The sea breeze became surprisingly gentle.
The dark clouds that had seemed ready to tear a hole in the sky just moments ago now appeared to have been frightened out of their wits by that earlier blast, scattering faster than rabbits.
The massive whirlpool that had pressed down on everyone, making it hard to breathe, also gradually subsided, turning into lazy, rippling circles.
Only a faint scent of ionized ozone lingered in the air—the last remaining evidence of rules being forcibly erased.
Clatter.
The beer can in Qin Yu's hand fell onto the deck.
Half of the beer spilled across the floor, but he didn't even have the strength to bend down and pick it up.
"Yu-ge!"
Yao Xue, who had been watching him closely, reacted swiftly, catching his swaying body just in time.
His skin felt scalding to the touch—like holding a red-hot iron fresh from the furnace.
"Don't move."
Yao Xue's voice was as cold as ice shards, but her movements were incredibly gentle as she firmly pressed down Qin Yu's still slightly trembling right hand.
"This is a high fever reaction triggered by mental energy overdraft. Your nervous system is sounding the alarm."
She turned and shouted at Yao Qian, who was still in a daze.
"Stop standing there! Go open the temperature control unit of the medical pod!"
"Xiaoya! Prepare two doses of sedatives and high-energy glucose!"
"Ruo Bing, stabilize the ship—don't let it rock!"
The decisive chief surgeon from the hospital had returned.
Her shout snapped everyone out of their stupor, and the group that had been sprawled on the deck moments ago sprang into action as if wound up.
"Oh… oh! I'm going right now!"
Yao Qian scrambled toward the cabin, her legs, which had been weakened by fear just moments ago, now moving with surprising speed.
Chen Xiaoya also snapped back to reality. Her instincts as a nurse pulled her out of the post-crisis fear, and she followed Yao Qian into the passageway.
Qin Yu leaned against Yao Xue, his nose filled with the pleasant scent of disinfectant mixed with a faint, personal fragrance.
He struggled to curl the corner of his mouth.
"It's not that serious…"
"I'm just tired. I'll be fine after some sleep."
"Shut up."
Yao Xue glared at him. Her beautiful phoenix eyes were bloodshot, tears welling up but stubbornly refusing to fall.
"Are you the doctor, or am I?"
"Weren't you so impressive when you fired that shot earlier?"
"Now you realize you're tired?"
Qin Yu gave an awkward smile, not daring to argue back.
It was true.
That earlier shot of "Extinction · Void Grasp" had drained not only the weapon's energy but also his own vitality.
The feeling was like having his brain matter sucked out, stirred, and poured back in.
He couldn't even feel pain anymore.
Only numbness remained.
…
Qin Yu lay on the multifunctional medical bed, an IV drip attached to his hand and his body covered with various monitoring patches.
Chen Xiaoya deftly changed his medication, but her eyes kept darting away, avoiding Qin Yu's gaze.
Ever since Qin Yu had pulled her from the sea, she had felt something stirring inside her body, but she didn't dare speak of it.
Especially after seeing that giant eyeball earlier.
The fear—and the strange longing—that came from deep within her bloodline made her feel like an outsider.
"Xiaoya, slow down the injection a bit."
Yao Xue watched the fluctuating data on the monitor, her brows furrowed into a deep crease.
"His heart rate is still too fast; his blood vessels can't handle too much pressure."
"O-okay, Sis Xue."
Chen Xiaoya lowered her head, her fingers trembling slightly.
Qin Yu lay there, unable to move his body, but that didn't stop his mind from racing.
He stared at the light on the ceiling.
But what replayed in his mind was the scene from earlier.
That erased black hole.
That half an eyeball fleeing in panic.
And that sense of "anger" from a higher dimension, palpable even through the screen.
"Interesting."
Qin Yu suddenly spoke, his voice raspy like two sheets of sandpaper rubbing together.
"Xue'er, tell me..."
"If we're a bunch of ants trapped in a bottle."
"Did that shot just now count as prying the lid open?"
Yao Xue's hand, which had been adjusting his IV drip, paused.
She turned around, looking down at Qin Yu from above, her expression complex.
"I don't understand anything about bottles."
"All I know is, you almost got yourself killed just now."
"That eyeball... its biological wavelength doesn't belong to the current ecosystem."
"Qin Yu, what exactly have you provoked?"
Qin Yu laughed.
The laughter tugged at the injuries in his lungs, triggering a violent coughing fit.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
"Provoked what?"
"It's not me provoking them."
"It's that bastard who made the rules, not wanting us to live."
Qin Yu's eyes turned cold.
"In that situation earlier, if I hadn't fired, we'd be dead."
"The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons was just the appetizer; that eyeball was the main course."
"It was here to clear the field."
"Clear whose field?"
"Mine."
Qin Yu struggled to lift the hand not hooked to the IV drip, pointing at the ceiling.
"Someone's watching from above."
"They think I'm too much of a variable, affecting their ratings or disrupting the game's balance."
"So they want to crush me in the cradle before things spiral out of control."
Yao Xue fell silent.
Though she didn't quite understand the so-called "ratings," as a former elite, she was all too familiar with the methods of those "higher-ups."
When you become so exceptional that you threaten the rules themselves.
The rules turn into a knife.
"So what do we do now?"
Li Ruobing's voice came from the doorway.
She had changed into a practical sports tank top, holding a tablet in her hand, her expression grim as she walked in.
"Just finished checking the hull damage."
"The situation isn't looking good."
Li Ruobing handed the tablet to Qin Yu, displaying a glaringly red hull structure diagram.
"The overload shot from 'Netherworld: Death's Kiss' didn't blow up, but the recoil cracked three Keels in the deck layer."
"The Anti-Gravity Engine can only operate at 60% power now; any higher and it'll overheat and shut down."
"The Ocean Stabilizing Pearl is completely shattered; we've lost our ability to suppress sea fluctuations."
"And..."
Li Ruobing paused, pointing to a blank area on the radar map.
"The magnetic field in this area is scrambled."
"The navigation system is malfunctioning; the sonar is all static."
"We're like blind men running naked on the open sea."
Qin Yu looked at the alarming data but didn't show much panic.
Instead, he seemed to have expected it.
"Normal."
"Poking a hole in the sky always comes at a price."
He pushed the tablet back, his gaze sweeping over the women in the room.
Yao Xue's worry, Yao Qian's fear, Li Ruobing's anxiety, and the terror hidden deep in Chen Xiaoya's eyes.
The "President" now resembled a lion gravely wounded.
Though it had just bitten a hyena to death and scared off a flock of vultures,
the scent of blood would attract more predators.
Especially that "Administrator" lurking behind the scenes.
Since they hadn't managed to kill him this time, there would surely be another wave.
And it would be more ruthless, more insidious.
"Since those above don't want us to have it easy,"
"then we won't stay above."
Qin Yu took a deep breath, a flicker of resolve flashing in his eyes.
"Ruo Bing."
"Here."
"Activate the President's third form."
"Deep Sea Stealth Mode."
"Since I've disrupted the rules of this sea, the satellites in the sky, the surveillance—all of it is temporarily blind."
"That 'Administrator' is probably busy patching up the loopholes right now, with no time to bother with us."
"This is our best chance."
"Hide?"
Yao Qian peeked out from behind her sister, asking softly.
"Are we going to hide underwater?"
"But... aren't there monsters down there?"
Remembering that enormous eyeball, Yao Qian couldn't help but shiver.
"The most dangerous place is the safest."
Qin Yu tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing his trademark roguish grin.
"That big eyeball just lost half its life to me—it's already scared out of its wits."
"It's definitely hiding in some trench right now, trembling, too afraid to come out."
"For hundreds of nautical miles around, this is its forbidden zone."
"Other sea beasts won't dare come near once they catch its scent."
"We're just borrowing its territory to recover for a few days. Does it have a problem with that?"
This was Qin Yu's logic.
Crazy, but incredibly effective.
Since the rules on land (the sea surface) were set by others,
then go to a place where the rules haven't fully taken hold, or even if they have, no one dares to venture easily.
The deep sea.
That was the true lawless land.
Qin Yu closed his eyes, exhaustion washing over him like a tide once more.
"Begin the descent."
"Target depth: 200 meters."
"Find a quiet spot so I can get some proper sleep."
"Don't wake me unless it's the end of the world."
...
Ten minutes later.
The deck was empty.
Clank-clank-clank—
A series of dense metallic clenching sounds rang out.
The President's originally streamlined hull began to undergo a dramatic transformation.
The armor plates on both sides of the ship's hull folded upward, extended, and finally locked together seamlessly above the top deck, as if they had a life of their own.
The once bright and open deck was instantly covered by thick composite armor, forming a fully enclosed turtle-shell structure.
Outside all the windows, a layer of high-strength transparent alloy protective shields rose.
"Air-tightness check complete!"
"Oxygen Internal Circulation System activated!"
"Ballast Water Tanks filling!"
In the cockpit, Li Ruobing's fingers danced swiftly across the control panel.
A long-lost sense of security enveloped everyone.
Inside Qin Yu's Medical Pod.
The lights were adjusted to the softest warm yellow.
He was already asleep.
Breathing evenly, though his face remained pale, the furrow between his brows had finally relaxed.
Yao Xue sat by the bedside, holding an old book she had dug up from somewhere, quietly reading.
In truth, she hadn't taken in a single word.
Her gaze drifted from time to time toward the window.
Outside lay a profound darkness.
Occasionally, a few faintly glowing jellyfish drifted past, like shooting stars in the night sky.
"Sis."
Yao Qian hugged a cushion, curled up on the nearby sofa, her voice as soft as a mosquito's hum.
"Are we… really safe now?"
Yao Xue closed the book and reached out to stroke her sister's head.
"For now, we are."
"At this depth, those storms, lightning, and that gaze that watches us can't reach down here."
"But…"
Yao Qian looked worriedly at Qin Yu.
"Brother Yu said this is only temporary."
"What do we do after this?"
Yao Xue turned her head to look at Qin Yu, who was deep in sleep.
The man's face was sharply defined, and even in his sleep, the corners of his mouth seemed to carry a hint of stubborn defiance.
"After this?"
Yao Xue gently tucked the blanket around Qin Yu.
"As long as he's alive."
"As long as this ship remains."
"We don't have to fear what comes next."
She stood up and walked to the porthole.
Gazing out at the deep-sea world illuminated by the searchlights.
The strangely shaped fish, the seaweed swaying with the currents.
This was a brand-new world.
And their new battlefield.
"Since they won't let us live up there."
"Then we'll live down here, and show them we can."
"And…"
A cold glint flashed in Yao Xue's eyes.
"When he wakes up."
"This debt will be repaid sooner or later."
…
The "President" continued its descent.
Like a ghost, it slid silently through the undersea canyons.
Here.
There were no noisy system notifications.
No survivors killing each other.
Nor that lofty "god."
Only absolute tranquility.
And in the deeper reaches of the abyss.
In some unknown corner.
The "Deep-Gazing Eye," now reduced to half its body, lay curled beside a deep-sea volcanic vent.
It sensed the approach of that terrifying presence it feared.
But this time.
It didn't run.
Because it could feel that the owner of that presence was asleep.
In its single eye, a flicker of resentment flashed, but more than that, a sense of relief at having survived a disaster.
It buried itself in the scalding silt.
Not daring to make a sound.
Afraid of waking that harbinger of doom.
This night.
The deep sea knew no rest.
But the people aboard the "President" slept more soundly than ever before.