103: A category 17 typhoon is hitting us! God's eyes have gone blind, it's my turn to act!

"Rumble—!!!"

That wasn't thunder.

Thunder is crisp, explosive, and intermittent.

What filled the world at this moment was a continuous, unending low-frequency roar.

It was as if countless aviation engines had been throttled to maximum thrust simultaneously, screaming madly right against the surface of the sea.

Even while hiding in this undersea tunnel more than a hundred meters deep.

Even through the thick layers of earth and seawater.

That terrifying vibration still conducted through the rock, making every deck plate of the black iron tremble in fear.

"Is... is this the end of the world?"

Old Chen gripped the handrail tightly, watching the dust and rubble constantly falling from above, his face as pale as paper.

The water surface deep in the tunnel was shaking violently.

The originally calm stagnant water now seemed to be boiling, giving rise to circles of eerie ripples.

"Worse than the end of the world."

Su Qingyu looked at the data stream on the screen, which was turning a deep purple-red, her voice tight:

"The typhoon's eyewall has already hit us.

External air pressure has dropped below 880 hPa.

Instantaneous wind speed... My God, 85 meters per second."

85 meters per second.

This was a number that inspired despair.

At this wind speed, air was no longer a gas but had become a fluid sledgehammer as solid as a physical object.

Any object exposed on the sea surface, even reinforced concrete buildings, would be instantly torn apart by this violent airflow.

"zero, external visuals." Jiang Ran's voice remained calm.

But in this environment, his voice sounded somewhat ethereal.

"Beep— Sensor signals are heavily interfered with.

Attempting to reconstruct the image."

The main screen flickered a few times before finally jumping to an external scene pieced together from blurry optical signals and sonar imaging.

It was a scroll of hellish imagery.

The sea surface had disappeared.

In its place was a boiling expanse of white.

The gale whipped up the seawater, shredding it into billions of tons of foam and mist, throwing it directly into the sky.

The heavy rain, meanwhile, was like a waterfall pouring from the heavens, slamming hard against the sea surface.

The boundary between sky and sea was completely blurred.

The entire world was like it had been thrown into a giant, madly spinning drum washing machine.

"Wave height 28 meters... occasional rogue waves exceeding 35 meters."

zero coldly broadcasted these statistics, enough to cause cardiac arrest in any veteran captain:

"Sea surface visibility: zero.

Electromagnetic environment: Extremely chaotic.

Background noise intensity: 140 decibels."

Those giant waves, as high as ten-story buildings, were like moving mountain ranges, rampaging across the pitch-black sea.

Every impact produced a roar like a mountain collapsing or the earth splitting, and the white spray kicked up could cover an entire city.

This was the 'Sea God.'

The ultimate monster bred by nature after the Cataclysm to cleanse this filthy wasteland.

In the face of this power, humanity's pitiful technological creations were as small as a few ants in the eye of a typhoon.

"This hellish weather..."

Old Chen looked at the suffocating images, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty:

"Forget about fighting; even that 'Zhenhai' is probably praying right now that it won't be smashed to pieces by these waves, right?"

"Of course they're praying."

Jiang Ran looked at that chaotic world, a flash of cruel light in his deep blue eyes:

"Because in hell, even God cannot save them."

"Zzzt... zzzt... Request... zzzt... waves too big... unable to... zzzt..."

A burst of intermittent, noisy sound mixed with strong electrical microphone popping suddenly echoed in the Command cabin.

"What's that?" Old Chen was startled by this sudden ghostly wailing.

"That is the wailing of 'God.'"

Jiang Ran leaned back in his command chair and signaled zero to process the intercepted signal for noise reduction:

"zero captured the last few shortwave communications sent by the Zhenhai.

Just five minutes ago, exactly when the typhoon's eyewall swept over their heads."

With zero's processing, that noisy audio finally allowed a few words to be heard clearly.

"...Port side roll... thirty-five degrees! Warning! Structural stress alarm..."

"...Radar is all static! I can't see... zzzt... waves everywhere..."

"...Damn it! Satellite link is down! We've lost contact with Ark Headquarters! ...*Retch*..."

Accompanying that hoarse, desperate roar, the sound of countless items shattering could be heard in the background, along with the hair-raising sound of personnel vomiting.

"Sounds like those noble regulars aren't having a very good time right now."

Su Qingyu looked at the series of analyzed spectrum charts on the screen, a rare hint of satisfaction appearing at the corners of her mouth:

"The combat system they were so proud of has collapsed."

She pointed to one of the radar effectiveness curves, which had become almost a straight line:

"In these sea conditions, thirty-meter-high waves and the high-density charged water mist permeating the air act as the strongest wide-area interference sources.

Those four phased array radars might look impressive now.

But on their screens, I bet they can't distinguish a single ghost amidst the white wash of sea clutter."

"Not only are they blind, but they're deaf too."

Jiang Ran added:

"The interruption of satellite communications means they've lost cloud data support and have turned back into an isolated island.

More importantly..."

Jiang Ran pointed to the sounds of vomiting and terrified screams coming from the audio:

"Humans can break."

"With a violent roll of thirty-five degrees, even trained naval personnel will have their equilibrium completely disrupted.

They can't even stand steady right now; they're vomiting up bile. Who would have the mind to stare at a screen full of jumping false signals?"

Old Chen listened to the miserable sounds in the audio and couldn't help but smack his lips:

"Are these really regulars? They sound no different from a bunch of landlubbers who've never seen the world before."

"High-tech weapons are precision instruments, and the price of precision is fragility."

Jiang Ran stood up and straightened his collar. His black combat suit made him look like a ghost about to merge into the night:

"Usually, they rely on radar and missiles to harvest lives like they're playing a video game.

But when nature pulls the plug and flips the table, forcing them to use their most primitive instincts to survive..."

"They aren't much better than bandits."

Jiang Ran waved his hand sharply, cutting off the noisy audio that was still playing.

At this moment, that once-invincible steel giant...

...was like a giant who had been blinded, deafened, and thrown into a drum washing machine with hands and feet bound.

It was struggling painfully in this crucible of heaven and earth, unable to look after itself, completely unaware that—

A lethal dagger had already been silently pressed against its throat.

"The prey is in the net."

The blue light in Jiang Ran's eyes surged:

"It's our turn to take a seat at the table."

"All hands to Condition One battle stations."

Jiang Ran's hand slowly gripped the cold thrust lever, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

Following his movement...

...the biological nuclear reactor dormant in the belly of the black iron throbbed violently, like a heart suddenly awakened.

"Hum— Rumble!!!"

A low roar instantly filled the entire tunnel.

The powerful force that had long been building surged through the drive shaft toward the stern.

The massive pump-jet thrusters began to spin madly, churning up countless amounts of silt and turbid current.

"Sortie."

Just one brief word.

The black iron moved.

Like a vicious beast that had been lurking in hell for a thousand years, it carried a full body of killing intent and roared as it crashed toward the front of the tunnel.

The several abandoned subway cars blocking the exit were as fragile as paper toys in front of this multi-thousand-ton steel beast.

"Creeeeak— Bang!!"

Accompanied by the sound of tearing metal, those rust-stained car bodies were instantly smashed to pieces.

Countless fragments, decayed seats, and bleached skeletons were swept into the torrent, like a bloody sacrifice offered to this beast emerging from its cage.

"Break out!"

As the bow smashed through the final concrete barrier net...

...the black iron finally rushed out of the tomb that had sheltered it for ten hours and plunged headlong into the mad world outside.

However, at the very moment it left the cover of the tunnel entrance—

"Boom!!!"

An irresistible, terrifying force slammed into it hard from the side.

It wasn't wind; it was water.

It was the violent surge of undercurrents triggered deep in the ocean when Typhoon 'Sea God' whipped up monstrous waves on the surface.

This undercurrent carried the kinetic energy of hundreds of millions of tons of seawater.

Like an invisible battering ram, it slammed heavily into the newly repaired starboard side of the black iron.

"Ah!!!"

Old Chen didn't even have time to grab onto anything.

He was sent flying sideways, hitting the ceiling with a 'bang' before falling heavily back onto the floor.

"Warning! Severe roll!"

"Tilt angle: 45 degrees... 50 degrees! Imminent capsizing!!"

zero's alarm sounded as shrill as a deathbed scream.

The entire ship was like a toy kicked over by someone, tilting almost ninety degrees to the side in that instant.

Everything in the cabin—toolboxes, water cups, unsecured equipment—all rained down against the starboard bulkhead.

"I can't hold on!!"

Su Qingyu gripped the sonar station's pillar tightly, hanging there in the air, her face deathly pale:

"The undercurrent is too strong! This is deep-sea turbulence triggered by a Category 17 typhoon!

Our tonnage is too light; we can't stabilize at all! If this continues, the keel will snap!"

"Screeeech—"

The interior of the ship's hull let out a groan that sounded like it was reaching its limit.

This was nature's show of force.

No matter how advanced your Bio-engine was, or how hard your armor...

...in the face of this celestial power capable of shaking continental shelves, you were still as fragile as a withered leaf.