This shot.
Not only shattered the ice monument.
It also shattered the deathly silence that had persisted over the Arctic ice plains for two whole months.
Shattered ice fell like rain.
Crashing onto the sea surface.
Splashing up white waves of foam.
Qi Chun huddled behind the railing of the Floating Fortress, watching the sky full of ice fragments, his teeth still chattering.
It was unclear whether he was frightened by that shot.
Or frozen.
"Yu... Yu-ge."
"This place is a bit eerie."
Qi Chun tightened the Polar Cold-Resistant Suit around him, his nose running from the cold.
"We've just entered the outer perimeter."
"And the temperature is already minus fifty degrees Celsius."
"If we go further in..."
Qi Chun pointed toward the vast expanse of white ice sea ahead.
There.
It wasn't seawater.
It was a continent-sized slab of thick ice.
Hard.
Deathly silent.
Even the waves were frozen mid-air, forming jagged icicles.
That old schemer Odin.
Had calculated that although Qin Yu's ship had formidable firepower, its mobility would be severely hampered in such extreme cold.
Once the ship was frozen.
It would become a sitting duck.
Qin Yu put away his sniper rifle.
Ignoring Qi Chun's muttering.
He walked to the bow of the ship.
Reaching out to catch a falling snowflake.
The snowflake didn't melt on his fingertip.
Instead, it was like a blade.
Cutting his skin slightly.
"Interesting."
Qin Yu looked at the small bead of blood seeping from his fingertip.
"This snow."
"Has been tampered with."
"It's not just cold."
"There's also some kind of special energy field."
If it were ordinary survivors.
Even wearing cold-resistant suits.
Staying in this place for ten minutes.
Their lungs would freeze and crack.
Is this Odin's confidence?
Is this the so-called "home-field advantage"?
A mocking smile curled at the corner of Qin Yu's mouth.
He turned.
Looking at Li Ruobing, who had been standing behind him all along.
"Ruo Bing."
"Bring out that thing."
Li Ruobing was momentarily stunned.
Then she understood.
A flicker of excitement flashed in her eyes.
"You mean..."
"That?"
"Right."
Qin Yu lit a cigarette.
But in this damned weather.
It took three tries with the lighter to get it lit.
"Since this place is so cold."
"Since these rats like to hide in ice holes."
"Then I'll..."
"Turn up the heat for them."
"And while we're at it."
"Let's bake this so-called Arctic forbidden zone dry."
...
Li Ruobing moved quickly.
In less than two minutes.
A palm-sized, golden metal sphere emitting a faint heat was brought out.
It looked unremarkable.
Like an exquisitely crafted golden egg.
But the moment it appeared.
The biting cold wind around them eerily stilled for a moment.
[Item Name: Miniature Star · Eye of Helios]
[Grade: S-Class]
Qin Yu took the golden sphere.
Weighing it in his hand.
This thing.
He hadn't used it in a long time.
It had been gathering dust in the warehouse.
Because the previous sea areas were all tropical or temperate, there was no use for it.
But now.
This was a divine artifact.
"Fatty."
Qin Yu called out over the intercom.
"Put on your sunglasses."
"What?"
Qi Chun was still sniffling on the other end.
"Sunglasses?"
"Yu-ge, it's overcast, where's the sun?"
"Just put them on."
Qin Yu couldn't be bothered to explain.
"Unless you want to go blind."
With that.
Qin Yu exerted force.
He hurled the golden sphere in his hand fiercely toward the highest mast top of the President.
Click.
A crisp mechanical engagement sound.
The golden sphere precisely locked into the groove at the mast's peak.
The next second.
Qin Yu snapped his fingers.
"Lights on."
...
Hum—!!!
A low, deep hum.
Like the breath of an ancient behemoth awakening.
That golden sphere, originally only palm-sized.
Suddenly began to vibrate violently.
Immediately after.
A blindingly intense light.
Centered on the mast.
Erupted instantly!
Boom!
Within a five-kilometer radius.
The originally gloomy, overcast sky was as if cleaved open by a lightsaber.
It was true daylight!
No.
Brighter than daylight!
It was the [Eternal Daylight Domain]!
Within this domain.
There were no shadows.
No blind spots.
All darkness, all concealment, were stripped bare in this moment.
"Holy shit! My eyes!"
Qi Chun cried out in pain.
He had been a half-step too slow, his sunglasses only halfway on.
That intense light nearly brought tears to his eyes.
But he had no time to worry about the pain.
Because.
Something even more terrifying was happening.
Heat.
Indescribable heat.
What was just a freezing hell at minus fifty degrees Celsius.
In the blink of an eye.
Became the furnace of the Supreme Lord Lao's alchemy.
[Stellar Force Field: Activated]
[Current Regional Temperature: 50°C]
This wasn't gradual.
This was a violent surge!
A hundred-degree temperature difference!
The ice crystals in the air didn't even have time to melt into water; they sublimated directly into white steam.
Sizzle—
On the surrounding sea surface.
A massive white mist billowed up.
Those seemingly indestructible thick ice sheets.
Those jagged ice spikes.
Like butter thrown into a frying pan.
Visibly collapsed.
Melted.
The once frozen sea surface.
Began to boil.
"Off! Get it off!"
Qi Chun, who had been bundled up like a rice dumpling just moments ago.
Now felt as if he'd been thrown into a sauna.
Sweat instantly soaked through his clothes.
He frantically stripped off that extremely expensive S-Class cold-weather gear and threw it to the ground.
"I'm burning up!"
"What the hell is this thing?!"
"Yu-ge, did you install a sun on the ship?!"
...
Deep within the ice field.
Behind a concealed snowdrift.
Three full squads of elite soldiers lay in ambush.
They were Odin's "Snow Demon" special forces.
Dressed in specially-made white ghillie suits.
Lying motionless in the snow.
They had been lying here for three hours.
Their bodies almost merged with the ice and snow.
Breathing and heart rates lowered to a minimum.
Just moments ago.
They had been inwardly mocking that reckless Qin Yu.
"Once that ship gets stuck."
"I'm going to wring that sniper's head off."
The squad leader, "Ice Wolf," thought silently to himself.
In his hand.
He gripped an ice axe coated with potent poison.
If Qin Yu's ship dared to force its way through this ice zone.
Its hull would surely be torn open by those hidden ice spikes.
Then.
It would be their hunting moment.
However.
In the very next second.
The sky.
Lit up.
So brightly it was unnerving.
Immediately after.
A wave of heat washed over them.
"What's happening?!"
"Where is this light coming from?!"
Panicked voices of the team members sounded over the comms.
"Shut up! Maintain concealment!"
Ice Wolf growled low.
But he quickly realized.
Something was wrong.
The snow beneath him...
Was melting.
The once solid cover.
Had now turned into a muddy puddle.
Not only that.
He felt as if his back were on fire.
It was his ghillie suit.
For warmth.
The suit was made with large amounts of polyester fiber and animal fur.
Now.
Under this sudden fifty-degree heat.
The stifling sensation.
Was simply suffocating.
"Cap... Captain..."
"My camouflage... it's gone..."
A trembling voice came from one of the team members.
Ice Wolf abruptly looked up.
Through the white steam.
He saw a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Within a radius of several kilometers.
All the snow.
All the ice.
Had completely vanished.
Revealing the black rocks and deep blue seawater beneath.
And the thirty or so of them lying on the ground.
Now looked as if they were sprawled on bare concrete.
Conspicuous.
Extremely conspicuous.
What ambush was left?
It was simply a group of clowns in white clothes, lying on the main road sunbathing!
And above their heads.
That massive Liquid Battleship.
Was pressing down slowly.
Crowned by a golden "sun."
Under the glow of that "sun."
Qin Yu stood at the bow.
Holding a megaphone in his hand.
Wearing that infuriatingly punchable grin on his face.
"Hey."
"You few lying on the ground."
"Isn't the ground hot?"
"Or perhaps."
"You have a thing for sunbathing?"