Volume 1, Chapter 30: Remnants of a Megacorporation?

Over the next few days, the entire Thunder God Base operated like a machine with a wound spring, running at high speed. Food, supplies, life-saving medicine, and lethal weapons were inventoried and packed away one by one.

Zhou Yong and his team worked around the clock, disassembling the bones of the Fish King and welding them together with scavenged metal, the air filled with the constant clanging of hammers. They took several battered assault boats and modified them beyond recognition; the hulls were reinforced with thick steel plates, the prows were fitted with ferocious bone-spur rams, and the engines were tuned to roar, turning the vessels into small, aquatic tanks.

Su Mengyi was equally busy. Between pulling the wounded back from the brink of death every day, she poured her heart into her flora. That day, she opened her palm like someone presenting a treasure, revealing a few oddly shaped seeds of various colors.

"Mr. Li, take a look at this."

Li Hexuan looked down. "Hmm?"

Su Mengyi’s lips curled into a smile, tinged with a hint of pride. "These are my new treasures. This green one—give it a little water, and within minutes, it will grow into a vine wall sturdy enough to block bullets. This yellow one detects movement and releases a stench sharper than a dog’s nose. And this black, lumpy one? Its pollen makes people lightheaded and unsteady on their feet."

Li Hexuan raised an eyebrow. "Not bad! In a hellhole like E City, these trinkets could save our lives at a critical moment!"

"I’ve prepared plenty." Su Mengyi carefully tucked the seeds into a specially made small pouch.

Before their departure, several more groups of refugees arrived at the base of the mountain, dragging their families along, looking utterly wretched. They brought not only more mouths to feed but also skin-crawling news about the outskirts of E City.

"Leader Li, E City is nothing but a meat grinder right now!" a gaunt, middle-aged man said, his voice trembling as he spat with agitation. "We barely escaped the western suburbs with our lives! Monsters are eating people, and the living are fighting over territory! I heard the regular army has raised their banners, and those big corporations from before have broken out their heavy artillery. They’re all lunging for the fat prize in the city center!"

Military forces? Remnants of large corporations?

Li Hexuan tapped his fingers lightly against the tabletop. The waters of E City were indeed murky. But the more chaotic it was, the sweeter the prize of the Origin Tower would be once captured.

Everything was set.

A few days later, just as dawn broke and the mist had yet to dissipate, the clearing atop the mountain at Thunder God Base was filled with tension. Li Hexuan, Zhang Nan, Su Mengyi, and ten carefully selected men stood ready, clad in tactical gear with bulging backpacks, their backs straight and their presence murderous.

At the water's edge below the mountain, three modified assault boats sat silently. Their hulls were welded with thick steel plates, and their rams, crafted from polished Fish King bones, shimmered with a cold, ghostly light. They looked like anything but easy targets. Old Wang, Zhou Yong, Liu Zhong, and the others had all come; almost everyone in the base capable of breathing was gathered there.

Li Hexuan scanned his brothers, sisters, and the refugees who had gathered around. He spoke, his voice not loud, but every word struck the heart of everyone present:

"The reason Thunder God Base is where it is today isn't because of the heavens—it's because of us! It’s our unity, our refusal to accept our fate, the weapons in our hands, and this unyielding spirit!"

He paused, his tone suddenly rising:

"E City is a den of dragons and tigers, but it is also a massive prize! Chen Hao wants to take a bite, and others want to snatch it, but our Thunder God Base has never feared the wolves competing for food!"

"I, Li Hexuan, guarantee that since we are going, we will return in glory! Those staying behind, guard our nest well! Those coming with me, sharpen your claws!"

"Move out!"

As soon as Li Hexuan finished speaking, the team members agilely boarded the boats. The engines roared to life in succession, and the three assault boats surged forward, their bows slicing through the turbid waves as they plunged into the impenetrable, thick mist to the east.

As they traveled along the waterway, the skeletons of a drowned city flanked them. Broken walls and ruined tiles loomed in the fog like ghostly shadows, swaying. The surface was littered with construction debris, household waste, and, occasionally, the bloated, rotting corpse of a human bobbing in the eddies, emitting a sickening stench. The air was thick with the smell of rot, mixed with a heavy, damp, musty odor that made it hard to breathe.

Zhang Nan, wielding his massive shield—now even heavier after repairs—stood at the prow, his bell-like eyes vigilantly scanning the water and the banks. In the cabin, Su Mengyi carefully checked the medicine and the oddly colored, strange-looking plant seeds—the secret weapons she had spent so much effort cultivating.

Li Hexuan stood by the cockpit, letting the icy river wind whip against his cheeks as he stared into the misty, unknown path ahead. He knew that on this trip to E City, there was no telling how many man-eating creatures lurked beneath the water, nor how many black-hearted, rotten-souled scum waited on the surface.

What would be the first thing to jump out at them?

The assault boats had only traveled about ten kilometers from the Luoye Mountain territory when, though the water ahead seemed calm and waveless, several massive shadows—thicker than the boats themselves—were silently closing in from different directions beneath the murky surface.

"Stay alert!"

Li Hexuan stood at the prow of the lead boat, his voice carried backward by the freezing river wind. "These waters are a hundred times more dangerous than back at Luoye Mountain!"

The three modified assault boats plowed through the murky waves, the roar of their engines echoing harshly through the deathly silent ruins. On both banks, the silhouettes of the old city were gnawed away by floods and time. Broken skyscrapers, twisted steel bars, and half-submerged abandoned cars painted a picture of the apocalypse.

"Damn it, the smell is suffocating!" Zhang Nan complained, his voice muffled, his giant shield reflecting the cold light of the water. He was anchored at the front of the boat, his eyes scanning for anything suspicious. Inside the cabin, Su Mengyi was meticulously organizing bags of special powders and strange seeds. Her long focus had left her pale, but her nerves were pulled tight.

*Screech!*

A piercing cry tore through the sky.

"Watch out!" a team member shouted.

Several massive, dark-red feathered birds dove from the heights, their sharp talons gleaming with lethal cold as they swooped toward the smallest boat in the group!

"Looking for death!"

Li Hexuan flicked his right hand casually.

*Crackle!*

Several thin, dense arcs of electricity whipped out of thin air toward the diving monsters. The birds shrieked, instantly charred black, and plunged into the river, trailing smoke, barely even creating a splash.

This minor incident did not slow the fleet. As the waterway narrowed and the abandoned buildings on the banks grew denser, an invisible pressure descended upon them.

"Brother Xuan, the stretch of water ahead—it feels wrong."

The helmsman, a seasoned boatman under Zhou Yong, frowned deeply as he pointed toward the narrow channel wedged between two half-collapsed high-rises.

"It’s too quiet."

Excessive silence usually presaged a much greater danger. The three assault boats entered the narrow channel.