Heroes Return

"Trying to extract information from us sea warriors? Dream on!" The sea general glanced at the admiral with disdain. "Don't think that this kind of boring potion can do anything to me."

"Damn it! Looks like I'll have to resort to a more forceful approach."

Another half hour passed.

"Captain, this guy's too tough," a sailor said breathlessly, exhausted from fighting. It was all for naught.

"Wait a minute, let me do it," Lin Jie said to the admiral.

"Hey, didn't you say you weren't planning to fight the sea creatures?" Thirteen asked Lin Jie.

“At least this way I can make him suffer less.” Lin Jie said, taking out his iron rod. “It’s actually a very simple problem. There’s no need to put on such a show.”

"It's impossible for me to say."

"Then I'll have to offend you." Lin Jie said, making the iron rod in his hand much thinner. "Admiral, could you please make that guy bend over?"

“No problem.” The admiral said, then gestured to his men to change the position of the sea creature general so that the general’s backside was facing Lin Jie.

"Poke him!" With Lin Jie's shout, the iron rod in his hand immediately extended outwards.

"Ah!! Shameless humans! Do you think I'll submit like this?" Accompanied by a strange scream, the sea creature general roared angrily, "I will not tell you any information!"

"Make it bigger," Lin Jie said simply to his iron bar.

"Ah! Even if I die, I will not let you have your way!" The iron rod in Lin Jie's hand instantly grew thicker, and the sea general roared angrily once again.

"Are you really not going to tell me?"

"I'd rather die than tell."

"Make it bigger."

"Ah!! I'd rather die than tell!"

"Then let's see how long you can hold out. Get a little bigger."

"Ah!!! I'd rather die than tell! I'd rather die than tell."

"Well done, you're a real man! Since that's the case, I guess I'll just have to send you to heaven. Even bigger..."

"Wait! You'd rather die than talk, but I'm not dead. So I'll tell you, I'll tell you whatever you want to ask! Just don't get any bigger!" Under Lin Jie's terrifying interrogation, the sea general finally couldn't take it anymore. As Lin Jie pulled out his iron rod, the sea general finally revealed the reason why they attacked the crew.

"I am a subordinate of Karu, a nobleman of the sea race. My orders are to search for human ships in the sea in order to find the Dragon God's Reverse Scale, and to eliminate all humans who witness our actions," the sea race general said.

"Why are you looking for the Dragon God's reverse scale?" the admiral asked.

"Lord Karu has reached an agreement with the Dragon God. If you can help him retrieve that reverse scale, he is willing to help Lord Karu become the rightful ruler of the sea race."

"How did you know that the Reverse Scale would appear on ships in this sea area? Is it because of this bead?" At this moment, the admiral took out a bead, the very same strange bead that the sea creatures had used when they inspected the Future.

"Yes, it was this bead that sensed the approximate location of the Reverse Scale and brought all the ships in that sea area to this sea area."

"Really? Then what's our plan to leave the Fantasy Sea?" the admiral asked.

"You must pass through the giant serpent's body to reach a place called the Misty Sea in another sea area; that is the exit of the Fantasy Sea."

How can we get through the giant snake's body?

"Two methods."

Which two methods?

"The first route is along the serpent's body to its head, where the new sea kingdom's capital is located. Your human diplomatic representatives are also there. Through the capital's port, you can reach another sea area."

What is the second method?

"The second method is to find the sea mages, who can create a magical bubble that allows your ship to sail underwater. Then you can pass through the giant serpent's body via an underwater tunnel."

"Very well, you can leave now." The admiral said, gesturing to the sailors around him. The sailors then hurriedly threw the tall sea monster general into the sea.

"Alright, our next target is the sea creature's magician," the admiral shouted to the Future. "Let's head towards the nearby islands."

“Wait, Admiral,” Thirteen suddenly said, “Could we head towards the capital? I’d like to go there.”

“Impossible!” the admiral said. “Judging from what that sea creature general said, the sea creatures are likely to stage a coup. I don’t want my crew to get involved in the inevitable danger.”

“Alright…” Thirteen didn’t say much more: “By the way, Admiral, what is the name of that evil force you mentioned that wants to obtain the Reverse Scale?”

“The Salvation Army,” the admiral said.

……

In the cabin that day

"Hey Thirteen, what exactly is this Salvation Army that the Admiral mentioned?" Lin Jie asked, puzzled. "The name doesn't sound like an evil organization at all."

"The Salvation Army?" Master Wuneng couldn't help but say, "This humble monk has dealt with this organization before."

"Oh? What kind of organization is it?"

“Amitabha, the Salvation Army is an overly extreme organization. In their view, the world has begun to perish, and the root cause of this is the ignorance of humanity. So they plan to find an opportunity to kill everyone except the Salvation Army, and then they, who have grasped the ‘truth,’ will rebuild the world.”

"Damn, that's way too extreme."

“The most crucial point is that the Salvation Army is now almost impossible to eradicate completely,” Thirteen continued, picking up where the Incompetent Master left off. “Their personnel are hidden in all walks of life. In order to rebuild this world, the Salvation Army includes people from almost every industry, including even high-ranking members of the World Alliance. They have underground organizations and secret bases all over the world. Every time Federal agents take down a World Army stronghold, they may establish two more in other places.”

"Then there's no way we can kill them all?" Lin Jie said in surprise.

"That's exactly how it is." Master Wuneng nodded. "No wonder the Admiral was so careful."

Chapter Fourteen

Inside the captain's cabin, the admiral spoke a series of numbers to the future. As his words fell, a crack appeared in the previously unremarkable wall. Within the crack, a small box floated silently.

The admiral picked up the box and opened it, and a faint energy fluctuation immediately spread throughout the entire space.

“What a miraculous substance.” Xiang walked in at this moment, holding a strange bead in his hand, which was also emitting a faint light: “As expected, this bead can sense the scales.”

“That’s right. Luckily, we used the signal blocking device in time.” The admiral said to Xiang, “This bead is also very peculiar, but it will be troublesome once the Dragon God senses our location through the bead.”

"What are you going to do? Throw the beads away?"

"Of course not, this bead is also made of a very magical material." The admiral exclaimed, "Let's put them together in the box and isolate them first."

While the two were talking, neither of them noticed that a plant was hiding in the shadows of the captain's cabin.

"Who is it?" Xiang sensed something at this moment, and then he threw a punch into the air.

The speed was extremely fast, and the force of the punch sent items flying everywhere in the captain's cabin.

A figure was hit by the sudden punch and flew backward in another direction with a muffled groan.

“It really is you, Mr. Swain.” The admiral looked at the man who had suddenly appeared and said, “I have been observing you for some time now, but I did not expect that your cloaking device could evade the sensors on the ship.”

"Damn it." Swain cursed, swinging his longsword at the two men, but just as he charged towards them, he was forced to pick up the soap. As he went to pick up the soap, Xiang's figure instantly appeared behind him.

The pale fingers instantly gripped Swain's neck.

But just as the Admiral and Xiang were focusing their attention on Swain.

Another figure suddenly appeared beside the admiral, grabbing the Reverse Scale and the strange bead from the box before the admiral could react.

"There's one more!" The admiral immediately picked up a bar of soap and threw it at the man.

Then, the man smashed the captain's cabin window and jumped into the sea. A moment later, a speedboat sped off into the distance.

By the time Xiang and the Admiral took action, it was too late.

"Damn it! Future, can you pinpoint the ship's location?" the admiral asked Future.

"Yes, the ship's positioning system is still working."

"Chase them at full speed immediately. I don't want the sea creatures and the Dragon God to find him first!" The admiral said, rushing out of the captain's cabin.

. . .

On the deck, Lin Jie and Thirteen were enjoying the scenery when they spotted the speedboat speeding away into the distance. Just as they were wondering what was happening, a carnivorous plant suddenly appeared in front of them.

Then the man-eating flower began to make several strange gestures toward Thirteen.

"Can Fourteen, as a plant, also cramp up?" Lin Jie asked, looking at Fourteen, who was posing in a strange way, with a puzzled expression.

"He said the people on that speedboat stole Reverse Scale!" Thirteen shouted to Lin Jie, "We need to get to the speedboat!! We can't let that person get away. Reverse Scale is currently unprotected! If the sea creatures find it first, Haina will be in danger!!"

As he spoke, Thirteen ran toward the lifeboat.

But before he could run two steps, Lin Jie picked him up and said, "Although I can't swim, I can run on water!"

After Lin Jie finished speaking, he carried Thirteen and Fourteen and jumped into the water. Then, amidst Thirteen's scream, he rushed out at a speed no less than that of a speedboat in the direction where the speedboat had disappeared.

As the two rushed out, the Future also started up, heading towards that direction at full speed. However, for a former warship that had been converted into a large cruise ship, its speed was clearly slower than Lin Jie's speed and the speed of the modified speedboat.

A chase at sea has officially begun.

……

"There he is!" Thirteen pointed in a direction and said to Lin Jie beneath him, "He's over there!"

With that, Lin Jie headed in the direction Thirteen pointed. After several hours of pursuit, Lin Jie finally spotted a speedboat in the distance and recognized the person in it. It was the man in black who had asked the admiral questions during their meeting in the captain's cabin.

The man in black also clearly sensed Lin Jie's approach, but by this time the speedboat was already traveling at its fastest speed.

Unable to accelerate any further, the man in black pulled out his laser gun and fired it incessantly at Lin Jie and Thirteen.

After dodging more than a dozen shots, Lin Jie finally lost his patience. While running, he pulled out the iron bar in his hand: "Poke him!!!"

As Lin Jie shouted, the iron rod instantly lengthened and pierced the speedboat's rear end!

With an explosion on the sea, a black figure nimbly leaped onto a protruding rock pillar in the ocean. The moment the black-clad figure landed, Lin Jie flung Thirteen and Fourteen into the sea, then soared high into the air and brought his club down on someone's head.

However, just as the staff was about to make contact with the man in black, his body momentarily blurred, narrowly dodging the attack.

Lin Jie's staff missed its target, and he did not attack again, but stood quietly on the sea.

As the black-clad figure on the stone pillar regained his physical form, he was shocked and spat out a mouthful of blood: "This is impossible! My ethereal form should be immune to all attacks!"

"Ignore any attacks?" Lin Jie looked at the man in black and said, "You people will probably never understand the essence of ancient martial arts in your entire lives."

The man in black wanted to say something, but the next second he felt a numbing sensation throughout his body.

It turned out that Fourteen had somehow climbed up to the man in black, and the thorns on the vines had pierced the man's body.

"Good job, Fourteen." Thirteen said as he climbed towards the pillar: "Let's take him away first. I have a feeling something's not right, I want to interrogate him first."

"Aren't we waiting for the Future?" Lin Jie asked.