In this cyberpunk era, why are you still playing the traditional villain?

Xu Shi's eyes widened. Clearly, this wasn't just a simple mutation, was it? It felt almost like an ascension ability. So non-human creatures could do this too?

Anyway, not many people in the City of Night Sin have really studied this topic. There aren't many animals in the city to begin with, and eight or nine out of ten are poultry and livestock raised specifically for food.

The only one with a relatively high presence is my grandfather's little black dog, but what else can that guy do besides being cute?

But now is not the time to delve into this. We must solve it no matter what!

"Shen Qin, come back!"

Xu Shi no longer hesitated and gave the order to Shen Qin, while picking up the radio on the speedboat, "Yu Xingchuan!"

"Roger that!"

The adjutant answered quite readily.

The warships turned around and retreated in unison. Seeing their actions, the wooden boat seemed to realize something as well, and it sped up its engines to create distance from the giant sharks and headed towards them.

"fire!"

As if by magic, a loud bang was heard from the battleship in an instant.

A shell roared into the sky, turning the gloomy sky shrouded in "rust fog" snow-white.

The next second, the cannonball landed squarely on the giant shark's head.

boom--

A small mushroom cloud rose up, and the intense heat made it difficult for everyone to open their eyes.

Fortunately, there were emergency safety measures on the speedboat, and no one was affected.

When the sea returned to calm, all that could be seen was a large area of ​​the sea stained red with blood, with a few scattered pieces of the giant shark carcass floating on the surface. The stench was so strong that it made people feel dizzy.

Needless to say, it would be a miracle if the other small fish and shrimp could even survive.

Wow.

Chairman Xu expressed his sincere admiration for his company's military products.

Although he hadn't mentioned it much before, that was because his focus was on research related to superpowers. In fact, the updates and iterations of various weapons had never stopped.

This shows just how capable and versatile Jiang Chengcheng is... and the various weapons of the "Snake Ring" have also made great strides under her efforts.

The battleships and combat squadrons that set sail this time were naturally equipped with these latest models of equipment.

For example, the "Yuanzhen" electromagnetic rifle in everyone's hands is a new product that is already the third generation compared to more than half a year ago, and one of the main characters in this battle - the "Lieque Type I" heavy anti-aircraft gun.

According to Jiang Chengcheng, the inspiration came from the renovation of the Night Sin City's defensive cannons. It's not an exaggeration to say that it's a miniature version. Combined with a high concentration of "rust mist" ore, its power is self-evident, and its range and accuracy are also top-notch.

He hadn't been to the previous simulation environment tests, and this was the first time he'd seen it. He had to admit that the actual results were much better than he'd expected.

This is the confidence that the "snake ring" gives me!

However, just as he was planning how to reward his lover when he got back, he heard a piercing sound of breaking wood.

crunch...

Yeah!

In the blink of an eye, the wooden boat shattered into pieces!

This was truly an unavoidable situation—although they managed to enter the protective range of the combined force field at the last second, the area was already in ruins, and coupled with its old structure, it was affected by the aftershocks of "Lieque" and ultimately could not withstand it.

Xu Shi watched as the people on the wooden boat performed Sichuan opera face-changing... One second he was feeling fortunate to have survived a disaster, and the next second he encountered this situation. His feelings were incredibly complicated.

Fortunately, none of them fell into the sea—Xia Xiaomao's domain expanded, and she easily pulled them back.

It's a blessing in misfortune.

……

"benefactor!"

After leading them back to the command ship, the middle-aged man at the head could no longer contain himself and was about to kneel down before Xu Shi, saying, "Thank you for saving our lives!"

"Don't kneel, don't kneel. This isn't customary during holidays or festivals."

Xu Shi smiled gently and helped him up, saying, "It's good that you're alright."

Even better, language communication is not a problem. Although the accent sounds a bit strange, there is no difficulty in communicating.

Hearing this, Shen Qin rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you have this thought when you asked me to kneel before you? Your hypocrisy is disgusting..."

"If I really have to say something, I should apologize to you. I'm so sorry for accidentally destroying your ship."

Xu Shi, however, was unaware of this and sighed helplessly.

I never imagined that in the end, it wasn't the giant shark that caused all of this, but myself... I really didn't think that way, believe me!

I have a feeling my buddy will never be able to shake off the villain label...

How could you say that?

The middle-aged man quickly shook his head, "We are already very lucky to have survived, and we owe it all to you."

"I'm glad you're all alright."

Xu Shi smiled and said, "The casualties weren't too serious, were they?"

"During the fight against the fish tide, several brothers didn't survive..."

The middle-aged man looked bitter. "To be honest, before you guys showed up, I had even thought of my last words..."

However, he suddenly realized something, "Your attire is a bit strange... You're not from the Hualan Empire, are you?"

"The Hualan Empire?"

Xu Shi blinked. What was the name of the new experimental field?

It's understandable that the other person said their attire was strange; after all, from his perspective, their clothing was quite unique—rough linen clothes and unexplained auspicious ornaments, increasingly reminiscent of the Middle Ages…

"No, we come from another place, some distance from here."

He didn't dwell too much on his attire and explained hastily, "I was leading a group out to sea to explore when I encountered you by chance... Before this, I had no idea that there were other people living outside our city-state."

"Me too, so I was a little scared before... Anyway, there's not much to say, thank you so much."

The middle-aged man nodded; it was clear that encountering humans from outside his usual habitat had greatly shocked him.

In his narration, Xu Shi gradually learned about their situation.

According to the middle-aged man, the place they lived in was called the Hualan Empire, and they came from Silver Pine Island, an affiliated island of this empire.

This is not hard for everyone to understand; it's similar to the relationship between the City of Nights of Sin and the "Forsaken."

As for the structure of the Hualan Empire, Xu Shi roughly understood it—an empire where monarchical and divine power coexisted, with the Papacy, knights, and an empress…

Good heavens, this is totally medieval now... But he wasn't particularly surprised, because according to He Yuxia, the experimental fields established by "Tianli" are scattered all over the world, and are naturally full of diversity.

A technologically advanced world like the City of Night Sin must also exist, so too must the Hualan Empire.

"Is this place far from your Silverpine Island? We've been adrift for quite a while, and we need to find a place to resupply."

Having gathered some basic information about them, Xu Shi took the initiative to ask a question.

"no problem!"

The middle-aged man readily agreed; they were the ones who had saved the people, so this request was naturally no problem for him.

Of course, the fear in his eyes didn't escape Xu Shi's notice—it was clear that the strength they had displayed while fighting the fish had already intimidated them...

Ah this.

Xu Shi secretly rolled his eyes. It was a good thing they didn't actually send a large army to "communicate" with them, otherwise who knows what would have happened.

"I have a question for you. What is your purpose in going to sea?"

Xie Qingyan suddenly interjected, expressing her greater curiosity about the matter.

Because she simply couldn't understand the purpose of these people going to sea. You mean they were looking for new continents like them? Obviously not, their resources weren't enough to support such a big undertaking.

Going out to sea to fish is even more impossible now. Good heavens, can all this seafood be eaten? Just looking at her makes me physically uncomfortable... These people don't seem to have any more noses or eyes than them, they don't seem like the type who have to eat mutated seafood and then have genetic mutations.

"Well... it's because the Vatican issued a notice saying they were gathering people to fight the Sea God."

The middle-aged man thought for a moment and then told her, "We people on Silver Pine Island have shipbuilding skills, so we thought we'd give it a try... Actually, this was just an exercise, but we were unlucky enough to encounter a fish swarm."

"I wonder if this is a punishment sent down by the Sea God..."

"Poseidon?"

Xia Wuyou tilted her head. There was no such faith in the City of Night Sin. In "God's Descent," those were just hobbies of a niche group of players. She found the term novel.

"Ah, this must be a legend from our Hualan Empire?"

The middle-aged man explained, "It means..."

"So what materials did you use? You were able to build a ship capable of sailing using only wood?"

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by another curious child, Jiang Chengcheng, who asked, "How did you do that?"

This was her old profession, and upon hearing this, she could no longer remain calm. You have no idea how much hair this girl has lost while researching shipbuilding materials... Unfortunately, all the ships from earlier have been reduced to fragments, and not even a single sample can be retrieved. It's been incredibly agonizing.

"I……"

Faced with a barrage of questions from the crowd, the middle-aged man was also bewildered.

"Alright, you guys."

Xu Shi pulled them to the back, annoyed. "You're making such a racket... Whose question should I be answering?"

"How about this, you two rest first, and we can talk more after we take you back?"

He glanced at them briefly; there weren't many people from Silver Pine Island, only a dozen or so, and the command ship could easily accommodate them.

"...Thank you so much."

The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief. Actually, he was still feeling unwell, and being pestered with questions was really giving him a headache.

"By the way, I haven't yet asked my benefactor's name?"

He then remembered this and quickly apologized, asking as if it were an inappropriate request.

"My name is Xu Shi."

Xu Shi smiled and said, "He is the captain of this ship."

"My name is Pan Cheng, and I am the owner of Silver Pine Island."