109: Safe distance? Who told you I have a safe distance? I'm invincible within 500 meters!

"Zzzt... Zzzt..."

Inside the bridge of the ship, which had been half blown away, exposed cables were jumping with deadly sparks everywhere.

The pungent smell of burning mixed with the scent of blood turned this place into a literal Shura Field.

"Transfer to the backup fire control center! Fast! Don't let him get close!!"

The surviving First Mate, his face covered in blood, leaned over a smoking console and roared hysterically into the communicator.

Fear had completely shattered his sanity.

He watched the screen as that black grim reaper charged toward them at a terrifying high speed.

He made the craziest and most foolish decision.

"Unlock the sea red flag short-range missiles! All launch units! Volley! Give me a volley!!"

"But sir! The distance is too close! The fuzes might not..."

"Shut up! Fire them! Blow him to ashes!!"

The moment the First Mate's trembling finger forcibly pressed the confirmation key.

The twenty-four-cell missile launcher at the stern of the ship suddenly flipped open its covers.

"Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!"

Four white anti-air missiles trailed long plumes of flame as they soared into the storm.

They traced distorted trajectories in the air before diving headlong toward the target that was right in front of them.

A distance of a few hundred meters was less than the blink of an eye for a missile.

"It's over! Missiles!"

Inside the black iron, looking at those four whistling fire dragons, Old Chen's pupils dilated instantly, and he closed his eyes in despair.

At such a close range, there was no way to dodge, and even the interception systems couldn't react in time.

*Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!*

Four dull impact sounds rang out in succession.

The entire black iron shuddered violently.

Old Chen curled up under his chair, clutching his head, waiting for the bone-shattering explosion, waiting for the flames to consume him.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

The expected explosion did not happen.

There was only the 'clang' of heavy metal objects hitting steel plates, followed by the 'splash' of heavy weights tumbling into the sea.

"This..." Old Chen slowly opened his eyes and touched his still-beating heart, looking completely dazed.

"This is the 'drawback' of high technology."

Jiang Ran didn't even lift his eyelids, still staring fixedly ahead, his hand pushing the thrust lever all the way to the end:

"To prevent missiles from accidentally damaging the launch ship, all tactical missiles are equipped with a 'Minimum Safe Arming Distance'.

Before flying five hundred meters, the warhead's fuze is in a physical lock state and won't be powered at all."

He glanced at the damage report displayed on the screen:

"What just hit us were nothing more than four fast-flying iron rods.

Aside from damaging a few outer armor plates, they didn't even scratch the paint."

At this moment, those four expensive, advanced missiles capable of shooting down supersonic jets from ten kilometers away...

...were floating miserably on the sea around the black iron like four discarded fire pokers, bobbing with the waves.

"They've panicked."

Su Qingyu looked at the dud missiles with a complex expression. "The more precise a weapon is, the more restrictions it has.

When they lose their calm judgment, this high technology becomes a burden instead."

"Since their teeth have been pulled out..."

A cold light flashed in Jiang Ran's eyes, and the black iron's engine gave a final sprint roar:

"Then now, it's our turn to use the most primitive way to end this farce."

"Prepare for impact!"

..."Since the cannons can't penetrate and the missiles won't explode..."

Jiang Ran looked at the white scrap metal bobbing desperately on the sea outside the porthole, a cruel curve hooking the corner of his mouth.

His hands suddenly tightened on the control stick, his knuckles turning white from the force, as if he were trying to squeeze the very soul of the ship in his hands.

"Then we'll bite with our teeth. Ram them."

These words were as light as a sigh, yet as heavy as a death sentence.

"Ram... Ram?!"

Old Chen was so scared he nearly bit his tongue off, struggling frantically within his seatbelt:

"Boss! That's a twenty-thousand-ton ship!

That's ten times our size!

Even if this black iron has been reinforced, a head-on collision will make it fall apart!"

This was simply suicide.

This was the typical 'mad dog tactic,' a move for mutual destruction that only desperate pirates would use.

"Who said we're going head-to-head?"

The blue light in Jiang Ran's eyes suddenly flared, and the Fluid Control force field covering the hull instantly changed its form.

The originally rounded, soft, streamlined field meant to reduce turbulence now became sharp and keen.

Like a giant, invisible blade of light, it enveloped the bow of the black iron.

"Fluid resistance to zero."

"Turn the hull... into a solid torpedo."

"Vrrrrm—!!!"

The engine let out a roar that pushed its limits.

Under the effect of Fluid Control, the seawater ahead was no longer resistance.

Instead, it was forcibly pushed aside by that force field, forming a perfect Vacuum Cavitation Bubble.

Without the resistance of water.

This two-thousand-ton warship erupted with jaw-dropping acceleration over an extremely short distance.

It was no longer a ship. It was a two-thousand-ton solid armor-piercing projectile clad in Biological Armor.

"Look at that spot."

Jiang Ran's gaze locked onto the ship's waterline on its flank like a hawk.

That was precisely the weak zone in the armor exposed due to the angle when the opponent's close-in weapon system was frantically spraying the black iron earlier.

"Evade! Evade quickly!

It's insane! It's going to ram us!!"

In the opposite bridge, the First Mate acting as commander watched the red dot on the radar charging at a top speed of fifty knots.

He let out a pitch-shifted scream.

But just as Jiang Ran said, this massive ship was a clumsy elephant in the typhoon.

It could only watch helplessly as that pitch-black warship...

...like an enraged rhinoceros...

...lowered its head and thrust that single horn capable of piercing the heavens, carrying an aura of total destruction, and gored it ruthlessly.

"Hold on tight!"

Jiang Ran growled, his entire body's muscles tensing.

In that instant, the bow of the black iron—which had undergone several devouring evolutions and had long since become indestructible—

—shimmered with a heart-stopping cold light under the illumination of lightning. It was the fangs of the grim reaper.

"Now, feel the difference in 'weight'."

"BOOM—!!!"

That wasn't the sound of an explosion.

It was the shrill, agonized scream of a twenty-thousand-ton steel behemoth in intense pain.

When the black iron's specially reinforced bio-metal ramming prow...

...slammed into the starboard waterline armor of the ship at a relative speed of fifty knots.

The entire world seemed to freeze for a second due to this terrifying exchange of kinetic energy.

Then, the teeth-gritting sound of tearing metal echoed through the skies, even drowning out the rolling thunder overhead.

"Screeeech—BANG!!!"

It was like a red-hot dinner knife stabbing into a thin tin can.

The high-strength alloy steel plates the ship took pride in...

...were as fragile as paper before the black iron's ramming prow, which was like the fangs of a prehistoric monster.

Steel plates buckled, the keel bent, and rivets flew everywhere like bullets.

The black iron's hard bow embedded itself deeply into the opponent's body, with more than half the prow even boring its way inside.