Roar!

Above a certain area of the Pacific Ocean, the low roar of a starry sky thruster assembly echoed, causing the air above the sea surface to tremble. The eight main engine nozzles on the belly and tail of the Sky Dome Infinite's power hull surged with indigo-blue ion streams. The energy wake from subsonic cruising evaporated into kilometer-long mist corridors in the heavy rain, like a divine light blade splitting the sea curtain.

"Viola, lower the altitude further."

On the main bridge, every member was extremely vigilant. Although it was daytime, after entering the hurricane zone, the sky had begun pouring heavy rain, blocking out the sunlight. Detecting the low-hanging storm clouds above, Lin Xian had to have Viola repeatedly lower the flight altitude to avoid attracting monsters that might be hiding in the cloud layers.

The Sky Dome Infinite skimmed low over the sea, roaring continuously. Its hull created vacuum shockwave rings, with high-pressure air currents pressing the seawater downward into hundred-meter-wide depressions. The wave walls rolled outward like razors, bursting apart.

The current Sky Dome's lead ship now had an additional main weapons section added to the front. Lin Xian had also reinforced the flight collision capabilities with three layers of bow defense—besides the super-carbyne alloy hull itself, there were electrostatic field generators to resist energy weapons and fine particle streams, high-energy plasma pulse arrays for active defense, and explosion-proof high-temperature composite armor for frontal impacts and explosion resistance.

With this additional section, the Sky Dome train had upgraded from its original "star track transport ship" status to a "far-star colonization" weapon with autonomous defense systems.

Currently, Ning Jing, Shu Qin, Xiao Qing, and others were responsible for reconnaissance and firing from the arsenal ship. The triple-mounted orbital star-shaker turrets and plasma guns were ready to engage enemies at any moment. Chen Sixuan, Lü Chang, Luo Yang, and others handled information systems, while Shasha served as the helmsman. The remaining personnel stood by on the bridge and functional hull sections. Only Sun Yuzhen, Mo Xiaotian, Ding Junyi, and Xiao Yuan weren't required for combat, handling logistics in the living quarters.

Fire Bro stood alone before the main bridge's forward viewport, his eyes sparkling with starlight, a wildly arrogant curve lifting the corners of his mouth as he laughed heartily at the churning rain and split waves outside the viewport:

"Wahahahaha! This is our battlefield! Sky Dome Infinite, tear through this chaotic rain curtain, trample the stormy waves—my steel giant body reigns supreme between heaven and earth! Mere hurricanes and storms are but dust brushing against my face—behold! This exhilaration of cleaving through waves, making the sea god tremble and cloud demons retreat! This is what befits a true hero's destiny! World, witness—this journey of breaking through everything is but the first step in my conquest of the universe! Come then, let the storm rage fiercer—my blazing fire purges the mortal realm, hahaha!"

Boom!

However, before he could finish expressing his full heroic spirit, a plasma gun on the forward weapons ship suddenly fired. Flashing plasma traced a lightning bolt across the sky diagonally upward, exploding within a cloud layer. Under the azure-blue flash, a strange black shadow shot out from the dark clouds. As the mist cleared, a winged demon-like monster could be seen tumbling through the air before falling into the distant waves.

"Captain Lin, radar has detected low-altitude life forms! I've already activated the weapons' automatic target acquisition and counterattack systems!"

Ning Jing's voice came through the main bridge communication channel.

"Good, don't hold back!"

Lin Xian said with a dark expression, looking at Fire Bro: "Fire Bro, Monica, Shiori—you three go to the sky bridge. A Bai, KIKI, Takahashi Ryunosuke—you go to the bottom level. Scout and respond to threats from the air and sea respectively. At our current speed, flying so low, the defensive weapons' coverage and reaction may not keep up."

"Okay." Monica immediately stood up from her chair and headed out of the bridge, with Shiori following behind. Fire Bro, now entrusted with important responsibilities, immediately became serious, rubbing his hands together eagerly as he followed.

"KIKI." Lin Xian called out to KIKI: "Besides protecting A Bai, you and Takahashi Ryunosuke need to make sure nothing crashes directly into us."

"Understood~" KIKI snapped her fingers, gesturing with one hand as her electric blade sphere followed. Takahashi Ryunosuke expressionlessly nodded to Lin Xian before quickly hurrying off.

Starship flight and train assault were completely different matters. Trains had no tracks, and now they were above a vast ocean with bottomless abysses beneath. Any emerging threats could be massive abnormal entities. At such high speeds, any collision would be extremely dangerous—even mid-air disintegration was possible. This was why aerial units faced greater risks.

"Lin Xian!"

Chen Sixuan, temporarily acting as technology officer, turned from her seat with a grave expression: "Super-large tropical storm zone, less than 100 nautical miles from us!"

"Really unlucky—it was clear skies just moments ago," Qian Dele complained.

"These areas aren't just troublesome because of weather—we need to watch for dark abnormal entities." Chen Sixuan recalled the storm they experienced on the Parma snowfield and voiced her concerns.

"I know."

Lin Xian looked at Viola: "Estimated time to reach Hawaii?"

[At current speed, estimated 7 hours. Considering positioning errors and the dark invasion's effect on visual range, there might be about an hour of error margin. Recommend preparing for this possibility.] Viola said calmly. [Normally, according to starship flight manual protocols for storm zones, supersonic traversal would be completely feasible. But considering the abnormal entity threats in storm zones, I can only recommend reducing cruise speed to avoid collision accidents.]

"Reduce speed..." Lin Xian frowned deeply: "At this current speed, we can't guarantee arrival before dark. If we reduce speed, it becomes completely impossible."

"And we don't even know what the situation is like on those islands—whether they're safe or not. If it's another night of a hundred demons parade like Haiyan Island, we won't be able to land." Qian Dele asked Luo Yang: "Hey, can we detour around this storm zone?"

Luo Yang immediately shook his head, taking off his headphones: "Impossible. Strictly speaking, we're already within this storm zone's range. To detour and still arrive before dark, we'd need to accelerate to at least Mach 4. At that speed, evasive maneuvers and defensive fire would be impossible—it might be even more dangerous."

Lin Xian shook his head: "Supersonic flight would just be asking for death. There's no other way—we have to risk crossing through the tropical storm!"

After speaking, he immediately said through the communicator: "No matter what we encounter, our primary objective is to protect the Sky Dome Infinite and escape! Don't worry about anything else! If we get marked, we'll figure it out after reaching the island!"

"Okay."

"Understood!"

"Ning Jing, Shu Qin, prepare decoy flares! We'll deploy them in batches remotely through the storm zone—prevention is better than cure!"

Boom boom boom boom!

Under the black sky curtain, the Sky Dome Infinite spewing blue exhaust flames violently broke through the rain curtain. The missile launch silos on the arsenal ship opened row by row as eight small missiles simultaneously launched, flying at high speed to the left rear and right front in wing formation before exploding in cloud layers dozens of nautical miles away.

Rumble!

Thunder rolled convulsively, sea tides surged violently. Between the cloud curtains of heaven and earth, strange roars seemed to echo. Without needing to guess, they knew it must be those monsters hidden in the sea and cloud layers being attracted by the decoy flares.

On the top sky bridge of the third ship—an open area for astronomical observation enclosed by a massive transparent fairing—Fire Bro, Monica, and Shiori, all wearing power armor, arrived. As the fairing slowly opened, high-speed airflow and heavy rain instantly poured down on them. Fire Bro gathered fire in one hand, infinite rings spinning as he flew up, maintaining relative speed with the Sky Dome while watching the sky and sea with complete exhilaration.

Monika glanced at him and couldn't help saying: "They say you have claustrophobia—seems it's true. Don't let your guard down;

there's more than just thunder in the sky."

Lu Xingchen's eyes sharpened proudly as he gazed at the firmament, declaring solemnly: "Rest assured! With me here, no demons or monsters will get close!"

Monika then looked at Shiori beside her: "In this environment, my hearing might not be accurate. I'll rely on you—just give directions for anything approaching us."

Shiori nodded: "Okay."

On the other side, at the bottom of the hull where there was no footing, KIKI and Takahashi Ryunosuke immediately used their abilities to fly alongside after exiting the cabin door. Thousands of VK electric blades were controlled by KIKI to skim the waves, like an otherworldly sword-wielding maiden. Only A Bai's power armor was equipped with an alloy mechanical arm to facilitate target acquisition and laser emission.

"There are abnormal entities in the sea, but... we're too fast—even if we disturb them, they can't keep up." A Bai's eyes continuously scanned the turbulent sea. "I'm just worried about those sudden emergers from the sea."

KIKI flew inverted below the starship with crossed arms, saying calmly: "After entering the storm zone, my telekinetic shield will remain deployed. Tokyo Monk will alternate with me—otherwise the range is too large, and we can't maintain it for long."

Because Takahashi Ryunosuke rarely spoke, KIKI had given him the nickname "Tokyo Monk." Hearing KIKI's words, Takahashi Ryunosuke directly flew to below the forward weapons section. The two maintained distance, ready to deploy telekinetic shields at any moment.

Sitting in the Sky Dome train's captain seat, Lin Xian felt anxious—this was his first time piloting a starship, with absolutely no experience.

Without Viola, the dozen or so people on the Infinite couldn't operate the entire system. Even so, many positions remained vacant—weapon systems, information systems, even the engine room and power compartment had no personnel. If they encountered any maintenance issues, they could only rely on Viola and maintenance robots for basic upkeep—even Lin Xian himself couldn't handle it.

Because he couldn't scan and control the entire Sky Dome train for repairs at such a time—his current abilities weren't sufficient for that.

From 10:00 to 13:30 in the afternoon, the rain grew heavier, the wind and waves stronger. During the over three hours of flight, they had encountered dozens of abnormal entity attacks—mostly flying monsters like winged demons hiding in dark clouds. They had one frontal encounter with sky jellyfish and avoided a ghost tentacle attack. However, Lin Xian didn't prolong combat, escaping at full speed after evasion.

Bang bang bang!

The forward plasma guns fired another volley, shooting down some unknown monster from the sky. The sky grew increasingly dark. Fire clouds and sonic roars periodically exploded above the train. Below on the sea surface, telekinetic thunder erupted, invisible air walls blocked and isolated abnormal tentacles bursting from the seawater as thousands of electric blades shimmered silver in flight.

"Mark decreased to level 3!" Chen Sixuan, acting as information technology officer, watched the screen nervously: "Wind barrier intensified! We're about to enter the storm center ahead!"

"Everyone stay alert."

Lin Xian checked his watch, then looked forward. The churning sea surface resembled ink, stirred into massive waves by fierce winds. Low-hanging storm clouds rolled ominously in the sky, flashing with light amid thunderous roars, like a massive thunder vortex devouring the planet. The real-time pressure curve on the main bridge screen plummeted straight down, values dropping from 1020.

Like continental shelves sliding beneath the sea surface, or an ancient sea god lifting the entire ocean with its spine, hundred-meter water walls rose one after another. The seawater changed color during uplift—dark green fading to turbid mud-yellow, then rapidly staining pitch black like asphalt.

The storm seemed about to invert over the sea surface. As the thunderstorm cloud wall pressed down, the light between heaven and earth was utterly devoured!

Rumble!

The five-hundred-meter-high cloud wall had edges sharp as blades, its upper portion tinged with deathly gray-blue, lower part saturated with ink-like brown-red. When the Sky Dome train crashed into the cloud layer, all viewports automatically coated with anti-glare layers, yet they still couldn't block the purple-white lightning snakes piercing through cloud filaments. Three forked lightning bolts simultaneously struck the main ship's electrostatic field. The smell of overloaded superconducting capacitors scorching instantly filled the air.

But what was truly suffocating were the prisoners illuminated briefly by lightning within the clouds!

In the instant lightning split a tortoise-shell-shaped cloud mass, semi-transparent tentacles covered with suckers hung down from the fissure. The structure expanded and contracted within a tenth of a second, but the residual afterimage was sufficient to determine that just the exposed tip was twice the train's length—absolutely a special-level monster. Immediately following, thunder columns thick as water buckets pierced adjacent cloud layers. The instant intense light revealed even more terrifying outlines—the umbrella-like structure of a sky-obscuring giant jellyfish suspended high in the sky, with filamentous objects drifting beneath its cap capturing numerous spherical lightning bolts, like deep sea creatures devouring glowing fish schools.

Atmospheric manta—S-level!

"Brother Lin! It's that sky demon we saw at Yubei City!!!"

Lu Xingchen shouted coldly against the howling wind, looking at the massive atmospheric creature in the sky.

"Don't engage! Charge through! That thing isn't fast!"

Lin Xian's heart raced. He didn't care whether the massive shadow on radar was the atmospheric manta they encountered before or a new one. He absolutely didn't want to engage now—only to break through the storm vortex!

Hummm!!

The atmospheric manta clearly noticed this human vessel flying rapidly through the air. Although its cloud tentacles were too distant, numerous massive spherical lightning bolts several meters or even over ten meters in diameter now descended from beneath its cap, falling densely like hail. Violent static electricity triggered chain reactions in the air, with densely packed high-voltage arcs flashing and connecting. Lin Xian looked up, pupils constricting involuntarily. Those dazzling lightning balls connected by electric arcs descended like the sky collapsing. Even before contact, Lin Xian already felt intense ionization making his skin tingle.

If these fell, the forward electrostatic field on the Sky Dome train's hull would be completely insufficient for protection. And Lin Xian couldn't deploy an AT force field shield for the entire Sky Dome train. Those dense spherical lightning bolts combined into lightning storms—the high temperature alone would be enough to burn through the hull surface!

"What should we do?" Chen Sixuan immediately asked upon seeing this.

Lin Xian's pupils contracted as his mind raced.

At that moment, a voice rarely heard from Takahashi Ryunosuke came through the headset.

"Use the superconducting lightning-guiding sword!"