67: Chapter 67: Blood Blade

A few hours later.

With the final dull sound of mechanical interlocking inside the fortress, the heavy gears at the bottom clicked perfectly into place. EVA's electronic voice echoed through the cabin.

"Report, Captain. All blueprints have been loaded, and the fortress has completed its comprehensive module upgrade."

Zhou An summoned the current fortress panel with satisfaction. Although the [ Cloud Top Fortress ] had not yet officially leveled up to LV5 due to the lack of a core, its luxurious configuration was already enough to crush any vehicle under this sky at the same stage:

[ Cloud Top Fortress LV4 ]

[ Area ]: 400 square meters

[ Max Speed ]: 450 km/h

[ Star-Fall Electromagnetic Cannon (Legendary) ]: Replaces the original high-energy main cannon. After charging, it can fire a destructive beam that ignores all energy shields of Tier 4 and below, dealing true dimensional damage.

[ Plasma Bombardment Matrix ] & [ Twin Quick-Fire Cannons ]: The entire series has been recast using special Tier 4 materials reinforced with [ Moon-Glitter Grade Super-Dimensional Composite Forging Technique ], greatly increasing the durability of the barrels and boosting overall firepower by 50%.

[ " Immovable as a Mountain " · Energy Deflection Defense Matrix (Legendary) ]: When facing energy-based attacks, it forcibly scatters 70% of the damage and forcibly converts the remaining 30% of violent energy into shield recharge.

[ Dark Gold Composite Armor Plate (Epic) ]: Physical resistance increased by 200%, with extremely strong self-healing and anti-abyssal corrosion properties.

[ 3D Radar Jamming Tower (Epic) ]: After activation, it can release wide-area electronic interference within a 500-kilometer radius, causing enemy guided weapons and scanning radars to fail, rendering them blind.

[ Void Warp Stealth Field (Legendary) ]: Perfect optical and radar stealth, capable of shielding high-dimensional detection across tiers.

[ Swarm Drone Hangar ]: Fully loaded with 2,000 micro-drones, already fully equipped with [ Lava Burst Trap (Epic) ] deployment modules, capable of instantly laying a high-altitude minefield.

Looking at these outrageously gorgeous panel stats, the gloom that had risen in Zhou An's heart due to the unknown creature invasion was swept away, leaving him feeling refreshed.

...

Subsequently, Zhou An walked straight to the [ spatial cultivation chamber ].

Thanks to Li Muzi's meticulous care, the place was lush and orderly.

Zhou An flipped his wrist and took out the spatial core, which was emitting faint spatial ripples, from his spatial storage.

The surface of this crystal shimmered with a silver-gray halo, and the surrounding air even distorted slightly due to its appearance. This was the only spatial-attribute item he had seen so far, and its preciousness far exceeded even ordinary Legendary-grade equipment.

"Muzi, step back a bit. I'm going to upgrade your vegetable garden."

Zhou An strode to the control console in the center of the [ spatial cultivation chamber ], pressed the core heavily into the slot, and shouted in a low voice: "Sublimate!"

Hum—!

An invisible, violent ripple instantly swept across the room.

The originally compact 500-square-meter space seemed to be torn apart by an invisible giant hand and stretched wildly outward.

As Li Muzi stood dumbfounded, even dropping her watering can, the surrounding walls rapidly receded, and the field of vision instantly became incredibly vast, as if a sprawling underground farm had been inserted into the fortress out of thin air.

[ spatial cultivation chamber (Upgraded) ]

[ Current Area ]: 5,000 square meters (Space forcibly expanded tenfold)

[ Growth Environment ]: Perfectly simulated

[ Core Buff ]: Growth speed increased by 100%

[ Current Status ]: Stable

"Five, five thousand square meters..."

Li Muzi stammered as she looked at the vast expanse of black crystal spirit soil before her, her face flushed with excitement and her voice trembling, "Boss, I've really managed to create a psionic ecosystem here!"

Zhou An gently stroked the console, a flash of cherishment in his eyes.

"Keep up the good work. This place is now the lifeblood of our fortress."

...

However, just as Zhou An was enjoying the joy of territory expansion, a horrific massacre was unfolding at the fog boundary 10,000 meters below.

Boom—!

A dull explosion tore through the stagnant gray fog.

A giant fortress with a broken hull and a logo of a dripping blood saber painted on its flank was charging upward from the dark abyss 10,000 meters below, ignoring the shrill alarms of engine overload.

That was the [ Blood Blade Guild ] warship, the "Blood Slaughter".

As one of the top six large guilds in the region, the guild leader, "Scar", was an absolute ruthless character with a hideous knife scar across his face.

But at this moment, he was standing in the command room, his eyes bloodshot, covered in cold sweat, staring fixedly at the rear radar.

Behind him, there had originally been a massive fleet of a thousand ships.

Looking around, the worst were LV3 heavy armed airships, and there were even hundreds of aggressive LV4 vehicles. This force would have been enough to steamroll any medium-sized guild in the region.

But now, this massive fleet that should have been a source of pride looked like a pack of stray dogs chased by a vicious hound.

"Re... Report! The 12th, 15th, and 19th frigates of the rearguard battalion have lost signal! Requesting rescue!"

"Rescue my ass! Full speed ahead! Whoever is slow dies!"

Scar slammed his fist onto the command console, and the alloy tabletop instantly dented with a deep fist mark.

Behind him, the vice-guild leader, "Old Ghost", collapsed on the ground, his face as pale as paper. The skin on the left side of his face had begun to melt and sag eerily, revealing the purple muscle fibers writhing madly inside.

"Boss... to go down there and dig out that thing, we've almost exhausted the entire guild's assets."

Old Ghost's voice was hoarse and dry, carrying a tremor of near-collapse, "That thing... those things that have been biting at our heels, they aren't creatures at all..."

"Shut up!"

Scar turned his head abruptly and roared in fury. He didn't even realize that a row of small, slick, purple suction cups had grown on both sides of his neck, opening and closing with his breath, greedily sucking in the pollutants in the air.

"As long as we break through the 10,000-meter mark and enter the sunlight zone, those Abyssal Species won't be able to catch up! Then this sky will be ours to rule!"

However, reality was far crueler than his ambition.

Outside the panoramic porthole, a semi-transparent tentacle several kilometers long silently emerged from the previously thick gray fog.

With just a gentle coil, a LV4 heavy armored ship with all energy shields activated was instantly crushed in the vacuum like a plastic toy squeezed by a naughty child, not even a scream could be heard.

[ Warning! Guild member SAN value has plummeted below the critical point on a large scale! ]

[ Mental aberration detected, please execute physical elimination immediately! ]

The piercing red alarm in the command room was shrill and harsh. Scar looked back at the console in horror, only to see that the originally loyal guild elite was tilting his head back, emitting a sharp shriek like a chicken being strangled.

His hands had mutated into long, slender black claws, and he was frantically tearing at his own chest without feeling any pain, blood spurting wildly.

"SAN value... my SAN value..."

Old Ghost looked despairingly at the crimson numbers jumping wildly on the system panel: -5, -12, -25...

"Boss... look at me... am I... looking better?"

Old Ghost suddenly turned his head and gave Scar an extremely bright, perhaps even horrifying, smile.

His mouth had split all the way to his ears, and the flesh was turned inside out. A huge, cold, bloodshot eye was slowly squeezing out from deep within his throat, opening up, radiating high-dimensional malice, and staring fixedly at Scar.

"Damn it... they're crazy! Everyone is fucking crazy!"

Scar looked at the fleet exploding in the sky and touched the slick tentacle that had grown out of his neck at some point.

He slammed the full-power throttle, and with the remaining hundreds of broken warships, charged toward the 10,000-meter boundary line.