Riot
The main reason Xiang Kun was able to find Brother Kui and the others' boat so quickly was that he successfully combined the thunderstorm environment caused by "Electric Flight" with the "Oxygen-Saving Mode" in the water.
While in the water, Xiang Kun also used the "Super-Linked Object" to "activate" and "Electric Flight," which in turn gave him a stronger range of perception and control in the water.
In that stirred-up storm, the waves were like water that Xiang Kun had filled in his own basin and stirred up himself, possessing great control over them; they could rise and fall as he pleased, and grow as big as he wanted.
The sky and the earth seem to be connected by a storm. Because of the rain and enough water vapor, it can gain a super strong sense of water in the "Oxygen-Saving Mode" and spread out of the seawater, sweeping through the places the storm goes.
In this state, the storm he stirs up does not consume energy as quickly as when he is "Electric Flight". It lasts for a longer time and is propelled by him to move rapidly in a certain direction, just like a personal "domain" or "buff". He can also take advantage of the momentum to greatly increase his swimming speed underwater.
The storm that "Brother Kui" and the others saw from afar was stirred up by Xiang Kun.
After Xiang Kun discovered "Brother Kui" and his group's ship and, based on his initial assessment, believed he had found their target, he proactively and quickly activated the storm's energy. This is why, when "Brother Kui" and the others saw the storm, lightning surged, making it appear as if a terrifying and violent storm was about to strike.
After releasing the remaining energy in a short time, the storm subsided, Xiang Kun had already arrived at the bottom of "Brother Kui" and the others' boat.
Xiang Kun did not board the ship immediately; instead, he used force to kill everyone and rescue Xia Tianhuo.
He is fully capable of doing it, but doing so would lead to many unspeakable issues later on. Xia Tianhuo might face a lot of investigations after returning, and could potentially get into some trouble.
Therefore, Xiang Kun's method was to treat the ship as a whole, arrange dozens of "Super-Linked Object" beads, and guide the fear projection of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" to descend, affecting the people on the ship and making them "judge" themselves.
Xiang Kun has now figured out the pattern of how fear projection affects people very well. It is just a spark, a trigger. The fuel is each person's different psychology, what they fear, and their attitude towards fear.
Ultimately, how big the flame gets, how it burns, and whether it even explodes, depends on the type and amount of fuel.
Based on his extensive experience in projecting emotions, Xiang Kun knew that to maximize the impact of fear, the people on the boat should first experience the same type of emotion before the emotion projection.
So he first used his control over water to restrict the ship's movement on the water's surface, and then, through the influence of "Super-Linked Object," he shut off the ship's engine and stopped the power supply, putting it in a strange state of stillness, thus instilling a sense of fear of the unknown and the eerie in the people on board.
Next, the projection of fear from the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" arrives.
The more bad things someone has done, the more hypocritical they are, the more secrets they keep, and the more they are affected by fear.
Even those who are usually ruthless and decisive in their actions, feeling no remorse or unease about their evil deeds, and who have their own theories and reasons to convince themselves, all have fear in their hearts, even if they themselves are unaware of it.
Under the influence of the fear projected by the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving," the inner fears that are triggered are the most impactful, especially if they are usually hidden. All the reasons and perceptions that convince oneself will collapse instantly, forcing one to confront those feelings that one is usually unwilling to admit.
The enormous "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster" illusion they saw was the "battering ram" that broke through their psychological defenses.
The most powerful aspect of emotional projection lies in its sustained emotional impact; once the "fuel" is ignited, it continues to "burn."
Of all the people affected, the one most was clearly "Brother Kui".
He is inherently a rather selfish and suspicious person, and the current environment and the situation they are facing will only intensify these emotions.
The actions of others, influenced by emotional projections, further amplify his suspicion, stimulate his emotions, and make his behavior even more radical.
Then Xiang Kun took the opportunity to guide the conversation through the "Super-Linked Object," for example, by secretly turning on the radio.
As a result, the emotions of everyone on the ship exploded, as if a chemical accelerant had been added.
If Xiang Kun wouldn't even need to board the ship. He could continue causing trouble in the water using the "Super-Linked Object" orbs he had placed on the ship, until they had completely finished their "self-judgment".
But his main objective this time was to save Xia Tianhuo, so he had to get on the ship to ensure that the people on board who were "ignited" by the "projection of fear" would not affect Xia Tianhuo when they did all sorts of extreme things.
He didn't need to stay in Xia Tianhuo's cabin; as long as he was on the boat, he was confident he could stop anyone from making a threatening move.
Just like in that junkyard in Montamira, Xiang Kun is now playing a 2D game with an open map, only the map has been moved to a ship.
He could perceive and calculate what everyone was doing, their current state, their possible trends of action, and the overall direction of the situation.
More than twenty minutes later, "Brother Kui," who had run out of bullets in his revolver, crawled toward the stern of the boat, covered in cold sweat and clutching his stomach, with a long trail of blood flowing beneath him.
He had been stabbed more than a dozen times, and his body was like a punctured water bag, with blood constantly flowing out.
All of these dozen or so stab wounds were inflicted by the tall, thin young man known as "Little Five," who is currently being entangled by Scarface, and his condition is unknown.
In terms of skill, ruthlessness, and fighting techniques, Scarface was far superior to Little Five. Even if Little Five was armed with a knife and got entangled, Scarface might still be able to turn the tables and kill him.
But the problem is...
Scarface was shot—and it was "Brother Kui" who fired the shot.
After the Burmese on the ship began to "revolt," the kidnapper left on the deck was quickly seriously injured by three Burmese crew members. When "Brother Kui" arrived with a gun, another melee ensued. He finally managed to kill all three Burmese with four shots, but he was also grazed on the shoulder by a fire axe.
While checking on the Burmese, "Brother Kui" suddenly noticed Scarface acting strangely and lunging at him. Instinctively, he felt that this subordinate who had followed him for many years wanted to take this opportunity to kill him. His mind flashed back to the conflicts he had had with Scarface over the years, and he thought of Scarface's sinister and fierce expression. So he raised his hand and fired a shot at Scarface.
After Scarface was shot, "Brother Kui" felt a numbness in his waist and then realized that he had been stabbed.
The other henchman, "Little Five," who had just smashed his head and verbally abused him in the driver's seat, was now stabbing him repeatedly in the stomach with a straight knife, his expression ferocious and his state insane.
He then realized that Scarface hadn't lunged at him to harm him, but rather had seen "Little Five's" actions and was trying to stop him.
However, he only had five bullets left in his revolver, and now that he had fired them all, he was being held down and stabbed by "Little Five," and could only scream and struggle.
In the end, it was still the scarred man who had been shot who rushed over and fought with "Little Five," giving him a chance to escape.
Lying on the ground, "Brother Kui" knew very well that he had been stabbed so many times and was so badly injured that even if he were taken to the hospital immediately and put into the ICU, he would basically die. Moreover, he was at sea and in such a situation.
He was crawling, struggling, simply trying to escape, to get further away from "Little Five" who wanted to kill him.
In fact, he didn't know where he was going to climb.
Brother Kui grew colder and weaker, but the pain slowly subsided. However, he still held onto the empty revolver in his hand.
Knowing he was about to die, "Brother Kui's " fear, tension, and panic slowly disappeared, and scenes from the past began to replay in his mind.
It wasn't footage of any major, pivotal event, nor of how many cases he committed, how much money he made, how many people flattered and fawned over him, how many followers and loyalists he had, or how many people were afraid and terrified of him. Rather, it was footage of things he would never have thought of or paid any attention to in the past.
Early in the morning, he was eating noodles by the roadside in his hometown, listening to the chatter of the uncles and aunties next to him, and watching the hurried pedestrians rushing to work and school on the street;
It's like sitting in the back seat of a car traveling on a winding mountain road, with the window open, enjoying the cool mountain breeze;
He had been hitting the sandbag for over ten minutes, panting heavily, and gulping down cold boiled water.
It was a little after 3 a. m. I had finished having a late-night snack with some brothers and went outside. I looked up at the stars and the bright moon in the sky.
He felt that his life would be meaningless and uninteresting if it wasn't spectacular, if he didn't achieve great feats with his sword, drive the most luxurious cars, and sleep with the most beautiful women. He believed that success was built on the bones of countless others, and that people only cared about the results, not how ruthlessly you achieved your goals.
But now I suddenly realize that my previous ideas were a joke, and I never found out what I really wanted.
He slowly moved to the stern of the ship. A thought struck him, and he subconsciously looked up. In the place he and Scarface had searched before, the spot where the eight-armed, eight-eyed sea monster illusion had boarded the ship, a bald man wearing only shorts was sitting on the gunwale, looking at him indifferently.
Is this... the person who came to claim my soul?
After that final thought flashed through his mind, his pupils gradually dilated, his heart stopped beating, and he fell silent.
Half a minute later, staggering footsteps sounded, and a tall, thin young man holding a bloodstained military knife, clutching his lower abdomen, walked over, leaning against the ship's bulkhead. It was "Brother Kui," the one who had stabbed "Kui Little Five" more than a dozen times.
Clearly, he was the ultimate victor in his struggle with Scarface.
Even with the knife in his hand and Scarface already shot, he was still wounded by Scarface before he died. Judging from the blood gushing from between his hands as he clutched his abdomen, the injury was quite serious.
He walked over and, without saying a word, started stabbing "Brother Kui" in the chest while he was lying on the ground. But after stabbing him several times, he realized that "Brother Kui" was not moving and that the man was dead.
He slumped to the ground, then noticed that "Brother Kui" seemed to be smiling, and his open eyes were looking towards the stern of the boat.
He looked up, but there was nothing special in that direction.
After resting for a while, Little Five clutched his abdominal wound, endured the pain, got up, first went to the wheelhouse to stop the boat, then went down to the cabin and walked to the place where Xia Tianhuo was being held.
Unbeknownst to him, as he walked through the ship's passageway, a figure was following him at a leisurely pace, barefoot on the ground without making a sound.
Although Xia Tianhuo wasn't hooded like he was at the scrap yard, his eyes were still covered with a cloth. Fortunately, his mouth wasn't gagged, which made it much easier for him to breathe.
Since being kidnapped, he has only eaten a few pieces of dried meat and drunk very little water, and his body is now extremely weak.
Not only was he deprived of food and drink, but most importantly, even urinating was difficult. Especially after boarding the ship, the kidnappers deliberately prevented him from urinating, forcing him to hold it in until he could no longer, at which point he could only urinate directly in his pants. As a result, the cabin where he was being held now reeks of urine mixed with various other stenches, making it extremely unpleasant.
Under this kind of personal humiliation and attack, coupled with his previous suspicion that the other party would likely kill him regardless of whether they received the ransom, Xia Tianhuo was constantly looking for an opportunity to fight them to the death.
He was in the cabin when the ship suddenly stopped, and he could feel it too.
At first, he thought the ship had stopped and was nervously waiting for someone to take him aboard so he could find a chance to resist.
But he soon realized something was wrong. Even though they had docked, the ship shouldn't be so stable anymore. It seemed like they had changed from water to land, and the surroundings seemed to have fallen into an eerie silence. The sound of the waves disappeared, and the ship's engine stopped. He could even vaguely hear people shouting on the deck and running around. It was a very strange and unreal feeling.
Then the sounds became even more chaotic, which surprised him. He didn't know what was happening above, but he vaguely heard something gnawing at the hull, and there seemed to be some unknown beast growling.
For some reason, he remembered a time when he was a child, playing with his friends on the rooftop, and being accidentally pushed by one of his companions, almost falling off the roof.
If he hadn't grabbed the railing, and if his companion hadn't quickly called for an adult to pull him up, he probably would have died from the fall.
At that moment, listening to all sorts of chaotic shouts outside, he felt for some reason that he would be thrown into the sea by the kidnappers, and his body would sink continuously. At the bottom of the sea was a monster with a huge mouth and a body so large that it was impossible to see its full appearance, waiting for him to fall in.
It wasn't until a gunshot rang out that he was jolted awake from his fantasy.
Gunshots rang out continuously. He didn't know what the kidnappers were doing, and his mind started to race. Could it be that they had received a tip back home, contacted the authorities, and then used some special method to pinpoint his location before sending special forces to storm the site and rescue him?
Feeling a mix of anticipation and trepidation, I finally heard footsteps approaching.
He sensed the other man breathing heavily, his footsteps erratic, stumbling into the cabin. He then used a knife to cut the ropes binding his hands and feet, and collapsed to the ground.
After his hands and feet were freed, Xia Tianhuo removed the blindfold himself and saw a tall, thin young man lying weakly on the ground, holding a knife in one hand and clutching his stomach with the other, covered in blood and sweat, looking at him.
"You... what's going on?" Xia Tianhuo was also a little confused. After checking the situation outside the door and finding no one else, he returned and squatted down next to the tall, thin young man, asking, "How did you get on the ship? Where are the kidnappers? How many of you are there?"
Clearly, he believed that the tall, thin, injured young man had boarded the ship to rescue him. Although he didn't quite fit the image of the special forces "king of soldiers" he had just imagined, the man had indeed saved him.
"I... I want to go back to China," the tall, thin young man, nicknamed "Little Five," gasped for breath. "You... you go back, please... please plead for me... I want to turn myself in... I didn't... I... I did something good, I want my sentence reduced... I want to go home..."
Upon hearing the Mandarin spoken with a heavy Guihai accent, Xia Tianhuo immediately recognized that this was also one of the kidnappers from before.
This left him bewildered and suspicious. Was this infighting among the kidnappers?
Xia Tianhuo quickly asked, "Where are the others? Where are the ones with guns? What happened up there?"
"Little Five" was clearly already somewhat delirious, muttering, "Dead... they're all dead... I did good deeds... I got a reduced sentence... There... there was a sea monster... No... It's a hallucination... No, it's not... it's not a hallucination... It's real... it's real... it's huge... so many eyes... so many hands... it's real..."
The sound grew fainter and fainter, the eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and "Little Five" slowly fell silent.
After checking Little Five's pulse and breathing, Xia Tianhuo found that he was still breathing and had not died. He quickly laid him down gently, checked the wound on his abdomen, took off his coat, and used it to bandage and press the wound to stop the bleeding. Then, he took his military knife, got up, and left the cabin.
Upon reaching the deck, seeing the bloodstains everywhere and the gruesome corpses, even Xia Tianhuo, who was mentally prepared, was stunned for a long time before coming back to his senses.
He first checked all parts of the boat and confirmed that there were a total of eight people on board. Six of them were already dead, leaving only him and the tall, thin young man who was seriously injured.
Of course, he didn't realize that there were nine people on the boat, not eight, and Xiang Kun was always keeping a distance from him.
After Xia Tianhuo entered the cockpit, he skillfully used the satellite phone to contact someone he knew, quickly and simply explained the situation, and followed the other party's instructions to start operating the equipment in the cockpit. After changing the course, Xiang Kun felt relieved.
He knew that Xia Tianhuo had experience in shipping and should have some basic understanding of the equipment on ships. Now it seemed that at least with all the crew members dead, he wouldn't be completely immobilized on the ship.
Xiang Kun had just realized that Xia Tianhuo was also affected by some of the fear projections from the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving," which was somewhat unexpected.
Based on his past experience, emotional projection needs to be activated through direct sensory influence, with vision being the most influential sensory organ.
Xia Tianhuo was locked in the lower cabin, and normally he would be almost unaffected or only minimally affected.
Clearly, with the continuous improvement of Xiang Kun's various abilities and the constant iteration of the "Super-Sensing Item System," the influence of the corresponding emotional projection is also being strengthened in all aspects.
Fortunately, Xia Tianhuo is a straightforward person and was not greatly affected.
After Xia Tianhuo retrieved the first-aid kit from the wheelhouse and returned to the cabin to help "Little Five," Xiang Kun went back into the water, intending to swim back himself.
Based on Xia Tianhuo's communication with his contacts, he will first reach the nearest coast of Myanmar, where someone will pick him up. After that, everything should be fine, and he should be able to return to China soon. By then, the person he was in contact with should have also informed the Xia family of the situation.
Of course, just to be on the safe side, he left one of the "Super-Linked Object" beads in Xia Tianhuo's pocket before leaving.
Using the location tracking Super-Linked Object that was placed next to Xiang Kun phone, Xiang Kun returned to the place where the river flowed into the sea just as the sun was setting. After going ashore, he found the clothes and phone he had hidden, put on his clothes and shoes, and then hired a car to go to Montamira.
This rescue operation was highly efficient. Most of the time was spent on investigation and travel, and the actual "rescue" process took less than an hour. Moreover, they did not expose themselves. If he were to rate his actions, Xiang Kun would give them an 8 out of 10.
Of course, two points should go to Alice; without her help, we probably wouldn't have been able to find our target so quickly.
After completing the rescue mission, Xiang Kun planned to sneak back into the country along the same route, buying a plane ticket from the city he came from. This way, his travel records would be more normal, and he was familiar with the route, so it was less likely to cause any unexpected problems.
Normally, his blood-drinking period should be late tonight, around 11 or 12 o'clock.
Given his abilities, and his capacity to sense Lao Xia's extremely calm and rational emotions through "Emotion-Infused Object," it should be quite safe for him to hold out for another twenty-odd hours, or even a day.
In the middle of the night, Xiang Kun arrived in Montamira. The driver was exhausted and wanted to stay and rest, Xiang Kun didn't plan to call another car. Instead, he ran towards the border overnight.
But to his surprise, before he even left Montamira, a massive riot broke out in the city.
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