69novels Chapter 314 The Japanese New Year's Gift and the Unlucky US Military Base
Chapter 314 The Japanese New Year's Gift and the Unlucky US Military Base
Lin Yan stood above the clouds, the fierce wind whipping his robes. Gazing down at the Japanese archipelago slumbering in the night, a cold smile slowly spread across his lips, finally transforming into a clear command:
"Activate the formation!"
Xie Qingci responded immediately, and the main array plate in his hand suddenly burst forth with dazzling light. The next moment, an invisible yet powerful force spread out from the array plate, enveloping the entire four islands.
The Myriad Manifestations Gale Formation has begun to operate.
On New Year's Eve in Wakkanai and Kushiro, the northernmost part of Hokkaido, the already biting cold wind suddenly transformed into an invisible giant hammer. Typhoons of force 16 or higher, carrying ice, snow, and sea foam, ground everything in their path like a grinding wheel.
"Boom—Crack!" The Sato family's wooden house was instantly torn to pieces, and the roof planks and the stones that were pressing down on it were rolled into the night sky like pieces of paper. Old Sato was asleep when he and his house were completely swallowed up by this incomprehensible force.
In the harbor, the assembled wooden fishing boats emitted mournful cries like dying beasts, and the sound of their keels breaking echoed everywhere.
Almost simultaneously, the Sanriku coast around Aomori and Hachinohe on Honshu Island was also devastated. Storm surges several meters high easily swept over the low stone seawalls, crushing the coastal fishing villages like black walls. The small village of Hamamachi disappeared from the map within minutes.
Even more horrifying, an overturned kerosene lamp ignited the leaking fish oil, and the flames spread eerily through the raging sea, clinging to floating planks and debris, and continuing to burn on the surface. This prime fishing ground in Japan was transformed in an instant into a hellish landscape wreathed in eerie green flames.
The powerful gusts continued to sweep southward. In Ibaraki-Kashima, the nascent coastal industrial zone suffered damage, but the surrounding farmland fared even worse.
Storm surges bring seawater that floods farmland. The salty seawater not only destroys crops, but more frighteningly, it causes soil salinization—for the next few years, farmers who depend on the weather for their livelihood will struggle in despair.
Facing the vast Pacific Ocean, the traditional wooden houses of Kochi, Shikoku, creak and groan under the fierce winds before collapsing like dominoes. Severed utility poles and uprooted ancient trees block narrow country roads, utterly cutting off people's livelihoods.
In Nagasaki and Kagoshima in Kyushu, the situation was quite different. The mountainous terrain meant that coastal towns were built on narrow plains, and they were now suffering a double blow from both the sea and the mountains. The raging storms not only brought storm surges but also triggered massive flash floods and mudslides in the mountains. Muddy mudslides roared down the slopes, easily destroying houses at the foot of the mountains. Nagasaki's old Meiji-era brick warehouses also collapsed under the relentless onslaught of the storms.
In this man-made natural disaster, the fate of ordinary people is like duckweed adrift in a storm.
In the night sky over Hokkaido, a mother tightly hugs her baby. The next second, the entire roof is blown off by a gale, and a cold downpour instantly fills the space.
On the coast of Aomori, fisherman Ono's "Hamakaze Maru" was lifted high by a giant wave and smashed through the wall of his wooden house like a wooden hammer. In his last moments, he heard the roar of his livelihood destroying his home.
Communication was almost completely cut off. Landline phones were a rarity these days, owned only in village and town offices and a few wealthy households. Most of the coastal areas became islands in darkness, and the cries for help from survivors were completely drowned out by the roar of the wind and waves.
Lin Yan's divine sense, like a large net, first covered the Yokosuka base on the shore of Tokyo Bay—a "steel fortress" that the U.S. Seventh Fleet had been operating for many years.
The persistent gale-force winds of level 16 or higher found the perfect target. Destroyers and frigates anchored in the harbor, symbols of American power, were violently torn from their anchorages by the giant waves, colliding and capsizing like drunkards out of control in the harbor.
A shrill, metallic whistling sound tore through the air as a heavy crane, tens of meters tall, crashed like a broken toothpick onto a nearby supply ship, triggering a violent explosion. Lieutenant Jason in the control tower watched in despair as sections of the dock collapsed, the repair dock flooded, and the roofs of the ammunition depots were ripped off—the Seventh Fleet's home in the Western Pacific was being physically "erased" by this incomprehensible force.
His divine sense continued southward, sweeping over the Sasebo Naval Base in Nagasaki Prefecture. This important naval port, capable of accommodating nuclear submarines, found its narrow bay terrain a deadly trap under the immense power of the heavens and earth.
The raging eddies within the bay repeatedly squeezed and rammed a nuclear submarine, representing the pinnacle of American technology, against the pier, severely damaging its sophisticated sonar and hull, rendering it a "prisoner" unable to dive into the deep sea. Other escort vessels on the surface fared even worse, breaking apart and capsizing amidst collisions and being slammed against the shore.
The storm's trajectory continued, reaching Iwakuni Air Base in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Here, the air force was experiencing its doom. The runway was completely covered by seawater and debris swept in by the gale-force winds. F-4 Phantoms and P-3 Orion fighters that hadn't been evacuated were torn apart like paper by the fierce winds, aluminum wreckage scattered everywhere. But what chilled the base's leadership even more than the loss of aircraft was the strictly guarded secret—nuclear weapons had once been temporarily stored here.
Although the weapons themselves are well-protected, the complete collapse of the outer security and power systems is brewing a nuclear security crisis that could trigger a global political earthquake.
Lin Yan's divine sense coldly swept over these key military nodes, then across the devastated Japanese mainland, taking in the civilian tragedies and the destruction of military bases. He hovered silently in the clouds, his face devoid of any pity, only coldness.
"I hope you like this New Year's Eve gift."
Lin Yan turned his head and glanced at Lin Yi and the other two behind him, raising an eyebrow with a hint of mockery: "How about it? The spectacle wasn't any worse than the fireworks display last time, was it?"
Before Lin Yi could answer with a wry smile, Xie Qingci stepped forward and bowed deeply to his young master: "Young master, we cultivators must ultimately consider karma. This 'Myriad Manifestations Gale Formation'... how about we adjust it to activate only once a month? Blowing like this every day causes too many deaths and injuries. When you face your Nascent Soul Tribulation in the future, I'm afraid the Heavenly Dao won't let you off easily."
Seeing Lin Yan's displeased expression, he quickly added, "Actually, those two outer formations—the 'Vortex Dragon-Trapping Formation' that disrupts the ocean currents and the 'Boundless Illusionary Sea Formation' that obscures the shipping route—are already enough to cut off their supply transport. I dare to pledge that for the next year, not even a small boat, let alone a cargo ship, will be able to dock!"
Lin Yan rolled his eyes and reluctantly clicked his tongue, "Fine, fine, what can I do when I have such a good conscience!" He chuckled to himself, then waved his sleeve, "We'll change it as you say! It'll save you all from constantly spouting that 'karma is inescapable' nonsense..."
Xie Qingci bowed and accepted the order with a sigh of relief. Lin Gang whispered to Lin Yi, "Well, the young master's old habit has struck again—he has to say something sarcastic every time he finishes something big."