I built an armada.

"Any dangerous act intended to resist or threaten the safety of my personnel..."

The sound paused for a moment, and in the background of the radio, there seemed to be a uniform, chilling hum of mechanical rotation and the dull thud of a huge gate opening!

"...all of these will be considered as an offensive attack against the Longxia Navy!"

"...will all be immediately subjected to a devastating military strike!"

"...Repeat—! Immediately and unconditionally release Qin Mingzhu! Disarm her! Stand by!

This is an ultimatum! You have ten seconds!

Hearing these threats, the pirate "Old Shark's" crazed warning, still on his lips, was distorted by the sea breeze—"Cut off her head...feed the fish...!"

The last syllable was abruptly cut off in his throat! It was as if his vocal cords had been gripped by an invisible, giant metal hand!
Om-!
A strange, muffled roar, exceeding the limits of human hearing and so intense it felt as if one's heart was being gripped tightly, like the breath of a giant beast rising from the depths of hell, irrationally and violently engulfed the entire Ghost Reef!

It wasn't artillery fire! It wasn't an explosion! It was some more terrifying, invisible force sweeping through!

In an instant! All the light went out!

The crackling fire fell silent as if doused with ice water! A stark white light! All the flickering light bulbs and flashlights on the reef... instantly exploded! Along with the dilapidated warning lights on the "Stinger" pirate ship, which shone like dying fireflies, they were all swept into complete darkness!

All sounds! Chaos! The pirates' frantic walkie-talkie channels were filled only with the piercing roar of electric current! On the bridge of the hijacked cargo ship "Hailong," all navigation screens, radar echoes, satellite signal monitoring... all turned into chaotic, jumping static and meaningless, frantic lines!
The old shark made a hissing sound from its throat, like a stranded fish.

His single eye, accustomed to seizing prey in the dark, was suddenly shrouded in absolute darkness! And then came an even deeper fear!

A strange, bone-chilling sensation instantly enveloped my entire body, as if all my strength had been drained away. My hair stood on end, and even my heart seemed to be gripped by this invisible force, making each beat extremely difficult! My body trembled uncontrollably like a leaf.
This isn't cold!

This is the shudder of a soul being crushed and pierced by some enormous and terrifying force field!

"I...I can't move? The devil...the devil is here..."

The one-eared pirate, who was pressing down on Qin Mingzhu, was teeth chattering violently, and his grip on the dagger against Qin Mingzhu's neck was shaky.

It fell with a clatter onto the rocks at my feet.

His body was as stiff as a stone statue, with only uncontrollable tremors indicating that he was alive! Fear spread like a plague among the pirates, and the madness that had just arisen because of the fleet instantly turned into a complete, instinctive despair!

This is a comprehensive, all-encompassing, full-band jamming and hard-kill attack! It covers every inch of this demon's lair! It's not just about paralyzing communications and burning out electronic devices! It's also about causing physiological shock to the biological nervous system, disrupting it with low-frequency, high-intensity microwaves!

Absolute darkness!
An endless, deathly silence!
Only the roar of the waves crashing against the rocks grew clearer, like the approaching footsteps of death!

"ten!"

The cold, icy final countdown of Fleet Commander Zhou Qinglei, as if carved from millennia-old ice, resonated in the deathly darkness. Through some kind of advanced directional broadcasting technology that seemed to penetrate everything, it struck the nerve endings of every pirate, taut to their limit, like the pronouncements of a judge from the underworld!

"Nine!"

Splash! One of the pirates was so scared that he wet his pants and collapsed completely onto the cold, hard rocks.

"Eight!"

"seven!"

...The countdown numbers fell like a heavy hammer!
Just as that word "one" was about to explode in that life-or-death moment!
On the dark sea! Dozens of beams of light, bright enough to blind the eyes, once again tore through the night!

They were no longer the intimidating probes of the past, but as precise as surgical instruments! Instantly locking onto a few key locations on the pirate island—including the reef where Qin Mingzhu was located and the crew of the "Sea Dragon" bound on the shore!

Boom boom boom boom—!
A low, dense, boiling sound of water erupted near the shore! It wasn't an explosion! It was a dozen or so small, black speedboats breaking through the waves! Their hulls had no reflective edges! Like steel ghosts crawling out of the deep sea!
Carrying the Dragon Summer Navy Special Forces, whose members were covered from head to toe in jet-black armor, whose physiques were as agile as cheetahs, and whose movements were as precise as the meshing of gears!

They are known as "orcas"!
"Save lives! Clear the obstruction!"

Four words! No unnecessary commands! The brief, emotionless instructions came from within the cold helmet!

The two "Orca" assault boats closest to the shore shot towards the reef like arrows released from a bow! The special forces members on board didn't even wait for the boats to reach the shore! When they were still seven or eight meters away from the jagged rocks, they boldly jumped into the icy cold seawater!
But their descent didn't create any large splashes! Their powerful core strength and coordination allowed them to slip in silently like water ghosts! Almost simultaneously! Several pirate shadows on the shore, illuminated by bright lights and struggling to their feet while clutching worn-out rifles, suddenly stiffened! They were pierced by precise, silenced bullets!
puff!puff!puff!
Like cracking open a few rotten coconuts! The dull thud was perfectly masked by the waves!

"Hurry! Hurry..."

Qin Mingzhu, who was pinned to the top of the reef, didn't even have time to react to what was happening! She only felt the tight rope around her wrists being instantly severed by an incredibly sharp force!

"Crack!"

A soft sound! Immediately afterwards, an arm, irresistible yet possessing a steely strength, wrapped around her armpit from behind!

A figure, also fully encased in cold, anti-tank combat gear and significantly taller and stronger than the team members beside him, gave a deep command.

"Target safe! Take her down!"

The man's movement to provide cover was lightning fast! A backhand shot! Thud! — A precise headshot to the pirate who had just peeked out from the shadows of the reef, his gun barrel gleaming! The movement was fluid and graceful!
saved!
This realization surged through Qin Mingzhu's body, which was so cold it was almost numb, like an electric current!

She couldn't even react effectively, her body stiff as the tall special forces soldier half-carried, half-dragged her down the shadowy back of the towering, slippery reef! In that very instant!

Chirp—!
A faint, piercing whistle tore through the air!

A stray bullet shot out from the darkness deep within the island! Its target wasn't the special forces soldiers! It was Qin Mingzhu, who was being dragged along!
A close call!
A blinding laser beam swept and locked onto the target from another direction in an instant! *Whoosh!*
A pale blue electromagnetic barrier, visible to the naked eye, suddenly flashed less than 30 centimeters in front of Qin Mingzhu!
The menacing alloy bullet seemed to have struck an invisible, viscous wall, spinning and rubbing wildly for a moment, emitting a sharp, piercing metallic scraping sound, before mysteriously losing all its kinetic energy in an instant.

With a clatter, it fell limply onto the wet rocks! The warhead was even slightly deformed! Individual active defense system—pulse matrix field! "Dragon Fang, there are fleas."

The special forces soldier who had just dodged a fatal blow while holding Qin Mingzhu spoke with an icy tone, his helmet's red iris scanning the dark hole from which the bullets had been fired.

"Destroy it!"

The order was given! Suddenly, the inconspicuous miniature launcher on the shoulder of another team member flashed!
A smart top-attack bunker buster, trailing a faint white smoke, instantly plunged into the depths of the cave where the pirates were hiding!

Boom! A muffled explosion, accompanied by the thud of flesh and blood exploding, echoed from the cave, sending debris flying everywhere! Then, silence.
The entire rescue operation was like molten lava flowing over frozen, solidified grease! Swift! Efficient! Ruthless! Under the terrifying full-frequency jamming and suppression, in the blind spot guided by the light that seemed to descend from hell!

The "Orca" squad pierced, sliced, and harvested like ghosts! Precisely eliminating any sporadic resistance that might threaten the rescue target! There were no screams! Only the faint "thud" of a blade slitting a throat, and the dull "thud" of bullets hitting flesh! Like the silent scythe of death wielding its blade!

From landing, picking up people, clearing away any remaining threats to forcibly dragging and escorting the nearly exhausted Qin Mingzhu and the bound crew back to the boat, the entire process took less than 120 seconds!

When Qin Mingzhu, soaked to the bone and with purple lips, was half-forced into the stern of the assault boat, which was still damp with cold water, she turned around and lifted a corner of the tarpaulin through the stern.
The last thing we saw was the shoreline and reefs bathed in intense light—dozens of special forces soldiers had left behind tiny, faintly glowing red metal pieces, scattering them like beans with pinpoint accuracy under the rocks and along the edges of the ships at the largest chaotic gathering points of the pirates…

"...Signal beacon deployed!"

"Target safe! All team evacuate!"

The assault boat's engines roared deep, like a deep-sea monster, cleaving through the waves as it sped backward! Away from this deadly reef!
Less than a minute after the last ghostly Orca attack craft slid into the deep water and disappeared into the shadow of the massive fleet on the sea!

call out--!!!!

A blinding, crimson flame, like a meteor falling to earth! With a violent, all-consuming shriek! From the highest point in the sky! Like a javelin hurled by the god of judgment! It tore through the air with unparalleled precision! It slammed into the largest, most rubble-covered platform on the west side of Ghost Reef, the one where the most hysterical pirates perished!

boom--!!!!!!!
A deafening explosion! The earth groaned! The sea and sky trembled!

A massive fireball, so bright white it seemed to have instantly given birth to the sun, roared up from the point of impact! Immediately following behind was a giant shockwave ring that was visible to the naked eye and expanded with tremendous force, almost tangible!
Carrying shattered steel shipwrecks, charred human remains, and red-hot rocks torn apart by rage! Like countless storms of debris from hell, it swept across the entire island's surface!
Following the blazing white core sphere, what spread out violently was a crimson, deadly flow of overpressure and high-temperature radiation, as if the blood of hell were evaporating!
It was like an invisible giant wave wall, instantly swallowing and vaporizing all living things on the outer edge of the light shield that hadn't been torn apart by the first wave of fragments!
Flames shot skyward! Smoke billowed like a dragon!
The core area of ​​the entire pirate island instantly transformed into a magma hell erupting with destructive fire! All the wails, curses, and traces of the skull and crossbones banner... vanished before this absolute power!

The massive steel fleet stood silently on the sea, like a cold Great Wall at sea, as the smoke and fire gradually dissipated.

A massive command ship's side hatch slid open, and a landing hovercraft steadily emerged, cutting through the greyish-black seawater and carrying Qin Mingzhu, exhausted and reeking of gunpowder, onto the mothership's spacious deck. The cold metallic gleam reflected the still-burning red glow of the distant, towering flames.

Outside the island's command tower, a figure stood solemnly, surrounded by a dozen or so staff officers and guards with eyes as sharp as eagles.

He wore a crisp navy winter service coat, the gold stars on his epaulets gleaming solemnly in the sea breeze.

Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Fleet – Admiral Zhou Qinglei.

His square face, sculpted with deep nasolabial folds, was expressionless. His deep gaze pierced through the distance, fixed on the still-burning ruins of the island.

"Reporting, sir! The people have been brought back! All personnel on the 'Hailong' are safe! The equipment is intact!"

A capable lieutenant colonel loudly reported back.

Zhou Qinglei slowly withdrew his gaze and landed on Qin Mingzhu, who was being escorted by guards as she walked over.

This businesswoman, who had survived the bloodshed, was still trembling slightly, her body wrapped in a military blanket. Her face, wet with seawater and covered in grime, was terribly pale. Only her eyes, like a cold pool washed by the sea, revealed the shock of surviving a catastrophe and an almost stubborn defiance.

"General Zhou..."

Qin Mingzhu's voice was so hoarse that she could barely speak. Looking at the magnificent steel fortress and countless soldiers in front of her, a feeling of overwhelming gratitude mixed with deep guilt made her eyes sting.

"...This is too much of a fuss! For me alone, for two broken machines...it's not worth it! It's really not worth it..."

Overwhelmed by excitement and lingering fear, her voice trembled.

Zhou Qinglei didn't speak, but stepped forward and slightly raised his hand to stop Qin Mingzhu from saying anything more.

His movements were natural, even carrying the calm and caring demeanor of an elder, as he tightened the thick military blanket that was about to slip off her shoulders.

"Qin family girl."

Zhou Qinglei's voice was deep and resonant, like the sound of a naval cannon settling down, exceptionally clear and firm in the sea breeze.

"remember--"

His gaze was like lightning, sweeping over the countless camouflage figures standing solemnly on the deck, each one like a silent reef!
"The backbone of the Longxia tribe, the tribe's swords and cannons will always be their shield!"

He paused slightly, emphasizing his words.

"This is not just an order!"

This is something that flows in your blood!

Then, he looked deeply into Qin Mingzhu's tear-filled eyes.

"Besides—the moment Comrade Su Dingping received the news, he slammed his fist on the table! 'We must save them! No one can let down those who risk their lives!'...If we in the navy don't give him face, who will?"

Su Dingping!
These three words, like a ball bearing a strange temperature, fell into Qin Mingzhu's heart, which was almost numb from being soaked in icy seawater!
It was him! It was his unwavering will that directly drove this earth-shattering torrent of steel! It was him… who had been worried about her all along! (End of Chapter)