Chapter 545: Smashed to Pieces
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The order given by the chief staff officer in the fleet made the sergeants in the flags.h.i.+p’s steering cabin to feel as though they were pardoned. Hurriedly, they turned the flags.h.i.+p’s engine to its maximum capacity and rapidly turned the wars.h.i.+p around, before driving it to soar through the clouds towards the distance world pa.s.sage.
Actually, if these Atlanteans warriors had engaged in the battle in one go with their blood’s boiled over, they might not have any fear even if they died, but once they had started to escape, their blood cooled down, and the anxiety and panic in their hearts began to grow more intense.
“Calm down! Fly in irregular wavebands. Don’t let the enemy predict the track that we’ll use to retreat,” Sensing the strange atmosphere in the steering cabin, the fleet staff officer said. “The fleet is very close to the ‘s.p.a.ce pa.s.sage,’ we’ll soon be able to…”
Before he could finish his words, he was suddenly choked by a giant palm appearing from the bottom to the sky in the 3D diagram.
The palm of the hand was made up of mountains and rocks. When one was near to it, one could see that the surface was covered with erected big trees that looked like exquisite hair. When it appeared, Karim’s pupil continued to widen. In the end, it covered his entire sight, and with a loud bang, he lost his senses forever.
“You’re just an ant; how dared you hurt me…” Standing in front of the lookout window of the ‘Ancient One’s crystal room, a naked Zhang Lisheng, who controlled a stretch of ten-kilometers dense jungle to transform into palm to rise and crush the Atlanteans flags.h.i.+p like a fly, looked down at the last burn injury on his chest that was gradually healing under the nourishment of some muddy water as he muttered.
After venting out his anger and using this to declare his stand, he immediately ordered, “All skybeasts, stop pursuing. Let those outlanders go.”
At this time, other than the young man, there was no other living creature in the ‘Ancient One.’ The Wizard Li warriors driving the giant biological weapons had already transformed into steam by the enemy’s main artillery, but under the surging of the divine power, the Wizard Li’s G.o.d still rose naturally in the believers’ hearts.
At once, the ancient wars.h.i.+ps that had been baring their fangs stopped one after another, continuously turning their horrifying wriggling mouthpieces back into colorful spots and allowing two small skybeasts of the outlanders to disappear into the horizon.
The Wizard Li Island in the Shrimp World No. 2 regained its relaxed state just like this, leaving behind only the wreckage of the s.p.a.cecraft that had become a pile of sc.r.a.p iron mountains that were emitting intense black smoke in the air.
The tragic war seemed to be disappearing without a trace in the wind and the beautiful weather; however, a few hours later, in the evening, smokes once again rose on the island. Several hundreds of steam wars.h.i.+ps, loaded with native warriors riding on giant millispiders, earth dragons who were shouting swaggeringly on the deck, surrounded the harbor of the earth garrison.
Faced with the h.e.l.lfire tribesmen’s provocation, the US army took a remarkably restrained att.i.tude and did not respond…
In the middle of the night, the clear sky suddenly burst into rain. The starry sky disappeared in just a few minutes, as though a storm would soon arrive.
In a s.p.a.cious and dark office in the underground fortress in the Wizard Li Island’s human gathering place that had just been relaunched, a federal officer, who has a well-developed facial muscle, causing him to have a square face, frowned. Walking to and fro, he stared at the several dozens of monitor projections of different angles and orientations on the white walls as he smoked.
Seeing him walking back and forth silently with the cigarette between his fingers, filling the entire room with smoke, a tall black officer who was sitting in a chair stood up to open the lamp and the ventilation fan before saying in a low voice, “White, stop looking! I’ve already told you that we won’t stand a chance!”
The instant the light was opened, the square-faced officer shut his eyes and suddenly exploded, “It’s all those d.a.m.n bureaucratic Department of Defense staff’s faults! If they had given me an Ohio-cla.s.s submarine, we’d not have been placed in such a pa.s.sive situation! This is so f*cked up!”
“We’re nominally the garrison army of the foreign world, but in actual fact, we’re just a ma.s.sive intelligence gathering station. It’s already good enough that my colleagues in the Department of Defense can give us a ‘C-cla.s.s land and sea combat unit’! What’s more, even if you had a submarine, are you sure you’d be able to compete with these devil wars.h.i.+ps that came from h.e.l.l? Don’t forget that the Atlanteans are not even the opponents of those monster wars.h.i.+ps at all!” The black officer said disapprovingly. It looked like he was already accustomed to being in a dangerous situation, so he did not seem to mind at all.
“Don’t even mention those dirty, sly Atlanteans! They’re the biggest trouble…” The square-faced officer yelled. Before he could finish his words, the office door was swung open. A youthful and beautiful lady officer overwhelmed with emotions ran in and shouted without any prior context, “Lieutenant Colonel, someone wants to see you…”
The square-faced officer who always found his young and beautiful female secretary pleasing to the eyes felt irritated while looking at her flushed-face for the first time, prompting him to shout out her full name, “Marian Harina, you’re a professional federal soldier and a professional secretary! Don’t tell me that you don’t even know how to understand the simplest instructions. I have already said that I’m in the middle of a discussion with Major Leo on how to deal with those natives! I won’t see anybody before we could come up with any countermeasures unless the indigenous people suddenly launch an attack! Are you so forgetful?!”
The female secretary had never seen the lieutenant colonel speaking in such a tone before. Stunned, she stuttered, “Lieutenant Colonel, you, you no longer have to come up with a method to deal with the natives. They have already evacuated from the harbor. We are safe.”
“What?” The two federal-level officers in the office had their eyes lit up at the same time. Shocked, White blurted out, “The native’s steams.h.i.+p fleet has left? What happened? Why did they suddenly leave just like that?”
“Sir, the matter is very bizarre. Just now, the observation post brought a very young Asian to the gathering place, and the indigenous fleet blocking the harbor immediately retreated. “A puzzled expression could be seen on Marian’s face as well. “Other than saying that he wanted to meet you, the Asian didn’t say anything at all. The guards found no weapons on him either after searching all over his body. On top of that…”
“Asian? A very young Asian? Don’t tell me that he’s…” White pondered for a few seconds before interrupting the secretary’s chattering remarks, and said in deep contemplation, “Marian, bring that Asian man to see me.”
“Yes, Lieutenant Colonel.” The female secretary walked out of the office and, in a short while, she brought a black-haired young man with black eyes wearing a half-old orange jacket to see White before asking with hope, “Sir, do you want me to record the conversation?”,
“Thank you, but you don’t have to, Marian. You may leave now.”
“Yes, Lieutenant Colonel.” The secretary’s eyes had a disappointing expression as she walked out of the office with puzzlement. After watching her leave, the black-haired young man breathed a sigh of relief and reached out a hand to White before saying sincerely, “Long time no see, Lieutenant Colonel White. I remember that you were still a purely federal soldier when we last met…”
“Good evening, Dr. Zhang…” The young man in front of him was the legendary figure as he had expected. White opened his mouth but realized that he did not know what to say other than his greetings. After a long moment of silence, he awkwardly shook the young man’s hand and said with perseverance, “Doctor, be it before, now, or in the future, I’m still a pure federal officer, no, a soldier from Earth. There is no doubt about it.”
“This is the best news I’ve ever received in the recent period. Then, please tell me, Lieutenant Colonel, what has happened on Earth? Is the elected government still leading the US now? Why would Atlantis battles.h.i.+p suddenly launch a malicious attack on the Wizard Li Island?” The black-haired young man asked with a deep voice. Upon seeing that he was about to cleverly seize the right to speak, the tall black officer suddenly knocked on the oval conference table with two fingers before saying, “Dr. Zhang Lisheng, I also want to ask you the same question. What happened to the Shrimp B1 Island, actually? Why would biochemical wars.h.i.+ps suddenly appear and defeat the Atlantis fleet?”
“And this Major is…” Zhang Lisheng turned to look at the black soldier who spoke and asked White.
“I’m Leo, Jonathon Leo, the federal garrison intelligence collector in the Shrimp World No. 2. I’m specializing in the preliminary screening of the foreign worlds’ intelligence and grading them.” Leo replied first and used a different kind of pa.s.sive-aggressive friendly tone as he extended his hand to the young man.
“Oh, another federal intelligence officer. I don’t know why but the federal officials I’ve been coming in contact with the most in these few years always been ‘spies,’” Zhang Lisheng shook hands with the black military officer. “Don’t worry, Major Leo. You’ve done well in your intelligence-gathering work. There was no dereliction of duty at all. The things that have defeated the Atlanteans are not biological fleet or something but the ‘natural creations’ of G.o.ds. The G.o.ds of the Shrimp World No. 2 have awakened from the ‘dusk.’ The G.o.d who created the h.e.l.lfire civilization has already received support from the Wizard Li tribe and will soon unify the entire sea and has his eyes on the mainlands too. You can say that the Atlantis fleet had kicked on a big stone this time.”
“It’s similar to another conjecture of mine,” Leo did not reveal a shocked expression. He just smiled and said, “A war between the commander of a foreign world and the fleet from higher alien civilization… This is even more bizarre than The Lord of the Rings.”
“I’ve mentioned a few years before that we’re living in a crazy age, and whatever strange things can happen,” Zhang Lisheng pretended to put on a bitter smile as well. “Due to the Atlantis’ invasion, the sacrificial ceremony of the Wizard Li’s G.o.d wanted to kill all outlanders completely, but it’s a good thing that I still have some status in the tribe and was able to stop them after putting a lot of effort. However, all the federal garrisons must leave the Wizard Li Island before dawn and are not allowed to step on the island again.”
“As I’ve expected, those native fleets did not withdraw for no reason,” Upon hearing Zhang Lisheng’s words, White smiled bitterly as well. “Thank you, Dr. Lisheng, we’re no opponents for those natives. Since they have given us the ultimatum, we’ll have no choice but to leave like a rat.”