18: Chapter 18: A Spoiler

The [Cloud Top Fortress] flew at a speed of 70km/h, and the distance of over ten kilometers was quickly closed.

Ahead, a massive storm cloud mass, appearing a deep cobalt blue, raged in the airspace at 13,000 meters like a giant funnel.

Violent air currents whipped up hail across the sky, and lightning flickered faintly deep within the clouds.

Luo Ning sat in the leather passenger seat, watching the approaching storm, and subconsciously gripped the armrest.

"Boss, are we really going in?"

Her face was a little pale; clearly, she had psychological trauma regarding this kind of extreme weather.

"What are you afraid of? Trust me."

Zhou An pressed a few control keys with a relaxed expression. "What you're sitting in right now is the toughest mobile fortress in the entire region."

"Boom—!"

Before he could finish speaking, the [Cloud Top Fortress] dove headfirst into the core of the storm.

The deafening thunder instantly drowned out all other sounds. Hail the size of an adult's fist, mixed with gale-force winds, pelted the pale blue energy protective shield like raindrops, creating ripples of intense distortion.

Luo Ning gasped and squeezed her eyes shut tightly. But after a few seconds, she realized that apart from the violent shaking, the cabin remained at a constant temperature, and not even a sliver of cold wind had seeped in.

She opened her eyes and looked at the durability on the panel.

The energy of the protective shield was decreasing at a slow rate under the assault of the wind and hail, but then, a gentle golden halo spread out from the main console, covering the entire fuselage.

[Little Giant Hextech triggered, durability recovering...]

Under the nourishment of this golden halo, the energy of the protective shield miraculously stabilized its downward trend and was even slowly recovering!

"Holy crap!"

She widened her eyes.

"Th-this airship can even self-repair?! Auto-regeneration?!"

"Calm down, it's basic operation."

Zhou An replied with extreme pretentiousness and casually activated the bottom grappling hooks.

Amidst the violent air currents, one blind box and treasure chest after another, radiating various colors of light, were precisely dragged into the cabin by the grappling hooks. A place that was a death trap in the eyes of others was simply a backyard for restocking for Zhou An.

"Boss, this airship is too fierce!"

Luo Ning shouted excitedly.

Just as Zhou An was immersed in the pleasure of harvesting supplies, the radar suddenly emitted a rapid, beeping alarm.

Two red dots representing other survivors forcibly cut in from the edge of the storm and were rapidly approaching the [Cloud Top Fortress].

Immediately after, an extremely arrogant public broadcast connected to Zhou An's public channel:

"Hey, you in the big box in front! We are the vanguard of the [Blood Blade Guild]! We order you to stop immediately and hand over all the supplies you just fished up!"

"You have been locked onto by us! If you dare to resist, we will directly destroy your propulsion system and let you fall into a pile of meat paste!"

Hearing the broadcast, Luo Ning immediately switched from fan-girl mode to combat mode. She leaned over to the radar and took a look: "Boss, it's two LV1 armed helicopters, retrofitted with light machine guns and ramming spikes."

"Hand over supplies?"

Zhou An sneered.

He couldn't even be bothered to answer the communicator and directly placed his hands on the weapon control panel.

"Luo Ning, watch closely. In the future, when you encounter people who talk this much nonsense, just use caliber to reason with them."

Zhou An's eyes sharpened, instantly locking onto the two approaching helicopters.

"[storm twin-linked autocannon array], fire!"

"Boom boom boom boom—!"

On top of the fortress, the pitch-black autocannon array spat out two blinding tongues of fire several meters long in the darkness. The metal storm, with a momentum that destroyed everything in its path, instantly tore through the gale and hail, carving two lethal trajectories in the sky.

Those two members of the [Blood Blade Guild] didn't even react in time; their proud LV1 armor was as fragile as a paper toy in front of the armor-piercing rounds of the twin-linked autocannons.

"Bang! Boom—!"

Only half a shrill scream came through the public channel before the helicopter on the right disintegrated in mid-air, turning into a huge fireball, its burning wreckage falling toward the abyss.

The pilot of the other helicopter was scared out of his wits.

"F*ck! What kind of firepower is this?! Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

He frantically pulled the joystick, attempting to escape the storm, but how could Zhou An possibly let him go?

"[high-frequency tracking cutting ray], fire."

A thin, brilliant beam of light shot out from the bottom of the fortress, like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, carving an elegant arc through the air and precisely sweeping across the tail rotor of the fleeing helicopter.

"Hiss—"

No explosion, no roar. The tail of the helicopter, along with the propeller, was instantly severed, the cut as smooth as a mirror. The off-balance wreckage tumbled violently in the air and soon disappeared from sight.

"System, initiate wreckage salvage and decomposition." Zhou An gave the command skillfully.

Soon, the mechanical grappling hooks dragged the core wreckage of the two helicopters back.

[System Prompt: You have killed a survivor.]

[Decomposition successful! Obtained: Level 1 Steel x 150, Scrap Iron Pieces x 200, Level 2 Steel x 15, Aviation Fuel x 80, Damaged Machine Gun Blueprint x 1, Spoiled Bread x 5.]

"Looks like these two guys were pretty useless."

"Boss, leave this dirty and tiring work to me in the future! I love setting off fireworks the most!"

Luo Ning rubbed her hands excitedly.

"Don't be impatient, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future." Zhou An smiled and maneuvered the [Cloud Top Fortress] to continue feasting in the storm.

Over the next few hours, it was as if they were eating at a buffet, scraping the treasure chests in this area of medium-sized supply rain clean. During this time, they encountered a few more waves of flying monsters attracted by the red light, all of which were easily shredded by the autocannon array.

Until the system radar emitted a harsh red alarm again.

[Warning: The devouring black mist is only 30 kilometers away from your current position!]

"Time is about up."

Zhou An glanced at the cargo hold full of loot, very satisfied.

"Full speed ahead! Let's get out first!"

After rushing out of the storm cloud, the [Cloud Top Fortress] was bathed in warm sunlight once again.

Stabilizing the speed at cruising mode, Zhou An took Luo Ning to the hall and began to take inventory of the loot.

In addition to the batch of materials dropped from killing the Blood Blade Guild members, the harvest from the supply rain was also piled up into a small mountain.

"Fifty-something ordinary treasure chests, seven [black iron treasure chest]s. No bronze or silver."

Zhou An pursed his lips in some dissatisfaction. When he was scraping the surface below 10,000 meters earlier, the number of treasure chests was much higher than this.

"Boss, this is already exaggerated, okay! Everything slightly valuable in the storm was fished up by the grappling hooks."

Luo Ning looked at the pile of chests on the ground, her eyes shining.

Zhou An thought for a moment. Since they had signed a cooperation contract and would be living under the same roof in the future, it wouldn't be good to keep some abilities completely hidden.

"Luo Ning, since we've teamed up, there's something I have to tell you."

Zhou An picked up three ordinary blind boxes and said in a calm tone, "My talent allows me to synthesize and upgrade treasure chests of the same level."

As he said this, right in front of Luo Ning, he used [Level Up!].

A colorful light flashed, and the three ordinary blind boxes vanished into thin air, replaced by a [black iron treasure chest] emitting a faint glow.

"Holy crap!"

Although Luo Ning was mentally prepared that this boss was a cheater, seeing such an operation that violated the system settings with her own eyes, she still couldn't help but curse.

"Three-in-one?! Then if you keep synthesizing..."

"Correct, theoretically, one can synthesize a diamond chest." Zhou An nodded, giving a partial truth as a way of laying his cards on the table.

"This is just too abnormal..."

Luo Ning swallowed, looking at Zhou An as if she were looking at the system's own son.

"So, how should we split these chests?"

Zhou An looked at her.