True Apocalypse Game

BOOM... GRIIIIND...

The sound of something enormous scraping against the hull came from beneath the aircraft carrier, sending a violent tremor through the entire ship.

What was that?!

Clark’s eyes widened. A terrible thought suddenly occurred to him.

The electromagnetic pulse from the nuclear detonation at the center of the Wormhole Sea Region dozens of kilometers away, combined with the tsunami kicked up by the Exotic Giant Beast, had completely destroyed the undersea sonar network. For a time, the human forces had lost all ability to detect what was happening beneath the waves.

The various warships had only just rebooted their systems. They were flying blind, with no idea what was below them.

"A tentacle, Commander Clark. It must be a severed piece from the explosion that drifted over here..." the captain at his side said quickly. "The beast has been completely destroyed. The Eagle Country Navy has saved the world once again. You can rest easy."

The aircraft carrier’s trembling had stopped, and the tremendous noise was gone. All that remained on the ocean surface were the violent waves stirred up by the beast.

Clark couldn’t help but crack a small smile. He said:

"I was just a little on edge. We’re dozens of kilometers from the Space Wormhole—tens of thousands of meters. Even that Exotic Giant Beast couldn’t have reached us here, to say nothing of the fact that it’s dead."

"Exactly, Commander. We can begin the celebration. Even though we detonated a nuclear bomb inside the monster not far from here, it wasn’t a dirty bomb like a three-phase weapon. Besides, the monster absorbed most of the blast. The radiation detectors on board aren’t showing the slightest reading. We don’t have to worry about any contamination. This is the best possible outcome," the captain said, also smiling.

A colonel on the staff laughed and chimed in:

"This is fantastic! To be honest, when I first got the Zeus operation plan, I was prepared to never have children. Radiation from a nuke is no joke; not even God could save us from that."

Clark took off his gas mask, turned, and looked at his comrades-in-arms with sincere eyes.

"Gentlemen, thank you for the sacrifices you’ve made for our country and for all of humanity. Now, it’s time to reap our rewards. I’ve already had the ship prepare top-shelf champagne and a feast. Let’s celebrate to our hearts’ content!"

"Hahaha, thank you, Commander Clark!"

"Long live Eagle Country! Make Eagle Country great again!"

"Commander Clark, the President has already sent out twenty-three tweets congratulating you and the fleet on your success! Our actions have even affected the situation in the Middle East Region. Persia was on the verge of declaring war on us, but now they’ve suddenly backed down. They’re saying they want peace talks with our country for the good of all humanity! They’re even willing to let the whole Suleimani assassination go!"

"My God! Hahaha! We took down a monster this powerful—what are a few Persians in comparison! The Israelis should be able to sleep soundly now. I just wonder what our friends from Hua Country think about all this?"

"..."

The entire Eagle Country Fleet erupted in celebration. The lights on every warship were turned on, and the carrier-based aircraft and drones that had been circling in the sky began to land. The *George W. Bush* aircraft carrier even started blasting Queen’s "Under Pressure" from its loudspeakers. The whole fleet became a sea of joy.

Unlike the Eagle Country Fleet, the Hua Country fleet on the other side of the Wormhole Sea Region encirclement—including the Shandong-class aircraft carrier—was dead silent. Most of their lights were even extinguished, and their engine power had been temporarily reduced to a minimum.

This was an order from the fleet’s commander, Zhao Weiguo.

Gazing at the Exotic Giant Beast’s corpse floating in the distance—half-submerged, yet still rising hundreds of meters above the water like a small island—Zhao Weiguo’s brow was tightly furrowed. He felt a deep sense of unease.

’Something’s not right.’

’Something feels... wrong...’

The surface of the distant Exotic Giant Beast’s massive corpse was covered in a dense network of cracks. A golden-red light shone from within, even from its two enormous eye sockets.

Its body was still slowly burning from the inside.

The power of the nuclear bomb had been completely absorbed by the Exotic Giant Beast, yet it still hadn’t been enough to utterly destroy its body. This was a testament to the creature’s astonishing physical durability.

Zhao Weiguo also noticed that while the creature possessed tens of thousands of tentacles, only a few dozen of them were truly gigantic.

These main tentacles hung from the front of the Exotic Giant Beast’s body. They were far thicker than the others, thousands of meters long and about fifty meters in diameter. They now floated on the surface, like colossal ropes binding a mountain.

The surface was also littered with smaller tentacles that had been severed by the nano-metal wires. Even these were ten to several dozen meters in diameter, and the tsunami and blast’s aftershock had pushed them into the area occupied by the Hua Country fleet.

"Commander, the Eagle Country Fleet has started celebrating, and the fleet from France is on its way back. Shouldn’t we celebrate too? The dumplings are all wrapped and ready, just waiting for your order."

A logistics officer at his side said with a smile.

Zhao Weiguo didn’t answer. Instead, he gave an order:

"Use the night-vision systems and radar to inspect the main tentacles of this deep-sea behemoth. See if there’s any sign of damage from an Electromagnetic Railgun."

The order was given and immediately followed. The entire fleet mobilized at once, quickly carrying out a scan of the giant beast in the distance.

A technician’s voice came over the comms:

"Report: Inspection complete. We’ve found no main tentacles damaged by an Electromagnetic Railgun. Most tentacles are intact. The few with injuries show damage from the nano-metal nets and depth charges."

Hearing this, the hair on Zhao Weiguo’s arms stood on end, and fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

A tentacle had been severed by an Electromagnetic Railgun before, and the surviving section was sent directly to Hua Country. Zhao Weiguo would never forget that.

But the main tentacles of this Exotic Giant Beast, killed by a nuke, showed no signs of being blasted by a railgun. There were only two possibilities.

One: the creature possessed astonishing regenerative powers and could heal its wounds rapidly.

But from what they had observed during the battle, its regenerative abilities weren’t that strong.

The second possibility... was far more serious.

’There’s more than one of these monsters!’

The Exotic Giant Beast whose tentacle was severed that day and the beast just killed by the nuclear bomb were not the same one!

"Immediately warn the Eagle Country Fleet... no, warn the entire United Fleet! It’s highly likely there’s a second beast! Tell them to maintain silence!" Zhao Weiguo commanded loudly. "Deploy all remaining unmanned Submersibles to observe the Wormhole entrance on the seabed! The fleet will begin to pull back... thirty nautical miles!"

"Yes, sir!"

No one mentioned dumplings now. One by one, the orders were relayed, and a flood of information was sent out over the United Fleet’s communication network.

Zhao Weiguo stared at the violent ocean, still churning with the aftershocks of the tsunami, and muttered to himself:

"...There could be a third, a fourth... or even more, bigger ones... If that’s the case, we’re completely finished..."

Just then, a searing flash of light erupted from the Eagle Country Fleet dozens of kilometers away. A huge explosion blossomed over the water like a firework, exceptionally brilliant against the night sea.

"It’s the *Paul Ignatius* guided-missile destroyer! My God, did its ammunition magazine detonate?!"