan hovered over the sea.

"The Connecticut is 360 meters below in the water. Because it is in stealth mode, its speed is very slow!"

"Red Queen, are you sure there's no problem?" Zhu Lan was asking if the Canglan mecha could truly operate underwater.

"Boss, rest assured. The Canglan Mark II uses the latest liquid titanium alloy, enough to withstand the pressure at 600 meters. It can even endure 700 meters for ten minutes!"

"In that case, I'm starting!"

"Switching modes!"
"Simulating marine signals!"
"Loading ocean map, satellite link established, target locked!"

*Splash!*

The Canglan mecha dove straight into the sea.

"Activate ocean mode!" Zhu Lan commanded quickly. The environment shifted, and the underwater scene became clear before him.

"Display target!" Zhu Lan had no interest in the scenery.

Soon, the intelligent assistant identified the location of the Connecticut. Zhu Lan saw it was still a considerable distance away. On the soles and back of the Canglan, four hydraulic rotating thrusters ignited, silently propelling the mecha forward. Guided by the mecha's lights, Zhu Lan passed through schools of fish and soon reached a mountain range on the ocean floor.

Though still far, he could see a massive black shape slowly crawling beneath the mountains. Why are U.S. nuclear submarines so hard to find? Because the U.S. possesses the world's most accurate ocean current maps. They know the geography of every seabed. Nuclear submarines essentially hug the mountains, using them to block their acoustic signatures from detection equipment.

"Found you," Zhu Lan said coldly, creeping toward the Connecticut.

Inside the Connecticut, they had no idea of the uninvited guest's arrival. The marine signal simulated by Canglan was so perfect that the submarine's radar saw nothing but a fish the size of a finger.