"Yes, sir!" Des replied grimly.
Long Zhan led his forces toward Mike’s fleet. Meanwhile, the staff officer and his men were still in the water, struggling to swim forward.
Mike had already ordered their speedboat to be taken back to his fleet.
Soon, Long Zhan’s ships arrived in the vicinity.
"Captain, it looks like some of their men are in the water," a scout reported, his voice uncertain. "It’s hard to be sure with the rain, I can’t see clearly!"
"Perfect! Keep up the attack, same as before!" Long Zhan ordered.
"Yes, sir!"
But the three carrier fleets had too many ships. With just a slight adjustment to their formation, they could cover all directions.
Whenever they got close, the enemy unleashed a saturation attack, leaving Long Zhan and his men no opening whatsoever.
"Keep baiting their attacks. I’d like to see just how much ammunition they have," Long Zhan ordered with a cold laugh.
"Yes, sir!"
At that moment, the staff officer and the Evolvers finally reached the enemy fleet, where they were hauled out of the water and taken into custody.
Mike saw through Long Zhan’s intentions and said with a laugh, "Just push forward! Our goal is to take down Peach Blossom Base. Don’t get bogged down fighting them!"
The three carrier fleets advanced in unison toward Peach Blossom Base.
Now that they no longer needed to reinforce Xi’an Base, he was ready to strike directly at the enemy’s heart!
Seeing the enemy’s new maneuver, Long Zhan frowned.
"Captain Long, what do we do now?" Des’s anxious voice came over the comms.
"There’s no other way. We’ll have to take the hits and tear a few chunks of flesh off them. We need to make them feel the pain!" Long Zhan said, a hint of resignation in his voice. "Make sure the ships’ critical systems aren’t damaged. The Evolvers need to help with defense!"
"Yes, sir!" Des replied grimly.
At Long Zhan’s command, the modified destroyer and supply ship once again charged the flank of the carrier fleet.
"This time, inflict as much damage as possible. All cannons, do not target the same ship!" Long Zhan added.
"Yes, sir!"
Seeing Long Zhan’s maneuver, Mike sneered. "Looks like they’re getting desperate. Continue the saturation attack and force them to retreat!"
The cannons of the three carrier fleets roared to life once more, and shells rained down on Long Zhan’s ships.
This time, Long Zhan’s ships didn’t retreat. Instead, they swung their hulls broadside, and the cannons on one side immediately opened fire.
They didn’t even need to aim. The enemy carrier fleet was so dense with ships that as long as you weren’t completely blind, you couldn’t miss.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Shells from both sides slammed into their targets.
Long Zhan felt the hull shudder violently. He gave a grim command, "Withdraw from their attack range immediately! Assess hull damage!"
The two ships immediately pulled back. Once out of firing range, the engineers on board began their inspection.
"This... how is this possible? We took so many hits, but we’re still in one piece?" a Maintenance Engineer stared in disbelief at the minor dents and scratches on the hull.
"It looks like the modified hull’s defenses have been massively enhanced!"
After reaching this conclusion, they excitedly reported their findings to Long Zhan.
Hearing the engineer’s report, Long Zhan was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Hahaha, fantastic! With defenses like this, one of our ships could take on all three of their carrier fleets by itself! Get the Gold-Type Evolvers to repair the hull damage immediately!"
According to the engineer’s description, the damage to the hull wasn’t severe. The Gold-Type Evolvers should be able to restore it to its original state.
’Repair, go in for another round, pull back to repair again... repeating this cycle will definitely be enough to wear down those three carrier fleets!’
As Long Zhan was relishing the thought, a soldier hurried over.
"Captain, the Gold-Type Evolvers can’t repair the hull damage!"
The smile on Long Zhan’s face froze. "Why?" he asked, confused.
"We don’t know. All the Gold-Type Evolvers tried. They can sense the ship’s metal, but they just can’t control it!"
Long Zhan frowned in thought for a moment, then immediately headed toward Ren Yuanyang.
Seeing him approach, Qin Haonan immediately rose to meet him.
"Captain Long, can I help you?" Qin Haonan asked, his face wary.
Long Zhan stopped, nodded, and explained his confusion. "Our ships were hit by enemy shells and sustained some damage, but our Gold-Type Evolvers are unable to repair them."
Qin Haonan was taken aback for a second, then he understood. "Items enhanced by our leader can’t be controlled by ordinary Evolvers. He said it would only be possible once everyone’s Mental Energy reaches a certain level!"
’Just as I thought,’ Long Zhan said to himself.
It was an easy conclusion to reach. Gold-Type Evolvers could repair the ships’ damage before, but not after Ren Yuanyang modified them. The only explanation was that the modified metal had undergone some kind of change.
"So, no one can repair the hull damage now?" Long Zhan asked with a slight frown.
Ren Yuanyang was a Wood-Type Evolver. Although it was unclear how he had modified the ships, repairing them would surely require Gold-Type abilities.
"For now, that’s correct," Qin Haonan nodded.
Even if Ren Yuanyang had a special ability to make the repairs, he was currently unconscious.
Just then, Des reported the same problem. Long Zhan shared Qin Haonan’s explanation with him.
Des was stunned for a moment, then immediately asked, "So what do we do now?"
Long Zhan fell into deep thought.
Meanwhile, Mike and his men were staring in utter shock at the two ships that had just escaped through a barrage of heavy cannon fire.
"How could their hulls’ defenses be so strong?"
"They took that many shells head-on and weren’t even crippled? What in the world are those hulls made of?"
Mike looked at his own ships, damaged by Long Zhan’s attack, and his brow furrowed. "This is bad."
All their firepower hadn’t been enough to destroy the enemy’s ships, yet a single enemy shell could severely damage one of theirs. If this continued for a few more exchanges, all the ships in their three carrier fleets would be wiped out!
"Maybe we should just retreat for now!" one of the other captains suggested, his nerve failing.
"If we retreat now, everything we’ve invested so far will be for nothing!" Mike replied with a frown.
"If we don’t retreat now, all three of our carrier fleets will be annihilated here! Besides, they’ve only sent out two of those ships. What if they have more?" another captain chimed in.
Just then, a scout reported in a panic, "General, those two ships are charging us again!"
Hearing this, Mike’s heart skipped a beat. He hesitated no longer and ordered, "We’re pulling out! Maintain defensive formation!"
"General, what about the damaged ships?" a soldier asked.
"We have to abandon them!" Mike said with a sense of helplessness. He knew that if he tried to take the damaged ships with them, the entire fleet would be wiped out.
The three carrier fleets immediately began to turn about. Long Zhan, who had already decided to charge again, saw their maneuver and thought to himself, ’I knew it. They’re spooked!’
Long Zhan had deliberately launched another charge to make Mike and his men think their cannon fire had done almost no damage to his ships.
If they believed that, they would think they were powerless against him, while every one of his own shells could cripple one of their vessels.
In a situation like that, the enemy would most likely choose to retreat.
"Captain Long, they’re retreating. Do we pursue?" Des asked.
"We have to see the act through. Keep chasing them for a bit longer," Long Zhan said grimly.
The two ships charged back into the enemy’s attack range, unleashed another barrage, and then sped away once more.
Mike’s heart was bleeding. That last barrage had cost him another four ships.
But they didn’t dare linger, fleeing at full speed out of the Seventh-level Wind Sea Region.
Long Zhan’s ships gave chase for a while longer before finally stopping.
"Get some speedboats on them. I want constant surveillance on the movements of those three carrier fleets," Long Zhan ordered.
"Yes, sir!"
Speedboats from Dawn Base, which were already patrolling nearby, immediately moved in and began tailing the three carrier fleets from a great distance.
Realizing they were being tailed by speedboats, Mike’s fleet no longer dared to linger in the area and fled westward frantically.
Once the enemy fleet was far from the Seventh-level Wind Sea Region, Long Zhan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He sent a message to the group chat: "The Sea Eagle Country’s carriers have finally retreated!"
Wang Jun and Ji Yizhi both breathed a sigh of relief.
"That’s great news. Has Master woken up yet?" Wang Jun asked, concerned.
"Not yet. I just asked Qin Haonan. He said it might take a full day for him to wake up. Master has already been moved to their supply ship and is on his way back to the base." Long Zhan shook his head. "Looks like those modifications really took a toll on him."

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