At ten in the morning.
Jiang Ye arrived at the seaside dock by car.
As soon as he got out of the car, he saw the frigate.
It was much larger than he had imagined, with an astonishing hull size. It looked nothing like the photos. Silver-white, with elegant curves, it was extremely beautiful in the sunlight.
Che Zhen and a group of officers were waiting. Upon seeing Jiang Ye, they immediately stepped forward and saluted.
"Report! Troops have completed boarding!"
"Weapons have been loaded!"
"The frigate has completed self-inspection and is ready to set sail at any time!"
Jiang Ye nodded and boarded the ship, surrounded by the officers.
The corridors on the ship were covered in footprints, stained with black residual snow, and were damp. It was evident that all the work had been done in haste, and there hadn't been time for cleaning.
Jiang Ye glanced at the equipment bay. Rows upon rows of ornithopters and spider-armored vehicles were neatly arranged, bathed in red light.
He didn't go to the troop quarters and headed straight for the captain's cabin.
"We set sail in three minutes. You can go to your posts," Jiang Ye said to the officers.
"Yes!" The officers saluted and dispersed.
Closing the door to the captain's cabin, Jiang Ye began to study the control console on the spot. A row of large screens, like LCD televisions, displayed the status of the entire ship. He could clearly see the ammunition in each missile silo and could also access the surveillance feeds for the troop quarters and equipment bay.
All operations were user-friendly, and all functions were clear at a glance.
He first connected to the satellite to check the situation of the BC settlements.
The two settlements were only five kilometers apart and were still in a standoff. Hundreds of base vehicles were clustered together, like animals huddling for warmth.
He saw no signs of them heading towards the sea.
They had completely disregarded Jiang Ye's surrender notice.
They were solely focused on their standoff, waiting for an opportunity to launch their next attack.
Jiang Ye walked to another screen, set the destination to the coast of the adjacent continent, engaged the autopilot, and set the speed to 60%.
Three minutes passed. He pressed the launch button.
The engines roared, and the frigate broke through the waves, charging into the sea filled with ice floes. The dark blue water was split open, leaving a wide white wake behind the ship. Small fish, stunned by the impact, floated to the surface.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, they reached the coast.
They were only half a kilometer from the shore, and the white snow and black rocks on land were clearly visible. However, the two BC settlements were still out of sight.
The frigate stopped and floated quietly on the sea.
Jiang Ye picked up the red phone and put it to his ear.
"Commander," Che Zhen's voice came from the receiver.
"Are the dummy missiles I asked you to prepare ready?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Four dummy missiles are in silos 1 to 4," Che Zhen replied. "I've checked them, and they're ready to launch at any time."
Jiang Ye hung up the phone.
He clicked on the screen, selected missiles 1 to 4, designated two for point B and two for point C.
Jiang Ye's hand hovered over the spacebar, hesitated for a moment, and then clicked down with a "snap."
With a rumbling sound, the silo covers on the deck sprang open, and thick white smoke spewed out. A missile jumped out, ignited, and quickly shot into the sky. Then came the second, third, and fourth.
The sound of the missiles was more piercing than expected. The violent airflow shook the windows, and Jiang Ye could feel the power even from the captain's cabin.
Satellite tracking immediately appeared on the screen. Four green dots rapidly crossed the terrain, heading for their targets.
In just one minute, two missiles descended and hit point B, followed by the other two landing at point C.
Jiang Ye switched to the overhead satellite view to observe the two settlements.
He could clearly see the missiles creating large craters in the snow, but they did not explode. This was Jiang Ye's instruction: they were inert missiles without warheads, and they would not detonate upon landing, serving solely as a final ultimatum.
On the pale white snow, some figures cautiously approached the missiles, then quickly retreated.
Jiang Ye sat down and waited.
He had given those people only half an hour, which was already more than merciful. After two notifications and no response, they were seeking their own demise.
Just five minutes after he sat down, his phone vibrated.
It vibrated continuously, and messages flooded in.
Jiang Ye picked up his phone and unlocked it. Many colonial officers had sent him private messages.
They were all begging for mercy, requesting that he not bomb them.
Their words were quite earnest, and many used the expression "I kowtow to you."
Jiang Ye was patient and replied to their messages, asking for their locations.
Their locations were consistent: all were from the B settlement.
After a brief exchange, the people from the B settlement stated their position: they were willing to submit to Jiang Ye's rule and surrender at the seaside. However, the enemies from the C settlement were right next to them, making it impossible to leave without risking pursuit.
Jiang Ye thought for a moment and sent a message asking, "Who is your leader? Have him add me within two minutes."
In less than ten seconds, his phone vibrated lightly.
[Sapir Sam requests to add you as a friend]
Jiang Ye clicked to accept and immediately sent a message:
"Are your people 100% willing to surrender?"
Sam: "100%! Absolutely 100%! Please don't bomb us! We will go to the seaside and lay down our arms as soon as possible."
Jiang Ye: "I distributed flyers to notify you yesterday. Why didn't you leave earlier? Why wait until now? You won't shed a tear until you see the coffin?"
Sam: "We have a feud with the Saito gang and had to fight them. We had a battle a few hours ago."
Jiang Ye: "I order you to wait in place. If the Saito gang does not contact me to surrender within twenty minutes, I will deal with them. If the Saito gang surrenders, you are not to engage them further."
There was a few seconds of silence from the other side, a sign of hesitation.
Jiang Ye: "Are you not obeying orders?"
Sam: "We obey your command!"
Jiang Ye sent no more messages. The hundreds of people in the B settlement were temporarily subdued.
His phone stopped vibrating, and Jiang Ye sat down quietly to wait.
Twenty minutes countdown.
Ten minutes countdown.
Three minutes countdown.
There was still no message from the C settlement. According to the satellite imagery, some base vehicles at the edge of the C settlement were moving away. However, they were not heading towards the sea but were turning back inland. Most of the base vehicles remained in place.
Jiang Ye selected single-shot missile mode, targeting the C settlement, and his hand hovered over the spacebar.
"Click!" A light tap.
With a rumbling sound, white smoke spewed from the deck, and the missile leaped out like a live fish, ignited, and ascended.
"Click click click! Click click click! Click click click!"
Jiang Ye continuously tapped the spacebar, staring at the screen with a blank expression. The windows of the captain's cabin vibrated violently. The deck continuously spewed missiles, like white fish being poured from a fishing net, one after another ascending into the sky, trailing white smoke across the sky.
He tapped faster and faster, the spacebar sounding incessantly.
The first missiles launched reached point C. Jiang Ye switched to the satellite view on the screen.
The white snow erupted with large orange-red flowers, and billowing dust rose from the ground. The black base vehicles were hit by the orange-red explosions, shattering directly and scattering like the skins of firecrackers. The missiles were incredibly powerful; one hit could shatter a base vehicle, leaving no chance of survival for those inside.
Jiang Ye tapped the spacebar with one hand and manipulated the screen with the other. Wherever his fingertip landed, an orange-red explosion appeared. Missiles rained down, shattering rows upon rows of base vehicles. The power of the missiles was formidable; one hit could obliterate a base vehicle, leaving no chance of survival for those inside.
Many base vehicles began to flee, moving with difficulty through the snow, but Jiang Ye tapped them on the screen, and they were detonated within two seconds.
[Missiles are empty. Please reload.]
A prompt appeared on the screen.
Jiang Ye picked up the phone. "Load the spare missiles from the equipment bay immediately."
He hung up the phone and continued to tap the screen. Forty missiles were still in the air and had not yet reached their targets. Jiang Ye intended to guide them.
The bombing soon ended. The entire ground of the C settlement turned black, with the snow in the center resembling bulging black tumors. Thick smoke rose into the sky, creating a scene reminiscent of a mountain ablaze. Jiang Ye recalled cities destroyed by divine fire in the Bible.
The C settlement, which originally had hundreds of base vehicles, now had only a dozen or so still moving.
It was like a pile of gathered insects, sprayed with a can of insecticide, with dead bodies scattered everywhere, leaving only a few clinging to life at the edges.
Jiang Ye looked out the window at the deck. Each launch silo was open, emitting white smoke like chimneys. That was the coolant being injected. Soldiers were already loading spare missiles below, not many, a total of fifty, just enough to bomb the remaining base vehicles in the C sector again.
The phone rang, and Jiang Ye picked it up.
"Report! 50 spare missiles have been loaded and are ready to launch!" Che Zhen's voice was full of vigor.
"Good, thank you for your hard work."
Jiang Ye hung up the phone and held his hand over the spacebar.
"Click click click click click click..."