Chapter 1 The Beginning
The first wave of over twenty superhumans who rushed out of the divine domain were gambling on one thing: that the sea beasts underwater could not kill everyone who rushed out in a short period. The result, however, was brutal. Ammonia gas suddenly appeared in the seawater, and then a large fire ignited the ammonia vapor filling the sea surface. These superhumans were burned to death on the spot.
Shen Feng, holding Li Keyi’s slender waist, flew through the air. Looking at the tragic scene on the sea surface, he couldn’t help but exclaim, “These sea beasts’ abilities have too wide an impact. Everyone within hundreds of meters was burned to death. It seems that traveling by sea is not a good choice.”
Li Keyi, held by Shen Feng, felt a tickle around her waist and was uncomfortable, but she still answered Shen Feng’s question, “Given the size of these sea beasts, their physical strength is incomparable to land animals. Their abilities must be very powerful. However, these sea beasts also have weaknesses; they cannot come ashore!”
At this moment, figures gradually began to emerge from the sea surface. The sea beasts hiding outside the divine domain finally revealed their true faces.
Suddenly, twisted, long, serpentine animals with four limbs appeared on the water surface. The Chinese superhumans, upon seeing this, immediately shouted, “Look! Look! It’s a dragon!”
For Chinese superhumans, dragon culture was deeply ingrained, and almost all Chinese people referred to themselves as descendants of the dragon. Now, seeing huge, elongated animals in the sea, these people immediately shouted out.
“This is not a dragon, it’s a sea serpent!” Gong Changfa observed closely. Where were the dragons underwater? These were clearly sea serpents. After all, this creature had no dragon horns on its head, so how could it be called a dragon? Even if they were all descendants of the dragon, they couldn’t arbitrarily claim ancestry.
“Boss, but this thing has four limbs!” Zhu Kai couldn’t help but say.
Two creatures appeared on the sea surface. One was clearly recognizable to everyone as an enlarged crab, specifically a horsehoe crab, its body shaped like a shuttle, hence its name. The other was a creature that resembled nothing in particular. Its body was like a large python, and it flicked its tongue, but it had four limbs. If you called it a lizard, its body was too long and slender. It was no wonder people mistook the sea serpent for a dragon, as it looked too much like the dragons of legend.
Not only did the group from the Heavenly Selection Bureau mistake the sea serpent for a dragon, but even Shen Feng, flying in the sky, saw the creatures suddenly appear on the water and immediately made the same mistake.
“This is a dragon? Did the ancients see this thing?” Shen Feng exclaimed in surprise.
Li Keyi looked carefully and then explained, “This is a sea serpent. The reason it has grown four limbs, I believe, is a case of atavism. In ancient times, during the Cambrian period, it is said that snakes still had four limbs. Later, after the mass extinction, to conserve energy, they had to abandon their limbs and burrow everywhere. I never expected that sea serpents could regrow their limbs in such a short time.”
Li Keyi speculated that the sea serpents growing claws was a situation that occurred after degeneration, meaning atavism!
Shen Feng looked at the giant sea serpent in the water and nodded as if sighing, saying, “So that’s how it is. I didn’t expect snakes to be able to grow four limbs. If they can grow horns in the future, won’t they truly become dragons?”
Li Keyi glanced at the situation on the sea and then said to Shen Feng, “Since we can fly, we should hurry to the fleet. Flying in the sky also consumes stamina. If any abnormal situation occurs, won’t it be difficult to escape?”
Shen Feng was not in a hurry. Instead, he explained, “We cannot leave here in a hurry. The fleet is already approaching this area. Around the fleet, there will surely be sea beasts monitoring them. Even if we reach the ship, we will face a fierce battle. Instead, by observing the strength of the sea beasts from the sky, we can be somewhat prepared for the upcoming battle.”
“What good will it do even if we know the strength of these sea beasts? If we can’t beat them, we can’t beat them. Unless we use poison, the seawater is the best buffer. Humans cannot defeat these sea beasts in the sea,” Li Keyi said, shaking her head. She felt that the people on the sea at this moment were no match for the sea beasts.
Then, the two sea beasts outside the divine domain began their attack. The sea serpent, which had degenerated and grown four limbs, was the first to use its ability. It opened its mouth and spewed out countless ammonia gases, while the horseshoe crab beside it spewed fireballs. In an instant, a scorching flame appeared on the sea. This sea serpent, which had been impersonating a true dragon, was now like a real Dragon King, spewing flames.
Only Li Keyi and a few others knew that this impersonating true dragon was merely spewing ammonia gas, or in simple terms, farting, which was then ignited by the horseshoe crab.
However, even so, the flames spewed by the sea serpent still posed a threat to the superhumans on the sea. The superhumans were forced by the flames to dive into the sea to escape. Shen Feng, watching from the sky, couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh. Fighting at sea, lacking a foothold, was too disadvantageous for superhumans.
At this moment, from the distant ocean, over twenty sea beasts also arrived and began attacking the superhumans on the sea. Among them was the dolphin that had tormented the European superhumans the previous night. When the dolphin saw many humans on the sea, it immediately charged forward, continuously slapping these superhumans with its tail, sending them into the air like balls.
Dolphins are indeed intelligent and have high IQs. They can quickly learn simple arithmetic. However, dolphins are still wild beasts. No matter what others call them, whether it’s ocean sprites or something else, they are utterly alien. When the sea beasts began to attack humans, this dolphin was the most prominent.
If a dolphin could only slap one person into the air at a time, then the eel that suddenly appeared next was not simple. A sharp-toothed eel appeared on the sea, and then the temperature of the surrounding seawater rose. Gradually, the sea surface began to boil. Even though it was noon, the seawater should not be so scalding. At such a high temperature, one could cook mutton slices!
Steam rose from the sea surface. The superhumans could only cling tightly to the wooden boards around them. If they fell into the water, they would surely be cooked.
Shen Feng, watching this scene from the sky, couldn’t help but exclaim, “What a powerful ability! This eel can only be grilled, not boiled. It’s too tough to boil!”
In the sea area around the eel, even other sea beasts could not approach casually, as the temperature of the boiling water was too high. No matter what kind of sea beast it was, it could not enter, or it would turn into fish soup.
Finally, the superhumans could only dodge the attacks of the sea beasts, and the number of superhumans continued to decrease. Originally, there were over eighty superhumans, but now only over thirty remained. Within the Heavenly Selection Bureau, fewer than ten people survived. The people from other factions were even fewer.
Hou Xiaohua fell into the water. At this moment, Hou Xiaohua was frantically using his abilities, and his body instantly swelled up, as if he were an inflated balloon. This was actually Hou Xiaohua’s life-saving technique. His reinforced skin instantly thickened, and the thick stratum corneum could act as a buffer to resist attacks. He had used this move for defense when fighting mutated beasts in the southern part of Yuzhou before.
However, in the end, Hou Xiaohua could not withstand the scorching temperature of the seawater. Within three minutes of falling into the water, Hou Xiaohua could no longer struggle. He was cooked.
“How could this happen? Brother, you died so tragically!” Ke Yiming watched Hou Xiaohua die before his eyes and felt a sense of shared misfortune. His companion, with whom he had been chatting just last night, was now dead. It was simply unbearable.
What was even more unbearable was yet to come. The superhumans suddenly discovered that the fleet in the distance had stopped moving, as if completely frozen. They had clearly agreed to reach the southern part of the divine domain at noon. Now, the sun was directly overhead, so why hadn’t the fleet arrived? It was definitely past twelve o’clock, but the fleet had not arrived on time. What was going on?
Fortunately, Chang Haojie had flown to the cruiser early. After discovering the real situation, he quickly returned riding the clouds to the sea area where Shen Feng was.
“Brother-in-law, brother-in-law! Everyone on the fleet has fainted and fallen into a coma. What should we do?” Chang Haojie shouted loudly.
This time, not only Shen Feng heard the real situation of the fleet, but everyone on the sea also heard this grim news, and their hope was instantly extinguished.
“Everyone is in a coma. Did the fleet accidentally sail into the divine domain?” Gong Changfa murmured.
Li Keyi’s expression also instantly turned grim after hearing Chang Haojie’s news. She had a bad premonition and said, “The fleet has satellite positioning and navigation, so it’s impossible for them to go the wrong way. But now, everyone on the fleet is in a coma, and the fleet has stopped advancing. This means that the divine domain is moving! Some sea beasts have obtained and mastered the meteorite!”
This was the only explanation Li Keyi could think of. Some sea beasts, after obtaining the meteorite, began to act. Since the divine domain was originally generated by the meteorite, as the sea beasts carried the meteorite and moved, the divine domain also began to move on the sea. The fleet, unaware of this, was instantly enveloped by the divine domain, causing the fleet to stop and all ordinary people to fall into a coma.
Shen Feng’s face looked somewhat grim. He said, “Xiao Jie, take Dr. Li to the fleet. We will prepare the final plan! For now, we can only rely on our own strength to leave the sea!”
Shen Feng’s intention was simple: from now on, superhumans would have to rely on their own strength to cross the ocean. First, they would reach the Chatham Islands, then head to New Zealand, and finally find a sailboat to sail back to China.
Shen Feng placed Li Keyi on Chang Haojie’s white cloud. Li Keyi sighed helplessly, looking at the group of superhumans on the sea, and said, “It’s just a pity for these superhumans. They should have been excellent warriors who would have made great contributions on the battlefield against zombies and mutated beasts. But now, they can only die at sea, and we can only flee in disgrace!”
Chang Haojie curled his lips and said, “Who cares about them? They are the ones who secretly escaped in the middle of the night without calling us. They deserve to die.”
The three of them slowly flew towards the cruiser, preparing to take the last remaining escape route, but unexpectedly, the superhumans on the sea erupted in their desperation.
Yue Hengyi and Qin Kewe lay on the mattress. This mattress was made of chemical products and filled with a lot of aerogel, so it was very light and floated on the water with ease. Lying on it was very comfortable, of course, it would be even more comfortable if Fang Qinghao were not on the side.
“Sister Qin, I was planning to propose to you after completing the mission and returning to China, but now I might not have the chance. Before I die, I just want to finish what I haven’t done. Will you?” Yue Hengyi said sincerely.
Qin Kewe’s face immediately turned red upon hearing this. “We are still on the battlefield. Let’s not do anything excessive, okay?”
Yue Hengyi did not listen to her advice. Everyone’s life was hanging by a thread now. This was the last thing he wanted to do. If this could not be fulfilled, he would die with regret.
Yue Hengyi immediately began to unbutton his clothes. Fang Qinghao saw this and couldn’t help but curse in a low voice, “Holy crap!” Then, he covered his eyes with his movable right hand. He didn’t want to see a stimulating scene.
“Sister Qin, this is a gemstone necklace I found on the ferry. Please accept it. I was planning to give it to you when I proposed after returning to China, but now it seems this is the only chance to use it!” Yue Hengyi took out a string of gemstone necklaces from his embrace and prepared to put it on Qin Kewe.
Qin Kewe then understood that what Yue Hengyi meant by unfinished business was proposing. Even though they were in a desperate situation, she was deeply moved.