Eagle Sauce: The 055 destroyer was launched into the sea just after the founding of the country?

Petrov felt a wave of fear come over him.

Upon hearing this, Captain Vasily sneered disdainfully, his eyebrows twisted into a ball on his weathered face.

"So... Dragon Country is lagging behind? That's a joke!"

He adjusted his frozen gloves and continued.

"In fact, you don't even need to discern these lies to know for sure."

"If Dragon Country was truly lagging behind, the combined forces of Russia and the Eagles would have already appeared in Dragon Country's capital."

He took a deep breath of the biting cold air, and the white mist he exhaled condensed into ice crystals in front of him.

"Instead of patrolling in this barren land in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees below zero like we are doing now!"

Petrov felt that the captain's words had hurt his pride.

In the training camp, the political instructors assured them that Longguo was a backward agricultural country with poor people, primitive technology and poorly equipped military.

And they - the great Russian people - have the most advanced weapons and equipment and the most powerful army in the world.

Vasily pointed to the mountains shrouded in mist in the distance, his voice slightly hoarse from the cold.

"Look at this awful weather. Dragon Country can easily see everything along the border using drones, while we're still trudging along on foot."

"Who is lagging behind? Think about it yourself!"

Petrov fell silent.

He struggled through the knee-deep snow, each step a struggle against gravity.

The heavy military boots had long been soaked with snow water, and the biting cold crept up the calves, as if countless fine needles were pricking them.

In contrast, the Dragon Country drone flew lightly across the sky like an elegant bird of prey, effortlessly overlooking their every move.

“I…I don’t understand.”

Petrov hesitated and said, "If they are really so advanced, then why do we still need to-"

“Why do we still say in our propaganda that they are backward?”

Vasily interrupted him with a complicated expression on his face, half mocking and half helpless.

"Because admitting the truth doesn't benefit anyone."

“Think about what would happen if the Kremlin announced that China had surpassed us in some military technology.”

Petrov was speechless.

He imagined the confident military parades on Moscow's Red Square, the passionate speeches of Politburo members at the May Day celebrations, and the firm faith of citizens across the country in their great motherland.

If the people knew the truth...

"I saw another of their weapons firsthand while serving in the Far East,"

Vasily continued, his voice low, as if afraid that the wind in the wilderness would carry his words away.

"A fighter jet that can turn invisible. Just last summer, three of our most advanced MiG fighters were shot down by it over the Far East. Only one pilot survived, but he returned mentally broken."

"How is that possible?" Petrov gasped. "Our MiGs are... world-class..."

"I heard that the cross-section of that Dragon fighter jet displayed on radar is smaller than that of a bird, and it can maneuver at supersonic speeds, making it easy to dodge missiles."

There was an unnatural calm in Vasily's voice.

"My cousin is in the Air Force. He said the military held an emergency meeting and all information was classified as top secret."

Petrov felt dizzy, but not entirely from the thin air of the plateau.

His worldview seemed to be collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

If the political instructor told lies, then how many other "facts" are also lies?

"Don't be so shocked, young man,"

Vasily patted Petrov on the shoulder.

"The truth is often much more complicated than propaganda. The Dragon people are indeed far behind us in some aspects."

"But in other areas, particularly military technology, they have made great strides."

“But why? How did they do it?”

There was a hint of confusion and reluctance in Petrov's voice.

Vasily stopped, wiped the frost from his beard, and his eyes became deep.

"I heard they have a special scientist who can foresee the future direction of technological development."

"In just a few years, he led Longguo to achieve a number of technological breakthroughs."

“Foreseeing the future? Isn’t that science fiction?”

Petrov was skeptical.

"Who knows," Vasily shrugged, "but the fact is that two years ago, Longguo suddenly displayed a series of advanced weapon systems."

"Not only are there drones that can operate normally in extremely cold conditions, but there are also stealth fighters, advanced missile systems, and even some kind of revolutionary energy breakthrough."

He paused, his voice suddenly becoming deeper.

"What scares the Kremlin and the Pentagon the most is that China successfully tested a special weapon in the Gobi Desert in western China last year, which is more powerful than our most advanced mushroom bomb."

Petrov opened his eyes wide in horror, his hot blood solidified in his veins, colder than the surrounding wind.

"This is impossible! How could our intelligence services miss such important information?"

"They didn't miss it," Vasily laughed dumbly. "It was precisely because of this intelligence that Moscow and Washington decided to join forces to deal with the Dragon Kingdom."

"But the problem is that they underestimated the determination and capabilities of the Dragon Kingdom."

He pointed to the mountains looming in the distance.

"Out there, they're building a whole new social and military system, and here we are, freezing like dogs, pretending we own the world."

The cold wind howled, blowing up the snow on the ground and forming a miniature snowstorm around the two of them.

Petrov felt an unprecedented sense of loss.

He thought he was serving the most powerful country in the world, but now he realizes that power may just be an illusion, an elaborate lie.

“Then…what should we do?”

The young soldier muttered, his voice almost drowned by the wind.

Vasily's eyes became firm again. He straightened up and adjusted his half-frozen rifle.

“We do our job. We protect the border, we follow orders, we do our job.”

He patted Petrov on the back.

"The politicians' games have nothing to do with us."

"Come on, there are only two kilometers left to the outpost..."