The helicopter's rotors still roared overhead.
The massive mosasaur finally stopped twitching.
The seawater had been completely stained dark red.
A huge treasure chest slowly floated up from the mosasaur's tattered abdomen.
"Haul it up!"
Qin Yu shouted from the cockpit.
The helicopter lowered its winch hook.
Li Ruobing skillfully operated the joystick, precisely latching onto the chest's handle.
"Let's go!"
"Back home to open the chest!"
...
At the same time.
Dozens of nautical miles away.
A nauseating stench permeated the sea surface.
It wasn't the smell of dead fish.
It was the precursor of the "Black Tide" approaching.
The rotting odor emitted by countless mutated sea worms gathering together.
Yu Weiwei sat on her pink large bed.
This was actually a luxurious "boudoir" pieced together from three rafts.
Thick Persian carpets covered the floor, and perfume had even been sprayed.
But the perfume couldn't mask the increasingly close putrid smell.
"That useless one, still no news?"
Yu Weiwei shook the folding fan with two broken ribs, her brow furrowed tightly.
Her heartbeat was somewhat fast.
For some reason, ever since that death warrior No. 097 departed, her right eyelid had been twitching constantly.
"Reporting to Sister Weiwei!"
A bare-chested strong man knelt outside the tent.
He was Yu Weiwei's newly acquired top enforcer, also the captain of that "simps squad," A Qiang.
"Radar shows a small boat approaching."
"That's No. 097's boat!"
Yu Weiwei's eyes lit up.
She abruptly sat up straight.
"He can still return?"
"Was it successful or not?"
"As long as Qin Yu's power system is blown up, he's just a toothless tiger!"
She didn't even bother putting on shoes.
Barefoot, she ran to the edge of the deck.
In the distance.
On the dark sea surface.
A tattered small raft drifted along with the ocean current, swaying unsteadily.
A person lay prone on the raft.
Soaked through, looking utterly wretched.
It was precisely that No. 097 whom Qin Yu had sent back.
"How did it go?"
Yu Weiwei leaned over the railing, her voice unable to conceal its urgency.
"Did you blow it up?"
"Did you see flames?"
"Is that bastard Qin Yu dead?"
No. 097 lay on the raft, not lifting his head.
His body trembled slightly.
As if from cold, or as if from... extreme terror.
As the raft drew closer.
A Qiang, with several subordinates, had already thrown ropes over, firmly hooking the small raft.
"Speak!"
Yu Weiwei grew somewhat impatient.
That facade of compassion she wore was something she couldn't be bothered to maintain when there were no outsiders around.
"If you didn't succeed, don't bother coming up."
"Just feed the Black Tide."
Hearing this.
No. 097's body, lying on the ground, suddenly stiffened.
He slowly raised his head.
In those eyes.
Gone was the usual infatuation and fervor.
Gone was that humble look of worshiping a goddess.
Only bloodshot veins.
Bloodshot veins covering the entire eyeballs.
And a kind of... hatred that made one's heart creep.
"Weiwei..."
He called out in a hoarse voice.
His voice was grating, like two sheets of sandpaper rubbing together.
"What did you call me?"
Yu Weiwei froze.
Previously, this dog had only ever dared to call her "Goddess" or "Master."
"I'm asking you a question!"
"What exactly happened to Qin Yu?!"
No. 097 propped himself up on the raft that no longer had an engine, swaying unsteadily as he stood.
He grinned.
It was a smile uglier than crying.
"Qin Yu..."
"Qin Yu asked me to bring you a message."
Step by step, he walked up the gangplank toward the large ship.
A Qiang frowned, wanting to stop him.
But Yu Weiwei waved her hand.
She was too eager to know the outcome.
"What did he say?"
No. 097 reached Yu Weiwei, standing just two steps away.
His entire body trembled.
It was the effect of an adrenaline surge.
"He said..."
"Your Bewitchment is worthless!"
"He told you to wash your neck and wait!"
"The next time you meet, he'll shove your fan down your throat and make you swallow it!"
The air instantly froze.
A deathly silence fell.
Yu Weiwei's eyes widened as if she had heard some unbelievable joke.
"What did you say?"
"That fan..."
"Didn't work?"
She instinctively tightened her grip on the folding fan in her hand.
How was this possible?
That was a quasi-S-grade artifact retrieved at the cost of near-certain death!
A mental control type!
How could any man possibly resist it?
"Not only did it not work."
No. 097 suddenly laughed.
The laughter was piercing and mournful.
"He also made me see clearly..."
"What kind of rotten filth lies beneath this face of yours!"
"For you, I broke my fingers!"
"For you, I became a human bomb!"
"And what happened?!"
"You were just about to feed me to the Black Tide?!"
"Yu Weiwei!!!"
This roar seemed to drain all the strength from his body.
"You poisonous witch! I'll fight you to the death!!!"
The final move revealed!
No. 097's hand, hidden behind his back, suddenly whipped out.
What he held was not flowers.
It was a rusty nail pried from the raft!
A full ten centimeters long!
Its tip stained with dark red rust!
"Die!!!"
He lunged like a mad dog, pouncing at the woman who had once haunted his dreams.
His target: Yu Weiwei's heart!
The suddenness of this change caught everyone off guard.
No one expected that this once most obedient dog would turn and bite his master.
And bite to kill!
Yu Weiwei was stunned.
Her delicate face instantly turned pale.
She was a mage, a control-type.
In close combat, she couldn't even defeat a chicken.
Just as that rusty nail was about to pierce her chest.
"Thud!"
A dull sound.
A size 43 foot slammed hard into No. 097's stomach.
It was A Qiang.
As the captain of the simps squad, his reflexes were the fastest.
"Looking for death!"
A Qiang's kick was immensely powerful.
No. 097 flew backward like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily onto the deck.
With a "Gah!"
He spat out a mouthful of blood.
But he didn't stop.
Even with broken ribs, even with his mouth full of bloody foam.
He still crawled on the ground.
Using his hands and feet, like an insect with its spine crushed, desperately scrambling toward Yu Weiwei's feet.
"Kill you..."
"I'll kill you..."
"Qin Yu was right... you're just trash..."
Yu Weiwei finally snapped back to reality.
She stared at the man on the ground, his face covered in blood yet still glaring fiercely at her.
A chill shot from the soles of her feet straight to the crown of her head.
That was Qin Yu.
This was no No. 097.
This was Qin Yu declaring war on her!
That man had not only broken free from her charm but turned her dog into a vengeful wolf!
"Madman!"
"You're all madmen!"
Yu Weiwei shrieked, kicking away No. 097's outstretched hand.
"A Qiang!"
"Throw him overboard!"
"Throw him overboard now!!!"
Her voice was shrill and piercing, stripped of its usual soft allure.
A Qiang gave a vicious grin.
Stepping forward, he grabbed No. 097 by the hair as if plucking a chick.
"Dare to mess with Sister Weiwei?"
"Looks like you've got a death wish."
"Don't throw him in the sea."
Yu Weiwei suddenly spoke.
Her eyes flashed with venomous resentment and the madness of humiliation.
She pointed toward the distant, visibly approaching black tide.
"Throw him back onto that raft."
"Remove the raft's engine."
"Since he likes Qin Yu so much."
"Let him watch how he gets swallowed by the Black Tide!"
"I want him to be gnawed to the bone, bit by bit, by those bugs!"
A Qiang froze for a moment.
Then he shuddered.
This move was too cruel.
But he didn't dare disobey.
"Yes!"
...
A few minutes later.
No. 097 was thrown back onto the dilapidated raft.
The engine had been forcibly pried off.
The ropes were cut.
He drifted alone on the sea.
In the distance, the large ship "Queen" had started up and was fleeing the area at full speed.
And behind him.
Came an overwhelming "buzzing" sound.
By the moonlight.
He saw it.
It was the Black Tide.
Billions of black beetles, each the size of a fingernail, spread across the sea like a rolling black carpet.
Wherever they passed.
Even floating wood was gnawed to dust.
"Yu Weiwei..."
"I'll wait for you in hell..."
"Qin Yu will kill you..."
"He will definitely kill you!!!"
No. 097 roared in despair.
The next second.
The black tide engulfed him.
"Ah————!!!"
The scream lasted only two seconds.
Before it was drowned out by the dense chewing sounds.
"Crunch crunch crunch..."
On the sea.
Only the empty raft remained, bobbing with the waves.
But soon, even the raft was completely devoured.
...
On the deck of the "President."
The lights were blazing brightly.
The helicopter had landed steadily.
Qin Yu jumped off the aircraft, casually carrying the heavy dark silver treasure chest.
"Yu-ge!"
Yao Qian had been waiting.
She rushed over like an excited little rabbit.
"Earlier, the radar showed that the purple dot disappeared."
"Mm."
Qin Yu nodded, placing the chest in the open space at the center of the deck.
"Good that it's gone."
"A traitor like that—Yu Weiwei wouldn't keep him around."
"Killing with a borrowed knife."
"This round, we didn't lose out."
Li Ruobing tossed the heavy machine gun to a nearby robot, rubbed her hands, and stared intently at the chest.
"Forget about that dead man."
"Yu-ge, open it quick!"
"This is quasi-S rank!"
"The meat we fought tooth and nail to snatch from Zhang Nanhai's mouth!"
"I can already smell the divine artifact!"
Qin Yu smiled.
Without delay.
The chest had a peculiar design.
Unlike the previous wooden or iron boxes.
Its entire surface was wrapped in a material resembling biological chitin, feeling even slightly warm to the touch.
There was no keyhole.
Only a biometric palm print groove.
"Quasi-S-Class, sea beast drop."
"Hope it contains something good."
Qin Yu took a deep breath.
He pressed his right hand against the palm print groove.
"Beep—"
"Biological signature confirmed."
"Opening."
The chitinous shell on the surface of the box peeled open layer by layer like flower petals.
Revealing the core inside.
No golden light.
Only a faint red glow.
A color representing slaughter and destruction.
A massive, intricately complex mechanical module lay quietly within the cushioning foam.
It resembled a miniature missile launch silo.
Four launch tubes in total.
Each tube was loaded with a pitch-black, streamlined heavy warhead.
The warhead was marked with a pale shark graffiti.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! Opened Quasi-S-Class treasure chest!]
[Acquired: Quasi-S-Class shipborne weapon module—"Deep Sea Hunter" Heavy Acoustic Homing Torpedo Launching System!]
[Includes:]
[1. Quadruple launch base x 1]
[2. "Great White Shark" Heavy Acoustic Homing Torpedo x 200 (Quasi-S-Class)]
[3. Dedicated underwater fire control radar x 1]
[Description: Truth lies within the range of cannons, and the truth of the deep sea belongs to torpedoes.]
[Range: 15 nautical miles]
[Speed: 80 knots]
[Warhead: 300 kg high-explosive per torpedo]
[Special effect: Intelligent acoustic signature lock. Once the target's keel acoustic signature is locked, it will pursue relentlessly until impact or fuel depletion.]
[Power assessment: A single torpedo can disable an aircraft carrier-class vessel or severely damage an S-Class sea beast.]
"Hiss..."
After reading the attribute panel.
Li Ruobing gasped sharply.
Followed by.
An ear-shattering scream.
"Torpedoes!!!"
"Holy crap! Brother Yu! They're torpedoes!!!"
The girl was so excited she nearly jumped onto Qin Yu.
"What Dragon King? What Zhang Nanhai?"
"If he dares to come again."
"We won't even need to show ourselves!"
"From over ten nautical miles away, one shot to the soul!"
"Send him straight to the seabed to feed the turtles!"
Qin Yu looked at the menacing launcher.
A genuine strategic deterrent weapon!
An underwater assassin!
Essential for ambushes!
"Good stuff."
Yao Xue, who had remained silent, adjusted her glasses.
"The power is indeed substantial."
Qin Yu waved his hand.
Directly clicked [Install].
"Clank, clank, clank—"
A series of mechanical transformation sounds echoed.
The side armor of the "President" automatically opened.
The quadruple launch base slowly slid below the waterline.
Concealed behind thick steel plates.
Only revealing its ferocious fangs during attacks.
"Done."
Qin Yu clapped his hands.
Glanced at the faint dawn breaking in the east.
On the horizon.
A red sun was slowly rising.
A new day.
New challenges.
"All personnel, prepare."
...
Meanwhile.
In a concealed bay thirty nautical miles from the "President".
A fleet was resting and recuperating there.
Zhang Nanhai sat at the bow.
Holding a piece of dry, hard bread, yet unable to swallow it.
His hands were still trembling.
A lingering fear from being dominated by helicopter firepower.