With a loud clang, the box hit the ground and its contents spilled out.
Among them, one photograph immediately caught the eye.
The photo clearly showed that just three hours earlier, Germa's cold, emotionless clone soldiers had silently taken control of the lighthouse only five nautical miles from the base.
The news struck like a bolt from the blue, making the already tense atmosphere even more suffocating.
"Sir! Are we really abandoning the North Blue?"
The staff officer turned back toward Rear Admiral Cooper with a face full of unwillingness.
His eyes were filled with deep confusion and reluctance, as though they carried his attachment to these waters, his commitment to his mission, and his uncertainty toward the future.
Rear Admiral Cooper said nothing.
He simply stared fixedly at the radar screen, where dense clusters of red dots were closing in.
Each red dot represented an enemy ship.
What made it even more terrifying was that those ships were all equipped with the advanced electromagnetic cannons Germa had just handed over.
Those weapons possessed terrifying destructive power, enough to push them into a corner with no way out.
When the first warship slowly sailed out of the harbor, the veteran commander, who had survived countless battles, suddenly did something shocking.
He abruptly drew his pistol and, without the slightest hesitation, fired a shot straight through the radar screen.
Glass shards flew out, flashing coldly beneath the lights.
"This isn't a retreat…"
Biting down on the filter of his cigar, he spoke with firm, resolute eyes.
"It's a goddamn strategic relocation!"
His tone was bold and confident, as though he were announcing to everyone that they were not fleeing, but preparing for a much larger battle.
At the same time, elsewhere, Morris strode through the standing water and entered a warehouse.
His boots almost slipped, not because of the rain, but because the floor was covered in a thick layer of condensation.
Five hundred clone soldier cultivation pods were opening at the same time.
Large amounts of low-temperature fluid spilled out from the pods, gathering into the slick puddles beneath his feet.
"Holy… Holy Mary…"
Morris widened his single remaining eye, his gaze filled with terror and shock.
Under the dim blue glow of the emergency lights, countless identical bodies were arranged in perfect order like a well-trained army.
The instant they opened their eyes, five hundred pairs of eyes lit up with an eerie red glow at the same time, flickering in the darkness and sending a chill down the spine.
Morris's thoughts were instantly dragged back to the nightmare from ten years ago.
Back then, his right eye had been blown apart by a soldier just like these—cold-eyed and terrifyingly powerful.
That painful memory surged up like a tide, making his body tremble despite himself.
"Damn it…"
He instinctively reached toward the energy cannon at his waist, fear and caution filling his heart.
"If these monsters were used against me…"
Just then, a gentle yet calm voice came from behind him.
"Please rest assured, Mr. Morris."
Morris spun around and saw "Poison Pink" Reiju leaning leisurely against the doorframe.
Her fingertips were playing with a small, delicate remote control, her composed posture making it seem as though everything was under her control.
Reiju looked like a pure, flawless white lotus. Today, she still wore that harmless white dress.
The hem fell softly around her, flowing with gentle moonlight and giving off a warm, innocent impression.
But Morris, standing not far away, knew very well what lay hidden beneath that beautiful skirt.
There were at least three kinds of lethal poison concealed there, each one like a venomous snake lurking in the dark, ready to deliver a fatal strike at any moment.
The silent atmosphere was broken by a soft beep.
The sound was faint, yet it was like the signal horn of a battlefield, instantly changing the entire scene.
Reiju's slender, graceful finger pressed the crucial button with perfect steadiness.
In an instant, all the clone soldiers standing at attention seemed to receive some mysterious command.
They straightened their bodies in perfect unison, every movement sharp and identical.
The Germa emblems that had originally been worn on their chests, symbols of Germa's glory, were suddenly covered by the brilliant holographic emblem of the Eternal Divine Kingdom.
That emblem gave off a solemn radiance, declaring that a new ruling order had already descended.
The soldier in the front row mechanically turned around.
Then five hundred identical vocal cords vibrated at the same time.
"Awaiting orders."
Morris suddenly burst into wild laughter, the sound echoing through the warehouse.
He roughly wiped away the tears of laughter from his eye, then slammed his energy cannon heavily onto the shoulder of the clone soldier at the front.
"Let's go, boys! Let me teach you… what the new era's 'justice' looks like!"
On the sea, ship after ship carrying mission and hope slowly left the busy, noisy harbor.
The sea wind blew wildly, lifting white waves in layers, as if playing a fierce battle song for their journey.
At that moment, Reiju stood quietly atop the tall lookout tower.
Her figure was stretched long and lonely beneath the dim yellow light.
Her gaze remained fixed on the ships growing more distant, and her eyes were filled with complicated emotions—worry, expectation, and more than anything, a certainty that was difficult to describe.
Raindrops the size of beans poured down from the gloomy sky like a storm of arrows, mercilessly soaking her smooth, beautiful hair.
The strands clung to her cheeks and neck, yet they did nothing to hide the meaningful smile at the corner of her lips.
That smile was like a mysterious star shining in the night sky, holding endless stories and implications, inviting countless guesses.
Perhaps she was confident about what was coming.
Or perhaps, in this grand chess game, she had already placed a crucial piece.
Not far beneath her feet, a massive incinerator was burning fiercely.
The flames greedily devoured the final flag, turning it little by little into ash.
The dancing firelight reflected across her face, making her features appear even colder and more resolute in the shifting brightness and shadow.
Every scrap of paper that flew upward was like a symbol of the end of the past, rising with the heat before disappearing into the vast night.
And in a secret location deeper within the darkness, far away from the noise and firelight, one cultivation pod after another was quietly opening.
The pods were arranged in perfect rows, like the open mouths of sleeping beasts.
The people who emerged from within had no serial numbers.
Their eyes carried a presence unlike ordinary soldiers.
Deep within their pupils flickered a dark-golden light different from that of regular troops—a glow filled with wildness, intelligence, and desire for the unknown world.
"The Marines' control over the sea is weakening by the day. It's a miracle those people can still sit still."