Let Me Have a Good Laugh

Not far from the Iron Fist Regiment's base, inside a Blue Army camp, two men sat facing each other in a tent. They were none other than Regiment Commander Kang Lei, nicknamed Master Kang, and Fan Tian Lei.

However, Master Kang was currently holding a small cup of liquor, sipping away, with peanuts brought over by Fan Tian Lei on the table.

"What? My old brother, you're not worried at all?" Fan Tian Lei asked with a smile.

"Worried about what? Worried that my regiment will be wiped out by you in one stroke? Don't be ridiculous. I'd advise you to be careful instead—careful you don't get taken out by a bunch of ordinary soldiers under my command." Master Kang narrowed his eyes and took a sip of liquor with an ambiguous smile.

He was "dead" anyway, so drinking was no big deal. Fan Tian Lei, on the other hand, could not do the same.

Just as Fan Tian Lei was about to reply, a burst of commotion suddenly came from outside, followed by what sounded like a disturbance. They were in a tent beside a battalion command post, so the noise naturally came from the command post next door.

Fan Tian Lei frowned and immediately said, "Go take a look. What's going on?"

"Yes!" Chen Shan Ming immediately turned and walked out.

Less than a minute later, Chen Shan Ming returned and whispered something into Fan Tian Lei's ear.

"What did you say?!" Fan Tian Lei froze.

Without waiting for Chen Shan Ming to repeat himself, Fan Tian Lei stood up. "Come on, let's go take a look."

"You don't mind if I come along, do you? I'm a dead man now anyway." Master Kang also stood up.

Fan Tian Lei naturally did not mind something like this. Smiling, he said, "If my old brother wants to go, then of course I have no objections."

Just as Master Kang had said, he was a "dead man" now anyway, so there was nothing wrong with him tagging along.

Chen Shan Ming opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.

The three quickly left the tent and entered the command tent next door. The moment they stepped inside, they saw a crude GIF animation wriggling continuously across the computer screen.

The instant Master Kang saw the obvious emblem in the animation, he could no longer hold it in.

"Hahaha..."

Master Kang did not hold back. He had been feeling rather stifled after getting captured, but when he saw the cartoon image on the computer screen of the Iron Fist Regiment beating up the Special Operations Brigade, the sheer absurdity of it instantly delighted him.

Fan Tian Lei's face, meanwhile, went completely dark.

"What is going on?" Fan Tian Lei asked darkly.

"Reporting to the Chief of Staff, we don't know the cause yet, but this should be an attack from the Red Army. It looks somewhat like a computer virus," a Communication Soldier in the command post replied, somewhat troubled.

"A computer virus?! Isn't this a military system?" Fan Tian Lei was completely dumbfounded.

"Yes, this is a military system, but strictly speaking, it's still a computer. This is a bit like Cyber Warfare—or rather, it's also a form of Information Warfare. They're trying to paralyze our command system," the Communication Soldier quickly explained.

Fan Tian Lei was stunned. As the Chief of Staff of the Special Forces, of course he knew what Cyber Warfare and Information Warfare were. Or rather, everyone in the Special Forces knew. But in the past, they had overlooked this—or, more precisely, they had taken things for granted. They had simply never experienced anything like it.

It was not that they had never experienced Information Warfare or Cyber Warfare. They frequently conducted confrontations involving both, and they were key areas of military development.

But what had the Information Warfare and Cyber Warfare they experienced before been like?

They had involved directly using the military's large-scale information interference and electromagnetic suppression weapons to disrupt the enemy's communications system, destroy it, and cut off enemy communications.

This was often encountered in domestic military exercises—the so-called information suppression. Powerful information-jamming equipment would directly interfere with all radio communications, satellite signals, and the like around you, turning your troops blind and deaf.

But they had truly never encountered—or rather, never played with—an approach like directly infiltrating a military system!

For one thing, military systems were not that easy to infiltrate. For another, relatively speaking, the Information Warfare and communications soldiers in the military did not actually have an advantage in cutting-edge intrusion techniques and hacking skills. Or rather, there were very few such talents.

After all, such people were scarce throughout society, and the vast majority would go to university before entering major internet companies, security firms, and the like.

Even if some exceptional talents joined the military, they would not enter field units. They would immediately be recruited by more secretive special intelligence departments, because the data in those departments was more important.

It was not that military systems were unimportant, but under the current circumstances, domestic military systems were developed independently and operated in a relatively peaceful environment. They faced far less conflict than special intelligence departments dealing with foreign affairs.

Therefore, compared to these ordinary Communication Soldiers, they had never experienced truly cutting-edge hacking capabilities.

In fact, not just them—even across the whole world, there were not many truly elite hackers at present. Every one of them was a talent among talents!

Having suddenly encountered such an attack, it was not just Fan Tian Lei who was dumbfounded. Even all the Blue Army's Communication Soldiers were somewhat stunned, because nothing like this had ever happened before!

"What about the radio?" Fan Tian Lei immediately seized on the key issue.

"The radio signals are normal, and telephones can still maintain communication with other units. But our tactical command systems, including drones, satellites, and other systems, cannot be connected or used for the time being. We are requesting assistance from Blue Army Command to fully eliminate the virus," the battalion command immediately reported.

"Haha, not bad, not bad. Looks like those boys did a good job." Master Kang was absolutely delighted. Although his understanding of these matters was limited, one look at that cartoon image told him this had to be the work of the Iron Fist Regiment!

As he looked at the image now, why did he like it more and more? Why did it make him happier and happier?

"Continue directing the battle as normal." Fan Tian Lei nodded immediately and took a deep breath.

Although radio communications remained open and had not been cut off, would this affect the Blue Army as a whole?!

Of course it would! Modern military operations simply could not function without information support. This was no longer a war that could be sustained by radio alone. Battlefield data-link sharing, satellite communications, global positioning systems, drone data transmission and control—all of them depended almost entirely on efficient modern information-network transmission!

Radio alone simply could not keep things running.

"Yes!" The personnel in the command post immediately resumed work at full speed. Orders for the attack could not be delayed for even a moment.

However, just as Fan Tian Lei rolled his eyes and was about to say something to Master Kang, the radio communications at the battalion headquarters rang.

Someone immediately answered it. A few seconds later, the person in charge of the battalion headquarters said to Fan Tian Lei, "Chief of Staff, it's a call from Blue Army Command."

Fan Tian Lei paused. He had not expected Blue Army Command to call him directly. This did not match the previous arrangements at all.