"Boom—!"
The roar of the engines was no longer suppressed.
Four enhanced nuclear-powered engines simultaneously spewed blue exhaust flames, their immense thrust instantly transmitted to the propellers.
The entire steel giant ship shuddered violently.
Like an ancient beast awakened from slumber, furious at having its rest disturbed.
The sharp, menacing alloy ram at the bow tore through the seawater.
The churned white spray rose like two towering walls, parting to either side.
"Hold on tight!"
Li Ruobing gripped the control stick with both hands, her eyes gleaming with a bloodthirsty red light.
She trembled with excitement.
Back when she piloted a raft, she had to navigate waves with extreme caution.
Now?
Now she felt like she was driving a tank to crush ants!
"Full speed! Ram them!"
...
On the sea surface.
Zhang Kuang, who had initially turned to flee, felt the raft beneath him begin to buck violently.
A massive shadow swiftly enveloped him from above.
He turned back in terror.
What he saw wasn't a ship.
But a black steel wall charging toward him at high speed!
The sheer sense of oppression made him forget to breathe.
"No... no!!"
"Qin Yu! I'm your classmate! I'm Zhang Kuang from the neighboring class!"
"Don't kill me! I was wrong! I'll give you all my supplies!"
He screamed desperately into the wind, his watermelon knife long since discarded.
Unfortunately.
The only response was a soft, muffled sound, like a champagne cork popping.
"Pfft."
That was the sound of the suppressed S-grade "Netherworld" sniper rifle.
The next second.
A bloody hole exploded where Zhang Kuang's pleading mouth had been.
He didn't even have time to complete his scream.
His body stiffened and fell backward.
Blood splattered across the raft, glaringly red.
A hundred meters away.
At the sniper position on the top deck of the "President."
Yao Xue expressionlessly worked the bolt.
A hot cartridge case ejected, landing on the deck with a crisp clink.
She peered through the high-magnification thermal imaging scope at the fallen figure.
Her voice was as cold as surgical steel.
"Target one, Zhang Kuang."
"Confirmed dead."
"Cause of death: Brainstem destruction."
After speaking.
She adjusted her aim slightly, the crosshairs instantly locking onto a bald man on another raft who was shouting retreat orders through a megaphone.
This bald man had been one of the most vocal instigators earlier.
"Target two."
"Multiple instances of profanity and insults directed at the captain."
"Recommendation: Eliminate."
"Pfft!"
Another muffled shot.
The bald man's head burst like an overripe watermelon struck by a hammer, instantly exploding into a mist of red and white.
The headless corpse toppled into the sea, staining a patch of waves crimson.
"Ahhh!!"
"He's killing people! Qin Yu is killing people!"
"He actually dares to kill!!"
The people on the surrounding rafts completely broke down.
They had thought this was just a game of mob bullying.
Safety in numbers, right?
With hundreds of people attacking together, would Qin Yu dare kill them all?
But now.
Those precisely aimed headshots utterly shattered their delusions.
This was no struggle between survivors.
This was outright execution!
"Row faster!!"
"Get out of the way! Move it!"
In the chaos, some people actually brandished knives against their own companions to secure escape routes.
Some smaller rafts were directly rammed and overturned by larger ones.
Those who fell into the water struggled in the icy sea, reaching out to grab the edges of passing rafts.
Only to have their fingers brutally smashed by paddles from those aboard.
"Get off! Don't sink my raft!"
Humanity proved as fragile as paper in the face of death.
In the command room.
Qin Yu watched the scene with unblinking eyes.
He held the half-finished glass of red wine, gently swirling it.
"Is this what you call unity?"
"Where's all that fighting spirit from earlier?"
"How pathetic."
At that moment.
Yao Qian, who had been typing on the keyboard beside him, suddenly looked up with a giggle.
Wearing her high-tech VR control visor, her fingers danced rapidly through the air.
As if playing a rhythm game.
"Qin Yu!"
"Don't let sister have all the fun!"
"My little bees are starving for action!"
"Watch this!"
"Swarm system, full salvo!"
At her command.
The armored plates on both sides of the President suddenly opened.
"Bzzzz—"
Dense clusters of black drones surged into the sky like angry hornets emerging from their nest.
Fifty in total!
Each drone carried two micro high-explosive grenades beneath its fuselage.
They circled overhead, emitting an unnerving buzzing sound.
Then.
As if death itself had passed judgment.
The drone swarm began their dive.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—"
Black projectiles rained down precisely onto the fleeing rafts.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Explosions erupted one after another.
Flames shot skyward.
The crude rafts stood no chance against S-grade weaponry, shattering like paper toys.
A single grenade strike.
Would obliterate every raft within five meters into splinters.
The rioters aboard didn't even have time to scream before being torn to shreds.
Limb fragments flew everywhere.
The seawater instantly turned dark red.
"Wow! That one blew up real high!"
"There! That one trying to dive away!"
"Hehe, my drones have thermal imaging lock-on!"
Yao Cheerfully exclaimed while operating the controls.
In her field of view.
This was nothing but an immersive tower defense game.
Each disappearing red dot represented one less threat.
As for whether these were fellow countrymen or living beings?
Sorry.
The moment they raised their weapons and charged at the President.
In Yao Qian's eyes, they had ceased to be human.
They were just monsters trying to harm her sister and Qin Yu.
And when dealing with monsters.
This homebody girl never showed mercy.
"Skyhawk Guard! Cleanup duty!"
Yao Qian tapped her finger.
Beyond the self-destructing drones.
The S-grade all-weather aerial guard—Skyhawk Guard—hovered in the sky.
It didn't dive.
Instead, it maintained position at hundred-meter altitude.
The rotary machine gun beneath its fuselage began spinning up.
"Zzzzt—"
Blue tongues of fire spat forth.
A metal storm of three thousand rounds per minute!
Dense bullets poured onto the sea surface like torrential rain.
Those who had jumped into the water attempting to evade the explosions were instantly riddled with holes.
The sea seemed to boil.
Countless crimson pillars of water erupting skyward.
"Help!!"
"I don't want to die! I still have my eighty-year-old mother at home!"
"Grandpa Qin! Ancestor Qin! I was wrong! Spare me!"
Cries, pleas for mercy, explosions, gunfire.
They wove together into a symphony of the apocalypse.
Yet.
The most desperate moment had only just arrived.
The Steel Giant Ship had arrived.
"Hold on tight!"
Li Ruobing shouted.
The "President," carrying tens of thousands of tons of kinetic energy, slammed violently into the center of the raft cluster.
There was no suspense.
Nor any resistance.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
That was the brittle sound of wood shattering.
The small rafts blocking the way shattered instantly upon contact with the alloy ram.
Along with the people on them, they were dragged under the ship's hull.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Standing in the command room, Qin Yu could clearly feel the faint vibrations coming from beneath his feet.
That was the sensation of the hull crushing over objects.
That was the sound of bones breaking.
But he showed no trace of pity.
"Continue."
"Don't stop."
Qin Yu's voice was as cold as ice.
"Since they wanted to sink my ship."
"They should be prepared to be crushed by it."
"This sea."
"Doesn't need so many neighbors."
Hearing this, the red light in Li Ruobing's eyes grew brighter.
She shoved the control lever forward.
The "President's" speed increased instead of decreasing.
The massive hull charged recklessly across the sea.
Wherever it passed.
Only messy broken planks and glaring crimson blood remained.
Some of the quicker reactors tried to use grappling hooks to latch onto the "President's" side, attempting to climb aboard.
But the eight-meter-tall smooth alloy armor offered no foothold.
Before they could climb even a few meters.
Yao Xue's targeted gunfire arrived.
"Trying to board?"
"Did you ask my gun?"
Yao Xue changed a magazine.
Her movements elegant and composed.
Each shot precisely took the life of anyone attempting to approach.
And at the stern.
The massive propeller churned the seawater, creating a terrifying whirlpool of death.
Those who had fallen into the water, before they could swim away.
Were pulled back by the tremendous suction.
"Ah!!!"
Accompanied by the last few piercing screams.
The propeller devoured everything.
Then spat out even finer remnants of flesh and blood.
...
In just ten minutes.
The once chaotic sea fell silent.
The previously dense cluster of hundreds of rafts.
Had now completely vanished.
Countless broken planks, tattered clothing, and...
A heavy scent of blood drifted on the sea breeze, reaching everyone's nostrils.
"Urgh..."
Yao Qian took off her VR headset.
Looking at the hellish scene outside the window, her face turned slightly pale.
Though it felt satisfying to kill in the game.
Seeing the real suffering of people made the young girl physically uncomfortable.
Yao Xue walked over.
Gently patted her sister's back.
And handed her a glass of water.
"You'll get used to it."
"This is the apocalypse."
"If we had lost."
"Our fate would be ten thousand times worse than theirs."
Yao Xue's voice was soft, but exceptionally firm.
She knew the evil of human nature all too well.
If in the hospital, she was saving lives.
Then here.
Killing was to better save their own.
Qin Yu walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.
Looking down at the slaughterhouse below.
System notifications flooded his mind.
[Ding! One survivor eliminated! Obtained Wood x50, Plastic x20, Mineral Water x1!]
[Ding! One survivor eliminated! Obtained Worn Machete x1!]
[Ding! Detected numerous unclaimed base cores. System automatically absorbing...]
[Current base material reserves have skyrocketed!]
[Obtained: Basic Building Materials x50,000!]
[Obtained: Various Food Items x300kg!]
[Obtained: Low-grade Weapons x120!]
Qin Yu glanced over the lengthy list.
Most of it was junk.
But quantity had its own advantages.
These basic materials could be used to further reinforce the ship's interior or craft more drone ammunition.
"Men die for wealth, birds die for food."
Qin Yu sighed.
"Why bother?"
"If they'd just left me alone, we could've coexisted peacefully."
"But they had to deliver themselves to my doorstep."
Li Ruobing had already slowed the ship's speed.
The "President" gradually came to a stop in the middle of the blood-red sea.
She turned to look at Qin Yu, her eyes filled with fervent admiration.
"Boss."
"Radar shows no life signs within five kilometers."
"Even those hiding underwater were shredded by the propellers."
"The area is cleared."
Qin Yu nodded.
"Well done."
"Ruo Bing, activate the automatic cleaning system."
"Wash down the deck."
"Don't let this filth dirty our new ship."
"Yes!"
As high-pressure water jets sprayed from both sides of the ship, the bloodstains on the hull were washed clean.
The "President" remained pitch black and cold as ever.
As if nothing had ever happened.
...
At this very moment.
Although the sea surface in District 9527 had fallen into complete silence.
The world Chat Channel remained bustling with activity.
The merger announcement and leaderboard release had caused an uproar among players from the other nineteen districts.
They had no idea what had just transpired in District 9527.
Nor did they know who this "Qin Yu" ranked first really was.
[World Channel (Cross-district mode not fully activated. Currently text communication only)]
[Zhao Si (District 9523): Holy shit! Who is this Qin Yu guy? 2000 square meters? You kidding me? I've only expanded to 80 square meters!]
[Wang Wu (District 9521): Must be a system bug! Or a plant! How could anyone build a 2000-square-meter ship at this stage? That's an aircraft carrier!]
[Sun Liu (District 9534): That Zhang Nanhai is pretty tough too. 500 square meters with so many followers. Now that seems like a proper big shot template.]
[Fish-Loving Cat (District 9536): Hey, didn't the system just release coordinates? Why is District 9527 so quiet?]
[Passerby A (District 9539): Probably scared shitless. I'd have pissed my pants if my coordinates were made public.]
[Onlooker (District 9529): Heh, I saw District 9527's chat channel was going crazy earlier. Said a bunch of people were going to raid Qin Yu's ship.]
[Top Ranker (District 9533): Stealing ships? Hah, what fools. Anyone who ranks first obviously has hidden cards up their sleeve. But with hundreds attacking, that Qin Yu probably won't last long either.]
[Zhang Nanhai (District 9539): @Qin Yu, hang in there, brother. Even though you're rank one, I genuinely want to spar with you someday. Don't get overwhelmed by sheer numbers before the server merge—I'd be so disappointed.]
[Yu Weiwei (District 9528): Oh my, is this the burden of being number one? Sister here has it better—just recruit a few strong younger brothers to protect me~ If Brother Qin Yu can't handle it, he can always beg sister for help. My ship is quite spacious~]
People from other districts were either gloating or watching with popcorn in hand.
In their eyes, no matter how strong Qin Yu was, facing a district-wide assault would at the very least strip him down to his bones.
After all, even a mighty tiger is no match for a pack of wolves.
They imagined his 2,000-square-meter ship as little more than a large raft cobbled together—how much defense could it possibly have? Set it on fire or poke a few holes, and it'd sink, right?
None of them realized what kind of monster they were up against.
Meanwhile, in District 9527's local channel, an eerie silence had fallen.
Just ten minutes earlier, the screen had been flooded with shouts of "Charge!", "Steal the ship!", and "Kill Qin Yu!"—so fast it was dizzying.
But now... for two full minutes, not a single new message appeared.
As if... everyone in the district had been wiped out.
Finally, a trembling message broke the suffocating silence.
[Survivor A: I... I want to go home to my mom...]
That message flipped a switch.
The remaining survivors—those who hadn't joined the assault or were too far away to arrive in time—exploded into panic.
[Survivor B: Holy shit! What happened up there? Weren't they just shouting their lungs out? Why the silence?]
[Survivor C: I wanna know too! Where's Boss Zhang Kuang? What about Zhao Ritian? Why aren't they talking?]
[Survivor D: I... I'm five kilometers out... I looked through my binoculars...]
[Survivor B: Spit it out! What did you see? Did they take Qin Yu's ship?]
[Survivor D: Take it my ass... They're gone... All of them, just gone...]
[Survivor C: What's gone? Qin Yu?]
[Survivor D: No... It's Zhang Kuang and the others... Hundreds of ships... In an instant... Turned into splinters... The sea's completely red...]
[Survivor D: He's a devil!! A meat grinder!! Run, everyone!! Stay the hell away from those coordinates!!]
[Survivor E: Stop scaring people! What did Qin Yu even do?]
[Survivor D: Do? He... He just rammed them with his ship!! It's a mountain of steel!! What chance did we have?!]
Fear spread like plague through the cables, instantly consuming District 9527.
Everyone still heading toward those coordinates saw the messages and, as if electrocuted, frantically halted their ships and turned around.
"Oh god! That thing's a monster!"
"S-grade resources my ass! We'll lose our lives!"
"Run! Get away from that golden skull!"
Qin Yu, who had been universally despised moments ago, had now ascended in the hearts of all survivors in District 9527 to become an indescribable terror. That golden glow on the map wasn't treasure—it was clearly the entrance to hell!
...
In the command room of the President, Qin Yu watched the panicked messages flooding District 9527's channel, a faint smile curling at the corners of his mouth. He opened the input box, tapped lightly with his fingers, and sent the final district-wide announcement before the server merger:
[Qin Yu (Rank 1, District 9527): Who's next?]
Just three simple words.
Domineering.
Arrogant.
Yet carrying an overwhelming sense of despair.
After the message was sent, the entire channel fell completely silent. No one dared to reply—not even a punctuation mark. Everyone trembled in fear, terrified of drawing the attention of this god of slaughter.
Satisfied, Qin Yu closed the chat window and turned to face the three stunning beauties behind him.
"Done.
The flies have been swatted.
The world is quiet now.
Next,
it's time to prepare for the real challenge."
His gaze shifted to the 24-hour countdown on the large screen, his eyes gradually deepening.
"Server merger.
The so-called 'strong ones' from the other nineteen districts...
I hope you...
can last slightly longer than these flies.
Otherwise,
this game would be far too boring."
Outside the window, the sunset bled like crimson, casting the steel behemoth that had just drunk its fill of blood in an even more ferocious and glorious light. Upon the apocalyptic ocean, Qin Yu's legend had only just begun.