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

24: Chapter 24 Savage? A Regression of Civilization?”Hurry up and get moving!”

Lin Weiguo’s voice boomed across the deck of the Zhenhai through the loudspeaker.

Assault boats, fully armed, sliced through the sea surface, rushing toward the Joint Fleet like arrows loosed from a bow.

The first squad to board the poseidon was the Third Company of the Marines. The company commander, Zhao Dabao, a sturdy man from the Northeast, stepped onto the carrier deck holding his rifle. His eyes were wide open, and he clicked his tongue in amazement.

”Good heavens, this scene is more real than anything I’ve seen in a wax museum.”

On the deck, thousands of Eagle Federation sailors were frozen in various poses. Some were running, one foot suspended half a foot off the ground, facial muscles contorted strangely by gravitational pull, yet they remained utterly still. Others had their mouths wide open as if screaming, their tonsils clearly visible in their throats. One unlucky fellow had coffee spilled in front of him; the brown liquid had solidified halfway through the air into a blob of semi-solid matter that looked like floating jelly plastered onto his face.

The visual impact was overwhelming.

This wasn’t a battlefield; it was clearly a massive, modern exhibition of absurdist art.

”Commander, what... what do we do with this?” A raw recruit behind him swallowed hard and reached out to poke the face of an Eagle Federation soldier in front of him. The texture was hard, like poking a rock covered in human skin.

Zhao Dabao slung his rifle onto his back, pulled out a high-strength nylon zip tie from his waist, and grinned, ”What do we do? Move them like furniture! The orders stated that anything alive, even a mouse, had to be packed up and taken away!”

And so, the most comical and hilarious scene in the history of world warfare unfolded.

What should have been a boarding action filled with gunfire and bayonet clashes turned into a unique ’Moving Day Assembly.’

The Dragon Summer soldiers displayed extremely high levels of professionalism—though, of course, professionalism as movers.

”One, two, three, lift!”

Two soldiers lifted the Eagle Federation soldier who was still ’running’ mid-air. Because the captive was maintaining a lunging sprint posture, he took up a lot of space and was very awkward to carry.

”These foreigners are really heavy. Is this what eating beef does to you?”

”Stop complaining. Be careful; don’t break his arm. The Chief said we need them completely intact.”

The soldiers grumbled, but their hands didn’t slow down. They handled the captives as if they were irregularly shaped, oversized figurines. Some lifted the legs, others supported the head. For those particularly difficult to handle, they simply rotated the person ninety degrees and stuffed them sideways into the cage.

The live broadcast had not been interrupted.

This scene was transmitted across the globe via the high-definition cameras aboard the Zhenhai.

The Western internet, which had been gripped by fear of the ’mysterious power,’ instantly transformed that fear into indignant rage upon seeing their esteemed soldiers being packed up like livestock.

Especially when they saw numerous officers being dragged across the deck by their ankles by Dragon Summer soldiers, their faces scraping against the non-slip surface, the Western media sphere exploded.

The CNN anchor, abandoning all pretense of objectivity and neutrality, slammed the desk and roared, ”What is this? This is barbarism! This is a trampling of human rights! Even prisoners of war deserve a minimum level of respect! The Dragon Summer people are openly humiliating the civilized world!”

On Twitter, the keyboard warriors who had been silent moments ago found a new point of attack:

[”Oh God, what are they treating our boys as? Cargo?”]

[”Too cruel! Look at that soldier, he’s clearly terrified, yet he has to be treated like this! Don’t the Dragon Summer people have any sympathy?”]

[”Strong protest! This is abuse! They must be released immediately and an apology issued to the United States!”]

[”Is this the ’Land of Etiquette’ of the East? I only see savagery and rudeness!”]

The domestic comment section was not to be outdone and instantly counterattacked:

[”Oh, look, when they were steering their ships to ram us just now, why didn’t they talk about etiquette?”]

[”This is called ’performance art.’ I even have a name for it: ’Caging the Invaders.’ They should apply for intangible cultural heritage status.”]

[”I think it’s quite respectful. Look how careful our soldiers are, handling them gently, afraid of bumping or bruising them. Five stars for this service attitude wouldn’t be too much, right? Besides, how do you know he’s a boy? Couldn’t he be biologically male but psychologically female? I’m reporting you for gender discrimination!”]

However, the West’s ’Saintly Mother’ offensive escalated further. There were even ’international observers’ appearing from nowhere, solemnly citing the Geneva Conventions, attempting to stand on the moral high ground to put Dragon Summer on trial.

Just as the war of public opinion raged inconclusively, Zhao Dabao’s squad finally reached the command tower.

The door to the command room was forcibly pried open.

The scene inside was even more astonishing.

George Smith, the four-star Admiral of the Eagle Federation Navy, was slumped over the command console in an extremely contorted posture. One hand was pressed against the red launch button, the other gripped the armrest, his mouth gaped wide enough to fit a fist, and his eyeballs were nearly bulging out of their sockets.

He wanted to roar, wanted to unleash weapons to destroy Dragon Summer, but his time had been infinitely stretched.

In this world moving at 0.01 meters per second, he was like a clown stuck fast with cheap glue.

”Is this that George guy?” Zhao Dabao walked over and tapped George’s well-maintained old face with his rifle barrel. ”He’s nothing special. Not as spirited as my second uncle.”

”Commander, this guy’s posture is too weird; he’s hard to manage.” Several soldiers gathered around, looking perplexed.

George’s arms were spread open, his entire body forming a ’big’ shape, and because his muscles were rigid, they couldn’t be moved at all.

”How are we supposed to get him into the cage? The door isn’t that wide.”

Zhao Dabao stroked his chin, circled George twice, and suddenly slapped his thigh: ”Idiots! Turn him sideways and stuff him in diagonally! If he still doesn’t fit, take off his belt and tie his hands around his stomach!”

And so, under the gaze of hundreds of millions of viewers, the once-arrogant General George was pinned to the ground and tied up tightly by several pairs of hands, like a turkey ready for slaughter. Because his mouth was open so wide, one thoughtful soldier, fearing his jaw would dislocate, kindly stuffed a gun cleaning rag inside and sealed it shut with tape.

The sense of humiliation was a thousand times worse than death.

Although George’s body could not move, his mind was still functioning. He watched helplessly as he was lifted up like a package. Through his lifeless, fish-like eyes, he could even see the look of disgust on the Dragon Summer soldier’s face.

He roared madly in his mind, but unfortunately, no sound reached the outside world.

...

”Barbarism! This is a retreat of civilization!”

In the BBC live studio, the experts lamented with distress, ”The Dragon Summer commander must be held responsible for this! They have publicized this act of humiliating a prisoner of war, challenging the bottom line of the entire human society!”

This narrative found a ready audience, and even some influential foreign commentators began to stir, posting insinuations like, ’One should show mercy where mercy is due,’ and ’A great nation must have the demeanor of a great nation.’

On the bridge of the Zhenhai, Lin Weiguo listened to the communications officer report on the foreign internet sentiment and sneered.

”Demeanor? Talking about demeanor with a bandit? Has their brain been flooded?”

He straightened his uniform, picked up the microphone again, and faced the camera directly.

The old general, who had been chuckling moments before, now had an expression that instantly turned chillingly cold, radiating Killing Intent.