Novels online

Chapter 73: If You Are Not My Kin, Your Heart Must Be Different; Kill Without Mercy

"Too weak, this will." Early the next morning, Bai Mo discovered that the foreign will within him had mostly dissipated. His spiritual perception had largely returned to normal, and his physical movements were mostly unaffected.

"The only real threat to me was that brief period of losing control last night, and even then, it relied on the ultra-high intensity radiation in the environment. But then again, its living body isn't even a match for me; a mere piece of tissue can only disgust me."

With his mobility restored, Bai Mo continued along yesterday's path, once again entering the nuclear blast zone.

The radiation intensity continued to rapidly decrease with time. By today, Bai Mo felt he could stay in the central area for twelve hours without much issue.

"Most of the radiation had converted into free Spirit Energy, which then rapidly combined with the air to form Spirit Qi. The Spirit Qi concentration in the core area was so high it slightly obscured vision. If not for the surrounding ruins and rubble, it would likely look no different from a so-called 'Immortal's Pure Land'." Bai Mo muttered to himself as he walked.

Bai Mo sat down at the heart of the nuclear blast zone, wantonly absorbing the surrounding high-concentration Spirit Qi.

"The Spirit Qi concentration in the center is about thirty times that of Tianhai. Unfortunately, my body has mostly completed its Spirit Energy transformation, so the practical effect of the high-concentration Spirit Qi isn't very significant. The completion level of my brain's Spirit Energy transformation has firmly bottlenecked further progress."

Three hours later.

"Those two lingering, persistent wills had finally completely dissipated on their own." Bai Mo shook his head.

At the same time, in a deep-sea location in the Pacific, an octopus-like creature also suddenly convulsed.

"Who destroyed my will?!" Luo Yi, with his previous experience, quickly reacted, understanding the source of his intense headache. However, he searched for a long time but couldn't find a definitive answer, because he had been unconscious when Bai Mo cut off De Bu Luo Yi's Spirit Energy tissue, so naturally, he had no memory of that segment.

"It seems my spiritual perception has a new function, allowing me to see... what happened about twenty seconds ago?" After De Bu Luo Yi's will completely disappeared, Bai Mo discovered this new ability. "Too bad it's a 'chicken rib' – twenty seconds is too short; twenty days would be more like it."

"If De Bu Luo Yi's Spirit Energy tissue bestowed this ability upon me, then what will the reticular neural structure from the unknown ability user bring me?" Bai Mo didn't yet know that the reticular neural structure's origin was not human at all.

Unfortunately, after searching for a long time, Bai Mo found no new abilities gained.

"Could it be that gaining abilities is like 'gacha' – you still have to rely on luck?" Bai Mo inexplicably thought of a popular gacha game he'd seen online before. "And even if you draw a card, it's usually just a one-star card. Seeing scenes from the past twenty seconds – this 'chicken rib' ability is completely impractical."

"Warning! Warning! Large numbers of unknown creatures are attempting to land on the coastline!" Spy satellites from multiple nations observed this situation, and promptly issued alerts to their respective countries.

"It's been two hundred years since our homeland on the American continent was last invaded, hasn't it?" The American President, upon receiving the military's report, surprisingly made a joke.

"Mr. President, according to spy satellite data, similar situations are occurring along most of the East and West coasts. The strategic department estimates this wave of landing creatures will exceed two hundred million." The aide ignored the President's joke and continued to report with a straight face.

"These 'seafood' are invading America?" the President asked, pointing at the images captured by the spy satellite.

"Yes, sir. Furthermore, according to analysts' research, the uncontrolled nuclear submarines and the tsunamis were very likely their doing. Analysts believe that some underwater races might have gained extraordinary powers and awakened intelligence from the massive Spirit Qi eruptions of undersea volcanoes during the previous 'Spirit River Autumn' event, and have since launched a war against humanity."

"What good are more cannon fodder? This isn't the age of Viking landings anymore. How could those 'seafood' still living in a primitive society possibly comprehend the power of modern weaponry!"

"Mr. President, I must correct that statement," Defense Secretary Eisenwood interjected. "Primitives wouldn't know how to launch nuclear bombs. Moreover, they are landing simultaneously on almost all of our coastlines. There has never been a landing operation involving two hundred million troops in history. We are far from having enough troops to resist all landings. Even if we initiate nationwide mobilization now, we could at most hold off one-third."

"Secretary, are you saying that with the East and West coast cities now reduced to ruins by the tsunamis, we are still going to wage a war on top of them?"

"Yes, sir. This is the authorization for nationwide emergency powers. Please sign it. It orders the nation to enter a state of emergency." The Defense Secretary had his secretary hand a document to the President.

Meanwhile, the major island nations, being surrounded by sea, faced the greatest pressure. Thus, they successively began implementing special emergency measures, forcibly conscripting all Ability Users into military service to resist the cannon fodder of the Sea Race arriving from all directions.

Many small islands in the sea hadn't even had time to organize effective resistance before they were overwhelmed by the tide-like swarm of crustaceans.

The ocean, with its biological capacity far exceeding that of land, had amassed a horrifying number of cannon fodder, and officially declared war on humanity on land.

Huaxia's Eastern Coast.

"Are there any instructions from above?" A middle-aged man in military uniform asked over the phone. "The situation here is very urgent!"

"Preliminary assessment indicates that this incident and the previous nuclear attacks and tsunamis share the same mastermind. The order from above is: 'If you are not my kin, your heart must be different; kill without mercy!'"

"Understood!"

Upon receiving the order, the middle-aged man immediately began making arrangements and deployments.

Aside from the public security forces, almost all of Huaxia's military corps were urgently dispatched to the Eastern Coast. All combat aircraft from the Eastern, Southern, and Central War Zones were immediately deployed, to coordinate with coastal defense units in bombing operations, to curb the enemy's landings.

"Reporting, sir, this is the patrol ship 'Weiyuan'. We are under attack by colossal creatures near the Green Rock Island of South Huaxia Sea. Situation critical, requesting reinforcem—" The signal abruptly cut off.

"Urgent report: The submarine 'Jianyu' was attacked by creatures resembling giant squids, and has unfortunately sunk."

Such scenarios of offshore naval forces coming under massive attack were constantly being reported worldwide. Most of the attacked vessels ended up sinking under the onslaught of endlessly evolving marine creatures. Only a few battle groups with extremely powerful combat capabilities managed to escape and return to naval bases.

Under successive waves of devastation, the previously most developed coastal regions of various countries instantly became death zones. Vast amounts of industry and population migrated inland, the coastlines became front lines of battle, and naval forces unable to venture out to sea were transformed into coastal fortresses.