MMB Chapter 315 - 308: What is "King-Grade"?
Chapter 315 - 308: What is "King-Grade"?
Shi Ming strolled through his new ship, immersing himself in the difference between this King-level Wandering Ship and a General-level one.
It was the difference between heaven and earth.
At 800 meters long, it couldn’t compare in sheer size to the Da Yu, which stretched for tens of kilometers, but that didn’t mean it was inferior.
It just meant they had different purposes—
Other King-level Wandering Ships shouldered the responsibility of survival and protection, so they had to be as large as possible! But Shi Ming’s vessel was the perfect proof that the best things come in small packages.
Its three King-level traits said it all.
Under the moonlight, the hull flowed with the depth of a starry night sky, as if it could devour both attacks and light. If he were to fire the "North Wind-J JP-1107" cannon he’d previously purchased from the Da Yu at his now King-level hull, the blast would have no effect. Instead, its energy would be converted, absorbed, and used to power the vessel!
It was terrifyingly powerful.
No wonder it was said that any King-level Wandering Ship was humanity’s ultimate base and final harbor.
Now, its bow was not merely sharp. It was more like the weapon of a judging king, sweeping upward in a magnificent, soaring arc, as if it could cleave the Endless Ocean in two!
The Core Area consisted of the control platform and the captain’s cabin.
Their defensive structures were perfectly constructed. Without authorization, even several S-rank Awakened attacking together couldn’t possibly breach them or gain any advantage. Even Ah Jian’s Spiritual Power would have difficulty penetrating it. What was even more peculiar was that Shi Ming could link directly to the ship’s control system with his Spiritual Power. There were no extra, complicated procedures. With just a thought, the King-level Wandering Ship would follow his commands, whether to attack, defend, or navigate.
He had total and complete control!
Combined with the strength of his Spiritual Power, this ship was like a seamless extension of his own body.
As for the captain’s cabin, it was now on a whole other level.
It had gone from a "one-bedroom, one-living room" setup to a "seaside villa." The interior of the captain’s cabin was divided into three floors: a living area, a resting area, and a work area, all fully equipped. Overhead was a massive domed light screen that could even project a real-time, incredibly vivid view of the starry sky or moonlight outside.
In a corner of the captain’s cabin, there was also an entrance to a unique space. Inside was a peculiar area, a perfect cube 100 meters on each side—an even more secluded private base.
The Captain’s Space!
Shi Ming stepped inside.
It was a space of 1,000,000 cubic meters that could be fully customized within its limits by consuming Energy Stones. Whether he wanted to build a paradise, a weapons factory, or even a Sea Beast breeding ground, it could all be done.
With a thought from Shi Ming, a large amount of celestial crystals were consumed. Seawater and fish were broken down, deconstructed, and reassembled to form a region of life-rich permafrost within the space.
It mimicked the permafrost environment of Mount Everest.
He transplanted the Jianmu Seedling here.
The warehouse had limited capacity, and the Jianmu Seedling’s growth had been stagnant inside. While this unique 100x100x100 meter space wasn’t exceptionally large either, it would allow the Jianmu Seedling to grow healthily for now. He was sure it wouldn’t grow from less than a meter tall into a hundred-meter-tall, sky-scraping tree in a short amount of time.
The Full Moon Pearl he had obtained from the Scorpion King’s Pyramid was also hung up.
Its hazy light shone upon the Jianmu Seedling.
The Full Moon Pearl had been purified and now possessed the miraculous effect of "growth acceleration." Under the Treasure Pearl’s light, all things would thrive. Specifically, it multiplied plant growth speed by ten and animal reproductive drive by three. The effect might be diminished on a mystical tree like this, but it was still useful.
...
...
...
「Just after midnight.」
「Fujing Mountain Sea Region.」
The S-rank Awakened known as "Abyss" was piloting a high-speed Swift Boat, returning to the Fujing Mountain Sea Region from the Sea of Soaring Dragons.
According to the original plan, he and "the Doctor" were supposed to rendezvous in a certain sea region after 10 p.m. Using a combination of "Flesh Magic" and the Abyss of Devouring, they were to attack the Wandering Ship "Mad Corn," which belonged to their arch-nemesis, Katyusha, and seize a sample of Holy Hall-level Flesh and Blood.
Then, they would frame another faction for the deed.
But the Doctor had unexpectedly stood him up. For nearly two hours, he remained unreachable.
The Mad Corn was no pushover. The window of opportunity was fleeting, and once the best time to strike had passed, he could only watch alone as the golden Wandering Ship sailed through the Sea of Soaring Dragons, headed north, and disappeared over the horizon.
The acquisition was rejected, and the ambush failed.
This trip had been for nothing.
Naturally, he couldn’t be the one to take the fall.
’That damned Doctor!’
’Dropping the ball at a critical moment?!’
Soon, he met with Trellin at Lighthouse’s administrative center, the Twin White Towers.
As Trellin listened to Abyss’s report, his brow furrowed slightly. He sensed something was wrong. Standing someone up wasn’t the Doctor’s style. The Doctor had always been obsessed with Holy Hall-level Sea Beast Flesh and Blood, even willing to put his experiments on hold at such a crucial time to handle matters personally.
’How could he just go missing without a reason and let a perfect opportunity go to waste?’
’Could he have made a more unexpected discovery?’
The Doctor didn’t have a "Let There Be Light" terminal, so Trellin would have to wait to contact him.
Fortunately, he found in the Lighthouse system that the Lagrange was requesting to return to port.
"The Doctor will be back soon,"
"You’ll get a reasonable explanation."
...
The Lagrange returned to the Dinglan Field that Lighthouse had established in the Fujing Mountain Sea Region.
The pilot knocked on the door of the experimental lab cabin to inform the distinguished scientist that they had arrived.
"Doctor?"
He called out three times, but there was no response.
The cabin was empty.
The pilot didn’t think much of it.
He vaguely knew the Doctor had another secret mission on this trip. It was possible he had already given them the slip and left the Lagrange. That was normal. Big shots didn’t report their movements to cogs in the machine like them.
The pilot finished mooring the ship in the field and completed the port handover procedures.
Everything seemed perfectly normal.
It wasn’t until ten minutes later that Abyss, realizing something might be wrong, obtained emergency access to the Lagrange and entered the lab cabin, only to find it completely empty.
The air was thick with the lingering stench of what could only be called "fear."
On the floor lay a fallen gold pen, slick with traces of sweat.
On the lab bench was a half-written hypothesis on "Triple-Fusion Flesh and Blood."
What was more shocking was that every piece of experimental equipment and all the recording devices in the cabin had been destroyed.
And the pilot and his attendants knew nothing about it! Of course, they couldn’t be blamed. Low-level staff like them would never have monitoring access to the ship’s laboratory. Their only job was to pilot the ship.
The Celestial Net Chip and terminal gave no death feedback.
But the man was simply gone.
’How could this be explained?’
Previously, "Virus" had disappeared during a great tsunami, and the Celestial Net Terminal had shown no reaction then either. According to Lighthouse’s analysis, Virus had most likely suffered a backlash from the "Infinite Virus," losing his humanity and reason. Thus, he was in a state of being not dead, but out of contact. They just needed to recover him, dispose of him harmlessly, extract the Infinite Virus, and cultivate the next host.
But with the Doctor also disappearing, the previous theory no longer seemed so reasonable.
’The next one to disappear...’
’Who will it be?’
Abyss felt a sudden, bleak sorrow, the kind a fox feels when it sees a rabbit die—a chilling premonition of his own fate.