On the deck of the President, the sea wind howled.
This wasn't the pleasant, salty sea breeze one might expect, but a gale carrying the oppressive feeling of death.
Though the sun remained scorching hot, everyone felt a chill running down their spines.
Qin Yu sat on a leather sofa, swirling half a glass of red wine in his hand. His gaze wasn't fixed on the despairing black horizon behind them.
He was watching the "World Channel" that had exploded with activity on the holographic screen.
Twenty regions had merged, and the number of people was astronomical.
But at this moment, that number was dropping frantically by dozens every second.
Each decrease represented an avatar turning gray.
Living, breathing people were being devoured down to the last crumb by the sea of insects known as the "Black Tide."
[World Channel]
"Who has fuel! Who the hell has fuel! I'll trade a thousand units of iron ore for one liter of diesel! Just one liter! My engine is leaking, my motor is about to stop!"
"Don't dream, guy above! Fuel is more precious than life now! I just saw someone push his own younger brother overboard for half a barrel of oil!"
"Help! My raft only goes 8 knots! That Black Mist is right on my tail! I can hear those insects buzzing their wings! It's hell! It's hell!"
"Don't look back! Whatever you do, don't look back! Everyone, full speed east! Only the east offers a way out!"
"Brother ahead, move aside! Don't block the way! If I capsize you, I'm not responsible!"
Panic spread faster than any virus.
On this boundless sea, the darkest aspects of human nature were completely unleashed.
To gain even one extra knot of speed, collisions, robberies, and killings were happening every moment.
"How tragic."
Qin Yu took a sip of wine. Though his words expressed pity, his face showed no emotion.
"This isn't survival; it's like raising gu."
Li Ruobing hugged her heavy machine gun, leaning on the railing as she watched the distant specks on the sea fleeing desperately like ants.
"Yu Ge, aren't we going too fast now?"
"Those behind can't even catch a whiff of our exhaust."
Indeed.
The President currently maintained a speed of 22 knots.
Yet even at this pace, within this fleeing armada where speeds generally ranged from 10 to 12 knots, Qin Yu was like driving a Ferrari in a bicycle race.
Far ahead of everyone else.
"Faster is better."
Qin Yu set down his wine glass and stood up.
"Only by running at the front can we see the path clearly."
"Besides, the real trouble was never the small fry behind us fighting over half a liter of fuel."
He turned to look at Yao Qian.
"Any activity on the radar?"
Yao Qian's fingers flew across the keyboard, not looking up.
"Yes!"
"And it's significant."
"Yu Ge, a few tough characters from that 'first tier' you mentioned seem to have caught up."
"Oh?"
Qin Yu became interested.
"Pull it up on screen."
The large screen flickered.
The originally dense cluster of light points was zoomed in locally.
About five nautical miles behind the President, two red dots were breaking away from the crowd at an astonishing speed.
This speed is actually not much slower than the President.
"First, look at the one on the left."
Qin Yu pointed at the light spot with a somewhat erratic movement trajectory.
The image zoomed in.
Although the drone's camera was slightly shaky, it still clearly captured the full appearance of the object.
When she saw what it was, even Yao Xue couldn't help but pushing up her glasses and letting out a soft exclamation.
"Is that... a raft?"
Li Ruobing widened her eyes even more.
"Holy crap? Is that thing flying?"
In the image.
It couldn't even be called a "boat."
It looked more like a giant skateboard that had been forcibly pieced together.
Its area wasn't large, only about three hundred square meters.
But it wasn't moving through water.
It was hovering about two meters above the sea surface, suspended in mid-air!
At the rear of the raft, two massive cylindrical Thrusters were emitting deep blue flames.
Like two giant hands, pushing this wooden plank to skip across the sea surface.
Extremely fast, and very agile.
Waves?
Nonexistent.
It simply flew right over the crests of the waves.
On that "flying carpet" stood a sturdy, chubby young man.
He was wearing goggles, gripping the control stick tightly, the flesh on his face trembling wildly in the wind.
But his eyes were extremely focused, and he even found time to stuff a piece of compressed biscuit into his mouth.
"Quite interesting."
A playful smile curled at the corner of Qin Yu's lips.
"This should be that third-ranked guy on the leaderboard after the server merge, Qi Chun, right?"
"S-grade item: Flight Thruster."
"This fatty is quite talented."
"Using aerodynamics to transform a raft into a ground-effect vehicle."
"This way, water resistance is eliminated—fast speed and extremely low fuel consumption."
Yao Xue calmly analyzed from the side:
"Not just fuel consumption."
"Flying like this, he completely avoids underwater reefs and sea creatures."
"As long as he doesn't fly too high and get flipped by the wind, at this stage, he's safer than anyone else."
In the image.
The chubby young man named Qi Chun seemed to notice the drone's surveillance.
He glanced up at the sky, then looked ahead at the mountain-like, imposing President.
A flicker of envy and deep wariness passed through his eyes.
He showed no intention of approaching.
Instead, he yanked the control stick hard.
The raft emitted a burst of airflow, drawing an arc in the air, creating a wide distance.
Maintaining an absolutely safe parallel course, he focused solely on moving forward.
"He's a smart guy."
Qin Yu nodded.
"Doesn't cause trouble, just focuses on escaping."
"People like that tend to live a long time."
"Now look at the other one."
Qin Yu's finger slid to the other side of the screen.
There.
A massive cluster of light spots appeared.
Unlike Qi Chun's solo act.
This was a fleet.
A murderous fleet.
When the image switched over, it just captured a chilling scene.
It was an extremely ferociously modified giant raft.
The bow wasn't pointed.
But flat.
Mounted on it was a huge winch, wound with a black iron chain as thick as a wrist.
And at the end of the chain.
Was a massive three-pronged hook gleaming with a cold light.
"Whoosh—!"
In the image, the enormous iron hook shot out violently.
Just like a harpoon.
Accurately striking a small raft desperately fleeing ahead.
"Crunch!"
Splinters of wood flew everywhere.
The iron hook sank deep into the hull of the small raft.
"Pull!"
A furious roar came from the giant raft.
The winch began spinning wildly.
The force of the pull in that instant was terrifying.
The small raft had been moving at full speed, but under the drag of the hook, it came to an abrupt halt, then was dragged backward like a chick snatched by an eagle.
"No! Let me go! I'll give you fuel! Don't kill me!"
The survivor on the small raft screamed in despair.
He even took out his last remaining barrel of fuel, holding it high above his head in an attempt to buy his life.
But the other side paid no attention.
On the giant raft stood a man in a black trench coat, holding a dragon-headed cane.
His face was gaunt, his eyes sunken, making him look like a venomous snake that had gained sentience.
He simply waved his hand coldly.
Several underlings immediately jumped onto the small raft that had been dragged over.
Without a single word.
Blades rose and fell.
"Thud!"
The survivor's head was severed clean off.
Blood gushed out, staining the deck.
The underlings moved with chilling proficiency.
They swiftly looted the corpse's supplies, snatched the barrel of fuel, and even dismantled the small raft's engine.
After completing their task,
The trench-coated man waved his hand again.
The massive iron hook released its grip.
The now wrecked, powerless raft, along with the headless corpse on it, was mercilessly abandoned on the sea.
What awaited it
Was the dark tide behind, ready to devour everything.
"Zhang Nanhai."
Qin Yu uttered the name.
His gaze turned several degrees colder.
"Rank two after the server merge."
"Nicknamed 'South Sea Dragon King'."
"It seems the nickname isn't for nothing. This is no Dragon King—this is clearly a King of Hell who devours people without spitting out the bones."
On the screen,
Zhang Nanhai's vessel didn't stop.
Around his giant raft, hundreds of smaller boats followed.
Each small boat was packed with people, surrounding Zhang Nanhai like stars encircling the moon, forming a massive maritime hunting formation.
These people were all "enforcers" attached to him.
Or perhaps... emergency rations.
"S-grade directional sea hook.""
Yao Qian looked at the data analysis, her face pale.
"This thing is too broken."
"Once it hooks you, unless you cut your ship apart, there's no escape."
"And it seems to have some kind of locking function—never misses."Brother Yu, he's accelerating.""
"He's moving toward those isolated ships."
"He's not just traveling—he's... stocking up."
That's right.
In this desperate flight where everyone was struggling to survive,
Zhang Nanhai had turned the disaster into his personal buffet.
He didn't need to gather fuel himself.
He only needed to steal it.
Steal from those running ahead of him.
The fuel those people had painstakingly collected ultimately became the fuel for his massive fleet.
In the "World Channel," accusations against Zhang Nanhai were flooding the screen.
"Damn! That's Zhang Nanhai! That lunatic is hooking people from behind!"
"He stole my fuel! And sank my boat!"
"Everyone, team up and take him down!"
"How? He has hundreds of followers! His ships are all outfitted with ballistas! Getting close means death!"
"It's over... being caught by the dark tide is death, being caught by Zhang Nanhai is also death..."
Despair.
A deeper layer of despair.
At that moment.
Zhang Nanhai on the screen seemed to have made a new decision.
He stood at the bow, holding binoculars.
His gaze.
Skipped over the insignificant small fry.
And landed on the "hoverboard" flying at low altitude in the distance.
Qi Chun.
Though the fat man's flying Raft was fast, it wasn't flying at full speed to conserve fuel.
It wasn't too far from Zhang Nanhai's fleet at this point.
"Listen up!"
Even through the drone's audio, Qin Yu could hear Zhang Nanhai's sinister voice.
"See that fat man flying ahead?"
"That's S-grade loot."
"That's prime meat."
"Hook him down for me!"
"YES!!!"
Zhang Nanhai's fleet instantly erupted.
The massive Raft began adjusting its angle.
The winch emitted an ear-grating screech.
The thick black iron chain was pulled taut.
The enormous three-pronged hook gleamed with bloodthirsty cold light under the sun.
"Oh?"
Qin Yu, sitting on his leather sofa, paused the hand swirling his wine glass.
"Dogs eating dogs?"
"Fighting for third place already?"
"This Zhang Nanhai has quite the appetite."
As Qin Yu spoke.
The S-grade directional sea hook moved.
"BOOM——!!!"
With a deafening roar.
The iron hook shot through the air like a black venomous dragon, roaring toward Qi Chun in the sky.
Its speed was actually twice as fast as when it had hooked the small raft earlier!
This was the true power of an S-grade item!
Qi Chun was clearly startled.
He'd thought flying in the air would keep him safe.
Who could have imagined there'd be something that could "target air" from the sea!
"Damn! That's not fair play!"
The drone clearly captured Qi Chun's distorted face filled with terror.
The compressed biscuit in his mouth sprayed out.
At the critical moment.
The fat man displayed astonishing piloting skills.
He violently stomped on what appeared to be a homemade "thrust pedal."
"POOF—ROAR!"
The Thruster at the raft's rear suddenly emitted a burst of red flame.
The entire raft lurched as if kicked hard from behind.
Forcibly gaining three meters of altitude!
"CLANG!"
The iron hook grazed past the raft's bottom.
Sparks flew!
Even tearing off a piece of wooden plank.
But ultimately missed.
"Too close!"
Qi Chun broke out in a cold sweat.
Using this momentum, he no longer dared to conserve fuel.
The flying raft madly accelerated eastward at full speed.
Instantly putting kilometers between them.
"Tch."
Zhang Nanhai watched the escaped prey with a face dark enough to drip water.
He spat viciously.
"Lucky fat bastard."
"Retrieve the hook!"
Since he couldn't catch the one in the air.
He could only continue targeting those in the water.
His gaze shifted.
Past the fleeing Qi Chun.
Toward the distance.
Where.
A battleship resembling a steel behemoth was plowing through waves with regal bearing.
"President."
Zhang Nanhai narrowed his eyes.
The greed in them was a hundred times more intense than when he'd seen Qi Chun.
But he didn't attack.
Though arrogant, he wasn't foolish.
He'd witnessed the firepower on that ship.
That was bone he couldn't possibly chew through yet.
"Qin Yu..."
Zhang Nanhai tightened his grip on the dragon-headed cane, knuckles turning white.
"Run for now."
"Revenge is a dish best served cold."
He let out a cold, sinister laugh.
Turning around, he aimed the deadly iron hook at the ordinary survivors still struggling desperately around him.
"Let's finish off these small fry first."
"Every little bit adds up."
"As long as I have enough fuel, I'll be the king of these seas!"
...
Aboard the President.
Qin Yu withdrew his gaze.
He had thoroughly enjoyed the "flying man" spectacle he just witnessed.
"Yu-ge, that Zhang Nanhai seemed to be watching us earlier."
Li Ruobing curled her lips in displeasure.
"His gaze was truly disgusting."
"Should I blast him right now?"
"Show him why flowers bloom so red?"
Qin Yu waved his hand dismissively.
"Not yet."
"We're too far apart, and he's behind us while we're ahead."
"Besides..."
Qin Yu looked through the floor-to-ceiling window at the survivors being driven and slaughtered by Zhang Nanhai on the sea surface.
"Keeping him around isn't entirely bad."
"He's like a scavenger."
"Helping us eliminate those useless competitors."
"When we reach the final circle..."
"His fuel, his supplies, and that useful hook of his..."
Qin Yu drained the last sip of red wine from his glass.
A glint sharper than Zhang Nanhai's flashed in his eyes.
"Will all belong to me, Qin Yu."
"He's my mobile storage warehouse."
"Let him keep it safe for me for a few more days."
"Yao Qian."
"Here!"
"Maintain current speed, continue eastward."
"Keep monitoring Qi Chun and Zhang Nanhai's movements."
"Also..."
Qin Yu stood up and walked to the control panel, examining the gradually completing nautical chart.
"Keep watching the sea surface."
"The Black Tide is just the appetizer."
"Since the system is driving everyone eastward."
"There must be more to the east than just safety."
"Perhaps there's a bigger trap waiting for us."
"Yes!"
The President emitted a low rumble.
Accelerating once more.
On the boundless ocean, it moved like a sharp blade.
Cleaving through the waves.
And cleaving open the prelude to this chaotic era.
Behind it.
The Black Tide surged, with misery and suffering everywhere.
This wasn't merely an escape.
This was a brutal selection process for survival qualifications.
Only the most ruthless, the strongest, and the fastest.
Would qualify to see tomorrow's sun.
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