Chapter 867: Prepare for Battle

After reporting to Zhu Zheng, Zhang Yi immediately knew what to do.

He turned and walked away.

Zhu Yunque hurriedly grabbed his sleeve. "Zhang Yi, what should we do next? Is there anything I can help with?"

Zhang Yi glanced back at her. "If you don’t come to make things worse, that’s already the biggest help you can give me!"

Zhu Yunque’s face stiffened, and she silently let go, feeling ashamed.

"But," Zhang Yi suddenly said, "this matter is not so simple."

"If something special happens, I will indeed need your help. But that might require a bigger sacrifice from you. Are you willing?"

Zhu Yunque thought about it. Throughout this journey, she hadn’t really done much useful.

Sacrifice? With Zhang Yi around, there was no way she would actually get hurt.

After all, she was Zhu Zheng’s own niece!

So she nodded, "Yes, I’m willing."

A meaningful smile appeared at the corner of Zhang Yi’s mouth.

She probably didn’t yet realize that kind of sacrifice meant she would become a pawn to be eliminated by Zhang Yi.

"In any case, I will do my best to avoid such a situation!"

Zhang Yi smiled faintly, then vanished from where he stood.

The next moment, he appeared in the middle cabin.

Someone was in the hallway here and was startled to see Zhang Yi suddenly appear.

Zhang Yi ignored their shocked looks, strode to the room where Li Zongyu was, and pushed the door open.

"Li Zongyu, come with me!"

Ignoring the astonished gazes around, Zhang Yi grabbed Li Zongyu’s arm and pulled him out of the room.

Once outside, Zhang Yi got straight to the point. "Now, you have to tell me everything about that yellow stone. We’re in big trouble, and I must ensure no leaks."

After Zhang Yi’s explanation, Li Zongyu quickly understood what was happening.

His face was full of surprise and worry, but shortly after, he nodded. "I understand. I will tell you everything I know!"

At this point, he had no choice but to trust Zhang Yi.

"That stone, I found it in a place called Mist Valley on Star Island..."

Li Zongyu revealed everything about the mysterious yellow stone.

Mist Valley was located in the southeast of Star Island. It was a vast valley.

Because the area was shrouded in fog and the terrain was dangerous, it was a favorite destination for adventurers.

Previously, Li Zongyu went camping there with his girlfriend and accidentally discovered a mysterious yellow light source deep in a mountain stream in Mist Valley.

At midnight, the light cast made the entire stream glow with a translucent yellow.

Out of curiosity, he went deeper into the valley and found a terrifyingly deep fissure beneath, as if leading underground.

It was nighttime, so he didn’t dare approach to investigate further.

However, when he returned the next day, everything from the previous night had vanished in an instant — even the deep ravine seemed to have never existed.

Just when he thought it was all a dream, he saw a small piece of fluorescent stone glowing yellow in the stream.

At that time, Li Zongyu didn’t know what it was for.

He just picked it up out of curiosity and placed it in the box where he kept small personal trinkets.

"I had no idea then how powerful it was. Otherwise..."

Regret filled Li Zongyu’s face.

Back then, the apocalypse hadn’t come yet. He had no idea how significant the Divine Source was.

Just a small stone imbued with energy awakened his superhuman ability.

If he had fully obtained the complete Divine Source, no one could say how powerful he would become.

This was the first time Zhang Yi had heard someone describe the Divine Source in detail.

Unfortunately, Li Zongyu hadn’t really seen the true form of the Divine Source either.

"Where exactly did that thing come from? The only certainty is that it appeared underground."

Since the apocalypse, too many unbelievable things had happened in this world.

The appearance of the Divine Source even altered Zhang Yi’s worldview.

It felt like the apocalypse was not merely an accident.

"Star Island, Mist Valley..."

Zhang Yi noted down the location.

"You all stay on the ship! Don’t ask too many questions about other matters."

Zhang Yi told Li Zongyu to return to the cabin.

As for warning Li Zongyu not to speak when the Columbus Navy appeared, it was meaningless now.

Others on the ship surely already knew about this.

So Zhang Yi wouldn’t give them a chance.

Either everyone leaves together,

Or...

Watching Li Zongyu’s retreating back, Zhang Yi silently thought: You will all be buried in this endless icy ocean!

...

Zhang Yi went to the control room. Old Tian and the crew were already prepared for battle, each wearing bulletproof vests and carrying submachine guns.

Seeing Zhang Yi arrive, everyone immediately shouted, "Mr. Zhang!"

"How much longer until we arrive?"

"About three minutes."

"Good. Don’t be too nervous. Just do your jobs. I will handle this."

Against the Columbus warship, these ordinary soldiers wouldn’t be very effective.

Meanwhile, on the Copernicus warship,

The captain was Navy Lieutenant Colonel Klean Connor.

After receiving orders from headquarters, he immediately ordered the Copernicus to head toward the Golden Edge.

Connor stood in the command center with his hands behind his back. Seeing the Golden Edge had already stopped, he nodded with satisfaction.

"An icebreaker from the Huaxu Kingdom sailing alone on the sea is indeed very suspicious. I can’t imagine civilian forces capable of such a long-range maritime voyage."

"They must be hiding something. Prepare for battle!"

Connor’s senses were sharp. Based on his experience, this ship definitely had something off.

The Copernicus’s torpedo bay was already open. If anything went wrong, they would launch high-speed torpedoes immediately.

In the ocean, such weapons were extremely powerful and hard to counter manually.

Even if there were superhumans on the ship, once the ship was destroyed, it would likely lose combat capability—except for those with ocean-based powers.

Still, Connor did not order the missile launch bay opened.

In his view, unless facing an especially powerful enemy, there was no reason to waste valuable missile resources.

Times were different now. After the Ice Age began, even Columbus’s military industry suffered greatly.

Advanced weapon production slowed drastically, and transporting them across the ocean to Neon’s Ropefly Island was very difficult.

Therefore, every missile counted and had to be conserved.

"Kurim, take your men and board the ship for inspection."

Connor said to a man beside him dressed in heavy military gear.

The man had a hooked nose, pale blue eyes, and ghastly pale skin, giving off an eerie vibe.

He was Navy Major Barot Kurim.

Author's Note