112: Death is swooping down! Is the Mach 3 heavy anti-ship missile truly finished this time?

The rain had finally stopped.

As the violent eye of the typhoon gradually moved north, the ink-black clouds that had shrouded this stretch of sea for hours finally cracked open.

The long-awaited sunlight, like a golden sword, pierced through the haze and fell in mottled patches upon the wreckage-strewn surface of the ocean.

In normal times, this might have been a beautiful scene of clear skies after a storm.

But at this moment, the sunlight illuminated a massive maritime graveyard.

Countless oil slicks, broken planks, life jackets, and unidentifiable human remains floated on the water.

Flocks of seagulls circled at low altitudes, letting out shrill cries as if competing with the pitch-black warship for the "food" here.

"We're rich... we've really hit the jackpot this time!"

Inside the Command cabin of the black iron, Old Chen's hands were trembling with excitement as he looked at the long list of supplies on the screen.

"Besides that radar and missile system, the nanite swarm also salvaged about five hundred tons of high-purity fuel.

And several crates of undamaged military rations and first-aid kits!

Boss, we've basically gotten fat in one bite!"

The crew members were all immersed in the euphoria of having survived a disaster.

They had just taken down a twenty-thousand-ton Ark capital ship; not only had they survived, but they had also cleaned out the enemy's coffers.

This kind of sense of achievement was enough to make any wanderer on the wasteland drink themselves into a stupor.

But Jiang Ran, sitting in the command chair, did not have a smile on his face.

"Don't celebrate too early."

Jiang Ran stared at the hull status monitor, which was flashing red across the board, his brow furrowed. "Eating too much can lead to indigestion."

At this moment, although the black iron looked ferocious and terrifying on the outside—

With terrifying missile silos growing from its back—

And an advanced phased array radar atop its head—all of this had come at the cost of overexertion.

The frantic "rapid evolution" just now had drained almost all the energy stored in the biological engine.

"Warning: Bio-energy reserves have fallen below 15%."

"Warning: Hull tissue is undergoing microscopic restructuring; armor strength has decreased by 30%."

"Warning: Fluid Control system forced into hibernation, currently cooling down."

It was like a python that had just swallowed a whole cow.

Even though it looked thicker and more powerful than usual, this was its weakest and most sluggish moment.

It needed time to digest and integrate the newly grown organs.

"Power system response delay.

Maximum speed can only be maintained at twenty knots."

Jiang Ran felt the slight, sickly tremors coming from the deck beneath his feet, and a strong sense of unease rose in his heart.

"At a time like this, if we encounter an enemy..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a sharp, ear-piercing alarm—one that made hearts stop—suddenly exploded throughout the Command cabin.

That wasn't a normal radar warning. It was the first cry of the newly installed sea star system.

"Beep—Beep—Beep—!!"

This was an extremely unfamiliar yet high-tech digital alarm sound.

It was different from the rasping roar of the black iron's old civilian radar.

This sound was short, powerful, and carried a suffocating sense of pressure.

"What... what is that sound? What's broken?"

Old Chen jumped out of his chair in fright, instinctively reaching out to slap the old dashboard that always had a loose connection.

"Don't touch it! That's the sea star's automatic threat interception signal!"

Su Qingyu lunged toward the main tactical screen that had just lit up, her hands flying across the holographic keyboard.

The next second, a clearer air-situation map than they had ever seen was displayed before everyone.

It was no longer a screen full of static that could only see twenty kilometers away.

This time, the radar's vision was like a pair of polished heavenly eyes, instantly covering an airspace of four hundred kilometers.

And on the edge of that light-blue 3D map, four crimson dots were closing in on the center—

The black iron's position—at a desperate speed.

"High-threat aerial targets detected!"

Su Qingyu's voice held a deep chill; every word sounded like a death knell.

"Bearing 030, altitude eight thousand meters, speed Mach 1.5!

Quantity: four. Distance... four hundred and twenty kilometers!"

"Four hundred kilometers?"

Old Chen paused and wiped his sweat. "That's still pretty far, right? If we run now, can we..."

"Far, my ass!"

Su Qingyu whipped her head around, her eyes looking ready to kill. "For supersonic fighters flying at ten thousand meters at one-and-a-half times the speed of sound—

Four hundred kilometers is just a tap on the accelerator!

That's a ten-minute countdown to death!"

She stared fixedly at the radar signature signals transmitted back from the four red dots, her face turning as pale as paper.

"This radar cross-section... there's no mistake.

It's the Ark's shore-based aviation.

It's a 'Thor' heavy attack aircraft formation!"

"Thor..."

At the mention of that name, the air in the Command cabin instantly froze.

That was the Ark fleet's ace aircraft for long-range anti-ship and ground-clearing operations.

In this wasteland era lacking anti-air power—

They were the absolute masters of the sky, invincible Reapers.

"How did they get here so fast?"

Jiang Ran stared at the screen and asked calmly.

"It's the data link."

Su Qingyu gritted her teeth and pointed at the bubbling wreckage on the sea.

"In the final moments before its keel snapped, the Zhenhai must have used an anti-interference frequency.

It uploaded our coordinates, characteristic data, and even our radar fingerprint to Ark Headquarters.

We killed the small one, and now the elder has come for revenge."

In the few dozen seconds they had been talking—

The four red dots on the screen had jumped forward significantly.

Distance: three hundred and eighty kilometers.

They were no longer just four dots of light. They were a funeral procession of sixteen heavy anti-ship missiles... eight thousand meters in the air.

There was no wind here, and no waves.

Only the blinding sunlight shone on the silver-gray wings, reflecting a cold and sharp metallic luster.

"Thor formation has arrived in the target airspace. Establishing attack route."

Inside the lead aircraft's cockpit, the flight squadron leader looked down coldly through his specialized flight helmet visor at the clouds that had just dispersed below.

Through the thin wisps of clouds, he clearly saw the scene on the sea.

In that instant—

Even for an ace pilot who had served in the Ark for ten years, the hand gripping the control stick couldn't help but tighten.

"My God..."

The wingman's voice came over the encrypted channel, carrying an unmistakable shock. "The Zhenhai... it's really broken."

On the azure sea, that twenty-thousand-ton giant ship that had once symbolized the Ark's maritime hegemony—

At this moment, it looked like a dead snake with its spine snapped.

Tragically twisted into two sections, surrounded by oil slicks and debris stretching for kilometers.

And next to that massive corpse—

A small, pitch-black shadow was quietly hovering there.