The atmospheric creature descended, immediately becoming the absolute focus on the battlefield.

In the sky, reconnaissance and early warning aircraft buzzed around the atmospheric creature like moths to a flame, undertaking multi-angle observation and computation.

Spherical fighters and shuttle-shaped attack aircraft dove headfirst into the gaseous entity, firing wildly, even initiating self-destructing attacks.

The fleet above the Dead Sea also turned their cannons in sync.

Barrel after barrel was raised towards the sky, belching flames, and a dense barrage of light bullets was poured onto the skyborne creature.

Zhou Yi saw through satellite imagery that the B+ destroyers had finally launched Light Imprint Missiles.

These rounded-headed missiles, more powerful than drones, soared straight into the sky, trailing straight plumes, bursting in bright rings of explosion, creating rippling tremors through the clouds.

Explosions twinkled incessantly within the clouds.

Yet the atmospheric creature remained completely unaffected.

Its cloud chamber-like form enveloped everything around, rendering the drones that got into its inner layers instantly motionless, frozen within the clouds.

Then, like so much scrap metal, they tumbled down from the sky in droves, plunging into the Dead Sea.

The sole remaining A-class cruiser raised a silver columnar platform on deck, from which a light orb rapidly formed.

The light around the cruiser warped and stretched, enveloping the entire ship within the orb.

A beam of straight white light shot up to the heavens, piercing the atmospheric creature from beneath.

The beam created a bizarre black zone that quickly vanished and returned to normal.

"It's a Death Light Weapon!"

"This is an extremely high-intensity Death Light Weapon, its accuracy has reached E-5 level! Otherwise, it wouldn't create a light track!"

Red Kestrel, however, seemed a bit anxious.

Zhou Yi puzzled: "Light track? Is that the black area?"

"Yes. Zhou, only death lights of immense intensity and density can instantly evaporate to create the phenomenon of a light track. Its strength, if not equal to a Light Core Body, isn't far off."

The drones were worried.

Zhou Yi, however, was not concerned.

Ice Pot seemed to be torn apart after being pierced through, but it was an atmospheric creature, with very low density. Without a specific container or targeted ability, it could not be bound or harmed.

Just as he anticipated, after being shot through by the Death Light Weapon, Ice Pot slowly reverted to its typical cloud house form, completely unharmed.

It began to descend proactively, like a cloud waterfall plummeting to the ground, dragging the A-class cruiser that couldn't escape quickly enough and several escort ships directly into its body.

The surrounding warships, originally maneuvering and conducting interspersed attacks, suddenly froze on the spot as if they lost all control.

Satellite signals turned into a full-screen mosaic.

A "No Signal" feedback appeared.

Zhou Yi ordered Jade City to fly towards the center of the battlefield.

Jade City said, "Commissioner, it's dangerous ahead."

"Consciousness Fragments in the area are being absorbed into the atmospheric creature, it's engulfing and hunting the surrounding consciousness entities."

"If we approach further, I might be affected and sustain losses; perhaps unable to maintain flying posture."

Zhou Yi ordered a stop.

Ahead lay a complete signal void.

At a mere 5 kilometers distance, one couldn't penetrate the cloud house built by the atmospheric creature with the naked eye and see what was happening on the other side.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi remembered he had another way.

He immediately activated the "Radio," tuning to channel 5.

Signals were collected for imaging.

Then Zhou Yi saw it.

Above the Dead Sea, the area covered by the atmospheric creature emitted cold white vapors, like a cloud mountain descending to the ground. Nearby, a dozen ships all stood still, frozen within the clouds.

Further away, a multitude of drones and remaining warships were all fleeing in utter disarray, like small animals facing a colossal predator's hunt.

Zhou Yi watched with mixed feelings.

Although he had speculated the atmospheric creature would be useful, he didn't expect its suppressive power to be so strong.

The electro-mechanical army was helpless; the hunting was completely one-sided.

But the atmospheric creature had not reached the level of the Light Core Body, so why was its killing power far exceeding that of entities like Condenser and Bone Man Wu Yi, who were also A-level beings?

To this question, Red Kestrel provided an answer: "Zhou, don't forget. In the Outer Sea, atmospheric creatures prey on Skywalkers, their capabilities and structures inherently possess suppression and destructive nature towards other lives."

That was indeed the case.

Without anything to specifically restrain them, atmospheric creatures were unstoppable and undying behemoths.

The enormous marine life started to rise slowly, and then flew next to Zhou Yi, forming an imposing cloud house.

"I can't stay here for too long."

"The density of Dead Light Energy here is too low, causing my body to continuously dissipate and lose mass; I am not suited to activity here. Chairman, please convert me back to an Energy State."

It made no move to leave but requested to return properly.

Zhou Yi asked, "Why are all the mechanical lives motionless?"

Ice Pot replied, "I have captured and absorbed the conscious entities of these lives, so their bodies have lost their ability to act."

Conscious entities?

Zhou Yi confused.

The electro-mechanical army was composed of fighting units of Light Imprint Bodies, actually controlled by electronic commanders from behind the lines, then what was this consciousness entity supposed to be?

After some back-and-forth communication with Ice Pot, Zhou Yi finally understood.

Information is consciousness.

Continuous information commands transmitted remotely are also a form of consciousness, albeit slightly different in form.

The consciousness of normal life forms is continuous and precise, characterized by complex variations.

In contrast, the remote commands of mechatronic life are composed of discrete instructions. Compared to conventional consciousness, it's more like a large number of consciousness fragments assembled in chronological order.

But consciousness is still consciousness, and for atmospheric creatures, it's something that can be captured and assimilated.

Thus, it captures the various nearby consciousnesses—that is, information. This caused the satellite signal to be interrupted, and the commands to remotely control the army were completely intercepted and digested, rendering these steel machines useless.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi thought, "Are these Light Imprint Body Units still intact?"

"Yes, Chairman. I've only severed them on the level of consciousness. They don't have autonomous consciousness and are more like puppet tools."

Zhou Yi's eyes lit up: "Can you hold on a little longer in this environment?"

"I can, but not for too long, as my outer periphery has begun to dissipate, and both life and consciousness are in continuous decline,"

Ice Pot said.

Relying on its information shielding ability, Zhou Yi immediately ordered Bone Man Wu Yi, Ni Ge, and Yuan Xiao, who had escaped from entrapment, to join in the retrieval of war spoils.

These disconnected warships floating on the sea—especially that A-class cruiser equipped with Death Light Weapons—must be brought back. Even if sold wholly for cash, it could earn a sum to recoup the losses from war.

Everyone was busily swift.

Jade City, carrying a 200-meter long cruiser, flew back to Yalong Bay, stored it in a cave warehouse for preservation, and then continued shuttling back and forth for more.

Condenser utilized its measurement capabilities at this time, locating two concealed command aircrafts in the sky.

They looked just like ordinary early warning aircraft, but exhibited extremely high-energy levels.

With the front lines collapsing, they didn't leave, evidently trying to salvage and command the sunken ships and drone swarms, attempting to provide them with combat or return instructions.

Then they were pierced and destroyed by Condenser's light blade, eliminating any future threat.

The whole retrieval of spoils was conducted swiftly and effectively.

Red Kestrel announced, "The current retrieval is complete."

"On drones, we've captured 5 E-1 class small reconnaissance aircraft, 1 E-2 class early warning aircraft, 1 E-2 class fighter, and 2 E-3 class attack aircraft."

"In terms of ships, we've captured one A-class cruiser, one B+ class destroyer, two C-class frigates, and three comprehensive supply ships."

"These are all the intact parts. There are many more damaged or partial parts which we haven't had time to tally, and they need to be salvaged from the Dead Sea."

"The manufacturing department is working with Qian Su to cooperate. The signal transmitters have all been dismantled, and these units are already very safe and stable. After modification or reset, they will be usable vessels and aircraft for our side."

"Our retaliatory strike has been a major success!"

The drone concluded happily.

With the situation secured,

Zhou Yi then entered the Dead Sea, summoned the Sea God, and expended 120,000 Light Seeds to transform Ice Pot into a Fire Seed Life once more.

This time the consumption was 20,000 Light Seeds more than the last.

He muttered to himself.

Strong as atmospheric creatures are, deploying them costs a hefty sum of more than 100,000 Light Seeds. Warfare was really burning through funds.

Fortunately, a considerable amount of spoils was secured, or it would have been a pure loss.

Zhou Yi finally had the leisure to ask Ice Pot, "You could have left and entered the Outer Sea. Why choose to stay?"

Releasing the atmosphere creature for battle, he had already accounted for this potential loss.

"Indeed, I can sense a strong energy response in the sky. There should be a highly dense Dead Light area there, more suitable for my survival."

"However, I work under you. Although I've mutated from Building Life to an atmosphere creature, I believe I still need to uphold basic professional ethics."

"The tasks that need to be done must be done well."

Ice Pot continued, "Moreover, it's unclear what the situation is in the Outer Sea. It's safer and more stable with you. I've said before, I'm not a fighter; I'm more skilled in cooling and Storage. Chaotic and disordered environments are not suitable for my survival."

"But after you released me this time, I found that hunting can also provide a good amount of Consciousness, much faster growth than my previous stage as Building Life."

"Like this time, although most of the captured consciousnesses were fragmentary, the quantity was considerable, reaching 20% of my total previous consciousness."

"However, fully integrating them and making them usable will take some time."

It was still logical and clear in its self-awareness.

Zhou Yi felt a sense of admiration.

Encountering such a good employee was indeed his good fortune.

It saved him a lot of ineffective communication and probing.

Zhou Yi was always one to pay respect where it was due.

He told Ice Pot, "If there comes a day when you want to go off on your own, just let me know, and I'll let you leave. We can part on good terms."

"Yes, Chairman."

Ice Pot responded, "If that time comes, I will definitely tell you, and not leave without saying goodbye."

Zhou Yi was very pleased.

At that moment, Jiong Hecang sent out a message: "Movements of the mechatronic army have been detected in the distance. They are assembling again and seem to be preparing for a new round of offensive."

Zhou Yi frowned.

This seemed never-ending.

He asked, "Where does the attacking force come from?"

Red Kestrel said, "Chuneng City, the joint defense forces are all assembling from there and then headed towards us."

Zhou Yi's heart chilled.

If you show no kindness, don't blame me for the lack of righteousness.

Chuneng City! You just wait!

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