...The ports only connected to powered devices and would not harm those without current flowing through them. The Orca remained docked on the slipway, unpowered, thus avoiding the attack.

In the command tower of the Orca, a red light suddenly illuminated on a console, accompanied by a piercing alarm that blared throughout the submarine.

"The meeting hall has been breached! We need to leave immediately! I declare, cast off!"

Gaius had once been the leader of the Caesar Mercenary Group, possessing extensive combat experience. Captaining a submarine was no challenge for him.

The bodyguard heard Gaius’s command and seemed disbelieving, replying with surprise, "But, sir, it has only been ten minutes, and nearly half the personnel haven't reported yet!"

"Silence! That is my order!" Gaius stated without hesitation.

He knew well that Tim had been dispatched to intercept the intruders. Anyone whom even Tim could not stop was certainly no ordinary person. It would not take long for the enemy to get from the meeting hall to their location. Although there were several branching paths between the meeting hall and here, Gaius would not place his hope on the enemy being unfamiliar with the layout; he would firmly grasp the opportunity himself.

"As you command."

The bodyguards in the command tower were all experienced in operating submarines. Those without experience were sent elsewhere to perform tasks within their capability.

A series of orders were relayed, and the bodyguards assumed the roles of crew members, executing a flurry of operations on the consoles with nervous precision.

"Propulsion system activation... Four systems confirmed online! Propulsion system fully operational! Thrusters engaged, cast off."

The submarine's thrusters roared, shoving tens of tons of seawater backward.

"Open the main access hatches!" Gaius ordered loudly.

The main entrance to the slipway gradually opened, revealing the vast, boundless expanse of the Atlantic Ocean outside. Overhead, thick storm clouds churned relentlessly, while gale-force winds mixed with torrential rain battered the sea surface, whipping up immense waves. Intermittent, rapid flashes of lightning tore across the sky, the ceaseless thunder showcasing nature's wrath at every moment.

During the time Yang Ying had infiltrated the Julian Calendar Fortress, the storm had not abated; if anything, it had intensified.

The Orca smoothly entered the Atlantic. The waves seemed incapable of shaking its stability; ten-meter crests struck the hull with the impact of hitting a thousand-year-old reef, causing the Orca no harm whatsoever.

"Submerge! Depth: One Hundred Meters," Gaius commanded loudly.

"Aye! Submerge! Depth: One Hundred Meters!" a bodyguard repeated loudly, and the Orca gradually sank beneath the waves.

Not long after entering the passage, Yang Ying encountered a fork in the path. Fortunately, the descendants of the Caesar family were all rushing towards the slipway, converging from various secret routes. Yang Ying's hearing was incredibly sharp, especially after becoming the Blade Emperor. Hearing the distant voices, he located his direction and pressed on.

Upon reaching the slipway, he saw the Orca just gliding into the Atlantic, completely submerged underwater. Nearby, the Caesar descendants who had failed to board the submarine were shouting loudly at the water's edge:

"Orca! Wait a moment! We haven't made it yet!"

"Father! Don't leave me behind! Come back!"

"Didn't we have five more minutes on the schedule? Why are you leaving now?!"

On the shore alone, there were nearly twenty individuals whose names were on the list, accompanied by hundreds of bodyguards and several female members of the Caesar family. Their clothing and jewelry clearly bespoke immense wealth, yet the faces that should have exhibited elegance and beauty were now etched with panic.

Of course, some individuals remained remarkably composed. In every human drama, there are always those who stand apart. They quickly focused on the other available transportation on the slipway: other submarines, speedboats, and even pleasure yachts.

Under the leadership of those composed individuals, the others snapped out of their shock, realizing that desperate wailing here served no purpose. They swarmed towards the various vehicles. Few retained any semblance of elegance in that moment of crisis.

But how could Yang Ying allow them to escape?

"I am here to deliver your judgment!" Yang Ying's voice resonated directly within the minds of those on the list.

Simultaneously—

Bang! Bang!

The sound of Gauss pistols echoed at the exact same instant. Yang Ying, wielding twin pistols, pulled the triggers repeatedly towards his targets, instantly striking nearly ten individuals in vital spots with Gauss rounds!

The others finally reacted, adopting evasive maneuvers. Several bodyguards instinctively moved to shield their masters, a near-instinctual action for their profession—whether they could intercept bullets for their employer in times of crisis was a crucial metric for judging a good bodyguard.

However, their movements were far too sluggish for Yang Ying. With a few fluid steps, Yang Ying bypassed their angles of evasion and blocking, eliminating the remaining targets one by one.

The bodyguards erupted in fury, attempting to pinpoint the shooter's location from the direction of the gunfire, but they found nothing. Once all targets were neutralized by Yang Ying, a profound terror seized them. They finally understood: the enemy was invisible.

"Awakened! It’s an Awakened Killer!"

"Run! We can't stop him!"

"The Invisible Man! It's the Invisible Man!"

Everyone scattered as if driven by a whip, surging outwards in all directions, not daring to glance back even once. Yang Ying had no intention of harming these people. The bodyguards were merely performing their duties, and now they posed no threat. As for the ladies, Yang Ying did not consider himself a man who delights in harming women, so he let them go as well.

There were also some insignificant junior members of the Caesar family whose names were not on the list. Yang Ying did not hunt them down either.

At most, these people knew that an invisible assassin had appeared here, which posed no threat to Yang Ying. Therefore, there was no need to silence them for the sake of secrecy.

Achieving invisibility, while technologically difficult to realize, was something attainable through various methods found in the legacies of Awakened practitioners, such as illusionary arts or spells that refract light.

The Dark Templar's invisibility could be classified as a light-refraction spell. However, the Void energy that the Dark Templars harnessed to drive their invisibility technique did not exist in any of the Earth's diverse traditions, resulting in a slightly different effect.

Of course, even a master specializing in invisibility at the Psionic Monastery might not discern the subtle differences, let alone these ordinary people.

At this moment, just over ten seconds after the Orca submerged, Yang Ying's gaze sharpened. He seemed to pierce the seawater, spotting the large submarine descending rapidly. He pushed off the water's surface, striding forward.

This could truly be called the 'Lightness Skill of the Flowing Steps'; he trod upon the water as if it were solid ground, and no wave, however powerful, could cause his steps to falter.

In a few strides, he reached directly above the Orca. Yang Ying dropped his center of gravity, plummeting downward like a cannonball.

The next instant, his boots landed on the submarine's forward deck. Yang Ying located an access hatch that allowed entry into the submersible, drew his hilt, and with a zzzzz sound, activated his lightsaber. The green energy blade instantly boiled the surrounding seawater, releasing massive amounts of bubbles with incessant sizzling.

Yang Ying inverted the hilt, pointing the tip downwards, gripping the handle with both hands, and drove the blade down heavily into the hatch!

The pressure beneath the surface was far greater than above, increasing rapidly with depth. For every ten meters descended, the pressure increased by one atmosphere. Yang Ying could clearly feel the surrounding pressure mounting quickly, indicating the submarine was descending at high speed. However, beneath the Blade Emperor's biological carapace, several atmospheres of pressure were sustainable.

Inside the Orca.

The piercing alarm sounded again, and a bodyguard cried out in alarm, "Lord Gaius! The hatch of Hatchway Two is under attack! There's a super-high temperature signature—it's a lightsaber!"

"What?!," Gaius slammed his hand onto the console, roaring, "Even at this juncture, they refuse to let us go?"

"And when have you ever spared the suffering children?" Yang Ying's voice echoed directly in Gaius's mind.

Gaius was stunned. He knew that only someone possessing psionic power equivalent to a formal Psion could transmit their voice directly into a normal person's mind via telepathy. The telepathic power of a Psionic Apprentice was too weak to reach anything other than an Awakened being.

However, someone capable of diving into the sea to attack a fully equipped submarine was hardly likely to possess only Apprentice-level strength.

As expected, even Tim had been breached. The wrinkles on Gaius's face deepened. He concluded that the attacker was at least a seasoned Quasi-Master, perhaps even a Master-level presence.

Gaius's face cycled through shades of pale and green for a moment, then he roared, "Who are you?"

"I have come to deliver your judgment!" Yang Ying replied sternly.

"Judgment? Crimes? The Caesar family is deeply entangled. If you sink this submarine, the entire human society will pay the price. I guarantee that world stock markets will plummet to their limit the very next day, likely for a week straight. Do you know how many people will be ruined by then?" Gaius attempted to make Yang Ying hesitate.

"People have faced economic crises before. After a period of pain, removing tumors like you—even if it costs some vital energy as a price—is unavoidable. It is certainly better than allowing you to grow unchecked until you eventually threaten all of human society," Yang Ying stated without hesitation.

"What about the military aspect? Without us, the Caesar Group, a massive volume of military orders cannot be fulfilled. Troop replenishment will become unsustainable, affecting the frontline war effort, thereby jeopardizing the Ancient Legion's interests," Gaius continued to seek reasons to make Yang Ying abandon his mission.

"The Ancient Legion suffered heavy losses on the front lines not long ago. Furthermore, the Ape-men population is insufficient; replenishing their numbers is even more difficult than for humans. If they intend to seize control of the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, they won't be able to move a single soldier for at least six months! That period is enough for humanity to reorganize its stance. By then, the impact of your deaths will long have faded."

When it came to the state of the front lines, Yang Ying's understanding even surpassed Gaius's. When formulating the Judgment Plan, the threat of the Ancient Legion had already been factored in. After eliminating two and a half main fleets of the Ape-men, sufficient time had clearly been secured for humanity.

Back when he utilized the Missile Swarm attack against two and a half Ancient Legion fleets, even before the Judgment Plan existed, Yang Ying had already been preparing for this very day.