Chapter 131: Learning the Meaning of Fear
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After the failure of the humans’ second attempt to escape, some aborigines riding on the giant bugs had already plastered themselves on the outer wall of the s.h.i.+p’s hull.
They yelled “ohh ahhh…” loudly as they drove the giant spiders that had already mounted their two frontmost long legs on the s.h.i.+p. Like having suction cups underneath their legs, the giant spiders began to crawl upward on the s.h.i.+p in a reverse angle that was near 160 degrees.
“F*ck! The giant spiders those aborigines are riding can crawl up the s.h.i.+p! They’re rus.h.i.+ng up now! Be careful, everyone!” A sailor holding a fire ax on deck was the first to see the giant bugs carrying the aborigines as they crawled up the Elizabeth Holiday. He could not help but exclaim in astonishment.
However, just as his words raised a greater commotion on the s.h.i.+p’s deck, the giant spiders crawling on the s.h.i.+p were suddenly enveloped by a milky white mist.
That mist seemed to be extremely high in temperature. With the help of the moonlight, they could see the blood of the giant bugs and the aborigines that were enveloped by the mist swell up rapidly all of a sudden. In an instant, they burst open, leaving behind many skeletons with shredded flesh before falling into the sea.
After that mist killed several dozens of aborigines that crawled up the s.h.i.+p, it did not dissipate. Instead, it floated and consolidated together to form a giant cloud midair. All of a sudden, an earth-shattering “hwoo luuu…” howl resonated from the ocean.
Then, the ocean surface that was several thousand kilometers wide next to the s.h.i.+p suddenly seemed to be torn apart by an invisible giant hand, as an unimaginably giant beast protruded out of it.
The body of the sea beast was twice as long as Elizabeth Holiday. After leaping out of the sea and covering the entire starry sky, it slammed onto the giant cloud that floated in midair and rode the cloud. Opening its mouth wide, it suddenly bit onto the giant stone pillar on the left of the s.h.i.+p that had a cracked foundation before turning its body abruptly.
As a loud bang resonated, that stone pillar broke from its foundation and was taken out of the sea. With a spitting movement, the giant beast shot it out towards the countless midgets that were floating along the waves on the ocean surface.
After the stone pillar broke, all of the midgets seemed to have lost their ability to think for a moment, their bodies became stiff like wood. It was only when their compatriots were slammed and killed by the stone pillar that they finally snapped back to reality.
For the sake of their belief in their hearts, most of the aborigines threw the long spears in their hand towards the giant beast, only ending up to be futile. However, there were also some aborigines who no longer headed towards their death as fearless as before. Instead, they began to flee at a loss.
The primitive and coa.r.s.e religion shattered in their heart the moment the totem collapsed. They were convinced that even the G.o.d that they believed in could not rival against the giant beast ferociously swimming in the fog while swallowing their compatriots that bravely fought against it. For the first time ever in their lives, those fleeing indigenous midgets started to feel terror beyond comparison from the bottom of their hearts.
Standing on the cruise’s deck, Zhang Lisheng who cast the “Connect” spell had his color drained from his face as he felt the wizard power boiling in his flesh and blood. Without warning, he yelled into the air silently.
The fifth sarcoma below his jaw slowly swelled out as the wizard power unconsciously shrunk to return to its original prime state. The young man who had made a breakthrough to the level of Rank-5 Wizard did not command his wizard gu to kill all of the midgets that were completely harmless.
He let out a sigh of relief and looked at Trish who was staring in a daze as her eyes reflected the ocean surface that was almost fully dyed with fresh red blood like the flames from the purgatory realm. With a calm tone, he calmly continued the statement that he had yet to finish —”Look, they know fear now…”— before wrapping the blanket over his head as he sat down cross-legged on the deck.
The three young girls, who knew about the truth of the few seconds of terror just now, looked at the young man who recoiled his body to appear to be small and skinny after sitting down. They did not know how to describe what they were feeling at the moment.
At this moment, the Elizabeth Holiday suddenly whistled “woo woo…” for the third time. As the whistle resonated, the s.h.i.+p slowly reversed without any problems and turned around to sail into the vast sea.
After getting out of the terrifying sh.o.r.e, the second step of escaping the danger was now placed in front of the senior sailors on the Elizabeth Holiday.
In the s.h.i.+p’s steering room, the fully exhausted Fjodna let go of the rudder, panting. Feeling weak, he activated the automatic driving system. “Adelaide, how’s the progress on the straightening out of the automatic route in the nautical instrument?”
The navigating officer Adelaide, the only person on the s.h.i.+p who had not witnessed any danger from the beginning to end, had stayed in the steering room all this time while straightening out the peculiar sailing route. He then answered in a manner, “Sir, I’ve repeatedly verified the abnormalities on this automatic sailing route. I found out that the first error happened at the coordinate 42° W.”
“Then can you find the error point accurately?”
“I only have 50% confidence since there’s no satellite navigation.”
“It’s already higher than my expectations. Just do it, Adelaide. I’ll pray for you.” Fjodna looked at the gloomy night outside the window and piously crossed a “cross” sign in front of his chest as he said in a low voice.
“Yes, sir.” Upon hearing the captain’s order, the navigating officer continued to revise the route and began to drive the s.h.i.+p to make a huge circle in the sea at a constant speed of twenty-five nautical miles per hour.
As time went by, the sky gradually turned brighter. According to the distance, the s.h.i.+p should have already approached New York City if the route was correct. However, when they looked outside, the sea was still empty with nothingness.
Every person’s heart in the steering room sank but n.o.body dared to face this despaired reality at all until the helmsman Alessandro finally made his report with a trembling sound. “Sir, our fuel is only enough to sail for t-ten more nautical miles now…”
Upon hearing this sentence, Fjodna finally flashed a bitter smile for the first time. He sighed deeply and adjusted the hat on his heard before saying in a calm tone, “Everyone, looks like we have no choice but to face reality now…”
“Sir! Sir! There’s a signal! There’s a satellite signal! Oh! The short-wave and long-wave signals have also been restored!” All of a sudden, the navigating officer Adelaide cried out loud in pleasant surprise. “I’ll try to make a call! I’ll try to make a call… New York Harbor, New York Harbor! This is the Elizabeth Holiday! This is the Elizabeth Holiday! Please answer if you hear me! Please answer if you hear me!”
As the crowds waited anxiously for several seconds, a clear voice resonated from the communication device, “Elizabeth Holiday, Elizabeth Holiday, this is the Coast Guard. This is the Coast Guard! Please report your location, please report your location!”
The US Coast Guard (USCG), one of the five largest armed forces in the country, was responsible for guarding the coastal water, waterway law enforcement, water safety, s.h.i.+pwrecks, aircraft rescue, and pollution control. They were committed to protecting national security in the sea.
Due to the duties of the US Coast Guard, when it was them who made the response when Adelaide called the New York Harbor, the sailors in the steering room automatically understood that the USCG was informed about the disappearance of the Elizabeth Holiday after it had not returned in time and was monitoring the channel.
Naturally, they would not be bothered about this. Instead, they clenched their fists tightly and waved them around as they cheered loudly in unison as they only felt that they had finally completed their duties. Fjodna, who drove the Elizabeth Holiday to its rescue, breathed a long sigh of relief and suddenly slumped on the ground without warning.
The news of being rescued quickly spread to everyone from the s.h.i.+p’s broadcast. Naturally, this kind of good news would cause everyone to cheer continuously.
Standing on the deck, Zhang Lisheng watched the crowds who were hugging each other and leaping around with tears in their eyes. Without warning, he smiled at Tina and said, “Look, Tina, we managed to return safely, right?”
“Baby, I know that if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have been able to have this result. I’m sorry that I have been ignoring you all the while. I didn’t mean to do that but it’s just that…I really didn’t know what to say to you. The scene last night was just t-too… t-too…” Tina hesitated for a moment before suddenly hugging the young man and sobbed. “I’m very scared, Lisheng! Really! I’m really scared!”
“Tina, that island is another Amazon jungle. And the law of the jungle is that the weak ones will serve as prey to the strong ones. If we’re powerful, then we’d eat those indigenous midgets; but if we’re weak, we’d be eaten by those indigenous midgets. Think about it carefully, actually you should count yourself lucky rather than feeling afraid.”
“B-But those were still thousands and thousands of people…”
“They were thousands of people from another world who tried to kill us. They’re not our kind, Tina. Everything that I did was for the sake of survival.”
As Zhang Lisheng was speaking, a large helicopter flying sound “brrrt brrrt…” resonated suddenly in the distance. Very soon, in the distant sea, a huge tow vessel with America’s national emblem and national flag ‘Stars and Stripes’ was coursing towards the Elizabeth Holiday with full horsepower in an urgent manner. Two smaller s.h.i.+ps with smaller droughts were by each of its sides, with seven to eight large helicopters hovering above it.
“The s.h.i.+p is coming to save our s.h.i.+p! I really didn’t expect them to come so fast! G.o.d, thank you for your blessing…” Many people shouted ecstatically on the deck.
“Wait a minute. Those aren’t rescue planes… they’re armed helicopters and a wars.h.i.+p. Not only that, two of the three s.h.i.+ps even have a fort barbette! Instead, they look like w-wars.h.i.+ps!” However, more people realized that things did not seem to be right.
Right at this moment, the large tow vessel that had come near to the Elizabeth Holiday suddenly broadcasted with a clear voice, “Every pa.s.senger on the Elizabeth Holiday, please take note. Elizabeth Holiday, please take note! All of you have been listed as the target of the Cla.s.s B ‘public safety disposal mission’. The target is all of you. The temporary quarantine plan will be carried out by the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the a.s.sistance from the United States’ Coast Guard rescue s.h.i.+p ‘St’s Mary’ and the United States’ Navy s.h.i.+ps ‘Vulture’ and ‘Wolf’. Please hold your position and give us your full cooperation. Please give full cooperation.”
As the broadcast resonated on the Elizabeth Holiday, the crowds on the cruise deck who had just escaped from danger suddenly discovered that everyone on the three iron giant vessels that they thought were their saviors were wearing thick silver hazmat suits that looked like s.p.a.cesuits!