(Continuing to burn, feeling like I'm sleepwalking)
"On our aircraft carrier, if anyone falls overboard or is suspected of falling overboard, an alarm is immediately sounded. After the alarm, everyone must gather and stand in their cabins, waiting for officers to take a headcount. This process takes a long time, about twenty to thirty minutes."
"Our work is already very tiring, and many people may not have slept for a whole day. Just as they lie down to sleep, they are woken up by such an alarm."
"So some soldiers would play a prank on the entire carrier by jumping off the carrier, or throwing a life buoy with a smoke generator into the sea. After throwing it, they would quietly return to their cabins, waiting for everyone on the carrier to be woken up by the alarm, and they would secretly laugh, feeling a perverse pleasure."
"That's truly perverse," Cen Yemeng frowned as he listened.
"The sea winds and waves around Saluxing are very strong, and it's especially treacherous when there are strong winds and big waves," Cen Zi said. "Once, in the middle of the night, there was a sudden heavy rain and strong winds. Many mechanics went to the deck to secure some aircraft, to prevent them from being blown into the sea. However, some mechanics went up and didn't come down for a long time, and we couldn't contact them via the intercom. At that time, I had already been promoted to team leader for the mechanics, so I left my cabin and went to the deck."
"Once I got up there, the wind and rain were extremely fierce, making it almost impossible to stand. I held onto things around me and moved forward slowly, looking for those mechanics. The first one I found was a white male mechanic. He was clinging to the steel cable securing an aircraft, like a koala, too scared to move. I told him to hold onto me, and I would take him back to his cabin. He shook his head wildly, terrified, and refused to let go of the steel cable. I told him that this rain would last for several hours, and if he stayed there like that, he would soon get cold and tired and be blown away. He still didn't dare to move."
"There was nothing I could do, so I went to find other mechanics. I found a black female mechanic, and she was also clinging tightly to the steel cable. But when I asked her to hold onto me to go down, she hesitated for a few seconds before reaching out and grabbing me. I asked her if she could go and get a male mechanic, and she readily agreed. As a result, when we turned back to look for that white male mechanic, he had already disappeared."
"Gone back?" Cen Yemeng asked.
"No, after we returned to our cabins and took a headcount, that male mechanic didn't come back. Then our ship sounded the alarm, and helicopters were dispatched to search. It was midnight, and the sea was as black as ink. Moreover, the wind was strong and the waves were rough, so we couldn't see anything. Even thermal imaging couldn't detect anything. The helicopter went out for about ten minutes and then returned," Cen Zi said. "That night, our aircraft carrier lost two people, and that mechanic was one of them. We filled out the forms for these two missing people as 'missing,' but everyone knew that they must have drowned after falling into the sea. The nearest land was five hundred kilometers away, and people couldn't swim that far. There were also shark schools nearby, so maybe they were fed to the sharks."
"Jiang Yexing also has very strong winds and waves. A few years ago, we had a small warship, about five thousand tons, that encountered a hurricane and heavy rain. As a result, the entire hull deformed. The cabin doors, made of high-strength alloy over ten centimeters thick, were also deformed by the waves, and water rushed into the ship like a high-pressure water gun," Cen Yemeng nodded. "Some of nature's weather phenomena are truly powerful, with nuclear-level energy. How was the accommodation and food on your aircraft carrier?"
"The accommodation space was very small. My bedroom was about the size of a small toilet, and I could walk from one end to the other in a few steps. Moreover, the weapon bay was directly below the bedroom, where all sorts of bombs, crude oil, and batteries were stored. When fighting or during exercises, lying in bed, I could hear the hysterical shouts from below, from soldiers moving bombs, and the sounds of bombs going 'dong dong.' Above the bedroom were oil pipelines and high-voltage power lines, which were also quite dangerous. Whether it was above or below, if there was even a slight problem, my bedroom would turn into my iron coffin."
"Did any similar problems occur on your aircraft carrier?" Cen Yemeng asked.
"Not during the years I served. There was one incident after I left that aircraft carrier, which was actually caused by war. The Zerg broke through our air defense system and hit the aircraft carrier with a bunker-buster bomb, penetrating the deck and two compartments, and severing the oil pipelines."
"Then the oil gushed out, and several soldiers who were sleeping in their cabins were drowned in the oil. Fortunately, the aircraft carrier had an anti-penetration layer at the time, otherwise, that bunker-buster bomb might have landed in the lowest weapon room, and if it had detonated, more than half of the aircraft carrier would have been blown to pieces," Cen Zi's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Judging by its trajectory, that bunker-buster bomb from the Zerg was aimed directly at the weapon room, with extreme precision. It passed through the atmosphere from orbit and hit the aircraft carrier with an error of only a few centimeters."
"Do the Zerg know the structure of your aircraft carrier?" Cen Yemeng asked.
"It seems they do. In our wars over the past decade, similar incidents have occurred frequently. Because if the Zerg launch very large weapons, we can basically intercept them. However, if the Zerg launch very small weapons, our interception rate drops sharply. For example, that bunker-buster bomb I just mentioned was only the size of a thermos."
"So many times, the Zerg have launched a very inconspicuous small weapon, but it directly targets our vital points with very little error, with a range of tens of thousands of kilometers and an error of only half a meter," Cen Zi's expression was worried. "I don't know how the Zerg know the precise location of our vital points. I've always suspected that someone was secretly selling intelligence to the Zerg, but several large-scale investigations haven't found anything."
"When you first started as a mechanic on the aircraft carrier, mechanics were technical soldiers, right? Could technical soldiers become officers there?" Cen Yemeng asked. "Our soldiers have two paths: one is to engage in technical work, and the other is to become officers. The two training lines are separate."
"It's the same for us, but we can change our roles through examinations. Some people get bored of being technical soldiers and go to take exams to become officers. Some people can't get promoted as officers, so they switch to being technical soldiers. If they do well technically, it's also very lucrative. Many technical experts have higher salaries than our aircraft carrier captains," Cen Zi said. "By the end of my time as a technical soldier on the aircraft carrier, my salary was 90% of the captain's. Many junior officers didn't earn as much as me. But working in technical roles was really too tiring. Several times I worked for 48 hours straight, so I went to take the officer's exam."
"The officer's exam must be very strict, right? It can't be like the recruit camp where they just screen for illiteracy," Cen Yemeng asked.
"Of course, it's very strict. It requires four exams: first, a written test and an interview. If the scores meet the standard, you qualify for military academy. Then you leave your current post and attend military academy for three years. After graduation, there's another exam, also a written test and an interview. Only if the scores meet the standard can you be assigned as an officer; otherwise, you have to repeat the course," Cen Zi's expression became proud. "I completed the three-year military academy curriculum in just one year. I'm considered a very good student."