Chapter 253: Old-timer, may I ask for directions?

The atmosphere in the command platform grew extremely tense; facing Kawashima Feng's fury, everyone was like frightened quails, shrinking their heads nervously, not daring to offer any excuse.

After his anger subsided, Kawashima Feng took a deep breath, barely calming himself; blaming these people now is useless, the urgent task is to solve the problem.

If the higher-ups knew about this, they would certainly investigate, and by then his position would be finished—"Was there anything unusual before the detector disappeared?"

"None."

"Before these detectors disappeared, there was no sign at all, as if they vanished into thin air."

Kawashima Feng's face was grim; just as he frowned in thought, a soldier rushed in, looking flustered.

"Reporting, Commander, I have an urgent matter to report!"

Seeing the soldier's cautious appearance, Kawashima Feng felt a sudden ominous premonition—"Speak!"

Catching sight of his grim expression, the soldier couldn't help swallowing, "Another detector has lost contact."

Kawashima Feng felt his vision go dark, his body almost unable to stand; if not for the people nearby holding him up, he would have collapsed right then.

"Commander, are you alright?"

Kawashima Feng's eyes were bloodshot, he gasped heavily, his whole body trembling—"Trash! All of you are trash!"

Seeing his ferocious expression, the soldiers were startled, quickly adding, "But this time the lost detector sent back its coordinates, and it even captured an image."

Hearing this, everyone froze, their gazes all focusing on the soldier.

Kawashima Feng's sharp eyes locked onto the soldier, the redness in his eyes fading somewhat—"What are you waiting for? Hurry and bring it over!"

Under the gaze of so many, the soldier fumbled and pulled up the image.

Everyone on the command platform stared nervously at the big screen.

What exactly took their detector?

Was it someone from Great Xia or another country?

In the sapphire sea, fish swam about; sunlight fell like scattered gold, sparkling on the undulating surface.

The surroundings receded quickly, occasionally passing schools of fish—clearly this was the detector's view as it moved beneath the sea.

As the detector kept moving forward, the surroundings soon became open.

Everyone stared at the big screen, afraid to miss any frame, lest they overlook vital information.

Kawashima Feng's expression slightly furrowed, his eyes showing some doubt; from the detector's display, nothing abnormal had appeared along the way.

Not to mention warships or submarines, even reefs—those obstacles—had never existed.

What exactly intercepted the detector?

If it had hit something, that wouldn't make sense either.

For a moment, everyone's doubts deepened; just as they were puzzled, the detector that had been speeding forward suddenly trembled without any warning.

The image shook along with it, making viewers dizzy.

Kawashima Feng and the others' breathing grew rapid; he quickly ordered, "Pause!"

He widened his eyes at the screen, trying to see clearly what was happening—whether it had been struck or intercepted by something else.

Yet there was nothing in the image!

"What's going on? Everything in the image looks normal."

"If it's normal, why would the detector suddenly shake so violently?"

"Could it be that the detector itself has a problem?"

Just as everyone was bewildered, a patrol ship captain suddenly contracted his pupils, pointing at a corner of the screen, "Hey, look—something seems to be in the detector's southeast!"

Everyone quickly followed his gaze, and soon they too widened their eyes.

It appeared to be a wire, bent into a hook shape, embedded in the detector.

Someone uncertainly said, "Kind of like a hook? A fishhook?"

Immediately someone objected, "How could that be!"

They followed the hook upward, and in the swaying seawater they saw a thin line.

What had been mere speculation among them was now certain—it really was a fishhook?!

Kawashima Feng and the others looked bewildered, unable to believe what they saw.

A fishhook actually pierced the detector's exterior?!

This is utterly impossible.

The detector's hull is made of the most advanced aerospace material—let alone a fishhook, even an electric drill couldn't break it, yet now they see a fishhook snagged on the detector!

Everyone wore an expression of doubting life itself.

"What's going on with this hook?"

"Who set this fishhook?"

"Is this an accident or a coincidence?"

Doubts flooded everyone's minds; before they could react, the image shook violently again, and the detector worth hundreds of millions of dollars was yanked out of the sea.

Sprays rolled, revealing a glimpse of azure sky and the boundless sea.

Everyone was stunned; all their earlier guesses were overturned at this moment.

The detector had actually been hooked up by a fishhook!

Who could have such ability!

But even more shocking was yet to come; once they clearly saw the culprit's appearance, everyone froze in place, mouths slightly agape, faces full of disbelief.

Because what appeared on the screen was not a person at all, but a green turtle!

Its body was enormous, clearly having lived many years, its entire form a brilliant emerald green.

This great turtle sat on a stone like a person, holding a green bamboo pole and swaying it back and forth.

Staring at the screen, the command platform fell into dead silence; everyone's expressions were identical—shocked, astonished, various emotions intertwined, truly complex to the extreme.

A turtle is fishing?

And it even caught their Divine Illumination Country's detector?

There are too many flaws; for a moment I don't know where to start.

If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they would even suspect that they were hallucinating or that the footage was a prank.

Many people couldn't help rubbing their eyes, then looked again at the screen, only to see the big turtle showing a human-like look of disdain, as if extremely dissatisfied with what it had caught.

It shook its claws and directly threw it aside, smashing into a nearby stone and sending out a large spray of sparks.

Though the action seemed casual, the shock it gave the crowd was immense, and their eyelids involuntarily twitched.

This detector is worth hundreds of millions of dollars; just dropping it like that loses at least several tens of millions.

"What on earth is going on? Why is there a big turtle here?"

"Turtles can fish? It caught our detector!"

No matter how you look at it, this is somewhat abnormal; the detector weighs several tons—how could a turtle possibly haul it up?

It's simply unbelievable.

All of this kept bombarding Chuan Dao Feng and the others, directly plunging everyone into a stupor.

"Wait, quickly look behind this turtle."

Upon clearly seeing the scene behind the turtle, everyone's pupils dilated again, their minds went blank, and they were momentarily speechless.

Not far behind the turtle, there lay a pile of pitch‑black objects.

It was nothing else—it was the missing detector!

Seeing this scene, Chuan Dao Feng was on the verge of a heart attack; he had imagined countless reasons for the detector's disappearance.

Other countries suspected, hit reefs, entered magnetic disturbance zones, but never thought of this—being hooked up by a big turtle.

Could this be some new biotech creature from other countries?

On the surface it's a turtle, but inside it's all high‑tech!

Chuan Dao Feng's eyes surged with shock; as a destroyer captain, his vision was extraordinary, and he quickly sensed that this matter was anything but ordinary.

"Everyone, return to your posts!"

"First Battalion escort ships, hold position!"

"Second and Third Battalions' remaining ships, follow me to the coordinates; we must capture this object!"

As the orders were issued one after another, everyone quickly sprang into action.

……

An endless ocean stretched out, the water rippling with gentle waves; the big turtle, oblivious to what was about to happen, gazed at the nearby lump of iron and kept complaining.

"What the heck is this? I don't know which heartless person keeps dumping trash into the sea—throwing so many lumps of iron into the ocean, isn't that sick?"

The big turtle got lost nearby; it had originally wanted to fish to relax, and perhaps think of a good solution, but having failed to come up with anything, it was instead filled with anger, practically worried sick.

While thinking, it tossed aside its fishing rod, but after just a moment, seeing the familiar lump of iron on the hook, the turtle was truly speechless.

"This junk is just wasting my time."

The turtle cursed as it flung the lump of iron aside, but what devastated it was that the next thing it hooked was still these weird objects.

"@#ZA￥……&%"

Even the well‑mannered big turtle, furious, began swearing; to avoid this stuff, it even left the area and tried several different baiting spots, but to no avail.

"It just never ends."

The big turtle raged and shouted, unaware that the people of Divine Illumination Country were also nearly faint from anger.

"Damn! What the hell is this thing, the detector's been caught again!"

To avoid being caught, the Divine Illumination Country personnel changed their position and route, yet they didn't expect to still be unable to escape the tiny fishhook—it was almost as if it were working against them.

Watching the footage sent back by the remaining detectors, the Divine Illumination Country soldiers were so angry their features seemed distorted.

"With the Emperor above, speed up—we absolutely cannot let this turtle get away!"

On the other side, the big turtle was nearly driven mad by those iron lumps, so it simply dove into the sea and swam to the other side.

"This time I surely won't hook those iron lumps again."

The big turtle took a deep breath and cast its line again, but reality harshly taught it a lesson.

Whatever deep‑sea fish, buried explosives, even divine‑sound detectors, signal transmitters, and so on—all kinds of state equipment—were hauled up by it.

Frankly speaking, all the countermeasures these countries had left in the northeastern sea area were completely wiped out—every last one was snagged by the turtle.

Yet the turtle knew nothing of this, still thinking it had hauled up nothing but scrap copper and iron, and began to doubt its own turtle‑hood.

This also startled other countries.

"Holy shit, where is my M Country's secretly deployed small unmanned submersible?"

"Holy crap, how did the equipment monitoring the eastern sea area disappear?"

"Who the heck destroyed my Tsarist Country's seabed seismic detector?"

"Geez, where is my big H Country's underwater unmanned detector? It suddenly lost contact."

"Damn, I spent a fortune setting up that sound transmitter, and now it's just been destroyed?"

That day, the detection departments of countless countries worldwide were fuming, looking at their instruments' screens turning gray, their faces as grim as could be.

"Could it be the Divine Illumination Country that did this?"

"It's definitely that bunch of turtle bastards; they haven't been conducting military exercises in the Divine Illumination Sea lately, have they?"

"The Divine Illumination Country is too arrogant! It actually destroyed our precious equipment, really thinking that because this place is called the Divine Illumination Sea, it can treat it as its own waters!"

"It's sheer bullying; we must punish them—this is outright provocation!"

The officials of countless countries worldwide had faces as dark as iron.

Even Great Xia could not escape, for it too had placed countermeasures in the sea, solely to guard against other countries.

It must be those people from Shenzhao State; they haven't been conducting exercises at sea recently, have they?

The person in charge of Daxia-related affairs also had his mouth twitching in anger, but facing all this, they couldn't directly intervene; they could only closely monitor the situation on Shenzhao State's side to see what they were up to.

At this time, Shenzhao State still didn't know that it had carried a huge black pot on its back because of a certain Great Demon.

After a day of tracking, Shenzhao State's one destroyer, two frigates, and a small torpedo boat finally reached the vicinity of the detector's coordinates.

Through the telescope, one could see the great turtle leisurely fishing on a distant rock, and all of Shenzhao State's crew members felt their teeth itch with anger.

All along the tracking, it truly was shocking; they discovered countless things that the great turtles had caught.

Sonar detectors, torpedoes, signal transmitters, and so on—judging by the appearance of these instruments, they were all from other countries, even including their own detectors.

"What the heck has this stinky turtle done?!"

"How did it manage to catch all of these things?"

"It's definitely not an ordinary turtle; what the hell is it?"

Everything before them kept shocking their worldview; after finally tracking down the culprit, Chuandao Feng's eyes turned red.

"Full speed ahead!"

He let out a low roar, like a storm swirling above the ocean.

At the same time, the great turtle also noticed their presence; watching those few warships speeding forward, its fishing rod trembled so much it almost fell to the ground.

After wandering aimlessly in the vast sea for so long, they finally saw living people.

The great turtle excitedly waved and shouted at the top of its voice: "Hello, may I ask how to get to Daxia's Penglai Island?"

Its voice was loud, drifting between the sea area, but due to the howling sea wind, Chuandao Feng and company couldn't hear it clearly, though they could tell it was spoken in Daxia.

Chuandao Feng's expression changed, and he blurted out: "This turtle can actually speak!"

It was still the Daxia language.

Although there had been doubts, now it could be confirmed: this great turtle was absolutely a devilish thing created by Daxia's research!

Thinking about how this great turtle had previously ruined so many of their detectors, which was a huge loss for them, Chuandao Feng instantly flew into a rage; the great turtle's waving motion, in his eyes, turned into arrogance and provocation.

After ruining so many detectors, it still acted so smug, practically not putting Shenzhao State in its eyes at all!

Chuandao Feng's face grew so dark it seemed water could drip from it: "His Majesty the Emperor above, all fleet, hear my order! Fire!"

Accompanying Chuandao Feng's roar, all the soldiers of the entire fleet immediately trained their guns and locked onto the not-far-away great turtle.

All firepower was nearly ready in an instant.

"Fire!"

With the order given, cannons roared, thunder surged, spewing a vast sheet of fire snakes, carrying endless wrath, sweeping toward the great turtle.

The power of five dreadnought battleships almost made this sea area tremble; blinding, dazzling light instantly covered the blue ocean, forming a golden bridge that connected heaven and earth.

In an instant, the fire dragon roared, and myriad beasts ran wild.

However, in the blink of an eye, endless flames linked sea and sky, tearing apart the tranquil firmament, and shot straight toward the great turtle on the island.

The vicinity of the entire sea area was filled with the smell of gunpowder, as if the god of death had descended.

Watching the bombardment and sky‑rocketing flames from the nearby sea surface, the great turtle stood frozen in place.

???

"What the heck!"

The great turtle shook its head and couldn't help sighing: "People these days, why are they so hot‑tempered?"

If Chuandao Feng's people heard this, they'd surely be so angry they'd spit blood.

Dozens of detectors were hauled up by the great turtle; for Shenzhao State, the loss was enormous, beyond monetary measure.

Dozens of detectors were hauled up by the giant turtle; for Shenzhao State the loss was catastrophic, beyond any monetary measure!

Under endless firepower coverage, the island became an isolated speck with nowhere to flee; frankly, the giant turtle's combat power falls far short of that of the golden eagle and the Monkey King.

But it possesses one overwhelming advantage that even all the monsters of Longyuan Mountain combined cannot match.

That advantage is its defensive power.

As everyone knows, a turtle's shell is already hard, let alone a monster's; moreover, its shell has been tempered by Heavenly Tribulation.

The giant turtle knew its combat power could never rank among the best, so it devoted itself to defense, surpassing all monsters—and in fact it did.

Thus, upon seeing such dense firepower, its first reaction was to dive into the deep sea and retract into its shell.

Boom—

Only several booms were heard; black smoke rose from the island, numerous flame storms erupted, and gunpowder smoke instantly blanketed the whole island.

It seemed like the apocalypse had arrived; a suffocating blaze and shockwave spread outward, vast tracts of trees toppled simultaneously, and the ground revealed several unfathomable cracks.

Countless boulders shattered and plunged into the seabed; the scorching heat generated by the explosion spread across the sea surface, turning even the icy seawater scorching and kicking up huge waves.

The turtle shell protected the giant turtle well, suffering no damage from the explosions, but it felt the seawater heating up.

Seeing the scene above, the giant turtle was utterly dumbfounded.

"Are these people crazy? I just asked for directions, fished a bit—why blast me with such fierce cannon fire?"

I thought it was over, but I never expected dozens of torpedoes to tear through the water and sneak up beside the giant turtle.

Seeing these things appear beside it, the giant turtle's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Boom boom boom!"

The terrifying depth-charge torpedo detonated, its unimaginable scorching heat vaporizing the surrounding seawater; a terrifying force suddenly wrapped up a large amount of sharp fragments and spread everywhere.

The immense terrifying force, like a whale‑swallowing monster, voraciously devoured everything around.

All reefs, fish schools, and sand were utterly destroyed, and the huge disturbance on the sea surface kicked off towering waves.

Such torpedoes were not just one; there were as many as twenty, exploding beside the giant turtle and virtually evaporating the surrounding seawater.

The sea surface instantly boiled furiously, like boiling water; countless bubbles surged up, then like a fountain, countless seawater shot skyward.

Watching this scene, Kawashima Kaede revealed a relieved smile.

Damn turtle, this is the price for destroying our detector!

Even if the turtle is something developed by Great Xia research, what of it? It's fundamentally no match for our Divine Illumination State.

That's right, I'm afraid after these explosives bombard it, there won't even be any scraps left of the turtle.

Find its corpse and bring it back for study!

Just as they were celebrating, a faint silhouette shot out from the center of the explosion, quickly drawing their attention.

What is that!

Once they saw that silhouette clearly, their gazes instantly became dazed.

It was none other than the turtle from before!

Someone couldn't help but swallow, stammering: 'Damn! I didn't see wrong, right? How is that turtle still alive!'

How could that be possible.

With such heavy firepower barrage, even a patrol ship would be sunk, let alone a turtle, yet it remained completely unharmed.

The scene before them exceeded everyone's expectations.

Chuan Dao Feng quickly reacted, 'Chase after it quickly! We absolutely cannot let this turtle get away.'

After a brief shock, Chuan Dao Feng roared.

Actually, if it were another monster, even if a golden eagle and monkey king came, without the bestowal of divine weapons, they'd probably not be able to withstand it—the firepower is simply too fierce.

But whoever called it, Chuan Dao Feng was facing a turtle specialized in defense; with its shell plus its own Spiritual Power protecting its body, its defense was virtually invincible.

Although the turtle was naturally peace-loving and disliked conflict, facing their successive artillery bombardments, its eyes also became tinged with killing intent.

These people are simply sick; I, the old man, was just asking for directions, and they opened fire on me directly!

I, the old man, haven't done anything heinous before, have I?

Most importantly, it almost destroyed its beloved fishing rod!

For a fisherman, the fishing rod is their second life; Chuan Dao Feng and the others undoubtedly stepped on the turtle's face.

It's simply bullying the turtle too much! (End of chapter)