The next morning at dawn, Fa and her companions slipped away from the sanctuary of Murest City like ghosts blending into the morning mist, heading swiftly toward the nearest port of Suinan Port. They abandoned the flat but highly visible main roads, plunging instead into the dense, tangled primeval forest surrounding the port outskirts—branches intertwined, vines thick and choking.
Lin Ya led the way at the front. Verdant natural spirit energy flowed from him like an invisible guide: wherever he passed, snarled branches silently parted to either side, slippery mossy ground firmed up beneath their feet, and a narrow, secret path—barely wide enough for one person, enveloped in the fresh scent of grass and wood—rapidly took shape under them.
When the salty sea breeze hit their faces, they halted at a rocky shoreline.
Lin Ya walked alone to the damp beachhead, closed his eyes in concentration, and spread his arms. In an instant, vast and pure natural spirit energy surged outward from him like a green tide. The surrounding ancient towering trees let out low groans; thick roots burst from the earth, writhing vines awoke like giant pythons—frantically branching, entwining, fusing! Bark hardened into iron-like armor, vines wove into a dense hull framework, flexible branches layered the deck into a natural non-slip surface. A rich, calming fragrance of grass and wood spread everywhere. In mere moments, a bizarre yet vibrant living plant vessel floated quietly amid the breaking waves. Its lines were sleek, covered in thick dark-brown bark and deep-green vines—as if it had grown directly out of the coastline itself.
"This magic never gets old no matter how many times I see it." TISK stared at the living ship, his gravelly voice rumbling as he unconsciously tapped his molten lava hammer against the tough hull, producing a dull thud.
"The resilience of nature far surpasses steel," Lin Ya replied, a confident smile tugging at his lips, green glow still lingering around his fingertips.
One by one, the group boarded. Yuyuer stood at the bow, cradling his crystal orb. A low, ancient fishfolk ballad flowed from his lips, carrying an archaic rhythm. The orb bloomed with soft azure radiance, resonating with the sea beneath. The drifting vessel suddenly felt as though an invisible giant hand had taken hold—propelled smoothly and swiftly along the ocean currents, slicing through the morning mist toward the gray expanse of the open sea.
At the same time, Salsa's mechanical cat chassis leaped lightly onto Rex's broad, ice-cold metal shoulder pauldrons and steadied herself. Her amber electronic eyes locked forward, calmly scanning the surroundings. Without any command, dozens of hawks formed purely from shadow energy and biting cold surged from her soul core! They streaked outward like black lightning tearing the mist, dispersing instantly into the gray sky and the rolling waves. These invisible sentinels became the team's extended sensory tendrils reaching in all directions.
"Shadow hawks deployed," Salsa's synthesized electronic voice rang clearly in everyone's minds, utterly rational. "Monitoring radius: twenty kilometers. Priority targets: surface vessels, large energy signatures. Continuous scanning in progress."
"Copy," Fa said, standing at the forward cabin entrance. Her right eye's starry pupil shimmered with flowing light, piercing the thin fog to scan the desolate horizon ahead. "Maintain speed. Destination—Xiangxi Port. Full team, Level One alert."
Yet beneath the seemingly calm sea surface, lethal danger lurked like a waiting shark, silently drawing near.
First Encounter:
On the second day of the voyage, at high noon, the blazing sun turned the sea blindingly white. Salsa's warning tone suddenly cut through the relative quiet of the cabin—rare urgency in her voice:
"Alert! Northeast, thirty-seven kilometers! Five high-speed unidentified patrol boats detected! Moving directly toward us! Estimated visual contact in thirty minutes!"
The cabin atmosphere froze instantly. The air seemed to solidify; everyone's breathing hitched.
"Stay calm!" Yuyuer's voice was steady as bedrock, immediately quelling the rising tension. He strode to the gunwale. Atop his dragonbone staff, the crystal orb erupted in unprecedented brilliant blue light! "Lin Ya, assist me! 'Aqua Bubble' combined with 'Green Algae Camouflage'!"
The melodious ancient fishfolk ballad shifted to a rapid, powerful cadence. Seawater around the hull churned violently and rose! A massive, transparent sphere—filled with dreamy pale-blue light—formed and expanded at visible speed, completely enveloping the entire plant vessel! Inside the bubble, seawater under Yuyuer's exquisite control gently buoyed the ship, maintaining perfect balance and buoyancy while isolating and absorbing sound waves, heat signatures, and most energy emissions from the hull.
At the same time, Lin Ya closed his eyes in focus, palms pressed firmly against the wet deck. Countless thread-thin strands of faintly glowing emerald plant fibers and mycelium surged from his hands like a living green tide, spreading rapidly across the entire outer bubble surface. These living camouflage layers secreted viscous, biologically signatured mucus that adhered to the hull, reducing acoustic reflection while perfectly mimicking the faint life signatures of a harmless expanse of seabed algae.
"Submerge! Depth five meters! Full ship silence!" Fa's order was razor-sharp.
Encased in the "Green Algae Bubble," the vessel sank silently into the slightly dimmer depths like a giant jellyfish. Inside, light dimmed abruptly; only a few glows and the steady blue of Yuyuer's orb provided illumination. Everyone held their breath—even heartbeats seemed deliberately slowed.
Just minutes later, through the outer green algae bubble and Yuyuer's shared water-element perception, they clearly "saw" five patrol boats bearing the ferocious scarlet "Doomsday Rebirth" emblem—sleek, aggressive designs—screaming past overhead, less than five meters from the surface, like sharks scenting blood! From their undersides, disc-shaped reconnaissance drones deployed, emitting dense high-frequency sonar pulses that raked the depths like invisible combs.
The pulses slammed against the "Aqua Bubble" and "Green Algae Camouflage." Most energy was strangely refracted, absorbed, scattered. Feedback to the drones and patrol boats' sonar screens showed only a large but harmless natural algae patch. The boats circled futilely for over ten minutes, searchlights stabbing vainly across the surface, then—with doubt and frustration—engines roared and they vanished over the horizon.
The Second and Third Heart-Stopping Encounters:
The next two days of voyaging felt like dancing on a knife's edge. Similar tense evasion plays repeated.
Once, under a pitch-black, windy midnight sky, Salsa's warning came ten minutes early: "Alert! Southwest—a large destroyer! Equipped with powerful searchlights and thermal imaging! High speed, estimated contact in fifteen minutes!"
This threat was far more serious. The destroyer was a moving steel fortress; its searchlights could rip through night, and thermal imagers were deadly to submerged craft. In the nick of time, high in the clouds, Celestia's six wings trembled faintly, releasing countless extremely weak electromagnetic waves mimicking the chaotic patterns of a large migrating bird flock. Simultaneously, Yuyuer pushed his crystal orb to full power, precisely adjusting the temperature of the surrounding "Aqua Bubble" to match the frigid seawater perfectly—no trace of thermal ripple remained. The destroyer's searchlight beams swept over their hiding spot like giant swords; thermal screens showed only uniform cold blue. Under Celestia's electromagnetic interference cover, the massive ship misjudged the anomaly as a natural phenomenon or brief instrument glitch, rumbling slowly past without stopping.
The third occurred in a thick, impenetrable morning fog—visibility near zero, the sea mist like congealed milk soup. Salsa's alert came almost simultaneously with the threat: "Emergency! Dead ahead! Five patrol boats! Distance under five kilometers! Closing at high speed!"
With vision blocked, sonar became the primary sensor. In the critical moment, Lin Ya displayed astonishing natural mastery. He manipulated the mycelial network enveloping the hull to simulate the anomalous geothermal signals and gas-release fluctuations preceding a submarine volcanic eruption! The patrol boats' sonar operators panicked as screens lit up with violent geological activity signatures; the commander immediately ordered evasion. All five boats veered sharply, narrowly missing the plant vessel hidden in fog and the "geothermal trap" disguise.
Each brush with death deepened their understanding of the watertight net Doomsday Rebirth had cast across these waters—and forged near-absolute trust in Yuyuer's adaptive ingenuity, Lin Ya's miraculous natural camouflage, and Salsa's almost prophetic reconnaissance warnings.
Assault on Xiangxi Port:
On the fourth day at dusk, the setting sun bled crimson across the western sky and churning waves. At last, the silhouette of a port city emerged on the horizon. Yet what met their eyes was a far more horrifying apocalyptic scene than anticipated.
Xiangxi Port—once bustling with merchant ships and blazing lights—had become a steel graveyard and supply hub under Doomsday Rebirth control. The iconic towering lighthouse was entwined and eroded by thick, ominous vines; snapped midway, its broken stump jutted from the ruins like a spear. The docks were pocked with huge blackened craters from energy weapon strikes and twisted, melted metal wreckage resembling abstract sculptures. Several heavily armored transport ships flying scarlet Doomsday Rebirth flags squatted at the barely usable damaged piers like ironclad parasites on rotting flesh.
Hundreds of soldiers moved about the port. Most were human or beastkin cyborg troops in standardized gray alloy light armor, wielding energy rifles—their movements stiff and unnatural, eyes vacant and numb. More chilling were the roughly fifty "Mutants" over eight feet tall, muscles bulging like rock, skin corpse-pale gray, joints embedded with glowing red metal reinforcement tubes. They hefted rotary energy cannons or heavy particle guns, throats emitting inhuman, agonized roars. At key high points and intersections stood over a dozen two-legged "Ironjaw" small combat mechs on patrol—jaws lined with razor alloy pincers glinting red, rapid-fire energy turrets swiveling like viper eyes.
Atop the half-collapsed central steel command tower, a massive scarlet Doomsday Rebirth flag snapped in the briny wind. A figure in black military uniform threaded with scarlet energy lines, face hidden behind a ferocious metal mask (humanoid build), scanned the blood-red sea through high-powered tactical binoculars. An aura of cold brutality radiated from him—an obviously high-ranking mid-level commander.
The plant vessel dropped anchor in the shadow of a reef cluster about five kilometers from the port, like a dormant sea beast.
In the cramped confines of the ship, tension was thick enough to wring water from the air. Everyone gathered around the ultra-detailed 3D holographic projection of the port that Rex's armor cast, with enemy positions, fire points, supply stacks, and locations of the whipped, despairing captive laborers clearly marked.
"What do we do? Slip past quietly, or…" Arya's voice was hushed, green eyes flickering with conflict.
Yuyuer stared at the scan, the crystal orb in his arms swirling with deep blue light. He pointed to the captives being lashed while unloading cargo, eyes dull with hopelessness, and the towering piles of military supply crates blinking with energy indicators: "Bypassing is the safest option. But…" His tone shifted—strategist's calm and decisive. "This may be a critical supply weak point for Doomsday Rebirth's western front! Stockpiled weapons, ammunition, and energy cores urgently needed at the lines. Destroying it would sever a major artery, create rear-area chaos, force frontline commanders to divert forces back or reinforce defenses—greatly easing pressure on the Alliance's main western front!" He looked at Fa, eyes blazing. "This is a two-for-one opportunity. Generate enough chaos, feint east to strike west—create the perfect window for our infiltration into Rixi City!"
Kayla grinned ear-to-ear at the words, sharp canines flashing, lightning arcing wildly across her thunder claws with excited crackles: "Hell yeah! That's what I've been waiting for! Rip these bastards apart—give the frontline brothers some breathing room!"
TISK snorted heavily through his nose, molten lava hammer's ice-fire runes flaring bright, heat and frost billowing together: "Smash their granary! Let's see those tube-plugged freaks strut then! Fuck 'em up!"
Fa's right eye starry pupil spun rapidly with tricolor threads, instantly weighing every pro and con. Yuyuer's strategic insight was undeniably correct: creating chaos deep in enemy territory to pin down forces was special operations at its finest. She glanced at Arya and Zhamisi—both met her gaze with firm nods.
"Good!" Fa's voice suddenly rose, battle intent blazing like real flame around her. "Objective: Destroy enemy forces and all material reserves in Xiangxi Port, create maximum chaos, rescue the captives!" Her piercing gaze swept the group:
"Celestia! Your mission: high-altitude surveillance and blockade! Ensure no enemy escapes the port perimeter to report! Full air and sea lockdown!"
"Salsa! Hawks airborne—disrupt enemy low-altitude recon units, precision-tag high-value targets! Guide strikes!"
"Everyone else—prepare for landing assault! Crush them with thunderous force!"
"Understood!" The group roared in unison, thick killing intent surging through the narrow cabin.