"That is truly terrible. In all my years serving on naval vessels, I have never witnessed such a ferocious storm. This is a perfect storm, indeed."

With the immediate course of action agreed upon, Zheng Zha went to the bridge to inquire about the warship. As it stood, the vessel was fundamentally sound; it was a leviathan, not one of those small fishing boats. Even amidst this current, exaggerated perfect storm, complete capsizing was out of the question for the entire destroyer. However, issues concerning speed and heading were significant.

Zheng Zha nodded. "Then we'll have to rely on you all. Rest assured, we will not silence you by killing you. It's just that we might encounter combat en route, so your situation is extremely perilous... I keep my word. When we part ways, I'll give you ample diamonds. If you prefer gold, that's fine too, but you likely won't be able to carry away a substantial weight of it. In short, there is danger, but there is also immense reward. If everyone survives this, you can all enjoy the rest of your lives handsomely."

The surrounding soldiers nodded silently. Ever since the Central Continent team boarded the warship,

Zheng Zha had taken out a large quantity of diamonds and gold to distribute among them to ease their minds. After all, the exchange rate for such items at the "Main God" was exceedingly low, and thanks to the prevalence of the dimensional pockets,

they always carried some gold and diamonds on their persons so they could be deployed immediately if a situation requiring such wealth arose.

The soldiers sighed with a mixture of resignation and helplessness, yet their eyes held a certain knowing glint. Risk and reward walk hand in hand; a three-hundred-percent return is enough to make a man risk the gallows. What they were being offered now far exceeded that—if they lived through this, every single one of them would become a multimillionaire.

After all, these were top-tier diamonds, colored and colorless, each as large as two or three thumbs.

Each man received a large satchel full; every stone was comparable to the Koh-i-Noor diamond held by the British Queen, each one a priceless treasure, accompanied by enough gold to fill half a room... All they had to do was survive, and then enjoy the remainder of their lives.

"Sir..." the leading officer began.

Judging by his insignia, he was a Lieutenant Colonel. He hesitated for a moment before asking, "What kind of combat should we expect next? Our Seventh Fleet, perhaps? To speak plainly, we are now in this together.

It wouldn't be accurate to call us traitors, as we were coerced. Moreover, you are so powerful that resistance would be futile anyway, and considering the compensation offered... we harbor no ill intentions toward you. But please, tell us what battles lie ahead so we can prepare psychologically—how to evade, how to flee.

Please inform us?"

"Very well,"

Zheng Zha nodded, choosing not to conceal anything. He wasn't worried that these soldiers might harbor alternative thoughts; in the face of absolute power, any trickery or scheme is superfluous, unless the schemer possesses an equivalent or not vastly inferior level of strength. Otherwise, it's merely the joke of the weak.

"We will engage with at least several destroyers and cruisers. Aircraft are unlikely for now, but anti-ship missile strikes are highly probable. There's also the possibility of submarines. However, the existence of this perfect storm will at least mitigate the intensity of these engagements significantly, and I believe it won't lead to the complete destruction of the destroyer... Of course, you must also be mentally prepared; the path ahead is not without danger."

Most of the occupants of this room were officers—besides the highest-ranking Lieutenant Colonel, there were also captains and petty officers. They all nodded silently and asked no further questions, settling down quietly in the room.

Zheng Zha left the room and stepped onto the deck, immediately sensing the sheer violence of the downpour outside. It no longer resembled rain; it was as if the very waters of the heavens were being poured out. There seemed to be no gaps between the raindrops; a person inside might even choke on the water. The wind was also brutal, a howling gale that threatened to sweep a person away. But this only applied to ordinary people. For the members of the Reincarnation Squad, even newcomers like Lin Juntian, whose physical attributes were two to three times that of a normal human, being blown away was impossible.

Zheng Zha gazed into the distant, impenetrable darkness for a moment, about to return to the cabin, when suddenly, a plume of water tens of meters high erupted near the destroyer. The violent sound of the explosion was unmistakable—it was a bomb. Because the blast site was so close, the entire destroyer shuddered. By the time the spray subsided, Zheng Zha had already rushed off the deck and dove toward the water's surface.

"Torpedo! It's a submarine!" one of the destroyer's soldiers immediately roared, and everyone scrambled toward their stations. But after only a few steps, they suddenly remembered they were coerced American soldiers, and this destroyer was still under the control of the Central Continent team. In other words, the submarine that just attacked them should have been trying to rescue them.

"Rescue, my ass! Haven't you seen through the politicians' games yet? Do you remember that beast using that massive cannon at Pearl Harbor? That thing's power was a hundred times greater than a nuclear weapon. And what is this team that attacks without demanding anything? While they didn't directly bombard Pearl Harbor, it was enough to terrify those politicians. They've certainly been labeled as terrorists. They care more about their own skins than anything else. As for us, the soldiers considered hostages, we're utterly inconsequential. As long as they can eliminate this team, they won't care if we're sacrificed along with them... We can only leave it to fate; let's hope we have the rest of our lives to enjoy the payoff."

The few officers who had been in the room were also startled by the explosion. Having served aboard naval vessels for years, they knew exactly what that signified, but they too were helpless. This was the US Navy, after all. Not only could they not fight back, but by rights, they should be cooperating... Cooperating with what? Cooperating with them to be killed? Moreover, having accepted so many diamonds and gold from the Central Continent team, they lacked the means to fight them. Thus, the only thing they could do was wait—wait to live, wait to die... Setting aside the conflicted psychology of these soldiers, Zheng Zha violently burst through the water's surface, creating a near ten-meter splash with a sharp shiii. He plunged into the water like a cannonball, descending over ten meters. A fresh shimmer of light pulsed across his body as his Cultivation Energy and Demonic Power reacted violently just outside his skin. The resulting force was perfectly controlled by his Subtle Mastery realm, stirring the surrounding water currents into a uniform spiral. Instantly, he stabilized, neither sinking nor rising, suspended ten meters beneath the waves.

——————The submarine was just within Zheng Zha's visual range, though in the absolute darkness underwater at this depth, his sight was severely limited. He scanned left and right but could not locate the submarine. However, the torpedoes couldn't have appeared from nowhere. Out of options, he began to unlock his Gene Locks incrementally, focusing his attention on his skin, using Subtle Mastery to feel for the faintest fluctuations in the currents deep beneath the churning waves.

(Where is it? Where is that submarine? They will surely fire another torpedo. Their goal must be to destroy this destroyer first. Once the destroyer is gone, we’ll be trapped here... in the Pacific Ocean...) Zheng Zha knew clearly that without the destroyer, in the boundless ocean facing such a violent storm, what awaited the Central Continent team would be anything but paradise; at least half the team would surely perish... Therefore, he absolutely could not let a torpedo strike the destroyer! (It's coming, over there!) Zheng Zha stood suspended in the water with his eyes closed. Countless tiny vortices, constrained by his power around his body, formed a balancing force keeping him in position. Then, when he sensed an extremely faint ripple of water flow from a distance, Zheng Zha's eyes snapped open. Light flashed across his back, and a massive force propelled him forward to intercept the incoming torpedo. Simultaneously, the Tiger Soul Blade materialized in his right hand. Without any discernible wind-up, he met the torpedo head-on.

He swept the blade down just once, channeling his True Essence into the Tiger Soul Blade. Demonic Power harms the user as much as the enemy, and it was best used sparingly. This strike was crimson, blood-red, and the blade's light enveloped the approaching torpedo like a brush. Then, with a loud boom, the entire torpedo exploded. Yet, the blade light seemed almost substantial; it forcefully cut through the exploding fireball, pushing the flames outside the arc of the slash. The True Essence and Demonic Power surrounding Zheng Zha reacted once more. As light flared, this force neutralized the shockwave from the explosion. Zheng Zha actually pierced straight through the blast radius of the torpedo and lunged directly toward the submarine.

Though it happened in an instant, Zheng Zha moved underwater with incredible speed, propelled by the synergy of his True Essence and Demonic Power—truly fast and powerful like a cannonball. With a thunderous impact, Zheng Zha brought the Tiger Soul Blade down directly onto the submarine's hull. This time, he held nothing back, pouring his full Demonic Power into the blade for the strike. A section of the submarine, spanning over ten meters, vanished completely, and the void began to expand until the entire submarine detonated in a massive explosion. By then, Zheng Zha had already broken the surface and was floating in the air again.

"One more day and night... One more fleet and one more Reincarnation Squad... Chu Xuan, Xiao Honglü, I truly hope you were right. In a battle like this... the Central Continent team might actually lose members!" He leapt toward