The Liaoning sailed beneath blue skies upon a jade-green sea. As a carrier used for training, the Liaoning generally cruised coastal waters and rarely made long voyages.

On May 18, the Liaoning was ranging near the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea.

Suddenly, a great mass of meteors appeared in the sky. The meteor shower plunged into the ocean, throwing up sky-high waves — waves that battered the Liaoning no differently than they'd batter a small boat.

Just as the Liaoning seemed about to capsize in the storm and towering swells, an enormous fireball descended and struck the Liaoning square amidships. At once the whole ship seemed about to be torn apart by the fireball's tremendous impact; every plane and helicopter up on the deck fell into the sea, and the island superstructure nearly snapped off too.

For a day and a night, of the ship's 2,626 officers and men and 12 carrier-force leaders who'd come to inspect, setting aside the 124 missing and killed, the remaining 2,514 all stayed below deck, steering the shattered Liaoning to withstand the storm and the towering swells.

They'd thought that once they weathered this wave of storm, it would subside — but the storm never stopped for an instant.

Though the meteors gradually grew sparse, great waves still came surging one after another, rocking the Liaoning, trying to tear open the ship's fractured section. The planes and weapons inside the hangar were churned into a heap, and several explosions occurred.

It was at this point that strange changes began, one after another, among the ship's whole complement.

Some officers and men suddenly found they'd formed a mysterious, unfathomable connection with the planes, helicopters, and ground-crew vehicles they usually operated. Others — the logistics and maintenance personnel — formed a mysterious, unfathomable connection with the carrier equipment they usually serviced. They had all become iron people.

Though they couldn't grasp the reason for this change, under the staff department's coordinated study, it was first decided to have this batch of roughly four hundred-odd iron people guide Activity with all their strength, alloying and…