Chapter 124: Annihilation

"Oh no, my men are dead! He—he’s coming for us!"

Nishimura, who had just been about to raise a cup of hot tea to his lips, stood up abruptly, his face contorted in terror.

"Impossible! We would have heard the alarms if he had breached the perimeter!" Cao Taihuan blurted out.

"The alarms didn't go off, but who knows how that man does things? Several of those men were ghost-tamers I trained for my 'Hundred Ghosts Night Parade' scroll. The moment they died, I felt it instantly. He is definitely here. You can stay if you want, but I’m leaving!"

Nishimura finished his rapid-fire warning and headed straight for the cabin door. Cao Taihuan scrambled to follow him. Encountering a crewman in the hallway, Cao grabbed him by the collar and roared, "You idiot! The enemy is already here—sound the alarm!"

Moments later, the flagship’s sirens wailed, and the nearby escort vessels went on high alert. Nam Myung-gi issued orders over the radio for the entire fleet to stand by and dispatched teams to patrol every sector.

Under the flickering lights, the cacophony of alarms, shouting, thundering footsteps, and the clatter of firearms filled the air. Fortunately, the Nam-Cheong Maritime Police were well-trained, and there was no sense of panic in their movements.

Inside the command center, everyone was busy, but Nam Myung-gi was deeply annoyed. Cao Taihuan and Nishimura were constantly haranguing him, demanding to be taken away on a speedboat. Their desperate demeanor was an eye-opener for Nam. He didn't know much about Nishimura, but Cao Taihuan was a renowned martial arts grandmaster of Greater Korea. Usually, Cao carried himself with an air of arrogant superiority, but now he was like a rabbit terrified by a hunter, ready to bolt at the slightest disturbance. Where was the dignity of a grandmaster?

Nam Myung-gi had originally intended to keep them on board, but in his panic, Cao had resorted to threats. Given Cao’s immense influence in both political and business circles, Nam could not afford to offend him openly, so he reluctantly agreed.

"Fine, fine. Since Grandmaster Cao insists on leaving, I have no choice. I will have my men take you to a secret passage in the central section. You can board a speedboat there and leave the *White Whale* for the mainland," Nam Myung-gi said with a sigh.

"I am in your debt, Chief Nam!" Cao Taihuan finally offered a semblance of a pleasant expression.

Nam Myung-gi felt a surge of contempt but waved for an adjutant to escort the pair out of the command center.

"Tch, *ssibal*!" he hissed, then turned back to his console. "Check all camera feeds! I want that intruder found in the shortest time possible!"

"Yes, sir!"

The synchronized response from his subordinates satisfied him. He felt like a legendary general of old, maintaining calm under pressure.

Was Nam Myung-gi afraid of the intruder? The answer was no. People are like that; even if they know the intruder is no ordinary person and has likely destroyed one of their ships, they don't truly grasp the danger until they see it with their own eyes. Furthermore, as a soldier, Nam trusted his men and his firepower. Fueled by the lofty ideals of being a modern-day Yi Sun-sin, he wasn't afraid—in fact, his blood was boiling.

"Notify all ships: search in groups of two or three. No one is to act alone. If you encounter the target, shoot on sight!"

"Turn on all lights. Everyone must keep an eye on their colleagues to prevent the intruder from disguising himself in our uniforms."

"Deploy a special tactical team outside the command center. Don't let the intruder reach my door without me knowing. Question any suspicious personnel—I don't intend to get decapitated."

Nam Myung-gi issued his orders with absolute confidence, determined to leave the intruder nowhere to hide.

A few minutes later:

"All ships, report status!"

"White Sparrow reports no anomalies!"

"White Water reports no anomalies!"

"White Bird reports no anomalies!"

...

Nam Myung-gi frowned upon hearing the reports and was about to speak when—

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

A burst of gunfire erupted just outside the command center door.

Nam Myung-gi’s face shifted. He grabbed his walkie-talkie and shouted, "What’s going on? Why is there gunfire outside?!"

"It's... ah!"

The only response was a dying scream. The gunfire outside ceased as quickly as it had begun, and the silence that followed was suffocating. Even the people inside the command center stopped breathing, paralyzed by the tension.

"Bring up the exterior camera feeds on the main screen!" Nam ordered.

His subordinate frantically typed on the keyboard, and the main screen flickered to life. The dimly lit corridor was revealed: twenty heavily armed soldiers lay scattered across the floor. Blood stained the steel deck, and sparking wires added to the ghastly, terrifying scene.

In the center of the corridor stood a tall man with long hair, looking calm and detached amidst the carnage. To the people in the command center, he looked like a devil.

Jiang An raised a hand, and the camera pointed at him shattered upon impact.

He had underestimated the enemy. After using the "Heavenly Palace" technique to eliminate everyone on the Japanese ship, the surrounding escort vessels had immediately gone into combat mode. A quiet search was no longer possible. Relying on his ghost-like speed and stealth techniques, he had infiltrated the nearest maritime police ship, subdued an officer, and learned which ship was the flagship and that his targets were on board.

For an ordinary grandmaster, Nam Myung-gi’s precautions would have been a real hindrance, but Jiang An had slipped onto the flagship with ease. He had made his way to the command center, and the moment he appeared, the elite tactical team had opened fire. Jiang An hadn't been polite; he had dispatched them in a matter of seconds.

He found himself missing his divine sense. If he could still project his consciousness, finding them would have been instantaneous. Now, although his perception was sharper than a normal person's, he could only control a range of about twenty meters, and the complex terrain made it even more difficult.

He decided to storm the command center and interrogate the commander directly. It was the most efficient way.

"Order all units to surround the command center and hunt down the intruder! Our doors are ten centimeters thick; he cannot break through this steel!"

Nam Myung-gi’s order restored some confidence to the staff, and they returned to their duties. The busy atmosphere caused Nam to puff out his chest. As he said, the command center was safe as long as the doors remained locked. He actually hoped the intruder would stay outside, giving his men time to arrive.

He stared fixedly at the heavy door, fists clenched, waiting. But there was no movement outside, and the cameras were destroyed. The uncertainty was infuriating.

"You brat, when I catch you, I’ll make you drink three buckets of piss," Nam Myung-gi muttered viciously.

"Oh? Then you should drink more water," a cold voice whispered directly behind him.

Nam Myung-gi’s hair stood on end. His scalp numbed as he stiffly turned around to see a handsome young man sitting in the chair behind him, looking at him with an expressionless face.

"Don't—don't move!"

Nam Myung-gi roared, drawing his pistol and aiming it at Jiang An. The others reacted, pulling their weapons and pointing them at the intruder.

For a cultivator like Jiang An, human languages were incredibly simple. He could master any foreign language on Earth in the shortest possible time if he wanted to. However, knowing them didn't mean he enjoyed speaking them.

He sat calmly under the gaze of a dozen gun barrels and said in Chinese, "You are the commander. Tell me where those two men are, and I may spare your lives."

As a high-ranking official dealing with China-related affairs, Nam Myung-gi spoke Chinese, albeit with a heavy accent.

"Don't get cocky! Do you think I won't send you to hell with a single bullet?" Nam said, his voice hard, but his twitching face and trembling hands betrayed everything.

He knew that anyone who could kill so many soldiers without a scratch, force a grandmaster like Cao to flee, and enter a sealed command center without anyone noticing, was not someone to be trifled with. He knew that the moment he pulled the trigger, he and his men would likely be the ones to die.

"Is that so?"

Jiang An glanced at him, and Nam Myung-gi felt a chill run through his very soul.

His bloodlust vanished into thin air. He didn't want to die; he hadn't enjoyed enough of this world yet! To hell with Yi Sun-sin! Dying here might make him a national hero, but what good would that do him? Dead men get nothing!

But how could he surrender so easily? With so many people watching, if someone were to talk, his life would be worse than death.

Jiang An saw the struggle in Nam Myung-gi’s eyes. He didn't have time for psychological games and immediately cast the "Night Lamp" technique.

When a person’s mental defenses are wavering, they are incredibly fragile. In an instant, Nam Myung-gi’s mind was under Jiang An’s control, while the others in the room remained completely unaware.