Jingwei Mothership, Command Bridge.
As the giant's quicksand field unfurled instantly, the command sandbox transformed simultaneously. All the skyscrapers that once stood tall in the city center collapsed in an instant.
Within seconds, the entire map changed dramatically, forming a "subsidence basin" with a radius of about two kilometers centered around the steel giant.
All communication with the Longxiang Army within the basin area was lost.
Wang Chuzhong stood in the command room with his hands behind his back, gazing at the progress bar of the main cannon on the tactical screen, his face as hard and cold as steel.
Once this main cannon fires, his reputation and evaluation in history would undoubtedly plummet.
But such is the nature of political battles when the end is near. Even knowing it would ruin their reputation, 99% of politicians would go all in at a dead end.
After all, if they fail, they lose everything.
When a person dies, their merits and faults are left for others to embellish. Why should he care about his reputation?
As for the ancient capital and the lives of the city's residents, as a desperate politician, the Duke of Wuchang no longer cared.
With the main cannon's laser blasting out, the entire Jingwei Mothership shook violently.
This shot consumed about 10% of the mothership's energy reserves.
The cost was that the target, along with the entire city of Jiankang, would be completely destroyed by this terrifying attack!
Moments later.
The steel giant, which should have turned to ashes, was still standing intact in the center of the basin, surrounded by scattered light spots like fireflies on a prairie at night.
The main cannon? The laser?
For a moment, the officers in the command bridge had the illusion that the shot had failed.
However, the energy reserve significantly dropping on the screen confirmed that the main cannon's laser had indeed been fired.
This meant the attack had been neutralized by the enemy using some unknown, terrifying means.
There was no time to think about the next strategy. They saw on the command sandbox's real-time display that the steel giant had already raised its arm, aiming at them.
And casually made a downward pulling motion.
Universal Gravitation - Twenty Strings
The effect is to amplify the gravitational constant ( g ) by 20 times.
Compared to mass effects, the upper limit of gravitational amplification is lower. However, the application range of gravitational strings is much broader, and it can also adjust the vector direction.
The third-grade gravitational ability traversed a long distance, hooking the gravity of the Jingwei Mothership in the distant sky and gently pulling it downward.
The mothership trembled immediately, with countless screens in the main control room flashing alarms.
The load on the mothership's power system increased twentyfold in an instant!
In the command bridge, everyone was pressed to the ground by 20 times gravity, unable even to support their bodies. They could only watch as the mothership's AI forcibly adjusted the energy distribution, reallocating all resources from the main cannon, shields, and charging systems to the floating power system, barely maintaining the mothership's current altitude.
"20 times gravity, and it still didn't fall?" a girl remarked in astonishment in the mental space.
"If this continues, that mothership won't hold out much longer."
"But neither can we. Do you think this fusion state lasts indefinitely?"
"How much time is left, Wanrou?" Cheng Jinyang asked hurriedly.
"20 seconds," Wang Wanrou's consciousness replied. "Prepare for the final strike, Jinyang."
With their minds connected, Cheng Jinyang naturally understood what she meant by the "final strike."
So, the steel giant raised the spear in its right hand, drawing back into a throwing posture.
His body bent backward into a massive arc, his metallic waist like a taut longbow, with countless bright electric arcs converging along his arm to the tip, further accelerating the spear with electromagnetic fields.
Then the metal manipulation tightened suddenly!
The steel giant's right arm exerted force, countless connected metal keys along the arm transmitted the powerful force, pulling the spear and hurling it forward with great speed.
The high-intensity electromagnetic field around the spear rapidly fluctuated, with a third-grade power driving it according to the motor algorithm, accelerating the metal spear like a railgun projectile. It pierced through the force field shield over Jiankang City like lightning.
The spear then broke the sound barrier, piercing through the Jingwei Mothership amidst a deafening roar. The ship immediately lost balance in a series of continuous explosions, capsizing and plummeting.
Finally, with a thunderous explosion, the Jingwei Mothership shattered and disintegrated upon a heavy impact with the ground, turning into a sea of flames. Thick smoke nearly covered the entire plain south of Jiankang City.
Before he could assess the situation, Cheng Jinyang felt a strong wave of dizziness.
Xing Yuanzhi, Wang Wanrou, Chu Qingqing... the girls left his consciousness space one by one.
In the last moments of his blurred vision, he vaguely heard a voice:
"Jinyang, be careful..."
"Wait for me..."
Then he fell into a deep coma.
The colossal metal giant, unable to bear its massive weight, also collapsed, turning into a large expanse of metal wreckage in the center of the basin.
After a long while, Cui Xiaoniang, covered in dust, climbed out from the cracked metal, pulling the unconscious Cheng Jinyang out with her.
In the final moment before they retreated, Xing Yuanzhi manipulated the metal to lower Cheng Jinyang and designed an exit path for the two, impressing Cui Jinqi with her meticulousness.
After dragging Cheng Jinyang to her side, Cui Jinqi looked up at the sky, waiting for the imminent rescue.
Honestly, Cui Xiaoniang herself didn't understand why she chose to stay behind and face death with Cheng Jinyang.
Logically, she should have admitted that she had no intimate relationship with Cheng Jinyang. By dispelling Wang Chuzhong's suspicions, she could have left safely as a noblewoman of the Five Great Families.
Why didn't she do that?
Was it a pathological instinct to lie?
Was it because she didn't want Cheng Jinyang to die and regret it for the rest of her life?
Or was it...
Cui Jinqi sighed, looking at the sky.
In any case, they survived.
Not long after, instead of the Cheng family's Tianluo, Shenwu Army, Yulin Army, or Jinyiwei, it was Princess Nankang who arrived first, gliding down swiftly from the sky and rushing to Cheng Jinyang's side.
After confirming that he was merely unconscious and not seriously harmed, the princess turned her head and hesitated:
"Cui... Jinqi, you..."
"Jinyang and I destroyed the Jingwei Mothership," Cui Jinqi replied with a radiant smile.
Of course, the fact was that Jinyang and the other girls combined forces to eliminate all the Longxiang Army in Jiangning District (incidentally flattening the district) and destroyed the Jingwei Mothership threatening Jiankang City (accidentally punching a big hole in the city's force field shield).
But since Cui Jinqi lied as easily as eating and drinking, she immediately took the credit for herself and Cheng Jinyang—what else could she do? The other girls' physical bodies weren't even here, how could she explain their involvement?
Princess Nankang glanced at the wreckage of the steel giant, seemingly dazed for a few seconds, before her expression softened:
"You did well."
"Just well?" Cui Jinqi asked triumphantly.
"Very well, outstanding and meritorious," the princess corrected, "Qinghe Cui Clan will surely look at you in a new light."
"But before that, I need to take him to the hospital to make sure no complications were overlooked."
"I'm coming too!" Cui Jinqi quickly stood up, patting the dust off her clothes when she heard that Cheng Jinyang was going to the hospital.