Which One Is Here?

"You heard me! Speed! Speed! Speed!"

Engineering teams recruited from the Broken Isles traveled by heavy helicopter to other islands to continue building field airfields on the already occupied, open plains.

During these long hours, Kang De frequently returned to Earth, bringing back heavy machinery and vehicles. Road rollers were the most useful; a few road rollers could clear a temporary runway in a short time.

Then small passenger planes and transport planes carrying one or two hundred passengers can take off quickly.

In this massive evacuation, time is everything.

Regardless of the God of the Star Palace's schemes, and regardless of the origins of the soon-to-be-resurrected deep-sea monster, Kang De's sole purpose was to save the innocent people of the Broken Isles from death before it fully awakened—and after that, things were much easier.

His power is more suited to destruction and annihilation than to saving and doing good.

He has already begun replicating explosives and loading them into the Green-skinned Big Bomb. After all, modern conventional weapons prioritize accuracy and cost-effectiveness over power. So far, humanity's enemy is still humanity itself, and there is no need for conventional weapons with excessive power.

But Kang De needed it.

Therefore, he had to make it himself.

Born into a poor family, he couldn't compare to the extravagance of the wealthy. Compared to the precious high-precision materials and exquisite crystal designs used in many warheads from various countries, Kang De's homemade bomb could only make do with the shabby use of oil tankers and cement trucks as outer shells, filling them with plastic explosives borrowed from China, and then wrapping them with detonators.

Oh right, we also need to throw them into the River of Origin to soak the Paradox Element and give them a blessing.

See, destruction is always easier than construction. Kang De has prepared a hundred ways to destroy the God of the Star Palace or the giant deep-sea squid, but before that, he has to rescue all the tens of thousands of survivors here.

"In an hour and a half, most of Zhenhai Airport's transportation capacity will be diverted. Building an airport here is not a stopgap measure... because this place is very likely right above that deep-sea monster."

Kang De sighed, "The most terrifying thing is that the monster suddenly awakens—that's what I've been worried about all along, Horus, there are thousands of people gathered here."

"Father, don't worry. I've been keeping an eye on the underwater situation. There's also an emergency marine monitoring team working on it. The Broken Isles are doing a great job in this area; they have many professionals in the field."

The official explanation is that the Broken Isles have a unique and advantageous geographical location, and their wealth is so abundant that they have extremely strict requirements for security. Not only do they have world-renowned island defense systems such as super-heavy magical fortresses to resist enemy fleet attacks, but they also have specialized defense systems to guard against enemies attacking from underwater—such as sea monsters, sea spirits, and the like.

The real reason is quite obvious.

Knowing that an unimaginable, unparalleled sea monster lurked beneath the Broken Sea, the island lord panicked. So he secretly invested heavily in building a listening force to monitor any unusual activity in the deep sea.

This group has now surrendered to Kang De and is working for him, and is now playing a role.

Horus comforted him, saying, "Try to be optimistic."

To reassure its suspicious and anxious father, the Transformers projected a phantom image in front of Kang De, showing a map of the islands and the evacuation plan.

"My data shows that the situation is optimistic and things are developing in a positive direction."

Horus explained, "Although the God of the Star Palace is already using his mental power to manipulate the sea monsters to launch attacks in a more efficient and intelligent way, he had already wasted seven or eight precious hours before that. The mindless and inefficient attacks of the first eight hours not only caused him to lose a lot of minions and slowed down his recovery, but also gave us the opportunity to build a more complete defense system."

More than ten artillery positions have been established throughout the Broken Sea. They are of varying sizes and are all located in strategically important terrain that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. They can also support each other, and the area of artillery support is getting larger and larger. In order to save computing power, each artillery position adopts a semi-automated mode.

Soldiers who have undergone rapid training perform auxiliary tasks such as loading and clearing under the command and instructions of Horus. Horus's computing power is only used for data transmission and reception in the command link and for fire control aiming.

For Iron Son, this battle has completely turned into a war game.

It no longer personally visits every battlefield, but integrates all combat forces across the entire sea area, including fourteen artillery positions, eleven evacuation points, fifty-seven hot air balloon observation platforms, eight giant dragons, two hundred and forty elven air cavalry, seventy-five large and small magical fortresses and spellcasting units, into its war system. From discovery to destruction, it is merely a matter of receiving and sending information.

War forced rapid progress, from aerial observation platforms to ground-based detection magic devices. The "radar soldiers" from the Broken Isles became Horus's eyes and ears.

These professionals quickly got to work.

They use magic and magical devices to monitor the movements of sea monsters throughout the entire ocean, and report immediately upon discovery. Horus, after confirming the size of the enemy, the width of the battlefield, and the location, will decide how to strike and whether there are any combat units waiting nearby.

Then, commands are issued, coordinates are entered, and either a grenade rider descends from the sky and drops bombs, or a grenade launcher fires a barrage of attacks, unleashing death, or Flame-Particle Light Lance sweeps across the battlefield with unstoppable force.

From discovery to decision, it takes only a millisecond.

In this advanced, efficient, all-knowing, godlike form of warfare, the soldiers of the Combined Fleet and the surrendered troops from the Broken Isles, after initial astonishment, suffocation, fear, and shock, also strive to adapt to this entirely new form of combat... Real combat is the best teacher.

They have already been baptized by blood and fire.

As for the enemy?

"In this kind of war of advantage and superiority, it doesn't really matter whether the enemy commander is a brainless idiot or a seasoned and ever-victorious general."

Horus made a joke when explaining the conclusion.

"Of course, there are still differences, mainly in terms of mindset. The former won't feel overly frustrated because they're too weak and often get beaten, so they can face defeat with equanimity."

The Transformers said, "The latter will obviously doubt their existence and feel extremely frustrated, because this kind of defeat is too cruel—not a fault of their own, but with no hope of victory whatsoever."

For example, in the Battle of Xiangyang, Möngke was killed by Yang Guo with a stone. When the Mongols retreated, they might feel regret, resentment, or praise the enemy's bravery. They would remember this defeat deeply and vow to avenge it. All of this is normal because the defeat was one they could understand.

But what if the one appearing on the walls of Xiangyang wasn't the Condor Hero, but rather the Gatling Gun Bodhisattva...?

They probably wouldn't even have the thought of running away.

When the world's strongest armies in the era of cold weapons encountered a rotary machine gun firing 6,000 rounds per minute, the incomprehensible, unacceptable, and nightmarish collapse and defeat was something no one could accept.

Kang De had been increasingly busy during those two hours, leaving all the battle matters to Horus. Only when he heard the Iron Son report on the battle situation did he feel somewhat relieved.

He laughed and said, "So, how does that 'Brother Multiplayer' feel right now?"

"Brother Multiplayer" was a nickname given by Kang De to the God of the Star Palace —the island lord did not know the other party's name, after all, the gods in the heavens had no need to tell the mud race their names.

The reason he's called "Brother Multiplayer" is because Kang De Extraction a small part of the other's essence and deduced his abilities, which made him extremely envious.

And after becoming Fire Thief, he first conceived the idea of "I will gather and take it".

A misty illusion!

Not only can he make them incredibly lifelike, but they also have a realistic tactile quality. With this ability in his hands, he could rehearse every single little Liu Bei he had ever seen since childhood within a month.

--How can this guy be having so much fun!

Besides, it has many uses in life and career—though that's what he said, Kang De's mind was now filled with nothing but eroticism whenever he thought of this ability.

As for Horus's question about the soul...

In other words, if a portion of the power essence Extraction from the God of the Star Palace is transformed into a radiant wife, and then she is taken into one's body, is it considered having sex with one's wife, or having sex with the person being penetrated?

If it's the latter, then it's clear that Kang De had an improper relationship with that God of the Star Palace.

Kang De also gave the ultimate answer to this soul-searching question, "I capture him, Extraction him, shatter his body, annihilate his essence, obliterate his soul, dissolve him, destroy him, shatter him, and make him completely and utterly disappear from this world, then this person will no longer exist."

--If the God of the Star Palace knew that the real reason why this generation of Fire Thief harbored such resolute killing intent and determination to Extraction him was actually this, I wonder what he would think.

Horus replied, "Needless to say, he would be extremely angry, resentful, and ashamed, but I think that if the other side continues to collect and consume spiritual flesh and blood to revive..."

The Transformers paused for a moment, then sneered, "It seems he has no chance of reviving."

The charts before Kang De flickered and changed. "Our surveillance system covers the entire island, and it's almost certain that in the last two hours, it and its minions have probably not hunted down a single intelligent being."

Because of the complete construction of their own war system, this confrontation was a complete crushing of the backward by the advanced. The two sides had similar combat methods, both of which had a comprehensive view of the overall situation and then issued orders to the front-line combat units and launched attacks without any hindrance. However, there was a fundamental difference between the two.

Kang De frowned and said, "It ate a so-called heavenly deity, and it still needs flesh and blood?"

"Perhaps not, but I tend to think it is—if it has gained enough nourishment by devouring the God of the Star Palace, it should gather its forces and focus all its efforts on preparations for recovery, rather than being distracted and sending its minions to their deaths. You see, even now, its attempts have not ceased."

Iron Son said in a deep voice, "I'm even a little worried that if it can't get enough flesh and blood from here, but is extremely eager to revive, might it send its minions to secretly launch attacks on other areas?"

The Fire Thief pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "My intuition tells me it's unlikely. If it could still send its offspring all over the world even in its dormant state, it would have already made its move. If these little sea monsters were to multiply in large numbers and fill the world's oceans, global shipping would immediately cease, and no fleet could withstand their relentless onslaught for long..."

"So I tend to think that it is under some kind of restriction at this time and needs to be lifted immediately, and those little sea monsters cannot leave it for too long or too far... But this is ultimately just my idealistic guess."

He sighed, "Who knows what tricks these extraterrestrial enemies have up their sleeves? He said that sea monster even destroyed a Civilization, and I saw many horrific scenes in its soul fragments... Anyway, we won't let it go. Our top priority now is to rescue everyone on the Broken Isles."

"Things became much easier after the rescue."

Kang De gestured as if to chop, and said decisively, "If that deep-sea squid wakes up and surfaces, throw stones at it to kill it. If it doesn't revive and continues to play dead underwater, then we'll set off to find it."

Horus asked, "How do we find it? The deep sea has immense pressure and is incredibly dark. I remember you screaming with fear when you played in Subnautica, Father."

Kang De rolled his eyes and said, "Borrow a submarine from Earth, enchant and enhance it, sail it out to sea, sink it to search, attach a space beacon, and once we find it, it's doomed."

That's in the deep sea. Even without using any explosive weapons, simply opening a large Phase Gate would create terrifying water pressure as the most powerful weapon—massive amounts of seawater would surge into the White Mist World like high-pressure water jets, forming a terrifying whirlpool. As long as it's near a sea monster, even if that creature is enormous, it would eventually end up as someone whose butt is sucked into the drain of a bathtub.

At that time, Kang De, who was in the White Mist World and controlled the laws of space and time, had a hundred ways to extract the squid's internal organs and blood while it was still alive.

With the agreement reached, Kang De felt relieved.

Everything is back on track, both in the Broken Isles and in the Distant Harbor.

The three kingdoms have already sent replies, and an emergency expert team is on its way. Once this matter is resolved, Kang De will meet with the kings of the kingdoms and reveal the Star Palace's scheme to them.

Before that, he must save the people of the Broken Isles. If the deep-sea monster resurrects and reappears, he will gather the top military forces from another world to fight against this enemy of Civilization.

He had taken this very seriously, expecting it to be a fierce battle, but things went unexpectedly smoothly. The enemies of the Star Palace were repelled, and even after merging with the deep-sea monster, they could not escape being utterly defeated.

Horus's assessment is now extremely optimistic, believing that if things continue this way, they could even rescue all the survivors and bring them back to the Distant Harbor, while the sea monster would be unable to revive due to a lack of flesh and blood.

That's really good news.

"Then let's keep up the good work. At this rate, by dawn we'll have transported most of the survivors from the Broken Isles."

Kang De was about to say something when his expression suddenly changed. The signal generator, capable of transmitting information across the three realms, flashed a red light. He took it out and looked at it. "It's Hong San. He has some urgent business that isn't actually an emergency."

I'm going to Distant Harbor.

"Okay, I'll let you know if anything comes up."

Kang De nodded, bid farewell to Horus, and then remembered something else. "Right, we should still be on guard. What if some reckless idiot dares to trespass, or some little sea monsters run into the nearby waters to eat people... We've already taken all the food away from its mouth, let's not let some stupid [beep--] go and give it extra food."

"Clear."

The Phase Gate shone brightly, Kang De returned to the Distant Harbor.

It was past midnight, Distant Harbor was still brightly lit. The entire city was operating tirelessly. To ensure the continued stability of all work during this emergency, Hong San arranged a three-shift work system, which mobilized almost 60% to 80% of the Distant Harbor's workforce.

Upon seeing Kang De return, Hong San showed a look of joy; he was still working at the airport.

"What?" Kang De asked, "Have experts from the Three Kingdoms arrived? Or perhaps a special envoy or something?"

Hong San lowered his voice. "The Phoenix King is here..."

Kang De's voice rose an octave. "Who? Which one?"

￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥

PS1: Damn, I'm suddenly experiencing writer's block...

PS2: Hmph, I'll try this method—I won't be able to write before midnight tomorrow! Ugh! That's terrible!