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

Chapter 72 The "Victory" Method of the Fighting Nation

Global Security Council, the highest-level emergency virtual meeting room.

The atmosphere was deathly silent.

On the giant holographic screen, a fierce battle was being broadcast live from beneath the Arctic ice cap.

Heavy armored vehicles were easily smashed into scrap metal, and elite soldiers wearing power armor were as fragile as paper dolls in front of those behemoths that were over ten meters tall.

"A madman! Ivanov is a complete madman!" The representative of the American "Lighthouse" project, a four-star general with graying hair, roared, his face ashen. "He has violated every single provision of the First Contact Guidelines! He is actively provoking a war!"

"I suggest immediately suspending the Red Bear unit's exploration privileges and launching an investigation into this serious incident!" the French representative echoed.

The meeting room was in chaos, filled with accusations and arguments.

Only Qin Shiyue sat quietly. He didn't even look at his panicked colleagues, but stared intently at the screen, at the Russian fleet that was surrounded by endless frost giants and was already in dire straits.

There was no panic in his eyes, only a strange light mixed with enlightenment and fanaticism.

"No—" he muttered to himself, his voice not loud, but it instantly silenced the entire conference room.

All eyes were focused on the commander of the Chinese Dragon Shield Bureau.

"Everyone, we've all misunderstood." Qin Shiyue slowly stood up, his gaze sweeping across the room. "This isn't Ivanov's recklessness at all, but rather—yet another test from the Master!"

"A test?" The American general frowned.

"That's right!" Qin Shiyue's voice became impassioned. "Why do you think the administrator broadcast this conflict to us in real time? Was it so we could criticize Ivanov? No! He did it so we could see it and learn from it!"

"When humanity's vanguard encounters a powerful, poorly communicating native civilization in an unknown world, what should we do? Retreat, or fight? Submit, or earn their respect through strength?"

"Ivanov is showing us one answer in his own way! This is the true meaning of a global collaborative operations mechanism! It's not about us sitting here watching, but about us learning from others' real-world experiences and drawing lessons!"

In the conference room, everyone was stunned by Qin Shiyue's extremely "Dihua" interpretation.

They stared at the muscular brute being chased and beaten by the frost giant on the screen, then at Qin Shiyue, who looked solemn and dignified as if interpreting a divine oracle, and for a moment they were at a loss for words.

While they were still in a daze, the situation on the battlefield changed once again.

Faced with the endless frost giants surging in from all directions, the arrogant smile on Ivanov's face vanished completely, replaced by a furious rage driven to the brink of despair.

"Since you can't understand human language, then we'll communicate in a way that you can!"

He shoved aside the guards beside him, rushed to a special command vehicle, and entered a long string of authorization codes onto the complex cipher machine.

"Activate—The Tsar's Smile!" he roared into the communicator.

"General! That's—!"

"Execute the command!"

On top of the command vehicle, a device originally disguised as radar slowly cracked open, revealing a cylindrical transmitter made entirely of dark gold metal with an extremely complex design.

That was one of the many spoils of war that Ivanov "presented" to Lu Yuan during the last cleanup operation, and which was later "rewarded" back by Lu Yuan—a miniature version of the Tsar Bomba launcher.

It didn't launch a nuclear missile, but rather Lu Yuan used his GM privileges to inject a trace of the "annihilation" rule into the energy core.

As the transmitter was activated, an indescribable and unsettling energy surge instantly spread out.

Pale blue arcs of energy appeared out of thin air, emitting a hissing sound. The entire massive cavity beneath the ice began to tremble slightly.

The frost giants, who were roaring and charging forward, suddenly froze.

For the first time, fear appeared in their eyes, which were burning with eerie blue flames.

They couldn't feel the power of the explosion, but their ancient bloodlines could clearly sense the essence of that energy—a pure, unreasonable power of "rules." Once it erupted, it would be enough to completely erase their home, along with themselves, from this world!

"roar!"

The frost giant leader let out a low, clearly apprehensive roar. He stretched out his massive hand to silence the "hum."

The charge of the tribesmen.

He took a step forward, his massive body causing the ground to tremble. He stared intently at Ivanov and the launcher behind him, radiating an aura of destruction.

—Through a rudimentary system translation plugin, a stiff yet authoritative thought entered everyone's minds: "Insignificant humans! Put away your toys! This power will destroy everything here!"

"Then it depends on whether you're willing to give us a way out!" Ivanov roared back without backing down.

The frost giant leader remained silent.

He glanced at his fellow tribesmen around him, whose faces also showed fear, and then at Ivanov's face, which seemed determined to die rather than surrender.

A few seconds later, he slowly lowered the rock warhammer in his hand.

"In the name of the Father of Ice and Snow, I, Ymir, King of the Frost Giants, challenge you to a glorious duel!"

"Lay down your weapons, shed your ridiculous iron shells. You, as your leader, shall engage me in a primal battle!"

"If you win, I will make way for you. If you lose, you and your people will forever be a part of this icy wasteland!"

Upon hearing this, both the "Red Bear" soldiers on the scene and the representatives from various countries in the virtual conference room were stunned.

One-on-one?

How could someone as short as Ivanov, who is less than two meters tall, be sent to fight a frost giant leader who is over fifteen meters tall and whose body is covered in granite-like muscles?

This isn't a duel, it's suicide!

However, Ivanov laughed when he heard the suggestion.

His rugged face once again blossomed with that domineering and confident smile.

"Click—"

'

In the dead silence, he actually began to deactivate his power armor.

The heavy alloy armor pieces fell to the ground one by one, revealing his own armor, which was also as if cast in steel.

Muscles covered in scars.

He casually picked up a fire axe from the ground, slung it over his shoulder, and, shirtless, walked step by step toward the frost giant leader who resembled a mountain.

"I accept your challenge."

He grinned, revealing a set of white teeth.

"Because we Russians never fear any challenge!"

In the virtual conference room, Qin Shiyue watched this scene and clenched his fists in excitement.

Look! This is the standard answer!

What the master wanted to see was this indomitable courage and glory of humanity! Ivanov, that reckless fool, actually answered this bonus question correctly by sheer accident!

Under the watchful eyes of countless humans and frost giants, a battle of vastly different sizes and strengths, yet one that concerns the dignity and destiny of two races, is about to begin.