166: Chapter 166 Sakurajima Shrine Takes the First Blow!

Chen Chen pressed his palm downward. "Jiang Jiuyou, stabilize the hull."

"Shen Wanbing, report coordinates."

"Qin Hongye, shatter that blood sun first."

"Received."

Jiang Jiuyou did not waste a single word; she had already lunged to the auxiliary command console, her hands tapping rapidly, and she instantly took control of the Ghost Fortress's attitude data.

The inertia from the four-hundred-meter drop was forcibly suppressed by her. The A-grade maglev engine emitted a piercing overload sound, and the electric arcs spewing from the tail of the vehicle carved a white line directly across the sea surface.

Shen Wanxing curled herself into her blanket, her voice changing pitch. "Chen Chen, are we falling into the sea?"

"Not falling." Chen Chen looked up at the black sea below. "It's landing."

The dried meat in Su Xiaoqi's mouth flew straight out and hit the ceiling. She reached out to grab it but missed, stomping her feet in frustration. "My meat!"

"Save your life first; I will replace the meat later." Chen Chen cut her off with one sentence and pushed the main control stick to the limit.

The Ghost Fortress braked hard at a position thirty meters above the sea surface, sending up a wave a hundred meters high that knocked the white-robed believers at the edge of the altar off balance.

The next second, everyone in the Sakurajima sea-splitting war zone saw this steel behemoth descending from the sky.

On the whale-bone altar, the suspended Huaxia survivors were stunned at first, then all widened their eyes.

The shrine warriors in the distance stopped.

The smaller factions watching from further away held their breath.

Chen Chen stood in the fourth-floor Pilot Tower, scanned the area below, and spoke directly. "Shen Wanbing, start scanning."

"Already scanning." A holographic panel popped up, blue light dancing across her face.

Three seconds later, Shen Wanbing's voice changed. "Amaterasu Shrine is not clean."

"Continue."

"There are parasites in the core leadership, temporarily labeled as Sea God Eggs. There is something under the altar consuming sacrificial energy; it's at the peak of the fourth tier and in a semi-awakened state. More importantly—"

She paused. "The distress signal is not at the altar. The person is in the underground of the shrine headquarters, in a tidal cage. The target is a shrine maiden; her Spirit state is still stable, and her clearance level is not low."

Chen Chen raised his hand to clasp the Void-Splitting Gravity Ship-Slashing Blade at his waist. "Can you open the door?"

"Yes, but we have to enter the headquarters."

"Then we enter."

In the communication channel, the Amaterasu Shrine side had already erupted.

A shrine official wearing white and red kariginu stepped onto the whale-bone altar, flicked his hand, and dozens of tentacles formed from seawater wrapped around the Huaxia survivors at the front, dragging them toward the sea.

"Outsiders, kneel. Accept purification. One more step forward, and these people will all be fed to the sea."

His voice carried far, filled with obvious mockery. "Insects from the Huaxia region dare to touch Amaterasu Shrine?"

Shen Wanxing's face turned pale with anger, and she grabbed her blanket, wanting to stand up. "How can he be like that!"

Jiang Yanxue had already hoisted her blade onto her shoulder, her dark red pupils scanning over, her fingers resting on the hilt. "I'll cut him down first."

"Don't be hasty." Chen Chen looked up and tilted his chin toward the fifth-floor dome. "Qin Hongye, fire."

Qin Hongye did not waste words; she immediately lay down at the shooting position, fully activating her Hawk Eye talent, and the center of that shrine official's brow ten thousand meters away was instantly locked on.

The next second, the gun fired. A Gauss projectile pierced through the sea breeze, passed through the swirling white mist above the altar, and blew straight through the shrine official's head.

The head exploded, white matter and blood mist spraying out, and even those seawater tentacles dissipated. The altar was in chaos.

"Continue." Chen Chen dropped another sentence.

Blood Rose had already stood at the edge of the vehicle roof, her red lips curling, and she released her Succubus Poison Body at full power, pink toxic mist spreading downward with the sea breeze.

"Stand steady, everyone; don't vomit and dirty the sea."

As soon as the toxic mist rolled onto the altar, the bodies of those white-robed believers in the front row began to convulse. Some knelt, covering their mouths and vomiting violently, spitting out nothing but black seawater.

Some retreated while holding their heads, the expressions on their faces twisted beyond recognition. Blood Rose sneered. "Still call themselves servants of God? This batch isn't even as good as an Aberration; their poison resistance is too poor."

Hearing this, Su Xiaoqi finally swallowed the half-piece of meat in her mouth and jumped up, ready to rush out. "What about me? Who should I go hit?"

"Go tear down the pillars." "Alright!"

Jiang Yanxue had already leaped out of the Ghost Fortress, spinning the Shadow Instant-Kill Blade in her hand, and slid down along the edge of the altar.

Her first strike upon landing was to slash the chains. The suspended Huaxia survivors fell one by one, crashing onto the deck, rubble, and the edge of the altar, too terrified to regain their senses for a long time.

"Those who can run, retreat." She said coldly, and her next strike plunged straight into the chest of an approaching shrine warrior.

On the other side, Su Xiaoqi had already charged into the crowd. She wasn't big, but the fists she threw were absurdly hard.

A shrine warrior carrying a long blade tried to block her, but she punched him in the chest, sending him and his armor flying, snapping a stone pillar of the altar.

With a "thud," the stone pillar cracked, pinning three people behind it and knocking them into the sea. Su Xiaoqi shook her hand, her eyes brightening. "The pillars here are so brittle."

Chen Chen did not get off the vehicle; he scanned the edge of the sea. There were a few abandoned gunboats there, half-submerged in the sea, their hulls rusted black, the cannon muzzles still retaining old-style naval gun structures.

"Jiang Jiuyou." "Yes." "Light those ships up."

Jiang Jiuyou's fingers tapped rapidly on the auxiliary command console, silver-white hair sweeping across her face, her speech extremely fast. "Received. Wreckage numbers three, five, seven, nine, and twelve—the circuits are still functional. Mechanical Empress: Starport Resonance at full power. Give me five seconds."

As soon as she finished speaking, a ring of dark silver light on the side of the Ghost Fortress lit up. Five seconds later, those abandoned ships on the sea surface actually spewed sparks simultaneously, and their cannon muzzles lifted.

"Left two, turn. Eastern gunboats, suppress the reinforcement shipping lane for me. Fire."

Six dilapidated naval guns roared in unison, shells slamming into the distant sea surface, overturning the two reinforcement speedboats that had just surfaced. The Amaterasu Shrine side was in turmoil.

Iron Wall stood on the outside of the main vehicle, his mouth hanging open for a long time, before he finally managed to squeeze out, "You can even ignite these?"

Jiang Jiuyou did not even turn her head. "Don't let usable things sit idle."

Shen Wanbing was still looking at the scan results, her fingers tapping faster and faster. "Wait, the position of the distress-signaling shrine maiden has changed."

Chen Chen turned his head. "Speak."

"She is no ordinary shrine maiden; she holds the access permissions for the headquarters' underground, as well as the activation key for an underwater nuclear shipyard ruin. She is currently locked in a tidal cage, her body half-contaminated by the Sea God Egg, but her Spirit is still clear. As long as she is alive, there is a chance to open the shipyard gate."

Chen Chen raised his hand and tapped the red dot on the holographic panel. "Alive is fine." "Does she have any other use?" "She can lead the way."

Once these four words landed, Shen Wanbing said no more. She knew very well that once Chen Chen fixated on the words "lead the way," there was only one outcome left. Snatch the person. Snatch the door, too.

Just then, a blood-red light shone from the top of the high tower of the distant whale-bone shrine. A sun. Dark red, hanging above the shrine, making the entire sea surface feel tense.

An aged male voice pressed down through the public channel. "Outsiders. You have stepped into the Amaterasu forbidden zone and have committed a capital crime. Within ten minutes, commit suicide to atone. Otherwise, I will awaken one of the Great Sea God's tentacles."

There was a commotion in the channel. Many people from the Sakurajima factions began to retreat, and some even knelt down directly.

Blood Rose looked up and chuckled. "This old thing really knows how to put on an act."

Su Xiaoqi gritted her teeth, picked up the stone pillar she had just torn down, and casually threw it into the sea. "He reminds me of the fishmonger boss from before; he talks way too much."

Jiang Jiuyou had by now fully taken over the auxiliary command authority, staring at the blood sun projection, her finger resting on the red button. "Main cannon fully charged."

Chen Chen raised his hand and held her back. "Don't be hasty." He looked up at that blood sun. "Let him finish speaking first."

The aged male voice continued. "Huaxia people, hand over the women on the ship, hand over your weapons, hand over the technology you brought. Otherwise, the shrine will tear you apart one by one and feed you to the sea."

Chen Chen smiled and directly pressed his hand onto the activation button of the Void Annihilation Matrix. "Jiang Jiuyou, lock onto the blood sun." "Locked."

"Qin Hongye, help me land a follow-up shot." "Understood."

On the fifth-floor dome, Qin Hongye's muzzle lifted accordingly. The next moment, a deep blue beam shot out from the vehicle roof, crossing the sea surface and heading straight for the blood sun projection.

Boom! The blood sun, along with a massive torii gate on the outer layer of the shrine, was directly wiped out. In the public channel, the aged male voice instantly cut off. The entire scene was left with only the sea breeze and the roar of the gunboats.

Chen Chen pulled his hand back and tossed out a sentence indifferently. "Keep calling for people." "That line is too easy to say."

Shen Wanxing had been picked up by Qin Hongye and brought to the side of the altar. Wearing gloves, she crouched beside the shrine core that had just been blown to pieces, her fingers still trembling. "Chen Chen, can I touch this?" "Touch it."

She bit her lower lip and pressed her fingertips onto it. Hum—A golden-purple beam of light shot straight up. This time it was even thicker than before.

Shen Wanbing looked up, her breathing pausing for a beat. "Another Lucky Critical."

The system prompts scrolled across the screen. [Triggered Lucky Critical!] [Sea God Contamination Core quality upgraded!] [Obtained: Sea God Contamination Core ×1, A-grade Offshore Base Expansion Blueprint ×1, quality upgrading...]

The next second, the edges of the blueprint in the light beam began to glow, and the text changed directly. [S-grade Blueprint: Deep Sea Resource Extraction Platform]

Shen Wanxing looked at the blueprint in her hand, her eyes wide. "This thing... can extract resources from the seabed?" "Yes."

Chen Chen took the blueprint and scanned it. "Not bad."

Shen Wanbing immediately added. "If we get the shipyard permissions, this platform can directly connect to seabed mineral veins and shipwreck ruins; the value is very high."

Chen Chen did not speak, just put the blueprint into his silver-grade storage ring.

In the distance, above the whale-bone shrine, the dark red mist grew thicker and thicker, the sea surface began to heave, and waves rolled outward layer after layer.

Jiang Jiuyou stared at the holographic panel, her voice lowered. "Something is coming down." "What thing?" "Not a ship, not a person."

Shen Wanbing's expression also changed. "The energy beams under the sea surface are starting to straighten out; the target is rising."

Chen Chen stood by the altar, one hand pressing onto his blade hilt, his tone very flat. "Then let it come up."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sea surface suddenly split open.

A black-red tentacle with a diameter of over twenty meters thrust up from the seabed, its surface densely covered with human-face-shaped patterns; as soon as it broke the surface, it slammed fiercely toward the sea.

A hundred-meter giant wave was instantly kicked up. A row of white-robed believers at the edge of the altar was swatted away, not even having time to let out a scream.

Shen Wanbing looked up abruptly, her voice tightened. "Chen Chen, this isn't right. This isn't peak fourth-tier. This is a fifth-tier severed limb projection."