"How is this possible?"
Yao Qian pushed her goggles up onto her forehead. Her legs, hidden beneath her White Silk Stockings, had gone numb from squatting. She plopped down onto the deck and tossed the Laser Cutter, which was still smoking, to the side.
"Brother-in-law, this thing is unreasonable. Its atomic structure is more stable than diamond. I just tried eighteen different laser frequencies, and it didn't even show a thermal expansion or contraction reaction. This isn't a substance from Earth at all."
Qin Yu didn't speak. He crouched down, pinched the still-burning cigarette butt between two fingers, and pressed it against the pitch-black cube.
Sizzle.
The cigarette butt went out. The cube remained cold, not even picking up a speck of ash.
"Interesting," Qin Yu narrowed his eyes.
If it was just high hardness, then even Adamantium Alloy should have a dent after being smashed eighty times by Ruo Bing's sledgehammer. But this thing... it was absorbing kinetic energy. It was also absorbing thermal energy. Like a bottomless pit.
"System. Stop playing dead. Scan it again."
[Ding!]
[Attempting contact...]
[Contact failed.]
[Target surface is covered with a High-Dimensional Rule Coating.]
[Please host, seek the 'key'.]
The key again. Qin Yu stood up.
"If I had the key, would I still need to ask you?"
Just then, the gun slung across his back, [Netherworld: Death's Kiss], suddenly vibrated. Very faintly. Like a beast catching the scent of blood. Or rather, like it had encountered its own kind.
"Hmm?"
Qin Yu reached back and took the gun down. The black gun body now shimmered with an eerie, dark red glow. The skull relief near the muzzle lit up with red lights in its eye sockets.
"What's wrong?" Li Ruobing leaned over, looking at the gun. "It seems... excited?"
"Not excited." Qin Yu gripped the handle. He could feel a wave of desire emanating from within the gun. It was hunger. "It's hungry."
Without hesitation, Qin Yu directly pressed the massive muzzle against the black cube.
Crack!
The cube, which had remained completely unmoved no matter how it was smashed or burned, reacted the instant the muzzle touched it. Its originally mirror-smooth surface suddenly cracked open a fissure. It was like... an eye opening. A ghostly blue light shot out from the crack, illuminating the barrel of [Death's Kiss].
Hummm—!!
Two energies instantly collided. A visible shockwave, centered on the two objects, rippled outwards.
"Whoa!" Yao Qian was startled, hugging her tablet and ducking behind her sister. "Is it exploding?!"
There was no explosion. Only resonance. A low-frequency vibration that made eardrums itch and hearts beat in sync with its rhythm.
Qin Yu's hand was steady. Even as the gun shook violently, even as the blue light stabbed painfully into his eyes, he didn't let go. Instead, he pushed forward another inch.
"Behave..." he growled in a low voice. "...yourself."
It seemed to understand its master's words.
Or perhaps it was suppressed by something within the [Kiss of Death].
The black cube suddenly stopped vibrating.
The cracks on its surface grew larger and larger.
Finally.
With a "click."
The outer black shell.
Like a layer of dried tree bark.
Peeled off layer by layer.
Revealing its true form inside.
It was a blue crystal.
Irregular in shape.
Only the size of a fist.
But it seemed as if a miniature ocean was sealed within.
Glistening with ripples.
Bottomless.
[Ding!]
[High-Energy Reaction detected!]
[Detected homologous rule fluctuations!]
The system's notification tone.
Grew urgent.
[Item Name: Ocean Soul Crystal Mother (Fragment · Two)]
[Current Status: Activated (Drawn by Fragment · One)]
[Item Description: This is the anchor of the world, one of the cornerstones that maintains the rules of this apocalyptic sea.]
[Special Note:]
[Detected that the host's weapon "Netherworld: Death's Kiss" has already devoured "Fragment · One."]
[The two fragments resonate!]
[Current Collection Progress: 2/5]
[Note: Since Fragment · One has been smelted into the weapon and cannot be retrieved, to recast the "Ocean Soul Heart," the host must gather the remaining three fragments and use this weapon as the core to perform the final "Rule Reassembly."]
Qin Yu looked at the blue crystal before him.
A playful smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
"So that's how it is."
"That fool Odin."
"Guarding a gold mine while begging for scraps."
"He thought this was a door."
"But it's actually just a lock."
"And the key."
Qin Yu patted the sniper cannon in his hand.
"Was already devoured by me long ago."
He reached out.
And grabbed the floating blue crystal.
Cold.
Piercing.
Like holding a piece of ten-thousand-year-old ice.
"Store."
With a thought from Qin Yu.
The blue crystal instantly disappeared.
Stored away into the system inventory.
"Only two."
"Not enough yet."
Qin Yu lit a cigarette.
Took a deep drag.
"This thing is like a puzzle."
"Missing even one piece."
"And you can't see what the world's underpants really look like."
"Brother-in-law, what is this?"
Yao Qian poked her head out.
Full of curiosity.
"Something good."
Qin Yu blew a smoke ring.
Offering no further explanation.
Things at this rule-class level.
Even if explained, they wouldn't understand.
It would only add unnecessary worry.
"Just think of it as..."
Qin Yu pondered for a moment.
"A travel permit."
"Once we collect them all."
"We can go and drag out that so-called 'administrator.'"
"And give him a beating."
"Really?!"
Li Ruobing's eyes lit up.
She didn't care about rules or not.
As long as there was a fight to be had.
As long as she could gouge out the eyes that were watching them from above.
She got excited.
"What about the rest?"
"Since there are five pieces of this thing."
"Where are the other three?"
Li Ruobing had hit the nail on the head.
Qin Yu didn't answer.
He closed the panel.
Turned around.
And looked toward the fatty still floundering in the sea in the distance.
"Old Qi!"
"Stop salvaging!"
"How much are those scraps of metal worth?"
"Let's go!"
In the distance.
Qi Chun was directing a few underlings.
Struggling to drag a broken mast onto the Floating Fortress.
Hearing Qin Yu's shout.
He paused for a moment.
"Huh?"
"Brother, we're leaving already?"
"There are still several Class-A Engines down here we haven't dismantled!"
"That's money!"
The fatty looked pained.
Truly pained.
In his eyes.
This wreckage was a gold mine.
Fenrir may be dead.
But the gear she left behind.
That was all top-tier equipment.
Just picking up a couple of pieces.
Could trade for a whole ship full of women on the black market.
"Pathetic."
Qin Yu cursed.
"Can picking up trash make you rich?"
"Follow me."
"I'll take you to rob someone."
"Rob who?"
The moment Qi Chun heard "rob,"
his ears perked up.
His heartache vanished instantly.
He immediately threw down the wrench in his hand.
"Is there some clueless top donor again?"
"Tell me, bro!"
"Even if I have to be bait, Old Qi here."
"I'll lure them over for you!"
This Fatty.
Just moments ago, he was scared out of his wits.
Now, hearing there was profit to be made,
he instantly turned back into that shrewd merchant.
"Not robbing people."
Qin Yu pointed toward the deep sea.
The water there.
Was darker than the surroundings.
Black as ink.
"Rob something big."
"How big?"
Qi Chun instinctively asked.
"Bigger than your Flying Saucer."
"A hundred times bigger."