Chương 149: Chapter 148: The Pacific Battle — When the Admin Runs Server Maintenance

The eye of the Pacific storm above the Mariana Trench churned with violet thunder. At its center, the Void Annihilation Entity loomed like a three-hundred-meter mountain of jet-black spiked alloy. Above its head, a dense energy sphere gathered for a discharge capable of devastating any nearby coastline if it completed its cycle. A large pack of Void Demon Dragons filled the sky around it, forming a defensive cage. WHOOSH!

Vance Earth Holdings' armored response aircraft cut through the storm corridor and stopped at a safe standoff distance from the eye. The roof hatch popped open. Astra, in her modest flower-print dress, kicked off the hood of the vehicle barefoot, launching herself into the sky. She drew the Sun-Cleaving Dragon Blade from its sheath, ash-gray eyes flashing sharp and cold.

"How dare you ruin everyone's beach vacation!" CLANG! The holy blade flashed through a controlled sequence of cuts, opening a path through the hostile flight without striking the rescue fleet. SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! A broad arc of platinum light swept across the upper storm. The hostile flight broke apart into scattered motes as the pressure on the rescue corridor eased. Across the emergency broadcasts, viewers stared at the sudden opening in the storm.

"Eleanor!" Lucian called out.

"Coming!" Eleanor, in her white-and-gold holy knight armor, leapt from the aircraft and landed beside him. Lucian took Eleanor's arm as they stepped from the aircraft together, keeping their footing on the unstable surface. Layered Focus: engaged. Silent Displacement: chained 20 times in sequence. Blink! Blink! Blink! Their forms blurred into a streak of silver, weaving through violet lightning falling like rain. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Eleanor's Royal Holy Sword cut precise golden strokes through the debris that flew into their path, protecting the opening the team needed. She glanced at him, smiling despite the storm.

"Emergency transit is convenient, Chairman." Lucian, eyes still locked on the energy sphere ahead, answered flatly.

"Emergency transit fee's ten thousand gold per kilometer. I'm putting it on your royal tab." Blink. Lucian and Eleanor landed on a maintenance plate set into the spiked alloy shell, close enough to see a red countdown cycling behind a seam. The reactor core on the creature's forehead blinked red, counting down: 00: 00: 15... 00: 00: 14...

Lucian reached into his coat pocket, pulled out Station50's authenticated temporary maintenance credential, and inserted it into the physical port hidden behind the maintenance plate. Ting! [UNIFIED SYSTEM V2. 0: LOCAL LEGACY CONSOLE] [Credential accepted: Station50/Vance maintenance channel - scope limited to this identified subsystem.] Documented routine available: emergency fail-safe shutdown for a corrupted cleanup process.

No Earth root access, global authority, or external system privileges have been granted. Human-readable command interface: Lucian raised his hand and typed a single line on the virtual keyboard: sudo systemctl stop apocalypse. service BEEP. A soft computer shutdown sound rang out at the center of the storm. [SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE FOR THE LOCAL CALAMITY SUBSYSTEM: CANCELED] The device entered its pre-existing fail-safe state and safely dissipated its destructive charge.

Residual core: finite recoverable salvage asset, subject to quarantine and international regulatory custody. [TIME-TO-DEFEAT NOTE: shutdown completed before the final discharge.] WHRRM...! The massive violet-black energy sphere stopped spinning and dissolved into a cool, harmless breeze. The boss's spiked frame folded inward and cooled into an inert, translucent blue core secured by the emergency fleet.

The Pacific Recovery Zone was placed under international quarantine while scientists, governments, and the Hunter coalition argued over safe custody. The seas calmed. The storm broke apart, revealing a clear blue sky and brilliant morning sunlight pouring down onto a sea flat and still as a mirror. Across the world, people exhaled, cried, and called relatives as the emergency alerts began to clear. Early broadcasts credited the coalition, the rescue crews, and the Vance team with stopping the immediate disaster.

Click. Evelyn removed the temporary credential from the port and walked over to Lucian. She checked the limited diagnostic record downloaded from the local device, pushed her silver glasses up, and smiled.

"Lucian. This is not an Earth-wide source archive. It is a narrow maintenance log - but it proves the Calamity was an old-network machine, and it gives the investigators something real to work with." She turned the screen to show him.

"And nobody is appointing a Global CEO. We are going to let Earth handle Earth."