The midnight snack on the submarine is not very rich. The main reason is that the sailing time is too long. Fresh vegetables and fruits that should not be stored for a long time were eaten up ten days ago. The rest are corn, potatoes, winter melons, pumpkins, apples, mangoes and other fruits that can be stored in cold storage for a long time.

As for meat, there are everything, but few submarine soldiers like to eat meat.

Li Xiaoming and Mu Haoyang are not very picky. It would be good to eat if you want, and they don’t care what to eat at all.

In the eyes of the two, there is a great benefit on the submarine: beer is provided. Although beer is limited to supply and the direct consequence of drunken trouble is expelled from the military, in order to alleviate the boring life on the submarine, each submarine soldier can receive half a liter of beer after leaving the post.

For a few visitors, there is no limit on beer.

Li Xiaoming ordered a plate of dumplings, Mu Haoyang ordered a few flower rolls, and each of them received a scoop of draft beer and ate it with relish in the officers' restaurant.

"How many years have you been in this business?"

"Agent?" Li Xiaoming glanced at Mu Haoyang and said, "Including the three years of training, it has been almost fifteen years, but it has been a job in field work in the past few years."

"What did you do before?"

"I sat in the office for two years and followed others for three years." Li Xiaoming smiled and took out a cigarette. Mu Haoyang knocked on the sign "No smoking" on the wall before he put down the cigarette and said, "I have been studying for the first few years, but later I have been frozen for three years."

"freezing!?"

"It's just hide it, change it, and wait until the storm is over before engaging in intelligence work with a new identity."

"In other words, your name is not Li Xiaoming?"

Li Xiaoming smiled, took a sip of beer, and said, "After working as a field agent, I used three names, and now there are three completely legal IDs and five passports. As for what my real name is, don't ask, and I won't tell you if I ask. If I have the chance to meet you after I retire, I will ask me again."

"It's very hard to do your job, right?"

"Thank you hard work is not worth it. Most of the time, you have nothing to do. You will only get busy after receiving the task, and you cannot relax for a moment."

"Are you doing it alone?"

"Yes, I'm working alone, no partner." Li Xiaoming touched the cigarette on the table and said, "Usually, people like us have partners, at least one, and sometimes several of them are there. But I am a bad person, and all three colleagues who have worked with me have sacrificed their lives."

Although Li Xiaoming said it lightly, Mu Haoyang could see that there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"I won't talk about this anymore, let's talk about your affairs."

"us?"

"To be honest, before signing the contract with the Second Division, my ideal was to become a naval officer, dreaming of one day being able to drive our first aircraft carrier to the ocean, so that the whole world knows that not only the United States has a strong navy, but we also have a strong navy."

"Are you a graduate of the Naval Academy?"

"Yes, I studied for five years, but I signed a contract with the second department in the third year."

"Why?"

"Because I'm too young." Li Xiaoming smiled and said, "At my age, even if I graduated with the first place in the whole grade, I would not be the first aircraft carrier captain. I have a little problem, that is, I pursue perfection in everything and don't want to walk the path others have taken."

Mu Haoyang also smiled and said, "So, you have found a new ideal in the second part."

"It's not ideal, I just serve the country in another way." After drinking two sips of beer, Li Xiaoming said, "I just said that I won't talk about my affairs, but I'd better talk about yours. The amphibious special forces are the only special forces of the Marine Corps and the most powerful special forces under the Navy. The threshold is very high, right?"

“It’s not too low.”

"Did you come out of the army or from the military academy?"

“It’s both.”

Li Xiaoming was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't understand what Mu Haoyang meant.

"I joined the army at the age of seventeen and worked as a conscript for three years. During my second term, I was admitted to the Naval Academy. Before graduation, I submitted an application for joining the special forces for some reason, and then passed all the assessments in a daze, and then I was like this now."

"So, your cultural scores should be good. Why didn't you take the college entrance examination, but joined the army?"

"Is it necessary to walk on the same road to the darkness of the single-plank bridge across a thousand troops? For me, joining the army is also one of the choices to stand out."

“Family financial reasons?”

Mu Haoyang nodded without explaining.

"It's true. As long as you have the ability, it's the same whether you go to college or not. There are many ways to go to college. You don't have to take the college entrance examination." Li Xiaoming smiled and shook his head, saying, "I'm not afraid of you making fun of you. If I hadn't turned against me, I would have been a programmer in an IT company or sitting in an office in a government department. How boring is that kind of life that can't reach the end until I was 60 years old."

"You have a lot to do with your family?"

Li Xiaoming smiled and avoided this problem.

At this time, Zhou Yusheng rushed over.

"I've seen it in the cold storage and you know you're here."

"What happened?" Seeing Zhou Yusheng's panic look, Li Xiaoming immediately stood up.

"I just received the telegram, I'm afraid we're in some minor trouble."

Li Xiaoming's brows jumped a few times and looked at Mu Haoyang who was standing up.

"Go to the command cabin, it's not very convenient."

"What was said in the telegram?"

"It's not a big deal. The 'Roosevelt' aircraft carrier battle group is more than 400 kilometers north of us and has not taken the established route to the Strait of Hormuz. Let's be careful."

"Why are we notifying us now?"

"There is no way, the radio station's transmission and reception speed is very slow, and it took more than an hour to receive this telegram."

When he arrived at the command cabin, Zhou Yusheng took the telegram from the non-commissioned officer and handed it to Li Xiaoming. "You can read it yourself, it's very clear that the Americans may cause trouble for us."

Li Xiaoming quickly glanced, gave the telegram to Mu Haoyang, and asked, "Did you have any abnormal contact?"

Zhou Yusheng was a little surprised when he heard the "professional vocabulary" spoken by Li Xiaoming.

"In our business, you have to know a little about everything."

Zhou Yusheng nodded and then said: "One hour ago, the towing sonar array received a relatively vague sound signal. It was initially concluded that it was an improved Los Angeles-class attack nuclear submarine of the US Navy. Because the sound signal reflected many times on the sea surface and the seabed, and passed through the temperature sequential layer several times, it could only roughly determine the location of the submarine and could not calculate the distance."

“Where?”

"To the north, in the direction where the battle group of the USS Roosevelt aircraft carrier is located."

"So, it should be an attack nuclear submarine in the aircraft carrier combat group?"

"It's very likely, but the message mentioned that there are very likely two attack nuclear submarines in the aircraft carrier battle group, and we only found one."

"What's the meaning?"

"The Los Angeles-class attack nuclear submarine is a product of the Cold War. Even though twelve Tomahawk missile vertical launch tubes were added from the SSN719 Providence, and the sound silencing tiles were lagging in the ssn751 San Juan. Many improvements have been made. Compared with the new attack nuclear submarines built in this century, the performance is already lagging behind, and even compared with the Russian Akura 2 type, there is still some gap."

"Captain, now is not the time to give popular science introductions."

Zhou Yu swallowed his saliva and said, "We can detect the noise from the Los Angeles-class attack nuclear submarines, but we cannot detect more advanced attack nuclear submarines, such as the noise from the Virginia-class. The second attack nuclear submarine in the aircraft carrier battle group may be the Virginia-class."

Li Xiaoming hesitated for a moment and said, "How fast can this kind of submarine sail quietly?"

"If we want to avoid being discovered by us, the speed of the Virginia class cannot exceed twenty knots."

"Can you be sure?"

Zhou Yusheng nodded and said, "When we were in the South China Sea, we encountered a Virginia class. Its speed was 22 knots and its noise characteristics were quite obvious. Fortunately, we were doing low-speed silent effect tests, so we were not discovered by the Americans."

“Now we have to make an assumption.”

“What assumptions?”

Li Xiaoming breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The Americans already knew that we were here, and at some point, they detected the noise we made and mastered the method of tracking us. Don't underestimate the Americans' courage. The guy in the cold storage knows a lot."

"You mean..." Mu Haoyang also became nervous.

"The Americans will use all means, even to start a war with us, to make him shut up or stop us from sending the message out." Li Xiaoming glanced at Zhou Yusheng and said, "If I guessed correctly, I must rise to the depth of the periscope before I can use satellite communication equipment and contact the Navy Command, right?"

"You can also use a communication float to enter the information you need to send."

"It's a pity that guy didn't speak, and we haven't got what we want yet."

Zhou Yusheng was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly.

"Captain, I have a suggestion."

“What suggestions?”

Li Xiaoming hesitated for a moment and said, "Issuing a combat order to bring all officers and soldiers into combat. Since we don't know what the Americans are going to do and when to do it, we have to make the worst plan."

"Are you crazy?" Zhou Yusheng widened his eyes, "The order I received was to send you to the South China Sea, not to start a war with the Americans."

"It's not us who want to start the war, but the Americans."

"But……"

"We won't shoot the first shot, but we won't succumb to the Americans' tyranny!" Li Xiaoming grabbed Zhou Yusheng's shoulder and said, "In the order you received, you must mention that you are responsible for tactical command, and the rest are arranged by me. You are the captain of this submarine, so you have to give orders."

Zhou Yu breathed out and said, "I will issue a combat order, but we must not fire the first shot."

"Don't worry, the power to fire is in your hands." Li Xiaoming smiled and said, "Besides, I don't know how to launch the torpedo."

After agreeing, Zhou Yusheng asked the officer on duty to issue a combat order.

In less than two minutes, more than a hundred officers and soldiers on the submarine entered the combat post.

At this time, more than a hundred kilometers away, the Virginia-class attack nuclear submarine that set out from Guam and caught up with the USS Roosevelt in the Strait of Malacca was sailing southeast at a speed of 20 knots.

In a few hours, two attack nuclear submarines will encounter under the sea.
Chapter completed!