This was a frozen world.
It was also the headquarters of the Twilight of the Gods guild.
An enormous icebreaker, like a steel behemoth, was firmly wedged between two icebergs.
This was Odin's throne.
Crunch.
The crushed wine glass turned to powder, sliding down Odin's large, calloused hand.
Red wine.
Mixed with glass shards.
Dripped onto the floor.
Like blood.
Odin paid no attention to the wound on his hand.
His grayish-white eyes were fixed on the public screen of the World Channel.
Qin Yu's pinned mocking message was still displayed there.
Every word.
Was like a slap, striking his face hard.
A burning pain.
"I wasn't looking for you."
"And you come to me?"
Odin laughed.
He laughed so hard the entire ship shook.
It was a laugh of extreme anger.
"Good."
"Very good."
"Since you want to die."
"I'll grant your wish."
He suddenly stood up.
His exaggerated muscles bulged like granite, covered in all kinds of scars.
Each scar.
Represented a human life.
"Someone."
The door was pushed open.
Two burly men dressed in heavy furs, carrying modified rifles, walked in. They kept their heads down, not daring to breathe loudly.
"Boss."
"What about those rats?"
Odin's voice was very soft.
Soft as an undercurrent beneath the ice.
"Bring them in."
"Yes!"
The two subordinates, as if granted amnesty, quickly retreated.
Within a minute.
The sound of dragging chains echoed.
Clatter—clatter—
Along with suppressed sobbing.
Three men were dragged in.
Thrown at Odin's feet like dead dogs.
They wore tattered windbreakers, their faces covered in bruises and frostbite, shivering uncontrollably.
These three men.
Had just been captured by Twilight of the Gods.
They shared one common trait.
That was—
Their ID prefixes were all [District 9527].
The same district Qin Yu originally came from.
"Look up."
Odin sat back in his chair, picking up a finely sharpened dagger from beside him. He casually scraped the bloodstains from under his nails.
The three men trembled as they raised their heads.
Looking at the man before them, who resembled a polar bear, their eyes overflowed with fear.
"I heard."
"You and that Qin Yu."
"Are from the same district?"
Odin blew the dust off his nails.
"Do you know him?"
The slightly older man in the middle, his teeth chattering.
"Y-yes… we know him…"
"We… we've seen him speak on the public screen before…"
"Seen him?"
A cruel smile curled at the corner of Odin's mouth.
"That makes things easier."
"Tell me."
"What abilities does this kid have?"
"Why…"
Odin suddenly stabbed the dagger into the armrest, sinking it deep into the wood.
"Why could he kill Berserker?"
"Why does he dare to challenge me?"
The three men were startled, their bodies trembling violently.
The skinny man on the left quickly kowtowed, his forehead banging loudly against the floor.
"B-big brother! I really don't know!"
"Before the server merge, Qin Yu... he was just a water seller!"
Odin frowned.
"A water seller?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
The skinny man clung to this lifeline, speaking rapidly.
"He was lucky! He started with a filter! And a grill!"
"In our server, he made his fortune by selling grilled fish and mineral water!"
"Everyone called him a profiteer!"
"It's true! He didn't even have a decent knife! All he knew was hiding on his raft fishing!"
Odin's face darkened.
A water seller?
A fisherman?
A profiteer?
Are you fucking telling me that a profiteer selling grilled fish just mowed down hundreds of people with a machine gun?
And turned Tie Xi, who possesses a Steel Body, into a sieve?
"Are you messing with me?"
Odin's voice was icy cold.
"N-no... I wouldn't dare!"
The skinny man was on the verge of tears.
"Boss, I'm telling the truth!"
"In our server, everyone knows Qin Yu was supported by women!"
"He had several women on his boat! I heard even that Li Ruobing was tricked onto it!"
"He... he might just be a bit luckier..."
"Pfft."
A soft sound.
Before the skinny man could finish.
A dagger was already plunged into his throat.
Blood gushed out.
The skinny man clutched his neck, eyes wide open, making gurgling sounds as his body went limp and collapsed.
Until his death.
He never understood what he said wrong.
That was the truth.
In his memory, Qin Yu really was just a lucky profiteer.
Odin expressionlessly pulled out the dagger.
Wiped it on the older man's clothes.
"Too much nonsense."
"What I want to hear."
"Is useful information."
Odin turned his head, looking at the remaining two men.
That gaze.
Was like looking at two pieces of dead meat.
"You speak."
He pointed at the older man.
The older man, splattered with his companion's blood, was completely terrified.
But he didn't want to die.
He desperately searched his mind for everything about Qin Yu.
"I... I'll talk..."
"After the server merge... we... we also wanted to join him..."
"But..."
"But what?"
"But before we could get close... we saw..."
The man swallowed hard, the fear in his eyes deepening.
That kind of fear.
Even surpassed his fear of Odin before him.
"Saw what?"
Odin was growing impatient.
"Saw..."
"Anyone who got close to his ship..."
"Died."
"All of them died."
The man stammered.
"No matter who."
"Or how many."
"As long as they entered his Radar range."
"None came out alive."
"We also wanted to see... to see what weapons he had..."
"But we couldn't see!"
The man broke down crying.
"We really couldn't see!"
"Those who charged ahead... ships and people... vanished in an instant!"
"We only heard the sounds!"
"Before we even saw anyone, the ships exploded!"
"We were terrified... we could only run..."
"Run for our lives..."
Odin's movements halted.
He narrowed his eyes.
Staring at this sobbing, broken man.
"You're saying."
"You bunch of trash."
"Didn't even see his face."
"And were scared off?"
The man nodded frantically.
"It's not that we're cowards!"
"It's that Qin Yu... he's too bizarre!"
"I saw it with my own eyes—a big shot charged over with over a dozen people..."
"Then a whirlpool suddenly appeared on the sea surface!"
"And then they... they shattered!"
"Literally shattered! Not a single piece of intact flesh could be found!"
Odin fell silent.
Shattered.
Shattered again.
In that video earlier, Tie Xi had also shattered.
What did this mean?
It meant that Qin Yu possessed an extremely terrifying heavy weapon.
Or perhaps some kind of rule-based ability.
But the question was.
What exactly was this ability?
None of the dead men on this ship could give him the answer.
Because those who had seen the answer.
Had all become fish feed.
"Qi Chun?"
Odin suddenly caught a name.
"You're saying that fat guy piloting the Floating Fortress is alive?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
The young man beside him, who had been silent until now, quickly chimed in.
"That fatty is Qin Yu's lackey!"
"Only he can get close to Qin Yu's ship!"
"And only he knows what trump cards Qin Yu actually has!"
Odin stroked the stiff stubble on his chin.
"Fatty..."
"Floating Fortress..."
"Hah."
Odin sneered coldly.
"Interesting."
"So he's a cunning coward who likes to hide in the shadows and let his lackey take the heat."
He roughly "understood" now.
This Qin Yu.
Was no war god at all.
Just a "rat" with some powerful long-range weapon or trap skill.
He didn't dare to fight head-on.
That's why he had to kill everyone.
To cover up the fact that his true form was actually very fragile.
"If that's the case..."
Half of the wariness in Odin's eyes faded away.
Replaced by.
The excitement of a hunter discovering his prey's weakness.
"As long as I get close."
"As long as I don't give him a chance to take a cheap shot."
"Crushing him."
"Would be easier than crushing an ant."
Odin stood up.
Walked over to the huge floor-to-ceiling window.
Looked out at the vast, white ice field outside.
"Pass down the order."
"Release the Icefield Wolves."
"Also."
"Notify the 'Mechanist'."
"Warm up 'that thing' for me."
The two subordinates behind him changed expressions.
"That thing? Boss, you mean..."
"Yes."
Odin turned around, a sinister grin on his face.
"Since he likes to play long-range."
"Likes to play hide-and-seek."
"Then I'll let him see."
"What a real..."
"Map Cannon."
"These two pieces of trash."
Odin pointed at the two captives on the ground.
"Useless now."
"Throw them overboard."
"Feed them to the wolves."
"No! Please! I told you everything! I told you everything I know!"
"Spare us! Boss Odin! Spare us!"
The two captives let out desperate screams.
But no one paid them any mind.
Several burly men rushed in, dragging them out like dead dogs.
The screams faded into the distance.
Finally turning into a few short, sharp wails.
And the sound of beasts tearing into flesh.
Listening to this beautiful symphony.
Odin took out a cigar from his pocket.
Lit it.
Took a deep drag.
Amidst the swirling smoke.
He gazed out the window at the gloomy sky.
As if seeing Qin Yu, who was sailing northward.
"Qin Yu."
"You'll regret this."
"You think killing a few small fry means you can challenge me?"
"In the face of absolute power."
"Your little tricks."
"Are worthless."
...
Meanwhile.
Thousands of nautical miles away.
The President was sailing at full speed.
Inside the cabin.
Qin Yu sneezed.
"Achoo!"
He rubbed his nose.
"Which bastard is cursing me?"
Beside him.
Qi Chun was hugging a freshly roasted lamb leg, gnawing away with his mouth glistening with grease.
"Brother Yu, it must be that Odin."
"Your shout earlier probably pissed him off quite a bit."
"Best if he dies from anger."
Qin Yu leaned back on the sofa, toying with an Advanced Teleportation Scroll he had just obtained from the shop.
That was the "surprise" he had prepared for Odin.
"Fatty."
"Hmm?"
"Your acting earlier was still a bit over the top."
"Pay more attention next time."
"When you cry, there should be tears."
Qi Chun was taken aback, his face twisting into a pained expression.
"Brother Yu, that's really too much for me."
"Facing all those treasures on your ship, I really couldn't cry."
"I was too busy being happy."
Night deepened.
The sea surface was pitch black.
Only the sound of the President cutting through the waves could be heard.
Yet beneath that seemingly calm sea.
Massive undercurrents were surging.
Countless pairs of eyes.
Were all fixed on this impending collision.
On one side was the long-established overlord entrenched in the Northern Plains.
On the other was the newly risen god of slaughter who had climbed over mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
This battle.
Was destined to shatter the world's structure.
...
Early the next morning.
The fog was thick.
Visibility was less than ten meters.
Qi Chun's Floating Fortress, being slow, was towed by Qin Yu with a cable, following behind the President.
Like a giant kite.
"Brother Yu!"
Qi Chun's somewhat distorted voice came through the walkie-talkie.
"Ahead!"
"What the hell is that up ahead?!"
Qin Yu was exercising on the deck.
Doing one-handed push-ups.
With Yao Qian sitting on his back.
"What's wrong?"
Qin Yu stood up, setting Yao Qian down.
He walked to the bow of the ship.
The sea breeze parted a wisp of the dense fog.
Ahead on the sea surface.
It was no longer water.
But...
Ice.
Endless fields of broken ice.
And upon those shards of ice.
Stood countless figures, densely packed.
No.
Those weren't people.
They were corpses.
Corpses frozen into ice sculptures.
They maintained their final poses from when they were alive.
Some were running.
Some were begging for mercy.
Some were screaming.
Each one lifelike.
Like a massive human sculpture park.
And at the forefront of these ice sculptures.
Stood a huge ice stele.
On it, written in dripping blood, were several large characters:
[Qin Yu and Dogs]
[No Entry Allowed]
[Enter, and Die.]
Qi Chun looked at those words and shrank his neck.
"Brother Yu..."
"This... this is targeting us, right?"
"This Odin is a bit too arrogant."
Qin Yu looked at the ice stele.
Then at those corpses frozen into ice sculptures.
Among them.
Were many familiar faces.
Even a few old-timers from District 9527.
Clearly.
This was Odin's warning to him.
And a show for the entire world.
"Arrogant?"
Qin Yu smiled.
With a flick of his wrist.
A pitch-black heavy sniper rifle appeared in his hand.
[Netherworld: Death's Kiss]
The muzzle lifted.
Without using the scope.
"Bang!"
A deafening roar.
The bullet, trailing a pale blue streak of light, instantly crossed a thousand meters.
"Boom—!!!"
The massive ice stele.
Exploded directly into powder.
Along with several hundred surrounding ice sculptures, all shattered into fragments.
Ice shards flew everywhere.
Like a heavy snowfall.
"Tell him."
Qin Yu put away the gun.
He spoke calmly into the walkie-talkie.
"The path..."
"Is carved through bloodshed."
"Not written with ink."
"Since he won't let me in..."
"Then I'll just..."
"Flatten this frozen wasteland."
"For him."
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