1492 Capital s.h.i.+p
Sunlight spilled from the sky, illuminating the end of the dark tunnel.
Xia Fan’s band finally walked out of the tunnel. After more than a month of living underground, their eyes had adapted to the darkness. They rapidly blinked their eyes, and once the stimulation from the light had faded, they saw barren hills, devoid of any plant life except some yellow brambles.
“We’re finally out!” Jin Yu yelled excitedly, opening his arms. He wanted to express his joy at surviving even more, but Xia Fan promptly stopped him.
Xia Fan cautiously looked around and then smiled. “We’ve only left the Demon Chasm, so we’re not truly safe yet. If my guess is right, there should be a support force from the Murder Shrine nearby.”
!!
Jin Yu fell silent upon hearing Xia Fan’s words. Xia Fan quickly had Thousand Ink send his combat beasts to scout the area. He predicted that the Murder Shrine’s people would probably be hanging around the Demon Chasm’s entrance.
Xia Fan’s band was currently located at a back door that the Demonic Ants had left for themselves. Those terrifying creatures were far more cunning than humans could imagine. Even with Bright Pearl’s guidance and Thousand Ink’s scouting, Xia Fan’s group still needed a whole five days to get out of the Demon Chasm.
Luo Jiuyi took out a signal transmitter and attempted to send a high-frequency encrypted signal into s.p.a.ce, but the transmitter only emitted static. This entire planet was still enclosed in a spatial screen, so it was impossible to contact Headquarters.
Luo Jiuyi gave a disappointed shake of his head to Xia Fan, and then put away the signal transmitter in his spatial ring, closed his eyes, leaned against the wall of the tunnel, and went to sleep.
Luo Jiuyi could sleep regardless of the environment. It was truly an admirable ability. The others certainly didn’t have Luo Jiuyi’s big heart, as they were all nervous.
Xia Fan chuckled. “Don’t worry. We’ve all been through the gates of h.e.l.l. If we unite our hearts, we can definitely leave this place.”
“Mm!” Everyone nodded. After a series of amazing performances, Xia Fan had successfully become the backbone of this small team.
The team’s battle power was still in decent shape. Though Traveling Buddha was injured, his body was exceptionally tough. After several days of recovery, he was basically fine. In addition, Sarah had joined the team. Her current mission was to protect their important hostage, Anyo.
As for Xia Fan, he had the Immortal Wine, and his recovery speed was already divine. His body, forged from Grade 9 energy stones, could suppress the explosive nature of the Immortal Wine. It was just that when he injected the Immortal Wine, his chest still felt like it was about to tear open, and his eyes still felt like they would spit flames.
Bright Pearl was hidden in Xia Fan’s bosom. Whenever Xia Fan grew restless because of the Immortal Wine, she would release a gentle chill, like a cool piece of jade. Although it was rather chilly, it wasn’t so cold that it would make one’s teeth s.h.i.+ver. Xia Fan felt like he was surrounded by refres.h.i.+ng autumn winds, and the fire in his blood was suppressed.
——
Once they had rested for several hours, Thousand Ink’s combat beasts informed them that they weren’t far from the Demon Chasm’s entrance, only three hundred kilometers. Once they crossed the hills, they would be able to see the Murder Shrine’s temporary base.
Thus, all of them set off, advancing toward the Demon Chasm’s entrance while using the hills as cover. As the sun was setting across the silent valley, Xia Fan finally saw the Murder Shrine’s fleet.
Standing at the top of a hill and looking down, he could see the Demon Chasm, thirty kilometers in diameter and seemingly bottomless.
The hole was showing clear signs of collapse. There was the camp that Xia Fan’s group had previously resided in. After the camp fell into the hole, the two hundred thousand Outer Frontier warriors within had fallen into the Demon Chasm, becoming cannon fodder for the Murder Shrine.
On the plain a little bit away from the Demon Chasm, a rare giant wars.h.i.+p was anch.o.r.ed. It was twelve kilometers long and looked like a bighead carp, with a giant cannon installed on its bow. This cannon exuded an intimidating aura, seemingly capable of blasting through an entire star system!
“The Murder Shrine really has a lot of nice things,” Thousand Ink pursed his lips as he spoke. “That is a product of the Republic’s second largest s.h.i.+pyard, Radiance Industry, the Otter Cla.s.s. It’s considered a small capital s.h.i.+p.”
Xia Fan nodded. In the Ashen Moon Universe, wars.h.i.+ps that ranged from eight hundred meters long to three kilometers long were called small capital s.h.i.+ps. The Otter Cla.s.s was a dreadnought twelve hundred meters long, within the range of a small capital s.h.i.+p.
Capital s.h.i.+ps were powerful and expensive; that dreadnought had to cost at least thirty billion Federation dollars. Its maintenance and repair expenses were even more shocking. Even the regular fleets of the Three Great Federations couldn’t afford too many capital s.h.i.+ps.
The Murder Shrine had mobilized a capital s.h.i.+p for this Demon Chasm expedition? It was clear that they had taken this expedition very seriously. This s.h.i.+p could even be War G.o.d Bode’s command s.h.i.+p, waiting for him now that Bode had entered the Demon Chasm.
“What do you think about that Sabertooth Tiger interceptor? It can fire interceptor bombs that can hold off any pursuers.”
“That won’t do at all. While the Sabertooth Tiger can release interceptor bombs, but we have to escape while surrounded by the enemy. We need a s.h.i.+p with extremely strong defenses.”
“There’s a Ghost interceptor over there. Its thrusters are clearly longer than the standard model, so it’s probably been modified. It should be very fast, and no one should be able to catch us when its overdriving.”
Everyone started arguing. Since Murder Shrine had helpfully anch.o.r.ed a fleet here, their plan was still a s.h.i.+p from the fleet, leave this place, then transmit their coordinates and their report to Headquarters.
Everyone had different opinions on which s.h.i.+p they should steal. Jin Yu felt like armor thickness was very important for escaping, Nan Jing felt like speed was more important, and Thousand Ink thought that they were both wrong, and that cloaking ability and anti-surveillance ability were the key to escaping.
Xia Fan was also somewhat indecisive. After all, there was no such thing as a perfect wars.h.i.+p in the world. Each model had its pros and cons, and it was truly hard to choose.
At that moment, Xia Fan remembered Bright Pearl. While the little dragon was very small, she had once followed the Skywings in their long campaign across the Great Chiliocosm, so she might have a good idea. Thus, Xia Fan spoke with her mentally.
Bright Pearl had seemingly been asleep. The long hibernation had left her very weak, and she still needed a long time to recover.
After hearing Xia Fan’s question, Bright Pearl responded in her unruly voice, “Ugh, you even need to ask? Based on the style of the Skywing Clan, they would naturally steal the biggest s.h.i.+p and then kill off all their enemies!
“You kill one of my people, so I’ll exterminate your entire clan! That is the conviction of the Skywings! The Murder Shrine screwed you over, hurt your friends, and stole Xia Chen’s body. To settle this account, the entirety of the Ashen Moon Universe needs to be painted red with the Murder Shrine’s blood!
“Although I confess that you are a proper Skywing, you lack the Skywing nature of taking revenge for every slight. According to the traditions of your clan, anyone who steps on your lawn has to leave their leg behind. Do you still need me to teach you what to do now?”
Is that how it was…
After saying all that, Bright Pearl went back to resting. The girl had very high requirements of Xia Fan. In the Demon Chasm, after Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha had killed Bode, Bright Pearl had only given him a pa.s.sing grade.
The meeting between Xia Fan and Bright Pearl also seemed to be some sort of special moment. The unique fiendish nature of the Skywings hidden in Xia Fan’s blood had seemingly been unlocked by Bright Pearl.
Xia Fan seriously considered Bright Pearl’s advice. While stealing the capital s.h.i.+p was very dangerous, if they succeeded, they could immediately turn the tables. As it was said, the greatest risk had the greatest reward.
As for the other wars.h.i.+ps, stealing them might have been easier, but trying to escape with them would be difficult. After all, they were all alone.
With his mind made up, Xia Fan looked over his brothers and sternly said, “Stop arguing. Since we’re going to steal, we might as well steal the biggest.” Xia Fan pointed casually at the anch.o.r.ed Otter-cla.s.s dreadnought.
Everyone looked at where Xia Fan was pointing, and were instantly stunned speechless.