I can receive unlimited protection; my parents handed me over to the state.

As Lu Yuan spoke, he silently gave instructions to [Pangu] in his mind.

"[Pangu], activate 'High-Dimensional Data Analysis' mode."

"Target: Odin, and the trident in his hand."

"I need all the detailed data about him and his fleet, including their energy composition, material structure, and operational models... not a single pixel can be overlooked!"

"Command confirmed."

"High-dimensional data analysis mode activated."

"Data collection in progress..."

The cold, mechanical synthesized voice of "Pangu" slowly echoed in Lu Yuan's mind.

For others, this might just be a momentous battle concerning national honor and disgrace, but for Lu Yuan, it was an unparalleled opportunity to "watch a blockbuster for free" and "collect new material data"!

He stared at the conch-shaped flagship on the screen, carved from a single massive piece of blue crystal; at the strangely shaped biological warships; at the Atlantean commander, wielding a golden trident and appearing like a god. His eyes grew brighter and brighter. His gaze was like that of a most voracious glutton, eyeing an incomparably sumptuous Manchu-Han Imperial Feast.

"Damn, these fishmen are pretty rich."

"What kind of crystal does that conch flagship use? Its energy conduction efficiency seems to be very high. If I could break off a piece, it would be great as an accessory for my Mu Bingli's zither."

"And that Orca warship, its skeleton looks even stronger than Gu Tianye's Thunder White Tiger. If we could get one back and dismantle it to upgrade Gu Tianye's axe, he'd be overjoyed."

"As for that guy named Odin..."

Lu Yuan's gaze finally settled on the golden trident that exuded vast divine power, and he almost drooled.

"This thing...it looks like a magical artifact too!"

"Although the workmanship is a bit rough and the energy circuit is poorly designed, the materials are fucking amazing!"

"If we could snatch it back and rework it... tsk tsk, its power would be at least ten times greater!"

In an instant, Lu Yuan's mind began to race as he devised a plan to dismantle this seemingly formidable Atlantis fleet into a pile of glittering, top-tier materials.

If Odin knew what he was thinking right now, he'd probably be so angry he'd vomit blood on the spot. He, the Grand Admiral of the fleet under the King of the Seven Seas, his proud and invincible fleet, was seen by this human blacksmith as nothing more than a pile of "raw materials" that could be dismantled and melted down at any time? This was the greatest insult to him!

Just as Lu Yuan was happily planning his "dismantling plan," the battle situation in the East China Sea underwent another astonishing change!

Odin, who had been defeated in the direct confrontation, showed no sign of dejection. Instead, an even more eerie smile appeared on his face. He slowly raised the golden trident in his hand, and this time, he pointed it not at the sea, but at the sky!

"Li Qingcang, is that right?"

"I admit, you are indeed very strong. Your control over this sea has even surpassed my imagination."

"But do you think this is all the power Atlantis has to offer? Do you think that after traversing countless stars to get here, all we have is this insignificant skill in manipulating the tides?"

"Heh... Naive!"

"Today, I will show you ignorant land creatures what the true power of 'God' really is!"

"In the name of my King Poseidon!"

"Summon—Deep-sea monster, Kraken!!"

As his voice, like a demon's whisper, fell, "Rumble rumble rumble—!!" The azure sea, which had just regained its calm, began to boil violently once more! A colossal shadow, even larger and more terrifying than the two giant waves combined, slowly rose from the bottomless abyss of the seabed!

The shadow was so vast that when it rose from the seabed, the sea level of the entire East China Sea visibly rose several meters. The dozens of steel behemoths of the Chinese fleet appeared as tiny as rubber ducks in a bathtub before that shadow.

"What...what is that thing?" Inside Villa S-0, Chi Lian stared at the enormous shadow on the screen that almost covered the entire battlefield, her voice sharp and piercing with extreme fear.

"Gulp..." Gu Tianye swallowed hard, his burly body trembling slightly uncontrollably. His SSS-level [Beast God Bloodline] granted him an extraordinary sensitivity to the auras of all living beings. And now, from that shadow, he sensed an unprecedented, pure, terrifying aura of destruction originating from the primordial chaos! That aura was a hundred times more terrifying than the one he had felt when facing the level 55 mutated lord "Skeleton Demon Infant" in the Northern Territory!

"BOOM—!!" Just as everyone was still terrified by the appearance of that shadow, the sea exploded completely!

Eight, no, dozens, hundreds... countless enormous tentacles, like deep blue pythons that could coil around mountains, rose from the seabed! Each tentacle was covered with huge suction cups the size of a basketball court, and the edges of the suction cups were covered with sharp barbs that gleamed with a cold metallic light!

These tentacles, like a swarm of wildly beating serpents writhing from the depths of hell, lashed the sea surface with frenzied force! Each lash unleashed a colossal wave hundreds of meters high; each lash caused the energy shields of the Chinese fleet to emit a piercing, agonizing wail of strain!

Then, a gigantic, indescribably grotesque head slowly emerged from beneath the boiling sea! The head resembled an inverted island, with no eyes or nose, only a massive mouth like a deep abyss! The edges of the mouth were covered with terrifyingly sharp teeth, like rapidly spinning alloy drill bits!

A chaotic and evil mental shockwave capable of utterly shattering a person's soul spread wildly from that giant maw!

【Deep-Sea Monster Kraken (Atlantis Bio-Weapon)】

【grade:???】

[Status: Summoned (Under Energy Limit)]

[Warning! An extremely large amount of unknown life energy has been detected within the target! Its biological level far exceeds the S-class range! In-depth analysis is not possible!]

When Lu Yuan saw the series of bright red warnings returned by the [Pangu] detection system, he couldn't help but gasp.

"Holy crap! Is this some kind of octopus that has come to life?" He stared at the terrifying monster on the screen, waving hundreds of enormous tentacles, and felt his worldview being challenged once again.

He finally understood why that guy named Odin was so fearless after his "Great Tsunami" was countered. It turned out that Odin's real trump card wasn't magic at all, but this deep-sea behemoth they were using as a "biological weapon"!

"Hahaha! Li Qingcang! Now, do you still consider yourself the master of this sea?!" On the flagship, Odin looked at the Chinese fleet, which was beginning to crumble under the Kraken's frenzied attacks, and a triumphant smile appeared on his face.

"This 'Kraken' is the ultimate weapon of war that Atlantis spent thousands of years cultivating using our most advanced biotechnology and the purest power of the sea god!"

"Each of its tentacles possesses terrifying power comparable to that of an A-rank Star Envoy!"

"Its body is indestructible! Even the main cannons of your human star destroyers wouldn't be able to leave a single mark on it!"

"Before it, you fragile land creatures are nothing but torn to shreds!"

Odin's voice was filled with boundless pride and arrogance, as if he could already see the Chinese fleet being completely annihilated and the East China Sea defense line collapsing completely.

"Damn it!" Li Qingcang stared at the Kraken wreaking havoc, his usually refined face now displaying an unprecedentedly grave expression. He could clearly sense that the monster's strength far exceeded his capabilities. Even if he exerted all his strength, he could only sever a few of its tentacles at most, unable to inflict any substantial damage on its main body.

Once this monster completely breaks free from the energy shackles of the "dimensional portal," its enormous size, comparable to a moving continent, would be enough to raze the entire East China Sea coast to the ground in just a few hours! The casualties and losses caused then would be incalculable!

"Is there really no way out?" Li Qingcang's heart sank little by little, and for the first time he felt a feeling called "powerlessness".

However, at this critical and desperate moment, a lazy voice, seemingly tinged with disdain, suddenly rang out in his mind through the highest level of military encryption.

"Hey, you, Li something-or-other Cang."

"Are you sure you can handle it? If not, find someone else. Don't keep me from getting home for lunch."

Li Qingcang: "???"

He looked up abruptly, staring at an unknown direction in the void with a look of utter disbelief. He couldn't understand why, in this desperate moment when even he felt helpless, a voice that sounded so young and so unreliable would contact him through an encrypted channel accessible only to the Supreme Council. And what was with that tone of disdain and impatience?

Could he be the closed-door disciple of some reclusive old monster?

"Who...who are you?" Li Qingcang asked tentatively in his mind.

"Who I am isn't important," the young voice rang out again. "What's important is whether you can actually do it. If you keep dawdling like this, that giant octopus is going to tear your pile of scrap metal apart. Then how am I supposed to recycle the 'raw materials'?"

Li Qingcang: "..."

He felt his brain was starting to malfunction. What did they mean by "scrap metal"? That was their East Naval District's most elite Seventh Fleet! What did they mean by "recycling raw materials"? What kind of time was this, and the other side was still thinking about such things?

"I'm asking you one last time," the young voice seemed impatient. "Are you even capable?"

"I..." Li Qingcang opened his mouth, wanting to say that he could do it, but looking at the tragic scene where several frigates were being forcibly entangled by Kraken's tentacles and were about to be deformed, he couldn't bring himself to say the tough words that were on the tip of his tongue.

In the end, he could only squeeze out a single word through gritted teeth, feeling utterly humiliated and frustrated: "...No."

"Alright then." The young voice seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "Then move aside, or you'll get covered in blood."

"Next... it's the professionals' turn to take the stage."

"Professional?" Upon hearing this word, countless question marks instantly popped into Li Qingcang's mind. What does "professional" mean? Are there special units dedicated to handling these colossal biological weapons that even SSS-level Star Envoys find troublesome? How come he'd never heard of such a thing before?

Just as Li Qingcang was still confused, the young voice rang in his mind again, but this time, the command was given to another group of people.

"Hey, you bunch of onlookers, stop standing around, let's get started!"

Inside Villa S-0, Gu Tianye, Xiang Batian, and the others, who were staring in disbelief, suddenly shuddered! They recognized Lu Yuan's voice! Moreover, the voice was transmitted directly through the exclusive mental link of the artifacts in their hands!

"Start work? Start what kind of work?" Gu Tianye asked, looking completely bewildered.

"Nonsense! Of course, we're going to work!" Xiang Batian reacted quickly. His eyes, red with excitement, were fixed on the giant octopus on the screen, which looked like a moving mountain. His mouth was practically watering. "Such a huge 'raw material'—if we miss it, what a huge loss that would be!"

"Everyone, listen up!" Lu Yuan's unquestionable voice rang out again.

"Gu Tianye, Xiang Batian!"

"Here!" The two straightened their backs instinctively.

"You two are tough and resilient, you'll be in charge of holding them off from the front! Lure all of that giant octopus's tentacles over here, don't let it harass our fleet!"

"Yes, Master Lu!" the two roared in unison, their eyes burning with a fierce fighting spirit. A head-on confrontation? That was their specialty!

"Ye Cang!"

"Yes." came the cold reply.

"Your task is to sever the energy link between it and that guy named Odin. That trident is the energy transmission channel. I don't care what method you use, break it, or at least disable it temporarily!"

"Understood." The [Asura] in Ye Cang's hand emitted a low, eager cry. Severing the connection of rules? That's its specialty!