The Spell's Range Covers the Entire Territory of China? Hand It Over to the Nation

14: Chapter 14 Global Headlines: The Forbidden Zone of Gods and the Most Expensive Mukbang in HistoryAbove the East Sea, clouds piled up, and the cold wind was like a knife.

Inside the cockpit of the F-22 Raptor, the ace pilot code-named ’Falcon’, Jack, felt like he was going crazy.

As the ace of aces in the Eagle Federation Air Force, what kind of storms hadn’t he seen? He had dodged SAM missiles in Middle Eastern sandstorms, played blind landings in the polar nights of the Arctic, and even soloed and defeated three third-generation fighters in simulated combat.

But he had never practiced how to be a static specimen at an altitude of ten thousand meters.

This state, which violated the laws of physics, had lasted for a full two hours.

Although his body was imprisoned by some mysterious force, and even blinking took all his strength, this did not mean his metabolism had stopped. On the contrary, extreme fear caused his adrenaline to soar, followed by intense thirst, hunger that made his stomach cramp, and... the increasingly difficult-to-ignore throbbing pain in his bladder.

”Fuck... is there anyone... save me...”

Jack let out a dry whimper from his throat, tears mixed with snot smearing inside his oxygen mask, sticky, making him feel like a salted fish exposed to the scorching sun.

Just when he thought he would suffocate or starve to death in this static state, the light outside the cockpit suddenly dimmed.

Buzz, buzz, buzz—

A somewhat familiar sound of motor rotation came.

Jack struggled to turn his eyeballs, and his pupils shrank when he saw the object coming.

It was not the search and rescue team he had hoped for, nor was it a fighter jet from Longxia Country.

It was several petite... civilian multi-rotor drones painted with bright red flags?

These toys, which could be bought at Walmart for a few hundred dollars, were hovering slowly beside his cockpit canopy, their four propellers spinning happily, making a mocking, light sound.

One of the drones adjusted its posture, the mechanical claw hanging under its belly released, and a piece of cardboard ”slapped” against the cockpit glass.

On it, written in extremely neat Chinese and English, was a line of text:

[Given that your side has trespassed into our country without permission and refuses to leave, out of the humanitarian spirit of the Eastern land of etiquette, a luxury lunch is specially provided. Please open the cockpit!]

Luxury lunch?

Jack’s brain lagged a bit, and before he could react, another drone came up.

It also extended a mechanical arm, but this time it wasn’t holding cardboard, but something still steaming hot...

A paper bowl?

The familiar red and black color scheme, the conspicuous beef pattern...

If Jack had ever been to a train station or an all-night internet cafe in Dragon Summer, he would have recognized this as the Divine Artifact that countless wanderers dreamed of—Braised Beef Noodles.

”Slurp...”

He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but Jack even felt he smelled an overbearing fragrance through the well-sealed cockpit canopy.

At the same time, a third drone slowly ascended, the huge black lens on its body aimed directly at his face, the red indicator light flashing on and off.

...

With intentional traffic promotion from Dragon Summer, the global internet soon boiled over.

Server red lights flashed crazily. Whether it was Twitter, YouTube, or domestic Douyin and Weibo, traffic from all platforms was converging crazily into the same live broadcast room, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

The title of the live broadcast room was extremely provocative—”High-End Match: Watching the Eagle Federation’s Ace Pilot Elegantly Dine in This Situation.”

Countless netizens who were slacking off during the night shift, distracted during evening classes, or scrolling on their phones in bed, clicked into the live broadcast room out of curiosity.

As soon as the screen loaded, the barrage instantly exploded, with dense text directly covering the screen.

[Holy shit! Is this real footage? Must be special effects, right? Whose plane can stay suspended in the sky like that?]

[Is the person above disconnected from the world? Go look at the news next door, the beast tide at Luofeng Slope has already become Materials, these two planes are nothing.]

[Are these the two F-22s that broke in? Why do they look like two flies stuck on a spider web?]

[The point is the drone! What the hell, Braised Beef Noodles! And spicy flavor! Who came up with this idea? Too vicious!]

[The one above doesn’t understand, this is called killing the heart! Think about it, they are flying the most badass stealth fighter, claiming global strikes, and end up being pinned in the sky by us and fed instant noodles. This contrast, tsk tsk tsk.]

[Is this noodle sponsored by Master Kong? Suggest paying advertising fees immediately! This is a hard advertisement at ten thousand meters altitude!]

[Stop talking, I’m hungry, just ordered a box. By the way, can this pilot eat? Isn’t he unable to move?]

[The one above is too young. Since the streamer can pin him, they can naturally let him move his mouth.]

Just as the barrage was scrolling crazily, in the live broadcast screen, the drone seemed to have received some instruction.

After Jack had to open the cockpit in the face of the implied threat.

It manipulated the mechanical arm extremely flexibly, tore open the noodle lid, forked up a roll of noodles hanging with rich soup, and then... shoved it to Jack’s mouth.

Then Jack discovered with horror that his chin was moving uncontrollably!

The force that imprisoned his body seemed to release its control over his masseter muscles and swallowing nerves at this moment.

The noodles were rudely stuffed into his mouth.

”Ugh! Mmph!”

Jack subconsciously wanted to refuse. As a strictly trained officer, how could he eat the enemy’s food? This was humiliation! This was trampling on his dignity! It was smearing the Stars and Stripes!

But his body was truly honest.

The spicy and savory taste exploded on his taste buds instantly, and his stomach, which had been hungry for two hours, let out a roar of desire.

He chewed.

He swallowed.

Because he ate too eagerly, a drop of red soup splashed onto the priceless flight helmet visor, making him look as disheveled as a homeless person who hadn’t eaten in three days.

[He ate it! He actually ate it!]

[Hahahaha! Is this the tough guy of the Eagle Federation? The ’true fragrance’ warning is late but arrived!]

[One thing to say, this drone operator has good skills, didn’t feed it into his nostrils.]

[Where is the tipping channel? Send a rocket to the streamer! This will be the meal money for this guy!]

For a time, gift effects flew all over the live broadcast room, and various ”Big Rockets” and ”Carnivals” blocked the screen completely.

And this scene, through the high-definition camera of the drone, was transmitted to every corner of the world without delay, slapping certain people’s faces hard.

On Twitter, the topic that was still clamoring for ”severely punishing Dragon Summer” instantly went silent, replaced by countless questions and anger:

”We pay so much tax every year, just to raise such a softie who can be bought with a bowl of noodles?”

”God, this is so shameful! Let him crash, at least he can die like a soldier, not like a beggar!”

”This is not air combat at all! This is humiliation! It’s the Dragon Summer people peeling off our skin and rubbing it on the ground!”

...

Eagle Federation, The Pentagon.

The air in the supreme operations conference room was no longer just heavy, but a powder keg that seemed to explode at any moment.

”Clap!”

An exquisite bone china coffee cup was smashed hard on the ground, and brown liquid splashed all over the expensive carpet.

”Cut the signal! Cut the signal for me immediately!”

General George had no trace of his previous composure. This old man, who usually held his cigar like a scepter, was pointing at Jack on the big screen, who had noodle soup hanging from the corner of his mouth and was chewing instant noodles with a look of humiliation and satisfaction. The veins on his neck were bulging, and his roar made the conference room glass buzz.

”That is our ace! The pride of the ’Storm’ squadron! He is now being fed like a monkey in a zoo! And it’s being broadcast globally!”

”Where is the technical department? Are they all idiots? Why haven’t they hacked that live broadcast room yet?!”

The technical director on the side was trembling, sweating profusely while typing on the keyboard, his fingers cramping: ”General... it can’t be done... the opponent’s signal source is very strange, it is not transmitted through conventional satellite links at all. It... it seems to have written the signal directly into the underlying protocol of the global internet. Unless we unplug the network cables of the entire Federation and smash all mobile phones, there is no way to block it...”

Hearing this, General George swayed and fell back into his leather chair.

Even if a nuclear bomb exploded in front of him, he wouldn’t frown.

But this... this was too dirty.

If the plane had been shot down, he could have held a press conference to denounce Dragon Summer’s violence and barbarism, could have portrayed Jack as a martyr defending freedom, and even used this as an excuse to apply for more military funding from Congress and launch greater sanctions.

But now?

This scene of eating instant noodles at an altitude of ten thousand meters had instantly shattered the image of ”invincibility,” ”aloof mystery,” and ”technological hegemony” that the Eagle Federation military had built for decades.

What would the public think? What would allies think?

The stealth killer built with hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money couldn’t even stop a bowl of instant noodles that cost a few dollars?

”General... there’s a call from the White House.” The adjutant handed over the secure phone with a pale face, ”Mr. President asked, can those two planes be retrieved? If not, he hopes we can give the public a reasonable explanation before the situation gets completely out of control.”

Explanation? Explain my ass!

George’s hand was trembling as he took the phone.

He knew that in this game, the Eagle Federation had lost everything, right down to their underwear.

If they didn’t rescue him, Jack would be left hanging in the sky until he starved or froze to death, and this live broadcast would become an indelible stain on the Eagle Federation forever.

If they did rescue him... they would have to bow their heads.

They would have to bow to the great Eastern power that they had once viewed as a mere pawn on their chessboard, but which had now suddenly overturned the board.

The conference room was deathly silent; all the generals were looking at him, waiting for his decision.

A few minutes later.

George hung up the phone and spoke with extreme reluctance:

“Pass on my order.”

“Recall all patrol vessels from the First Island Chain.”

“Also, contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and have them negotiate with Longxia. No matter the cost, get the two planes and the personnel back first. Every second this damn broadcast continues, another layer of our skin is peeled off!”

...

If the Eagle Federation’s breakdown was expected, the reaction from the international community triggered a tsunami at the cognitive level.

Berlin, Germany.

Inside the studio of the world-renowned ”Defense Weekly,” the lights focused on a middle-aged man with a stern face and a slightly receding hairline.

Hans Müller, a former senior strategic advisor for NATO and current chief analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Usually, this German was known for being rigorous and rigid, never jumping to conclusions, and certainly never showing emotion in public.

But today, his hands on the desk were tightly clenched together, his knuckles turning white from the excessive force.

The host asked: “Mr. Müller, what is your take on the ‘means’ displayed by Longxia Country this time? Is this some kind of new electromagnetic pulse weapon?”

Müller did not answer immediately.

He stared at the two motionless F-22s on the screen, as well as the hundreds of thousands of exotic beast corpses at Luofeng Slope that looked like statues, his expression dazed.

After a long while, he slowly took off his glasses and said in a tone that was almost a groan: “No... this is absolutely not an electromagnetic weapon.”

“Electromagnetic weapons would fry circuits and destroy electronic components, but they could never make a fighter jet’s kinetic energy vanish into thin air, let alone freeze the pilot like time itself while keeping the engine running.”

“Then what is this?” the host pressed.

Müller took a deep breath, looked into the camera, his eyes filled with awe and fear:

“Ladies and gentlemen, we must acknowledge a fact and re-examine our understanding of this world.”

“This is not technology. Or rather, it is not technology within our scope of understanding.”

“This is a kind of... rule.”

The studio was silent.

Müller continued, his voice becoming lower and deeper: “Within the Western territory of Longxia, the three laws of physics seem to have become a draft that can be modified at will. Someone... or rather, some kind of will, has drawn a circle there.”

“Inside this circle, kinetic energy is no longer conserved, gravity is no longer absolute, and even the flow of time is decided by him.”

“I even suspect that if he wanted to, he could make those two planes fly backward in the sky, or instantly turn them into a pile of scrap metal.”

At this point, Müller paused and uttered a new term that would later chill countless military experts to the bone:

“This is—the [Zone of Deity].”

“From today on, any attempt to intervene militarily in the Western territory of Longxia is no longer a military operation, but suicide. Because humanity cannot declare war on a god.”

Once these words were spoken, the whole world was in an uproar.

...

Moscow, the Kremlin.

Outside the window, snow was falling in Red Square, and the cold wind was howling.

The President, known for his iron fist, stood in front of the window with an unlit cigar in his hand.

The Minister of Defense behind him had just finished reporting on the analysis of Longxia’s global live broadcast and ”Jane’s Defence Weekly.”

“Zone of Deity... interesting.”

The President lit his cigar, and amidst the curling smoke, his eyes became deep.

“It seems that the sleeping Eastern dragon has not only awakened, but has also learned a breath that only exists in myths.”

He walked to the desk, picked up a bilateral trade negotiation document that had already been drafted with harsh wording, and tossed it into the shredder.

“Tell the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to redo tomorrow’s negotiation plan and lower our posture.”

“But Mr. President, we will lose a lot of benefits that way...” the Minister of Defense couldn’t help but remind him.

“Benefits?” The President waved his hand. “Now is not the time for bargaining. When a dragon takes flight, what we need to do is not to pluck its scales, but to find a way to stand by its side. Go, what we need are allies; even being a vassal is better than being an enemy.”

...

Tokyo, the Prime Minister’s Official Residence.

Compared to the pragmatism of the Bear Country, the atmosphere in the Cherry Blossom Country was like a funeral.

The cabinet members were kneeling on the tatami mats, each one pale as a sheet.

The Prime Minister’s hands were shaking so much he couldn’t even hold his teacup, and he didn’t even feel it when hot tea spilled onto his thighs.

Just two hours ago, they received the last message sent back by their ace agent team lurking within Longxia: [Mission failed. All equipment malfunctioned. I feel like I’m being watched by some grand gaze, karmic fire is burning my Soul... help me...]

After that, there was deathly silence.

“Withdraw them... quickly, withdraw everyone!”

The Prime Minister roared with a voice that was almost cracking, “All those so-called ‘civilian exchange groups’ and ‘geological survey teams,’ recall them all! Not a single one left!”

“Tell those ships still on the way, even if they have to turn around on the high seas, they are not allowed to approach Longxia’s waters by even half a step!”

“That is the territory of gods... Baka! We were actually trying to provoke a living god this whole time?!”

...

This night was destined to be sleepless.

The chessboard of the world’s geopolitical landscape was completely overturned and reorganized because of Su Yun’s two actions.

Countries that had originally held hostility, attempted to probe, or looked down on Longxia Country held emergency meetings overnight to revise their diplomatic strategies.

And at the Kunlun underground command center, the center of the storm.

The atmosphere here was exceptionally peaceful, even carrying a hint of a cozy tea party vibe.

Su Yun was still sitting in his chair, holding a thermos, watching the varied and servile reactions of different countries on the big screen, his expression as calm as if he were watching a movie whose ending he already knew.

“It seems these people really are like walnuts.”

“They won’t break unless you smash them, and only after being smashed will they reveal the kernel.”

Long Yi, standing behind him, moved his gaze from the screen and landed on this young man who was only eighteen years old.

With the power of one person, he quelled the beast tide, toyed with the US military, and intimidated the entire world.

This could no longer be described simply as “peerless national scholar.” This was the pillar of the nation, the stabilizing needle of the sea, the backbone that allowed this ancient nation to stand tall.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs just sent word.”

Long Yi walked to Su Yun’s side and said in a gentle tone: “The Eagle Federation has softened its stance. Not only have they withdrawn their troops, but they have also indicated through secret channels that they are willing to trade two of the latest lithography machines to get those two pilots back. As for the two planes... since they couldn’t get them back, they changed their tune and said they were lending them to us as research Materials.”

“That’s a decent deal,” Su Yun commented, taking a sip of tea.

“This is all your doing.” Long Yi smiled, then retracted his smile, his expression becoming solemn. “Comrade Su Yun, the nation will not mistreat its meritorious subjects. Your career upgrade requirements, no matter how difficult, we will help you complete with all our might.”

“However...”

Long Yi paused for a moment, took a letter out of his pocket, and handed it to Su Yun.

“Compared to future promises, I think you will like this reward more.”

Su Yun put down his thermos and took the letter.

The moment he unfolded it, he knew the value of this reward.

This was a pass.

The destination was the core living area of the Kunlun base—“Kunlun Palace.”

As far as he knew, Kunlun Palace was a magical place. Even before Blue Star was digitized, there were already strange occurrences there. After Blue Star was digitized, it underwent even greater mutations due to the convergence of earth veins.

Now, Kunlun Palace was incredibly magical, with the air filled with high concentrations of life energy. Living there not only significantly delayed aging and doubled a person’s lifespan, but could even repair defects at the human genetic level.

It was the nation’s most precious place, a Holy Land that only a very few, such as super S-rank powerhouses, were qualified to enter.

“Ever since your Awakening, we have been considering how to arrange for your family,” Long Yi’s voice echoed in his ear. “Living comfortably while ensuring absolute safety—there is no better place than Kunlun Palace.”

“And, if all goes as expected, your parents have probably already moved in.”

Hearing this, Su Yun couldn’t help but smile: “Old Long, I am very satisfied with this gift.”