Uttering this phrase, he let out a breath and pushed open the door, entering the room, then poured his entire focus into manipulating his mental energy to scan, encompassing all the incoming personnel from the Central Continent Team.

At this moment, the Central Continent Team had fully unfolded its offensive. The entire destroyer continuously advanced toward the fleet, while the submarines beneath the sea exploded one after another. Not a single submarine managed to get close enough to the destroyer to launch an attack. After destroying several submarines in succession, the destroyer smoothly approached the periphery of the fleet.

The outermost several warships were already prepared. As the destroyer of the Central Continent Team entered firing range, several ship-to-ship missiles were launched first. In this storm, the range of the missiles was greatly affected; the missiles were only launched when the opposing warships were almost visible to the naked eye.

When the first missile had traveled barely thirty meters, a silver flash suddenly erupted from the destroyer where the Central Continent Team was located. Four arrows shot out, the subsequent arrow striking the tail of the preceding one, causing them to collide and burst. By the time only one arrow remained, its momentum was like lightning, shooting toward the foremost missile at a speed far exceeding the limits of human vision, causing the missile to pause momentarily in mid-air.

Then, it was directly pierced through, and the missile exploded violently.

The piercing arrow did not stop but actually shot directly toward the edge of a cruiser's hull, slicing into the ship’s core along the steel plating. In less than a second or two, this arrow's force was undiminished.

It tore through the cruiser and flew out again.

Finally, it disappeared somewhere into the distance... On the destroyer, Zhang Heng silently assessed the power of the Four-Arrow Burst configuration, then set aside one of the four arrows in his hand, using only three arrows aimed at the remaining missiles.

If merely destroying these missiles was the goal, the power of the Three-Arrow Burst was certainly sufficient, and this would allow him to conserve some stamina, preventing him from being exhausted and unable to counter the missiles later.

Beside him, Zero Point ignored the missiles entirely, focusing solely on the sea surface.

Wang Xia stood behind Zero Point. Several micro-nuclear bombs floated around his body. These bombs were completely controlled by his Dominator of Explosions ability and could be detonated at any moment, their destructive power even greater than standard micro-nuclear bombs.

Behind the three, Chu Xuan silently gazed at the sea. A pattern of runes appeared in his left eye. This rune pattern differed slightly from the one seen in the Dragon Rider horror movie world. In addition to the runes, two streams of light, one white and one black, vaguely intersected, forming the shape of a Taiji.

Coalescing. Separating.

Constantly shifting. If anyone dared to look closely at his eye, their vision would certainly blur.

"Alright, the remaining submarines are converging toward the center of the fleet. Let's continue the attack."

Chu Xuan looked out at the sea for a moment. The rune pattern in his eyes and the Taiji symbol finally vanished, though he appeared noticeably haggard.

Not long after Chu Xuan finished speaking, a tremendous roar came from a deck platform behind him. An incomparably huge black dragon materialized there. The entire platform deck could not accommodate the dragon's size. Out of necessity, the black dragon had to rear up, causing the whole destroyer to dip slightly. Only after the massive creature spread its wings and flew forward did the destroyer gradually return to its normal state.

This black dragon was the Central Continent Team’s juvenile black dragon, 'Little Pup,' which Zheng Zha had entrusted to Xiao Honglü as his mount. It had been sleeping inside the Sacrificial Emblem until this moment when Xiao Honglü released it. In its perception, barely a second had passed. The dragon was quite compliant, allowing Xiao Honglü and the two others to mount its back. Then, with a piercing roar, it took flight toward the distant Seventh Fleet in the Pacific.

The soldiers and crew members of the Seventh Fleet were utterly dumbfounded. They were mere ordinary people; when had they ever witnessed such a terrifying creature? Its colossal body, matching the image of a dragon from Western fantasy worlds, caused immediate panic among the naval soldiers the moment it appeared. Most soldiers at their posts started shouting, and a few were so frightened they collapsed on the spot. For a moment, except for a very small number of sailors still holding their positions, the counterattack from the entire fleet periphery had almost completely ceased. The terror brought by this black dragon was far greater than the Central Continent Team had anticipated.

"Oh? This is a good thing. If I knew they would be so scared, I would have summoned Little Pup earlier," [The speaker] chuckled, saying this immediately.

"Hiss!" A sudden, sharp hiss sounded. A surface-to-air missile was launched from a cruiser below. It was unclear which brave soldier had initiated the launch. At that moment, the black dragon was flying near the top of that warship, and evasion was impossible. Caught off guard, the missile struck the dragon’s lower abdomen. Amidst a deafening explosion, the dragon was completely engulfed by the burst of fire. The fleeing naval soldiers below watched, stunned, stopping momentarily to gaze skyward, expecting the black dragon to have been blown to death by the missile.

However, where the flames dissipated, the black dragon hung suspended in the air, completely unharmed. A faintly visible shield enveloped its body—it was this barrier that had blocked the missile's explosion. The blast had, in fact, enraged the dragon.

"Roar!" The black dragon roared toward the sky, and a stream of fire spewed from its mouth. This flame was a scorching white color, plunging straight down onto the cruiser. Many naval soldiers turned to ash without even a groan. The fire continued to melt downward, the steel alloy dissolving as if it were chocolate. In the blink of an eye, it melted into molten iron. The dragon sustained the jet fire for nearly ten seconds, boring a massive hole, over ten meters in diameter, into the center of the cruiser, plunging downward into an unfathomable depth, threatening to melt through the entire warship. The black dragon seemed to exhale, puffing black smoke from its nostrils, and flew toward the next warship, carrying the three riders.

Miyata Kura-ki, standing on the flight deck of the flagship aircraft carrier in the distance, witnessed all this. His mental scan imprinted every detail clearly into his mind: how the missile was defended, the visible shield, the terrifying white-hot spray of the black dragon’s breath, and even the ever-approaching Zheng Zha. He saw everything. At this point, saying anything about surviving was meaningless. The faulty assessment of the power gap between the two sides was about to exact its bitter price... No, not just this bitter price, but the consequence of constantly using the term "Shina" was also imminent.

"We lose without any injustice."

An old man and a young man stood there resolutely. The young man lightly patted the older man's shoulder but said nothing. Yet, this was enough. Miyata Kura-ki slowly raised his head. Faint black runes flickered across his skin. As he fully raised his head, the black runes became completely visible across his skin.

"Your Highness Jingū, Mitara-san, do you two still believe the Chinese should be called Shina?" the old man named Jingū laughed hoarsely. "I never believed the word 'Shina' should exist. They are all blinded by the right-wing—their minds, eyes, ears, and souls—which is why they arrogantly utter such words. Those familiar with history, those who understand the world, would never utter those two words... It’s just that a small fraction of us lack the strength to change anything. That is precisely why we need to live! To return to the real world and change the inherent weakness of our nation, to make them understand that the weak should not be bullied, and the strong should not be blindly revered. We should actually learn the fierce spirit of the Chinese people: self-reliance is true strength, not dependence on the strong."

The young man called Mitara nodded, and Miyata Kura-ki sighed, "Your Highness, you have never spoken these words to me before... I will keep them in my heart. Thinking about it now, perhaps the Bushido spirit of our Yamato people already contained what you speak of: the weak should not be bullied, the strong should not be blindly revered. It was merely twisted by the ruling powers to fit their militaristic ideology, to suit their sordid right-wing thinking. The Bushido spirit they speak of now has long been corrupted, which is why they look down upon our former teachers and benefactors and committed unforgivable crimes against them. To this day, those in power still refuse to admit it. That is why they only respect strength, leading to what the American writer called our inherent weakness... If I do not die here, I will surely change these things, I swear!" "And one last thing, both of you: being able to die alongside you is the greatest honor of my life. Lord Miyata, Lord Mitara, do not lower your noble samurai heads. The weak should not be bullied, the strong should not be blindly revered. Let us reclaim the true spirit of Bushido!" As the words faded, a massive boom echoed before the three men. A figure landed violently before them, pressing a half-meter-deep dent into the deck. The entire aircraft carrier's alarm blared sharply, and surrounding naval soldiers aimed their weapons toward the location.

Zheng Zha stood within the resulting crater.

Jumping to