"Faster, faster!" Zheng Zha kept urging the sailors and the captain aboard the ship, and after the incident with the fiery figure, these crewmen and the captain regarded Zheng Zha with reverence bordering on awe. They didn't hesitate for a moment, immediately steering the sea vessel in the direction he demanded. Of course, in such a severe storm, this ordinary ship could at best maintain its general direction—southeast, southwest, etc.—but tracking precise latitude and longitude was entirely out of the question.

Zheng Zha’s heart was also pounding with anxiety. Out of desperation, he contacted the team using the silver metal shard every minute or two, and continued this connection until he found them.

But this damned storm.

Heaven knew where the currents had swept them.

He was certain he had left the area nearby! “Ah, there are so many dead sharks on the sea surface?” Just then, a sailor on deck suddenly shouted out.

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.

Indeed, dozens of dead sharks were floating on the water, bobbing up and down with the massive waves.

This cluster of sharks seemed to have drifted from further away; further out, there were many more shark remains, shattered into pieces. Zheng Zha immediately shouted, “Steer toward it! They’re coming from over there! Head toward the direction the sharks are drifting from!” In the direction the sharks had come from.

Cheng Xiao, that scoundrel, was desperately flailing in the seawater.

It wasn't that he had suddenly mustered incredible strength and intended to slaughter all the sharks in this area; it was simply because standing on the small hot air balloon basket device was a little girl with a face full of murderous intent.

She clenched her hands in the empty air, as if gripping some weapon, yet her hands were completely bare. There was nothing in them.

“Yingkong! Both my legs are cramping up; I really can’t hold on anymore! Hurry and let me up!” Cheng Xiao thrashed wildly in the water.

Suddenly, he leaped out of the sea like a dolphin, flipping completely in mid-air. A shark rushing up to bite him from below was instantly sliced into fragments.

However, the man was panting heavily at this moment. He truly looked exhausted. But how long he could last was unknown.

Zhao Yingkong coldly surveyed the sea surface: “Either you kill all the sharks… or I kill you. You choose.”

“...Can’t you just let me choose whether to kill the sharks? Combine the two conditions,” Cheng Xiao blurted out, stunned for a moment, and then yelled loudly.

Without a second thought, Zhao Yingkong made a swift gesture with her hand.

A blade of energy sliced through the waves, slashing toward Cheng Xiao. He yelped in alarm again, immediately daring not to say another word. He submerged underwater to evade the sword qi, and of course, he was immediately forced to confront the countless sharks once more.

“There are so many sharks,” Zero Point, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up. “This must be one of the difficulties of a Perfect Storm, right? Zhao Yingkong, maybe you should let Cheng Xiao up. He might really be close to collapse.”

Saying this, he had already pulled out his Gauss sniper rifle. If Cheng Xiao were in danger, he could provide immediate supporting fire.

Wang Xia made the exact same move. A few plasma bombs floated near him, but because Cheng Xiao was still in the water, he dared not recklessly drop the bombs overboard, waiting until Cheng Xiao was aboard the hot air balloon basket before initiating large-scale clearing operations.

Just then, a beam of searchlight suddenly shot in from the distance, and Zheng Zha’s shouting could faintly be heard. As everyone turned to look over there, they indeed spotted a figure with two wings flying swiftly toward them. With one swoop, he snatched Cheng Xiao out of the water, simultaneously hovering in mid-air—this man was indeed the returning Zheng Zha.

“That’s great, everyone’s alright… but Zhao Yingkong, why are you looking at me with such venom?” Zheng Zha cried out excitedly after saving Cheng Xiao, quickly counting the team members mentally, asking a question that had been troubling him.

Zhao Yingkong, standing on the hot air balloon basket device, was glaring at him, looking as if she had suffered some immense grievance. The young girl remained silent, merely letting out a soft hmph, then calmly retracted her Sword of Oath and Victory. At that moment, the distant sea vessel had also sailed closer. The sailors aboard shouted noisily and threw down ropes toward the hot air balloon basket device below…

“Hahaha… Cheng Xiao really went too far this time. Even if a girl showed up... ugh, you shouldn’t have said that, should you? Hahaha, serves you right for getting smacked…”

After boarding the ship and taking hot showers, everyone gathered in the conference room in the cabin to discuss their next move. When Zheng Zha learned about the preceding actions between Cheng Xiao and Zhao Yingkong, he burst into exaggerated laughter, chuckling until Zhao Yingkong’s face flushed deep red and threatened to turn to anger. Only then did he stop, then spoke seriously: “Alright, the time for distractions is over. Let’s get back to business. I just heard from the captain that we are very close to Hawaii. If we’re going to seize a destroyer, now is the best time to head to Hawaii.”

“The main base of the US Pacific Fleet is at Pearl Harbor. Based on our current latitude and longitude, we can reach there within twenty-four hours at most,” Chu Xuan said while biting into an apple.

“...Can you not eat an apple while we are discussing serious matters?” Zheng Zha sighed.

Chu Xuan paused at the remark, dropped the apple, and pulled out a tomato from his pocket, eating it as he continued: “From Pearl Island to Diaoyu Island, under this stormy weather, it would take about ten days by ordinary ship. A fast destroyer would take about five days. However, if we could make some modifications, enhancing some unconventional propulsion systems, the speed could be significantly increased… But going from our current location to Hawaii takes about a day. Adding delays from various situations, I estimate it will take about five days to reach Diaoyu Island.”

“Five days,” Zheng Zha fell silent, and after a long pause, said: “Then let’s speed to Pearl Harbor as fast as possible. Hopefully, we can still catch up to the East Sea Team!”

“Chu Xuan, at this rate, the chance of catching up is only fifty percent, right?” Xiao Honglu, who had been eating quietly nearby, suddenly looked up. He asked doubtfully, “Although in terms of speed, this is the maximum we can achieve besides flying, the probability of catching the East Sea Team remains low. Don’t you have another way to catch up to them sooner?”

“We can’t catch up sooner, but there is a way to increase that fifty percent chance,” Chu Xuan admitted without hesitation, nodding immediately.

“Uh…” Zheng Zha hesitated for a moment, then immediately turned to Xiao Honglu: “Since you ask, it means you already have a solution. Tell us, what are you thinking?”

Xiao Honglu immediately grinned mischievously. He pulled out a strand of hair from his forehead, looking at it as he asked: “Why don’t you ask Chu Xuan, why ask me? You should ask him about this kind of thing, or perhaps… what are you afraid of?”

Zheng Zha and everyone around him gave a wry smile. Zhang Heng answered in his stead, sitting next to Xiao Honglu. He casually stroked Xiao Honglu’s hair: “Don’t just say Zheng Zha. Even we are quite scared. Chu Xuan’s plans are generally too… uh, it should be fine to describe them with the word ‘violent,’ right?” Everyone nodded in agreement. Chu Xuan didn’t mind; he continued eating his tomato, letting everyone talk about the plan.

Xiao Honglu chuckled again. He laughed and said, “Don’t make it sound so simple. I’m sorry, but my plan this time is also saturated with ‘violence,’ and it’s extremely dangerous violence, too.”

(No matter how violent, it absolutely can’t compare to Chu Xuan’s violence. Even if he doesn’t speak, I know his idea is probably just to randomly bombard the direction of Diaoyu Island with the Magic Cannon—if it hits, they deserve it; if it doesn’t, just try again… So, no matter how violent Xiao Honglu’s plan is, at least, no, it is definitely much safer than Chu Xuan’s plan!) Almost everyone had this thought, and they all nodded toward Xiao Honglu with complete unity. This display immediately made the young boy laugh heartily.

The boy no longer maintained his mystery. He shot a triumphant glance at Chu Xuan, then said with slight pride: “Actually, my method is also full of ‘violence.’ Aren’t we going to steal American warships? Let’s just escalate things, steal several warships at once, or do something else—causing a worldwide sensation would be best. If that doesn’t work, at least we should attract the attention of the United States and several major powers… Since we cannot reach Diaoyu Island at the fastest speed, let’s do the opposite: make the East Sea Team reach Diaoyu Island at the slowest speed. That works too!”

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