184: Chapter 184. State your name.

The carriage went quiet for a moment.

Jiang Jiuyou's fingers tightened.

"Chen Chen, let me take a turn."

Shen Wanbing stared at the scan data.

"The mark's energy level is rising."

"It is attempting to connect to the residual passage of the Bronze Giant Gate."

Mio was anxious, spinning around in mid-air.

"We can't delay!"

"But we can't just answer it casually either!"

"The safest approach is to cut off the external power to the bow and cast that remnant into the rift turbulence—"

"No need."

Chen Chen stood up from the main pilot's seat.

He raised his hand, and the side hatch of the Ghost Fortress opened.

Mio was completely stunned.

"You're going out again?"

Chen Chen took out the sea-stabilizing needle.

The golden short staff, over a meter long, landed in his palm, and blue-gold patterns lit up along the staff's length.

He stepped out of the hatch and stood on the outer hull of the Sea Scale's bow.

The deep-sea water pressure had already been blocked by the shield, and a brief waterless zone pushed aside by the Bronze Giant Gate still remained around the bow.

The bone-white finger was suspended right in front.

The black mark was still wriggling.

"State your name."

Chen Chen raised his hand.

Twenty-five times Absolute Control: Gravity Field expanded.

The space around the bone-white finger suddenly sank downwards.

Crack.

Cracks appeared on the outer layer of the finger joints.

The voice inside the black mark finally changed.

"You dare to suppress a royal remnant?"

Chen Chen shouldered the sea-stabilizing needle and walked forward.

"Want to know my name?"

He raised the sea-stabilizing needle with a backhand motion.

Blue-gold light exploded.

Mio screamed until her voice cracked in the channel.

"Don't respond! Don't give it a semantic anchor point!"

Chen Chen smashed down with the staff.

"Remember this."

"I'm your daddy."

Boom!

The sea-stabilizing needle slammed into the very center of the black mark.

At the same time, Chen Chen casually pressed the Gravity Collapse of the Rift-Sky Gravity Ship-Slayer Blade into the trajectory of the staff.

The black mark exploded on the spot.

A sharp, miserable scream came from inside.

"Presumptuous—"

The second strike had already fallen.

"Presumptuous my ass."

The third strike.

The fourth strike.

The bone-white finger was smashed until it crumbled section by section. The remnant soul inside the black mark tried to reorganize, but was forcefully pinned down by the domain-suppressing power of the sea-stabilizing needle.

A few seconds later, the last bit of black energy was smashed apart.

The bone-white finger lost its vitality and fell onto the bow deck with a bang, rolled twice, and stopped.

Mio's projection froze in the carriage.

Shen Wanbing's fingers hovered over the panel, unable to come down for a long time.

Blood Rose was the first to laugh out loud.

"Master, your reply... is really efficient."

Jiang Jiuyou released the fire control button and cursed under her breath.

"Brutally excessive."

But the tension in her eyes dissipated quite a bit.

Chen Chen bent down and picked up that piece of bone-white finger.

Su Xiaoqi immediately grabbed her roast meat bag and ran to the hatch, her eyes shining.

"Big Brother!"

"This looks like a super-sized pickled pepper chicken claw!"

She swallowed her saliva.

"Can we roast it?"

Mio had a breakdown on the spot.

"No!"

"That is a remnant of an ancient royal!"

"High-concentration contamination! Eating it will cause mutation! You'll grow tentacles! Your brain will be filled with deep-sea whispers!"

Su Xiaoqi shrank her neck.

"Can we eat it if it's roasted?"

"Why are you still thinking about roasting it!"

Chen Chen casually put the bone-white finger into his ring.

"We'll have the Butcher make soup when we get back."

Mio widened her electronic pupils.

"Are you even listening to me?"

Chen Chen closed the hatch and returned to the main pilot's seat.

"We'll see if it kills us first."

Su Xiaoqi immediately raised her hand.

"I'll drink a small bowl first to test it!"

Shen Wanbing spoke directly.

"Su Xiaoqi, if you dare to sneak a drink, you're on nutrient paste for three days."

Su Xiaoqi hugged her roast meat bag and sat back on the floor, muttering softly.

"Then I can at least smell it, right..."

The tense atmosphere in the carriage finally relaxed.

Jiang Jiuyou took over the Sea Scale's submarine navigation module.

"Deep-sea submarine propulsion initiated."

"Recalculating ascent route."

"Anchor chain retrieval at seventy percent."

Mio quickly connected to the ship's hull.

"Don't go through the turbulence zone on the left; it was just torn by the Giant Gate."

Jiang Jiuyou tapped her fingers rapidly.

"I can see it."

Mio snorted.

"It's good that you can see it, just don't break my ship in two."

"Your ship is currently hanging under our city."

Jiang Jiuyou replied quickly.

"Strictly speaking, it is the Lord's ship."

Mio was silent for a second.

"...Fine, you're all right."

The Sea Scale began to ascend while towing the Ghost Fortress.

The depth numbers kept decreasing.

[ 2700 meters. ]

[ 2400 meters. ]

[ 2100 meters. ]

Shen Wanbing took advantage of the ascent to bring up the spoils of this trip.

"Chen Chen, let's verify the gains first."

Chen Chen leaned back in the pilot's seat and raised his hand.

"Read it."

Shen Wanbing opened the list.

"Pseudo-artifact fragment, sea-stabilizing needle."

"SS-rank void sea-suppressing anchor chain, combat verified."

"One SS-rank deep-sea ecological dome blueprint."

"One half-step Tier 6 ancient mechanical core."

"One ancient deep-sea overlord spine."

"One fragment of the Gray-White Mechanical Holy Court backdoor program."

"Five hundred ancient deep-sea source bones."

"Three hundred royal court blood crystals."

"Pure source blood storage pool, ninety-seven sealed units packed."

She paused when reading to the end.

Shen Wanxing poked her head out from under the blanket.

"And that fragment..."

Shen Wanbing pulled out the item at the very bottom.

"Mythical-rank vehicle evolution blueprint fragment."

"Interstellar fortress, current progress one-seventh."

The carriage went quiet.

Even Su Xiaoqi stopped chewing her meat.

Mio spoke in a low voice.

"If the Gray-White Mechanical Holy Court finds out you have this, they will definitely come after you."

Blood Rose reached out to brush her wine-red long hair.

"Let them come."

"Wasn't that tin can just now also quite arrogant?"

Su Xiaoqi replied quickly.

"And then Big Brother blew it up!"

Shen Wanxing shrank her shoulders and added softly.

"But I was the one who looted the corpse..."

Chen Chen reached out, pulled her from behind Shen Wanbing, and pressed her down beside him.

Before Shen Wanxing could react, her head was rubbed.

"I'll credit you for this trip."

Shen Wanxing looked up, aggrieved.

"Then can I rest for two days?"

"We'll see."

"You say that every time!"

Blood Rose leaned over, her tone sour.

"Master, favoritism is not good."

She pointed to her chest, then raised her hand to press her forehead.

"I was also scared just now."

"I urgently need mouth-to-mouth resuscitation now."

Jiang Jiuyou didn't even turn her head.

"You call that being scared?"

"You're just looking for an extra meal."

Blood Rose laughed, her shoulders shaking slightly.

"Commander Jiang, you just finished upgrading, yet your tongue is still so sharp."

Jiang Jiuyou's fingers paused on the control console.

"Say one more word, and when we get back, I'll arrange for you to maintain stability in the bottom hold."

Blood Rose immediately sat up straight.

"Never mind what I said."

Shen Wanxing muttered softly.

"So even Sister Blood Rose is afraid of the bottom hold..."

"With over a hundred thousand people crammed in there now, who wouldn't be?"

Blood Rose spread her hands.

"I'm not stupid."

Just as she finished speaking.

Jiang Jiuyou's communicator suddenly burst with a harsh crackle of static.

The encrypted channel on the deputy command console automatically connected.

Explosions came from inside first.

Immediately after, there was Iron Wall's roar.

"Block Gate No. 3!"

"Don't let them rush up!"

"Whoever tries to grab the pipelines again, break their legs!"