True Apocalypse Game

In the waters thirty to seventy nautical miles north of the Bering Strait, thousands of ships had completely surrounded the area.

These ships came from countries all over the world, especially the major powers that were relatively close.

The significance of the Space Wormhole was simply too great for any single country to monopolize such a major discovery. Thus, the operation was still led by the five permanent members of the United Nations, who had granted research access to the Space Wormhole to other major powers.

The entire area of the sea now had a new name:

Wormhole Sea Region.

At the very center of the Wormhole Sea Region were hundreds of research vessels, including several deep-sea exploration platforms.

Here, the five great powers were still leading the exploration efforts. After all, technology like deep-sea submersibles was something only a handful of countries had mastered.

The smaller nations could only watch helplessly. Even though they technically had the right to conduct their own explorations, it was useless.

They had no submersibles!

The level of technology involved was in no way inferior to that of a spacecraft.

This was also why the great powers had dared to grant the whole world exploration access to the Wormhole.

They gave you a chance, and you still couldn’t make use of it!

Simply through these technological barriers, the great powers had essentially monopolized the exploration of the Space Wormhole.

Further out, there were even several oil rigs that had been temporarily converted into offshore research bases.

Then came the media and civilian vessels. The media ships, in particular, outnumbered the research vessels several times over. Major media outlets from all over the world had rushed here, scrambling to report on what was being called the greatest discovery since the moon landing.

The discovery of the Space Wormhole had become the top news story of the day. Previous bombshells like the Stone Statue Virus, the Evil Spirit Virus, and the nuclear detonation in Colombia were now collectively forgotten by the public. The Wormhole was all that mattered.

On social media and streaming sites, topics related to the Wormhole consistently topped the trending lists. Some top streamers even chartered their own boats to broadcast live from the Wormhole Sea Region, basically living on-site.

Since the area was in international waters, and because the powers that be were wary of a global media backlash, these people were completely brazen. They couldn’t be driven away.

Rumor had it that the famous game company, Bluehole, was even planning to rebrand as "Wormhole" just to cash in on the hype.

Even further out, several naval fleets were stationed in silent readiness, prepared to respond to any emergencies.

The warships present hailed from over fifty nations, but the most powerful, naturally, belonged to Hua Country, Eagle Country, and Russia.

In addition to Hua Country’s South Sea Fleet, led by the Shandong, and Eagle Country’s Seventh Fleet, led by a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, Russia had even brought over its own geriatric carrier, the Kuznetsov, accompanied by a special task force from the Russian Northern Fleet.

Although the Kuznetsov was notorious for belching thick smoke—the black plumes from its heavy fuel oil often completely shrouded the vessel—it was still a bona fide aircraft carrier. The fleet it formed was a carrier battle group, and it still projected a powerful deterrent.

Even though the navies of many smaller nations mocked the smoke-belching carrier, they absolutely did not dare to underestimate its power.

After all, its decline was only relative to superpowers like Hua Country and Eagle Country.

The carrier’s presence was also a sideways reflection of the urgency felt by Russia’s top brass.

Having been relegated to a resource-based economy, they were in desperate need of a new technological revolution.

According to the agreement between the various national militaries, the entire sea was sectioned off into a circle. Each country was responsible for security in a designated sector, while also maintaining a distance of about ten nautical miles from the Space Wormhole so as not to interfere with the scientific work.

At first, everyone was relatively well-behaved. But after a few calm days, it seemed the Eagle Country Fleet was up to something. Their fleet had advanced four to five nautical miles, and two Virginia-class Nuclear Submarines had just joined their ranks. It was anyone’s guess what they were planning.

"Admiral, there’s something off about the Eagle Country’s fleet today. They’ve advanced five nautical miles, claiming they were pushed by ocean currents. What’s more, our radar has detected their unmanned submersibles. We don’t know what kind of tricks they’re trying to pull."

In the command center of the carrier Shandong, an officer reported to Fleet Admiral Zhao Weiguo.

Zhao Weiguo raised his binoculars to look at the distant Eagle Country Fleet before speaking slowly.

"Increase our vigilance. The Eagle Country People have been known for trying to gain petty advantages ever since their new President took office. But over such a short distance, a few nautical miles makes no real difference. We’ll see what they’re plotting... Have our unmanned submersibles check if they’ve violated the agreement by secretly deploying their own."

"Yes, sir!"

Zhao Weiguo then patted the officer’s shoulder reassuringly.

"Relax. Our submersibles are the best. Right now, the real competition is on the scientific front. All these warships and submarines everyone brought? They’re mostly for show. It’s best if a fight doesn’t break out. But if it does, trust me, we won’t hold back."

The officer nodded, and just as he was about to speak, a brilliant white light suddenly flashed from the seabed!

A deep, muffled boom followed, and the sea surface began to churn violently, causing all the surrounding ships to lurch.

The aircraft carrier itself remained stable, but battle alarms began to blare throughout the ship!

On the large screen in the command center, lines representing various metrics suddenly surged like tidal waves, multiplying dozens of times over in an instant!

"Admiral, data coming in from the research center! The Space Wormhole just produced a massive flash! The energy being released is increasing exponentially, and its physical area... its physical area is expanding!" a crewman reported, his voice trembling.

"Get the visuals on screen!" Zhao Weiguo commanded in a low voice.

Dozens of smaller windows instantly populated the main screen, each displaying the feed from a different deep-sea camera.

Naturally, they were all trained on the undersea Wormhole.

The undersea Wormhole was no longer dim as before; it was now emitting an intensely bright light. The flash from the seabed moments ago must have come from it.

The visible portion of the deep-sea Wormhole, originally several meters in diameter, had now expanded to about ten meters and was continuing to grow.

Meanwhile, the core of the phenomenon—the physical Wormhole—which had originally been only as wide as a bowl, was also expanding and stretching outward.

Looking through the cameras’ feeds, the other side of the Wormhole still showed that same unfamiliar Star Realm—cold and silent. A distant red giant, the last source of warmth in a dead star system, glowed like a dying ember.

No manned deep-sea submersibles were deployed at the moment, but the sheer number of cameras and sensors, combined with the earlier flash of light and deep hum, meant the changes to the undersea Wormhole had not gone unnoticed. A flurry of panicked activity and noise erupted across the fleet.

The media and streamers’ boats, in particular, were scrambling to get closer for a better look. Many even swarmed toward the research vessels, hoping to snag an interview with a scientist to find out what was going on.

A few well-known streamers with clearance began to frantically analyze the situation for their audiences.

In this age where information and traffic are king, every word they spoke was worth its weight in gold!

But in stark contrast to the frenzy of these civilians, both the research vessels and the military fleets went on high alert.

Something was about to happen...

Zhao Weiguo stared intently at the screen, his eyes fixed on the ever-expanding undersea Wormhole. Without realizing it, fine beads of sweat had formed on his forehead.

He had done his homework. He knew that the energy required to open a Space Wormhole was astronomical. Even for a small one like this on the seabed, the energy required was equivalent to at least a ten-megaton nuclear warhead.

And now, the Wormhole was expanding. It was the equivalent of one Big Ivan super-nuke after another detonating continuously!

As a military man, he was acutely sensitive to such things.

Just then, the view through the Wormhole, which had been a backdrop of stars, suddenly changed color. It became a yellowish-brown, and a vertical slit appeared in the center.

Seeing this, a chill went down Zhao Weiguo’s spine, and his eyes flew wide open.

’It’s that creature from the Exotic Realm!’

’Its eye!’

’It’s back!’