Yu Xian calmly put on sunglasses amid the blinding white light, then stepped down, scooped up Little Nora, and tucked her under his arm. Next, he walked over to Xiao Sensen—who was clinging tightly to a rock to keep from being blown away by the shockwave—and scooped him up with one hand.
Then he carried Xiao Sensen and Little Nora back onto the bus and casually shut the doors.
The entire process had taken just a single second.
Taking a seat, he smiled. "Pengzu is surprisingly nice, inviting us to watch fireworks."
The bus was made of an unknown material, entirely unaffected by the blast. Even when struck by rocks sent flying by the shockwave, not the faintest scratch remained on its body, and inside, Yu Xian and the others felt none of the explosion's impact.
"Did he guess we were coming?" Niman asked, gazing at the dazzling white glare against the window as she wiped the glass with her hand.
Yu Xian shook his head. "There's no way he knew it was us. More likely, on a sudden premonition, he sensed danger ahead of time and made some preparations. If he knew I was the one coming, he probably wouldn't have bothered doing this. After all, nuclear warheads are completely useless against us."
Despite Little Nora and Xiao Sensen taking the blast head-on, in truth Xiao Sensen was completely unharmed, and Little Nora hadn't lost a single hair. The damage the nuclear blast caused Little Nora wasn't even as great as the trip she took earlier—at least after tripping, her pride was hurt.
"Auntie, where did Peng Zuen go?" Yu Xian readily summoned Auntie Number Two and asked.
Auntie Number Two answered, "After leaving Fengsuo Island, Peng Zuen is heading toward the center of the Death Calamity Sea. He is currently moving at high speed, with coordinates at..."
"All right, that's enough," Yu Xian cut her off.
If he hadn't interrupted, Auntie Number Two would have continuously rattled off coordinates, providing real-time updates on Peng Zuen's location every second.
Some might consider that great, but Yu Xian only found it noisy. He was in no rush anyway; as long as he knew Peng Zuen's general whereabouts in the end, that was plenty. There was no need to hurry like that.
*Bzzzzzz...*
At that moment, a dense droning sound came from outside the bus.
The nuclear detonations had just ended when countless tentacle-covered Pegasus wasps appeared. These Pegasus wasps were all puppets controlled by aberrant worms. When the warheads detonated, they had all hidden inside their hive; the moment the blast subsided, they swarmed out to launch a second wave of attack.
Clearly, Peng Zuen had thoroughly abandoned everything on Fengsuo Island. Even these Pegasus wasp puppets he had poured his blood and sweat into breeding, he discarded without a second thought.
"How can there be wasps that huge?!" Zhang Buyao exclaimed in surprise, looking out the bus window.
The Pegasus wasps did indeed look similar to ordinary wasps, but their size was immense—roughly as big as an adult cat. Moreover, they were overwhelmingly numerous, blotting out the sky as a dark, dense swarm.
"They're all puppets controlled by aberrant worms. Do you want to deal with them yourselves, or should I have Zhang Gangxing handle it?" Yu Xian asked, looking at the Pegasus wasps outside.
If Zhang Gangxing took action, the battle would end in a flash.
However, the people present hadn't fought in a long time, having spent all these years cultivating. Yu Xian figured everyone might want to loosen up their muscles and stretch their limbs a bit.
"Let's do it ourselves. Feels like it's been ages since I got some exercise," Niman said with a slight smile.
Yu Xian nodded. "All right, then I'll wait for you in the bus. The next stop is the center of the Death Calamity Sea."
There were no islands at the center of the Death Calamity Sea, but many islands encircled it. When the time came, he would pick one of them as their destination.
"I'll go too." Nora drew World.
Over the years, as a warden of the Everlasting Silence Prison Tower, Nora had also earned some enhancement points. She had poured them all into upgrading World; the gun's power had become terrifyingly great, to the point where even Yu Xian dreaded having its barrel pointed at him.
In the end, Nora, Niman, and Huangquan decided to step out and fight, while the rest stayed on the bus to watch the show.
The reason Little Nora didn't participate was because she had just tripped earlier and felt thoroughly humiliated. For a Star-rank powerhouse to trip and fall was utterly embarrassing.
"Little Nora, how about some snacks?" Yu Xian said to Little Nora with a smile.
Little Nora gave an "oh" and promptly clapped her hands together. All sorts of snacks tumbled down from above. She was already able to control the Power of True Self well enough to select categories of food within a certain range.
Meats, vegetables, proper meals, sweets, and so forth could all be conjured according to her wishes—though what specific item showed up remained anyone's guess.
Yu Xian grabbed a pack of nearly expired snacks, tore it open, and munched on them while watching the three women outside through the window, not in the least worried about their safety.
With the three women's current strength, dealing with these aberrant-worm-controlled puppets was no challenge at all; it was simply a matter of spending a little time. After all, aside from sheer numbers, these Pegasus wasps possessed no other advantage.
Outside the bus.
Nora raised the gun in her hand. Without selecting any bullets, she gently pulled the trigger; air itself served as ammunition.
Ahead, every Pegasus wasp within Nora's range of fire burst apart in a straight line, cleaved cleanly in two, and plummeted swiftly from the sky.
This was Nora's least powerful shot; otherwise, not even ashes would have remained of them.
"Still too powerful."
Nora simply put World away, then took out a gun obtained from the Sun Emperor's storage ring and began shooting.
The gun was named [Indestructible Gun of Infinite Ammo], and had only two virtues. First, its cylinder could hold six special bullets that would never be consumed, instead serving as templates for infinite ammunition.
Second, the gun was indestructible, meant to be used as roughly as one pleased.
Nora usually swapped the gun's bullets based on her needs. Right now, she was using the most ordinary armor-piercing rounds, effective only against creatures below Star Rank.
Yet that was plenty. After all, she just wanted some target practice on moving marks, and these Pegasus wasps were a perfect fit.
Next, she fired rapidly, each bullet instantly killing a Pegasus wasp. Headshot after headshot, the Pegasus wasps rained down.
On the other side, Niman was also at work. She didn't slaughter the Pegasus wasp puppets; instead, she used mushroom powder to hypnotize a portion of them directly, making them turn on one another in a frenzy.
Beside Niman, Huangquan held a gourd, frantically drawing in the Pegasus wasps in the sky. Countless wasps were sucked into the gourd. This gourd was a treasure Huangquan had retrieved from the Sun Emperor's storage ring, named the [Cooking Wine Gourd], capable of refining any ingredient sucked inside into cooking wine.
These Pegasus wasps were well suited to serve as ingredients for cooking wine, and Huangquan figured they ought to produce a decent batch.
Later on, she planned to use the cooking wine brewed from these Pegasus wasp puppets to make wine-braised pig trotters. She wouldn't add a single drop of water, braising the trotters purely in wine until tender. She was certain the flavor would be incredible.
She could already picture the bliss on everyone's faces when they tasted the dish.
After ten years of special culinary training, she had become terrifyingly skilled.
Chapter 401