Ultragene Warlord

d back within. ”

”Did he do anything special? ”

”Nothing more than persevering through each scenario until the boat had passed through the mists. ”

Zhang Lie fell into deep thought.
He would be willing to believe that the sea of mists possessed temporal distortions, but not this ’infinite reincarnation ’ that Zhu had described.
His reasoning was simple: they had gone within the sea of mists, and nothing of the like had happened to them.

They hadn ’t seen a single person on their warship, let alone a murder.

”This sea of mists could very well be an agglomeration of different and mysterious forces, including that of space and time, but… ”

There was still something wrong.
Zhang Lie had destroyed a ship he had seen in the distance.
Its passengers should have been the ghosts that Zhu had described, but the shadowy passengers certainly weren ’t ghosts according to his dragon ’s eye soulshard.

In that case, what were they? Could they simply be a mirage? Mirages were possible in the oceans and seas, just like in deserts—but no, these mirages were caused by sunlight, and the mists blocked all sunlight from filtering within.

Could it have been a temporal distortion, one in which a horrifying scene had been preserved like a memory? Surely not—no person in such a scene would have the agency to talk to Zhu ’s father.

Zhang Lie didn ’t think that Zhu was lying, but rather that there was something wrong with Zhu ’s father ’s account of events.

There were three possibilities.
The first, and which Zhang Lie privately found the most likely, was that he had spiced up his narrative with fantastic and mysterious elements to make more of an impact on Zhu.
The second was that even Zhu ’s father had no idea what was going on; this was also a very likely situation.
The third and final possibility was that Zhu ’s father ’s experience in the sea of mists had been different from theirs.

According to Zhu, the sea of mists would consume people whole.
Those boats and ships that sailed the sea of mists, along with their passengers, were once living historical figures who had perished within the sea and hence become part of the sea.

Zhang Lie thought this impossible, and a vital part of his reasoning was the warship they were on.
How could this understanding of events explain the warship on which they were standing? No human could have brought such a warship into the second realm, and yet…

There were simply too many possibilities and too few hints for the truth to be deduced immediately.

”It feels like this situation is getting more and more interesting. ”

Just as Zhang Lie smiled to himself, something finally happened on the warship.

The rusted cannons suddenly fired.
Many soldiers appeared on the warship out of thin air.

”We ’re being attacked—prepare for counter-fire! ”

Each soldier—each sailor—was wearing a dated navy uniform.

Zhu shrieked.
”Ghosts! ”

She attracted the attention of a commander, who walked toward them with a frown.
”What are all of you doing here? Return to your positions! ”

Zhang Lie punched the commander in the head, killing him instantly.
He wasn ’t going to participate in this strange re-enactment, and the simplest way to break free was with brute force.

The remaining soldiers on the boat glanced at Zhang Lie in shock, but they quickly perished to Zhang Lie ’s attacks.
They were each only as strong as a regular human, and Zhang Lie dealt with them easily with a snap of his fingers.
After the soldiers died, they vanished with a puff of mist.

”Mister, are these ghosts? ”

Zhang Lie chuckled.
”Ghosts are the manifestation of people ’s souls.
These apparitions don ’t even have any souls—how can they be considered ghosts? ”

”In that case, what are they? No, wait, Mister! Didn ’t they say they were being attacked? ”

As if waiting for Zhu ’s words, a huge beam of light shot toward them, as bright as the midday sun—a laser cannon!