106: Death riding on the crest of the wave! At this moment, I am the master of the storm!

“What is it now?! Is it debris or...”

The Watch Officer was about to reprimand them, but the next second, an unprecedented blinding flash of light interrupted him.

“CRACK—BOOM!!!”

A thick, purplish-white lightning bolt, like a giant tree supporting the heavens, tore through the ink-black clouds without warning, striking the sea surface on the starboard side with a brightness capable of instantly vaporizing a retina.

In that instant, time seemed to stand still.

The entire world was forcibly frozen into a stark white and terrifying tableau.

Everyone inside the bridge followed the direction of the lightning.

And saw a sight that would give them nightmares for the rest of their lives.

Less than two kilometers away from them.

A monstrous, thirty-meter-high wave was rising, blocking their view like a wall of water connecting heaven and earth.

And crouching atop the crest of that foaming white wave... was a black, steel monster.

It was neither struggling nor floating.

It was like a sovereign mastering the storm, riding steadily on the back of that destructive giant wave, capable of swallowing everything whole.

Its pitch-black hull was covered in ferocious Biological Armor, and sharp bone spurs gleamed with cold, chilling light under the reflection of the lightning.

There were no lights, no flags.

Only a pair of spectral blue “eyes” beneath the bow, like those of a deep-sea demon.

They were looking down, cold and mercilessly, upon the tiny ship.

That didn't look like a ship at all.

It looked more like a living creature that had crawled out of the abyss of hell, wearing the shell of a battleship.

“It... it's on the wave crest...”

The Watch Officer's binoculars crashed onto the floor with a clang, shattering the lenses.

And shattering the worldview he had built over half his lifetime:

“It's... surfing?”

This not only violated the laws of physics but also humanity's baseline understanding of fear.

The light of the lightning lasted less than a second before suddenly extinguishing, and the world returned to darkness.

But the afterimage of that single second was branded onto everyone's retinas like a hot iron.

That black shadow, that God of Death riding the crest of the wave, was bearing down on them with crushing force!

Darkness once again enveloped the sea, but the terrifying image did not fade.

It was like some radioactive residue, wildly spreading the toxin named fear throughout the minds of everyone on the bridge.

“En... Enemy attack!!!”

A shrill scream from an unknown person finally pierced the temporary paralysis caused by extreme shock.

The entire bridge instantly descended into chaos.

“Battle stations! Sound the combat alarm!”

The Captain leaped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

He completely disregarded his composure, and the nausea he had felt moments ago from seasickness was instantly scared away:

“Starboard side! It's on the starboard side! Less than two kilometers away!

That's... that's the Ghost ship from the wanted poster!

That is black iron! It's not dead! It came looking for us!”

“WHOO—WHOO—!!!”

The harsh, rapid combat alarm finally blared throughout the ship.

But against the deafening roar of the storm outside the windows, the alarm sounded so pale and weak.

“Radar! Where is the fire control radar?! Why hasn't it locked on!”

The Captain lunged toward the tactical console, grabbing the Weapons Officer by the collar and shaking him wildly, spraying spittle all over his face.

“Re... Reporting, sir!”

The Weapons Officer's face was sheet white. He fumbled with the control panel, his trembling fingers pressing the wrong keys several times:

“The radar is full of clutter! We can't see it at all!

And... and to prevent wind and waves from damaging the equipment, all Vertical Launch Systems and Close-In Weapon Systems are in 'locked' status! The fire control radar is in standby mode!”

“Unlock it! Unlock it now!!”

“System cold start requires forty-five seconds!

Unlocking the mechanical safety on the Close-In Weapon Systems requires manual operation on the deck!

No one can stand on the deck right now!”

Despair.

This was the fatal weakness of regular forces when facing sudden situations.

Tedious procedures and complex safety mechanisms are safeguards in peacetime, but death warrants in this moment.

Forty-five seconds?

In modern warfare, forty-five seconds is enough time to finish a small skirmish.

And right now, these forty-five seconds represented the distance between life and death.

“It... it's coming down!!!”

The desperate roar of the Lookout came again.

Everyone whipped their heads around.

Even without lightning, they could see the horrifying scene illuminated by the faint lights of the bridge.

The black battleship riding the wave crest was not smashed or swallowed by the giant wave as they had anticipated.

Instead, it slightly dipped its bow.

Then, just like a highly skilled skier facing a steep slope.

It began to accelerate down the slope of the thirty-meter-high wall of water!

It was charging.

Utilizing gravity, utilizing the potential energy of the giant wave, and utilizing that uncanny Fluid Control ability.

Its speed grew faster and faster.

The black hull cut a straight trajectory of death through the white spray.

Like a black meteorite descending from the sky, carrying the kinetic energy to smash through anything.

It slammed down hard toward the ship struggling in the trough of the giant wave.

“Evasive maneuvers! Hard to port! Evade!!”

The Captain watched the growing black shadow, his pupils shrinking almost to pinpricks, letting out a desperate roar.

But a twenty-thousand-ton behemoth was like a clumsy elephant in the storm. Trying to turn and evade at this critical juncture?

It was too late.

Everything was too late... “Hoo—”

Compared to the hysterical chaos on the opposing bridge.

Inside black iron's Command cabin, there was only a long, satisfied exhale.

Jiang Ran looked at the rapidly enlarging steel silhouette on the screen.

It was like watching a trapped beast making its final, futile struggles in a snare.

black iron was diving.

Utilizing the immense potential energy of the thirty-meter wave and the full-power propulsion of the Bio-engine.

This thousands-of-ton battleship had now transformed into a black cruise missile flying just above the water.

The numbers on the speedometer jumped wildly: 40 knots... 50 knots... 55 knots!

This was a charging speed that would be absolutely impossible in conventional naval warfare, especially in the center of a Category 17 typhoon.

“Distance one thousand meters.”

“Distance eight hundred meters.”

“Electro-optical Fire Control System lock complete.”

Su Qingyu's voice held a trace of tremor, but it was predominantly the exhilaration of an adrenaline rush.

At this moment, there was no need for radar or complicated trajectory calculations.

Because the target was simply too large and too close.

In Jiang Ran's retinal projection, a bright red crosshair was steadily centered on the brightly lit bridge of the ship.

Through the high-magnification optical sight, he could even clearly see past the wide picture windows.

He saw the panicked figures running frantically, and the Commander roaring desperately into the microphone.

They looked so terrified, so helpless.

Just like he had been, chased like a dog by them in the coastal waters.

“Buzz—Clack clack!”

The rapid-fire main cannon on black iron's front deck, which had been dismantled from a patrol boat and heavily modified and reinforced.

Quickly rotated into position according to Jiang Ran's will.

The muzzle tilted slightly upward, the black bore pointing directly at that fragile glass window.

“Don't you like being high and mighty?”

“Don't you like using radar and missiles to judge all living things, like a god?”

Jiang Ran's finger slowly pressed the red firing button, the movement as gentle as stubbing out a cigarette butt.

But the blue light in his eyes was utterly cold in this moment:

“Then I'll break your necks first, and teach you how to bow down and be human.”

“Fire.”