Chapter 198: Typhoon (Two-in-One)

Leaving Ny-Alesund, Sun Cheng identified the direction slightly, then flew straight toward a port in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia—Severodvinsk!

Speeding all the way, he did not descend from the high altitude of over 20,000 meters until he was less than a hundred kilometers from Severodvinsk, switching to infiltrate Severodvinsk from beneath the sea surface.

Unlike dealing with China, Sun Cheng did not have a shred of affection for Russia, this northern evil neighbor that had occupied millions of square kilometers of Chinese territory since modern times.

Therefore, although he had decided on a plan to contact Russia and even support it in a vicious struggle against the United States, he was not prepared to make a polite entrance for his first meeting with the Polar Bear; instead, he intended to create a big news story.

After some thought, Sun Cheng soon cast his gaze toward the distant northern port of Russia—Severodvinsk.

In the world of 【Transformers】, the Soviet Union had already disintegrated long ago.

But as the primary successor to the former Soviet legacy, Russia had obtained a massive amount of high-quality heritage, and Severodvinsk, this coastal port on the Arctic Ocean, was undoubtedly one of the highest-quality legacies among them; although this port city had a population of less than 300,000, it possessed the largest military shipyard in Russia and even all of Europe—the Northern Machine-Building Enterprise!

Sun Cheng really could not look favorably upon that old surface fleet of Russia!

Among the entire Russian surface fleet, only those few 'Kirov-class cruisers' with a full-load displacement exceeding 25,000 tons and carrying over 400 missiles could make one slightly feel the terror of the former Red giant!

However, Sun Cheng's target this time was not those few 'Kirov' ships of the Polar Bear; he cast his covetous gaze toward the Severodvinsk Shipyard under the 'Northern Machine-Building Enterprise'. Inside this secret factory, which the former Soviet Union used specifically for building nuclear submarines and which is also the world's largest submarine shipyard today, there was a good thing that made him drool—the "Typhoon-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine".

The "Typhoon-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine" is the fourth-generation nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine currently equipped by the Russian Navy.

Like the "Kirov-class cruiser", the "Typhoon-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine" was also the pinnacle of the former Soviet Union's strategic nuclear forces during the Cold War; its birth was solely to counter and surpass the United States' "Ohio-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine". This class of submarine can carry twenty P-39 (NATO codename: SS-N-20) ballistic missiles, each of which can carry ten nuclear warheads; a single vessel could directly send a medium-sized country back to the Stone Age.

During the former Soviet era, a total of 10 Typhoon-class submarines were planned to be built, but because the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991 AD in this world, only 7 Typhoon-class submarines were built before the Soviet collapse, of which 6 were completed and commissioned before the collapse, and 1 was dismantled before it was completed.

However, due to the high maintenance costs and the fact that Russia experienced a long period of economic hardship after the Soviet collapse, it was forced to retire and dismantle three, leaving only three to continue in service.

Sun Cheng's target was precisely the two Russian "Typhoon-class ballistic missile nuclear submarines" currently in service that had been staying at the Severodvinsk Shipyard under the name of 'maintenance' since the beginning of this year, and were actually in a semi-retired state.

Time has stepped into 2007 AD now, and Russia's economy and national strength, under the leadership of a strong president, have already entered the fast lane of recovery.

However, the increase in military spending still failed to usher in the spring for the 'Typhoon-class'.

As a deep-sea monster born to surpass the United States' "Ohio-class nuclear-powered strategic submarine", the Typhoon's displacement and beam are almost twice that of the Ohio, yet it has a smaller payload than the Ohio.

The first 8 Ohio-class submarines equipped by the US Navy carry 24 Trident-I (C4) missiles; the 9th-18th submarines carry 24 Trident-II missiles.

But the Typhoon-class can only carry 20 P-39 (NATO codename: SS-N-20) missiles.

Moreover, because the former Soviet Union's solid-fuel ballistic missile technology was not as mature as that of the United States, there were still many gaps between the P-39 missiles and the Trident missiles.

Coupled with the terrifying size that makes it easier to be detected, and the maintenance pressure it brings, this huge but not advanced nuclear submarine was therefore shunned by Russia.

With the birth of the "Borei-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine", by the end of 2005 AD, among the three Typhoon-class submarines in active service in Russia, the Arkhangelsk and the Severstal were listed as reserves to save ballistic missiles for the "Dmitry Donskoy", and from then on began to be docked for a long time in the Northern Fleet's naval port.

It was not until the beginning of this year, with the arrival of a transfer order, that the Arkhangelsk and the Severstal were finally sent to the Severodvinsk Shipyard, waiting at any time for orders from above to be retired and dismantled.

Russia's Northern Fleet is stationed in Severodvinsk, which is why Sun Cheng went to some trouble to approach the port by lurking from the sea.

It was already past three in the afternoon; it was an overcast day in Severodvinsk, and because the Sun could not be seen in the sky, it was already looking a bit dark.

The naval port of Severodvinsk in October was also covered in white; although it was only October, it must have just snowed here, and the temperature was clearly below minus twenty degrees.

At the end of October, cities within the Arctic Circle are basically this cold.

Bypassing the Russian Army's cordon, Sun Cheng quietly entered the naval port area of Severodvinsk Port and climbed ashore silently.

His body was stained with a lot of seawater, which quickly froze into ice after he went ashore.

Sun Cheng stopped, shook the thin ice off his body, looked into the distance at the dimly lit naval port, and could not help but feel excited.

When designing the Typhoon, its designers left enough space to facilitate future modernization, so the Typhoon actually still had potential for upgrades.

The Russian military had once considered upgrading the Typhoon; in 2003 AD, there were news reports that the Severodvinsk Shipyard had offered a quote of 48.5 billion rubles (approximately equivalent to 1.5 billion US dollars), after which the Typhoon-class was completely abandoned.

After all, the cost of a brand-new Borei-class was only 26 billion rubles; for Russia, having the money to upgrade one Typhoon was not as appropriate as rebuilding two new Borei-class submarines.

However, although the Typhoon-class is undoubtedly a heavy burden for Russia now.

But Sun Cheng did not have these burdens; if the huge size of the Typhoon-class were modified by the Decepticon Workers, it could definitely create the most terrifying deep-sea monster.

Using it as his own underwater mobile Base, there could be no better platform than this.

Because it was not yet completely dark, Sun Cheng patiently found a hidden place in the naval port to hide for a while, and only after it was completely dark did he walk out from his hiding place.

Not a single figure could be seen in the Severodvinsk naval port at night, and even the Severodvinsk Shipyard not far away had fallen into a silence, with only a few lights faintly visible.

On this bitterly cold night, not even patrolling soldiers could be seen in the naval port.

However, this also made things convenient for Sun Cheng.

Successively releasing several sets of Micro-reconnaissance Drones, as these industrious insects transmitted a continuous stream of reconnaissance data back to his Core, he quickly grasped the situation in the entire naval port.

The Severodvinsk Shipyard, which Sun Cheng focused on investigating, was located within the naval port and occupied more than half of the port's area. This shipyard, established in the 1950s, had successively produced G-class ballistic missile nuclear submarines, Victor-class series attack nuclear submarines, Akula-class attack nuclear submarines, Typhoon-class ballistic missile nuclear submarines, and Oscar-class cruise missile nuclear submarines, and could be called the heart of Russia's underwater power.

Currently, this shipyard is building Russia's new generation of attack nuclear submarines, the Severodvinsk-class, and the new generation of ballistic missile submarines, the Borei-class, while also manufacturing a Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine and improving the Kiev-class Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier for India.

The two Typhoon-class submarines waiting for retirement, the Arkhangelsk and the Severstal, were also docked in the shipyard.

However, what made him feel a bit ashamed was that the Russians' security was actually much more lax than he had imagined.

Although the defenses around the naval port were strict, it was a typical case of being tight on the outside and loose on the inside, and there were only a small number of security personnel in the shipyard.

After grasping the docking pier of the two Typhoon-class submarines, Sun Cheng headed straight for them.

Soon, the two super submarines covered in ice and snow were docked quietly at Pier 3, one on each side of the pier, their conning towers standing high like two steel castles.

"You arrived in a wrong country at a wrong time!"

Standing quietly on the pier, Sun Cheng silently looked at these two highest achievements of the former Soviet military industry for a while, his heart filled with emotions.

This behemoth, whether it was the China in the 【Transformers】 world or his motherland in the real world, could afford to keep it but did not have the technology to build it.

Yet the country that had the ability to build it did not have the ability to support this behemoth.

This has to be said to be an irony.

Jumping down from the pier and landing on the hull of the Arkhangelsk, Sun Cheng strolled for a while before coming to the conning tower of the submarine and reaching out to touch it quietly.

This is an old veteran waiting to be retired and dismantled, but its body still hides a terrifying power that could subvert the world.

This is exactly what he needs!

Immediately, he jumped onto the conning tower in a few quick steps.

Although the hatch was tightly closed, this could not stump him at all.

Soon, the hatch at the top of the submarine was opened.

Fortunately, the top hatch of the Typhoon was very wide; although it might take a bit of effort for him, he could barely squeeze inside.

Without delay, Sun Cheng immediately controlled his chassis and carefully squeezed into the Arkhangelsk.

Although the Typhoon-class is inferior to the Ohio-class in terms of performance, it has a massive displacement of over 24,000 tons after all, and the interior of the Arkhangelsk was much more spacious than Sun Cheng had imagined.

The Navy had perhaps already received news that the Arkhangelsk was about to be decommissioned, as the sailors on the submarine had clearly been evacuated to other submarines.

This point could be confirmed by the thick layer of dust Sun Cheng saw everywhere as he walked through the command room, engine room, sailors' quarters, and other areas.

Inside the submarine, although he could not move freely in most places due to his size, Sun Cheng still used a Micro-reconnaissance Drone to tour the interior of the submarine in his stead.

After a full tour, Sun Cheng, who was entering a submarine for the first time—and a ballistic missile nuclear submarine at that—had his eyes opened.

However, he finally remembered that he hadn't come here just for sightseeing.

After violently breaking open the door to a lounge and entering, Sun Cheng felt a stir in his heart and summoned the squad of Decepticon Workers that had originally been staying at Base No. 1 from the Spherical Space.

He stepped forward and performed an Awakening on these Workers one by one; the Workers' consciousnesses were clearly dazed for a moment before they recovered.

It seemed that the last time he had suddenly seized control of them and forced them into a deep sleep had frightened these timid Workers.

After waking up, this squad of Decepticon Workers all looked at Sun Cheng with fear in their eyes, and not a single one dared to speak casually.

Just as Sun Cheng was becoming a bit impatient and was about to issue orders, one Worker walked out from the ranks, came before him obsequiously, and asked, "Master, is there anything I can do for you..."

Sun Cheng looked the Worker over twice, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"I remember you. From now on, you shall be called 'Hephaestus'. You will manage this entire squad of Workers..."

The Worker who dared to step out and fawn over him was the very one who had been the first to pledge loyalty to him back at the base he had raided.

Sun Cheng did not dislike flattery, even if the other party was just a Decepticon Worker.

In fact, he had been in this world for quite some time now.

Because he had been dealing with these Mechanical Life forms from the planet Cybertron all along, he had become completely accustomed to the Decepticon way of survival, and he no longer viewed these Mechanical Life forms merely as machines.

Even when he returned to reality several times, he would experience a strong sense of unreality, and he would often feel a contradictory sense that his own body was inferior to the chassis of a Mechanical Life form.

The slight distracting thoughts in his heart quickly vanished amidst the ecstatic voice of Hephaestus.

"Thank you for the name, Master! Hephaestus will serve you with all his heart!"

Sun Cheng's sudden bestowal of a name immediately caused an uproar among the squad of Decepticon Workers.

Sweeping his gaze across them with an impatient look, Sun Cheng coldly ordered: "Go, Hephaestus. Take these Workers and immediately explore this human submarine. I will only give you one hour to come up with a complete plan to modify it for me!"

"Master, it won't take that long at all! We can finish very quickly!"

Hephaestus hurriedly agreed, then turned around, looked at the envious and hostile Decepticon Workers with his head held high, and commanded loudly: "Did you all hear clearly? Why aren't you working yet!"

He certainly knew how to throw his weight around!

However, Sun Cheng only glanced indifferently at the smug Hephaestus and nodded slightly, "Very well, come see me in half an hour. I want a complete modification plan!"

PS:

A two-in-one long chapter; there should be another chapter in a while.