Chapter 394: Opening Fire

After finalizing the purchase contract for the First Dawn, Li Mochen led his people to another dock in Savannah Harbor to inspect the eight armed merchant ships under his command.

Five of these ships were obtained from Alexandra Candela, with tonnages of two 16,000-ton vessels and three 14,000-ton vessels. The other three were armed merchant ships that Li Mochen had purchased at great expense, each with a displacement of around 15,000 tons. All ships were less than ten years old, and their condition, equipment, and weapon systems were in good shape.

In fact, Li Mochen had already been here during the handover and seen the ships' condition with his own eyes. This time, he came to meet the many crew members he had hired and to check the preparation status of the eight armed merchant ships before their departure.

He spent an entire day at Savannah Harbor and returned satisfied.

Since the eight ships had only recently been taken over and all crew members were newly recruited, the situation on board was not ideal, with a noticeable lack of familiarity in all aspects.

However, the several veteran captains and retired officers Li Mochen had hired at high salaries were very capable.

Under their management, the necessary preparations on each ship were gradually being perfected. Now, all ships could set sail and basically adapt to the harsh conditions of the Calamity Sea. The crew were also fairly skilled in operating the weapon systems on board, ensuring they could fire normally in special situations.

This result far exceeded Li Mochen's expectations. His minimum requirement had been simply to get the ships out to sea, relying on Lind's legendary spells and magic tower to ensure their safety off the coast of Antolia. Now, he could even look forward to the combat capabilities of these eight armed merchant ships.

After that, Li Mochen inspected his private dock, the Fick River Bend Dock at the end of the Savannah River. This former property of Blood Hand godfather Edwin Antonio had ultimately fallen into his hands.

At this time, most of the goods prepared by Li Mochen and the Targaryen family were piled up here. When their fleet set sail, their cargo would also depart from here, transported by small barges to the open sea.

Thus, Li Mochen stationed heavy troops here. For a month and a half, the Collinson brothers and their five outlaw squads and twenty combat groups had been stationed here to ensure the safety of the various arms worth hundreds of millions of gold shields.

Not long ago, the seven sets of 'Demonforged' armor and two sets of 'Warmachine' armor that Li Mochen had gradually obtained from Antonio were also deployed here.

The private armed forces left to him by Li Chunchu were undoubtedly the most reliable and trustworthy force under his command. Their only drawback was that most of the fighters were young and relatively weak.

However, the two types of exoskeleton armor produced by Guangmo Industries could perfectly compensate for this shortcoming.

The strength of the 'Demonforged' armor lay in its ability to grant any magic energy professional above level seven the power of a level fifteen outlaw—more comprehensive and powerful than Li Mochen's external elixir.

The 'Warmachine' armor had higher requirements; the threshold for wearing this exoskeleton armor was level nine, but it could grant its wearer the power of level seventeen.

This could comprehensively strengthen the core force in Li Mochen's hands, turning the private armed forces trained by Li Chunchu into his true support.

Even more promising was that these armors, with the addition of some special external components, could perfectly adapt to naval combat environments, becoming terrifying underwater stealth killers.

Unfortunately, the eight sets of 'Demonforged' armor and four sets of 'Warmachine' armor from Antonio still required two months for delivery and would not make it in time for this trip to Antolia. Otherwise, his reliable underwater combat strength could have doubled.

Li Mochen spent half a day here and still did not return to Atlanta. Instead, he drove to a spacious countryside villa on the outskirts of Atlanta.

When he arrived, the place was already full of guests. Present were the major and minor ship owners of the Alliance Wing fleet, along with their bodyguards, about eighty people in total. Among them were Franks of the Teutonic Cross, representatives of the Targaryen family, and Louise Linden.

These people had varied appearances: some were impeccably dressed in suits, looking like corporate elites; others wore leather jackets and Mohawk hairstyles, like unruly street thugs; some were in Tang suits, appearing dignified and amiable.

As Li Mochen and a large group including Alisa walked in, they saw the Targaryen representative and Franks signaling him with their eyes, and Louise Linden's face was cold and stern.

Li Mochen paused for a moment, then scanned the crowd. When he spotted several figures who shouldn't be here and the somewhat provocative glances, he understood. He gave a cold smile, then leisurely walked to a sofa and sat down.

“I’ll give you one minute. All those who haven’t received my invitation, please get the hell out. Dainien!”

The 'Nature Punisher' Dainien Stacy smiled and drew her sword. The radiance of the holy sword Timos immediately filled the room.

Beside Li Mochen, 'Sky Eye' Howard Eisenhower, 'Sand Devil Gun' Kamela Natasha, and Thompson Adams also drew their guns, aiming at three men at the conference table.

A clatter of weapons sounded throughout the room as almost everyone drew their weapons or pulled out guns, pointing at each other warily.

The burly man whose forehead was being aimed at by Howard's semi-automatic rifle turned pale with anger: “Andre, what do you mean? Drawing guns on fellow fleet members?”

“You’re wrong. It’s drawing guns on you.”

Li Mochen, also targeted by several guns, remained calm and spoke with ease.

“I haven’t acknowledged you as members of the Alliance Wing.”

“Whether you are a member of the Alliance Wing is not for you to decide.”

This was another middle-aged man with typical Latin features—sunken eyes and bronze skin. His vulture-like gloomy gaze looked at Li Mochen with slight contempt: “This is the right of the five-member management committee of our Alliance Wing fleet, and also the tradition of the fleet. Kid, don’t think that just because you were chosen as captain by everyone, you can do as you please. Speaking of which, without the committee’s permission, you brought in the Targaryen and Linden families and this little punk, completely disregarding our fleet’s rules. As a member of the management committee, I absolutely do not agree with your actions.”

When he spoke, most people in the villa’s living room nodded in agreement.

Franks couldn’t help but laugh: “Wow, I’ve been called a little punk.”

Li Mochen also shook his head with a light laugh, then leaned back: “Righteous and stern, but I’m not interested in reasoning with you. Howard, you know what to do, right?”

“Yes.”

Howard Eisenhower grinned. He knew he was about to take on a murder case, but without any hesitation, he opened fire. With a bang, the Latin man’s head burst like a shattered watermelon, blood splattering everywhere.