“The submarine has been destroyed. The time from when the submarine discovered the destroyer till it fired the second torpedo didn’t exceed three minutes. This smuggler team really is strong.”
Far away, at the location of team East Sea and the United States Seventh Fleet, the fleet commander and several important members of team East Sea were in the midst of discussion. Team East Sea hadn’t done anything against the various countries, and had taken out technology worthy of being said to be from the future. So, for America who was gathering all the forces it could to face the great enemy that lay before them, team China, it didn't matter whether or not team East Sea really was from the future. They had to stop team China before they reached land. Of course, team East Sea didn't really want to go to land, only that America wasn't aware of it.
Team East Sea’s members had ugly expressions. As members of God's Realm, they knew about certain limitations of God's Realm teams. To attack and destroy a submarine hidden in the sea, especially in such a short time, was extremely terrifying whether this power was scientific or personal. If it was scientific, it was still fine. After all, God had a countless number of exchanges. Certain technologies would be able to destroy this submarine within a short period of time. If it was personal power though...
Miyata Kuraki’s face was slightly pale. However, he was still someone who had received the baptism of God’s Realm, and his emotions gradually settled down after a few moments. He then said to the officer, “Correct. Not only are they spacetime smugglers, they’re also from a terrorist organization destroyed in the future. After we wiped out their headquarters on that side, the remainder used all their energy transferring to this time period. That's why they’re carrying so many heavy weapons. They plan to establish their organisation in this world again. If they escape this time, the world shall be thrown into chaos.”
The admiral ranked officer brows made a small jump. He said a few sentences to the field officer besides him, and the field officer then ran out of the room. He then turned to everyone present. “Ladies and gentlemen. Any suggestions? After all, you are the experts in this domain.”
“No. We didn't bring heavy weaponry that can rival them after all, so we can only rely on your power and our team's infiltration abilities. Now, I’ll have to request your fleet to keep chasing on after team China, and keep attacking them, depleting their weapon reserves. All heavy weapons have energy limitations. I believe they shouldn't have many uses left.”
The admiral’s brows jumped again. He had remembered this piece of information. Rather than these future police squad or those terrorists, the higher ups had been more concerned regarding those heavy weapons. When he heard those weapons needed energy to maintain, his heart relaxed slightly. However, he immediately tensed up. After all, who knew how many warships it’ll take to use up the remaining energy...
“Team China is truly strong.” After leaving the meeting room, a skinny and tall man suddenly sighed. “Finishing a submarine within a few minutes with their warship seemingly unscathed. What terrifying combat power.”
“It’s not just their power that's terrifying.”The kimono wearing girl interjected. “Their intelligence is frightening as well, honestly. The first step of Adam's plan was already very useful. As we transitioned from the shadows to the light, we also obtained a large degree of ‘influence’. It can be said that now that we occupy the position of an open and aboveboard scheme, we can just wait for an exhausted enemy to attack us no matter how team China comes at us. However, team China immediately changed their strategy. They simply ignored us and head straight to the Senkaku Islands.”
The people around her sigh, their curiosity roused. Miyata Kuraki was even more direct, asking, “What do you mean? Didn't Adam give us the instructions for the next step? He even predicted this move of team China. I don't find team China particularly impressive in any way.”
“You don't understand.” The kimono girl was smiling bitterly as she shook her head. She muttered, “An open and aboveboard scheme’s good point is being out in the light. There’ll be room to manoeuvre no matter what the opponent does. There are two ways, however, to make such a scheme useless. First is if the opponent is courageous and simply gives up, ignoring the existence of the scheme. The scheme would then be useless. It’s like how if team China enters the Senkaku Islands, the scheme Adam set up will become useless.”
“Are you saying team China knowingly retreated?”
“No, it should still follow Adam's calculations. Team China is conserving its strength to resist us. The second possibility is if the opponent has all-surpassing might. Whether it’s a scheme in the darkness or in the light, it’s nothing more than a joke. I think they’ll entrench themselves at Senkaku Islands and wait for us there.” The kimono girl said sighingly.
“Then is it not over? Adam predicted even this move. He really is a prodigy. No, he’s a monster that's even more terrifying than a prodigy.” The bald muscular man at the side immediately started laughing, as if he could already safely return to God's Realm under Adam's schemes.
“That’s why I said, you all don't understand.” The kimono girl closed her eyes bitterly. It was as if the coming bloodbath was already visible before her…
At this moment, the fleet was only about a day and a half from the Diaoyu Islands.
***
Nothing of note had happened since the submarine attacked. For a long while, no attack came again, but team China remained on edge. After all, this was the middle of the ocean and God had restricted personal flying equipment, in addition to this ridiculous Perfect Storm. When the destroyer was decimated, team China wouldn't be in a pleasant situation.
“Xuan, is there a way to be forewarned about the submarine’s surprise attacks? If this goes on, we’ll be utterly exhausted before we begin the battle.”
After the submarine’s attack, team China could only helplessly begin to split up to patrol. Every squad patrolled for two hours, for a total of four squads. They would take turns to go to the deck, and spend two hours with their attention fully concentrated. Even God’s Realm team members got fatigued, and the key thing was that this method wasn't completely safe. If someone didn't pay attention, they may suffer a sneak attack when split up. A team without a psyche force user was force user was so, with the entire team's combat power lowered by not just 30%.
Xuan gave Zheng a sidelong glance. However, his appearance was obviously that he wasn't going to say anything else.
Zheng wasn't angry, but laughed, “Doraemon, I know you must definitely have something you haven't taken out yet. How about it? Take out something nice. Where’s your dimensional bag?”
This time, Xuan spoke without even raising his head. “Do you think there are free lunches in this world? You want gains without any cost… You agreed with this scheme before. I clearly told you from the start that this would be a bitter battle. This is but the start. Team East Sea isn't far from us, and could catch up to us anytime. The true battle shall begin then. You’re already complaining so much now. Is it because you’ve started to slack as you think of yourself as too powerful, or because you’ve become arrogant as we’re so much stronger than team East Sea?”
Zheng froze a moment, not uttering a word. However, Cheng Xiao, who was wiping his body of rainwater at the side, said, “Don't say that so righteously, Xuan. It's easy for you to say when you're not patrolling. Those of us patrolling are suffering. Why not you go and see how bad the storm outside is? Take out something good if you have it, and don't preach here. Even if we have to be serious facing team East Sea, we still need to wait for them to appear before we can do so.”
Xuan laughed coldly, not speaking a word. Everyone else could only helplessly shake their heads. Seeing the situation, Zheng instead silent got up and walked out of the room.
(Were we too reliant on Xuan? No, it wasn't being too reliant, but a habit. Yes, we were used to his schemes, used to him pulling out strange items or theories. Finding it strange once or twice was fine, but once that strangeness turns into habit, it’ll end disastrously when we encounter a situation even he can't solve.)
Zheng shook his head, burying these thoughts in his heart. It couldn't be said that this reliance only had negative effects. They belonged to the same team after all, and this reliance was an expression of trust. In addition, this reliance may be a fetter for a unique existence like Xuan. At critical moments, these fetters may very well be the motivation for this fellow to live on for a man like him with few attachments.
“it’s fine if you're tired. We’ll follow your scheme. So, team East Sea’s surprise attack should be arriving soon?"
***
“Surprise attack!”
Miyata Kuraki looked at those present with a grim face, saying seriously, “Yes, a surprise attack! Although we have Adam's plan, and only need to follow the plan step by step, we should still find some protective talismans for ourselves. Adam also said before that if there's a suitable opportunity, we should take team China members captive to use to threaten them. So, this surprise attack is imperative!”
Thirty minutes prior, team China's destroyer had entered the scope of the kimono girl’s psyche force scanning. To be precise, a screened area, a symbol of a psyche force user, had entered her range. In other words, this was team China's location. For some reason, the destroyer’s speed was merely at about fifty percent of its full speed. Thus, the fleet would be able to catch up to team China in roughly ten hours. This was even if moving together at the speed of the slowest warship. It was also completely possible for them to catch up within an hour or two if they deployed a similarly fast destroyer or small warship. At the same time, the kimono girl discovered that team China’s psyche force user was weak. It could only with difficulty envelop just the destroyer. The psyche force was also so weak that it was dissipating. That meant that in terms of psyche force probing and screening, team China could only take a beating like a blind man.
Upon knowing about these circumstances, Miyata Kuraki had immediately gathered several members suitable for sneak attacks, to be headed by him and the kimono girl. They would launch a sneak attack in a convoy of several warships making a surprise attack as well. If possible, it would be good inflicting heavy casualties on team China. If it really wasn't doable, relying on the warship’s speed as well as the psyche force user’s full strength shielding was enough to guarantee their escape.
“So… let’s do a surprise attack!”