Chapter 1

The once noisy and bustling radio channel was now as silent as a graveyard.

Everyone stared blankly at the monster queen suspended above the abyss.

Named "Du Fu" (Poisonous Woman) according to the ppdC monster ecology naming rules, the giant sea beast looked down condescendingly at the group of deep-sea creatures and human mecha.

Its three long tails swayed casually in the sea, its posture gentle and ethereal, completely inconsistent with their own enormous weight.

"Huff, huff..."

The Hansen father and son gasped for breath, enduring the severe pain from their limbs, controlling their mecha to barely stand.

A series of system alarms sounded in the cockpit.

Multiple parts of the mecha were damaged and leaking water, the power system's available power was reduced by 30%, and the abdominal armor was completely destroyed. Another attack would certainly destroy it completely.

The Mammoth Apostle pilot asked in a deep voice, "Overlord, Battle Wolf, what does it matter if troops are at the city gate? Are you guys alright?"

"We can still hold on."

The Eureka Striker steadied itself, forcefully hitting the stuck ejection blade on the back of its hand, causing the ejection blade to pop out again with a "clang." "This, is this the ultimate enemy? Not bad, it's indeed powerful enough."

"In this battle, we can only win, we cannot lose."

Raleigh Becket murmured in a deep voice, "When yin and yang are reversed, I will stain the blue sky with my demonic blood."

"Charge!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the three heavy mecha stepped on the seabed floor, rushing towards Du Fu like three heavy crossbow bolts.

Whoosh—

Du Fu flicked its long tail, the streamlined tail creating dense bubbles in the seawater, drawing an arc, and striking the three heavy mecha.

The A.T. Fields of both sides collided fiercely, bursting out with brilliant golden light.

The chainsword of Gipsy Danger, like ordinary iron hitting a city wall, bounced high.

The steel hammer falling from above in the Mammoth Apostle's hand was also heavily bounced away by Du Fu's A.T. Field.

The three heavy mecha were like tennis balls being hit against a wall, easily knocked away.

Then, they relentlessly charged again, continuing their fate of being knocked away.

"This, is this really, not a mistake?"

Xiaoxiao, in the cockpit of the Qubeley mecha, complained frantically. She originally thought that the newly appeared deep-sea behemoth would at most be the strength of four heavy mecha.

It would be troublesome but still within the scope of resolution.

However, the A.T. Field of this Du Fu in front of her had already become so powerful that it exceeded the sensor's upper limit.

Even the most advanced fifth-generation mecha, Eureka Striker, could not break through to close range.

Xiaoxiao pursed her lips, heavily pressing the red button on the console, causing the surrounding funnel bits to stay in place, firing continuously at Du Fu to cover the Eureka and other mecha.

The Qubeley mecha itself, under her control, retreated rapidly, drawing a semicircle.

Then, it swooped down towards the abyss of the trench.

500 meters, 700 meters, 1000 meters...

Soon, the Qubeley mecha stopped its dive, looking down condescendingly at the starting point of the spatial energy fluctuation.

It was a red gully lying across the mid-air of the abyss canyon.

It was 300 meters long and 50 meters wide, surrounded by circles of fleeting lightning, with bubbles constantly emerging from it.

Faintly, one could see the bright purple light flickering inside.

After a brief hesitation, the Qubeley mecha fired a beam of light downwards.

The light avoided the dense lightning and accurately hit the red gully.

But it failed to achieve any results—an A.T. Field also emerged on the surface of the red gully, easily blocking the attack.

As expected.

Xiaoxiao understood. In the past, the human camp had not thought about following the spatial channel to the deep-sea civilization's homeworld, transferring the battlefield to reduce battle damage.

However, the spatial channels created by the deep-sea civilization were one-way, allowing entry but not exit, and were protected by A.T. Fields. Even bombing them with nuclear weapons would be useless.

"The mission objective is to kill three deep-sea behemoths. Does that mean we must eliminate the monster queen?"

The Qubeley mecha no longer hesitated. After dropping a few glowing glow stick-like props in place, it charged upwards.

At this time, the battle situation was already precarious. The three heavy mecha were hit by Du Fu's tail sweeps again and again, suffering severe damage, and could collapse at any time.

The remaining medium and light mecha were fighting in a melee with the deep-sea creatures.

Xiaoxiao glanced at the chaotic battlefield situation, recalled the funnel bits to continue firing, and contacted Stacker and others on the airborne airship, directly sending the underwater images taken by the Qubeley mecha.

"Your ships are still parked at sea, right?"

Xiaoxiao said quickly, "It's only a matter of time before the Strikers fall.

This Du Fu has exceeded your response range.

Prepare for underwater nuclear bombing."

"What..."

The shocked Stacker was interrupted by Xiaoxiao before he could speak, "This is also in your plans, isn't it?

If a deep-sea behemoth appears that cannot be eliminated by conventional means,

In order to prevent it from causing large-scale destruction to human settlements, you can only spare no effort to find a way to intercept it in the ocean.

Whether it's directly dispatching fighter pilots, carrying nuclear bombs, ramming the deep-sea behemoth,

Or having the mecha pilots control the mecha for close-range self-destruction—the A.T. Field on the surface of the mecha can neutralize with the deep-sea behemoth's, allowing the nuclear bomb to exert its due power.

As long as there are enough nuclear bombs, it can be blasted into ashes before the deep-sea behemoth undergoes a mutation and evolution."

"..."

Stacker was silent upon hearing this.

What Xiaoxiao said was not absolutely confidential.

Even some mecha pilots were very clear that their last resort was to become disposable consumables.

Unlike the last time in New Port City,

This is Manila Bay, the sea is deeper, further away from human residential areas, and nuclear explosions are not a problem.

But if the target is a deep-sea behemoth of Du Fu's level,

One or even three heavy mecha self-destructing at the same time may not be enough. There must be more mecha, more nuclear reactors.

Everyone standing on the airship's bridge subconsciously focused their gaze on Stacker.

The latter's palms trembled slightly. He was very clear that his decision might cause thousands of mecha pilots with camaraderie to sacrifice their lives.

Stacker hesitated, but Xiaoxiao didn't have so much time to spare.

She directly contacted Black Stallion, "If Stacker doesn't agree, you know what to do."

"...Okay."

Black Stallion, still on Corregidor Island, took a deep breath. The red light in his bionic eye flickered, releasing an invisible and intangible information stream, connecting to the ppdC's command system, and silently taking over the control of nearby sea vessels and aircraft.

The players' remaining task was just to kill the third deep-sea behemoth.

As long as Du Fu could be eliminated,

What price the native residents of this world would pay was not within the players' scope of consideration.

Cruisers, destroyers, nuclear submarines...

Black Stallion's consciousness, with the help of electromagnetic waves, flickered and jumped in various carriers.

The chip processor in his brain operated at high speed, calculating all kinds of possibilities.

Judging from the paper data alone, the nuclear explosion power generated by the three heavy mecha plus the seven hundred or so medium mecha was enough to cause effective damage to Du Fu.

But the unease in his heart was growing stronger and stronger.

Something was wrong...

Killing three deep-sea behemoths was a mission objective deliberately set by the killing game.

The players had already completed two-thirds by eliminating the Knifehead and Otachi.

And judging from the image data transmitted back by Xiaoxiao, the spatial channel leading to the deep-sea civilization was also one-way—

This meant that players could not go to the world where the deep-sea civilization was located through the spatial channel and casually kill a deep-sea behemoth to complete the task.

Combining the above information, the remaining part of this mission was and could only be to kill the Category Six deep-sea behemoth [Du Fu].

Could it be that even nuclear missile bombing plus mecha self-destruction could not kill Du Fu?

Or, could the act of nuclear bombing not achieve the desired effect, but instead increase the difficulty of the mission?

The next moment, a sudden change interrupted Black Stallion's cluttered thoughts.

Du Fu flicked its tail, easily forcing back the heavy mecha that had surrounded it again, and at the same time, its limbs waved downwards, its huge body rapidly rushing towards the sea surface.

"Stop it!"

Xiaoxiao's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition arose in her heart for no reason. She didn't hesitate to pull the control stick, controlling the Qubeley mecha to swoop forward, releasing funnel bit beams.

Hearing Xiaoxiao's words, the Hansen father and son and others also realized something.

They drove their mecha and rushed forward, using various means, missiles, plasma cannons, chain swords, using all their weapons to try to prevent Du Fu from emerging from the water.

However, all the attack methods were unsuccessful under the sweep of those three long tails.

Everyone could only watch helplessly as Du Fu rapidly rose and rushed out of the water.

Whoosh—

The deep-sea behemoth's body stirred up tsunami-like waves, the seawater churning like boiling water.

Even the searchlight beams cast down by helicopters in the high sky, shining on it, seemed so small and insignificant.

Du Fu's hammerhead shark-like head drooped slightly, ignoring the lone leaf-like human ships on the distant sea surface.

Slowly, it raised its three long tails from the sea, holding them high above its head.

Tear—

The armor plates at the end of Du Fu's tail automatically split open to both sides, revealing the blue glowing glands hidden under the armor, as well as the sturdy muscle fibers comparable to modern generators.

"Helicopter group, descend, I want to see the image above Du Fu's head clearly!"

Stacker's heart was enveloped by a strong unease. He roared loudly, disregarding his demeanor, his eyes fixed on the big screen in the bridge.

As the lens zoomed in, everyone finally saw the picture at sea—

They saw that inside the three tails raised high by Du Fu, egg-shaped oval structures clearly emerged.

Du Fu was like a squirting cucumber plant, slowly squeezing the egg-shaped objects in the tail tubes, squeezing them to the end of the tail.

Then, launch!

Bang bang bang!

Du Fu's tails suddenly contracted, launching three giant egg-shaped objects wrapped in gray mucus.

Its power was so great that the three eggs flew high like intercontinental missiles, flying far away and disappearing from sight.

"It's...laying eggs."

Black Stallion gasped, those three eggs flew to the sea areas of Australia, South Asia, and East Asia respectively.

Judging from the images intercepted from the air,

After the three eggs flew out, the gray mucus on the surface would quickly harden, creating a buffer layer to avoid damage during the fall.

Bang bang bang!

Just as everyone was shocked and stunned, the deep-sea behemoth used its three long tails to launch a second round of egg shells.

So, this was the purpose of the deep-sea civilization?

Xiaoxiao's eyes were dazed. She finally understood everything—before, they sent out deep-sea creatures and deep-sea behemoths, all of which were exploratory attacks, mainly collecting intelligence.

After the intelligence was collected, the deep-sea civilization would send a final war force sufficient to make a final decision, completely erasing humanity's hope of turning the tables.

(The Poisonous Woman) who can continuously produce and cultivate deep-sea behemoths is their ultimate weapon.

"No!"

Raleigh Becket almost gnashed his teeth. For a long time, humanity's defense against deep-sea creatures has been mainly based on coastal defense lines.

The inland areas have hardly done any war prevention planning.

If a deep-sea behemoth suddenly appeared in a prosperous inland city without city walls or fortifications...

That would be more efficient than slaughter.

"Mako Mori!" Raleigh Becket called out his teammate's name, controlling the mecha to rapidly rise.

"Understood!"

Mako Mori took a deep breath. Through the drift system, the two pilots could share thoughts in their minds, feeling each other's firm beliefs.

The Gipsy Danger mecha, driven by the vector thrusters that were desperately firing flames regardless of fuel consumption, finally rushed out of the sea surface.

The surface of its body shone with golden light, and the chain sword in its hand slashed towards Du Fu.

Block!

The A.T. Field collided again.

However, this time, at the moment when Gipsy Danger was about to be knocked away, two more huge figures rose from under the sea—

Mammoth Apostle and Eureka Striker also rushed out from underwater.

The two heavy mecha supported the waist of the Gipsy Danger.

They all urged the vector thrusters, not retreating but advancing.

The three A.T. Fields, superimposed on each other under the roar of the pilots, actually melted a narrow gap on the surface of Du Fu's golden shield, just enough for the three mecha to pass through.

Now is the time!

In the cockpits of the three mecha,

The six pilots pressed the red buttons together, activating the nuclear reactor self-destruct program.

And Xiaoxiao and Black Stallion in the distance also seized this extremely short opportunity.

The former drove the Qubeley and flashed over, throwing a series of explosive items like explosive bullets into Du Fu through the gap of the A.T. Field.

The latter then showed his true colors, forcibly usurping the control of the ppdC ships, aircraft, and submarines,

Firing nuclear missiles at Du Fu in the A.T. Field.

[Meltdown self-destruct sequence initiated]

[It is recommended that pilots eject immediately]

[Countdown, 10, 9, 8, 7...]

The same system prompt sounded in the cockpits of the three mecha.

The six pilots did not choose to eject, but continued to control the mecha, fighting with Du Fu's limbs at close range, desperately holding each other, preventing the deep-sea behemoth from kicking the mecha out of the A.T. Field range.

As a member of humanity, they had long been prepared to pay the price of sacrifice for today.

I am honored to be born as a human being.

The attacked Du Fu in the incubation state was abnormally angry, using its limbs to strike the human mecha.

The heavy mecha that could easily withstand siege machinery were not much more solid than Lego bricks in the face of Du Fu's sharp claws.

Parts flew, flames burst, and seawater seeped in.

The three heavy mecha were like abused and tattered rag dolls, their limbs broken, but they still desperately entangled Du Fu's hands and feet, refusing to let go.

The chests of the mecha lit up with blue light.

The nuclear missiles launched from the underwater nuclear submarines also arrived at Du Fu's close range first, thanks to their distance advantage.

Facing the desperate situation, Du Fu seemed to have given up resisting, putting down its three vertical long tails, retracting its golden shield, and quietly suspended on the sea surface.

The next moment, a dazzling octagonal A.T. Field bloomed like a lotus flower!

The golden light, centered on Du Fu, rapidly expanded, instantly enveloping the heavy mecha and the flying nuclear missiles.

Bang!

The pilot's goggles in front of Xiaoxiao shattered, and sharp glass brushed across her eyelids, causing shallow wounds and bleeding.

But she didn't have time to wipe it at all. She desperately pulled the control stick, controlling the Qubeley mecha to retreat rapidly, barely dodging Du Fu's expanding A.T. Field.

Five hundred meters.

The area within a radius of five hundred meters centered on Du Fu was covered by the A.T. Field.

Wherever the golden light went, the waves suddenly solidified.

The missiles malfunctioned and fell into the ocean, unable to explode.

The lights on the surface of the mecha went out and stopped self-destructing.

"Heh—heh—"

Mako Mori struggled to remove the pilot's breathing mask that had stopped working, looking around the mecha cockpit where the electrical system had completely failed, and her heart was enveloped by despair.

Was this the true power of a Category Six behemoth?

Click, click.

Du Fu, in the very center of the A.T. Field, easily picked off the dead Mammoth Apostle from its shoulder, like a cat cafe waiter taking off a cat.

With a light pinch, it twisted off the limbs of the heavy mecha, and threw it into the sea with the exploding flames.

Next, it was the second one.

Du Fu casually picked off the Eureka Striker.

Facing this mecha that had slaughtered the most deep-sea behemoth compatriots, Du Fu slowly raised its finger, cutting the chest armor of the Eureka Striker with its fingernails.

At this time, those medium and light mecha in the seabed had also arrived.

They tried to break through the layers of obstacles of the deep-sea creatures and invade Du Fu's field,

But even the strongest of them (such as the mecha controlled by the original pilots of Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha) could not cause the slightest impact on Du Fu's A.T. Field.

Amidst the noisy sounds,

Du Fu continued to raise its three long tails to carry out the incubation mission.

On the one hand, it easily dismantled the cockpit armor on the chest of the Striker, admiring the two little people hidden inside.

Unfortunately, the Hansen father and son in the cockpit, looking up and glaring angrily, did not show the fear and despair that the deep-sea behemoth expected.

Boring.

Du Fu reached out a claw and was about to smash the Hansen father and son into powder, but the next moment, as if it realized something, it suddenly raised its head and looked at the distant sea.

The faces of the surrounding pilots showed shocked and confused expressions.

Xiaoxiao breathed a sigh of relief, exhaling a breath of turbid air, with a complex expression on her face.

On the distant sea, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier slowly sailed.

The ship was 332 meters long, 41 meters wide, with a full load displacement of 110,000 tons, and carried a variety of carrier-based aircraft with different functions, which could launch attacks on local aircraft, ships, submarines, and land targets.

Such an aircraft carrier, placed in the old era before the monster war, was undoubtedly the highest embodiment of human force.

But its role now was only a canoe—

A giant mecha nearly eighty meters high, made of steel and plant vines, stepped on the deck of the aircraft carrier.

Its arms drooped down, and countless vines extended along both sides of the aircraft carrier.

The vines were immersed in seawater, continuously spewing out huge amounts of air,

Propelling the aircraft carrier to continue accelerating and rush forward.