True Apocalypse Game

Before Shen Feng could react, Witch Tower snatched up her Longbow, leaped to the ship’s rail, and vaulted down the rope ladder to the shore.

Her steps were light, her body swift as a swallow as she sprinted toward the crumbling aircraft carrier wreck.

She was even faster now than when she had escaped, a clear sign of her inner yearning.

Shen Feng raised a hand, signaling a halt to the bombardment. He walked to the rail and spoke without turning his head.

"Thirty people, armed. You’re with me to take a look. The rest of you, stand by for my orders."

With that, he grabbed the rope ladder, vaulted over the rail, and slid swiftly down. He landed on the ground and set off after Witch Tower toward the carrier wreck.

Old Bill immediately gestured, picking out thirty armed men to follow closely behind their captain.

After he had turned "Heaven" into Hell with a bombardment, the sailors’ reverence for Shen Feng reached a new peak.

In their eyes, not only could their captain win over a Minstrel, but he also possessed such incredible power. He was practically a living god. Perhaps even the Savior of old wasn’t as formidable.

Most of the men Old Bill chose were from the AN-13 Floating Island Market, and many were former pirates. As a precaution, the few remaining pirates from the Beast God Pirate Group were left aboard the Sail Warship.

The sailors were armed mostly with Fish Spears and Crossbow Arrows. Three of them, including Old Bill, held firearms bestowed upon them by their captain, their hearts pounding with excitement.

They had heard rumors about the Purification Church and the Ghost Pirate Ship before; they knew these people were unforgivable scum, the kind who would devour a man whole.

And now they were the ones wiping out these dregs of the Purification Church. How could they not be thrilled?

Witch Tower had barely run a few dozen meters before Shen Feng caught up to her.

Witch Tower glanced at him as he came alongside, a flicker of apology on her face. After all, her actions had been reckless and had challenged his authority as captain.

She said to Shen Feng as they ran:

"Shen, thank you for supporting me. A Minstrel always repays their debts, and I will repay you! You’re from a distant land, and you’re not a Minstrel, so you probably don’t understand what the Savior means to this world..."

At the mention of the word "Savior," her eyes suddenly flashed with a zealous light:

"The Savior is this world’s hope, humanity’s final light! The brilliant and glorious civilization of humankind can only be reborn through the Savior’s greatness! He sacrificed himself for humanity once before. Now, if we can just bring him back, I am willing to sacrifice everything! No—not just me. All Minstrels, all who still hold hope for human civilization, are willing to sacrifice everything to have our Savior return! Savior above, hope... I can finally see hope..."

As she spoke the last few words, the eyes of this young woman—who until now had been so calm, collected, and lethally competent—welled with tears. Yet, she smiled through them, seemingly overjoyed to finally see a ray of hope.

Seeing Witch Tower’s expression, Shen Feng gave a small smile, then sighed without saying a word.

As for this Quantum Force Field, he had wanted to search the ruins for it anyway, so heading over now was no great detour.

This Purification Church site had been completely devastated by the bombardment, and the cultists inside were unlikely to pose much of a threat.

The island had lost all trace of the idyllic scene from before, filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers. The meadows, the bushes, even the small animals with their magnificent pelts—all had vanished without a trace.

Even the carcasses of the beasts Shen Feng and Witch Tower had killed earlier were gone, as if they had never existed.

In their path lay only black reef rock and mud, along with seashells, dead sea fish, dried seaweed, and broken, rusted metal parts.

The island itself wasn’t large, only a few kilometers across. Now, it looked like nothing more than a massive reef.

Propellers, turbines, rusted sheets of iron, massive shell casings, missile fragments, gears, human skeletons—the list went on.

The closer they got to the aircraft carrier wreck, the more remnants of human civilization littered the ground.

The faces of the men grew grim as they began to understand what this island truly was.

This was a true, ancient battlefield.

Just then, a glint on the ground caught Shen Feng’s eye. He casually reached down and snatched up two small metal tags.

They were two military identification tags, commonly known as dog tags.

The stamped text was faded but still legible:

Adam Karen, Pilot, Carrier Air Wing, CVN-79, Behemoth Special Combat Group, Eagle Country Navy

Clearly, this was a member of one of the Eagle Country’s former combat groups from the Water World era.

As for where that combat group was now... it was likely scattered somewhere in this Fog Sea.

Soon, they were less than a hundred meters from the carrier wreck. Ahead, blind Purifiers were streaming out, fleeing in all directions.

Without a word, Witch Tower drew her bow while still sprinting. In the blink of an eye, she fired three arrows in rapid succession, each one piercing a Purifier’s throat.

Shen Feng also pulled the trigger, beginning to mop up the remaining Purifiers.

’They might be blind, but they’re still fanatics of the Purification Church. Scum who would give up their own eyes must be even more malicious toward human civilization. No mercy necessary.’

Led by Old Bill, the sailors immediately joined in, hunting down the blind cultists.

Unlike the clean efficiency of Shen Feng and Witch Tower, the sailors’ methods were far more crude and direct. They drew their knives and went in for chest stabs and slit throats, ensuring each Purifier died in a uniquely grisly way.

Hunting the fleeing blind Purifiers as they went, Shen Feng and Witch Tower soon reached the breach in the carrier’s hull where the golden gate had been.

The scene was completely different from before. The former "Heaven" had been reduced to a dilapidated wreck.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the two of them charged through the opening.

The place had become a true Hell.

The fabled fountains of golden wine and rivers of milk and honey were gone, replaced by rivers of overflowing sewage and fuel that gave off a pungent stench.

The humid interior of the rusting carrier was overgrown with moss and mollusks, like the lair of Cthulhu.

The earlier bombardment had blasted holes throughout the carrier. The Purifiers had had nowhere to hide. Many had been blown into a bloody pulp, and chunks of reddish gore were plastered across the walls and floor.

However, there had been over a thousand Purifiers inside. Although hundreds had been killed, a good number had survived.

Many more were now clutching severed limbs, their agonized wails echoing through the hall.

The fanatics were already blind; now, all they could do was lie there groaning helplessly. It was a pathetic sight.

This was the scene that greeted Shen Feng and Witch Tower when they entered.

The two exchanged a look and, faces impassive, began firing at the Purifiers.

’How pathetic. Allow us to help.’

The screams quickly began to die down. Shen Feng, meanwhile, was rapidly surveying the area, specifically the location Jingwei had calculated for the Quantum Force Field Core.

Suddenly, his Thought Field detected a faint disturbance. He looked and saw a Purifier fanatic in the corner, one whose limbs had been severed, rapidly regrowing its hands!