Rendezvous

After settling the four captured Temple of Light warships and ensuring their stability, Su Ming finally turned his attention to the radar screen, where the Light Fleet supply ships were scattering and fleeing.

Originally, food reserves were plentiful, but with the addition of the Silver Dragon Guard, the entire logistics system's algorithm was completely overturned!

Therefore, Su Ming did not hesitate to have the Pansy sail at maximum speed on the sea for a day and a night. With its powerful maneuverability and radar guidance, it finally successfully intercepted and captured two of the largest supply ships of the Temple of Light.

Tragically, in their pursuit of escape speed, these supply ships jettisoned nearly half of their valuable supplies en route, significantly reducing the total amount of loot they captured!

At this moment, the radar screen showed that the remaining enemy ships had fled to the edge of the detection range, or were small vessels of low tonnage and low value. Continuing to pursue them would be both time-consuming and of little benefit, and therefore pointless.

On the other side, along the southern route, the dwarf semi-submersible Five Fangs waited for its prey on the expected course—a Dawn Pioneer Class cruiser that was also fleeing in panic.

The enemy ship crashed into the Five Fangs's ambush. Without hesitation, the dwarves launched a swift and decisive attack, successfully suppressing the target and capturing it.

Unfortunately, after a thorough search, General Tai'ao'duo was not found on the cruiser. However, capturing this advanced warship, which cost over ten thousand gold coins, was already well worth the effort.

"You dwarves are really bold," Su Ming remarked with great emotion upon hearing the news.

"People die for money, birds die for food," said Beianqi. According to the agreement between the two parties, the spoils obtained by the Five Fangs during this escort mission would belong entirely to them.

"Aren't you afraid that the attack on the Temple of Light's warships will be leaked?" Su Ming asked.

Su Ming's side had completely broken ties with the Temple of Light, vowing to fight to the death, while the Dwarf Kingdom had not.

"Don't worry, we're very well prepared," said Beianqi. "The Five Fangs activated a powerful magical communication jamming field the moment it launched the surprise attack. And the entire operation was swift and decisive, ensuring not a single enemy escaped." A smile played on her lips. "So, this warship's debt is entirely yours!"

"... Alright," Su Ming somewhat helplessly, "Since I've taken the blame, can you deduct a little from my commission?"

"Relax, relax," Beianqi said happily, "You're already in this situation anyway, so what's the big deal? Whether you have one more or one less warship to blame, it doesn't really matter! But the Five Fangs also captured a medium-sized supply ship along the way, loaded with high-grade dragon food, so we'll just give it to you for free!"

Su Ming's eyes lit up, "This is great!"

Around noon, Su Ming finally received a report from Rupert's damage control team—they had successfully captured the "Dawn Pioneer Class Vanguard Warrior! And, most importantly, they had captured General Tai'ao'duo himself!

"Just as I expected!" Su Ming smiled sincerely and lightly slammed his fist on the control panel. "As long as we keep an eye on the ship that escapes the fastest, it's definitely him!"

This result greatly relieved him; he had finally won the "blind box prize".

Thus, all the pre-set tactical objectives surrounding the Battle of Giant Horn Island —to crush the attack of the Temple of Light, capture ships, capture General Tai'ao'duo, and seize logistical supplies—have been successfully achieved!

Invigorated, Su Ming immediately ordered the entire ship to begin sorting through the captured supplies, counting the spoils of war, and planning the route to Dragon Valley.

****

On March 15, a portion of the damage control team, escorting the captured "Vanguard Warrior," successfully returned to the massive fleet anchored around Shining Island.

The two cargo ships captured earlier outside the port of Grodno were relatively slow. One of them had deliberately set fire to the ship while carrying out the mission of luring the "Vanguard Warrior," resulting in the destruction of many of its sails. It was still slowly making its way towards this port.

Looking at the radar screen and the vast array of ships of all kinds both inside and outside the anchorage, Su Ming couldn't help but feel a headache coming on from the management. Fortunately, the ship repair work was basically completed. Except for the "Thorns of Atonement," which was the most severely damaged and required a complete overhaul, the other ships had all regained good self-propulsion capabilities.

The dwarven cargo ship "Bronzebeard" arrived as scheduled, and Su Ming and Younier immediately threw themselves into the intense work of overall resource allocation and planning. With many ships, many people, a wide variety of resources, and diverse needs, the workload was enormous.

However, this diligent and eager-to-learn young clerk, since the start of their trip to the Northern Lands, has finally learned how to use spreadsheet software under Su Ming's occasional guidance during his spare time!

This resulted in a dramatic increase in their work efficiency!

Jielusi and Ruixiuli pushed open the door to the command room and entered. Between them, they dragged a staggering, distraught figure—it was the captured General Tai'ao'duo.

In just two days of imprisonment, this once spirited fleet commander seemed to have aged twenty years. His face was ashen and dejected, and his eyes were empty and lifeless.

Su Ming's gaze fell on his tightly bandaged arms—they were empty, the arms severed at the root.

"Tsk, it seems this general is truly 'unyielding to the death,' forcing you to take drastic measures," Su Ming sighed with a hint of emotion.

Jielusi stood to the side, eyes downcast, seemingly oblivious to the situation.

"The interrogation has been conducted according to procedure." Ruixiuli's expression remained unchanged as he calmly handed Su Ming several sheets of interrogation record paper filled with writing. "Unfortunately, there was no particularly valuable information."

Su Ming took the paper and quickly glanced through it, finding that it mostly contained records of internal power struggles within the Temple of Light, logistical matters, and some attempts to shift blame for the major defeat in this battle.

These were of no help to Su Ming's subsequent tactics and strategies. He put away the interrogation records and sent someone to fetch Stacy.

Stacy quickly arrived at the command room. Tai'ao'duo bound, a look of surprise instantly lit up her face.

On the contrary, when Tai'ao'duo met Stacy's "eager" eyes, intense fear instantly overwhelmed all his dejection, and he immediately began to struggle violently!

With his mouth gagged, Tai'ao'duo could only helplessly utter terrified "Ugh... Ugh... Oh oh..." sounds, his body desperately curling backward.

"Su Ming! Thank you so much!" Stacy gracefully placed her hands on her waist and gave Su Ming a formal bow.