Chapter 403: Operation Decapitation, Backstabbing From The Humans
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Chan’er, go over and help them with the cooking. I’ll deal with packing up all these materials. You shouldn’t end up hurting yourself.”
“Come on, Big Sis Shen, you just think I’m too slow, right? I’m someone with a Level Four t.i.tle and am in pretty good shape!”
There were more than sixty women sitting on the second level of the s.h.i.+p’s lower deck. They were hard at work ‘dealing’ with the materials in front of them.
Shen Ke stood at the forefront and shook her head while looking at Su Chan’s clumsy yet determined actions. A caring look appeared on her face that held a trace of reprimand, but she did not say another word in the end.
Judging by the current situation, the firearms possessed by the Tundra Fleet may be powerful, but they lacked a continuous supply of ammunition.
The number of foreign races continued to increase and, in turn, the amount of ammunition decreased.
If this situation was prolonged, the time would come when the ammunition would be used up entirely.
At that time, the humans would need to rely on primitive weapons to fight off the foreign races on the ocean.
The current Tundra Fleet needed not only arrows and crossbow bolts, but also the fast-diminis.h.i.+ng firearms ammunition.
Each additional round of ammunition was equivalent to possibly killing another enemy, which also meant that another human might be saved.
This was why they had made early preparations. Besides those a.s.signed to combat and logistic duties, the rest had joined the team in charge of manufacturing ammo.
“If not for the ocean creatures being scared off, our Chan’er would have commanded shoals of fish to attack those foreign races.”
“That’s right, those foreign races have no idea what’s good for them. How dare they attempt to lay hands on our fleet. With Shelter Leader Lu with us, succeeding is nothing but a pipe dream for them.”
“The current condition of us humans is pretty bad according to the World Channel. Sigh…”
The other women performing the manufacturing work could not help but join the conversation once someone started it. They began to speak up about the situation.
War had now begun.
It was difficult for Huaxians, who had grown up in a peaceful environment, to imagine the cruelty of war before experiencing it themselves.
There was basically little room for other emotions besides fear when there was a war happening that involved all humans, with frequent casualties that numbered in the millions and even hundreds of millions.
“Do you think… Almighty Su will come to save us this time? Those foreign races are acting so arrogantly, it’s possible that they have forgotten about…. Tsk, the terrible ending of that Dog G.o.d!”
“The ocean is too wide. How could Almighty Su come all the way here to save us? All we have is this one lousy life. Once we’re dead, we’re dead. We’re not worthy to be saved by a great person like him.”
“That’s true. All I hope is for Almighty Su to be able to rebuild our homeland in the New World, so that my son will have somewhere to live when he comes over. That way, all my worries will be gone as a mother.”
“I guess Almighty Su wouldn’t even have time to settle his own matters in such a terrible environment. The power of us humans on this wasteland is too thinly spread.”
“Big Sis Qin, you’re worried about your son, but I’m worried about my daughter too. She’s only five this year, what would she even be able to do when she comes over? She can’t even walk properly!”
With Doomsday looming, it was very easy for everyone’s emotions to turn pessimistic, to the point of becoming depressed, over a minor topic of conversation.
The warriors out there had been forced into battle. Under such intense circ.u.mstances, all depressing thoughts would be temporarily ignored.
However, every single one of the women on the s.h.i.+p’s lower deck was filled with worry.
However, before Shen Ke was able to encourage everyone with some positive words, Su Chan, who was at the very front, lifted the unfinished crossbow arrow in her hand adorably to shout.
“Almighty… Almighty Su! He will definitely save us!”
The way she looked tickled everyone present with laughter.
The depressing atmosphere on the s.h.i.+p’s lower deck immediately disappeared before it even had time to spread further.
However, before they finished laughing and could continue conversing, Tundra One suddenly shook and trembled. It was like an earthquake had struck the entire s.h.i.+p.
There was not even enough time for everyone to react!
Three strong, yet dull sounds could be heard in an instant, after which the lights of the entire s.h.i.+p suddenly dimmed!
Boom!
Boom!
Plop!
It felt like there had been an explosion beneath the s.h.i.+p. Tundra One had trembled and shook previously, but it now began to sway dramatically at an angle close to 50 degrees.
As the boat swayed, the women who were still clutching the materials did not have time to steady themselves and were flung toward the walls like gunny sacks.
At that moment, the smooth arrow shafts they were holding onto were no longer weapons used to shoot at the enemy. These shafts were now sickles of Death that took their lives away.
It took only an instant for a woman to be pierced through the neck by a shaft. Fresh, red blood spurted out like a fountain, splas.h.i.+ng onto the top of every head nearby.
“Aaarrghh!”
“Aaargh!”
“Steady yourselves, don’t panic! Grab hold of anything that you can and stabilize yourselves. Store every arrow shaft and any sharp weapons in your respective storage s.p.a.ces!”
“Our s.h.i.+p is in a stable condition. Do not panic!”
As a leader, Shen Ke immediately stood up to shout as the darkened s.h.i.+p’s interior suddenly descended into chaos while sounds of explosions boomed in the distance.
Right then, a second explosion rocked the s.h.i.+p. This time, it seemed much more serious than the last.
Tundra One was made out of wood and, this time, the s.h.i.+p’s tilting angle exceeded 50 degrees, almost reaching 60 degrees. It seemed that the s.h.i.+p would almost flip over!
If not for the fact that Tundra One had received a rating of good-quality from the game, together with an additional special ability enhancing its stability, with Tundra One’s recovery ability, it would not have been able to last!
“Take care of things here, I’ll go out there to check on the situation…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be here!”
Shen Ke quickly untied the rope secured around her body and took out a handgun from her storage s.p.a.ce as she quietly spoke to Su Chan, who was next to her.
When she had gotten Su Chan’s definite reply, Shen Ke disappeared from everyone’s view into the darkness like an agile leopard out for a hunt.
…
“Secure yourselves! Do not panic! Don’t waste any of your ammunition. Shoot only when you see the enemy!”
“Safeguard the guns in your hands and turn on the safety mechanisms. Don’t hurt our own people by mistake!”
“Our s.h.i.+p is not capsizing. There are no leaks. I can see its attributes through the game panel. There is no need to worry, we will be able to get through this.”
The s.h.i.+p’s interior may have been dark, but to Shen Ke, who was familiar with the s.h.i.+p’s layout, it was pretty easy to move from the lower deck to the main deck even if she was blindfolded.
She heard Lu Yongyi’s voice shouting through the megaphone the moment she arrived at the stairs toward the main deck.
She immediately discovered the situation Tundra One was currently in the moment she arrived onto the main deck and observed her surroundings rapidly.
Tundra One had been ambushed!
Perhaps that was not the right term. To be more accurate… Tundra One had been “decapitated”!
The foreign races had discovered something after two large-scale attacks and several faked attacks in between.
Tundra One was the only s.h.i.+p that possessed extreme firepower and was the biggest obstacle and threat toward the foreign races during every attack!
When they realized that targeting the powerful Tundra One would decrease the fleet’s combat strength by more than 80%, the foreign races began planning Operation Decapitation.
No one knew how they did it, but they managed to evade the human scouts patrolling underwater and secretly found their way underneath Tundra One to launch an attack.
“Shen Ke, bring some men underwater to have a look at how bad the damage is to our s.h.i.+p’s underside!”
This was a private message from Lu Yongyi. It was clear that he had spotted Shen Ke scoping out the situation on the main deck.
Shen Ke quickly replied to his message and covered her head as she ran toward the rear of the s.h.i.+p. Along the way, she picked out three warriors and swam under the s.h.i.+p with weapons in their hands.
Unlike Hope One, the method of getting underwater from this s.h.i.+p was different. In order to keep it sealed, any s.h.i.+p of the line from the wasteland had to rely on rope ladders propped up against the surface of the s.h.i.+p’s hull.
Grabbing onto these rope ladders would hasten the process of going underwater and also getting back onto the s.h.i.+p. Moreover, the safety factor was quite high.
Without delay, all four of them slipped into the water within two to three minutes.
Shen Ke could not help but inhale a sharp breath of cold air sharply the moment she touched the surface of the water.
There was now a hole the size of a car from the civilized era right in the middle of the Tundra One’s underside. Moreover, there were still pieces of wood floating about in the ocean around them.
As the second person with a Rank 4 t.i.tle on Tundra One, Shen Ke immediately unlocked her underwater breathing authority and rushed over with all her might.
When she arrived at the hole, she gave it a closer inspection before finally sighing with great relief. She turned toward the three warriors behind her, who were still swimming with all their might and signaled to them with gestures.
The signal meant that there were no problems and the hole only required some repairing.
The safety levels of human s.h.i.+ps had undeniably achieved a breakthrough since the invention of watertight compartments.
The infamous t.i.tanic was an example.
Known to be “unsinkable”, the t.i.tanic had 16 watertight compartments. Even if 4 of those watertight compartments were filled with water, it would not sink.
As for Tundra One right now, due to its additional special ability from the game, it would not sink either as long as they could guarantee the integrity of 4 of the 13 watertight compartments!
This attack had damaged about half of the watertight compartments, which meant that Tundra One could still hold out!
[Shen Ke: Leader Lu, half of the compartments at the bottom of the s.h.i.+p are damaged. I need half an hour to make the necessary repairs. It’s important that the foreign races don’t attack during this period, or our s.h.i.+p might be in danger of sinking. Also, I suspect that this attack is the result of humans and the foreign races conspiring with each other. I detected traces of explosives in the damaged areas.]
Shen Ke quickly turned off the chat function of her game panel and began taking out the tools and materials required to repair the hole from her storage s.p.a.ce.
In that instant, her gaze suddenly swept across a warrior in the distance who seemed to be acting strangely.
As the person in charge of maintaining contact with the outside world as well as the internal affairs on the s.h.i.+p, Shen Ke was confident that she knew every warrior, but she found this particular warrior unfamiliar.
The next thing she knew, that warrior turned around and, when their eyes met, Shen Ke confirmed her suspicions.
Something was wrong with this person!
The next second, the warrior seemed to realize that Shen Ke had seen through his disguise. The “warrior” made a split-second decision and immediately began to escape.
However, the poor fellow would never have guessed how terrifying the advantages of having a Rank 4 t.i.tle would be underwater!
One person needed to surface for air while swimming, while the other was able to breathe underwater. It took less than twenty seconds before the distance between both parties narrowed to a mere three meters.
Using her speed advantage, Shen Ke immediately took out a saber from her storage s.p.a.ce without hesitation and aimed it at the leg of the person trying to escape in front of her.
Slas.h.!.+
This swing of the saber contained Shen Ke’s rage. Even underwater, that swing caused an injury deep enough for one to see the bones beneath the flesh.
However, before Shen Ke could lunge and capture him, blurry noises transmitted through the ocean water could be heard.
The voices were very weak, so weak that only someone with a Rank 4 t.i.tle was able to hear them.
Shen Ke’s heart thumped wildly at that moment.
The cunning foreign races had actually taken the opportunity…
To launch a major attack!