Chapter 342 - 319: Impermissible Escape

Chapter 342: Chapter 319: Impermissible Escape

The port was blockaded. With no air superiority, the experimental cargo ship had nowhere to run.

Shortly after the Flying Fire Fleet’s hail, a reply came from the Yun Jia.

"We will not surrender. There are thousands of hostages on board. If you’ve got the guts, open fire and sink us. If you don’t want these people to go down with us, pull back at once."

The Yun Jia’s threat didn’t work. Since North Star had dispatched the Flying Fire Fleet, they were determined to resolve this once and for all.

Backing down was never on the table.

"You’re in no position to negotiate. Surrender immediately!"

"Do you think I’m bluffing?"

A cold, sinister voice came from the communicator.

Soon after, a new report came in from reconnaissance.

"Report! The enemy just pushed dozens of people off the deck and into the ocean!"

The captain’s expression darkened.

The enemy was demonstrating their resolve with action.

"This is just the beginning. If you haven’t pulled back in five minutes, a lot more people will be going overboard."

That cold, sinister voice came over the comms again.

The captain thought for a moment before summoning Silver Fox and the others to explain the situation.

"If you can’t come up with a solution, I will immediately order a direct assault," the captain said. "There will be civilian casualties, but we’ll save more people in the end."

Guan Tong agreed with the captain.

’Hesitating to attack because of the hostages wouldn’t be saving them—it would be condemning them. Sooner or later, they would all end up as test subjects.’

A direct assault would cause some casualties, but more people would be saved.

Upon hearing this, Silver Fox turned to Guan Tong. "Do you have a plan?"

Before Guan Tong could speak, Chen Na spoke up from the side. "Guan probably doesn’t have a good plan. There are too many enemies on the ship, and they’re probably all very powerful... It’s better to just let the warships attack directly."

Silver Fox glanced at Chen Na. She knew the young woman was just trying to keep Guan Tong out of danger.

But what really mattered was what Guan Tong himself thought.

"I can eliminate the guards by the containers," Guan Tong said after a moment’s thought, "but I can’t guarantee an immediate takedown of anyone in the rooms protected by Barriers."

Guan Tong had no idea how many people, or how many powerful individuals, were inside the Barrier-protected rooms.

Breaching them without any intel would be extremely dangerous, even for him.

"In that case, you take care of eliminating those guards and the defensive forces on deck," the Flying Fire Captain told Guan Tong. "Then I’ll have my soldiers board the ship, and we’ll attack the core personnel in the cabins together."

"Alright."

Guan Tong agreed.

The operation began at once. He manipulated the Shadows he’d already laid in ambush within the ship’s cabins, moving them to the feet of the guards stationed near the containers on deck.

Once they were all in position, he struck.

"URK!!!"

Every guard on deck was simultaneously strangled by a Shadow Line, collapsing as they suffocated.

At the same time, the Flying Fire Captain gave the order. Soldiers deployed from transport aircraft on the carrier, immediately landing on the Yun Jia’s deck and securing it completely.

It all happened in a flash, but the enemies inside the ship’s cabins had already noticed.

Most of the hostages were imprisoned in the shipping containers. Now that the North Star Faction controlled the deck, Mizusawa Chun and his men had lost a significant bargaining chip.

Furthermore, once the soldiers were on board, the Flying Fire Captain immediately ordered an assault on the ship’s interior.

Guan Tong and the others had also boarded the Yun Jia. Using his shadow vision, he relayed the situation inside the ship to the Flying Fire, allowing the captain to adjust the soldiers’ direction of attack accordingly.

"The enemy is on the move!"

Chen Na murmured, her eyes closed. She had activated her Perception Realm as soon as she boarded.

Unlike before, when she could only sense living things, she had been continuously developing her ability, taking her perception to the next level.

Just as no two leaves in the world are identical, every Ascender’s Psychic Power, while seemingly indistinguishable, felt different within Chen Na’s perception.

This was the next stage of her Perception Realm’s ability: she could now distinguish between individuals by the subtle differences in their Psychic Power. The more familiar she was with someone, the more distinct their signature became.

Guan Tong’s Psychic Power, for instance, felt like a bottomless black hole, which undoubtedly meant he possessed an unimaginable amount of it.

The Psychic Power she sensed from the enemies, however, felt frenzied and twisted—not something a normal human would possess.

"Mon-monsters!"

"They’re Snake People!"

"Fall back!!!"

The soldiers at the front met resistance and immediately fell back in formation.

The enemies attacking them emerged from the ship’s interior. Even though Guan Tong and the others had expected something like this, the sight still sent a shiver down their spines.

Hundreds of half-human, half-snake monsters swarmed onto the deck. Their bodies were mostly covered in scales. Only their torsos, from the abdomen up, retained some human features; everything below was the body of a snake.

Moreover, unlike the Snake Servants created by Shangyuan Zi, the serpentine transformation of these Snake People was far more advanced. Though they retained a human face, their vertical pupils and the forked tongues constantly flicking from their mouths were features Shangyuan Zi’s Snake Servants lacked.

"Let my Snake Slave Army give you guests a proper welcome."

Mizusawa Chun’s cold, sinister voice boomed from the ship’s loudspeakers. He must have given some command, because the "Snake Slave Army" suddenly charged at the soldiers in a frenzy.

The scales on these Snake Slaves were incredibly tough, capable of deflecting bullets. They protected the unscaled parts of their bodies by slithering low to the ground, making them difficult targets for the soldiers.

This was a job for the Ascenders.

"Let’s move!"

Silver Fox was the first to move. Wielding two short daggers, she plunged into the horde of Snake Slaves, her lightning-fast movements severing one head after another.

Guan Tong also manipulated his Shadow, forming countless Shadow Thorns that pierced the unscaled parts of the Snake Slaves.

The moment Shangyuan Zi made eye contact with a Snake Slave, she activated her ability. The creature’s body instantly went rigid before it began to thrash in agony.

Guan Tong noticed. "Can you control them?" he asked.

"I’m trying, but it doesn’t seem to be fully effective."

"It looks like it’s malfunctioning from two conflicting commands."

Just then, the Snake Servant let out a sudden shriek and leaped into the sea.

Inside the ship’s cabin, Mizusawa Chun frowned.

Those Snake Slaves were all modified with his blood, placing every one of them under his complete control.

He had immediately sensed the conflict of commands that caused the one to leap into the sea.

’My Snake Slave Army really is affected by that woman... I should’ve just executed her from the start.’

Heikawa Yue, who was standing nearby, said, "There are too few in the Snake Slave Army; they won’t hold out for long. What exactly is your plan?"

’He couldn’t understand why Mizusawa Chun still appeared so calm and collected in the face of this crisis.’

’Once the Snake Slave Army is wiped out, they’ll be trapped in here like fish in a barrel, with no escape.’

"Heikawa, our collaboration has been pleasant enough," Mizusawa Chun said suddenly. "I’m very satisfied with the results of your experiments, and all the data has been backed up."

The color drained from Heikawa Yue’s face.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It means that since the experiment is a success, you’re no longer useful."

Heikawa Yue froze. He knew Mizusawa Chun was cold-blooded and ruthless, but he never expected him to be so blunt at a time like this.

Mizusawa Chun rose, walked to a corner of the cabin, and pressed an inconspicuous button.

A soft BEEP filled Heikawa Yue with a strong sense of foreboding.

"Mizusawa Chun, what did you do?!"

Mizusawa Chun’s last words had torn away all pretense, so Heikawa Yue dropped any semblance of respect.

"I’ve placed a lot of bombs on this ship," Mizusawa Chun said nonchalantly. "The plan always called for silencing loose ends once the experiment was complete. North Star’s attack may have disrupted my schedule, but it only moved the detonation up a bit."

"B-bombs?!"

Heikawa Yue was utterly stunned.

He never thought Mizusawa Chun could be so ruthless, to do something like this behind everyone’s backs.

"Don’t forget, North Star has already deployed Teleportation Interference Items!" Heikawa shouted, snapping back to his senses. "If you blow up the ship, you won’t be able to teleport away either!"

"I don’t need to teleport away."

Mizusawa Chun said, shrugging off his clothes.

His lower half was already a serpentine body, while his upper torso was composed entirely of seven heads. Six of them had their eyes shut tight, while the topmost one stared blankly at Heikawa Yue.

"Orochi comes from the deep sea. Did you really think I’d be afraid of a sinking ship?"

THUMP. Heikawa Yue collapsed to the floor.

He gaped at the monstrous form of Mizusawa Chun, his mind going completely blank.

"With the research data, it’s only a matter of time before I create a true army of Snake Slaves somewhere else. When that day comes, I will repay North Star for today’s humiliation."

"..."

Heikawa Yue had nothing left to say. He sat limply on the floor.

’He had always known that working with Mizusawa Chun was like making a deal with the devil, but he’d never imagined the betrayal would be this absolute. If only he had known...’

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The explosive flames instantly engulfed him. Bombs planted in multiple Barrier-protected cabins detonated in succession, immediately plunging the cargo ship’s interior into a sea of fire.

The sudden, violent explosions caught everyone on deck completely by surprise.

’Guan Tong hadn’t expected there to be bombs on the ship; he hadn’t detected them when he scouted with his Shadow earlier. Now that he thought about it, the bombs must have been hidden in the cabins protected by the Barrier Items.’

The massive ship groaned as a series of explosions rocked it. The hull began to list, and the vast number of shipping containers on deck lost their stability, crashing down one after another.

Guan Tong shielded Chen Na with one arm, manipulating his Shadow into several giant hands to catch the containers falling toward them.

But he couldn’t protect everyone by himself. People were still being crushed to death or thrown directly into the sea. Accompanied by the piercing shrieks of the Snake Slaves, the scene was like something out of a horror film.

"The ship is sinking! All personnel, evacuate immediately!"

The captain’s order was relayed. Transport helicopters dropped rope ladders, allowing the soldiers to climb aboard or grab on to get off the cargo ship.

As for the containers crashing into the sea, neither the captain nor Guan Tong could do a thing.

If the Yingqi People inside had been conscious, they might have been able to save themselves or evacuate with the soldiers. But they were all in a drug-induced stupor, and the containers were incredibly heavy, sinking rapidly the moment they hit the water. There was no way to save them.

The members of the investigation team each grabbed onto a rope ladder from the helicopters and were airlifted away.

Guan Tong frowned, watching the massive cargo ship sink into the depths below.

’Did Mizusawa Chun blow up the ship just to take everyone down with him? But would someone like him really die that easily?’

"Guan!"

Just then, Chen Na, who was in his arms, suddenly spoke up.

"I can sense someone moving away quickly... they’re in the water!"

Guan Tong’s eyes narrowed. "Where, exactly?"

"Over there!" Chen Na pointed. "That person is moving incredibly fast! They’re almost out of my Perception Realm’s range!"

Hearing this, Guan Tong immediately let go of the rope ladder. His Shadow transformed into a longboard beneath his feet. The moment he hit the water, he shot off in the direction Chen Na had indicated.

’He was certain the person escaping through the water was Mizusawa Chun. He couldn’t let that man get away, or the consequences would be endless.’

Not far away, Shangyuan Zi saw Guan Tong’s move. On impulse, she too abandoned her rescue, leaped into the water, and chased after him.