The Chinese fleet sailed in the nearby waters for two days, also contacting the headquarters in Yanjing to use satellite scans of the sea surface, hoping to find traces of the sea snake. Although the hope was slim, they had to search. After all, espers could create miracles, and perhaps the two were still alive.
However, the heavens did not cooperate. A storm struck the sea, and satellites could not detect the situation at sea. After two days of searching, the fleet still could not find Shen Feng.
The people on the fleet intended to announce the sacrifice of Shen Feng and Yue Hengyi, but Guo Pinming and Qi Lingshan vehemently opposed it. Before Shen Feng's body was found, Shen Feng might not have sacrificed himself.
As a last resort, the fleet had to announce that Shen Feng and Yue Hengyi were missing.
Despite this, everyone knew that no one swallowed by sea beasts had ever survived. The reason Shen Feng's body was not found was likely that it had been digested by the sea snake, and Guo Pinming's stubbornness was merely to gain psychological comfort.
Finally, Guo Pinming chose to contact Yuzhou to inquire about the next steps. Primarily, Chang Haojie was still unconscious. His brain had suffered a blow, and there was a tumor in the cranial region, obstructing blood flow. As a result, Chang Haojie had not woken up. If left untreated, Chang Haojie was also in grave danger.
Chu Chaoyan heard the entire incident in the communication room in Yuzhou. She was heartbroken and could not accept the fact that Shen Feng was missing. However, they had been searching for two days and found nothing, which indicated that Shen Feng was unlikely to return.
"You all come back first, and try to provide emergency treatment for Xiao Jie on your way back!" Chu Chaoyan said, choking back tears. "No one else can die now. Xiao Jie is the hope of Yuzhou. Protecting him and bringing him back to Yuzhou is your mission now!"
Guo Pinming could only reply, "Understood. We guarantee the mission will be completed!"
After hanging up the phone, Chu Chaoyan slumped onto the table and cried. She dared not cry too loudly, fearing that her sobs would attract attention.
Just then, there was a knock on the door of the communication room, and someone urgently called out, "Madam, news from the hospital, Deputy City Lord Chang is about to give birth. Please go and see!"
Chu Chaoyan was filled with grievances, confusion, and heartache. She had just received the bad news about Shen Feng, and now another urgent matter had arisen. She had to wipe away her tears, her eyes red, and leave the City Lord's Mansion, heading towards the hospital.
Never before had Chu Chaoyan felt so lost. When the apocalypse descended, Chu Chaoyan could rely on her grandfather. With her grandfather around, she had someone to lean on. Later, when her grandfather died, she could still rely on Shen Feng. But unexpectedly, Shen Feng was now in trouble, disappearing without a trace on the vast ocean, most likely dead. Thus, Chu Chaoyan had lost everyone she could rely on.
Moreover, Chang Jianyi was in labor, and Chu Chaoyan had no one to confide in. She could only wipe her tears and walk silently towards the hospital.
Chu Chaoyan sat outside the delivery room in a daze. A doctor comforted her, "Madam, our hospital's Dr. Liu has been delivering babies for over twenty years. Don't worry, the baby will be born smoothly."
"Is that so? That's great!" Chu Chaoyan said expressionlessly.
Under normal circumstances, Chu Chaoyan would have been very happy, as this was Shen Feng's child about to be born. But at this moment, Chu Chaoyan could not be happy at all. Her heart was still in the Southern Hemisphere, her mind a mess, always thinking of Shen Feng being swallowed by sea beasts.
The doctors and nurses saw Chu Chaoyan's state and did not dare to ask further. They thought she was jealous that Chang Jianyi was having a child. In the harem, competition for favor was common; this was normal.
Guo Pinming and Qi Lingshan stayed by Chang Haojie's bedside. Although there were doctors on the ship, there were no conditions for surgery. The doctors could only make diagnoses but could not treat the unconscious Chang Haojie.
Finally, a haggard Li Keyi came to the bedside and began to examine Chang Haojie. Her palm began to glow, successfully locating the tumor in Chang Haojie's head. Then, Gong Changfa also arrived and used a particle stream to shatter the tumor in Chang Haojie's head, clearing the blood vessels. Blood flow was restored, and two hours later, Chang Haojie slowly woke up.
"Brother-in-law? Where is my brother-in-law?" Chang Haojie's first thought upon waking was to find Shen Feng. He trusted his brother-in-law, the great hero, the most. As long as he saw Shen Feng, he would not worry.
Guo Pinming quickly said, "Young Master, the City Lord is not here now. Please focus on your recovery."
"Then where did he go?" Chang Haojie continued to ask.
Guo Pinming and Qi Lingshan could not answer and remained silent.
Chang Haojie had a bad premonition. He had long heard the saying that fate is determined by heaven, but he did not believe it now. His brother-in-law was a great hero; he could not be in trouble, absolutely not!
Seeing that Chang Haojie had finally recovered, Li Keyi chose to return to her room. She had not slept for two days because whenever she closed her eyes, Shen Feng's voice and appearance would appear in her mind, as if Shen Feng were sending her a dream. However, before Li Keyi could speak, a giant mouth would suddenly appear and swallow Shen Feng whole.
Li Keyi could not sleep and ate very little, becoming visibly thinner. Qin Kepei was similar. She could still hear Yue Hengyi's solemn vows in her ears, as if his words would surely come true, but now, Qin Kepei would never see Yue Hengyi again.
"If only I had agreed to his proposal. Now that he's dead and I'm still alive, wouldn't that mean he died with his eyes open?" Qin Kepei felt a pang of regret.
And the person they should be most grateful to for surviving this time was actually An Daofu. In his most desperate moment, he used his ability to directly trigger the fracture of the seabed strata. Countless poisonous gases erupted from underground, forcing the sea beasts to stay away from the toxic waters, thus saving them.
It was a pity that An Daofu, in his early twenties, now looked like the oldest person on the ship, with a face full of wrinkles and completely bald. His body was slightly hunched. Anyone who saw him at first glance would think he was an old man, but he was only in his twenties!
Beside An Daofu, the blonde and blue-eyed Natalie was always taking care of him, which helped the exhausted An Daofu recover considerably. The two stood together as if they were grandfather and granddaughter, but in reality, they were lovers.
...
Meanwhile, Shen Feng and Yue Hengyi were swallowed by the sea snake because they failed to dodge in time. In desperation, Shen Feng quickly used "Wind King Barrier," and the thick and sturdy barrier immediately enveloped him and Yue Hengyi. Under the peristalsis of the sea snake's muscles, Shen Feng and Yue Hengyi were directly swallowed into its stomach.
After being swallowed into the stomach, Shen Feng and Yue Hengyi stayed within the barrier. The surroundings were filled with stomach acid. If the "Wind King Barrier" were to be removed, there was no doubt that they would be corroded by the stomach acid.
"Damn it, you little scoundrel, are you still not done screwing me over? If you hadn't blocked me, I would have dodged the sea snake's attack long ago!" Shen Feng couldn't help but curse Yue Hengyi. It was because of Yue Hengyi's faulty ability earlier that his parachute on his back broke. Now, Yue Hengyi had blocked Shen Feng's path again, implicating Shen Feng twice in a row. Shen Feng couldn't help but have an opinion.
Yue Hengyi was also helpless and said, "In the heat of battle, who can say for sure? Now is not the time to shift blame. Let's think of a way to get out, what do you say?"
Shen Feng sneered. It was pitch black all around, and he couldn't see anything. There was no doubt that he and Yue Hengyi were still inside the sea snake. "The blame was yours to begin with, so you carry it! As for the current situation, I have no good ideas. It's all up to you now!"
Shen Feng's advantage was his powerful combat ability in open areas, such as on land or in the sky. However, being inside the sea snake's stomach, and not for the protection of the Wind King Barrier, they would have already been dissolved by stomach acid. The air around them was scarce. How could they exert their strength now?
Yue Hengyi rubbed his shoulder, feeling the intense pain all over his body, and said, "How about this, we go through the back door!"
"Go through the back door? What back door?" Shen Feng asked, confused.
Yue Hengyi quickly explained, "I mean, this sea snake will definitely excrete. Shen Feng, hold on. When the sea snake excretes, we can get out. What do you think?"
"Not good!" Shen Feng flatly refused. "To go out through the back door, my lifelong reputation will be ruined! Scholars have said that a person's body cannot crawl out of a dog's hole. I'll tell you now, how can a person's body go out through the back door?"
Yue Hengyi couldn't help but persuade Shen Feng, "My dear brother, endure for a moment and the storm will pass. Take a step back and the sea and sky will be wide open! Even Confucius was trapped between Chen and Cai, and Jiang Taigong was fishing in Wei River at seventy. This shows that a true man can bend and stretch!"
Yue Hengyi was now persuading Shen Feng, speaking eloquently. It was indeed a nineteen-year-old youth with a quick mind.
"Heh, it's easy for you to say. I can hold on for a day or two, but the oxygen won't last that long. In another two hours, the oxygen in the barrier will be almost depleted!" Shen Feng finally revealed the most fatal problem: lack of oxygen!
If the oxygen were sufficient, Shen Feng would have been persuaded by Yue Hengyi. But now, with the predicament before them, Shen Feng couldn't afford to wait slowly for the sea snake to excrete.
Yue Hengyi shook his head helplessly and said, "Since you've said so, there's only one way left, and that is for me to use my ability. Shen Feng, get ready!"
Shen Feng understood Yue Hengyi's intention. He was going to reactivate the five-times gravity field. This guy's ability was indiscriminate, which was truly deadly.
"Alright, I understand. Hurry up and do it!" Shen Feng sat in the Wind King Barrier, ready to withstand five times the gravity at any moment.
Yue Hengyi wasted no more words. To survive now, he had to use his true abilities. Thus, the five-times gravity zone instantly appeared, and within a kilometer radius centered on Yue Hengyi, gravity instantly increased. The first to be affected was the giant sea snake.
The sea snake never expected that after sneakily eating two humans, it would encounter such a situation. Not only were the humans in its belly not digested, but it was also affected by the immense gravity.
Gravity, for animals with greater mass, had a more pronounced effect. If an ant entered a five-times gravity field, it might be fine. After all, ants could carry objects more than forty times their own weight. A slight increase in their body's gravity was something they could clearly endure. However, for a giant sea beast, it was completely unbearable.
The sea snake immediately felt a heavy mountain pressing down on it. Its body involuntarily began to sink towards the seabed. Most critically, the sea snake's lungs were squeezed by its body, causing them to contract rapidly. The oxygen the sea snake could obtain was also rapidly decreasing.
The sea snake truly regretted it at this moment. Why didn't it obey the order to retreat? Why did it still swallow the humans? At this moment, the humans in its belly began to use their abilities, directly overwhelming the sea snake.
The sea snake writhed in the water, but the five-times gravity remained, constantly acting upon it. No matter how the sea snake moved, it was merely a futile struggle.
Finally, the sea snake's gallbladder ruptured, its lungs atrophied, and its body became almost flat. Compared to its previously inflated body, it had shrunk by a circle. It died of suffocation. The sea snake could not float to the surface to obtain fresh air, and the air in its lungs was also depleted. The lack of gills was the sea snake's greatest cause of death.
At this time, the oxygen in the Wind King Barrier was also almost depleted. Shen Feng and Yue Hengyi both felt their heads growing heavy, a sign of oxygen deprivation.
"Alright, the sea snake is dead. Quickly release the gravity field. I can't hold on much longer!" Shen Feng said urgently.
Shen Feng's physical fitness was excellent, but prolonged exposure to a five-times gravity zone was unbearable for him, as he was not a professional pilot.
Yue Hengyi deactivated his ability, and the sea snake's corpse slowly floated to the surface of the sea. At this moment, Shen Feng finally dispelled the "Wind King Barrier" and cut open the sea snake's belly. To his dismay, he found himself in a storm. The wind and rain lashed down, preventing Shen Feng and Yue Hengyi from moving, so they could only cling tightly to the sea snake's body.