Chapter 257: Using Your Spear to Strike Your Shield

Chapter 257: Chapter 257: Using Your Spear to Strike Your Shield

"What’s going on? Why is Liang He so impulsive? She just charged right up there?!" Goring hadn’t expected that in a single moment of inattention, the Canglan Hunting Eagle would carry Liang He up into the sky. The Energy Cannons fired by the warships were no joke!

"It’s over, we’re doomed! How am I going to explain this to Huo An and the others?!" he cried. Looking as pale as a ghost, Goring truly wished he were the one being bombarded by the cannons so he wouldn’t have to face the ensuing mess.

THUD!

President Lucas, who had finally managed to walk out of the shaking cabin to assess the situation, hadn’t even steadied himself before he heard Goring crying about how they were doomed. Frustrated by the man’s defeatist attitude, he smacked Goring lightly on the forehead.

"What do you mean, ’it’s over’?! I’m not dead yet!" Having weathered many storms in his life, President Lucas never believed they would lose until the final outcome was set in stone.

"Ouch! President, why are you out here joining the chaos? Hurry back inside!" Goring yelled. There was an escape submarine beneath the Sea Ship. Goring had already made up his mind that if they couldn’t avoid the attack, he would have President Lucas take people and flee in the submarine. After all, saving even one person was better than nothing.

"Just a moment ago, you confidently swore to Liang He that you weren’t afraid of anything. Why do you look like you’re at death’s door now?" President Lucas asked. When Liang He had previously asked Goring to evacuate the people, he stubbornly refused. Now that the Rebel Army and the Fierce Beasts had completely surrounded them from all directions, it was too late to run.

"President... sigh! I was just trying to persuade Liang He to leave first!" Goring replied. As the acting district chief, he had his own responsibilities to shoulder, but Liang He wasn’t from the Skalan Star; she was just volunteering to help. It was only reasonable for her to evacuate when facing danger. "The Rebel Army’s target has always been Liang He. If she leaves, perhaps the two sides won’t have to fight."

Truthfully, Goring was holding onto a sliver of false hope. On one hand, he wanted to ensure Liang He’s safe evacuation, and on the other, he hoped the Rebel Army would abandon this attack once they realized she was gone.

"Do you think the Rebel Army is run by fools?" President Lucas shot him an exasperated look. The Rebel Army had mobilized a massive force for this; even if Liang He weren’t here, they wouldn’t just let the matter drop. "Enough, stop dawdling around. Hurry back to the main control room and contact Leila and Ao Ke!"

Compared to the situation on the surface, President Lucas was far more worried about the conditions in the Mysterious Sea Area. The siege by the Rebel Army and the Fierce Beasts was a visible threat, but the hidden dangers lurking in the Mysterious Sea Area remained completely unknown.

"But Liang He..." Goring hesitated, his gaze focusing once again on Liang He and the Canglan Hunting Eagle soaring through the sky. They coordinated perfectly, always managing to anticipate the warships’ bombing trajectories in advance and evade them effectively.

"Can’t you see it? Liang He is using Ace’s desire for revenge to trick them into bombarding the Fierce Beasts on the sea with their Energy Cannons," President Lucas pointed out. Liang He had never been a reckless person. There had to be a reason for her to directly provoke Ace and charge at the warships alone. Amidst the panicking crowd, the only one who saw through her ploy was President Lucas, who understood her relatively well and possessed a meticulous mind.

"Huh? You’re right!" Prompted by President Lucas’s reminder, Goring noticed that the number of Fierce Beasts gathering around them was steadily decreasing. It turned out the Rebel Army was killing off their own forces!

"Then I’ll hurry up and contact Leila and the others." Knowing that Liang He wasn’t acting on impulse finally allowed Goring to breathe a partial sigh of relief. However, just as he was about to head to the main control room, he began to drag his feet again.

"President, will you be alright on your own? Why don’t you go hide for now? Where is Lick? Why haven’t I seen him?" Lick, who was usually inseparable from President Lucas, was nowhere to be found, making Goring rather anxious. "Did he follow Liang He’s example and run off to do something dangerous?"

"...Deputy Governor Goring, you really think too highly of me," Lick said with a helpless shrug and a shake of his head, seemingly popping out of nowhere. "The situation was urgent just now, so it’s completely normal that you didn’t notice me." In reality, he had been pacing back and forth between the deck and the cabin from the very beginning.

"Is that so? Then please take good care of the President, and hurry up and hide if you encounter any danger! I’m leaving now!" After entrusting President Lucas to Lick’s care, Goring sprinted back to the main control room.

Meanwhile, despite holding the upper hand, Minister Ace wasn’t in a particularly good mood.

"Damn it! How dare she play me?!" Looking at the message on his Light Brain, Ace finally realized he had been duped by Liang He. He smashed his cup in fury.

"Pass down the order: stop the bombardment!" Ace barked. If they kept blasting away like this, it was uncertain whether Liang He would die, but the Fierce Beasts would definitely be wiped out.

"Go! Target the Sea Ship!" Since he couldn’t kill Liang He, he would dispose of those useless trashes first! He refused to believe that Liang He would just ignore them and leave them to die!

"Yes, sir!" Upon receiving the command, the control room began to shift their bombardment targets toward the Sea Ship.

"Lanton, it seems we’ve been found out," Liang He said, immediately realizing that Ace had shifted his attack targets. She pursed her lips slightly. Looking at the large swaths of Fierce Beast corpses floating on the sea, she felt a pang of sorrow. If possible, she would have wanted to spare their lives and save them once a healing potion for Fierce Beasts was successfully developed. However, the current situation was dire. She wasn’t a saint; sacrifices had to be made.

"Liang He! I advise you to obediently surrender, or else I’ll use the blood of these useless trashes to quell the hatred in my heart!" Ace broadcasted to Liang He once again. It seemed that this time, he was dead set on killing her and would not let them off no matter what.

"Ace, how about we make a deal?" Liang He asked unhurriedly, having Lanton fly her closer to Ace’s location. She really didn’t want to shout her responses—it was too taxing on her vocal cords. It was better for the two of them to converse through the glass window. As for why she chose not to return to the Sea Ship, it was naturally because she feared Ace would wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

"A deal? Hah! Liang He, you don’t actually think I’d fall for your tricks again, do you?!" Having suffered a massive loss and nearly lost his life last time, Ace was determined not to be a fool again.

"And there’s no need for you to stall for time either. The warships brought by the Federation Army have already been tampered with by me. Even if they fly them over, they’ll just self-destruct!" Since he had decided to launch an attack, it was naturally impossible for Ace not to have made preparations. He was still counting on this battle to salvage his reputation and status within the Rebel Army.

"It seems you really have gotten smarter," Liang He remarked. Faced with an enemy who was no longer easy to fool, she found herself in a brief predicament.

Seeing her expression of miscalculation, Ace’s mood improved dramatically. "Haha! Liang He, if you’re willing to just die obediently, I can at least leave your corpse intact. How about it?" Right now, Ace felt like he was playing a game of cat and mouse. He was delighted to watch Liang He, whom he believed to be playing right into his hands, do foolish things in her dying struggles just to entertain him.

"Tsk, that doesn’t sound very appealing." Looking at the confident Ace, Liang He shook her head with feigned solemnity. "Ace, what makes you so sure that I don’t have a backup plan?"

"What do you mean?!" Sensing that something was wrong, Ace immediately looked around on high alert, repeatedly checking with the control room for any movement in the vicinity. It wasn’t until they reported back that there were no anomalies that he glared fiercely at Liang He once again. "Are you playing me again?!"

Just as Ace concluded that Liang He was merely bluffing to stall for time, he suddenly caught sight of a massive wave rising on the sea’s surface. Within the azure ocean, it looked as though an abyssal dragon was lurking, staring up at him with a pair of terrifyingly massive eyes.