That sea beast was pitiful too. Of all the people it could have provoked, it had to pick Andre, that hotheaded idiot. Despite its enormous size, Andre's barrage of punches and flying kicks had beaten it into a truly miserable state.
One of the horns on its head had been knocked clean off, its thick limbs twisted into bizarre pretzel shapes, and the hard scales on its body were clattering down one after another. That was not all—its left eye socket was swollen like a lantern, blood spreading far into the water. It wanted to flee but could not, and its pitiful whimpers had long lost their former ferocity.
Andre had entered bloodthirst mode. Gripping the sea beast's tail fin with both hands, he spun nonstop as if he had downed a pack of energy gum and simply could not stop. He was a refined man; what he could not stand most was being provoked by others... uh... other beasts.
Gus looked at Hua Zhen guiltily. "S-Sorry, Your Highness. I was careless and failed to keep an eye on him~"
"Get that dumbass thing back here already!" Hua Zhen, having reactivated the barrier, heaved with anger as he gritted his teeth and growled.
"I'm on it, Your Highness!" Afraid of getting caught in the crossfire, Gus answered and hurriedly swam toward Andre, who was about to go for a chokehold.
After that little incident, Hua Zhen had learned his lesson. He made Andre swim in front while he and Gus followed behind him, lest the guy cause more trouble.
Andre, meanwhile, paddled away diligently, his gaze cold and his expression flat. This was the look he always wore after Hua Zhen tore into him.
As the saying went: beneath the blue sky, standing on the earth, Brother Lie was born without a temper. If others cursed at him, he would not get mad; afterward, he would keep doing whatever he wanted. A true thick-skinned rascal.
"Ah, my poor brain~~" Hua Zhen clutched his chest. "If we were at home, I'd skin him alive before I'd take his surname!"
Gus sighed and consoled him, "Please do not be angry, Your Highness. A Lie has not been like this for just a day or two. Getting too angry is bad for your health~"
"Keep an eye on him later. Do not let him touch everything recklessly. If he fiddles with the energy accumulator and blows it up ahead of time..."
"Rest assured, Your Highness. This time, I guarantee I'll keep my eyes glued to him!"
Hearing that, Andre gave a disdainful snort, releasing a string of bubbles from his nose...
After diving for a while longer, Hua Zhen suddenly made a soft sound of surprise. In this seabed world that should have been utterly dark, a faint glimmer of light had appeared. The three maintained their speed and arrived at the light source in the blink of an eye.
In an instant, it was as though they had entered another world. Everywhere they looked was vibrant, dazzling, and breathtakingly beautiful.
This place possessed a beauty unlike that of space, so beautiful it stole one's breath and intoxicated the heart. Shimmering lights filled the surroundings. Coral-like plants gave off a soft glow, tinting the seawater like an evening sky. Tens of thousands of small fish gathered together and swam with the currents, like flocks of birds soaring through the heavens.
The deep-sea vegetation was huge and sturdy, crisscrossing like coiled dragons. Its tangled branches wound around the seabed's mountains and cliffs. Many strange-looking marine creatures bustled below, chasing and playing with one another. The bizarre spectacle gave them the illusion of being in a dream.
Suddenly, the surrounding waters became open again. The schools of fish that had been swimming happily scattered, and the frolicking seabed creatures hid in the gaps between the branches.
"Hm?" Hua Zhen frowned and looked in a certain direction.
"Rumble..."
In the distant waters, a gigantic sea beast resembling a majestic mountain range slowly swam toward them. Wherever it passed, seabed vegetation snapped and tore apart, leaving trails like those carved through grass by a giant python. Mountain rocks and cliff faces exploded in all directions along its path, its imposing momentum overwhelming.
This sea beast was extraordinarily fantastical in appearance. Its head was encased in a ring of savage exoskeleton, and its thick webbed limbs had two sharp bone spurs protruding from their elbows. With pointed fangs, a long slender tail, and a massive body that churned the seawater with thunderous noise, the beast Andre had battered earlier could not compare to it in size at all.
Clearly, it was the fiercest predator in these waters, and the other creatures consciously avoided it. The crisscrossing scars on its body were its proud medals. As usual, it was patrolling its territory.
Soon, Hua Zhen and the other two entered its sight. When it saw the three strange winged creatures, it actually revealed a human-like expression of disbelief.
The sea beast abruptly accelerated, its webbed limbs pushing through the water. In only a few strokes, it arrived near them and stopped. It moved an eyeball as large as a camper van before the three of them. After staring for a while, a hint of boredom flashed through its eyes. With a sweep of its long tail, it swam away.
Gus glanced at Andre from the corner of his eye, while Andre stared sidelong at Hua Zhen expressionlessly.
"Hmph!" Hua Zhen snorted. "We have wasted enough time. According to the location Ya Erman gave us, the Research Base is on the seabed three kilometers below. Continue the descent!"
As everyone knew, the seabed referred to the surface of the crust formed by oceanic plates. It was very similar to land terrain, with high mountains and deep valleys, gentle slopes and plains, gullies and ridges. Felinton Super Gene's Research Base had been built on a vast plain on the seabed.
From far away, they could see an enormous structure there, black as its dominant color and blended into the surrounding scenery. Several kilometers around it stood a ring of strangely shaped circular platform-like devices. Light radiating from the centers of those platforms formed a hemispherical cover that kept the heavy seawater outside.
From Ya Erman, they had learned that these devices were called Water Boundary Separation Devices. Not only could they extract oxygen from the seawater to supply the base, but more importantly, they could emit pulsed microwaves to drive away large seabed creatures.
After passing through the cover, Hua Zhen withdrew the Dark Energy Barrier and took a deep breath. Just as he was about to give the order to begin, his peripheral vision caught Andre striking a Terminator pose. His face immediately darkened. "Quit posing like a damn idiot! Get up and put your clothes on!"
"Oh~"
Gus shook his head helplessly, walked over to Andre, and handed him his clothes. At the same time, he hauled out Andre's enormous broadsword as well...
The three had never considered sneaking in secretly. Confident in their own abilities, they made no attempt to hide and flew openly toward the structure.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
They had not flown far when the guards stationed there reacted. Hua Zhen raised a hand to signal Gus and Andre to stop, narrowing his eyes at the dozen or so figures flying out from the structure.
The Mecha Guardians were the first line of defense Ke Li and the other leaders had left behind here. The jet devices beneath their feet compressed and released air, granting them the powerful thrust needed for aerial combat. After a burst of whistling, they quickly arrived before Hua Zhen's group and surrounded them.
"Scanning targets..." An icy synthesized electronic voice came from one Mecha Guardian. At the same time, its compound-eye device emitted a red beam that scanned Hua Zhen and the others from head to toe.
Hua Zhen folded his arms and looked them over with interest. Was this the technology from those Ancient Civilization Ruins? There was nothing particularly remarkable about it, was there?
"No matching personnel found in the data archive... Identified as intruders. Switching to combat mode. Eliminate!"
The Mecha Guardians' voices rang out again. As the words fell, their formerly azure compound eyes turned a dangerous red. A fierce battle was on the verge of erupting...
Before you continue