Thinking of this, Lin Ye already had his initial judgment of this instance!
At this moment, he felt as if he had traveled back to 1894, more than a hundred years ago! As if he had transformed into a member of the Beiyang Fleet.
The anger in his chest was inadvertently ignited!
If this 【Royal Sea Battle】 instance was compared to that naval battle in his previous life.
The similarities were that the enemy's combat strength and scale were basically the same, and the combat environment was also quite similar.
The difference was that the combat strength of these 2,000 Challengers was completely superior to that of the Beiyang Fleet at that time!
Among these Challengers, there were high-level Challengers of LV2.
LV2 Challengers had the authority to carry instance weapons with them.
They possessed a certain foundation in technology and military construction, and had now brought the weapons they created in their own instances into this Royal Sea Battle instance.
Among them, there were quite a few excellent warships, just like the ironclad warship Lin Ye was currently standing on!
He had just observed this warship.
It had two twin-shaft reciprocating steam engines, 30 single-mounted cannons, and 10 surface torpedo tubes.
The strength of this single warship alone was no less than that of the enemy's cruiser fleet.
Besides this warship, the Challengers also had more than 10 other warships of similar combat power, as well as several wooden ships and steam sailboats. Although these ships had limited combat power, they could still be useful if used properly.
Lin Ye didn't know if he was just lucky, but this time, enough LV2 Challengers were pulled into the instance, and they brought in enough weapons. He felt that their strength was not at all weaker than the enemy's.
… …
【5 … … 4 … … 3 … … 2 … … 1】
【Countdown ends, instance officially begins!】
As the official start prompt sounded, the 10 Red Sun cruisers had already accelerated and were speeding towards the Challengers.
Lin Ye noticed that the people on the deck were not setting up cannons to resist; instead, they were all moving towards the captain's cabin.
Lin Ye also quickly walked over and found an old man with white hair, yellow skin, and black eyes, just like him, smoking in the captain's cabin.
There was an LV2 identifier above this person's head.
This indicated that the ship beneath his feet belonged to this man, and other Challengers were on board thanks to him.
"Mr. Ding Chang, please quickly make the ship sail towards Weihaiwei!"
"Respected Mr. Ding Chang, you are our savior, please be kind and take us away, Amen."
"Ding Chang-ssi, please…"
These Challengers pleaded bitterly, but without exception, they were all asking for a quick retreat.
At this moment, Lin Ye finally understood why this instance was defined as a difficult instance; it wasn't because the instance itself was so strong, but because it initially misled the Challengers.
First, it gave a simple mission condition: escape to Weihaiwei Military Port.
Coupled with the Challengers seeing the enemy ships' unstoppable momentum, most of them would default to escaping.
Over time, this became a passive escape instance.
However, doing so would fall into the trap set by the designer, Ito Hidekazu.
Because those ten cruisers flying the Red Sun flag were very fast, blindly escaping would only lead to passive attacks.
In the end, even if some truly managed to escape to the evacuation point, it would be by gambling their lives, at the cost of other Challengers' failures.
To truly clear this instance, one must not escape; one can only fight!
"Mr. Ding Chang, I am Lin Ye." Lin Ye walked directly up to Ding Chang and introduced himself.
"We don't have much time left, so please allow me to be brief."
"I am a military researcher with ample war experience. If you trust me, please hand over command of the warship to me! I will bring you a victory."
Upon hearing this, the other Challengers immediately erupted.
"What are you, an LV0, shouting about?!"
"Holy cow! This is a difficult instance; it's good enough to get out alive. Do you really expect to clear the instance?"
"Absolutely preposterous!"
Ding Chang slammed the table hard, then looked at Lin Ye and said in a deep voice:
"You are of the Great Xia Clan."
"That's right, I am of the Great Xia Clan, a Great Xia Clan with black hair and yellow skin." Lin Ye replied.
"Good! The Great Xia Clan does not deceive the Great Xia Clan. My Dragon God ship will be yours to command."
Saying this, Ding Chang turned his gaze to the other Challengers who were still grumbling and cursed:
"What's all the noise about! This is my old man's ship!"
"If you white-skins and black-skins are unwilling, then jump into the sea yourselves."
"Riding on my ship and still whining."
In fact, for Ding Chang, winning or losing didn't matter, after all, he was an LV2 big shot, a noble existence in this world. Winning or losing a single match wouldn't bring about much change.
Since it was all just playing, he might as well give his compatriot a chance.
As for the other Challengers, they were also speechless at this moment. They were just there to leech points, so they naturally had to follow Ding Chang's arrangements.
A lot of time had already passed, and there was no spare time for Lin Ye to waste.
He went directly to the Dragon God's cockpit, opened the wireless communication system, and began sending radio messages to the other Challengers' ships.
【To all LV2 big shots, I am Lin Ye, commander of the Dragon God. Next, please follow my orders to attack the enemy fleet. I will lead everyone to clear this instance and achieve the first clear achievement for this instance!】
Lin Ye had thought this through before sending the message.
First, he directly addressed the LV2 big shots because they were the owners of these ships and had absolute authority.
As for the LV0 and LV1 Challengers, Lin Ye chose to directly skip them.
Additionally, Lin Ye mentioned a very crucial piece of information: the first clear!
In this world, the first clear of an instance came with a special achievement reward, which was usually some cutting-edge technology tree reward at the current stage.
This was greatly beneficial for the clearers' future instance creation.
These LV2 big shots had little interest in the dozens of points gained from clearing, but they were particularly fond of this first clear reward.
【Interesting! It's rare for someone to take the lead, and it's an LV0 kid at that.】
【I've run this instance three times, and this is the first time I've seen anyone willing to actively attack.】
【Whatever, since you're willing to lead, my Plank will obey your command.】
Thus, the entire Challenger force, 20 ships of various shapes, were now all under Lin Ye's command.
This time, instead of retreating, they advanced, accelerating directly towards the enemy's Red Sun flagship fleet!
20 ships started simultaneously, stirring up layers of waves on the Royal Sea.
Outside the instance, the audience was also surprised to see this scene.
Bullet comments immediately flooded the instance.
【Holy cow! There are actually Challengers who choose to actively attack in this instance?!】
【Newborn calves aren't afraid of tigers, right? Didn't you see that the chief commander Lin Ye is just an LV0 noob! How many LV2 big shots have failed miserably in this instance before; what is he, an LV0, showing off about…】
【Is this questioning the Great Harmony People's instance creation capabilities and instance technology level?】
【Those LV2 big shots naturally don't care, but the unfortunate ones are those LV0 unlucky guys in this instance. Do they know that if the mission fails and their points hit rock bottom, they will be directly erased by the Sky Curtain?】