30: Slay the ship! Break through the pollution core alone!

【 Arctic Ice Abyss Contaminated Flagship 'Arbiter' 】

The moment Lin Feng crashed through the ship's outer armor, his high-frequency particle oscillation blade carved a scorching red crack into the metal bulkhead. He landed heavily in a dark corridor, the blue light from the fusion core on his back casting eerie shadows all around. On the armor's HUD interface, the ship's internal structure was being remotely scanned and modeled in real-time by Deep Blue—the core control room of this flagship was located in the center of the ship's spine, surrounded by layers of defensive partitions.

“High-concentration contamination energy fluctuations detected, shield decay rate increased by 30%,” the system's cold voice prompted.

The sound of twisting metal came from both ends of the corridor simultaneously, as six crimson-eyed killing mechs emerged from the darkness. Blood-blue energy streams pulsed through the gaps in their armor, and rotating chainsaw blades and particle cannons extended from their joints.

“Lei Lie, I’m in the ship. How are you all doing?” Lin Feng lowered his center of gravity, his particle oscillation blade humming as it activated.

“We’re entangled with three frigates! Deep Blue’s main cannon is—zzzt…!” The communication was suddenly cut off by strong interference.

No backup.

Lin Feng's lips curled into a cold smile, and the fusion core's output power was suddenly pushed to its critical limit!

“Then let’s finish this quickly.”

The killing mechs fired simultaneously! High-energy particle beams wove into a net of death!

Lin Feng advanced instead of retreating, the hydraulic devices in his armored legs erupting with terrifying thrust, sending him like a cannonball into the embrace of the nearest mech! His particle oscillation blade slashed diagonally from bottom to top, cutting through the pioneer alloy armor like tofu under the ultra-high frequency vibrations, and foul-smelling black coolant sprayed out!

Turn! Spin slash! The second mech was cut in half at the waist!

The third mech’s chainsaw blade grazed Lin Feng’s shield, sending sparks flying! He grabbed its joint with a backhand, using the momentum to leap into the air, and a row of miniature fusion explosive spikes suddenly popped out from his knee armor!

Boom!

The mech’s head was blown to pieces!

The remaining three changed tactics, forming a triangular encirclement. Their chest plates simultaneously opened, revealing internal rotating energy cores—a sign of self-destruction!

“System! Overload shields!”

【Warning: Shield overload will lead to fusion core instability!】

“Execute!”

The ethereal blue shield suddenly expanded, transforming into a spherical force field that enveloped Lin Feng!

Rumble—!!!

The self-destruct shockwave violently collided with the shield! The four walls of the corridor were torn into twisted metal debris! When the smoke cleared, Lin Feng was kneeling on one knee, his shield shattered, and his armor surface covered in scorch marks, but the fusion core was still operating stably.

He stood up, shaking off the blood from his blade, and looked at the blasted opening at the end of the corridor—a shortcut directly to the upper deck, leading to the core control room.

“Found you.”

---

【 Deep Blue Bridge Bloodbath Ice Abyss 】

“Hard to port! Avoid that cruiser’s main cannon!” Chen Hai roared his order.

Deep Blue’s massive hull sharply turned in the icy sea, as a blood-blue intertwined beam grazed its bow, instantly vaporizing an iceberg behind it!

On the main screen, twelve contaminated fleets had fully awakened. Five of them were besieging Deep Blue, while the remaining seven were heading in different directions—their trajectory analysis showed their targets were major survivor settlements worldwide!

“‘Psionic Pulse Array’ charged!”

“Fire!”

Dozens of blue lights pierced the nearest enemy ship, but this time, strange bloody ripples appeared on the enemy ship’s surface, largely neutralizing the pulse energy!

“It’s useless?! They’ve evolved resistance!” the weapons officer cried in despair.

“Switch to ‘Particle Light Spears’! Aim for the engine section—”

Boom!

Deep Blue violently shuddered! Its starboard side was hit by an attack from high altitude, melting a three-meter-diameter hole in the armor layer!

“High-altitude enemy attack! It’s that… that aerospace carrier!” The radar officer’s voice trembled.

Everyone looked up at the main screen—above the clouds, a streamlined black behemoth slowly descended, its hull branded with a distorted golden pattern, originating from the same source as the mark on Lin Feng’s left hand. This was the Observer’s true flagship!

“Damn it…” Chen Hai wiped blood from his forehead, “Old Zhao! How many Xing Chen (Stardust) backup cores do we have left?”

“Three! But forcing a parallel connection will cause an overload!”

“Then overload it!” Chen Hai slammed his fist on the control panel, “Route all energy to the main cannon! Blast a path for me, and let Lei Lie’s squad go assist Lin Feng!”

---

【 'Arbiter' Core Control Room 】

Lin Feng kicked open the last gate, his particle oscillation blade held horizontally across his chest. The control room was a perfect sphere, with a translucent blue crystal suspended in the center, entangled by blood-red, vine-like substances—this was the fleet's main control core, but it had been severely contaminated.

Below the crystal, a figure stood with his back to him.

The person slowly turned, revealing a face seven parts similar to Lin Feng’s, except his eyes were completely covered by blood-red crystals, and a stream of intertwined blue and gold energy flowed beneath his skin.

“Little brother,” he smiled, “you’ve finally arrived.”

Lin Feng felt as if struck by lightning.

“Lin Yue…?!”

This was his elder brother, who had gone missing during the global upheaval, the Ark’s chief scientist, and also… the Observer’s founder!

“Surprised?” Lin Yue—or rather, the entity occupying his body—caressed the contaminated core, “When the Deep Blue Project chose you as the key bearer, I swore I would prove them wrong… Look, now my fleet will cleanse this defiled world, and you will witness it firsthand—”

Lin Feng suddenly erupted! His particle oscillation blade thrust directly at his brother’s throat!

Clang!

Lin Yue merely used two fingers to clamp the blade’s edge, and terrifying energy ripples exploded!

“It’s useless,” he chuckled, “I possess power bestowed by the outer source, and you…”

His gaze suddenly froze—Lin Feng’s left hand was, at some point, pressed against the contaminated core!

The golden spiral mark, which had seemingly disappeared, now glowed like a scorching sun in Lin Feng’s palm!

“System!” Lin Feng roared, “Override command!”

【Genetic key verification passed!】

【Initiating purification protocol!】

Golden light, like a torrent, surged through his arm and into the core! The blood-red vines screamed as they dissolved in the golden light! The entire flagship violently trembled, and all the killing mechs simultaneously froze!

Lin Yue—or rather, the outer source consciousness occupying his body—let out an inhuman howl: “You have no idea what you’re fighting against! The outer source’s arrival is unstoppable—”

Lin Feng punched him in the face!

“Give me my brother… back!”

---

【 Arctic High Altitude Ultimate Choice 】

Deep Blue’s main cannon overload charge was complete, its muzzle aimed at the aerospace carrier!

Lei Lie’s squad broke through the encirclement, about to rendezvous with Lin Feng!

Distress signals from the seven major survivor bases worldwide frantically flooded the screen!

And in the 'Arbiter' core room, the purification process had reached 87%… but Lin Yue’s body was disintegrating in the golden light!

“Captain! You must evacuate! The flagship is about to self-destruct!” Lei Lie’s roar came through the communicator.

Lin Feng looked at his brother’s gradually clearing eyes, and suddenly smiled.

“Brother, it’s time to go home.”

He hoisted the weakened Lin Yue and rushed towards the rendezvous point. Behind him, the purified core emitted a pure blue light, and the twelve contaminated fleets simultaneously turned their cannons—aimed at the aerospace carrier!