The massive steel prow resembled a red-hot branding iron, forcibly carving a black water channel through the vast white ice field.
Crack—Boom!
Even inside the soundproof cabin, the floor trembled slightly from the deafening roar of shattering ice.
Qin Yu steadied the control lever with one hand while holding a half-finished cup of S-Rank Hot Water in the other. Through the panoramic glass, he watched broken ice chunks rolling away on both sides.
This feeling was truly exhilarating.
Just yesterday, he had been prey hunted in a small raft. Today, he had become an unstoppable behemoth roaming this ice field.
"System," Qin Yu thought.
Since he had nothing better to do, he decided to claim today's reward. Though the people he killed yesterday weren't major threats, clearing the surrounding dangers had put him in a good mood. His luck shouldn't be too bad.
A spinning wheel materialized in his mind, light and shadows intertwining until the pointer gradually settled on a pale purple slot.
Not gold—a slight pity. But in this apocalyptic world, A-grade items were already divine artifacts countless people dreamed of.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, for obtaining A-grade Environmental Modification Component: Holographic Beach Simulation Field.]
Qin Yu raised an eyebrow.
A beach? In this sub-zero Ice Age?
He opened the item details.
[A-grade · Holographic Beach Simulation Field: Covers a 500-square-meter area, perfectly simulating a tropical beach environment. Includes realistic tactile fine sand, constant 28°C temperature, simulated wave sounds, and sunbathing functionality. Requires a High-Level Energy Core to operate.]
Qin Yu glanced at the card in his hand, a playful smile curling his lips.
A good item. Though it couldn't be eaten, drunk, or used for killing, in this freezing weather that turned people into ice popsicles, nothing was more luxurious than lounging in swim trunks on a beach chair under the sun.
"Store it for now," Qin Yu said, tucking the card into his system space.
Right now, enjoyment wasn't the priority—clearing the area was.
He checked the coordinates on the Sky Eye. Though he had eliminated the guardian beasts around the "Underwater Garden" ruins, other survivors remained. With the Extreme Ice Hell descending and the sea frozen, diving was impractical. Qin Yu didn't want any pests disturbing him while he waited for the ice to thaw and claim the treasure.
"Li Ruobing," Qin Yu called, finishing the last of his soy milk and setting the cup on the console.
"Turn the speaker to maximum power."
Li Ruobing, monitoring the radar from the co-pilot seat, immediately made the adjustments.
"Done, Boss."
Qin Yu nodded, his eyes fixed on the dense clusters of light on the radar—a group of survivors about a dozen nautical miles away. They were Liu Qiang's crew, the same ones bragging about their furnace in the channel.
"Hope they cooperate," Qin Yu said coolly.
"Otherwise, this newly reinforced ram has yet to taste blood."
Liu Qiang and the others scrambled to their feet in panic.
Then.
They witnessed a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
On the distant gray horizon.
A blinding light, like a miniature sun, tore through the blizzard.
The light was too bright, too warm.
Even from such a distance, they could almost feel that long-lost trace of warmth.
And within that radiance.
An overwhelmingly massive steel warship, shrouded in shattered ice, was crushing its way toward them.
Its black hull resembled the spine of an Abyss leviathan.
The sharp, red-glowing Ram at its prow was like the scythe of Death itself.
"That... that's..."
Liu Qiang's jaw dropped, the fire tongs in his hand clattering onto the ice.
He recognized it.
That photograph.
That bowl of braised pork noodles.
And the warmth in the background that didn't belong to this world.
"It's that anonymous big shot!"
Liu Qiang shrieked, his voice cracking.
"Hurry! Get everything packed up!"
"Move the stove onto the Raft! Now!"
His underlings stood frozen.
"Brother Qiang, why are we running? That's the big shot! If we beg him, maybe he'll take us in?"
"Yeah, Brother Qiang, look how bright that ship is—it must be warm inside! There are so many of us, we could work as laborers for him!"
"I want braised pork..."
As the group stared at the approaching behemoth, their eyes showed not fear.
But greed.
The look of starved wild dogs spotting a meaty bone.
"You idiots!"
Liu Qiang backhanded the nearest underling, sending him spinning.
"Don't drag me down if you want to die!"
"Can't you see the Ram on its bow? Is that for rescue? It's for killing!"
"That's a tank! A steamroller!"
"You still want to mooch a meal? Move it now unless you want to be ground into paste!"
Though Liu Qiang usually blustered, surviving this long in the apocalypse had relied on his sharper-than-anyone crisis instinct.
He had a gut feeling.
This ship charging toward them meant no good.
Just then.
A voice thundered across the sky.
Like rolling thunder.
"Everyone ahead, listen up."
It was a loudspeaker.
Qin Yu's voice, icy, detached, devoid of any emotion.
"This sea area is now under my command."
"Whoever you are, however many of you there are."
"Within ten minutes."
"Take your junk and get out of my sight."
"After ten minutes."
"Anyone still here will remain here forever as ice sculptures."
The voice echoed across the desolate ice field.
Again and again.
Tyrannical.
Arrogant.
Completely unreasonable.
Terrified out of his wits, Liu Qiang yelled, "You hear that?! You hear that?!"
"Start rowing the Raft! Forget the junk! Just bring the stove!"
Liu Qiang was ruthless.
He kicked over two still-stunned underlings, grabbed the rope tied to the Raft, and desperately pulled it sideways.
Thanks to the ice, the Raft didn't need rowing—it could slide directly over the surface.
Though heavy, under the threat of death, human potential was limitless.
Liu Qiang's group, stumbling and scrambling, pushed three or four Rafts and fled like startled rats into the distance.
However.
Not everyone was as "sensible" as Liu Qiang.
In this gathering point, aside from Liu Qiang, there were two other groups.
There were about a dozen people.
Their rafts were frozen together, forming a sizable camp.
The leader was a bald man with a face full of thick, menacing flesh, holding a polished fire axe.
He looked at the massive ship, then at the fleeing Liu Qiang, and spat fiercely.
"Pah! Coward!"
The bald man rubbed his frostbitten, bluish scalp, his eyes brimming with greed.
He could feel it.
As the ship approached.
The surrounding temperature was rising noticeably.
The once biting cold wind had become gentle.
It was the thermal radiation from the "Artificial Sun" atop the ship.
And the invisible force field formed by the "Ocean Stabilizing Pearl" that blocked the wind and snow.
It felt so comfortable.
As long as they stayed near this ship, even if they didn't board it, even if they just lingered close to absorb the warmth.
It was infinitely better than freezing to death in this godforsaken place!
"Boss... that guy told us to get lost..."
A subordinate nearby stammered.
"Get lost, my ass!"
The bald man sneered, planting the fire axe firmly on the ice.
"Is this ocean his property?"
"The path is so wide, does he have to run into us?"
"I don't fucking believe it!"
"We have over a dozen lives here, does he really dare to run us over?"
"And, can you feel it?"
The bald man took a deep breath, his face filled with intoxication.
"This warmth... it's so damn good."
"As long as we stay put, even if we lie on the ice beneath the ship, we won't freeze to death!"
"Maybe, seeing how many of us there are, he'll even toss us some food."
This was a classic gambler's mentality.
And a form of moral coercion by the weak against the strong.
They were betting that Qin Yu wouldn't dare to slaughter them outright.
Betting that Qin Yu still had a shred of "humanity."
"The boss is right!"
"We're not leaving!"
"Why should we go? This place doesn't have his name on it!"
"I don't believe he'd dare to run us over! Killing is against the law!"
The group, as if finding their backbone, began shouting in agreement.
Some even sat down on the ice, adopting a defiant posture of "go ahead and run me over if you dare."
Ten minutes.
Passed in the blink of an eye.
In the control room.
Qin Yu watched the small blip on the radar moving rapidly away—that was Liu Qiang.
He got away fast enough.
He then looked down at the area directly ahead.
The group not only hadn't fled but had gathered closer together.
Some were even waving at the ship, their faces wearing nauseatingly ingratiating smiles.
As if to say, "Big shot, take us with you."
Qin Yu's expression remained impassive.
Not a ripple of emotion showed in his eyes.
It was as if he were looking at a group of corpses.
"This is human nature," Qin Yu said softly.
"Given a way out, they refuse to take it, insisting on charging toward death."
Standing beside him, Li Ruobing felt a chill run down her spine as she looked at the dense crowd below.
She had been with Qin Yu for a few days now.
She understood this man's temperament all too well.
If these people had run, they might have survived.
But since they stayed and blocked the way.
There was only one outcome: death.
"Boss... it seems they don't plan to move," Li Ruobing said quietly.
"Then help them move," Qin Yu's voice was soft.
But it carried a suffocating scent of blood.
"Full speed ahead."
"Activate the Thermal Oscillation Blade at maximum power."
"Run them over."
Li Ruobing took a deep breath.
He slammed the acceleration lever down.
"Vroom——!!!!"
The S-Class Power Core roared with fury.
The entire ship shuddered violently as its speed instantly skyrocketed.
The ram at the bow glowed crimson like blood, the surrounding air distorting from the intense heat.
...
On the ice.
Baldhead was smugly boasting to his underlings.
"See that? The ship stopped for a moment!"
"He must be hesitating!"
"As long as we hold our ground, he'll definitely..."
Before he could finish speaking.
The ice beneath his feet suddenly began shaking violently.
The tremors were ten times stronger than before!
His head snapped up.
He saw the massive ship that had been moving slowly suddenly accelerate!
Like an enraged wild beast from the wilderness, it charged forward with overwhelming destructive force.
Extremely fast!
So fast there was no time to react!
"Holy shit!?"
"He's actually going to ram us?!"
Baldhead's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
In that instant, all his wishful thinking, all his greed, vanished without a trace.
Leaving only boundless terror.
"Run! Run for your lives!!!"
Baldhead screamed with every fiber of his being, turning to flee.
But it was too late.
On this ice, how could human legs possibly outrun an S-Class powered steel warship?
"Boom——!!!"
An earth-shattering crash.
Without any suspense.
The crimson ram instantly sliced through the cluster of frozen-together rafts.
Like a red-hot knife cutting through butter.
There wasn't even a sensation of resistance.
The wood, the tents, the so-called "defensive structures."
Shattered in an instant.
"Ah!!!"
"Help!!"
"No—"
The screams had barely begun before they were drowned out by the tremendous roar.
Then.
An even more terrifying scene unfolded.
The intense heat from the ram instantly melted the ice at the point of contact.
Seawater came flooding in.
Combining with steam generated by the high temperatures to form a white mist of death.
Those who hadn't managed to escape in time.
Some were torn to shreds by the ram directly.
Others were dragged under the ship, minced by the sharp propellers.
Still others were sent flying, falling into the scalding boiling water, frozen solid by instantly forming ice before they could even struggle.
Baldhead had run the fastest.
But he didn't escape either.
The massive shockwave overturned the ice.
A huge crack split open beneath his feet.
He lost his balance completely, crashing to the ground.
When he turned back in terror.
All he saw was the enormous, dark hull descending like a mountain.
"No..."
"Squelch!"
The sound cut off abruptly.
Silence fell.
The President didn't even shudder.
It simply plowed straight through.
Leaving behind.
Only a broad, blood-tinged channel.
And some broken wooden planks and torn clothing floating on the water.
As for the people.
They were gone.
Not even complete corpses remained to be found.
This was the crushing power of strength.
This was the law of the apocalypse.
Before absolute tonnage and power, all clever tricks and moral blackmail were nothing but jokes.
On the deck at the stern.
Wang Long and Zhang Hu clung desperately to the railing, their faces pale as paper.
They had witnessed the entire process.
The shock they felt.
Was a hundred times more intense than when they saw Qin Yu kill the pirates yesterday.
The pirates had been a gunfight.
But this.
Was a slaughter.
It was like stepping on a colony of ants—an emotionless cleanup.
"Urgh..."
Zhang Hu couldn't suppress a dry heave.
He saw a severed hand, tossed into the air by the churning waves from the propeller, before falling back into the sea.
"See it clearly now?"
A faint, eerie voice sounded behind them.
The two men jolted in fright, whipping their heads around.
Qin Yu had emerged at some point unnoticed.
He still held the empty water bottle in his hand.
Standing by the ship's railing, he gazed down at the blood-stained waterway receding into the distance.
His eyes were terrifyingly calm.
"This is the price of greed," Qin Yu said indifferently.
"I gave them a chance."
"Ten minutes."
"Enough time for anyone who wanted to live to run a kilometer away."
"But they chose to stay."
"If they wanted to leech off my warmth, they'll pay for it with their lives."
Qin Yu turned to look at the two trembling laborers.
A cold smirk curled at the corner of his lips.
"In this world,"
"nothing is free."
"If you want something, you have to pay for it."
"If you want to live, you'll work yourselves to the bone."
"Understood?"
Wang Long and Zhang Hu nodded frantically, their heads nearly shaking loose.
"Y-yes, boss!"
"We'll work ourselves to death! We won't slack off!"
"We don't want to die!"
Qin Yu nodded in satisfaction.
"Good."
"Go clean up the broken ice on the deck."
"I don't want to see any filth on my ship."
With that,
Qin Yu turned and returned to the cabin.
Just as he had said,
it was merely a minor episode.
Like running over a toad blocking the road while driving—
not worth stopping for, let alone looking back.
In the wheelhouse,
Li Ruobing's palms were drenched in sweat.
She stared at the pristine white ice field ahead and let out a long, slow breath.
Though she had always been ruthless herself,
compared to Qin Yu,
she felt as innocent as a little white rabbit.
This man—
his heart was forged of iron,
his blood ran cold.
But precisely because of that,
following him gave her an unprecedented sense of security.
As long as she didn't betray him,
this sharp blade would be her shield.
"Reporting, boss,"
Li Ruobing steadied her breathing and relayed through the intercom.
"The waters ahead have been cleared."
"Radar shows no life signs within a five-kilometer radius."
"Good,"
came Qin Yu's lazy voice over the intercom.
"Find an open area to stop."
"Stabilize the ship."
"I'm going to rest for a while."
"Wake me when the extreme cold of this region is at its peak."
"That's when,"
"we'll truly strike it rich."
Though Li Ruobing didn't know what kind of fortune Qin Yu meant,
she didn't ask further.
"Yes! Understood!"
As the engine's roar gradually quieted,
the massive President slowly came to a halt in the center of a vast ice field.
Overhead, the Artificial Sun still radiated its warm glow.
But around the ship,
the blizzard continued to rage.
Only now,
no one dared approach the vessel, not even half a step.
Even a distant glance
would bring back memories of that bloody morning,
of that crimson waterway that seemed to lead straight to hell.
This stretch of sea
now unquestionably belonged to Qin.
--Enjoying the story? Want more chapters? Check out my Patreon and support me for 40+ advance chapters.
Just search for "LegendaryTL" on Patreon!"
Thanks!