Chapter 1058 - 541: Great Xia’s Technological Supremacy

Mavina Archipelago.

More than half a century ago, this group of islands in the southern hemisphere, near the Antarctic, became the focal point of Canglan Star.

Because the Lan Shi Kingdom and Atina Kingdom fiercely fought over the ownership of the Mavina Archipelago.

In the end, Atina, being the weaker power, lost the war and consequently the Mavina Archipelago.

Then.

History entered the Age of Calamity, and interesting things happened.

Since the Mavina Archipelago is over ten thousand kilometers away from the Lan Shi Kingdom, and the kingdom’s strength significantly declined, they were unable to protect their own nation, let alone the distant Mavina Archipelago?

Thus.

In the first year of the Age of Calamity, the Lan Shi army quietly withdrew from the Mavina Archipelago.

The Atina army then enthusiastically landed on the Mavina Archipelago, and the entire nation celebrated the "recovery" of the lost territory.

Lan Shi Kingdom lost without a battle.

Atina won without a victory.

But the joy of the Atina people didn’t last long as a series of natural disasters struck, including the poisonous mosquito disaster, cold wave disaster, frost disaster, and others.

Since the Mavina Archipelago is relatively far from the mainland, about 500 kilometers away in a straight line, the people of Atina on the island struggled to obtain enough supplies, let alone secure enough safety, and were forced to retreat.

This group of islands once fiercely contested by two countries, for a considerable period of time, completely turned into a deserted island.

No sight of humans, not even a ghost shadow was visible.

Essentially, this was mainly because the Lan Shi Kingdom and Atina Kingdom lacked the strength to hold onto territories far from their homeland.

Today.

Human figures appeared again on the Mavina Archipelago.

On the west main island of the archipelago, in the waters tens of kilometers from the coastline, two heads suddenly popped out of the water.

Although global temperatures have recently plummeted, with average temperatures falling below freezing, most of the world’s seas have not frozen.

The two are a man and a woman, with physical features typical of the Atina people.

They each wore tight-fitting clothes, showcasing their strong, robust, and graceful figures respectively.

The sea water was so cold, yet they seemed unfazed, indicating they were likely superpower users.

Most astonishingly, they hovered in the water, and beneath their feet was a massive shadow, reaching an incredible length of thirty meters.

The shadow occasionally wriggled, clearly a living thing, leading to the speculation – it’s a giant sea monster.

The man suddenly asked, "Gwyneth, why have the Great Xia people suddenly taken an interest in the Mavina Archipelago?"

The woman, Gwyneth, with quite a delicate appearance, replied, "Based on the intelligence gathered by the Bioluminescent organisms, the Great Xia people predict that global temperatures will not drop again to the level of cold wave disasters.

"Although global temperatures will remain low in the future, apart from the North and South Poles, most oceans will not freeze again, eliminating the need for icebreakers in oceanic transportation.

"So the ambitious Great Xia people wish to control key global ocean transport lines, and the geographical position of the Mavina Archipelago is quite important, so naturally, the Great Xia people don’t want to miss out.

"The current Atina officials are a bunch of pathetic people kneeling before the Great Xia, eager to lick their toes. The Great Xia wants the Mavina Archipelago, so they obediently hand it over."

The implication in Gwyneth’s words is a new agreement signed between Atina and Great Xia.

According to the agreement, Great Xia obtained the "usage rights" of the Mavina Archipelago for the next 100 years at the cost of 5 billion Xia Yuan annually.

Atina is not allowed to interfere in any activities by Great Xia on the islands, only retaining nominal sovereignty.

Because from the perspective of the Atina officials, the nation is practically unable to control the Mavina Archipelago, so it’s better to hand it over to Great Xia to gain the much-needed Xia Yuan.

Given the power of the Eastern Giant Dragon, even if they forcibly took the Mavina Archipelago without compensation, Atina could only protest a few times. The fact that Great Xia is willing to pay a huge sum of 5 billion Xia Yuan annually is quite remarkable.

In Gwyneth’s view, this is no different from ceding the Mavina Archipelago, so it is undoubtedly a humiliating and treacherous agreement.

Calvin also looked grim, "The leader has given the order. When the Great Xia Navy conducts exercises, we will wield the Panpas Sea Monster Legion to deliver a heavy blow to the Great Xia people, making them a laughing stock of the world."

Gwyneth nodded heavily, with a tone filled with strong confidence, "The future of the ocean will belong to mutated sea beasts. Whoever commands these powerful mutated sea beasts will control the vast oceans. The Panpas Independent Army will surely become the ruler of the sea!"

The two gazed a while longer at the island standing in the rolling waves, then slowly submerged under the water.

*

Six hours later.

A fleet flying the flag of the Great Xia Kingdom sailed towards the Mavina Archipelago, cutting through the waves.

The fleet was not large, consisting of only two destroyers, three frigates, and a comprehensive supply ship.

Since the onset of the Age of Calamity, especially after the rampant cold wave disaster for more than a year, most of the sea surfaces were frozen, and navies of various countries were largely abandoned.

Ships were long berthed in ports, lacking proper maintenance, coupled with shortages of funds and personnel, few ships could set sail.

Only Great Xia did not encounter such a situation, keeping all vessels in good maintenance, ready to sail whenever needed.

Moreover, during the explosion of black technology, Great Xia Navy conducted a thorough overhaul of most ships.

For instance, the propulsion system.

Originally it was a "diesel-gas turbine" unit, meaning a gas turbine combined with a large diesel engine.

During low-speed cruise, only the diesel engine operated, and during medium to high speed, it switched to gas turbine drive, with both diesel engine and gas turbine engaged at maximum speed to achieve the highest speed.

Now the gas turbines and diesel engines have been removed.

They have been replaced by "hundred-ton" units of super crystal batteries and super ship electric motors, only a tenth the size of gas turbines but delivering ten times the power.

Additionally, two sets of super-efficient ship generators are equipped to charge the super crystal batteries at any time.

In simple terms, it means—extended-range propulsion.

This form of propulsion, once used in new energy vehicles, has now become the new standard for the Great Xia Navy.

Compared to fuel, electricity is much cheaper, especially now as Great Xia’s power generation technology becomes stronger and costs continually decrease, so the navy is happy to embrace it.

Whereas previously, consuming enough energy to travel ten thousand kilometers, now it suffices for a journey of one hundred thousand kilometers.

Besides the propulsion system, other systems have also undergone tremendous changes.

However, the Great Xia Navy has never disclosed this information to the outside world, so no one is aware of it.

At this moment.

The Commander of this special task fleet, General Ma Shaokang, heard the report from his subordinate.

"Report! The supernatural spectrum detection radar installed on the battleship has detected supernatural diffraction features thirty nautical miles away.

"Traditional underwater radar cannot detect their presence, which indicates that they have mastered electromagnetic concealment techniques.

"From the supernatural diffraction features, it seems to be a group of giant sea monsters, each at least twenty meters in length."

The reporting soldier’s voice was filled with evident amazement, clearly astonished by the unexpected appearance of the sea monsters.

After all, the Great Xia Navy’s submarine forces have frequented various parts of the world but have never encountered giant sea monsters before, only some smaller mutated marine creatures, which pose no threat to their warships.

General Ma remained unfazed: "Acknowledged!"

He had long known that the fleet’s exercise was merely a cover, with the real target being the sea beast legion controlled by the Panpas Independent Army.

The adjutant couldn’t help but ask, "Should we deploy drones and unmanned boats?"

General Ma smiled: "Let’s pretend they don’t exist for now."

The Commander glanced at the holographic sea map, pondered for a few seconds, and commanded: "Turn all ships to head towards ’Sala Island’ in the southwest direction!"

"Yes!"

Soon.

The massive steel beasts skillfully changed their course, heading southwest.

This exercise includes a live ammunition firing drill, and the fleet had not set a target before.

Not until just now did General Ma choose Sala Island as the target for live ammunition practice.

The Mawenna Islands have more than 300 smaller islands besides the two major ones, and Sala Island is just one of them.

Sala Island, the task fleet, and the Sea Beast Legion form an equilateral triangle.

After a few seconds.

The soldier reported again: "Report! The sea monsters have started to follow us, and their target is us."

General Ma remained calm: "Continue forward!"

He watched the big screen, as his mind recalled the "Technological Supremacy Plan" outlined by the higher-ups.

This enormous plan aimed to significantly increase investment in technology to better face the challenges of the next century.

Given that Great Xia has already established a world-leading intelligent industrial system, soon factory assembly lines will need few workers, and construction sites will also require fewer, greatly reducing the demand for labor.

In light of such a situation, after discussion, Great Xia’s top levels decided to comprehensively enhance education and invest more in research and development, striving to make 10% of the domestic population researchers or engineers.

Based on Great Xia’s current population, this means a staggering 200 million researchers and engineers.

There is only one purpose for doing this—to consolidate and strengthen Great Xia’s technological supremacy.

Honestly, when General Ma first heard about this plan, he was a bit frightened, as he thought it was quite exaggerated.

Witnessing the sea beast legion actively falling into the fleet’s trap at this moment, the General suddenly felt that to ensure Great Xia’s technological dominance, it is indeed necessary to implement the Technological Supremacy Plan.

Even if it means spending money to support many researchers who may not achieve any results in their lifetime, as long as the base is large enough, some genius scientists will eventually emerge, creating ground-breaking, epoch-making achievements.

The current scenario is a perfect case in point.

A stroke of genius flashed in the mind of a young Ph.D. at the Great Xia Superpower Research Institute, which led to the birth of the supernatural spectrum scanning radar.

And these Atina people, thinking they have powerful forces, are blissfully unaware of how advanced Great Xia’s black technology is, foolishly marching right into the trap.

*

Thirty kilometers away.

A depth of nearly a hundred meters below the sea surface.

The enormous black shadows were slowly swimming forward.

They were the Sea Beast Legion controlled by the Independent Army.

Around each sea beast, the water seemed to turn into a colloid, tightly adhering to the beasts’ bodies.

On the head of each sea beast lay a superpower user from the Independent Army, with a bizarre scarlet tube extending from the back of their head, resembling a blood vessel, inserted into the sea beast’s head.

This is undoubtedly how the Independent Army controls the sea beasts.

Gwyneth and Calvin were the commander and vice-commander of this sea beast legion.

Gwyneth closed her eyes and sensed for a moment, then suddenly opened them and smiled excitedly: "It seems the Great Xia people haven’t discovered us!"

Calvin was equally excited: "The water-controlling secret technique can deal with traditional radar; Great Xia’s so-called advanced technology has become outdated. We are sure to win this battle!"

Gwyneth decisively issued an order: "Full speed ahead, attack directly when we approach the Great Xia Navy!"

Calvin shouted: "Sink the Great Xia warships, kill all the Great Xia people!"