"Zzzzzzz—!!!"
That wasn't the sound of electricity.
It was the sound of something indestructible being forcibly chewed to pieces.
On the console before Qin Yu, the icon that originally displayed "Sea Soul Crystal Mother (Fragment One)" was flickering wildly.
Red.
Black.
Finally, it turned into a deathly gray.
"Crack."
The icon shattered.
Completely disappearing from the inventory.
At the same moment, the "Netherworld: Death's Kiss" on the deck suddenly stopped trembling.
It was like a dying person's final rally, or a starving beast finally swallowing the last piece of meat.
All light retracted in that instant.
The originally black cannon body with a blue sheen actually began to fade.
Turning into...
An indescribable transparency.
As if made of seawater, or like a phantom that didn't exist in this dimension at all.
Only the ripples, pulsing like a heartbeat, slowly undulated around the muzzle.
Li Ruobing covered her mouth, staring at the data panel before her.
The values were no longer jumping erratically.
They had directly reset to zero.
"The energy level reaction... disappeared?"
"No."
Qin Yu's voice was hoarse, carrying a trace of exhaustion after the frenzy.
He stared fixedly ahead.
"It didn't disappear."
"It's that it has already exceeded the comprehension of this damn radar."
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host!]
[Weapon "Netherworld: Death's Kiss" has successfully devoured a "World Rule Fragment"!]
[Forced evolution successful!]
[Current Rating: Shattered SSS-grade Barrier (Pseudo-Rule Tier)]
[Ultimate Form Unlocked: Extinction · Void Grasp!]
[Trait Description: This strike does not target the flesh, nor does it target energy. It will directly erase the target's... "coordinates."]
[Remaining Uses: 1/1 (Due to the vehicle's energy core being of insufficient grade, the weapon will enter a 72-hour dormancy period after forced use.)]
Erase coordinates.
Qin Yu laughed.
He laughed so hard he didn't even notice the cigarette butt falling from his lips onto his pants.
"Did you hear that?"
"Erase coordinates."
"That means, as long as I want, this place..."
Qin Yu's finger rested on the launch button, which had now turned transparent.
His gaze pierced through the storm, through the deep pit formed by gravity, and stared directly at the massive eyeball on the seabed.
That eyeball seemed to have sensed something.
Its originally mocking, indifferent gaze held an emotion called "fear" for the first time.
It was contracting.
Its massive body, as large as a hill, was desperately trying to burrow deeper into the seabed.
The surrounding black tentacles were frantically trying to fill in that deep pit.
It was afraid.
As the ruler of this stretch of sea, as an SSS-grade monster that had lived for who knows how many years.
It instinctively sensed the flavor of death.
Not the kind of death from being hurt.
But complete, utter... annihilation, leaving not even a trace behind.
"Trying to run?"
Qin Yu grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.
"Weren't you pretty arrogant when you were glaring at me just now?"
"Too late."
"Remember in your next life, don't mess with people eating barbecue."
"Especially..."
"Those who are never full."
Qin Yu's finger pressed down heavily.
No sound.
There truly was no sound.
Neither the explosion of gunpowder nor the roar of energy.
Not even the transparent cannon barrel showed any recoil.
Between heaven and earth.
It was as if the mute button had been pressed.
Li Ruobing, Yao Xue, Yao Qian, and everyone hiding in the ship's cabin.
In that instant, they all experienced an illusion.
As if the entire world had been taken by an eraser and violently wiped across the sea's surface.
"Pop."
Only a faint sound, like a bubble bursting.
Immediately after.
Directly above the deep pit formed by gravity.
A transparent light beam, roughly ten meters in diameter, appeared out of thin air.
It had no concept of speed.
Because the moment it appeared, it had already pierced through the seabed.
Wherever the light beam passed.
Seawater?
Gone.
Tentacles?
Gone.
Those still frantically struggling lost souls?
Also gone.
They weren't blown apart or burned to a crisp.
They were simply… gone.
Not even a speck of dust remained.
As if that location had never contained any matter at all.
...
Outside the real world.
In that silver-white monitoring hall.
"Boom!!!"
A deafening crash.
The spherical robot that had been controlling the data suddenly exploded into a shower of sparks.
Flames scattered everywhere.
Countless red codes flew chaotically through the air.
The masked executive officer was thrown to the ground by the shockwave, tumbling several times in disarray.
The massive data wall before him.
Had now turned into a pitch-black void.
"How is this possible…"
The executive officer scrambled to his feet, his mask askew, revealing half of his terrified face beneath.
"That's the data signature of the 'Void Engine'!"
"That Qin Yu…"
"How could he possibly unlock permissions of this level?"
"He deleted the code for that entire area?!"
The executive officer's hands trembled.
He frantically hammered the backup keyboard, trying to restore the data.
"That's the Ocean Soul Crystal Mother! That's the cornerstone of the world!"
"He actually fed the cornerstone to a weapon?!"
"Madman!"
"This madman!!"
On the screen.
A line of bright red text flashed frantically.
[Error! Error!]
[Target area data lost!]
[Logic chain broken!]
[Attempting emergency repair… Repair failed!]
...
On the "President."
Qin Yu had no idea how much he had just terrified the administrators outside with that single shot.
He simply leaned back weakly in his chair, gasping for breath.
"Is it over?"
The cabin door was pushed open a crack.
Yao Qian peeked out half her head, cautiously looking around.
"Don't come out!"
Yao Xue yanked her sister back inside.
"It's not over yet!"
Indeed, it wasn't over.
The deep pit on the sea's surface hadn't disappeared as seawater rushed back in.
Because there…
It had been pierced through.
After the transparent light beam vanished, it left behind a bottomless black hole.
The surrounding seawater poured into it like a frenzy, forming a massive whirlpool capable of swallowing everything.
And at the edge of that black hole.
A huge, mangled mass of flesh twitched violently along with the current.
It was that eye.
The shot just now hadn't hit its exact center.
Or perhaps it had.
At the last moment, the monster forcibly twisted its body in a self-amputating, life-saving maneuver.
The beam of light grazed past its edge.
But even that mere "grazing" wound...
Took away more than half of its body!
The originally plump, enormous eyeball was now reduced to less than one-third.
The cut surface was as smooth as a mirror.
No blood flowed out.
Because blood vessels and nerves had been erased the instant they made contact.
"ROAR——!!!"
An extremely shrill psychic shriek instantly pierced everyone's eardrums.
That was pain.
That was excruciating agony from the depths of the soul.
"Warning! High-energy psychic impact!"
Li Ruobing only managed to shout this one sentence before her eyes rolled back and she collapsed unconscious onto the control panel.
Inside the cabin.
Yao Qian was clutching her head and rolling on the floor, nosebleed flowing uncontrollably.
Even Yao Xue was deathly pale, gritting her teeth tightly to avoid passing out.
Only Qin Yu.
He still sat at the gun mount.
Though his face was as pale as paper, his eyes shone with a frightening intensity.
"Still not dead?"
Qin Yu looked at that mutilated lump of flesh.
A trace of regret flashed in his eyes.
"SSS-grade creatures really are tough."
"Even in this state, it can still scream."
[Target biological information detected!]
[Name: Abyss Watcher · Gaze of the Deep (Severely Injured · Near Death)]
[Level: SSS-grade]
[Status: Extreme Fear / Fleeing]
[Description: It is the watcher of the deep sea, the eyes of the Abyssal Lord. It has never suffered such severe injury before; half of its rule-based body has been forcibly erased.]
Fleeing.
Yes.
That remaining half of an eyeball, after letting out that scream.
Had absolutely no thought of counterattacking.
Its few remaining tentacles frantically churned the seawater.
Like a cockroach that had been stepped on.
Desperately burrowing deeper into that black hole.
It was afraid.
It was truly afraid.
It could sense that the thing held by the human sitting on the ship was something that could truly kill it.
"Don't run..."
Qin Yu wanted to raise his hand again.
But he discovered.
His hand could no longer lift.
That "Kiss of Death" had turned completely into a gray, scrap-iron-like object after firing that shot.
Its surface was covered in cracks.
Clearly.
Such a cross-level attack also placed an enormous burden on the weapon itself.
"Lucky you ran fast."
Qin Yu cursed.
He watched that rapidly disappearing remnant vanish into the depths of the vortex.
Although he hadn't managed to kill it completely.
That strike had definitely left an indelible psychological scar on the beast.
At least for a short while.
It wouldn't dare show its face again.
As the "Gaze of the Deep" fled.
The surrounding terrifying anomalies also began to rapidly dissipate.
The black seawater turned azure blue once more.
The vengeful spirits entangled around the ship's hull, as if losing their supporting power, wailed as they transformed into wisps of green smoke, dispersing into the air.
In the sky.
That "Abyssal Lord" — that large bird — which had been circling high above, waiting for an opportunity to deliver a finishing blow.
Upon seeing this scene.
Was so frightened its feathers stood on end.
It had witnessed firsthand how its peer, the "Gaze of the Deep," was nearly obliterated by a single shot.
Its not-so-developed brain instantly held only one thought.
Run!
Run as far as possible!
These waters are poisonous!
This human is poisonous!
"Huff— Huff—"
The giant bird frantically flapped its wings, its speed more than double what it had been when it arrived.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished into the clouds, not daring to make a sound.
The world.
Finally fell silent.
The wind stopped.
The rain ceased.
Only the massive, slowly rotating vortex remained, proof that everything that had just happened wasn't an illusion.
Thud.
Qin Yu slid right off the gunner's seat.
He collapsed onto the deck.
His entire body felt as if it had been taken apart, not even the strength to move a finger remaining.
"Yu-ge!"
Yao Xue stumbled out.
Ignoring her still-bleeding nose, she rushed to support Qin Yu.
The moment her hand touched his skin, she was startled.
Scalding.
Qin Yu's body temperature was at least over 40 degrees Celsius.
A side effect of mental energy overdraft.
"It's fine..."
Qin Yu forced his eyes open with great effort, looking at Yao Xue's anxious face.
He could still feel the warm, soft sensation against his thigh.
Yao Xue was holding him in her arms.
"Not dead yet."
"Just... hungry."
Qin Yu grinned, though his smile was uglier than a grimace.
"Those skewers from earlier..."
"Seems like we didn't finish them, right?"
Yao Xue looked at this man who, on the verge of passing out, was still thinking about food.
Her eyes reddened.
But she bit her lip and nodded firmly.
"Eat!"
"You can have as much as you want!"
"Qian Qian! Stop pretending to be dead! Go light the grill!"
"Ruo Bing! Wake up! Steady the ship!"
...
A few minutes later.
The "President" regained its stability.
Even though the Ocean Stabilizing Pearl was shattered.
Even though the hull was damaged in multiple places.
Even though everyone felt as if they had just survived a serious illness.
On the deck.
That stainless steel grill was smoking once again.
The charcoal crackled and popped.
Qin Yu lay on a soft chair, a blanket draped over him.
In his left hand, he held a skewer of grilled meat; in his right, a bottle of ice-cold beer Li Ruobing had just opened for him.
Slurp.
A gulp of beer went down.
Qin Yu let out a long, relieved sigh.
That feeling of being alive again was truly wonderful.
"Now this is living."
He gazed at the gradually clearing sky in the distance.
Though it was a pity he couldn't keep that giant eyeball.
This battle.
Was worth it.
Not only did he beat all these monsters and demons into submission.
More importantly.
He had verified one thing.
The rules of this world weren't unbreakable.
As long as you were ruthless enough.
As long as you had that "hammer" in your hand.
Then all these damn, convoluted rules were nothing but worthless scraps of paper.
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