The Siberian permafrost layer could reach a thickness of 1,000 to 1,500 meters. As hard as cement, it made an excellent sheltering barrier.
Semargl, the control system for the Bear Nation's nuclear strike network, was hidden several hundred meters beneath the permafrost.
For centuries, as a loyal program, it had operated silently, carrying out its duties.
Unlike Jingwei and Poseidon, Semargl possessed no independent consciousness. Its continued operation until now had mainly relied on its auxiliary repair systems and the Bear Nation military industry's tradition of being rugged and durable.
But this time was different.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles howling in from North America directly pierced through over a hundred meters of permafrost before detonating within the strata. (According to publicly available data, the GBU-57 "Massive Ordnance Penetrator" uses a high-strength nickel-cobalt steel alloy penetrator, capable of passing through 60 meters of ordinary reinforced concrete before detonating. Its penetration depth is 40 meters in hard rock, 8 meters in ultra-reinforced concrete, and up to 200 meters underground in soil. This is only publicly available data. Please be advised.)
As the weakest party in the tripartite deterrence balance, Semargl's purpose had always been to keep the other two sides from acting without restraint. At this moment, it had completely fulfilled its mission.
The servers loaded with vast amounts of data were instantly vaporized by the extreme heat of the nuclear blast, while the remaining backup servers suffered the same fate.
At the same time, after Semargl disappeared, the firewall it had established vanished as well. Jingwei easily infiltrated the sole remaining military satellite and connected to the few dozen surviving RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Semargl, which had lingered on in the Siberian wilderness for centuries, was completely wiped from existence.
The people living across this vast land merely wondered why Rebirth