Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 234 The Destruction of the Fleet (Second Update)

The collapse within the fleet spread in a chain reaction.

Automated weapon stations bear the brunt, with close-in weapon systems spinning wildly like mad beasts, unleashing scorching barrages at the armor of neighboring ships or sweeping over ground crew running on the deck.

The missile silo hatches opened and closed repeatedly, like a spasming mouth. Occasionally, a missile inside the launch tube would be detonated by an abnormal current, and the violent explosion would tear the entire ship in two.

Soldiers deeply infected by the deactivated code were plunged into an even more dire situation.

The implants inside their bodies became instruments of torture for their masters: the visual prosthetics projected distorted and writhing illusions, the auditory enhancers constantly poured in maddening screams, and the neural reflex accelerators caused their limbs to twitch and riot uncontrollably.

These soldiers screamed meaningless syllables, wildly firing their weapons at their comrades, or using their reinforced prosthetics to tear at each other in the most primal way.

The bridge, corridors, and decks—every corner had become a bloody slaughterhouse, with blood and engine oil mixing together, splattering bizarre patterns on the metal walls.

Even officers with lower levels of cybernetics were not immune.

The abandoned code directly interferes with their nervous system through all networked devices, such as environmental control systems and personal terminals, stimulating their most primal killing instincts.

Just as Shintaro Takayama drew his command sword in an attempt to maintain order, the smart module on his sword suddenly overloaded in the opposite direction.

A pale blue arc of electricity erupted from the hilt of the sword, instantly piercing his chest and turning him into a charred corpse, which fell onto the out-of-control bridge.

The modified attack aircraft carrying tactical nuclear weapons became the most deadly variable in this chaos.

The invalid code completely infiltrated its control system.

The pilot burst into hysterical laughter in the cockpit, slammed his fist on the garbled screen, and then slammed down the bomb release button.

After the nuclear missile detached from its rack, it did not fly to the designated Night City coordinates.

Its navigation system was completely malfunctioning due to the corruption of the code, and it followed a strange trajectory with this destructive weapon as it plummeted towards the densest area of ​​the fleet below—the USS Moby-Whale and its escort ships.

"No—!" A few crew members who still had some sense of reason let out a final cry, but this weak cry was immediately swallowed up by more frantic roars and explosions.

The entire fleet met its most ironic end amidst a frenzy of self-destruction.

Arasaka Yorinobu struggled through the frenzied chaos as he rushed toward the emergency escape route.

Thanks to the few life-sustaining and communication prosthetics he possessed, he managed to maintain a degree of sanity.

However, the indirect erosion of the abandoned code through the ship's system still gave him a splitting headache. Twisted phantoms overlapped in his vision, and faint, blasphemous whispers echoed in his ears.

Just as he was about to reach the escape pod, a nearby explosion caused the entire aircraft carrier to tilt violently.

He was hurled violently against the metal bulkhead, and in the instant his head struck the surface, he saw through the porthole a blinding sphere of light rapidly expanding in the center of the fleet—

The nuclear bomb was detonated in the core area of ​​the fleet.

A destructive energy equivalent to 500,000 tons was released at extremely close range.

The first thing to arrive was a white light that devoured everything, as if immersing the entire world in a furnace.

Immediately afterwards, the shockwave swept in, creating a huge dent in the sea surface with a deafening roar that shattered eardrums.

The three destroyers and five frigates at the epicenter of the explosion didn't even leave behind any wreckage; they instantly vaporized in the 10,000-degree heat.

Ships a short distance away were torn to shreds by the shockwave; their thick armor twisted and tore like paper, and their broken keels groaned shrilly.

Countless metal fragments and human remains were thrown into the air and then rained down on the sea.

The Beluga, thanks to its massive size and distance, managed to remain largely intact, but the side of the ship closest to the epicenter was completely destroyed.

The entire flight deck was ripped off, exposing the burning skeleton inside. The island superstructure was twisted and deformed, and thick smoke billowed out from various gaps.

Seawater was pouring in through the huge breach in the side of the ship, and this giant ship, a symbol of Arasaka's maritime supremacy, began to list irreversibly.

In the chaos of the capsizing aircraft carrier, Arasaka Yorinobu was thrown into the icy sea.

The icy seawater brought him back to consciousness, but the severe concussion and persistent mental erosion quickly plunged him back into a coma as the wreckage floated on the surface of the sea.

After the shockwave subsided, only burning shipwrecks, floating debris, and a thick layer of oil mixed with deadly radioactive dust remained on the sea surface.

The few surviving ships were severely damaged and helplessly rocked in the waves.

The frantic roars were gone from the communication channel, replaced only by the static of electricity and sporadic explosions.

This once invincible Arasaka Fleet has been completely annihilated in the self-destruct frenzy triggered by the abandoned code and the subsequent nuclear explosion.

In the stillness of the Night City temporary workshop, Chen Yu's crimson optical lens reflected the changing lights on the tactical screen.

The dense signals representing the Arasaka Fleet were extinguishing and dissipating at an alarming rate, eventually leaving only a few faint flashes, marking the last existence of the wreckage.

The ominous, eerie green light in the eye sockets of the servo skull on his shoulder had completely extinguished, returning to its former silence.

The released waste code pulse, after precisely completing the destruction command, was forcibly restrained by Chen Yu's powerful will and resealed deep within that specially made container.

The entire process was so brief it was almost negligible, and so efficient it was chilling.

If he hadn't retrieved it in time, and had allowed this piece of junk code to spread freely in cyberspace, it would have contaminated and eroded the entire planet's digital infrastructure in just a few minutes—from the Earth's network to near-Earth orbit space stations, and even colonies on the moon, none would have been spared.

"Threat eliminated." Chen Yu's synthesized voice was calm and steady, but a trace of coldness still lingered deep within the optical lens. "Record: Temporary activation of the taboo protocol 'Echoes of Doom', effect as expected."

The target unit, the 'Arasaka White Whale Battle Group,' has lost all combat capability and strategic value.

His gaze shifted from the tactical screen to the suspended blueprint of the dimensional teleporter, but a separate evaluation thread continued to run within his mind.

Although the Arasaka Fleet has been destroyed, this is the third large-scale provocation launched by the Arasaka forces recently.

From nuclear attacks to today's "honorable death" offensive, this company's madness and fanaticism have exceeded the threshold of tolerance.

“Threat level reassessed,” he said calmly to himself, the crimson optics flickering slightly. “Arasaka has demonstrated the willingness and ability to continuously disrupt research processes; conventional deterrence and localized elimination cannot eradicate the threat.”

His metal fingers tapped lightly on the console, bringing up the previous summoning plan for the Nearl family knights.

Originally, this was a plan prepared solely to completely destroy Arasaka's military forces, but now it seems that it needs to be implemented more thoroughly.

“We must fundamentally dismantle Arasaka’s organizational structure.” His synthesized voice carried a chilling decisiveness. “Destroying all its military outposts and research facilities is only the first step; we must also ensure that it cannot be rebuilt.”

He glanced at the remaining signals in the distant sea, where there might still be survivors like Arasaka Yorinobu.

If these escaped criminals continue to exist, they will only become a potential source of trouble in the future.

"New directive recorded: Prioritize 'completely eliminating the Arasaka threat'. Initiate a systematic cleanup of Arasaka's global assets immediately after the dimensional portal expansion is completed."

As the instruction was recorded, the last trace of anger in his heart finally subsided, transforming into a clear and ruthless action plan.

Arakasaka's madness had exhausted the sage's already dwindling patience. Now, he was no longer thinking about how to deal with the next harassment, but how to ensure that this trouble would be gone forever.

Inside the workshop, the low hum of the equipment continued to ring out regularly, but Chen Yu was now completely focused on two parallel goals: to continue advancing the dimensional teleportation project, while making necessary preparations to completely eradicate the scourge of Arasaka.

(End of this chapter)