Chapter 266: Azure Dragon (Fourth Update) |
The noisy sounds outside the window woke up quite a few residents in the residential complex.
The shouts from outside the window came from beyond the living room.
Liu San got up from bed and looked out the window, then gently nudged Dazhuang, who was sleeping like a log.
"Stop sleeping, stop sleeping."
Dazhuang mumbled something and rolled over.
"This guy, sleeps like a pig." Liu San put on his jacket and walked out of the room, just in time to see Qin Ziwen coming out of his room. He hurriedly called out, "My Lord..."
"They're all asleep, keep your voice down." Qin Ziwen waved his hand, glanced at Liu San, and asked, "Can't sleep?"
"Getting older, I wake up easily with a bit of noise outside." Liu San rubbed his face and lowered his voice, "My Lord, the commotion outside is a bit loud."
"Yeah, it's not small." Qin Ziwen nodded.
Outside the windowsill, the distant sky was dim.
It was hard to see clearly, only vaguely making out that the sea seemed to be churning with turbulent waves.
Qin Ziwen went back to get a telescope. This time, with the moonlight, he finally saw clearly.
On the sea, there was an incredibly huge whirlpool, just two kilometers south of the island reef.
Qin Ziwen put down the telescope, his expression grave.
This whirlpool was enormous. If a ship were at its center, it probably wouldn't even have the strength to struggle.
The whirlpool on the sea persisted for nearly two hours before dissipating.
The time for low tide was almost here. The seawater receded, gradually revealing the wide expanse of mudflats on the beach.
Qin Ziwen returned to his room and went to sleep.
Early the next morning.
The sea surface had returned to calm.
Suddenly, a commotion came from the distance.
A massive school of fish, like raindrops, dense and countless, skimmed across the sea surface.
Several of the fish leaped out of the water—dolphins—dashing forward at an extremely fast speed.
Right behind them, a familiar fin broke the sea's surface.
"Boom—"
A slender, ferocious, and enormous head broke through the sea's surface. Its massive body leaped up and crashed heavily back onto the water, sending up giant waves.
"Mosasaur."
Qin Ziwen saw it very clearly. Although the distance was great, that massive outline was unmistakably a mosasaur.
Turning around, he returned to Home and said to Jia Liangcai, "We can start preparing. Have them all board the ship and get ready."
He then went to the deck of the Lost Homeland to inspect. Besides the four ballistae on the lower deck, there were also eight vehicle-mounted crossbows fixed to the main deck, four on each side.
He nodded slightly in his heart. In terms of quantity, it should be enough.
A total of twelve giant crossbows. If firing from one side, that's about six shots per direction.
"Wake everyone up, check the equipment." After giving his final instructions, Qin Ziwen rode the Crowned Eagle and flew away from Home, heading for the sea.
After he had gone far, the crowd gradually boarded the deck one after another.
The three Yan brothers were also in the group, following the main force onto the ship.
All around were the sounds of discussion.
"When are we setting off later?"
"Probably once the node opens, we can go over."
"I hope we get a big one later."
The three Yan brothers squeezed against the ship's railing, watching the busy crowd around them. Yan San gently nudged his eldest brother with his elbow. "Brother, that sound last night didn't seem right. Was it really just a whirlpool?"
"Don't know. I've seen whirlpools by the sea before, but the sound wasn't this weird." Yan Da narrowed his eyes. As they were talking, Du Yu walked over.
He glanced at the three of them, then pointed at the nearby vehicle-mounted crossbow and asked, "Can you use this?"
"Brother Du, this is the heavy crossbow carriage from the military, right? We haven't used it before, but it doesn't look too difficult." Yan Da took a look and roughly inferred its function.
Du Yu nodded. "Indeed, it's not difficult. Then this vehicle-mounted crossbow will be assigned to you for later use. The arrows are in the crates at the back of the deck. You can go move some over before the battle starts."
"Haha, good." Yan Da agreed readily.
Then he asked again, "Brother Du, when are we going into the sea later?"
"You'll know when the time comes." Du Yu smiled faintly, keeping them in suspense.
In fact, the three Yan brothers didn't have to wait long to find out.
Right in front of the ship, the air seemed to be torn by an invisible hand, and a dark blue rift suddenly appeared out of thin air. The edges of the rift flowed with a glass-like luster.
At the same time, the ghost ship they were standing on, which was docked in the repair shipyard, gave a sudden jolt.
Accompanied by the sounds of winch drums and chains, the large ship slowly tilted, its bow dipping down as it slid toward the blue channel.
"Hold on tight!"
Du Yu's booming voice echoed across the deck.
Everyone instinctively grabbed the nearest object.
The ship accelerated and plunged headfirst into the blue node channel.
"Whoosh—"
It was like passing through a door. The sound of howling wind filled their ears.
Blue sky, white clouds, the sea.
The surrounding scenery changed dramatically.
The ship's bow suddenly sank, crashing into the sea.
Splashing up huge waves.
Yan Da steadied himself and instinctively surveyed the surroundings. Then, his gaze froze.
Locking onto the sea surface over a hundred meters away.
There was a shadow so large it was heart-stopping, lurking beneath the water's surface, and it was moving toward them.
"So... so big." Yan San breathed rapidly, his eyes excited.
He stared intently at the rapidly circling black shadow under the sea.
He had seen sharks in the sea, but even a shark was insignificant compared to this thing.
Based on years of experience, he estimated that the body length of this shadow was probably not much smaller than the ship they were standing on.
Thinking this, Yan San's heart pounded wildly.
After the shadow hidden beneath the sea approached, it didn't rashly launch an attack. It seemed to be wary of this existence that was even larger than itself.
It circled the ship, constantly swimming around.
Around the ship, it generated a whirlpool visible to the naked eye.
As the whirlpool pulled, the ship swayed left and right uncontrollably.
"Port side! Aim!" Du Yu's voice came.
Yan Wu said, "Port side, big brother, we're on the port side."
"I know." Yan Da operated the crossbow carriage, making slight adjustments to the angle.
Aiming at the black shadow swimming in the sea on the ship's left side.
"Fire!"
Almost simultaneously, the four vehicle-mounted crossbows on the port side and the two ballistae on the lower deck made a tremendous noise at the same time.
"Twang!"
Six dark shadows tore through the air, carrying a shrill whistle, crossing a hundred meters to accurately land in the sea area where the shadow was.
The underwater creature's size was too large. At this distance, there was no need to aim precisely. Shooting in the general direction was almost guaranteed to hit.
"ROAR!!!"
A terrifying roar of fury came from beneath the sea!
Immediately after, the sea surface bulged upward violently, and a mountainous, ferocious head broke through the water!
Crossbow bolts were embedded in its head and shoulder area respectively. Dark red blood gushed continuously from the wounds, dyeing the surrounding seawater red.
The intense pain had provoked the ferocity of this prehistoric overlord.
It raised its head, its cold vertical pupils fixed on the Lost Homeland. The muscles in its neck suddenly tensed. The next instant, its massive body accelerated forward, pulling a white, arrow-shaped wake behind it.
The enormous head slammed fiercely into the side of the Lost Homeland.
The hull of the Lost Homeland let out a piercing groan. Like a top that had been struck, the ship's body was violently shoved sideways.
The unmanned rudder at the stern spun wildly, trying its best to stabilize the ship's body.
Everyone on the deck fell like wheat stalks blown down in a fierce wind.
On the mast, the thin, gauze-like sails danced wildly in the wind. Along with them, they enveloped the entire ship in a faint, transparent mist. Those on the ship stood within the mist, but no one noticed anything unusual.
But Qin Ziwen, flying in the sky astride the Crowned Eagle, saw it clearly.