Chapter 793: Southern Expansion Kingdom
The Golden Edge was tightly surrounded by hundreds of vessels, leaving not an inch of empty space in any direction.
There wasn't even an escape route left for them.
These ships varied greatly in size, ranging from large coast guard vessels to civilian fishing boats.
The people aboard wore all sorts of clothing, representing every social class imaginable.
After encircling the Golden Edge, two short, brown-skinned men in thick cotton coats emerged from a coast guard ship. Armed with AK rifles and megaphones, they began shouting at the vessel.
Old Tian remained unflustered. Donning a bulletproof vest, he ordered sailors armed with rifles and riot shields onto the deck to communicate with the men in their local dialect.
"Everyone on board, dock immediately! We're coming aboard for inspection!" shouted what appeared to be a paramilitary group.
Old Tian stood his ground. "This is a vessel from the Morning Rain Organization of Tianhai City! Get out of our way!"
After the apocalypse, these small southern maritime nations had descended into complete lawlessness, with every citizen turning pirate.
Any vessel passing through their waters would inevitably be intercepted.
At minimum, they'd loot everything aboard—literally everything.
Ships, supplies, even people.
Able-bodied men were kept as slaves, the weak slaughtered for food, and women retained for their amusement.
Hoping for peaceful resolution under such circumstances was pure fantasy.
Old Tian sought to intimidate them with the Morning Rain Organization's name, hoping they'd back off.
But they were too far from the Huaxu Kingdom now—these ignorant pirates couldn't care less about the Morning Rain base.
A pirate opened fire without warning, spraying the ship with AK rounds that pinged against the hull.
Enraged, Old Tian cursed and returned fire with his crew.
Their weapons, provided by Zhang Yi, were superior in both firepower and ammunition capacity.
Beyond standard rifles, they had Gatling guns and various rocket launchers.
These weren't ordinary sailors—they were Tianhai City's former naval elites.
Every survivor among them was a combat powerhouse!
While they might not measure up against superhumans, they could easily dominate these small-nation pirates.
The pirates' weapons were far cruder—some even wielded kitchen knives and spears.
Old Tian's crew unleashed their firepower without restraint, following Zhang Yi's orders to never conserve ammunition—after all, it all came from the Jiangnan Region's armory.
A dozen sailors on the Golden Edge unleashed hell.
Old Tian personally manned the deck-mounted Gatling gun, its multiple barrels protected by thick metal plating.
With a roar, he opened fire on dozens of small boats ahead.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!"
The gunfire rattled like a rattlesnake's warning, blue flames dancing at the muzzle.
In an instant, high-caliber rounds tore through both vessels and pirates alike.
Flesh and wood exploded outward simultaneously—neither bodies nor boats could withstand such destructive force.
The sea soon ran red as pirates screamed and fled in panic.
Not pursuing further, Old Tian lit a cigarette against the glowing-hot barrel and ordered, "Full speed ahead!"
The icebreaker plowed through the wreckage and corpses, continuing its journey.
The haste was necessary—experience taught that killing pirates guaranteed retaliation.
For safety, Old Tian reported to Zhang Yi.
"We might have trouble ahead. Your intervention may be required."
Zhang Yi responded calmly, "No matter. We'll handle them when they appear."
True to Old Tian's prediction, within half an hour of travel, deafening cannon fire erupted from shore.
A dozen coastal artillery pieces unleashed a furious bombardment at the Golden Edge!
Yet as shells approached, they didn't strike the hull—instead vanishing into dimensional space.
Two antiquated warships now blocked their path.
Zhang Yi materialized at the bow and, without ceremony, used [Full Counter] to return every absorbed shell.
The coastal artillery exploded spectacularly, operators sent flying like scattered blossoms.
Pirates screamed in terror, "That's no civilian ship—it's a warship! A warship!"
They mistook the Golden Edge for an armed vessel.
The two blocking warships commenced their own bombardment.
Though outdated, their main guns remained formidable, hammering the Golden Edge's bow relentlessly.
Zhang Yi's eyes gleamed with both mockery and growing anger.
His dimensional space absorbed every incoming shell before returning them identically.
"BOOM!" "BOOM!" "BOOM!"
The warships suffered under their own fire, soon reduced to battered hulks.
But such attacks couldn't fully destroy the sturdy vessels—this method was too slow.
Zhang Yi's patience wore thin—how dare they attack him during peaceful travel?
Drawing Holy Judgment, he flashed through the air to hover above a warship.
On deck, he saw small, brown-skinned pirates gripping AKs and rocket launchers, faces frozen in shock or fear, cursing in their native tongue.
A single swing bisected seven or eight pirates at the waist!
Those behind froze in terror before desperately unloading their weapons at Zhang Yi—to no effect, as bullets vanished harmlessly around him.
A reverse stroke sent them all to the afterlife.
"They all must die," Zhang Yi decided instantly.
He'd be returning through these waters—sparing them now meant certain retaliation later.
Never one for half-measures, only complete eradication would suffice.
Sword in hand, Zhang Yi carved through the ship from bow to stern, deck to hold.
Previously, he'd always fought superhumans—never an easy battle.
But these pirates were mostly ordinary, with any superhumans among them being low-level at best.
His blade reaped lives like harvesting vegetables.
No guilt troubled him—not after discovering skinned corpses hanging belowdecks, some reduced to bare skeletons by knife work.
These pirates had long forfeited their humanity.