My wife is the stand-in.

He exchanged a glance with Li Junzi, and his heart sank.

Chapter 76: Internal Strife

Amidst the shattered entrails adrift in the crimson river, the blood-soaked Suobianyu and other patrol boats advanced, their horns blaring.

Amanosaki would occasionally unleash a magic spell, using various magical explosions to create water tornadoes, high-temperature steam, ice shards, toxic acids, and so on to repel the swarming monster fish that threatened the fleet's breakthrough.

Despite the heartache of the total financial loss of one million, Amanosaki showed no sign of letting up.

Because he had learned from Icarus that a large shadow had changed position, risen from the bottom of the river, and was following it silently about ten meters below the Suobianyu.

Preliminary identification suggests it is a queenfish.

'Good girl! One more Oceanus Arrow!' Amanosaki shouted to Icarus in the sky from outside the second-floor railing.

"No." Icarus shook her head gently, her delicate eyebrows furrowing slightly, reminiscent of the dark green hills of spring.

'Icarus is currently maintaining its [Absolute Defense Circle]. The redundant energy from its previous attack hasn't been completely cleared, and it's still absorbing energy, preventing it from reactivating Oceanus's Arrow. Furthermore, the target is enormous, with defense a hundred times greater than its kind, making it extremely unlikely that Oceanus's Arrow will penetrate its armor.'

Hearing this, Amanosaki bit his nails, looking somewhat anxious.

His greatest asset, Icarus, was unable to act due to circumstances, and the members of the Fengdu branch were nowhere to be seen, one by one. The Queen Fish was enormous, and if it came out of the water, it could capsize an entire boat.

"Damn it, we can't rely on these government branches, we still have to rely on ourselves."

Amanosaki, who had a vague idea about gravity, rushed to the very tip of the ship, gritted his teeth, suppressed his heartache, took out the gems, silently chanted a spell, and then threw dozens of gems into the water at certain intervals.

The patrol boat glided over the sinking gems. Li Junzi flew back to the cabin to replenish his energy. Amanosaki watched the schools of fish being killed by the hard bow, and heard shouts from the rooftop, "Yellow Hair is down! He's been drained dry!" He thought to himself that success or failure depended on this one gamble.

Lin Shuyu, on the top floor, had already lost her voice from shouting. She dared not look down at the battle situation on the ship's side, afraid that if she looked down she would see that the strange fish had already cleared the deck.

Although the knights on the top floor responsible for pushing the boat were not as limp as Huang Mao, most of them had ashen faces, like the branches of a deciduous forest in late autumn, with the color of someone who had been working hard all year and was exhausted.

They all did their best to push the 300-ton behemoth against the wind and countless obstacles in the water, pushing the speed of the Suobianyu to 45 knots, while also ensuring that the ship did not deviate for more than ten minutes. This was truly a difficult task.

In fact, the reason why Lin Shuyu, Amanosaki, and even the other ship commanders agreed to the transfer plan was that the success of the plan was based on the premise that reinforcements from the Fengdu branch would arrive in a dozen minutes.

But no reinforcements were seen.

Everyone panicked for a moment, and some people even shouted and questioned over the communicator. They also arranged for the heroes to push the boat.

Several higher-ranking members of the other ships began to question Lin Shuyu about whether she was a traitor and whether she was draining everyone's strength.

After all, dealing with the strange fish that boarded the boat didn't take much effort from everyone, but pushing the boat left more than half of the people exhausted.

Lin Shuyu tried to explain rationally, but was met with insults from these agitated knights.

The insults were so offensive that even the honest Li Junzi turned pale.

Amanosaki estimated the activation time of the fallen gem, went up to the top floor, and grabbed the walkie-talkie. Enhancement magic silently crept into his ears:

"This plan was initially approved by the commanders of all four ships, so where did this come from...?"

Shouts erupted: "We only agreed because you guaranteed that the losses would be minimized!"

"Exactly! You were the initiators of this plan, you should take full responsibility!"

"Make that woman jump into the river to atone for her sins!"

"Apologize!"

Several voices demanded that Amanosaki and Li Junzi also come forward to apologize, and some even began to verbally attack Icarus for failing to save someone in distress.

Amanosaki put down the walkie-talkie, his face grim and puzzled as he looked around: "Did I misunderstand? Why do these knights seem so unreasonable, like they're arguing in a market?"

Everyone around fell silent, except for the blond-haired man lying on the ground who gave a weak smile:

"Brother, you're only just realizing this now? These knights-errant are no different from ordinary people."

"There are so many people in the world, and there are plenty of unreasonable idiots. Even heroes are the same; sometimes reasoning doesn't work. We're all just ordinary people, weak, cowardly, and stupid. Power and violence are the best ways to shut ordinary people up. Look how harshly I cursed them, but they haven't come after me yet, just because my mouth is foul, even fouler than theirs. They can't argue with me."

Amanosaki lowered his head and remained silent for a few seconds before raising it again, turning around expressionlessly: "Understood."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and tossed out two gems, one red and one yellow.

"Amanosaki, stop! This is being broadcast live! The whole country can see it!" Lin Shuyu swayed precariously. She was incredibly clever; she could deduce Amanosaki's intentions simply from the change in his tone. "The branch cannot be thrown into chaos!"

"Big brother, what are you doing?!" Li Junzi's seven bloodshot, tired eyes were filled with horror. He shouted urgently, "We're all teammates! You can't kill them! A foul mouth is one thing, but it doesn't warrant death!"

In the crisp sound of breaking, the magic of red and yellow merges together, weaving together a beautiful and dazzling scene that is difficult to describe in words.

The young man's slender and muscular body looked exceptionally beautiful in the halo of light, like a powerful tiger shining even brighter under its colorful fur.

Beneath his sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes were a straight nose and teeth so neat they looked like they were strung together with jade, all in perfect proportion.

The dazzling light made his face appear exceptionally divine.

Amanosaki raised his right hand and waved it lightly towards the sky so that the satellites could see him.

The thought of becoming a knight-errant had been swirling in his mind these past few days. He knew clearly that by taking this step, he would be subjected to a torrent of online criticism, but he didn't care.

"I didn't take that step to gain approval from others."

He whispered, and in the magical expansion and contraction of light and noise, no one could hear him clearly; only the angels high in the heavens understood the heartfelt words of the youth below.

A smile appeared on Icarus's calm face, like a glacier melting to reveal the vibrant green water beneath the ice, the boy's image perfectly reflected in the girl's turquoise eyes.

Amanosaki didn't turn around; he simply said calmly:

"I'm not going to ruin myself for a bunch of scum. Just watch."

After saying that, the handsome man snapped his fingers.

The red and yellow colors merged together, forming a ball of burning, high-temperature energy that rose vertically into the air. Then, it split into three balls of burning pure energy, crashing down on the three patrol boats behind it.

The burning energy sphere plummeted, changing from a perfect circle to an ellipse, and its speed increased rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, the three spheres turned into energy blasts!

The other heroes on the ships thought that Amanosaki was angry and began to harm his colleagues, so they used their supernatural abilities to try to deflect and block the energy blasts, either by manipulating the river or by blowing air currents.

They succeeded, and they failed.

The energy blast exploded upon contact, and the resulting shockwave raged above the patrol boat. Caught off guard, many of the heroes on board were thrown into the air by the blast, and several even fell into the water.

"Someone fell into the water!"

Amidst piercing screams, the knights on the three ships attempted to provide assistance, but even more violent explosions occurred throughout the waters where the fleet was sailing.

Amanosaki's pre-dropped gem reached the target depth.

10 meters underwater.

It lies beneath the waterline where the Queen Fish lurks!

The explosion of his mixed magic released special frequency fluctuations in all directions, activating all the underwater gems!

Flames, air bursts, turbulence, curses.

Various magic tricks erupted underwater, blasting this small section of the river surface into countless holes.

Due to the depth, the patrol boat was not directly damaged, but the Suobianyu was violently rocked by the violent jolt caused by the explosion.

Amanosaki gripped the railing, his throat gleaming with shimmering patterns, and roared at those around him, "Hold on tight! The way out is just ahead!"

On the cliff overlooking the mighty river, Xie Bi'an, dressed in white, suddenly opened his eyes, staring ferociously at the river surface that was churning up waves as if a typhoon had passed through, his anger surging: "Madman! A complete madman!"

"These guys want to kill the Queen Fish! Xiao Fan, let's do it!"

After speaking, he waved his robe, and the team hidden on the edge of the cliff raised their flags. The suona, cymbals, and erhu all played together, creating a mournful and poignant melody.

A group of people dressed in solid black and white clothes, carrying flails, chains, hammers, shackles, and iron bars, leaped off the cliff, wading through the undulating river water and marching towards the fleet of boats amidst the surging waves!

"Fengdu Branch, White Impermanence Xie Bi'an!"

"Fengdu Branch, Black Impermanence Fan Wujiu!"

"Bring the heroes of the Fengdu branch to the rescue!"

Amanosaki chuckled wickedly at Lin Shuyu, while Lin Shuyu slumped to the ground, looking up with a mixture of relief and disappointment, tears streaming down her face as she gazed at her suddenly appearing, seemingly kind and helpful "teammates."

And, amidst the gazes of the swordsmen, some frowning in thought, others looking utterly bewildered, Amanosaki, leaning on the railing, shouted into the face of the stenching river water rushing towards him:

"late!"

boom!

A... or rather a giant fish monster burst forth from the river, its soft belly blasted open with several wide but shallow wounds.

It's the Queen Fish!

The injured queen fish grabbed onto a patrol boat in the middle of the boat with its fins, looked up to the sky and cried out in injustice for the fate of itself and its offspring.

Dark clouds quickly gathered, obscuring the clear sky.

Icarus deactivated the [Absolute Defense Circle], stretched out his arms, and marked the Queen Fish.

"Target locked... Conventional weapons arsenal activated... Full fire!"

Amanosaki raised his fist and roared like a wild beast:

"Wife! We absolutely cannot let those bastards who are just watching the show steal the credit!"

Chapter 77: Angels and Messengers

Beyond its three-meter wingspan are gleaming wings of light, sweeping away all the heat energy in the surroundings.

In the Fengdu section of the Yangtze River basin, the weather changed from unbearable heat to the comfort of late autumn in just a few breaths, and then a slight chill was felt.

In satellite thermal imaging, the unprecedented heat created a terrifying vortex resembling the eye of a typhoon in the weather map.

As thermal energy changes, atmospheric pressure also changes. Due to the violent fluctuations in pressure, the piled-up clouds appear as varying shades of pulverized cotton.

"Rough-faced cloud?"

Lin Shuyu gripped the railing, watching in fear as the sky rapidly changed. Light streamed in through the thin "cotton ball," outlining a chaotic interplay of light and shadow.

"Miss Lin, what is rough-faced cloud?" Li Junzi knew he was useless at this moment, so he could only sit aside and watch, and asked the question that all the heroes, including Amano Saki, were curious about.

Lin Shuyu glanced at Amanosaki standing there, swallowed hard, and then said, "So-called rough-surfaced clouds refer to the various folds and tumbling states that form when clouds pile up to their limit during strong convective weather."

"Good heavens, I've never seen anything like this before in all my years." Li Junzi scratched his head, deeply feeling his own lack of knowledge and experience.

"This kind of weather is actually quite common, but since humans generally live in cities, they don't see many different climates," Lin Shuyu replied softly.