Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 188 Lai Xuan's Anger (First Update)
The Arasaka White Whale carrier battle group, like a moving mountain of steel, lay dormant on the dark sea west of Night City.

The massive catamaran hull cut through the waves, casting shadows that seemed almost tangible and heavy, imbuing the entire sea with a chilling, desolate atmosphere.

Inside the bridge, the lights were deliberately dimmed, with only the central holographic tactical sand table emitting a cold, eerie glow.

On the sand table, the ruined town and its surrounding terrain are meticulously outlined, but the most eye-catching feature is the azure halo that completely covers the core area—an energy shield.

It was like an impenetrable absolute domain, silently mocking Arasaka's massive military power.

Arakasaka Yoriyuki stood tall in front of the sand table, his hands clasped tightly behind his back, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

His face, which usually carried an air of aloofness and arrogance, was now covered with a layer of ice, and the anger he deliberately suppressed flickered between his brows, almost bursting out of his body.

The rise and fall of his chest was slightly more rapid than usual, but each breath was strictly controlled, maintaining a critical state on the verge of exploding.

His gaze, like two icy blades, was fixed on the image of the shield, as if he could tear it apart and evaporate it with sheer willpower.

On the smaller auxiliary screen next to it, the humiliating scene of the air wing's failed attack was being replayed in slow motion.

The dense missile swarm, trailing plumes of fire, swooped down, but the moment they made contact with the blue halo, they were like plunging into an invisible quagmire, failing to generate even the slightest explosive wave. They merely created futile energy ripples on the surface of the barrier before twisting, shattering, and scattering as useless metal debris.

Throughout the entire process, the shield itself remained hopelessly stable, not even sparing a hint of a flicker.

"waste!"

Lai Xuan's voice wasn't deafening, but it was like a cold whip, suddenly shattering the oppressive silence in the bridge. He abruptly raised his hand, with a force that seemed capable of crushing everything, and slammed it heavily onto the hard alloy frame of the tactical sand table.

"哐——!"

A dull thud echoed in the enclosed space, causing several young officers standing nearby to instinctively shrink back, lower their heads, and avoid eye contact with him, even holding their breath.

"An entire air wing!" Lai Xuan's voice suddenly rose, each word seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth, filled with the fury of utter humiliation and utter contempt for his incompetent subordinates. "The ammunition they carried was enough to wipe a small city off the map! And what happened? They couldn't even ignite the garbage dumps on the outskirts of the enemy!"

"Arasaka spends hundreds of millions of yen every year, and this is the laughable fighting force they've built? Keeping a bunch of idiots who can't even hit a target?!"

His rebuke echoed through the bridge, perfectly embodying the image of a proud, frustrated imperial heir eager to wash away his shame with the blood of his enemies.

The performance of this rage was nuanced and layered, from the initial cold suppression to the current outburst of rebuke. Every detail was meticulously calculated, perfectly matching the outside world's expectations of "Arasaka Yorinobu"—impulsive, easily angered, and unquestionable. However, deep within those eyes burning with rage, a glimmer of absolute calm, like an undercurrent hidden beneath ice, was coldly scrutinizing the reactions of everyone around him, assessing the effectiveness of this performance.

"Lord Yoriyuki, please calm down." Shintaro Takayama's calm voice rang out from the side.

He remained as meticulous as ever, his hair perfectly combed and his dark suit impeccably pressed, as if the failed attack just now had nothing to do with him: "According to preliminary data analysis, the energy shield deployed in the target area is of an extremely high technical level, and its energy field stability and defensive strength both exceed the upper limit of our existing conventional attack methods."

This was not a fault of the pilot or the equipment, but rather a technological gap.

“Generational gap?” Lai Xuan turned around abruptly, his gaze like a knife shooting at Gao Shan. He needed to push this scene to a more extreme proposal in order to test Gao Shan’s bottom line and pave the way for his subsequent plans. “Uncle Gao Shan, do you mean that our Arasaka, a world-class military technology group, is being outpaced in defense technology by an unknown force?”
This is an absolute joke! If conventional weapons are ineffective, why are we wasting our time here?!

He took a step forward, his voice hoarse like a wild beast cornered in a desperate situation. His gaze swept over the blinding blue light on the holographic sand table, finally settling on Shintaro Takayama's face, and he posed the forbidden option: "Are you going to make me, Arasaka, look like fools, blocked by this light, and let the whole world laugh at us?! Since conventional methods won't work, let's use unconventional ones!"
The USS Mobyfish is equipped with tactical nuclear weapons, isn't it? Activate them! Authorize a nuclear strike!
I want to see if their turtle shells are harder, or our small nuclear warheads are! Let's just evaporate that hellhole and everything inside it from the face of the earth! That'll solve everything!

"My lord! You mustn't!" Shintaro Takayama's voice was filled with unprecedented resolve. He even took a half-step forward and made a gesture that seemed to impede his decision: "The cost of using tactical nuclear weapons will far exceed the gains from destroying a ruined town! Please think carefully!"

Arakasaka Yoriyuki abruptly turned his head, his eyes burning with rage as he stared intently at Takayama, as if his supreme authority had been offended.

His chest heaved violently as he forced out cold words through clenched teeth: "Price? Uncle Takayama, are you teaching me how to weigh the price? Arasaka's dignity is being trampled on! Tell me, what price could be greater than this?!"

Seeing Yoriyuki's almost obsessive state, burning with "humiliation," Shintaro Takayama immediately continued in a more earnest and urgent tone, but still maintaining clear logic: "Lord Yoriyuki, please think about fifty years ago! How many years of infamy have we borne because of that nuclear bomb that exploded at Arasaka Tower?"
"If we were to deliberately raise a mushroom cloud over Night City today, even just its outer perimeter, the world wouldn't care about the reason; they would only remember that Arasaka used nuclear weapons once again! We would become the target of international condemnation!"

Shintaro Takayama's voice echoed in the bridge. Only Shintaro Takayama, an elder statesman of the Arasaka Empire, could, or rather, was qualified to, dissuade the crown prince.

As for the other staff officers on the bridge, they were like quails when facing Arasaka Yorinobu, not daring to put up the slightest resistance.

This was not because they feared Arasaka Yorinobu, but simply because he was the heir to the Arasaka Group and the crown prince of the empire!

For them, Arasaka Yorinobu's will was like a sacred decree, the will of God, and no disobedience or dissent was permitted.

However, this immense power, which should have filled Arasaka Yorinobu, or any ordinary person in the world, with intoxication and longing, was only a source of sorrow and shackles for him.

He had tried to break free of his shackles and rebel against his father, but he did not achieve anything and could only remain in a state of despair for fifty years.

Now that he has finally obtained the opportunity he has always dreamed of, Arasaka Yorinobu still needs to continue playing the arrogant character that is seen by outsiders, and continue to suppress...
(End of this chapter)