Chapter 1316 - 1007: Fortune and Misfortune

Chapter 1316: Chapter 1007: Fortune and Misfortune

The bubble burst, and all things lamented.

Just a fleeting moment of contemptuous glance.

Everywhere the ’Fiery Gaze’ of the Abyssal Eye passed, everything scattered rapidly like lime thrown into the sea, disturbed and turning to dust.

Among them were also Huai Shi and his companions.

Raymond barely had time to smash the glass with a punch, hitting the emergency maneuvering button, then heard a loud roar as thick foam sprayed out from every corner, swiftly enveloping them, consolidating into a soft and resilient medium.

The world spun.

The airship’s silhouette flickered in place for an instant, overloading and driving it suddenly to another area two depths away.

Yet the cold side-glance still swept across.

The airship shook again, flickered again, shedding a heap of falling parts, escaping another two depths, yet the glance was still fierce.

Finally, amidst a thunderous explosion.

The airship’s core narrowly avoided the fatal aftermath in the final flicker.

In the blink of an eye, from Depth 1 to Depth 6, all existence faced unambiguous and merciless destructive blows.

Even the Rotting Dragon was caught in it.

Raging roars.

Few survivors, in utter disarray.

"Got them!"

Right sixteen depths away, amidst the precursor legion of the Withered King—aboard the flagship of the Nagirpha Fleet, the Abyss Handler excitedly clenched his fist.

Immediately, they heard the observation results from another depth: "No, missed!"

In the chaotic communication, organized exchanges and reports continued.

"Saturation strike completed, most targets eliminated," the announcer said urgently. "Sixteen fragments are falling."

"East four, West three, Depth six, Depth nine, Depth eleven..."

The flagship continued its bombardment.

With the observer’s narration, they began small-scale callouts.

Instantly, they vaporized all eight, either the loopholes or the large fragments, but still another eight fell rapidly, already plunging into the Hell below.

"Operation starts!"

The Abyss Handler’s hoarse voice arose: "Quick, quick, quick!"

"Encircle every sector!"

"Immediately have the Sea of Titans assist us in the eradication!"

"Don’t let the Sword of Disaster escape!"

"Target threat level extremely high, evacuate immediately upon discovery and call for major reinforcements, if necessary, ultimate measures may be used."

"Liberate Current Circumstances, capture Huai Shi alive!"

"..."

A sudden brief silence ensued, countless questions floated from the source substance communication, until the speaker awkwardly coughed: "Dead is fine too."

"Anyway, it can still be used..."

"Shatter to pieces!!!"

In any case, no matter the cost, just kill!

As consensus was reached among the Abyss Handlers dominating the middle layers of various powers, countless large groups were mobilized, heading towards Huai Shi’s location.

Murderous intentions were sinister.

.

.

"Detected attack source, full-depth coverage saturation strike—it’s the Nagirpha Fleet! The Withered King’s Nagirpha Fleet!"

Suddenly, out of the darkness emerged the outline of an abyssal giant crocodile.

After a brief dead silence in the Decision Room, operations continued smoothly. Everything had long been planned, why panic at this juncture?

Sixty-one thousand pre-plans were piled like mountains, already covering most emergency situations.

Even though slightly startled at the moment, panic was unnecessary.

But no one could understand why such a sizeable force would expose itself when the two sides had not yet engaged.

It hadn’t even attacked an inch of the border, but instead washed all depths around Current Circumstances.

Indeed, the Astronomical Society wasn’t without losses, but this tiny bit of damage was barely worth mentioning. If this terrifying force entered the battlefield at a crucial moment, it would severely affect the situation.

Yet who would have thought the Withered King of the Abyss Dark Zone would come so swiftly.

Swiftly to an outrageous degree.

But this critical dark pawn exposed itself utterly pointlessly.

The only noteworthy losses were just two Exploration Teams going to the Abyss restart outposts...

One from the Jurisdiction Bureau, and another from the Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy.

Yegor’s face remained calm, simply issuing another Book of Command to dispatch a new team to take the sacrificial position.

Meanwhile, in the Decision Room, amid many sympathetic glances, Luo Su continued joking with the person beside him, glancing at the screen, then continuing the conversation.

Only the observant noticed the calm beneath his calm... calm.

Just calm.

Honestly, not worried at all!

"Aren’t you concerned?" The White City agent he was talking to was dumbfounded. ℴ

"Concerned about what?"

Luo Su calmly smoked a cigar: "Our children from the Ivory Tower, trained in physical exercise from childhood, raised in the wild mountains, healthy rearing, competing in summer camps with other border schools since elementary school, not bothered by high fevers, know radiation waste? He drank it like water when he was seventeen.

A mere depth strike can’t kill him."

Damn, your Ivory Tower is so damn weird...

Those around wrinkled their expressions.

"Come, let’s continue chatting. You just mentioned that import tariff rate, it’s still too high, doesn’t align with market rules," Luo Su sighed nostalgically, "In light of my student’s recent incident, how about we cut a deal?"

"This..."

The middle-aged man’s expression twitched for a moment, turning sorrowful: "To be honest, among those who just had an accident, there’s also my brother who worked in the Original Dark Legion.

Thinking about his uncertain fate makes me restless. Perhaps we should leave it for another day."

As he spoke, he wanted to get up.

But unexpectedly, he was caught by Luo Su.

Unable to leave.

Old Turtle blinked his big eyes and sincerely suggested, "As the saying goes, why choose another day when today has already been so unlucky? I lost a student, you lost a brother. Since it’s such a coincidence, why don’t we finalize this matter today."

The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, gritting his teeth: "I can only give one point, can’t lower it anymore, really can’t lower it anymore."

"How about leaving the fine processing to us?"

Luo Su seized the opportunity, "It’s much cheaper than in America, consider it for the sake of your brother’s uncertain fate. Let’s settle it like this, it can even comfort his spirit in heaven."

White City representative hemmed and hawed for a while, squeezing out words between his teeth: "My brother is not really a blood relative..."

And so, the conversation continued.

The preparations continued.

The world continued.

Everything never changes based on one person’s life or death.

.

.

Six hours ago, Depth 14, Ice Surge Gorge.

Among the pervasive frosty winds, a deep rift suddenly opened in the air, revealing a dim scene like the inside of some strange creature.

Accompanied by the squirming bluish-purple flesh, several bodies smeared with mucus crawled out, landing on the ground and panting heavily.

The rift closed and disappeared.

The mucus stuck to them, strangely defying gravity, rose and quickly disappeared.

When the six stood up from the snow, there was no more dirt on their gray cloaks, as if the arduous trek through the endless darkness was just an illusion.

But the real journey was just beginning.

Beneath the cloak on their arms, the badge of the Original Dark Legion appeared, from the Jurisdiction Bureau’s exploration team, the third-ranked sentry activation squad.

The team leader, Captain Rod Provedence, glanced around the area and looked down at his watch: "Rest for three minutes, stay alert."

[Exploration Team Member Wen Yu, Dead.]

The team members wordlessly sat on the ground, seizing the time to rest.

Although they had used a previously discovered rift to skip twelve depths and come here directly, the road ahead was still long.

Tosel hurriedly adjusted the equipment, sent out a drone flying into the distance, but in the endless wind and snow, only the vague outline ahead could be glimpsed.

Unable to discern details.

"No good, the density of Hell’s sediment is too high. The drone lost signal," he reported looking up.

"When the equipment fails, we rely on our eyes."

Rod looked down at his watch: "Rest time is up, we should go."

[Exploration Team Member Alk Seross, Dead.]

The team members quietly packed up their gear, repacked their bags, only to detect something fine beneath the snow plowed by their feet.

The exploration team members cautiously raised their weapons.

Beneath the snow powder, revealed was a half-dry plant root, the frozen flower still retained its bright color.

The faint cold fragrance seemed almost tangible in the wind.

"What is it, don’t be jumpy, it’s just a flower."

Tosel breathed a sigh of relief, put away his weapon: "Let’s go."

[Exploration Team Member Tosel, Dead.]

"Yeah, let’s go."

They turned around, leading the team into the distant wind and snow.

[Exploration Team Member Nixia, Dead.]

For some reason, while advancing, Rod yawned sharply, suddenly feeling a dull ache in his forehead, like the aftermath of a rapid descent in depth.

His vision blurred.

Yet something was fermenting within his heart.

An uneasy premonition.

His steps suddenly paused, instinctively drawing his gun.

But no footsteps were heard behind him.

In front of him, the endless snow instantly disappeared without a trace, replaced by countless enchanting flowers covering the entire world, a cloying, enticing scent spread, countless butterflies surged from their noses and mouths.

Along with viscous blood.

The Hell, supposed to be filled with eternal snow, was now covered with an endless sea of flowers.

Rod fell into a stupor.

Tendrils moved like snakes, piercing into the exploration team’s bodies, planting countless roots deep into bones and brains, manipulating their perception, reading the signals within their minds.

A breeze blew, the flower sea surged, emitting a cacophonous noise.

"￥%%#&...￥@#￥#*&...here...is there really a natural passage here? Truly fascinating." The ambiguous voice echoed by Rod’s ear, "You, are you the ones from the Astronomical Society? What are you doing here?"

At that moment, Rod thought of death.

[Exploration Team Member Rod, Dead.]

Four minutes into Ice Surge Gorge, following the second squad [Postman], third squad [Cloud Charm], twenty-first squad [White Clothes], and twenty-sixth squad [Gecko], the thirtieth squad [South County] was annihilated.

Cause of death: Bad luck.

The rapid descent brought them before the passing Ruler of the Endless Sea of Flowers, instantly swallowed by the flower sea, failed before starting.

Fortunately, thanks to the Jurisdiction Bureau’s confidentiality measures, all team members knew nothing about the mission’s purpose, the only one aware, team leader Rod, timely self-destructed through activation measures to keep the secret.

Yet, the unfortunate part was, he died two seconds too late.