Love letters are not allowed in the exorcism notebook!-Chapter 793 - 40: Floor the Throttle, No Need for Too Many Questions

A massive black steel wall abruptly emerged above the ocean, blocking a third of the sky.

Charlie staggered backward repeatedly, landing hard on the deck. When he looked up, he finally saw clearly—a steel warship loomed before him.

Waves roared with overwhelming force, nearly overturning the Pathfinder.

Then came thunderous booms, exploding in his ears. Black cannon muzzles spewed fire, and shells whistled past overhead.

Clutching the railing, Charlie strained to look ahead and saw, 300 meters off the starboard side, another warship engulfed in flames under the sunlight, billowing thick black smoke.

So they’re not aiming at us... Damn near scared me to death.

Judging by the scene, it must be the Ming Navy chasing down some ghost ship of unknown origin, firing relentlessly all the way from the Outer Dimension back to the Main Material Plane.

But that couldn’t guarantee his own safety.

"Torpedo alert! Torpedo alert!"

Mogred’s shrill screams pierced through the ship.

Charlie stared helplessly at sprays of water erupting beneath the Ming warship, trailing obvious white lines, barreling toward the Pathfinder at an extraordinary speed.

Are you insane?! Our measly tonnage is worth wasting your torpedoes?

Then again, it fits Charlie’s mental image of the Ming Navy perfectly. In the Lanton street tabloids, the Ming Navy was always portrayed as Her Majesty the Queen’s mad dogs, fighting without a shred of chivalry, using any means necessary.

"Prepare to initiate the third contingency plan."

The Captain’s calm voice echoed in his ears. Charlie froze for a second before quickly removing all the unusual-looking components from his body, throwing them onto the deck, and raising both hands high.

BANG—!

A loud explosion erupted below the ship’s side, though it didn’t sound like a torpedo impact.

Moments later, accompanied by the shriek of metal grinding against metal, a giant clad in luminous blue heavy armor leapt onto the deck with the aid of grappling hooks. He reached behind, drew his weapon, and pressed its barrel firmly against Charlie’s forehead.

Could this be one of those Imperial Sea Guards who eat children without sparing the bones, just like the tabloids said?

Charlie shouted at the top of his lungs, "Civilian! Civilian! This is a merchant ship! Don’t shoot!"

"Civilian?"

The towering Imperial Sea Guard’s skeptical voice came from beneath his faceplate: "Which country are you from? Why don’t you fly a flag? Where did you even come from?"

"Breta! Breta!"

Charlie, drenched in sweat, rattled off every Chinese word he could remember from Alpha: "You good man! I good man! Civilian! No weapon! No contraband! Woman! Beautiful!"

"What the hell is he saying... Who crosses the ocean claiming to be a civilian?"

The Imperial Sea Guard looked completely baffled.

At this point, other Sea Guards climbed aboard, and upon encountering no resistance, finally relaxed a little.

From inside the cabin came the sound of cheerful music.

Mogred sang while playing a lively tune.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way..."

The Sea Guards exchanged puzzled looks.

"Christmas! Happy holidays!"

Charlie shouted hesitantly.

"Cut the chatter! Stop the ship and prepare for inspection!"

As the saying goes, music bridges souls. Amid the joyous melody, the Imperial Sea Guards inadvertently dropped their guard, turning their attention to the burning ghost ship in the distance.

That thing seemed absurdly resilient—it had weathered more than one round of cannon fire yet still possessed the strength to retaliate.

Some of the Sea Guards jumped off the deck from the other side, diving toward the ghost ship.

Meanwhile, Mogred’s Christmas carol reached its final verse.

"Dive!"

At the Captain’s command, the Iron Maiden’s hands pressed ten synchronized buttons.

The hum of suspension engines immediately caught the Sea Guards’ attention, but by then it was too late.

A sudden loss of gravity hurled everyone into midair.

"Wrong trajectory! We’ve been diverted!"

Mogred shrieked sharply.

The Ming were both ruthless and cunning, equipping their coastal waters with numerous diversion devices specifically targeting smugglers attempting to sneak in from the Outer Dimension, as well as those with ill intentions.

Truth be told, with Ming’s vast coastline, the odds of encountering such traps weren’t high.

Just bad luck, it seemed.

The Captain calmly returned to his seat, picked up the intercom, and said sternly, "All crew members, prepare for impact. We’re about to crash."

"This doesn’t even count as a crash, does it?"

Mogred shouted in exasperation, "Where’s the shore?"

"Now is a test of faith. Alpha will guide our way."

The Captain closed his eyes. After two seconds of silence, he suddenly said, "Overload the suspension engines. Full power forward. Rudder five degrees to port. Leapfrog movement toward the light. I see Alpha’s radiance. She’s right there."

"You’d better actually see it!"

Mogred screamed, frantically adjusting controls.

A deafening crack sounded from below.

"Broken dimensional barrier! Keel fractured!"

"Not a big deal. Floor the throttle."

"What throttle?! Wait... the ground!"

"Hard to port!"

The shattered hull of the Pathfinder streaked through dark clouds, infused with flames and lightning, plummeting toward the pitch-black earth before them.

After an earth-shaking crash, the ship was in shambles, its remains scattered in fiery fragments. Bodies and mechanical pieces flew in all directions, as a massive firestorm ascended into the sky, forming a slow-growing mushroom cloud.

......

Who knows how much time passed before a figure in heavy armor climbed out of the scorched crater, scanning the surroundings in confusion after removing his helmet.

"Commander! Where the hell have we landed now?"

A nervous new recruit’s voice broke the silence. The leading Sea Guard waved aside the smoke, stretched his neck, and took a deep breath.

"This scent... The Thousand-Year Dynasty, huh?"

The Commander turned back toward the crash site, only to find, to his surprise, nothing but a massive crater and a few scraps of the deck. There was no sign of any large vessel wreckage.

Even after all this, they still escaped? Damn cockroach sailors.

"With an impact this severe, the Astronomy Bureau is bound to detect it. First Squad Leader, stay here and wait for reinforcements. The rest of you, follow me. I want to see how far these bastards will run. Singing and playing music! Almost tricked me!"

"Commander... it wasn’t almost. We were tricked."

"Shut up! If you can’t speak properly, don’t speak at all! If you don’t catch these people, expect disciplinary action when we return!"