When the important figures in the fleet departed one after another in fighter jets or helicopters, the soldiers on the ship were stunned. They never expected their commanders to flee without hesitation. The very commanders who had brought them to this sea to fight were now the first to abandon them when the situation turned unfavorable.
The commanders' escape severely dampened the soldiers' morale. They sensed that something terrible was about to happen. Commanders fleeing was not a new phenomenon, and their departure indicated an extremely dire situation. If there was still hope for victory, the commanders would not have left so readily. The soldiers now realized they had lost, and their will to fight evaporated.
There is an ancient saying in China: "The army cannot be without its commander, and a common man cannot be without his will."
However, with the commander gone, the soldiers naturally lost their spirit. Surrounded by the vast ocean, escaping the ferocious sea beasts was no simple feat.
The soldiers began to curse, abandoning their resistance. Ships exploded continuously, and soldiers fell into the water. Soldiers on other ships knew they would soon follow suit, so they quickly said whatever they wanted to say, knowing they might not have another chance.
Some soldiers found wine bottles and corks. As they distributed them, one said, "Now is the time to put our final thoughts into these bottles. Perhaps after we die, these message in a bottle might reach the shore, letting others know our last words."
The soldiers, with no other recourse, took the glass bottles and wrote their messages, sealing them with corks. Whether these drifting bottles would ever be found by anyone remained unknown.
Many soldiers left curses in their message bottles, cursing the commanders who had deceived them into fighting and cursing this unfair world.
However, some soldiers, knowing they were about to die, still tried to convey their longing for their families. Death, after all, was the ultimate test, revealing humanity's truest nature.
Witnessing this, Shen Feng felt a surge of excitement. The bodies of over thirty sea beasts were floating on the sea. If he could retrieve the evolutionary crystals from these dead beasts, it would be a significant gain. Since most of the sea beasts were attacking the ships, no one would be able to stop him for a while. He had to seize this opportunity.
Shen Feng immediately turned to Wang Feiying behind him and said, "Later, I will use the Gale Cannon to open the heads of these sea beasts. Then you go find the evolutionary crystals. We must cooperate well, understand?"
Wang Feiying nodded quickly. His master had raised him to this point, so he naturally followed his master's every word without much thought.
"I understand, Master. Don't worry, I will complete the task you've assigned me," Wang Feiying replied.
In the distance, soldiers on the fleet were crying out in despair. They had been deceived by their commanders. They had set out to sea believing they would kill the sea beasts, but now they realized they were merely expendable. Shen Feng had no intention of saving them, as he knew these men had polluted the ocean, the very place that nurtured life on Earth. Their crimes were grave.
Shen Feng piloted his glider towards the sea, gathering the Gale Cannon. With a blast, he blew open the head of a giant sea beast. Wang Feiying then leaped from the glider, spreading his wings to fly. He reached the head of a massive manta ray, burrowed into the opening, and soon found an evolutionary crystal. He returned to Shen Feng and placed the crystal in his backpack.
Shen Feng and Wang Feiying's cooperation was seamless. Wang Feiying was utterly loyal to Shen Feng and would not hoard any evolutionary crystals they found.
The master and disciple continued their collaboration, obtaining five evolutionary crystals from the battlefield in just ten minutes. This was a considerable harvest. Shen Feng recalled an old saying: "The bold get rich, the timid starve."
When faced with risky benefits, one must take risks, for a single misstep could lead to immense gains.
Just then, Wang Feiying emerged from a sea beast's head, covered in blood, holding another evolutionary crystal. He looked quite gruesome. As he was about to wash the blood off in the sea, he spotted a metal barrel floating in the distance, bearing a familiar yellow and black icon.
"How strange, what does this icon mean? I can't recall. Is it a symbol for a pollutant?" Wang Feiying pondered.
He then returned to his glider and said to Shen Feng, "Master, there's something I can't figure out. I saw a yellow and black symbol, a hexagon in the center, with a hexagonal umbrella shape around it. What does this icon mean?"
"What? Where did you see this symbol?" Shen Feng exclaimed, his voice filled with shock. Wasn't that the symbol for radioactive material? Why was Wang Feiying asking about it now?
"It's like this, Master. I saw a metal barrel at sea earlier, and it had that symbol on it," Wang Feiying explained earnestly.
Hearing this, Shen Feng began to shake his head in exasperation. "Damn it, these Westerners are too despicable! They're throwing nuclear wastewater, or possibly nuclear waste, into the sea. It's truly shameless. The ocean is being further polluted. You know, these radioactive elements will take thousands of years to decay."
"Indeed, shameless. I saw this symbol at the military camp on the island earlier. So, these people had planned to kill the sea beasts using this method all along. How despicable."
Shen Feng's eyes widened as he stared at Wang Feiying. Even if they were dumping nuclear waste into the sea, it should have been the fleet doing it on the battlefield. How could there be nuclear waste on the island? Unless...
"Get up! Let's go quickly!" A terrifying thought flashed through Shen Feng's mind. He then shouted at Wang Feiying in a frenzy, "Get up! We need to leave now!"
Wang Feiying looked at Shen Feng and asked, "Master, aren't we still here to fish in troubled waters? There are still many sea beasts in the sea. Wouldn't it be a pity to leave now?"
But Shen Feng sternly replied, "Stop the nonsense and get up! I told you to get up, so do it! Don't talk back! Hurry!"
Facing Shen Feng's stern reprimand, Wang Feiying dared not argue. He had never seen his master so angry. Could something incredibly serious have happened?
Wang Feiying immediately sat in the back seat of the glider. Shen Feng unleashed his abilities and sped away. He made no effort to conserve his energy, knowing that if he didn't leave the battlefield immediately, he would surely die. Conserving energy would lead to a terrible fate.
Shen Feng rapidly used his abilities, making the glider fly at high speed. Wang Feiying, still unaware of what was happening, couldn't help but ask, "Master, what happened? Why are we leaving in such a hurry?"
As they flew, Shen Feng replied to his disciple, "Why the hurry? It's because of the nuclear bombs, of course. If I'm not mistaken, these people from Europe and North America are preparing to use nuclear bombs. The base we were at was a missile base, and you just discovered radioactive material. This means they are definitely going to use nuclear bombs!"
Wang Feiying was shocked and asked, "How dare they do such a thing? Using nuclear bombs at sea, wouldn't the radioactive material spread across the Earth through the ocean?"
"Heh heh, these people have no bottom line. Two of my friends passed by the Marshall Islands some time ago and almost died at sea because they were both injured by radiation. Fortunately, they found healing ability users, which helped them survive. These Westerners don't care about radiation; they only care about completing their mission," Shen Feng said grimly.
Now Shen Feng understood why the fleet commanders had fled before the outcome of the battle was decided. The fleet was merely a decoy; the real attack was nuclear bombs, humanity's most powerful weapon. When a nuclear bomb detonates, two suns will appear in the sky, and no human or creature can survive it.
Upon learning the truth, Shen Feng could only flee. At this moment, if he were caught within the blast radius of a nuclear bomb, he would surely be killed. There would be no possibility of survival. Therefore, the only option was to get as far away from the nuclear detonation site as possible.
Shen Feng flew twenty kilometers with Wang Feiying in one go. Upon reaching this area, Shen Feng felt a slight sense of relief, as he had left the blast zone and was no longer within the fireball's reach. If he had been within that range, he would have been instantly vaporized. However, he was still not completely outside the nuclear bomb's influence. Even if he survived, he would suffer severe burns.
Shen Feng was also terrified. He should have left immediately when the fleet commanders abandoned the battlefield, but he hadn't. Instead, he lingered on the battlefield for ten minutes, and those ten minutes might cost him his life.
At this moment, Shen Feng could only pray, "The commanders who left by helicopter were slower. They might not have escaped the nuclear bomb's influence yet. If I can catch up to them, I might have a chance to survive."
Shen Feng gritted his teeth and continued to fly, while Wang Feiying constantly scanned with his binoculars. He had heard about the immense power of nuclear bombs. A single nuclear bomb could easily destroy a city, especially the Russian 'Tsar Bomba,' which could obliterate a small country. Such a terrifying weapon, if used, would be truly horrifying.