51: dam breach

Inside the command room of the black iron, the red alarm lights had already been extinguished, leaving only the data stream flickering on the tactical main screen.

Jiang Ran leaned back in the captain's chair, watching the screen's broadcast with a cold gaze.

On the river surface two kilometers away.

The water stockade of the Dragon King Stockade was currently belching thick billows of smoke.

Although the previous round of bombardment had destroyed two of their watchtowers and the outer pontoons, throwing the water bandits into chaos,

the core structure of the main stockade remained intact.

Those thugs, who hadn't even figured out where the enemy was yet, were scurrying over the wreckage like ants.

They were attempting to organize those ridiculous, self-made crude cannons to launch a blind counterattack.

"Suggestion: The enemy's firepower network is 70% paralyzed. Direct forced passage is possible."

On the center console, a line of pale blue text appeared; this was the optimal solution provided by the black iron's tactical computer.

Jiang Ran did not immediately order the advance.

His fingers lightly tapped the armrest, his gaze passing over the burning water stockade to look behind the Dragon King Stockade—

at that old dam spanning the narrow river channel.

That was the barrier the Dragon King Stockade relied on for survival, and it was also the largest roadblock in these waters.

"Pass through directly? No."

Jiang Ran shook his head, his voice so calm it didn't hold a single ripple, as if he were talking about sweeping dust off the deck.

"Cutting the grass without removing the roots only allows it to grow back with the spring breeze.

Since we're passing through, we might as well clear the roadblock completely."

He sat up straight and swiped his hand across the touchscreen.

The red crosshairs that had been locked onto the wreckage of the water stockade instantly shifted, rising upward.

They swept past the panicked crowd and finally locked firmly onto a node on the right side of the dam behind them.

In the magnified image, it was clear to see that the concrete surface of the dam was already covered in moss and cracks.

That was the connection point between the spillway gate and the dam body, and it was also the weakest point of the entire structure.

"zero, structural analysis."

"Target: Abandoned Hydroelectric Dam.

Status: Severe structural aging, overloaded water storage.

Weakness: Load-bearing pillar above the right diversion tunnel.

Calculation result: A single-point demolition can trigger a chain collapse."

zero's data supported Jiang Ran's judgment.

Combined with the continuous heavy rain of the past few days,

the upstream water level had long since approached the warning line. The entire dam was now like a balloon filled with air, needing only a single needle.

"Load the main gun with a High-Explosive Armor-Piercing Shell."

Jiang Ran calmly issued the command.

A slight tremor came from the deck beneath his feet.

It was the sound of the 105mm Main Gun at the bow of the black iron slowly raising its barrel, pushed by hydraulic rods.

Data for windage, humidity, and distance flickered rapidly on the screen before finally converging into a static green locking frame.

Jiang Ran looked at that fragile connection point as if looking at the red line on a condemned prisoner's neck.

"Goodbye."

He pressed the fire button.

"Boom—!"

Accompanied by a muffled roar,

the hull of the black iron sank abruptly, kicking up a ring of white spray around it,

before slowly recoiling under the immense reaction force.

That shell, carrying a deathly whistle, instantly tore through the grey curtain of rain,

leaving behind a distorted heatwave in the air that was almost impossible for the naked eye to catch.

Two seconds later.

At the connection point on the right side of the dam, a cloud of murky dust erupted.

There wasn't the kind of earth-shattering chain of fire seen in Hollywood movies.

This High-Explosive Armor-Piercing Shell had precisely bored deep into the concrete before detonating.

Most of the explosion's sound was swallowed by the thick dam body.

It didn't sound like an explosion, but more like a muffled roll of thunder coming from deep underground.

Time seemed to freeze for half a heartbeat.

Through the binoculars, that towering grey wall didn't seem to disintegrate immediately.

Only a few large chunks of rubble fell from where it was hit, revealing the rusty rebar inside.

But Jiang Ran knew that the physical balance had already been broken.

The next second.

A glaring black crack centered on the impact point, spreading like a crazily growing vine, instantly covering half the dam body.

"Crack—"

The sound wasn't deafening, but it was sharp enough to set one's teeth on edge, as if a giant's spine were snapping under heavy pressure.

Immediately after, a jet of high-pressure black water was the first to shoot out from the crack.

The immense pressure made the water flow as sharp as the blade of an industrial cutting machine,

instantly slicing through the surrounding, already softened concrete structure.

The reinforced concrete that had seemed indestructible,

now faced with the terrifying water pressure accumulated over months, was as fragile as a soda cracker under a hydraulic press.

The right shoulder of the dam completely collapsed, and a breach appeared.

With that heart-stopping sound of snapping, the breach on the right side of the dam was no longer just a leak, but had turned into a complete collapse.

Millions of tons of potential energy were converted into kinetic energy in an instant.

The stagnant water that had been building up in the upstream reservoir for who knows how long finally found an outlet to vent.

It could hardly be called water; it was a nauseating, ink-black fluid as thick as oil.

Countless floating corpses, swollen and white from being soaked, rotting wood, and toxic industrial waste accumulated during the Wasteland Era

were all churned together by the frantic turbulence in this moment.

"Rumble—"

All other noises in the world vanished, leaving only this deafening roar.

The black flood peak raised its head high, like a black dragon imprisoned for a thousand years finally breaking free from its chains.

Carrying world-destroying fury and shrouded in foul-smelling spray, it lunged downstream in its most violent form.

At the highest point of the wave, a black water wall four or five meters high even surged up.

Tumbling within it were not just trash, but also the car wreckage of the old era and uprooted trees.

Instead of sinking, they were like fangs in the mouth of this black dragon, spinning and crashing wildly as the water advanced.

The air was instantly filled with the suffocatingly thick stench of rotting corpses and methane.

This wasn't just a flood.

It was a cleansing from the Dead Zone.

The black dragon roared past,

even gnawing a layer off the hard rocks on both banks.

With an unrivaled weight, it crushed down toward the unsuspecting Dragon King Stockade downstream.

Two kilometers downstream, the thugs of the Dragon King Stockade were still in chaos from the previous bombardment.

Several minor leaders with hairtail tattoos were standing on the swaying pontoons, waving pistols.

They were hysterically driving slaves to repair the outer defense line that had been blown apart.

Some even recklessly jumped onto an armed speedboat, attempting to launch a suicide charge toward the black iron.

They didn't realize at all why the gloomy sky above had suddenly become even more oppressive.

Nor did they notice that the river water beneath them, which had been flowing smoothly, suddenly began to tremble violently, letting out a low moan from the abyss.

Until that heart-stopping roar drowned out all the shouting and cursing.

"What... what is that?"

A sentry standing at the top of the watchtower stared blankly toward the rear, the binoculars in his hand slipping to the ground.

No one had time to answer.

The black flood peak arrived in an instant.

That murky water wall, several meters high, was like a giant palm reaching out from hell, slamming hard into the seemingly massive chain of water stockades of the Dragon King Stockade.

There was no suspense, and there was no resistance.

The floating houseboats built with the blood and sweat of countless slaves, the warships chained together, and the water fortresses they were so proud of—

in this moment, they were as fragile as paper boats folded by a child.

"Crack— Snap—"

The thick iron chains were instantly snapped, letting out sharp cracks like firecrackers.

Countless wooden planks and iron sheets burst apart amidst the sounds of twisting metal.

That armed speedboat, which had just started its engine, didn't even have time to turn around before it was flipped into the air by the giant wave.

It smashed heavily onto another floating platform like a toy, instantly turning into a pile of scrap metal.

The thugs who had been full of ferocity just a second ago were now left with only horrific screams.

They ran like frightened ants on the pontoons that were about to disintegrate, trying to grab onto even a single lifesaving straw.

But the murky, black corpse water was everywhere, instantly swallowing their figures with its immense kinetic energy.

Those 'water bandits' who usually played the tyrant didn't even have the right to struggle in the face of nature's true rage.

The entire Dragon King Stockade—

this cancer that had occupied the waterway for so long was completely erased in less than ten seconds.

Only countless broken fragments and corpses remained, swept along by that unstoppable black dragon as they tumbled toward the further reaches downstream.

The clamor came quickly and left just as fast.

After that destructive flood peak had rampaged through,

the roaring on the river gradually subsided, turning into a deeper, murkier whimper.

The once crowded and blocked waterway was now empty, with only the murky black river water rushing wildly.

The once invincible Dragon King Stockade had completely vanished.

In its place were large patches of construction waste, broken wooden planks, and corpses floating and sinking like dead fish.

Long before firing the gun, the black iron had already retreated to a relatively wide river bay backwater area upstream.

Now, as the water current began to stabilize,

the massive black hull slowly sailed out, like a crow watching coldly at this funeral.

Inside the command room, Jiang Ran withdrew his gaze from the window and turned to look at the radar screen.

The dozens of red dots that had been densely clustered in the center of the channel, symbolizing hostile targets,

had now been wiped completely clean.

Only a few scattered points of light remained, rapidly moving away with the current.

Those were survivors being washed away, or perhaps just a few corpses.

But he didn't care.

For the slaves swallowed by the flood, this might be a form of release;

for the thugs who had committed countless evils, this was a belated judgment.

And for Jiang Ran,

this was merely a simple math problem: the obstacles had been cleared, and passage efficiency had been restored.

"Warning cleared. Forward channel is clear."

The tactical computer's cold electronic voice sounded at the right moment.

Jiang Ran expressionlessly picked up the water cup beside him and took a small sip.

Under the gloomy sky outside, the heavy rain continued to fall,

washing over this filthy world and also washing away the lingering scent of gunpowder on the black iron's armor.

"Full speed ahead."

He put down the cup, his voice as calm as a single drop of water in this vast curtain of rain.

"Follow them and see if there is any trash worth salvaging."