Chapter 256: You Could Even Sit on an Airplane Wing

Just as "New Era" churned with undercurrents stirred by baseless rumors, the stage for delivering the "gift money" had already been set in the Strait of Malacca, awaiting only the guests' arrival.

According to the coordinates Qin Feng had designated, "Pandora," after repeated deliberation and fierce internal squabbling, ultimately could not resist the lure of "New Era"'s core technology, nor Lilith's almost obsessive desire to prove her own "charm" and "control." They dispatched a specially modified vessel that looked like an ordinary cargo ship on the outside but was actually equipped with advanced reconnaissance and defense systems—the "Sea Siren"—to the designated location to receive the so-called "gift money."

The "Sea Siren" navigated cautiously across the sea beneath the veil of night, her crew on high alert, every detection device running at full capacity, scanning every inch of surrounding sea and sky, terrified of walking into a trap.

Yet all their vigilance proved utterly futile in the face of absolute power.

In the "New Era" Command Center, Qin Feng stood before the main console, the massive screen displaying the "Sea Siren"'s real-time movements. Su Wenqian and Lei Dong stood solemnly to one side.

"Sir, the 'Sea Siren' has entered the designated waters, speed reduced to minimum, seemingly waiting," Lei Dong reported.

Qin Feng nodded, his gaze calm. He did not even glance at the complex detection data; through the upgraded system's nearly "omniscient" perception, he had already clearly "seen" the position of every person on that ship and the operating status of every piece of equipment.

He did not deploy any warships, did not send out any fighter jets.

To deal with a ship like this, there was no need to raise a great force.

He raised his hand, his consciousness sinking into System Star Swirl.

【Lock target: coordinates XXX, XXX, 'Sea Siren'.】 【Execution plan: regional spatial structure Fine-Tuning, induce Deep Sea undercurrent.】 【Energy output level: low.】

With the confirmation of his will, at the bottom of the deep Malacca Strait, the flow direction of an originally calm, deep-layer cold current running along the edge of the continental shelf was extremely subtly disturbed and deflected by an invisible, precise force.

This guided undercurrent, like an awakened deep-sea python, silently rose upward, its core aimed precisely at the hull bottom of the "Sea Siren" slowly circling on the surface!

On the "Sea Siren," the captain stared tensely at the radar screen—everything normal.

Suddenly!

The entire ship tilted violently to one side without any warning! As if shoved hard by a giant hand from the deep sea!

"What's happening?!!" "Hit a reef?!" "No! No reef! It's the current! Anomalous current!!"

Chaos erupted on the ship in an instant! The alarm shrieked piercingly!

The guided undercurrent carried tremendous kinetic energy, clamping deathly onto the "Sea Siren"'s hull bottom, making it impossible to maintain balance; the hull emitted a teeth-grinding metallic groan!

Worse still, the undercurrent swept the hull along, beginning to charge at astonishing speed toward a nearby stretch of treacherous waters littered with hidden reefs!

"Engines full! Hard right rudder! Now! Get out of here!!" the captain roared at the top of his lungs.

But it was useless! Before the great force of nature, this modified vessel was like a toy, firmly seized by that invisible power and pushed inexorably toward the deadly reefs!

"No!!!"

Amid the crew's desperate cries, the "Sea Siren"'s hull bottom collided violently with the sharp hidden reefs!

Boom—!!!

A tremendous explosion erupted, flames shooting skyward! The hull snapped instantly and began sinking rapidly!

In mere minutes, the "Sea Siren," bearing "Pandora"'s ambitions, sank along with all her crew and those impractical fantasies into the cold, dark depths of the Malacca seabed.

Until death, they never knew what had actually befallen them.

Inside the Command Center, silence reigned.

Lei Dong and Su Wenqian watched the light representing the "Sea Siren" vanish completely from the screen. Though they had long anticipated the outcome, witnessing firsthand this bizarre, remote, pinpoint destruction still shook them to the core.

This was the "gift money" the Sir had spoken of…

A greeting of death, from the deep sea.

Qin Feng watched the screen expressionlessly, as if he had merely completed some trivial task. He turned and instructed Su Wenqian:

"Notify Lilith."

"The gift money has been delivered. The signed-for location… the bottom of the Malacca sea."

"Also," he paused, his tone carrying a thread of icy mockery, "tell her, if she still wants to keep playing this game…"

His gaze swept across the global map, finally settling on a vast uninhabited zone, his tone flat yet carrying a bone-chilling cold:

"…Next time, even if she wants to sit on an airplane's wing to collect the 'gift money,' I'll oblige her."

Su Wenqian's heart clenched; she immediately replied: "Yes! Sir!"

She understood—the Sir was using the most direct, most brutal method to declare the end of "Pandora"'s laughable provocations. Whether seabed or sky, so long as the Sir wished it, no place was safe.

This "gift money" not only buried a ship and a batch of elites, but utterly shattered Lilith's impractical fantasies and "Pandora"'s wishful thinking.

Want the core technology?

Fine.

Pay with your life.

Let's see how many lives your "Pandora" has to throw in!

Qin Feng no longer concerned himself with the Malacca aftermath; his gaze turned westward once more, toward the mist-shrouded Kunlun Mountains.

Xia Wan's side should be producing results soon too.

He was very curious what kind of secret that girl who called him "brother" could bring back from "Shenhua Tianfu."