My wife is the stand-in.

Lin Shuyu, who was swaying along with the boat, covered her mouth, unable to speak due to dizziness, and could only nod and whimper.

"Gulp... The sonar equipment was destroyed by the four-clawed fish underwater, ugh..." she said quickly while gagging.

Amanosaki nodded: "Anyway, there are plenty of fish in the river, so it doesn't matter whether that thing is there or not."

At this moment, Li Junzi, resembling a spider, climbed up the vertical wall, raised the bone fork riddled with holes, and said:

"Brother, I just tried it, and the fork was chewed up like this after only a few seconds of being submerged in water."

Just as Amanosaki was about to say something, a dense, deep, and continuous sound of machinery being installed came from below the waterline of the Sobiyu.

The patrol boat, which was initially swaying slightly from side to side, began to turn its bow after a series of impacts.

Seeing this, the yellow-haired man, who had extensive experience in killing fish, immediately realized the strange fish's strategy. He raised the crowbar in his hand, waved it, and shouted loudly to his left and right:

"Hey! These guys are trying to get our ship and the whirlpool spinning in sync. We have to stop them, otherwise once the ship starts spinning, we won't be able to stop it!"

Li Junzi looked at the bone fork in his hand, then turned to Amanosaki: "Once the ship sinks into the water, the cabin windows won't be able to stop these guys' teeth at all. As long as there's a dent, they can bite in at the right angle."

"Brother! Can you let your wife come down and help? Like yesterday, let a bolt of lightning turn these bastards into fish soup?"

“We’re on the river too, and there’s this huge metal shell under our feet. Do you want to get electrocuted first? Besides, Icarus can’t control lightning right now.” Amanosaki looked at Li Junzi with a wry smile and shrugged, indicating that he was powerless to help.

He had already spoken with Icarus, and Icarus's answer was no.

The great river they are currently in is located in the Fengdu waters. The local climate in this area is influenced by the climate created by the Queen Fish and its countless offspring. Once Icarus withdraws the [Absolute Defense Circle], these dark clouds will return in less than thirty seconds.

At that time, the heroes, who could not even occupy the water's surface, would simultaneously suffer the double attack of their patrol boats being swept into the riverbed and struggling to fight off the strange fish that jumped onto the boats.

As a versatile strategic angel, Icarus's activation costs for each ability are astronomical. Before her fame reaches the level of "renowned", she can currently only use three abilities: "Universal Card", "War Angel's Armory", and "Absolute Defense Circle".

The most effective way to relieve current pressure is the [Universal Card], but it's unusable in this world because there's no Synapse in the divine realm.

The arsenal is armed with weapons similar to those used by humans, only with greater power.

While maintaining the "absolute defense perimeter," Icarus can provide rather limited support.

Thinking of this, Amanosaki said to Li Junzi and Lin Shuyu, "Icarus told me that the underwater superpowers are quite powerful. According to the model she built based on the data she collected, even the rain-inducing missiles from Fengdu would have a hard time destroying all the clouds!"

"Impossible!" Lin Shuyu propped herself up and looked up unsteadily. "The power of a queen fish is limited. Even if she has many offspring, she cannot maintain this level of rainy weather for long. In the entire four-clawed scale fish clan, only the queen fish is a demon! This is a qualitative difference!"

Amanosaki immediately retorted: "That means there's more than one queen fish underwater!"

“That’s even more impossible!” The blond-haired man, who had somehow appeared on the top deck, looked seriously at the three people in front of him and explained with his rich experience, “In the past, each wave of migrating strange fish was always covered by only one queen fish. This has been the case for decades. So far this year, China has not launched any large-scale operations against the schools of fish in the Yangtze River.”

"The crackdowns in various provinces are all targeting small groups that have strayed into tributaries to breed, which does not constitute a sudden change in the habits of the queen fish!"

Amanosaki frowned and responded loudly, "Then tell me what's going on? Did someone deliberately dive into the water to tell them, 'Hello, Queen, we are humans, and we are about to launch an extinction attack on you and all the four-clawed scaled fish in the waters of China. You should write your will in advance,'"

"Isn't this kind of person a traitor? Is there really such a person... What kind of eyes do you guys have? Do you really think there are such idiots?"

Amanosaki looked at the three people whose faces darkened as he made his sarcastic remarks, and covered his mouth, startled by his own thoughtless idea.

The rushing river made a rustling sound, and the heroes on the deck displayed their skills, using their supernatural abilities to attack the river at will.

At this moment, tens of thousands of four-clawed scaled fish gathered underwater. As the saying goes, "When there are ten thousand people, there is no end; when there are a hundred thousand people, the earth and sky are connected."

It was difficult for tens of thousands of dogs to spread out in the Yushan-Fengdu River basin, which is only 200 meters wide and especially deep. As a result, large numbers of fish carcasses quickly floated up around the patrol boats and other patrol boats.

Then these corpses were dragged into the water and eaten by the ravenous monster fish, leaving only broken pieces of flesh and large clumps of dirty blood.

The top deck fell silent for a moment. Icarus, high in the air, noticed Amanosaki's throbbing. She looked down to check on him and found that he wasn't experiencing excessive dopamine or hormone secretion, nor did he show any signs of poisoning. So she continued to disperse the surrounding moisture, maintaining the [Absolute Defense Circle].

She didn't think that mere fear could defeat Amanosaki.

If Amanosaki knew what his girlfriend was thinking, he would definitely jump up and give her a good whack on the head.

Amanosaki leaned against the railing, forcing a smile, and said, "I was just joking. There shouldn't be any fools among us humans."

“No, brother, you’re wrong this time.” Li Junzi put his hands back in place, crossed his arms, and bulged his muscles. “In fact, quite the opposite is true. The world is not lacking in adventurers and ambitious people. Some people dare to call themselves emperors in the mountains, and naturally there are also people who want to make a fortune off the national crisis by taking advantage of this extermination order.”

Lin Shuyu continued, "The government had actually been prepared for someone to tip them off, which is why it coordinated with the navy and various provinces to deploy fleets at sea to destroy the habitat of the four-clawed scale fish while simultaneously launching an attack on the Yangtze River. But the problem is..."

Lin Shuyu and Li Junzi said in unison:

"If it were just a human, the Queen Fish would never have reacted so quickly. Demons are very hostile to humans. When they encounter humans, they usually try to torture them to gain negative emotions. If the Queen Fish really got the news in advance, it can only mean one thing: that traitors and heretics have joined forces."

"Holy crap! We've been tricked!?" Amanosaki exclaimed. "I thought we were the ones being made into dumplings, but now we're the dumplings?!"

Li Junzi immediately said to Lin Shuyu, "Miss Lin! Please inform the brothers on the other ships! Set sail immediately! We can't stay any longer!"

"But this is a joint operation involving multiple provinces, and the Fengdu branch..."

Amanosaki, anticipating Lin Shuyu's words, said, "Fengdu is moving too slowly! Tell them we've fallen into their trap! Let's leave now! As long as we're alive, we can always rebuild!"

After saying that, he leaned down and shouted, "Whose superpowers can work in this situation! We need to set sail!"

The blond-haired man raised his hand, and seeing the three men turn to look at him, he awkwardly held up the crowbar. "My ability is to directly inject the damage from the things I use into the target's body, so even though my ability has nothing to do with water, I was still included in this operation."

Lin Shuyu immediately grasped Huang Mao's meaning: "You mean your attack can ignore underwater resistance and the skeleton and scales of the four-clawed fish?"

"Yes." Huang Mao nodded. "Besides that, I can also apply the impact of the vehicle directly to the target. It's just that I've only ever driven motorcycles and electric tricycles before, and I've never tried such a big boat."

"Then you drive the boat!" Lin Shuyu immediately began to untie the ropes binding her.

"There's no time to lose!" Li Junzi agreed with Lin Shuyu's decision.

Amanosaki had already jumped to the lower deck and grabbed all the water-controlling or water-related heroes in the cabin, bringing them to the top deck. Within a minute, he had brought up about ten heroes.

Amanosaki, panting heavily as he sucked on glucose, addressed everyone: "Once blondie gets the boat moving, everyone use your skills to make it faster. The faster we go, the better our chances of escaping."

Everyone had already been informed of the urgency of the situation, so they didn't say much and simply bowed in agreement. Huang Mao wanted to say that he wasn't called Huang Mao and that he had a name, but Amanosaki and Li Junzi had already forcefully taken over the leadership of the ship: "Miss Lin, please inform the other ships' knights that we need to start as soon as possible, or we won't be able to leave."

Amanosaki pointed out to the outside of the ship, and everyone could see clearly that the whirlpool was becoming more and more obvious. A visible difference in height had formed between the inside and outside of the whirlpool. If the Suobianyu continued to stay in the center of the whirlpool, then everyone would be sucked into the river bottom as they spun around, becoming fish food, just like leaves on a leaf in a whirlpool.

"Okay!" Lin Shuyu ignored her nausea and grabbed the microphone to start speaking.

Amanosaki gently patted Li Junzi's waist, gesturing for him to come downstairs with him.

The two jumped to the lower deck, stepping onto a slippery, blood-stained steel plate. Amanosaki took a deep breath and said to Li Junzi:

"I feel like there's something strange about this mission?"

Li Junzi's square face furrowed slightly. "In fact, I think so too."

"It was too hasty. The extermination order was issued in the name of the state, and they actually asked a bunch of trainees with no certification to do it. Of course, I know that everyone's ability cannot be judged by certificates, but through this incident, I really feel that we are not up to the task due to our lack of underwater survival skills."

Li Junzi clicked his tongue and said, "But it just so happens that we are the only team that is currently known to the public, at least to the people of the whole country, to be carrying out the extermination order."

Just as the two were discussing, a man and a woman dressed in pure black and pure white robes stood on the edge of the cliff hundreds of meters from the riverbank, in a posture that suggested they might fall at any moment.

"Xie Bi'an, the children over there at the reservoir look terrible. Are we really not going to save them?" A woman dressed in all black, wearing a tall hat, and holding a token with the words "We're catching you" written in gold on it clicked her tongue as she looked at the tense-looking crew of the Suobianyu through the binoculars.

The white-robed man, known as Xie Bi'an, kept his eyes closed, seemingly unable to bear it, yet uttered cold words:

"We're just doing our job, so naturally we have to follow the orders from above. They want us to observe the young talents in each province, so we'll observe first. We'll make our move when they really can't hold on any longer. Don't meddle, Xiao Fan."

"As you wish." The woman in black robes, referred to as Xiao Fan, nodded with a smile, squinting as she continued to scrutinize the Suobianyu. The camera lingered for a long time on Lin Shuyu, whose face was deathly pale, and Amanosaki, whose entire body was shrouded in magic circuits.

Chapter 74: The Arrow of Oceanus

"Set sail! Set sail! Set sail!"

The knights-errant hung on both sides of the patrol boat, urging it on noisily, and banging their iron pipes loudly.

The blond-haired man gripping the steering wheel was sweating profusely as he continuously injected supernatural energy into the giant machine. His face was deathly pale, and he looked like he might collapse at any moment.

Hearing the urging from the three ships behind him, the blond-haired man, his lips trembling, forced himself to turn around and yell at the top of his lungs:

"What the hell are you yelling for! Why aren't you this enthusiastic about mourning your own mother's grave?"

Strangely enough, after shouting that, the blond-haired man's face immediately turned rosy, and his stumbling breathing became much smoother.

The knights on the three ships behind were enraged and began to hurl insults at him.

Just as the blond-haired guy was about to retort, he turned around and bumped into Amanosaki, who was holding a gem and looking at him. He immediately cowered.

He had personally witnessed Amanosaki and his ability to summon lightning to boil a river. Not only him, but all the heroes of the Three Rivers Reservoir who had witnessed this power unconsciously felt inferior when facing Amanosaki.

Therefore, the entire Suobian Fish actually has a tendency to be led by Amanosaki. After all, only Lin Shuyu on this ship has not seen that thunder, and at the very least, like Li Junzi, he has seen the great river boiled into milky white fish soup.

Amanosaki looked at the blond-haired man with a half-smile, raised his eyebrows, and placed one foot on the railing: "You were just looking like you were about to die, and I was thinking about how to keep you alive. How come you're so energetic now?"

The blond-haired man scratched his head sheepishly; his blond hair and thin face made him look quite like a monkey.

"I've never done anything this big before. I was a little nervous when I first touched it, and my energy consumption was much greater than before. I felt like my body was completely drained."

"what about now?"

"After exchanging a few insults, I feel much better now that I've gained the upper hand," the blond-haired man said with a fawning smile.

"Okay." Amanosaki stepped off the railing, patted the blond-haired guy on the shoulder, and pulled out a red plastic bag from somewhere. "Good luck."

After saying this, he briefly handed things over to Lin Shuyu and then took Li Junzi downstairs.

"Please stand on both sides according to this chart, and release your superpowers in the designated direction as instructed by me."

Lin Shuyu strapped herself to the top floor, facing the bridge, and held up a sign to explain her plan to everyone: "We need to first engage the Four-Clawed Scaled Fish that is ramming the 'Suobianyu' to balance the ship before we can start the boat and create an opportunity for our teammates behind us!"

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, their eyes fixed on the blond-haired man on the bridge, his face flushed and radiant with youthful exuberance. They watched as he spewed out a torrent of vulgarities they had never heard of or seen before, rapping through a megaphone as a knight-errant single-handedly taking on three ships without being outmatched.

With Amanosaki's permission, the blond-haired guy was in high spirits and squatted on his seat, wreaking havoc.

They all looked at Lin Shuyu with suspicion, their eyes seeming to ask, "Is this really a teammate?"

"Ahem! This is also part of the plan." Lin Shuyu coughed and changed the subject, then began to use [Celestial Man Form] to command the team.

As for Amanosaki, he went to the stern deck.

This is the most suitable place on the entire ship for launching, with a stepped structure that allows people and single-person yachts to quickly board. However, this is also the most dangerous part of the entire ship.

Theoretically speaking, the reason why the entire Suobianyu was prepared to forgo one deck from the beginning was precisely because of this structural flaw. In fact, if it weren't for the urgent need for the helmsman, these ships should have undergone some modifications to plug this weakness.

However, thanks to Icarus's presence, this weakness has not become a breakthrough point for the Four-Clawed Scaled Fish. Instead, it has been exploited by Amanosaki.

Do you understand what I mean?

As Amanosaki explained his plan, he wiped the dried blood from the deck with his coat and began chiseling magic circles with an iron awl. Thanks to the medicinal bath and enhanced magic, Amanosaki moved with incredible speed.

Standing to the side, Li Junzi nodded and shook his head: "I roughly understand, but I really don't understand why you did this, brother. What Star Absorbing Technique, what Flower Shifting and Tree Grafting Divine Skill? This isn't a martial arts novel, where would you find such magical skills?"

"People who cultivate Buddhism and Taoism also do so by chanting scriptures, meditating, and refining elixirs every day. If there really were a divine skill that everyone could learn and absorb energy, wouldn't the world be in chaos?"

Amanosaki threw the dirty clothes into the water, exasperated: "A metaphor, this is a metaphor, understand? Hurry up and do it! The magic circle over here needs to be drawn!"

"oh oh!"