Chapter 904: Bounty on the Sea
Zhang Yi walked over and looked at Lu Keran's sweet, innocent profile, unable to suppress a gentle smile.
His gaze inadvertently drifted toward the wall.
Something there caught his attention.
It was a pair of silver-gray mechanical arms, slightly thicker than human arms, appearing somewhat rough and unfinished without any paint.
But upon closer inspection, one could see the extremely precise craftsmanship in every joint.
Zhang Yi walked over and reached out to take them down, discovering they weren't particularly heavy—each weighing about five to six kilograms.
They were hollow inside, clearly a new type of exoskeleton armor.
This made Zhang Yi recall Lu Keran mentioning before that her greatest dream was to create powerful humanoid armor.
In these times, large armored mechs were certainly impractical, while small human exoskeletons were absolutely the best choice.Just then, Lu Keran woke up.
"Zhang Yi... big brother."
She rubbed her eyes and, seeing Zhang Yi examining her mechanical arms, her face flushed red as she hurried over to snatch them back.
"It's not finished yet! You can't see it."
She quickly stored the mechanical arms in a toolbox, firmly closing the lid.
Zhang Yi spread his hands. "What, keeping secrets from me now?"
Lu Keran's face turned completely red, extremely embarrassed.
She looked like a middle school girl who had just tried writing romance novels only to have her crush accidentally discover them.
"Right now it's just a general concept, making a prototype to see how it looks. It's still far from being a finished product!"
Zhang Yi laughed heartily. "Alright, alright, I'll look forward to your finished product then. By the way, if you need any materials, just let me know—I'll have people help you find them."
This kind of small exoskeleton wouldn't consume much material anyway.
Hearing this, Lu Keran smiled and replied, "Thank you, Brother Zhang Yi! I've already contacted Xiao Honglian, Xing Tian, and Chen Jingguan—they've all been very cooperative."
"It's just dismantling two warships and a few dozen armored vehicles, that's all."
Zhang Yi's smile instantly froze on his face.
Just... dismantling two warships and a few dozen armored vehicles?
"Are you... trying to build mechanical exoskeletons or an aircraft carrier?"
Lu Keran said weakly, "I need to create exoskeleton armor that can adapt to minus one hundred degree temperatures. The core materials required must be the best metals available. Ordinary steel completely fails to meet usage conditions—it must be sourced from the cores of military equipment."
Her large eyes looked innocently at Zhang Yi. "Brother, didn't you say you'd support me to the best of your ability?"
Zhang Yi: "..."
"Ahem, of course. But they're just warships and armored vehicles—dismantle as many as you want. As long as it's enough for your needs!"
Heaven knew that Dawn Rain Base only had five warships remaining in storage.
Lu Keran happily clapped her hands. "I knew you were the best, brother! Well, the materials are about half gathered now."
Zhang Yi nearly stumbled to the ground.
"Half? Hmm... alright, I'll find a way to get the other half for you."
Although it pained him somewhat, Zhang Yi had great faith in Lu Keran's abilities.
He also understood that, as Lu Keran had said, during this ice age era, mechanical products were prone to various malfunctions and extremely difficult to use.
With Lu Keran's capabilities, she would naturally create the most advanced exoskeleton armor.
She was a mechanical artist with extremely high standards for her work, of course striving for perfection.
Zhang Yi looked forward to seeing what kind of thing she would create.
If the results were good, perhaps they could produce several more units—he could try one out himself, or maybe give some to Old You and Fatty Xu.
"By the way, how are my equipments coming along?"
Zhang Yi inquired, as he planned to set out soon.
Lu Keran hurriedly brought out Zhang Yi's weapons and equipment.
"Thunderbolt and White Owl have both been recalibrated—their stability has improved, and their range has increased. Also performed overall maintenance."
"But the biggest modifications are to your combat suit."
"The previous combat suit didn't account for naval warfare. Recently I've been thinking you'd definitely need it someday, brother, so I've added underwater propulsion systems, compressed oxygen storage compartments, and pressure resistance systems."
"And I've also installed micro torpedoes on the arms."
Lu Keran lifted the combat suit's arm and gently pressed a switch, revealing ten micro torpedoes beneath—each about ten centimeters long with a 10mm caliber.
Additionally, there was a case containing 1000 reserve torpedoes.
Seeing these things made Zhang Yi extremely happy.
During his previous voyage when facing the Fin Dragon, he had been troubled by the lack of underwater combat weapons and equipment.
If he had possessed such things earlier, combined with his special abilities, even these small micro torpedoes could create destructive power no less than conventional high-speed torpedoes!
The fact that Lu Keran had considered everything so thoroughly showed she had been worrying about him daily, carefully planning these improvements.
"Thank you, Keran. I really love your modifications!"
Zhang Yi said happily with a smile.
Lu Keran shyly lowered her head, twisting her fingers behind her back.
"As long as you like them."
Zhang Yi thought for a moment and said, "Don't worry, I'll definitely get you the most advanced warship later for you to properly dismantle."
Zhang Yi had a premonition.
If he wanted to go to Star Island's Mist Valley to search for the Divine Source, he would eventually clash with maritime forces in the ocean region.
The Colombian Ocean Fleet, Malaya's navy, Neon's maritime self-defense force...
When that time came, he would definitely have to give those guys some surprises, thanking them for the troubles they caused during Zhang Yi's voyage.
Zhang Yi collected his weapons and equipment, then returned to change into his combat suit. After confirming everything was in order, he left the shelter and headed toward the southern sea.
However, as the saying goes, man proposes but heaven disposes.
Zhang Yi ultimately couldn't anticipate every situation.
And some unexpected developments had occurred in the southern sea region.
...
Half a month earlier.
The Colombian Navy had discovered that Zhang Yi likely possessed intelligence about the Divine Source.
Five-Star Admiral Douglas personally ordered that Zhang Yi be captured alive at any cost!
But due to the timely response from the East Sea Region, the Colombian Navy found itself constrained and unable to deploy significant forces to pursue Zhang Yi.
Coupled with Zhang Yi's desperate move to completely block all electronic signals, their pursuit became even more difficult.
Thus, the Colombian Ocean Fleet adopted another approach—issuing bounties.
Beyond the ocean region, throughout the southern sea, the Starry Sea Region, and even the southeastern waters around Huaxu Kingdom's territorial waters.
Various forces, large and small, all received official documents from the Colombian Ocean Fleet.
If they spotted any Huaxu Kingdom vessels appearing and could capture the people aboard alive to deliver to the Colombian Navy, they would receive incredibly generous rewards.
Even just providing intelligence would yield considerable compensation after verification.
Naturally, the Tianlong Pirate Crew—rulers of the Starry Sea Region located south of Huaxu Kingdom's territorial waters—also received this bounty notice.
Author's Note