Chapter 909: Weighing the Pros and Cons
Chapter 909: Weighing the Pros and Cons
If Zhu Yunque died, Zhu Zheng would harbor some resentment toward Zhang Yi deep down.
Even if he didn't voice it, such feelings wouldn't simply vanish.
However, that wasn't something Zhang Yi needed to consider right now.
His survival through the apocalypse until now hadn't depended on anyone's protection.
If not for his formidable strength, Zhu Zheng would have long used him as cannon fodder, and he'd have died countless times over.
Even if Zhu Yunque died here today.
As long as Zhu Zheng needed Zhang Yi's assistance, he would still treat him with courtesy.
Zhang Yi had thought this through clearly - after killing Naruga, he immediately moved to eliminate Gunner!
In combat at this level, Nirot didn't deploy other pirates either.Because ordinary pirates would just be throwing their lives away no matter how many came.
After Zhang Yi killed Gunner, his next step would be to eliminate Nirot!
"The head of the Tianlong Pirate Crew's 1st Squadron commander must be worth quite a bounty!"
Zhang Yi licked his lips. "And your essence must be absolutely delicious!"
Since Nirot dared to come hunting him, he must possess squadron commander-level strength.
Nowadays, only commander-level essence held any value for Zhang Yi.
Since they'd delivered themselves to his doorstep, he certainly wouldn't hold back!
By this point, Gunner began to panic.
Nirot also hadn't anticipated that Zhang Yi wouldn't care about Zhu Yunque in the slightest.
Facing Zhang Yi's assault, Gunner used her dynamic vision shooting ability to interfere with his spatial traversal while simultaneously opening her mouth like she was regurgitating. Her throat convulsed several times before she vomited out a massive swarm of white insects from her stomach!
The spindle-shaped insects flew toward Zhang Yi through the air.
The overwhelming white swarm disrupted Zhang Yi's field of vision.
He swung his horizontal blade, and Void Flame cleared the insects before him.
Gunner had already submerged into the water, disappearing without a trace.
Just then, Nirot realized things were spiraling out of control and decided to deploy his final desperate move.
He grabbed Zhu Yunque's head and lifted her up.
Then Nirot roared at Zhang Yi: "Chaos! Since you don't care about this woman's life, then watch her die!!"
After speaking, Nirot threw Zhu Yunque toward a distant pirate ship.
This move by Nirot made Zhang Yi hesitate for a moment.
Originally, if he killed Zhu Yunque, Zhang Yi would have no reservations.
But now that there was a chance to save Zhu Yunque, Zhang Yi actually needed to weigh the pros and cons.
There was no need to plant a thorn in Zhu Zheng's heart.
Even now, Zhu Zheng might claim to understand Zhang Yi's position and promise no future repercussions.
But no one could guarantee how things would unfold later.
Zhang Yi didn't have much time to deliberate.
He turned and performed several spatial traversals to reach that pirate ship.
Just as he reached for Zhu Yunque, a sense of danger predictably struck.
Zhang Yi wasn't surprised at all - Echo of Time would anticipate incoming threats and provide warning.
He had already seen what was coming.
Nirot's warship had launched heavy torpedoes, and the ship's hull was packed with explosives.
The moment Zhang Yi's hand touched Zhu Yunque, he deployed [Absolute Barrier Between Two Realms].
Almost simultaneously, a massive explosion erupted across the sea surface!
The worst part was that while the Absolute Barrier Between Two Realms was active, he couldn't use spatial traversal to escape.
The explosion would continue for quite some time, forcing him to rely on his Dimensional Space to absorb the blast's destructive power.
Nirot stood on the warship's main gun, staring viciously at the roaring explosion's epicenter.
"No matter how strong you are, with extra baggage and two rounds of explosive attacks, you won't come out unscathed!"
Although Zhu Yunque's knowledge of Zhang Yi's abilities was limited, having spent months together, she still knew some information about him.
Under Nirot's electrotorture, she had long since revealed everything.
This young lady had far less backbone than you might imagine!
Therefore, even knowing Zhang Yi's strength, Nirot still believed he held overwhelming advantage.
Even though according to the data, Zhang Yi's superhuman ability index exceeded his by several hundred points.
But true combat veterans scoffed at so-called ability indexes.
In actual combat, influencing factors mattered far more than the ability index itself.
Time, place, and people - all advantages were on his side. How could he possibly lose?
However, there was one thing Nirot genuinely didn't know.
Throughout the entire Jiangnan Region, Zhang Yi represented the most unique kind of existence.
Other superhumans sought ways to enhance their offensive capabilities to defeat opponents more quickly.
Only Zhang Yi focused not on defeating others but on surviving at all costs.
This resulted in the remarkable phenomenon of having a 9700-point superhuman ability index, 9400-point attack index, but a 12000-point defense index.
Nirot had never encountered such a survival-focused superhuman, especially one so cautious yet so powerful.
In the pirate world, everyone was naturally battle-crazed madmen.
So when Zhang Yi emerged completely unscathed from hundreds of tons of TNT equivalent explosions while carrying Zhu Yunque, Nirot's expression changed completely.
Zhang Yi carried the unconscious Zhu Yunque back to Luoyan Island like dragging a dead dog.
However, he didn't let his guard down now.
Those two rounds of explosions had significantly impacted his Dimensional Space.
And he still needed to face Nirot at full strength.
So far, Zhang Yi didn't know Nirot's specific abilities or superhuman ability index.
But the Jiangnan Region authorities previously had intelligence on the Dragon King indicating his ability value reached 9800 points.
As a squadron commander, Nirot couldn't exceed 9500 points at most, lower than Zhang Yi's current 9700 points.
Coupled with Zhang Yi's defensive specialization, after weighing the situation, Zhang Yi believed he still held the advantage.
Though his winning odds were only ninety-five percent, it was still worth fighting!
Zhang Yi estimated Nirot's superhuman ability index at around 9500 points.
But actually, Nirot's assessed superhuman ability index was only 9300 points.
However, Nirot believed Zhang Yi's ability index was around 9500, while he himself held battlefield initiative through positional advantage and first strike capability.
One combatant was aggressive, the other cautious - thus despite the significant ability index gap, an eerie stalemate emerged.
Nirot decided to take the initiative.
With Zhang Yi carrying Zhu Yunque, Nirot believed this would make Zhang Yi hesitate to act forcefully, becoming his burden.
Now was the perfect time to strike!
"Gunner!"
Nirot shouted loudly.
From the seawater, Gunner's face slowly emerged as she transformed into her true form.
She became a bizarre insect creature - her lower body featured a crustacean-like form with hundreds of legs, while her upper body maintained human shape.
Coupled with the hundreds of compound eyes on her head, she appeared extremely grotesque and horrifying.
The sniper rifle in her hand was actually part of her body, connected to her insect nest, now aimed at Zhang Yi in the air!
With covering fire from a powerful sniper, Zhang Yi needed to deploy the Absolute Barrier Between Two Realms for defense.
This consequently locked down his spatial jump ability.
And this was exactly the effect Nirot wanted!
Author's Note