"ROAR————!!"
This roar didn't seem to come from the water.
It felt more like it exploded directly inside your skull.
The sound wave, carrying a tangible water pressure, slammed violently against the President's shield.
"Warning! Shield generator overloaded!"
"External armor pressure increased by 300%!"
"Brother-in-law! It's coming!"
Yao Qian's fingers were practically striking sparks on the keyboard.
On the screen.
That massive red dot was closing in at a speed that defied fluid dynamics.
"Don't panic."
Qin Yu stood before the control console, the cigarette in his mouth long since shaken loose by the earlier tremor.
He didn't pick it up.
His eyes were fixed on the porthole.
Out there.
The darkness was churned into chaos.
A tentacle as thick as a subway tunnel, covered in countless suckers and that crimson eye.
"BANG!!"
It smashed against the hull.
The entire submarine lurched sideways like a kicked soda can, violently shifting hundreds of meters.
Inside, pots, pans, and dishes shattered across the floor.
"Damn it!"
Li Ruobing scrambled up from the floor, rubbing her bruised arm.
"Why is this thing stronger than that Black Goat from before?"
"Because it's gone mad."
Qin Yu gripped the helm, steadying the vessel.
A cruel smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"The drug's taking effect."
...
Meanwhile.
Deep within the Abyss.
That enormous Deep-Gazing Eye.
Was now in a state of utter frenzy.
Pain.
Such excruciating pain.
That red mist seeped into its gill slits, into every single nerve.
It felt like fire was burning inside.
But this wasn't the sole reason for its rage.
It recognized this ship.
Or rather.
It recognized this scent.
A scent that made its very soul tremble—the scent belonging to the "Destroyer."
Several months ago.
Right here in this place.
It was this same person.
Back then.
It was still the sole ruler of these waters.
It guarded that gate.
Guarded those few glittering stones.
Life was peaceful and comfortable.
Until this person arrived.
Bringing those exploding iron lumps.
Blasting it out of its warm lair.
One of its eyes.
That most precious primary eye.
Had been blinded once by this very person.
Although it had healed.
The terror of being torn apart.
Was etched into its bones.
It fled.
It even abandoned its guardian duty.
Hiding in this sunless pit of muck like a stray dog.
It was recuperating.
It was waiting.
Waiting for its wounds to heal, swearing revenge.
But it never expected.
Before its wounds were fully mended.
This person.
Had returned!
Not only returned.
But was also pumping this mind-burning poison into its home!
"An insult to the eye..."
"An insult to the eye!!"
The last shreds of its reason completely crumbled under the influence of the red drug.
It didn't want to run anymore.
Even if it meant death.
Even if it meant mutual destruction.
It would crush this iron-shelled insect.
Utterly!
...
"It's here!"
"Dead ahead! Twelve o'clock!"
Elena shouted.
She didn't need to.
Everyone saw it.
In the beam of the searchlight.
A massive net.
A web of flesh woven from dozens of tentacles.
Descended, blotting out the sky.
Every eye on each tentacle
glowed with an eerie red light.
"Trying to encircle us?"
Qin Yu snorted coldly.
"Don't break your teeth on us."
"System."
"Switch weapon mode."
"Take those five hundred tons of Titan Essence we just extracted."
"Pour it into the main cannon!"
"Since it wants to play with its life,"
"then I'll play a big game with it!"
[Ding!]
[Energy conversion in progress…]
[Titan Essence injection…]
[Ship-mounted main cannon: Particle Annihilation Cannon (Overload Mode)]
[Charge: 200%!]
"Fire!!"
Qin Yu slammed the launch button.
"Hum—!!"
The bow of the [President]
suddenly lit up with a blinding green light.
It was the life essence of the Forest Black Goat.
The purest energy of destruction.
"Boom—!!"
A thick green beam
instantly pierced the darkness of the deep sea.
Seawater evaporated.
Bubbles were annihilated before they could even form.
The enormous flesh web,
the moment it touched the beam,
melted away like snow under the scorching sun.
"Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!"
Over a dozen tentacles
were instantly blasted into dust.
Green blood
instantly dyed this part of the deep sea emerald.
"Rooooar—!!"
The monster let out an even more piercing shriek.
But this time,
it didn't run.
It didn't even retreat half a step.
The severed tentacles
were still twitching,
still spurting blood.
But its enormous main eye
was fixed intently on the [President].
In its gaze,
there was no longer fear,
but a kind of…
desperation.
A determination to perish together.
"Something's wrong."
Yao Xue suddenly spoke up.
She stared at the biological waveform on the screen,
her expression turning grim.
"Its heartbeat has stopped."
"What?"
Li Ruobing was stunned.
"It's dead?"
"No."
Yao Xue shook her head, her voice trembling slightly.
"It stopped its own heartbeat."
"It's… burning its life force."
"It's about to unleash its ultimate move!"
As soon as she finished speaking,
a sudden change occurred.
The originally murky seawater
suddenly grew still.
The floating debris,
the severed tentacles,
even the green blood—
all hung suspended in mid-water.
Immediately after,
a bone-chilling cold
instantly pierced through the [President]'s S-Class Alloy Armor,
dropping the cabin temperature
to freezing point.
"What's happening?"
Qi Chun shouted over the intercom.
"Brother! My radar's gone completely dark!"
"It's not dark."
Qin Yu looked out the window,
staring at the monster now emanating a deathly gray aura.
His expression
turned grave for the first time.
"It's the aura of death."
"This old thing…"
"has sacrificed itself."
The seabed
split open.
Not physically,
but…
in terms of rules.
The body of the [Deep-Gazing Eye]
was rapidly withering.
Its flesh and blood
were melting away,
transforming into wisps of black mist
that merged into the surrounding seawater.
"I… am… not… willing…"
A fragmented thought wave
forced its way into everyone's minds.
It was the monster's last words.
And its curse.
"Sea… of the Dead…"
"Rise!!"
As the final word fell,
"Rumble—"
The silt on the seabed
boiled.
Countless pale hands
reached out from the mud.
They were…
the creatures that had once died in this Underwater Garden.
There were enormous prehistoric fish.
There were bizarrely shaped mutated beasts.
And even...
Humans.
Those skeletons clad in tattered diving suits.
Those skulls missing half their heads.
At this moment.
All opened their eyes.
Flickering green ghost fires.
Danced within their eye sockets.
They were not living beings.
They were an undead army awakened by this titan with its life...
"Holy shit..."
Li Ruobing stared out the window at the dense, endless tide of corpses.
She nearly dropped the hammer in her hand.
"Is this some underwater version of Resident Evil?"
"There are just too many of them!"
"Too many?"
Qin Yu lit a cigarette.
His hand was steady.
"This is the family fortune it's been accumulating for centuries."
"Of course there are many!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The corpse tide crashed against the ship.
They had no reason.
No sense of pain.
Like a school of piranhas that had caught the scent of blood.
They frantically threw themselves at the President.
Biting with their teeth.
Smashing with their bones.
Even using their own bodies to clog the propellers.
"Warning! Thrusters obstructed!"
"Warning! Shield Energy down to 40%!"
"Warning! Hull plating is being corroded!"
Yao Qian's voice trembled with tears.
"Brother-in-law!"
"There are too many!"
"We can't kill them all!"
"And they keep reviving!"
"As long as that big eyeball is still there."
"These things are immortal!"
Qin Yu peered through the dense mass of corpses.
Looking into the distance.
There.
The main body of the Deep-Gazing Eye.
Though it had withered to little more than a husk.
That massive primary eye.
Still glowed.
Like a black sun.
Continuously feeding energy into this Sea of the Dead.
It was laughing.
That was the thrill of revenge.
Even in death.
It would drag the one who destroyed its home.
Down into hell with it!
"Want to take me down with you?"
Qin Yu exhaled a smoke ring.
His gaze gradually turned icy.
"You're not worthy."
He turned.
And walked toward the weapons control console.
That Netherworld: Death's Kiss.
Lay quietly there.
The gun body was pitch black.
As if it could absorb all light.
"System."
"That bullet's cooldown isn't up yet, right?"
[Prompt: Spatial Erasure trait cooling down. Remaining time: 71 hours, 58 minutes.]
"Fine."
Qin Yu grabbed the heavy sniper rifle.
"Then we won't bother with the fancy stuff."
"We'll use this."
He reached into his chest.
And pulled out a blue crystal.
That was...
The Sea Soul Crystal Mother (Fragment · Two).
The very thing this monster had once guarded.
"Isn't this what you wanted?"
Qin Yu pressed the crystal.
Forcefully into the Kiss of Death's magazine port.
Click!
The port, which should have consumed rare metals.
Now.
Perfectly accommodated this Rule Fragment.
Hummm—!!
The entire gun.
Came alive.
The red flowing light on the gun body.
Instantly transformed into a profound, ghostly blue.
A terrifying fluctuation that began to distort space itself.
Emanated from the rifle.
[Warning! Detecting unknown High-Energy Reaction!]
[Warning! Weapon is forcibly drawing upon Rule power!]
[Warning! Barrel may rupture!]
"Let it rupture!"
Qin Yu shouldered the gun.
Even with his physical constitution.
He was now straining under the gun's weight, veins bulging.
It was the weight of a world.
"Since you're the gatekeeper."
"Then I'll use your master's power."
"To send you on your way!"
"Yao Xue! Ruo Bing!"
"Clear a path for me up ahead!"
"Just for one second!"
"Got it!"
The two women exchanged a glance.
Without a single wasted word.
"Frost Nova!"
Yao Xue slammed down a button.
It was an auxiliary system equipped with the [Eternal Frost Core].
A visible wave of white, frigid air.
Instantly erupted from the ship as the center.
The seawater within a hundred-meter radius.
Froze solid in an instant.
All the skeletons lunging forward.
Were frozen into ice sculptures.
"Break!!"
Li Ruobing didn't hesitate either.
She directly maxed out the power furnace's output.
Controlling the two secondary cannons at the ship's bow.
Aimed straight ahead.
Unleashing a torrent of firepower.
"Boom boom boom boom boom!!"
The ice sculptures shattered.
A passage.
Even if only for a brief second.
Was blasted open by sheer force.
At the end of the passage.
Was that still-sneering [Deep-Gazing Eye].
"Goodbye."
Qin Yu pulled the trigger.
No sound.
No muzzle flash.
Only a blue ripple.
Undulating from the gun's barrel.
It was a ripple...
Of rules.
It passed through the seawater.
Through the tide of corpses that hadn't yet closed in.
Without even damaging anything.
Just gently.
Brushed past that enormous eyeball.
"Pop."
Like the sound of a bubble bursting.
That massive eye, filled with resentment and unwillingness.
The moment it touched the blue ripple.
Froze.
Then.
It was...
Disintegration.
Disintegration at the molecular level.
No explosion.
No gore flying everywhere.
It was like a sandcastle.
Blown by the wind.
Scattered.
Turned into the most primitive particles.
With its disappearance.
The surrounding army of frenzied undead.
Suddenly stopped.
The green fire in their eyes extinguished.
The force that had been driving them.
Was severed.
"Clatter clatter..."
Countless skeletons.
Returned to lifeless objects.
Like rain.
Falling toward the unfathomably deep ocean trench.
The seabed.
Returned to deathly silence.
Only the [President]'s searchlight.
Lonely illuminating that empty expanse of seawater.
"Whew..."
Qin Yu plopped down on the floor.
The [Kiss of Death] in his hand was scorching hot.
The barrel was already glowing red.
Steam rising from it.
That Crystal Mother fragment.
Had also turned dull and lifeless.
That last shot.
Nearly drained all his stamina.
"Is it over?"
Yao Qian cautiously peeked out.
"Yeah."
Qin Yu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Glanced at the red dot that had completely vanished from the Radar.
"Being unwilling is useless."
"In this world."
"Whoever has the hardest fist."
"Is the one qualified to survive."
He stood up.
Walked to the window.
Looking at the slowly settling dust.
His gaze profound.
"Let's go see."
"What treasures this old octopus."
"Besides that eyeball."
"Has left for us."
"That last shot."
"Was very expensive."
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