Chapter 97 The Dragon Raises Its Head

At this second, gravity in the Gobi Desert of the Great Northwest seemed to have failed.

There was no ear-splitting explosion as expected.

Instead, there was a low-frequency tremor originating from deep within the Earth's crust.

This vibration spread rapidly along the rock strata, and gravel within a hundred miles lifted off the ground like boiling water droplets, hovering in the air for a fraction of a second before being violently dragged back to the ground.

"Rumble—"

The dull, massive roar finally struck everyone in the chest.

That was not the sound of explosives clearing a mountain; that was the sound of hundreds of millions of tons of rock being forcibly pushed aside by some irresistible, mighty force.

The rolling barren mountains slid to both sides amidst the roar of hydraulic systems, and the dust that had just risen was forcibly suppressed and pushed away by an invisible force field.

Pure, high-energy, ghostly blue.

A blue beam of light with a diameter of over a hundred meters erupted from the deep abyss, piercing the atmosphere instantly without even going through any acceleration process.

The clouds were instantly evaporated by the high temperature, and the sky was violently torn open, creating a huge wound; the originally dusky Gobi sky was dyed a crystalline blue with a strong sci-fi texture at this moment.

In low Earth orbit.

Hundreds of spy satellites were adjusting their focal lengths, spying on every inch of change in this land.

However, the moment the beam of light shot into the sky, the large screens at The Pentagon intelligence center suddenly went blind.

The torrent of high-energy particles exceeded the sensor thresholds, and ear-piercing alarms exploded simultaneously in the top Command Centers of Washington, Moscow, and London.

"Heat source reaction off the charts!"

"Spectral analysis failed! Unable to parse energy levels!"

"That is... God, is that a plasma stream?"

The roars of the intelligence officers were drowned out by the chaotic sound of electrical current.

All detection methods targeting the Northwest of Daxia were rendered ineffective at this moment.

That was an energy suppression from a higher dimension; any prying eyes were burned away in the face of this radiance.

And for the billions of ordinary people on the ground holding mobile phones and watching live broadcast screens, the world stood still in this instant.

Whether it was the Wall Street elite fleeing the stock market crash, or the East Asian residents shivering in air-raid shelters, everyone's pupils constricted sharply.

On the screen, within the abyss where the earth had split open, a behemoth was rising.

It was not the kind of clumsy rocket that relied on chemical fuel and spewed crimson exhaust flames.

It was silent.

The silver-black hull reflected a cold, metallic gleam, with ghostly blue energy circuits flowing on the surface like blood vessels.

The massive hull, with a wingspan of over six hundred meters, blocked the sunlight, casting a shadow like a moving continent, swallowing up the Gobi Desert for dozens of kilometers around.

It ignored gravity.

There was no roar of engines, only the "buzzing" sound of air being squeezed by a high-pressure repulsion field.

The massive body ascended vertically with elegance and composure, its speed so fast that it left afterimages on the retina.

Three thousand meters.

Six thousand meters.

Ten thousand meters.

In just a few seconds, this steel behemoth hovered above the stratosphere.

Only at this moment did all of humanity see its true appearance.

The streamlined hull was full of a certain biological aesthetic from ancient mythology, and the huge anti-gravity wings on both sides were like the wings of the legendary clouds that hang from the sky.

It floated quietly above the clouds, overlooking all living beings.

Beneath that majestic bow, a heavy main gun with a terrifying caliber was undergoing its final calibration.

The space around the muzzle was slightly distorted; that was the sign of high-energy particles ready to be fired.

How could this be a human creation?

This was clearly the resurgence of mythology, the embodiment of a totem.

Northwest Daxia, "scavenger" underground base.

Dead silence.

Thousands of researchers in white uniforms maintained their original postures; some had their recording pads drop to the ground, while others had trembling lips but could not make a sound.

Until the giant ship on the large screen transmitted the first set of self-test signals—

【luan bird one, all systems online.】

【Anti-gravity engine output stable.】

【Aerospace defense system, in position.】

"It succeeded..."

Academician Wang gripped the edge of the console tightly, his knuckles turning white from excessive force.

Turbid tears flowed wantonly down his furrowed cheeks, dripping onto the cold operation panel.

This old man, who had witnessed half a century of Daxia's storms, cried like a child who had snatched candy back from the hands of death at this moment.

"We created it..."

Chen Weiguo stood at the very front of the command console, with his back to the crowd.

His shoulders were shaking slightly, and his hands, hanging at his sides, were clenched into fists, his palms almost pierced by his nails.

He did not want anyone to see his loss of composure.

But he had to remember this moment.

For this sword, the people of Daxia had endured too long, suffered too long, and sacrificed too long.

Today, the sword is unsheathed.

The dragon raises its head.

...

Western Pacific, coordinates N31°, E142°.

Six aircraft carrier battle groups were spread out on the sea surface, like a chain of islands forged from steel.

Hundreds of carrier-based aircraft were circling and waiting, and the missile silo covers had long been opened, pointing ominously to the west.

Command room of the "Ford" aircraft carrier flagship.

The air conditioning was set very high, and the air was filled with the aroma of expensive cigars and freshly ground coffee.

A white general with five stars on his shoulders leaned lazily in the command chair, his well-tailored military uniform impeccable.

He picked up an exquisite bone china coffee cup, gently blew away the steam on the surface, and looked through the huge bulletproof porthole toward the blue sea in the distance.

At the end of his vision, the first wave of "Tomahawk" cruise missiles had already disappeared on the horizon.

"Three more minutes."

The adjutant stood to the side, his voice filled with undisguised excitement, "Radar shows that the other side has made no interception attempts. It seems their air defense system has been completely suppressed by our electronic warfare aircraft."

"Air defense system?" The general laughed contemptuously, took a sip of mellow Blue Mountain coffee, "What will they use to intercept it? With those few weak protests?"

He put down the cup, his fingers tapping gently on the armrest; that was the rhythm of power.

"This is the generation gap of civilization, Major." The general turned his head, his tone as arrogant as if he were teaching elementary school students, "On this planet, truth is always only within range. And we are the truth."

"Notify the White House. I think Mr. President is already impatient to hear Daxia begging for mercy. Perhaps we should add a clause to the armistice agreement to force them to fully disclose their ridiculous space technology..."

"Bzz—"

A piercing electrical screech abruptly interrupted his speech.

Immediately after, the entire bridge plunged into suffocating darkness.

The holographic tactical map went out.

The fire control radar screen went out.

The indicator lights of the communication channels all turned deathly grey.

The originally precisely operating modern Command Center instantly turned into a soulless steel corpse.

Only the unfinished cup of coffee on the table was emitting wisps of steam, appearing particularly ironic.

"What is going on?!"

The general stood up abruptly, his knee hitting the corner of the table, and the coffee cup shattered with a "crack."

The scalding brown liquid splashed onto his polished military boots, but he didn't notice at all.

"Where is the backup power? Why didn't it start?!"

"Report! All electronic circuits are fried!"

"Navigation system offline! Fire control radar cannot lock on!"

"We... we have lost control of all warships! Even the power systems!"

The terrified screams of the communications soldiers rose and fell in the darkness.

The general's heart contracted violently.

Electromagnetic pulse?

Impossible! This place is still very far from the Daxia coastline. What kind of EMP weapon could cover the entire Western Pacific? And for an attack of this magnitude, why did the satellites not give any warning?

"General! Above! Look above!"

A shrill, distorted roar tore through the chaos.

A lookout slumped in front of the porthole, his fingers trembling as he pointed to the sky, his eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets.

The general staggered to the window and looked up.

The next second, he felt as if someone had sucked all the air out of the bridge.

The sky over the Western Pacific, which had been clear and sunny, now looked as if a layer of thick ink had been splashed onto it.

The sun had disappeared.

A shadow, so huge it defied the laws of physics, hovered directly above the fleet without any warning.

It was too big, so big that even an aircraft carrier looked like a simple fishing boat in front of it.

The silver-black armor was faintly visible among the clouds, and the ghostly blue energy veins flickered like the breathing of a god.

That was not a cloud, nor was it a storm.

That was a steel mountain hanging upside down in the sky.

"What... what the hell is that..."

The general's hands trembled violently as he tried to lift the binoculars hanging around his neck, but his muscles completely refused to obey.

Through the porthole, he clearly saw the belly of the giant ship slowly opening, and a muzzle flickering with destructive light was pointing vertically downward, like the single eye of the Grim Reaper, coldly watching this once invincible fleet.

There was no sound.

That behemoth did not make any engine roar, just hung there quietly.

This absolute silence was more devastating than the firing of ten thousand guns.

"Gulp."

The general's Adam's apple rolled as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty.

At this moment, his twelve aircraft carrier battle groups that he was so proud of, his nuclear arsenal capable of destroying half the Earth, and the pride and worldview he had built over his fifty-year military career...

...all shattered into dust in front of that god-made object hovering above the nine heavens.

He finally understood that feeling.

The despair and powerlessness when facing a higher-dimensional civilization.

It was like a group of heavily armed ants, waving their antennae, thinking they had conquered the entire garden.

Until the giant named "humanity" carelessly lifted its heel.