276: Flooding in Wuhan

Inside the top-floor office of the command building at the Jiangcheng naval base, smoke billowed.

Commander Liu Yi of the Jingchu region Military District stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing with complex emotions at the busy harbor outside and the vast, misty expanse of the Han River in the distance. He exhaled a long ring of smoke, then forcefully stubbed out the burnt-out cigarette into an ashtray overflowing with butts.

"Old Wan," he turned around and said to the Governor of Jingchu Province, Wan Chunlin, who was sitting on the sofa brewing tea, "The First Fleet of the Red Alert Legion should arrive this afternoon. It's time for you and me to hand over the power in our hands." His voice carried a trace of imperceptible desolation and reluctance.

"I say, Commander Liu, are you still agonizing over this?" The Governor of Jingchu Province didn't even look up, expertly rinsing and brewing the tea, his tone carrying a hint of mockery. "Look at Lu Qinian and Governor Wu Changming in the West River Region; aren't they still safely serving as division Commander and political commissar? We are, after all, high-ranking officials officially appointed by the National Government. Can Jiang Xin really demote us to mere foot soldiers? Just honestly work under him and continue to contribute. Besides, look at that batch of 'black great wall' mechs they sent; how generous! This shows that Commander Jiang still values our Jingchu region and us."

Liu Yi smiled bitterly, lit another cigarette, and took a deep drag. "I understand the logic. It's just... having been the top leader, used to having the final say, suddenly having to take orders now... I can't help but feel a bit... unaccustomed to it."

"You have to adapt whether you like it or not." The Governor of Jingchu Province handed over a cup of freshly brewed tea, his tone becoming serious. "Given the strength and technology they've demonstrated, along with their spirit of saving people from suffering, what is there for us to say? Obeying arrangements, cooperating with their work, and protecting Jiangcheng and the Jingchu region—that is the right path."

"Sigh," Liu Yi took the tea and nodded. "I have nothing left to say. I just hope things go smoothly from here on out..."

As the two were talking, the office door was abruptly pushed open, and a communications soldier rushed in with an anxious expression. "Commander! Governor! Urgent report from the radar detection station!"

A few minutes later, the two hurried to the combat command center of the Jiangcheng Military District. On the large screen, the radar energy distribution map of the Han River basin was shocking!

"What's the situation?!" Liu Yi's voice was urgent, his gaze fixed on the dense, scalp-tingling patch of energy points on the screen, which were surging from the downstream direction of the Han River, like a torrent of death, toward the Jiangzhou naval base.

Chief of Staff Tian Jun of the military district clenched his fists, his voice heavy. "Commander Liu, Governor! Radar shows that countless mutated aquatic creatures are attacking our naval base along the Han River! Preliminary judgment: just the number of Tier-1 and above mutants with clearly detectable energy fluctuations could exceed hundreds of thousands! And that doesn't include the even more numerous tier-less monsters whose energy reactions are too weak to detect!"

"What about Third-Tier ones?" Liu Yi's heart sank as he pressed for an answer.

Tian Jun's finger trembled as he pointed to several exceptionally bright, crimson light points in the center of the screen that seemed ready to jump off the display, especially one that far exceeded the others in energy intensity and scale. "Third-Tier... I'm afraid there are no less than several dozen! And this biggest one... its peak energy fluctuation... even... even exceeds that of the Twin Giants Corpse King that appeared in Phoenix City back then!"

"Dozens of Third-Tier ones?! And something even stronger?!" Liu Yi smashed his fist hard onto the console, the metal surface emitting a dull thud. This completely exceeded their past knowledge and ability to respond. "Immediately order Destroyer 101 to weigh anchor! All ships capable of moving, send them all out! Build a defensive line Relying on the river surface; we absolutely cannot let this group of monsters approach the naval base and threaten Jiangcheng!" He issued the order almost at a roar.

"Commander!" Tian Jun's face showed difficulty. "Our warships... ammunition reserves are severely insufficient, especially missiles... relying only on naval guns and close-in weapon systems, this..."

"Execute the order!" Liu Yi's eyes widened, interrupting him unquestionably. "Even if we fight until the last ship and fire the last shell, we must not let these monsters come ashore! Immediately contact the Red Alert Legion and request emergency support! Also, load all the 'black great wall' from our mech brigade onto the ships and have them set off with the fleet!"

Military orders are like mountains.

Soon, the Jiangcheng fleet, with two 4,000-ton destroyers and three 2,000-ton frigates as its core, supplemented by several smaller vessels, sounded a shrill battle alarm. Amidst the low, lingering sound of foghorns, they resolutely sailed away from the naval base, heading upstream against the Han River to meet that unknown and terrifying beast tide head-on.

The fleet sailed to a section of the river about tens of miles from the naval base and finally encountered the overwhelming beast tide head-on. The sight before them made all the officers and soldiers on the bridge gasp.

On the murky river surface, it was densely packed with terrifying creatures of various shapes and sizes!

Hideous octopuses over a dozen meters long waved tentacles lined with suckers, dozens-of-tons heavy mutated crocodiles resembled moving islands, giant salamanders over a dozen meters long were like flood dragons, massive finless porpoises leaped out of the water from time to time, and it was further mixed with countless mutated frogs, crabs, shrimp, and fish... The largest ones even included giant sharks and whales the size of small hills cruising in the water, radiating a suffocating sense of oppression.

They were not disorganized; some humanoid mutated frogmen and fishmen, holding crude yet lethal bone or coral weapons, rode on the backs of large aquatic beasts, looking just like a human army!

Just as the fleet was standing by in battle formation, a clear, melodious, yet supreme, majestic female voice with soul-piercing magic clearly spread across the river for tens of miles, echoing directly in the depths of everyone's minds:

"Humans—hand over the culprit who harmed my child!"

Before the voice had even faded, the river surface began to churn as if boiling! A giant blue whale over a hundred meters long, resembling a moving glacier, slowly surfaced. On its head grew a crystal-clear, giant ice horn emitting bone-chilling cold. Even more shocking was that on the giant whale's back, which was as wide as a plaza, stood a strange creature about three meters tall.

It was a mermaid. She had the face of a stunningly beautiful woman, her sea-blue hair cascading down like a waterfall, her skin as white as snow, and her deep-blue eyes as profound as the endless deep sea, carrying cold majesty in her gaze. Her upper body was only covered by a flowing energy veil over her key parts, while her lower body was a slender, powerful ice-crystal fish tail, its scales refracting dreamlike luster under the dim skylight. In her hand, she held a strangely shaped magic wand that seemed to be made of living coral and gemstones.

She lightly waved her magic wand, and the calm river surface suddenly surged with towering waves dozens of meters high! At the same time, the giant ice whale beneath her opened its mouth like an abyss, exhaling a freezing white airflow that instantly froze the surging waves, forming a towering, gleaming ice-wave throne! Behind the Mermaid King, a pair of energy wings made of pure water elements unfolded, and she flew lightly to the top of the ice-wave throne, looking down from above, as if a deity governing the ocean had descended.

The energy detector in the fleet's command room emitted a shrill alarm!

"Sir! The energy reading of this humanoid creature... is off the charts! It's several times higher than that of a Third-Tier Corpse King!" A technical officer's voice carried uncontrollable trembling.