Homo Sapiens

After Li Qingye finished his speech, the Homo Sapiens Company weapons exhibition began.

Infantry in exoskeletal armor, light tanks, multi-purpose armored vehicles, and special transport vehicles paraded down Star River Avenue in the plaza.

But the most eye-catching displays were the sixteen missile transport vehicles and the loitering munition transport vehicles.

Inside the angled glass restaurant on the first floor.

Li Xingchen sat ramrod straight, while Team Leader Qin beside him observed intently, lost in thought. Both of their assistants were taking pictures.

Many other guests in attendance were doing the same.

Team Leader Qin, the man with the glasses, saw the five launch canisters on the missile transport vehicle and quickly made a rough mental estimate of the missile’s dimensions.

Although the canisters were completely sealed, hiding their contents, their general size could still be estimated.

As for whether Homo Sapiens Company was faking it, that was a difficult thing to verify.

But the man with the glasses soon had his answer.

On the large screen in the plaza, as well as on the live-feed televisions near their seats, an image appeared of three missile transport vehicles identical to the ones they had just seen. These vehicles were positioned on a remote highway.

On the screen, the missile transport vehicles raised their launch canisters vertically.

The canister lids popped open instantly. A missile was ejected into the air and then ignited in mid-flight.

「A few minutes later.」

The scene changed to a stretch of sea labeled ”Ceylon North Sea Shooting Range.” Five dilapidated fishing boats were blown to smithereens by warheads descending from the sky.

The man with the glasses frowned slightly. ’Judging from the size of the missile body, this is clearly a long-range missile.’

Other knowledgeable intelligence personnel from various factions also discerned some of the missile’s capabilities.

Next, the screen switched to the loitering munition transporters, again in some unknown wilderness. A large swarm of drone-like loitering munitions flew out, hugging the ground.

Seeing this, the intelligence agents from America and Tianzhu, who had suffered greatly from ultra-low-altitude drones, looked particularly grim.

The man with the glasses glanced around. Although America had suppressed news and details about the naval battle in the Badu Strait, the fact that America’s Fifth Fleet had suffered a major defeat there was undeniable.

Now, seeing these loitering munitions weaving through the mountain forests close to the ground, the man with the glasses seemed to understand something.

Drones that flew this close to the ground were indeed impossible to defend against. For radar, low-altitude surveillance over complex terrain was basically a blind spot.

It was very common for radar to misidentify ordinary birds and balloons as aircraft, or to mistake drones for birds.

Seeing the flight altitude and agility of the loitering munitions, the man with the glasses immediately classified this weapon as a target of high priority.

’Flying at an altitude of about 10 meters, with such robust agility and obstacle avoidance... In mountain warfare, this thing is a perfect weapon for surprise attacks.’

The man with the glasses’ expression turned solemn when he thought of Homo Sapiens Company’s fully-authorized subsidiary in Hongsawaddy and the Assam Region’s ambiguous relationship with the company.

This was mainly because the northern parts of both these areas were filled with extremely complex mountainous terrain and canyons.

With their performance capabilities, these drones could follow a narrow river valley and penetrate deep into enemy territory. The only way to defend against them would be to deploy a vast network of radar stations.

Tianzhu had already suffered multiple surprise attacks from drones in its conflicts with Assam.

The loitering munitions launched just moments ago flew for over twenty minutes before hitting a cluster of abandoned houses more than a hundred kilometers away.

Prince Jipu of Saudia Arabia’s eyes lit up as he watched. He quickly whispered an order to his attendant, ”Later, ask Homo Sapiens Company if they have any plans to sell these drones. You can also inquire about those missiles.”

The attendant nodded quickly.

...

After Homo Sapiens Company’s army equipment exhibition, it was the air force’s turn.

Twelve Eagle fighter jets flew slowly overhead, leaving twelve trails of colored smoke.

They were followed by the Owl attack helicopter squadron and the Golden Roc Transporter squadron.

In addition to the flyover above Star River Plaza, an aerial broadcast showed another demonstration in the Luzon Sea, east of the Luzon Islands.

There were also flight demonstrations by the Eagle fighters, Owl attack helicopters, and Golden Roc Transporters.

For instance, there was an Eagle fighter’s ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming penetration, a Golden Roc Transporter’s supersonic flight, and a strike demonstration against a target ship.

The solemn expression on the man with the glasses’ face deepened.

This was because during the flight footage, the commentator mentioned that the Golden Roc Transporter was a supersonic stealth aircraft. The threat posed by such a machine was terrifying.

The American intelligence agents, however, looked even more disturbed.

The flight area marked on the screen showed that the Golden Roc Transporter squadron had just flown very close to Guam Base, less than one hundred kilometers away.

「A short while later.」

A Black Ship intelligence agent looked at a message that came through on his satellite phone, and his face darkened like a thundercloud.

The radar at Guam Base had not detected the approaching Golden Roc Transporter squadron.

This news weighed heavily on the Black Ship agents.

If the Golden Roc Transporters couldn’t be detected at a distance of a hundred kilometers, it meant they could bypass land-based radar stations and approach the North American mainland from across the vast Pacific Ocean.

After all, given the Golden Roc Transporter’s stealth capabilities, a radar station’s surveillance radius was only about 100 kilometers.

In the vast Pacific Ocean, many areas had no islands for hundreds of kilometers, meaning there was no foundation on which to build radar stations.

Unless America also started playing the game of land reclamation to create artificial islands, its series of island chains would remain riddled with holes.

Furthermore, the water in many parts of the Pacific Ocean was too deep for land reclamation. The Luzon Sea, for example, had an average depth of over three thousand meters, completely lacking the prerequisite conditions for such projects.

Homo Sapiens Company’s air force equipment display gave all parties a deeper understanding of its power, and at the same time, made them feel extremely wary.

After the air force hardware, it was the navy’s turn.

The reorganized Homo Sapiens Company security navy was currently divided into three main fleets:

The Pacific Escort Fleet, which commanded the Luzon East Sea Sub-Fleet, the Luzon West Sea Sub-Fleet, and the Siam Bay Sub-Fleet, with 8 security port bases and 4 secret submarine bases.

The Ceylon Ocean Escort Fleet, which commanded the Hongsawaddy Sub-Fleet, the Ceylon Sub-Fleet, and the Malay Sub-Fleet, with 7 security port bases and 3 secret submarine bases.

The Nanyang Escort Fleet, which commanded the Malacca Sub-Fleet, the Java Sub-Fleet, the Lu Gu Sub-Fleet, and the Borneo Sub-Fleet, with 7 security port bases and 4 secret submarine bases.

The units participating in this equipment exhibition were the Malacca Sub-Fleet and the Luzon East Sea Sub-Fleet.

The fully-armed Malacca Sub-Fleet patrolled the Malacca Strait, conducting a series of exercises, particularly in the waters near Xing Island. These included naval aviation flights, warship submersion drills, joint ultra-low-altitude assaults with Thunder Dragon ground-effect vehicles and drones, and beach landing simulations.

As for the Luzon East Sea Sub-Fleet, they demonstrated the main guns of the *Pacific*, the submersion of a Tiger Shark-class Nuclear-powered Strategic Submarine, and a test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile.

Before this, the world had lacked a comprehensive understanding of Homo Sapiens Company’s overall strength. After all, besides the United States Army, which had taken a beating from them once, other powers were not truly aware of Homo sapiens’ full capabilities.

Now, they couldn’t help but gasp in unison.

Even without counting nuclear weapons, Homo Sapiens Company’s strength in conventional armaments was terrifying.

And the United States Army, having personally tested Homo Sapiens Company’s strength, knew all too well how formidable its anti-submarine technology was.

They were certain that if this technology were ever revealed, the major world powers would be even more shocked.