Chapter 68

Chapter 68

The already battered dock fences were blown away by the fierce winds, and the water level at sea began to change. The chains mooring boats clanged loudly, and the fishing boats and ferries moored on the sea started to rock with the undulating waves and fierce wind, like beasts ready to break free from their cages.

Thunder roared in the sky, caught in the vortex of the wind tide, all signaling the approach of danger.

"Zhao team... what should we do? Should we retreat first? Retreating might be better." The pilot could hardly complete his sentences. The approaching hurricane was not only a crisis for them but also for the entire White Whale District. Their helicopter wouldn't last long in the air.

The sudden appearance of the red warning in the navigation system indicated that the hurricane wasn't entirely natural. The extreme rainstorm, Wei Siyuan's lightning, and Fang Zhou's winds had catalyzed this disaster. If it triggered a tsunami, the White Whale District might face a destructive blow as severe as the one five years ago.

"The eye of the storm is rapidly approaching..." the pilot reported with a trembling voice.

"What's the estimated scale?" Zhao Zhenyu asked.

"Not sure yet, as it's changing, but conservatively, it’s a Category 3..."

Category 3 wasn't a major disaster; White Whale District wouldn't be destroyed by it. The problem was its ongoing transformation—

And their enemy's power was wind control.

Observing the scene outside, Zhao Zhenyu suddenly thought of Sia's prophecy—"Wind God."

At the time, she didn’t grasp the full implication until now, finally understanding what Xiya’s prophecy meant.

Zhao Zhengyu had asked Xiya if a disaster was looming over Baijing District. Xiya’s mixed response of nodding and shaking her head now makes sense as Zhao sees the harbingers of disaster.

Extreme weather is common in Baijing District, with heavy rains and extreme temperatures. This rain gave Wei Siyuan an advantage, allowing him to control Fang Xunjiang for a prolonged period.

Initially, they thought capturing Fang Xunjiang would ease their efforts, but that's no longer certain.

The intense wind flow conceals the erratic electricity. Wei Siyuan’s gaze fixes on Fang Zhou, his expression turning grave. His earlier cockiness fades, aware as a fellow nature power user of what this means.

Nature is now siding with Fang Zhou.

With Meng Xi'en dead, Wei Siyuan only has the support of armed helicopters in the sky, hence his repeated attempts to prevent Fang Zhou from destroying them.

In the current situation, he struggles to protect the helicopters from Fang Zhou's attacks, especially amidst the hurricane, leaving him increasingly isolated.

Zhao Zhengyu realizes this, instructing the helicopters through her communication device to ascend, distancing themselves from the ground.

She then targets Fang Zhou with all weapons, resonating with them to enhance their explosive reach, capable of devastating the entire Red Shore Port.

Zhao initially hesitated to use this tactic, aware of its wide impact that could harm innocents and Wei Siyuan below, but now she can't afford such considerations.

“Fire!” she commands.

Countless bullets and bombs rain down on Fang Zhou, their trajectory and speed perfectly clear to her. She senses their expansion mid-air, a familiar tactic Zhao used to injure the Motherface Demon.

Fang Zhou remains calm, feeling the Motherface Demon's power surging, confident in handling what was previously impossible.

She redirects the projectiles' trajectory with a counter-blast of wind, sending them back to their origin.

“Boom—”

The continuous explosions light up half the sky, illuminating the murky atmosphere.

Zhao's power backfires on her allies, the expansive blasts sparing none of the airborne assets.

Meng Xi'en's last wish for Zhao was to inherit her command and hunt Fang Zhou. Yet, Zhao's abilities fall short compared to Meng's, leaving her powerless against such a formidable enemy, witnessing her own failure helplessly.

Zhao questions Meng's decision to pursue Fang Zhou, doubting the wisdom of battling such a monstrous foe.

There's no time for prolonged thought.

Zhao falls from the helicopter before the explosion, getting caught in the blast. Unable to deploy her gear in time, debris and helicopter remnants shower over her as she plunges into the sea.

Struggling in the turbulent waters, she throws out her weapon, extending it towards the ferry at the port in an attempt to escape the raging sea.

The next moment, Leiche teleports behind Zhao, shooting her in the head before she can react, quickly returning to shore to prevent her from re-entering the battlefield and hindering Fang Zhou.

Even though he felt that in the current situation, she would have a hard time obstructing Fangzhou.

"Tsk, tsk." After completing these tasks, Rache looked at the scene in front of him and sighed twice. Then, he didn't enter the center of the battlefield. Wind, thunder, and waves had no sense, and he didn't know if he would be affected. He left it all to Fangzhou.

Now, only Wei Siyuan remains.

His attempt to prevent Fang Zhou from destroying the helicopter failed to match her movements.

Compared to others who are helpless in such disasters, this is somewhat of an enhancement for Wei Siyuan. The eye of the hurricane gathers intense thunderstorms. With his hands spread wide and pressed against the ground, the lightning striking down from the sky separates the water from him, forming a protective barrier around him, shielding him from the piercing winds and water currents.

Wei Siyuan doesn’t feel defeated yet. He continuously summons lightning from the clouds, sending destructive electrical currents towards Fang Zhou’s location, one after another.

Watching the lightning strike towards her, Fang Zhou feels like a cultivator undergoing tribulation in a fantasy novel.

With no mood for jest, she uses air currents to swiftly change her position, dodging these fierce attacks, while gathering the air currents to sweep towards Wei Siyuan.

As the two forces collided, Weisiyuan sensed trouble. The hurricane, partly of his making, brought exponentially more power to the Ark. His self-proclaimed enhancements in nature paled in comparison to hers.

Realizing this, Weisiyuan sought to leave the battlefield. The situation had shifted, and the current weather was not conducive for him to battle with the Ark.

The Ark noticed this and immediately prevented Weisiyuan's departure.

Not far off, the sea heaved waves over ten meters high, rolling menacingly towards the shore. The Ark levitated to avoid the waves, watching them surge towards Weisiyuan.

At that moment, countless notifications appeared before her.

[Alien creature "Sea Monster" willingly submits to you.]

[Alien creature "Sea Monster" willingly submits to you.]

[Alien creature "Sea Monster" willingly submits to you.]

……

[New entry in the compendium: "Sea Monster"]

[No. 26: Sea Monster]

[Level: B-Class (Intelligence and level synthesized)]

[Primary Ability (Underwater Vortex): Can create a 20-meter diameter vortex in water]

A B-Class alien creature choosing to submit to her? The Ark felt puzzled, encountering such a scenario for the first time.

It seemed that numerous sea monsters in the shallow waters realized who was controlling the disaster and chose to willingly submit.

Before she could ponder further, new notifications appeared.

[Taming ten sea monsters allows for ability integration and enhancement.]

[Underwater Vortex upgraded to: A-Class]

[Can create a 100-meter diameter vortex in water.]

This was her first ability upgrade since her identity advancement. The Ark realized its usefulness for the first time; B-Class alien creatures offered her little improvement. A 20-meter vortex might be insignificant, but a 100-meter one was a different story entirely.

With the sea level rising, Weisiyuan found himself surrounded by these waves. Thwarted by the Ark, he couldn't escape and had to construct a defensive space around himself using electricity.

His face twisted in distaste, eyes glaring hatefully at the Ark. The air crackled with electricity, and thunderous 'booms' resonated, grazing past the Ark.

The Ark didn't want to prolong the fight; she wished to end it swiftly.

She approached the sea surface, merging all the willingly submitted sea monsters into her being.

Seeing her taming more alien creatures in such a situation, Weisiyuan's temples throbbed. He couldn't help but sneer, "You... are truly arrogant."

She, arrogant?

The Ark couldn't help but spare him a glance. Who was the arrogant one? It was these self-proclaimed hunters who were truly arrogant.

She didn't bother to argue with Weisiyuan and immediately unleashed the massive vortex of sea monsters around him.

The underwater vortices emerging near him exerted a powerful suction, throwing the isolated water around him into chaos. Weisiyuan's electric currents were caught in it, while the Ark's assault continued unabated.

Under this strain, his transcendent power rapidly depleted, leaving him extremely strained.

As he struggled to sustain himself, he felt a powerful force slicing towards his neck. Lacking the energy to deal with the vortex, he immediately summoned his transcendent power to counter the incoming wind blade.

The two forces collided, leading to a brief stalemate.

Then—

A forceful airstream cut through Weisiyuan's concentrated electric currents, striking his neck. He heard the sound of flesh and bone being severed.

Unwilling to accept this fate, Weisiyuan's head separated from his body and fell into the water. Even so, his body reacted, raising a hand with a powerful electric current, launching an attack in a direction.

Perhaps as life neared its end, his attack was misguided, its aim far too off to hit the Ark.

The relentless thunder finally ceased, leaving only the sound of wind, rain, and crashing waves in the Ark's ears.

The last Orderer had died, and the Ark had finally eliminated all the enemies present.

Those who had relentlessly cornered her, leaving no room for escape, were now all gone.

She panted, not letting her guard down despite the victory.

Waves built like high walls, crashing down from above. The storm surge hadn't ceased, and the hurricane could cause a significant tsunami, potentially engulfing the entire Beluga region.

The land's inhabitants had sensed the disaster's approach. Buildings near the port were nearly destroyed due to the battle, and from above, the Ark could see the brightly lit Beluga region at night, with people desperately trying to escape.

As one of the instigators of this disaster, she felt a tinge of remorse.

The Ark didn't leave immediately. She harnessed all her power to adjust her wind-controlling abilities, intending to alter the hurricane's path.

She felt herself being rapidly drained by this effort, depleting all her energy. Eventually, she couldn't even maintain her pseudomorphic disguise, and every discomfort in her body was magnified.

With her last bit of strength, she controlled her descent from the sky, landing on the shore. She then separated the Motherface Demon to handle the remaining cleanup.

The entire process took less than half a minute. The fierce winds gradually calmed, and the sea quieted, its receding waters lapping at the Ark's feet.

The crisis had passed.

Only the rain continued, pattering down on her.

The Ark couldn't distinguish between her blood and the rain. The warm flow from her nose was stark against her cold skin, revealing it to be blood.

It was finally over.

Her vision blurred, the scene before her as if shrouded in fog, indistinct. A figure approached her, and she first heard Lei Qie's voice.

"Hey, you..." he began, then hesitated.

"How are you, need help?" came Lu Feilan's somewhat casual and light voice from ahead, steadying the Ark as she nearly fell.

"Don't... talk nonsense," the Ark gritted her teeth. His body was just as cold, and being caught by him brought no warmth.

Lu Feilan didn't continue speaking, instead, he began channeling his power towards her. His gaze lingered on the Ark, then shifted to the surroundings.

The aftermath of the storm left the dock in ruins, with only remnants of the docked ships remaining. The sea was littered with the bodies of the Orderers and helicopter wreckage. Not far off lay Weisiyuan's corpse, his head severed by the Ark, a content smile on his face and eyes still open. Lu Feilan felt as if those eyes were staring intently at him.

This reminded Lu Feilan of the Beluga region five years after the tsunami, with bodies floating like dead fish, the area strewn with the rubble of destroyed buildings. The scene was eerily similar to the present, except the Ark had halted this disaster, steering the future of the Beluga region in another direction.

He couldn't help but feel envious.

Lu Feilan once aspired to change the world. With his formidable abilities, ample ambition, and ideals, he had gathered a team of powerful allies and strove towards his utopia in the Beluga region.

Weisiyuan was the brother of one of his companions. After that companion died, his brother became his new ally.

People continuously left and joined.

Lu Feilan, passionate yet lacking matching abilities, found himself repeatedly dealing with dirty deeds – destroying, sinking his hands into blood and flesh, forever stained by blood.

Dirty.

Too dirty.

Lu Feilan often felt as if he was drowning in a quagmire, sinking deeper the more he struggled.

Caught in an endless cycle of battles, danger, and a life shrouded in darkness, he realized he couldn't change the status quo.

Not to mention the world, he couldn't even change the Beluga region. It was filthy, chaotic, rotten to the core, just like this hopeless world.

Lu Feilan suddenly felt as if his fate was prewritten, with an unseen hand scripting the destiny of everyone here.

Realizing this, he stood as usual, overlooking the endless sea of the Beluga region, its desolate and dim surroundings like the gaping maw of a beast.

He removed his breathing mask, as if shedding a long-held burden, and said indifferently, "I don't want to do this anymore."

Weisiyuan was bandaging a wound, looked up at him and asked, "What? Are you going to let everyone's efforts go up in flames?"

Not taking Lu Feilan seriously, he still warned, "If you desert, I'll do everything in my power to kill you."

"Oh," Lu Feilan retorted, "Without me, you can still go on. You're not helpless children, and I'm not your guardian. Can't you walk without me? What's wrong, need me to change your diapers?"

He was known for his harsh words, but this time Weisiyuan couldn't bear it, grabbing Lu Feilan's collar and punching him.

Then, Lu Feilan left the Beluga region, a deserter in Weisiyuan's eyes, disgraced and cowardly.

Later, he joined Shelter 001, feeling that everyone in this world was trapped in a predetermined script, himself again stepping into a life laid out for him, but he had given up resisting.

He often thought it was fine to just go on like this, reaching the end without having to think.

Until "The Ark" appeared, with her relentless tenacity, vitality, and the foolishness to defy fate.

Lu Feilan would often mock the Ark's struggles when she wasn't aware, considering it all meaningless. Her life seemed so shallow, its end visible at a glance. In the script of life, she should have exited early.

Yet she always did the unnecessary, getting hurt, finding herself in perilous situations, yet brimming with life, like a seed sprouting from the grasp of fate. This made him, too, feel a surge of passion, as if seeing in her a reflection of his own desire to break free.

The Ark once asked him why he chose to follow her.

Lu Feilan didn't answer then, and now he didn't need to.

The downpour gradually ceased, and the Ark's vision cleared. Aside from dizziness due to blood loss and mental exhaustion, her discomfort significantly subsided.

She finally saw Lu Feilan clearly, his hair dripping, his pale face like fractured jade.

The Ark's gaze fell on the hole in his chest, a fist-sized puncture through his heart. The wound, cauterized by electric shock, bled no blood.

When did this happen?

Before the Ark could grasp the significance, Lu Feilan leaned on her, placing all his weight against her, his head on her shoulder.

He was tall and appeared slender, but his body was solid muscle. His weight was too much for the Ark, who instinctively wanted to use her serpent to support him, but remembering his aversion, she retracted the emerging serpent.

"Lu Feilan?"

"…Yes."

"Can you hold on? I'll have Lei Qie take you to the medic, we'll be there soon."

The Ark struggled to stay calm, turning to Lei Qie. His gaze was filled with pity, whether for Lu Feilan or for her impending loss, she couldn't tell.

The Ark had thought his hesitant "You…" was addressed to her, but now it seemed it was meant for Lu Feilan.

Lu Feilan's breath on the Ark's neck grew fainter. He seemed to have a lot to say but only sighed in the end.

"…Forget it, just keep moving towards your goal."

The usually active mind of the Ark slowed down. What did he mean by 'forget it'? Forget going to the medic? Or something else?

She anticipated more words from Lu Feilan, but he fell silent.

Lu Feilan's weight fully collapsed onto the Ark, his breathing ceased.