The radar on the Theodore Roosevelt hadn't detected any warships or aircraft, meaning the incoming missiles were launched from at least 350 kilometers away.
At such a distance, no wonder they used LRASMs.
Who could believe it without seeing it with their own eyes?
"How could I forget, they're friendlies!" Zhou Lin smacked his forehead, laughing.
Military equipment from the same country uses response codes to avoid friendly fire. Apparently, the Beautiful Country had forgotten this, and the twelve LRASMs hadn't had their response codes modified. The result was that the aircraft carrier's weapons didn't attack the missiles, and the missiles also aborted their attack at the last moment.
Patting his chest in relief, Zhou Lin didn't hesitate, continuing to push the carrier to accelerate. Instead of heading south, he turned northwest. Though it seemed like he was moving further from home, he had his reasons.
At 12:45 AM on June 30, the long-anticipated volcanic eruption in the island nation finally began.
Perhaps it had been pent up for too long; the eruption started with a massive outburst, spewing a million tons of ash and gases per second. In less than ten minutes, it completely changed the atmosphere over the entire island nation.
Ash and toxic gases spread exponentially in all directions, and half an hour later, surrounding countries and regions issued the highest level of alerts.
After the first failed attack on the Theodore Roosevelt, it took some time for the Beautiful Country to realize their blunder. They had to order the stealth bombers to land at the nearest base, manually modify the LRASMs' response codes, and then relaunch the attack.
But just as the pilots started their engines, they received an emergency order from home—volcanic eruption, halt the operation.
The high concentration of metals in the volcanic ash caused all electromagnetic detection methods to fail within the ash's spread, and the thick volcanic cloud rendered optical satellite detection useless.
"Just as I thought!"
Seeing the warnings from the Theodore Roosevelt's radar system, Zhou Lin knew he had gambled right!
The failure of remote detection meant no country or force could observe the Theodore Roosevelt. Zhou Lin turned off all the carrier's lights, plunging the entire sea area into darkness.
"There should be no other ships nearby." Confirming this, Zhou Lin donned his diving gear, released an unmanned underwater vehicle, and followed it into the water, steering it away.
Floating on the sea, the Theodore Roosevelt felt like a silent mountain.
But Zhou Lin wasn't afraid, because this mountain belonged to him.
"Theodore Roosevelt, store!"
Zhou Lin waved his right arm, though the gesture was unnecessary. The massive Theodore Roosevelt vanished from the sea, leaving a 300-meter-long, 30-meter-wide, and 20-meter-deep "water pit."
In the next second, surrounding seawater rushed into the pit, creating huge waves. By then, Zhou Lin was already deep underwater, speeding eastward.
The electromagnetic interference from the volcanic eruption meant the disappearance of the Theodore Roosevelt was silent and unnoticed, just as Zhou Lin wanted. Bringing the carrier into a Summer Country port in full view would cause an uproar!
In the early stages of the apocalypse, major countries still maintained large armies and long-range attack capabilities. If the Beautiful Country decided to use the Theodore Roosevelt as an excuse to launch nuclear missiles at Summer Country's cities, Zhou Lin would be to blame.
Now, with the Theodore Roosevelt disappearing on the high seas, the Beautiful Country couldn't pin this directly on Summer Country, no matter how shameless they were.
The seawater was icy, but Zhou Lin's heart was burning!
He did it!
It actually worked!
As the coastline drew nearer, Zhou Lin abandoned the underwater vehicle at a suitable distance and removed his diving gear as he approached the shore. Though valuable, these items couldn't be seen by the public.
At 4 AM, soaking wet, Zhou Lin stood on a beach in Qing City, Summer Country. Seeing no one around, he quickly changed into dry clothes he'd taken from the Theodore Roosevelt, then smiled like a child.