*Crash!*
Off the northwest coast of Oceania, a large submarine surfaced.
Then another. And another.
Almost the entire command staff of the Azure Oceania battlefield's primary command system came ashore, for even in these waters, underwater communications were becoming increasingly erratic.
It was identical to what the returning vessels were experiencing. Most likely, the Great Spikes were using large-scale source energy fluctuations at a specific frequency to jam the surrounding seas.
For now, the mainland remained unaffected.
Not far from the shore, at the foot of a small hill, stood a building that appeared heavily damaged, showing no signs of habitation.
Yet in truth, the secondary command system for Azure's Zenith War—the true supreme headquarters—was situated right here, directly exposed beneath the open sky.
Presumably, they had nothing to fear.
Because...
As the supreme commander of the primary command system, Siglo had known all along that aside from Chairman Kemore, several generals, and separate teams from the General Staff and the Rejectors, this place housed the core personnel of each theater command—including the Legion Commander and Chief of General Staff of Azure's Huaxia Front, Sole Witness Legion.
They had been here from the very beginning.
"Report!"
Spotting Siglo and his party, a soldier lurking in the shadows ran out to the roadside and saluted. "Reporting, General! Due to communication difficulties, we were unable to notify you in time... The secondary command system for Azure's Zenith War officially assumed control of the Oceania battlefield one hour ago."
"Understood," Siglo nodded.
"Supreme headquarters has already departed for the northeast coast."
"...Understood." Siglo nodded again. Having received no further intelligence for over an hour, he asked urgently, "What is the current situation?"
"The battlefield remains stable..." which meant the stalemate persisted. The soldier hesitated before adding, "However, the outside world is falling into despair and turmoil."
"What?!" Siglo was stunned.
"Someone has leaked everything about the northeast coast—the tens of millions of civilians, our forces, the fleet, and even what the Daie declared in the sky. There were two photographs as well... Their people are broadcasting it ceaselessly through leaflets and radio stations," the soldier said, his voice strained.
There were spies from other factions embedded within Azure, including here on the Oceania battlefield. Given the scale of the operations, such infiltration was virtually unavoidable. Alternatively, outside organizations like Ne might have possessed their own reconnaissance methods to uncover it all.
Yet barely half a day had passed! Siglo clenched his fists until the knuckles cracked, fully aware of what this entailed.
Originally, the Daie's actions were deliberately calculated to crush the will and conviction of Azure soldiers and civilians on the Oceania battlefield.
Now, that destruction was going global.
In the outside world across numerous nations, in countless cities and villages, people had been celebrating the glorious victory at Hughenden, heartened by it and embracing hope once more... Yet the events unfolding on the northeast coast had instantly snuffed that hope out.
Those were tens of millions of defenseless civilians. Azure had pledged to evacuate and protect them. But what of it now? Though hundreds of thousands of Azure officers and soldiers fought valiantly, they appeared utterly powerless.
*"If they can, why don't they kill that Daie? Why?! Could it be that we simply can't do it at all? Has there been no hope from the very beginning?"*
*"It's merely a struggle before annihilation."*
*"The Daie god said some will be spared..."*
Human emotion plummeted in an instant from dizzying heights into an abyss of doubt, helplessness, and confusion... An unprecedented panic and despair swept across the globe.
In the wake of panic and despair, betrayal and chaos began to take root...
If this was allowed to continue, mankind might tear itself apart before the Great Spikes ever finished destroying them.
Inevitably, whatever followed on the northeast coast would be broadcast to the world as well.
"If Azure fails here this time... our world may never get another chance. Even if we preserve a portion of our fighting strength, it will mean nothing."
The Daie was not the end. Siglo knew this with absolute certainty... At the thought, a pang of despair seized him as well. Drawing a deep breath, Siglo forced himself free of the emotion, steadied his nerves, and turned around. "Set up the equipment. We continue our work."
"...Yes, Sir!" After a brief pause, the various officers and staff snapped to attention and responded in unison.
Indeed, despair and panic were spreading through Azure's ranks as well, from ordinary soldiers to senior officers—even reaching the personnel right here.
They were only human, after all.
The difference was that they could still hold their ground.
***
*Beep, beep-beep.*
Along the shore, a call came through on a direct-line frequency. Wen Jifei switched on the specialized communicator.
"Brother Qingzi?" Tu Zi's voice came through.
"He's right here." Wen Jifei handed over the device.
Han Qingyu took it and asked quietly, "What is it?"
"I've come ashore. I was undersea before. And... though it might not seem like the best time to bring this up, I still wanted to tell you," Tu Zi said. "Sister-in-l... Major Xin Yaoqiao and her group haven't come up yet."
"Hmm?! Why?"
"Their submarine is still moving along the seabed. Since they cut off communications earlier and were jammed afterward, we couldn't reach them when we came up." Tu Zi paused. "Judging by the fact that no signal can penetrate, that submarine is very likely near the seabed off the northeast coast right now."
A brief silence hung over the line before Han Qingyu asked, "Is it very dangerous right now?"
"I can't say for sure. But didn't the Great Spikes' craft enter the water earlier? Besides, that Daie specifically named Sister-in... Major Xin as a target to be eliminated."
"You mean the Daie?" Another short pause followed. Then, Han Qingyu said, "All right, I understand."
"Huh? That's it?!" Tu Zi blurted out.
"Yeah. What else can I do? Since they haven't been discovered yet, am I supposed to dive down and search for them?" Han Qingyu's reply sounded utterly indifferent.
For the first time, Tu Zi felt that Brother Qingzi was truly cold. In the past, obsessed with dead iron as he was, he had always cared deeply about the people at his side, never hesitating to risk his life for them... What had gotten into him?!
*No wonder they called you Han the Green Snake later on! A cold-blooded creature.*
"Oh," Tu Zi replied with equal coldness, indignantly cutting the connection.
In truth, he had not been making an explicit request. Had Han Qingyu declared he was diving undersea, Tu Zi might well have tried to dissuade him. But shouldn't he at least have shown some tension, some concern? Yaoyao-huanghuang had always treated him so well!
***
"What happened? What's going on?" Wen Jifei asked in their hometown dialect. Because the volume on the communicator had been turned down very low, he had not caught the rest of Tu Zi's words.
"He said Yaoyao-huanghuang is still down on the seabed inside a submarine, but they've lost contact."
As Han Qingyu answered, he pulled his secret pouch from the backpack Yang Qingbai was carrying and handed it to Wen Jifei.
"And then?" Wen Jifei asked, taking the pouch.
Safekeeping this for Qingzi was nothing new; he did it all the time.
"And apparently, the Daie specifically ordered her dead. Probably because she had been cracking the Great Spikes' communications and command network all this time... Though I imagine the Daie doesn't actually know her name."
As Han Qingyu spoke, he tilted his head back toward the sky. The midday sun hung directly overhead.
Chapter 689