27: Sunken warships

The Lin Family's warships were 44 zhang 4 chi long and 18 zhang wide, which converts to approximately 151.18 meters long and 61.6 meters wide. Each ship had four decks and could accommodate a thousand people.

This showed that the Lin Family's wealth rivaled that of a nation; only national-level powers possessed such massive warships.

A total of five warships, carrying over 5,000 people, had set out to sea in search of the Red Alert Troops and Du Yu.

Xie Yanwen's brows were tightly furrowed. As one of the Six Great Vajras, he felt helpless facing the vast ocean. Knowing only a general direction, how could he possibly find anyone?

The five warships had been drifting at sea for a month. If they didn't find anyone soon, they would have to turn back.

"I see it! I see it! There's a small island!" a White Armor Soldier reported to Xie Yanwen as he entered the cabin.

"Really!" Xie Yanwen's brow instantly relaxed, and he hurriedly walked out.

"So there really is an island. Order the ships to dock; we're going ashore to take a look!" Xie Yanwen looked at the island before him, feeling as if he would find Du Yu in the next second.

"Yes!" The White Armor Soldier hurried off to relay the order.

The warships stopped not far from the island. Since there was no port, the men had to take small boats to row toward the beach.

"Get everyone down here and search the island!" Xie Yanwen said as he stepped off the small boat.

Thousands of people landed on this small island together. It was the northernmost island of the Danga Archipelago, separated from the main island where Wei He was by only a few hundred meters. Unfortunately, Wei He was on the other side of the main island, so they couldn't see him.

There was only one Soviet Army Ore Refinery on the island, which had been used previously to collect ore resources. To make it easier for Du Yu to collect stones after landing later, the refinery hadn't been recycled; only the armored mining vehicle had been transported back to the main island.

"What is this thing? I've never seen anything like it. It looks like a house but has no doors? How strange!" a group of White Armor Soldiers said curiously, looking at the Soviet Army Ore Refinery.

"This thing belongs to those strange soldiers. It means we've found the right place. They're here. Search!" Xie Yanwen ordered happily.

While the soldiers were searching the small island, Lu Sheng and several others were carrying stones on the mountain of the main island. Their staggering steps made it look as if they had lost all hope in life.

"Boss, I think I'm hallucinating. There are several huge ships waiting for us over there. I must want to go home too much!" the Round-faced Guard said, staring at the warships on the sea opposite them.

"Right, it must be a hallucination. There are sea monsters all around this island; how could any ships appear?" Lu Sheng also stared blankly at the ships.

"Uh, Boss, you see them too!" the Round-faced Guard said in surprise.

"We see them too!" the guards said in unison.

"We're saved! Hahahaha!" The guards cheered and jumped for joy, running toward the shore.

"We're here! Do you hear us? Hey!" Seeing the hope of going home, they no longer cared about anything else.

Wei He had just taken an anti-air tracked vehicle up the mountain to inspect the results of their work when he saw them rushing excitedly down the mountain.

Following the direction they were running, Wei He saw several warships on the sea.

"When did these appear? Am I exposed again?" Wei He said with a look of panic.

Immediately after, Wei He pulled up the red alert operation interface, looking down at the entire island from a god's-eye view.

Seeing the White Armor Soldiers on the island, Wei He suddenly remembered that these were the soldiers he had seen at Nankang Golden Valley. They had actually tracked him all the way here.

"Since you're here, you won't be going back. Hehehe!" The corners of Wei He's mouth curled up into a devious smile.

"Hey, we're over here!" Several guards reached the shore but didn't dare enter the water, fearing that the sea monster would drag them under again.

A very tall White Armor Soldier and a chubby White Armor Soldier were searching the small island together. When they reached the shore, they saw several people on the opposite side who looked like beggars, shouting something.

"Are those savages on the island opposite us? They're so dark!" the tall White Armor Soldier asked his companion.

"No, they're waving to us for help!" the chubby White Armor Soldier replied. "Hurry back and report to the boss!"

"They must be hiding there. Everyone board the ships, let's go!" Xie Yanwen immediately ordered upon hearing the soldier's report.

While they were boarding, those who had stayed behind on the ships suddenly ran onto the decks, shouting something.

"This is bad! The ship is leaking! Don't board!" Many soldiers who had stayed behind gathered on the deck. Some had already begun jumping into the water and swimming toward the shore. However, there were too many people, and some who jumped in were immediately crushed into the water by those following them.

Seeing such a massive ship slowly sinking, Xie Yanwen gave a casual wave. The plants on the surrounding island began to grow wildly, and vines stretched out toward the warship. The soldiers began to climb along the vines to the small island one by one.

Just as the soldiers from one ship were brought down, another ship also began to sink. The people gathered on its deck as well.

"Ah, what's going on!" Having no time to complain, Xie Yanwen could only do the same thing to rescue the soldiers from the other ship.

Then the third ship, the fourth ship, and the fifth ship sank one after another.

Xie Yanwen could only perform his Supernatural Ability over and over again to save the soldiers.

"What happened? How did they sink?" Finally, having saved everyone, Xie Yanwen asked.

"We don't know either! We just heard a loud bang, and then a huge hole appeared in the bottom of the ship. Water came flooding into the cabin!" a White Armor Soldier replied.

"Us too. We heard several loud bangs, but we didn't see any enemy warships on the sea. These huge holes just appeared!" the crowd explained to Xie Yanwen.

"How strange! Is there something unclean...?" Everyone scratched their heads, discussing it all at once.

They would never know that a naval weapon they had never seen before—a Submarine—was slowly moving toward the main island beneath the surface where they couldn't see. And those loud bangs were the sounds of torpedoes hitting their targets and exploding.

"What do we do? We can't go back without ships?" Finally, one soldier's brain caught up.

"That's right! The supplies and everything are still on the ships!" another soldier immediately responded. Since they had only gone ashore to search, most of the supplies were still on board.

"Don't panic! The enemy is on the opposite island. As long as we take them down, there's still hope!" Xie Yanwen comforted everyone. Without ships, these 5,000-plus people wouldn't even have enough tree bark to gnaw on this small island; they would simply starve to death.

"Right, right! If the enemy is active here, they must have supplies." Everyone regained their confidence, preparing for a last-ditch battle. What they didn't know was that the Red Alert Troops' energy supply relied on the Barracks and War Factory; they didn't need to eat to replenish energy like they did.

"Charge! Take the opposite island!" With an order, everyone ran toward the beach on the other side.

"Ah, why? They must have been attacked by a sea monster. We can't go back!" Lu Sheng watched as the large ships sank into the water one by one, and their fragile little hearts sank along with them.

"Damned sea monster!" Lu Sheng, who had been cursing the whole way, saw the White Armor Soldiers on the opposite side charging toward them and cried out in a panic, "Don't come over! There's a sea monster in the water! It's useless to come over; there are no ships here either!"

"Boss, why do you care about them? If they really can make it over, let them deal with that brat Wei He. Then we can have our revenge!" The Round-faced Guard's mind began to race.

"Wei He is a member of the Demon Race, though. Can they beat him?" Lu Sheng's expression was as bitter as a bitter melon.

"Who cares about them? If they win, great. If they don't, it's none of our business!" the Round-faced Guard continued.

"Right, right, right! Let them fight like dogs and tear each other apart! Hahahaha!" At this, Lu Sheng's mood finally improved a bit.