Chapter Sixty-Four: International News—Another Hidden Danger at M Army Base Arsenal

"Hey Jack, did you hear the storm warning?"
"Hah, if I hadn't, I'd be in the patrol prep room by now."
Johnny the Black Bear and his friend Jack were both members of the HSD.
They were assigned to the same squad and shared a dormitory.
Tonight was supposed to be their turn for the night patrol—though it only came around once a month, it meant their sleep would be cut short.
But today, the base suddenly issued a storm warning.
That was a stroke of luck; they could head straight to the soldier's dormitory and sleep soundly.
Of course, not every soldier was pleased with the unexpected storm.
Although the Kadena base authorities had long ago mandated that American soldiers could not leave the base between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., it was still not yet ten o'clock. Many soldiers, forced to return early by the order, wore disgruntled expressions.
Across the road from the US Kadena base in Okinawa was a cluster of commercial buildings.
Not some desolate military exclusion zone, not a place under martial law, but a genuine complex for leisure and entertainment.
Shopping malls, restaurants, gyms, bars—everything one could want.
Since most visitors were Americans, the locals jokingly called it "American Village."
Soldiers from the base, outside of daily training, often went there to unwind.
Many soldiers even found partners there and rented homes nearby.
So, these US bases in Japan were far from being grand and mysterious.
...
As the American soldiers out in town trickled back to their dorms and officers' quarters,
the winds from the sea were already making themselves felt inside the base.
In the naval port outside the base, all the navy ships had been checked and secured, and personnel had largely evacuated.
Soon, the storm arrived.
This storm was fiercer and faster than any before.
The wind battered the base gates and movable partition panels, making them rattle and thud.
A few metal cans, carried by the wind from who knows where, smashed into a floodlight,
sending a sharp, shattering sound into the night.
The rain clouds hung low and dark.
Visibility was at its lowest, with only a few scattered lights shining from the buildings.
The storm, mixed with rain, swept across the base in inky sheets.
In the monitoring center, staff watched the nearly blind surveillance feeds and wished they could sneak off for a break.
Thunder rolled closer and closer.
A crack.
A sharp bang.
Lightning struck another floodlight on the base, while a lightning rod just a few dozen meters away stood useless.

Even in the well-insulated soldier and officer dorms,
the Americans inside could still hear the sounds from outside.
Some pressed against the windows, watching the storm rage,
wondering which window had just been smashed.
...
High above, with keen vision and senses, Wu You shared sight with Ao Guang, gazing down at the American base below.
Almost time.
Ao Guang let out a soft dragon's roar, echoing with the thunder.
Multiple bolts of lightning struck the remaining floodlights and exposed equipment lines on the base.
Ao Guang then swooped down.
Relying on his sense of smell, he quickly pinpointed the warehouse storing arms.
...
The Azure Dragon's body was hidden within a massive tornado.
With thunderous crashes, the tail swept open the roofs of two warehouses among a row of buildings.
Everyone on the base felt the tremors.
...
In the monitoring center:
"Damn it, check the surveillance! Where's the problem?"
"Oh no, it's the armory—God, there are still airborne munitions stored there!"
With the roof torn off, the indoor footage grew blurry. White flashes reflected against the sparkling raindrops, courtesy of lightning nearby.
"Fuck! What's wrong with the base's lightning protection?"
"Notify personnel in surrounding buildings to evacuate to the underground shelters!"
...
Inside the soldier dorms.
"Beep, beep, beep..."
"All personnel evacuate immediately, all personnel evacuate immediately. Proceed to the nearest building's underground shelter. This is not a drill, this is not a drill..."
"Beep, beep, beep..."
"All personnel evacuate immediately, all personnel evacuate immediately. Proceed to the nearest building's underground shelter. This is not a drill, this is not a drill..."
...
"Oh damn, Johnny, stop sleeping, evacuate now!"
Jack hurried to the bed of his burly friend, shaking him awake.
"Hmm? Jack? What's going on?"
Johnny was still a bit groggy.
Jack pulled him off the bed and tossed him his uniform.
"Get to the underground shelter. The armory next to us just had its roof ripped off by the storm."

"What? Can't we just move the munitions?"
"Idiot, it's a Level 11 storm out there! Lightning is all over the armory—do you want to wait for an explosion? Move!"
With a thunderous boom, flames shot skyward.
American soldiers running in the corridor staggered as the glass windows shattered with a crash.
Wind and rain burst into the building.
Many soldiers instinctively dropped to the ground, avoiding injury from the glass.
An officer stood and shouted,
"Hurry, hurry, get up, get to the underground shelter!"
He silently prayed there wouldn't be a second explosion.
...
Ao Guang, carrying over a dozen large crates, soared high. Wu You didn't know exactly what was inside, nor did he have time to check.
Of course, he left the missile racks untouched.
As for the small-scale explosion in the armory just now,
Wu You insisted he and Ao Guang were innocent—maybe the base's lightning protection really was faulty...
...
With the crates in tow, Ao Guang dove into the sea dozens of miles away.
A membrane formed around the crates to keep them dry.
Controlling wind was never as easy or stealthy as being underwater.
Once Ao Guang left, the storm gradually weakened, and after more than two hours,
lightning ceased, and the wind and rain became mild enough for American soldiers to go outside.
During that time, another moderate explosion rocked the armory,
collapsing several warehouse walls.
Luckily, no missile-class high-powered weapons detonated in the blast.
...
By the next evening, news and internet were abuzz with reports of another ammunition depot explosion at the US base in Japan.
All sorts of safety hazards at the base were laid bare.
Some local citizens even mocked the official American explanation about the lightning rods.
Why was the commercial district across the road untouched?
They argued that if even something as basic as lightning rods could fail so disastrously, how could anyone trust the reliability of the US-Japan security protocols?
The infamous "Lightning Rod Scandal" began circulating online.
The base's general was furious with the logistics department.