21: Melt! Melt!

Chen Xi pulled the trigger.

That red, yellow, and blue plastic trigger that looked stupid and cheap.

There was no gunshot.

There was no recoil.

There wasn't even the slightest sound.

Only a blue beam, thinner than a strand of hair and nearly invisible, flashed out from that ridiculous muzzle.

It didn't stir the wind, nor did it slice through the air.

Silent and stealthy, it crossed a distance of nearly a hundred meters and landed precisely and gently on the thick front armor of that Type 89 medium tank.

Then, everything changed.

Where the beam touched, there was no explosion, no sparks.

Instead, the hard steel plate, strong enough to withstand heavy machine gun fire, began to turn red rapidly and silently in a way that defied all laws of physics.

From a single point, it instantly spread into a surface.

The dark green paint turned into blue smoke under the extreme heat.

Immediately after, the 17mm thick armor began to soften, collapse, and deform like a block of butter thrown into a furnace.

Its edges transformed from solid to a viscous, dripping liquid at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Sizzle..."

A sound so faint it was almost inaudible came from the steel beast.

It was like a red-hot iron being dropped into water.

The next second.

Under the completely stunned gazes of Shangguan Zhibiao and Xie Jinyuan on the roof of the warehouse.

Before the screens of tens of millions of viewers in the Livestream room, which were now filled with question marks and exclamation points.

The once-arrogant Type 89 medium tank that had driven the defenders to despair had its entire front look like a plastic model being set on fire.

It began to collapse and melt silently.

The turret, having lost its support, slid crookedly into the hull.

The gun barrel drooped limply like a melting candle.

Within just three seconds, the entire chassis transformed from a sharp-edged war machine into a massive, shapeless lump of orange-red glowing, violently churning, and smoking... molten iron.

The tank crew inside, along with their ammunition, didn't even have time to scream before they were instantly vaporized in the extreme heat exceeding three thousand degrees Celsius.

Not even a wisp of black smoke remained.

On the battlefield, there was an absolute silence that lasted for five seconds.

Whether it was the charging Japanese Army or the defenders fighting desperately in their positions, everyone seemed to have been hit by a freezing spell, stopping all their movements in unison.

They just watched blankly.

Watching as the tank that had been so formidable just moments ago turned into a puddle of slowly flowing, destructive-smelling magma right before their eyes.

"What... what is that?"

A young Chinese Soldier stood with his mouth agape, unaware that the rifle in his hand had fallen to the ground.

"Has... has Amaterasu-omikami become angry?"

A charging Japanese Soldier's legs gave way, and he knelt directly on the ground, kowtowing frantically toward the puddle of molten iron.

Only the driver of the second bean tank following behind was the first to react to this surreal terror.

His brain couldn't process the information before him, but his survival instinct led him to make the right choice.

Run!

He frantically slammed it into reverse, trying to get this steel monster away from that eerie area.

But it was too late.

On the roof, Chen Xi slowly turned that large, ridiculous "muzzle."

He didn't even make a move to aim.

He simply pointed the muzzle casually at the tank that was clumsily retreating.

Then, he pulled the trigger again.

Another silent, thin blue beam.

The same script played out again.

The rear of that tank began to turn red, soften, and collapse in the same manner.

The tracks melted and snapped in the intense heat.

The entire tank, like a beetle with its rear crushed, lay helplessly immobilized on the spot. Then, amidst the driver's desperate roars, it was completely consumed inch by inch, from back to front, by the unstoppable melting.

Another puddle of molten iron.

Two puddles of dark red molten iron still emitting rolling heat waves.

Total silence.

Whether on the battlefield or in the Livestream room.

All fell into a deathly, suffocating silence.