Volume 22 Chapter 11.2

"TEAM CHINA! Wait for me! Even if I die, I won't let you take her!" Ever since Zheng had taken the ten team East Sea members away, it had been as if Miyata Kuraki had lost his soul, ending up confused and at a complete loss. After he had received Sora Aoi's psyche force communication, he had gone mad, and had begun cutting himself, letting his blood flow into a container.

"Kuraki-kun! You'll die if you use this move!" The youth named Mitarashi immediately stopped him, shouting.

Miyata Kuraki pushed him away with his strength. "Even if I die... I won't abandon my comrades in death! Forget about those who renounced me, only her... she's the only one I can't abandon no matter what! Out of my way!" He cut open the blood vessels on his wrist, letting out blood, and his face gradually paled.

Mitarashi didn't retreat after being pushed away, instead rushing forward to grab Miyata Kuraki"s waist from the back. "Kuraki-kun! How could we beat a monster like that team China leader?! He obviously didn't even use half of his strength when he battled us before. Don't go, this obviously isn't a monster we can resist. If you send yourself to your death, wouldn't you be wasting Sora Aoi's intentions to sacrifice herself? Don't do it!"

"Let go... For the longest time, I've been suppressing my feelings towards her because of my responsibilities as team leader and everyone's expectations. I thoughts these days would last till we returned to the real world. But I was wrong. In the deepest parts of my heart, I've never once let go of her. Today, I abandon my responsibilities as team leader and my hope for life. I only hope to hold up the promise I made to her once, to hold her hand and die together!"

Mitarashi wanted to say something, but he saw that old man Kamimiya sigh. He went to the container and slit his wrists as well, joining in the blood letting. This stunned Mitarashi, and he froze for a while, before standing up unhesitatingly, cutting his wrists and letting his blood flow out. The container was gradually filled up...

"I'll use Silent Eye [1], the secret art of the Ghost Knight. Sora, I'm coming to fulfil my promise. Even if I have to die, I'll be holding your hand as I die!"

***

At this moment on team China's destroyer, Zheng was carefully advising Sora Aoi. "It's these two. I need you to use psyche force to enter their consciousness, and help them open a passageway to the real world. This will be very dangerous, so I've chosen this utility room of the bottommost floor to avoid external disturbances. These two will be protecting you." Zheng indicated Wangxia and Zero, who had followed along.

"Protect?" Sora Aoi sneered. "Not keep a watch on?"

"That too. Do you think we shouldn't?" Zheng said calmly. "Honestly, I don't have much malice to any of you four remaining. I only hope to wake up my companions. As long as you wake them up, I'll definitely keep up my end of the bargain and let you all off."

Sora Aoi laughed coldly a few times, before lowering her head and saying softly, "But what use is it? We only have three stones that can invalidate negative points. One of us four must still die. Kuraki-kun will definitely relinquish his stone to me based on his personality. What's the point to living on alone?"

"Fine. Team China also has negative points invalidating stones. We'll give you one. As the price, please save them, else the four of you must die." Zheng said peacefully. He left the room after speaking, leaving only Wangxia and Zero guarding the room's entrance.

Zheng walked from the bottommost level to the meeting room in the centre. Team China's members were all gathered there, even Yingkong who had woken up. Zheng looked at everyone, "We're reaching the sea near the Diaoyu islands soon. Everyone make your preparations. I think that team East Sea leader will attack us again and we have to guard against dirty plays by America. Xuan, how about the other countries' navies?'

Xuan nodded. "The Japan Self-Defense Forces have turned course, while we've given instructions to the American side. The Korean navy is the same, with only the China navy still en route to the Diaoyu Islands. America is already using diplomatic routes to undergo urgent negotiations. They seem to be using economic concessions such as low-interest loans for the right of berth. The American navy doesn't have any other abnormalities, though they are deploying another fleet to the Diaoyu islands."

"Huh, it doesn't matter anymore. In terms of time we have the complete advantage, as long as we can drag it until when she wakes up our members. Now, another question. Can the T-virus not be injected into our captives?" Zheng thought about it before asking.

"Yes. The T-virus needs time to activate and the virus needs to stabilise afterwards. Only then can it achieve the effect of genetic constraint unlocking. But in terms of time, we'll reach the Diaoyu Islands within twelve hours. Saving them would be within twenty four hours, while the American navy will reach between twenty to twenty four hours. In other words, we can return to God's dimension within a day and night. It's too dangerous if we want to stay on in this world, if you want to do it as a foundation for the final battle. My suggestion is just kill them off, then immediately return to God's dimension after waking them up."

"Why?" Zheng frowned and asked curiously. "What do we have to fear? America? Or the approaching China fleet? If we drag it on, we should be able to drag on past this time, right?"

"How about God's threat?" Xuan pushed up his spectacles. "This movie actually has a loophole to exploit. As long as we don't enter the Diaoyu Islands, we can stay in this world for a decade or two, or over a century. As long as we train peacefully for a long time, we can return to God's dimension after we've become very strong. What would happen to the final battle? God wouldn't let this happen. Remember you've encountered such a situation before? Resident Evil Apocalypse was the same, where you had to go to a certain place. What if you didn't go there? Even without team Devil, you'll have been attacked by a nuclear missile or the evolutionary virus would have progressed to a higher stage. Anyways, you can exploit this loophole, but you need to be mentally prepared and have great power. God will keep on increasing the difficulty again and again. Just now when I checked out the submarines, I saw a giant octopus lingering at the seabed. If I'm not wrong, this octopus will be the first trial for us if we cross a certain period of time."

Zheng sighed. "What a pity. We'll have gotten over twofold the benefits if we could unlock the genetic constraint before killing them. Whatever. No matter what, we still have a large team benefit this time round. It can still help close the gap between team Devil, team Celestial and us. Everyone will go and patrol yourselves now. We need to ensure safety for the remaining day and night. If someone from team East sea infiltrates, there's no need to say anything. Just knock them unconscious. If you can't do so... you can just kill them." When he had finished arranging everything, Zheng went to the highest point of the deck. He sat there, concentrating fully on his surroundings.

Team East Sea was best at their sneak attacks and infiltrating, so he didn't intend to rest and would remain on high alert from this moment on. The most important thing now was to ensure the safety of downstairs. If anyone dared disturb them... they would be executed without mercy!

All of team China and the destroyer passed over ten hours in this alert state. Although they had already reached the outer perimeter of the Diaoyu Islands, every person looked very haggard. However, they didn't dare be negligent as this was the final battle before their return to God's dimension. Imhotep even depleted a huge amount of energy to summon a dozen mummies in this sandless environment. Practically every passageway in the ship was occupied. Unless they could become invisible, no one would be able to easily make their way to the bottom of the ship.

At this time, the United States Seventh Fleet was urgently following after. They had finally reached the outer perimeter of the Diaoyu Islands. Although the higher-ups of America had already called for a ceasefire, they who had already experienced team China's might only dared to stay at a distance and remain alert. They then deployed a small warship to go to team China, seemingly wanting to discuss something with team China.

"They've come..."

Zheng looked at that nearing small warship. Even without psyche force, he could sense a person there currently emanating a shocking battle intent directed at him. It was obvious that team East Sea's leader was planning to stake his life.

"HALT! Warship, do not come closer, or else we shall attack!" Zheng shouted when there was still a distance. His voice was even louder than a loudspeaker. However, under the manipulation of infinitesimal control, the voice sounded extremely soft when near. Only when it reached that warship did it start to spread. Not long after, that warship indeed stopped a distance from the destroyer.

Zheng flew out from the deck to a hundred metres above the warship. Below, solely the team East Sea leader was standing there. His two companions had already disappeared without a trace. The katana-wielding man was covered by a visible layer of black runes. He also used a piece of cloth to cover up his eyes, his battle getup looking extremely strange.

"Team China, release my comrade!" Miyata Kuraki said coldly, gripping his katana.

"Apologies. I still need her for a time. Give me twelve hours. I'll return her unharmed to you then." Zheng replied indifferently.

"Damn you! How dirty! There's no need to say anything!" Miyata Kuraki's face went green. Something unknown went through his mind, and he shouted, "Let's battle! Even if I die, I'll die together with her!"

[1] In the game Dungeon Fighter Online, the class Male Slayer/Ghost Knight has four subclasses. Blade Master, Soul Bender(Crying Ghost), Berserker and Asura. In this game, each subclass has an Awakening at certain levels. The Asura subclass awakens at level 50 as the Silent Eye. At level 75, the Silent Eye awakens as an Indra. The Asura subclass has the backstory of sacrificing their eyes for powers, and the Silent Eye has the in-game cosmetic effect of adding a blindfold.