CLANG—HISSSSSSSSS!
A massive plume of fragrant, ginger-and-mugwort-scented white steam billowed fifty miles into the starry sky as General Tie Zhan pried open the top main hatch of Golden-Crow Flagship No. 1 with a giant Star-Iron crowbar.
“Order up! Steamed river crabs, fresh out of the pot!” Tie Zhan bellowed, laughing so hard his armor plates rattled.
Beside him, Old Wei operated a heavy orbital crane fitted with a hundred-yard-wide Slotted Colander Net, dipping it straight down into the flooded, ninety-eight-degree cabin of the flagship and hauling it back up.
SPLASH—DRIP-DRIP-DRIP!
Dangling inside the giant colander net were the Flame-Beard Marquis (Rank 8 Early Peak) and five hundred of his elite flagship officers!
Every single one of them was cooked a bright, glowing lobster-pink from the top of their heads to the tips of their toes. Their heavy fire-armor had been softened and scrubbed sparkling clean by the pressurized Sweet-Spring Herbal Bathwater, slices of boiled old ginger and green mugwort leaves were stuck behind their ears, and the Flame-Beard Marquis’s terrifying three-foot beard of white-hot solar fire was completely gone—replaced by a pair of squeaky-clean, rosy-pink cheeks and two tiny tufts of curly red sideburns!
“Put me down! I am a Marquis of the Golden-Crow Clan, not a—” the Flame-Beard Marquis started to roar, only to let out a relaxed, herbal-scented hiccup as a warm bubble of ginger steam popped out of his mouth.
