When the game shut down, I took my skills with me.

Chapter 71 The "Trouble" in the Arctic, and Ivanov's Muscles

Gaia Plane, "Lazy Man No. 1" Villa, Home Theater.

Lu Yuangang adjusted himself into the most comfortable position, ready to begin his nostalgic journey through another classic old movie.

He vowed that this time, nothing could disturb him, not even if the sky fell.

"gentlemen."

The holographic projection of AI butler Xiaoya appeared precisely one second before he pressed the play button.

Lu Yuan's eye twitched slightly.

"A highest priority communication request has been received from the Global Security Council." Xiaoya's voice remained calm as always, without any emotional fluctuation.

"I'm taking the day off today," Lu Yuan said weakly, closing his eyes. "Tell them that we can talk about the destruction of the Earth tomorrow morning at nine o'clock when we start work."

"Yes, sir," Xiaoya replied emotionlessly, then added, "The request comes from General Ivanov, commander of the Russian Red Bear unit. According to the background data analysis of 'Order,' his distress call contained 70% Russian profanity, 20% requests for firepower, and 10% of a recurring word—'Giant.'"

Lu Yuan opened his eyes and sighed.

It's Ivanov again.

That guy whose brain is filled with nothing but muscles, vodka, and cannons.

"Show the trouble he caused on screen two." Lu Yuan rubbed his temples. "Let me see what kind of hornet's nest that idiot has stirred up this time."

"Yes, sir."

The screen splits in two: the left side shows the movie's standby screen, while the right side switches to a live view from beneath the Arctic ice cap.

It was an underground world beyond imagination.

Russia's most advanced nuclear-powered icebreaker, the "Stalingrad," used a high-powered laser drill to create a huge hole in a permafrost sheet several kilometers thick.

Below the cave entrance lies a massive cavity comparable to a small city.

—The fleet's searchlight beams swept through, illuminating countless enormous, crystal-clear ice pillars, as well as unidentified mineral crystals shimmering on the cave ceiling, resembling a starry sky of ice and snow.

An advance team consisting of heavy armored vehicles and "Red Bear" soldiers in powered armor has landed on this frozen land.

Then, they ran into "trouble".

In the very center of the image, dozens of enormous figures, averaging over ten meters tall, are confronting the Russian troops.

Their skin was a bluish-white, like that of glaciers, their whiskers and eyebrows were covered with icicles, and their eyes burned with a pale blue light. They were bare-chested, revealing muscles as hard as granite, and in their hands they held battle axes and heavy hammers forged from solid ice and boulders.

Frost giant.

In "Gods and Demons Era", an ancient race living in the far north are natural warriors with extremely high resistance to ice magic.

At this moment, the atmosphere was extremely tense.

—The frost giant at the head of the group was a size larger than the others of his kind, and wore a crown made of huge ice crystals. He was clearly the leader of the group of giants.

Just then, the door of the Russian advance team's command vehicle opened, and Ivanov's imposing figure stepped out.

He wasn't wearing a helmet, and a smug smile played on his face, as if he didn't take these behemoths, which were taller than his armored vehicle, seriously at all.

He was carrying a silver metal flask and shouted something in Russian towards the frost giant leader.

"What is he saying?" Lu Yuan asked curiously.

"The translation is: Hey, big guys! Who's in charge? Come and try some of our Siberian good stuff!" Xiaoya replied calmly.

Lu Yuan almost choked on his own saliva.

Greeting a frost giant with vodka? What a ridiculous idea.

Ivanov unscrewed the flask, tilted his head back and took a big gulp, then wiped his mouth with a flourish and tossed the flask toward the frost giant leader.

This is, in his understanding, the most direct and friendly way for people of "fighting spirits" to communicate.

However, the frost giants clearly did not think so.

In their eyes, these tiny creatures riding steel monsters and wielding bizarre weapons were nothing less than invaders. And the behavior of their leader seemed more like a provocation.

"roar--!"

The frost giant leader let out a deafening roar, the sound waves even shaking down huge ice spikes from the cave ceiling.

He didn't even glance at the flying wine jug, but instead raised the rock hammer in his hand, which was bigger than a car, and smashed it down fiercely on a BTR-90 armored personnel carrier next to Ivanov!

"boom!"

A loud bang.

The armored vehicle, made of special steel plates and weighing twenty tons, was smashed into a piece of scrap metal in an instant under the giant hammer, just like a soda can.

— "Fire!"

Ivanov's smile vanished, replaced by rage. He roared as he issued his orders.

Instantly, deafening gunfire echoed throughout the underground cavern.

The blasts of heavy machine guns, the explosions of automatic grenades, the trails of powered armored shoulder-fired missiles—countless modern weapons rained down on the Frost Giants.

The battle erupted in full force.

The frost giants roared as they charged. Their skin, as hard as glaciers, offered astonishing protection against physical attacks. Small-caliber bullets struck them, leaving only trails of white marks.

Only large-caliber armor-piercing rounds and missiles could blast open wounds on them. But that would only enrage them further.

Before a Red Bear soldier in power armor could launch his second missile, he was struck in the waist by a giant ice axe. He and his armor flew out like a rag doll, crashing into a distant ice wall and turning into a pile of minced meat.

This is a clash between savagery and technology, a battle of pure power.

Despite their superior equipment, the "Red Bear" troops appeared incredibly vulnerable in the face of these tough, fleshy war behemoths.

In just a few minutes of fighting, the Russians had already lost nearly a third of their troops.

They were caught in a fierce battle.

Just then, the frost giant leader roared again. He raised a huge horn made from the leg bone of an unknown behemoth, put it to his lips, and blew it loudly.

"Woo-woo--"

The deep, desolate sound of the horn echoed in the vast emptiness.

As if in response, a series of earth-shaking footsteps came from the deeper, darker parts of the cave.

Countless pairs of eerie blue eyes lit up in the darkness.

More frost giants poured out of their lair, completely surrounding the small Russian fleet.

Seeing this scene, Lu Yuan leisurely took a sip of cola.

"Idiot," he commented.

He then instructed Xiaoya, "Transfer the live feed from here to the Global Security Council's emergency channel. The subject line should be—'Live broadcast of a diplomatic conflict arising from a member unit's violation of the 'Principles for First Contact Between Interstellar Civilizations.'"

"Let Qin Shiyue and his team have their headaches; this is a good opportunity to test their global collaborative combat mechanism."

Is it just for show or not?

After saying that, Lu Yuan leaned back on the sofa, ready to see how this good show would end.