"Whoosh—"
Accompanied by the sound of countless bubbles bursting, the President broke through the water's surface.
Its black streamlined hull sent up massive sprays of water, like a steel behemoth that had just surfaced for air, coming to a steady rest on the sea once more.
Inside the bridge, the oppressive feeling unique to the deep sea instantly vanished.
Moonlight streamed in, illuminating the slightly pale faces of the group.
Li Ruobing slumped into a chair, her long legs—usually brimming with wild energy—now feeling weak, spread apart without any regard for grace.
"Good heavens..."
"Scared me half to death."
She patted her chest, taking deep, ragged breaths.
"What on earth was that huge red glow on the radar just now?"
"It looked even bigger than the Mist Ruins."
Yao Xue was still staring intently at the sonar screen.
Even though they had surfaced, her brow remained furrowed.
On the screen, that enormous shadow located over two thousand meters below in the deep sea was moving toward the southeast with an extremely slow yet unstoppable momentum.
And directly above that shadow on the sea surface was the very "Black Tide" that struck fear into everyone's hearts.
"It's gone."
Yao Xue adjusted her glasses, her voice tight.
"It's beyond detection range."
"That thing is swimming faster than we imagined."
Qin Yu stood before the captain's seat, silent.
He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out, and placed it between his lips, but didn't light it.
That heart-palpitating feeling was still there.
Not fear.
But a tremor from the depths of his soul... an instinctive reaction of a hunter encountering top-tier prey.
"Let's not worry about that big thing for now."
Qin Yu took the cigarette down, twirling it between his fingers.
"Since we've confirmed that the submarine mode can evade the Black Tide, tonight wasn't a waste of effort."
"Everyone, go back and rest."
"We've all been too tense these past few days."
Yao Qian hugged her pillow, letting out a big yawn, tears still clinging to the corners of her eyes.
"Brother Yu, I'm going back to sleep then."
"I was so scared I almost peed my pants just now..."
The young girl mumbled, dragging her heavy steps as she headed out.
Li Ruobing also stood up, stretching, her tight combat uniform outlining her stunning curves.
"I'm going to take a shower too."
"All that sweat earlier was unbearable."
As she passed by Qin Yu, she reached out to give his chest a playful pat.
"Brother Yu, if you can't sleep, I wouldn't mind you coming to discuss life with me."
"Get lost."
Qin Yu chuckled and scolded, giving her backside a light slap.
"Get out of here."
After the three women had left the bridge.
The heavy soundproof door slowly closed.
Only the faint hum of operating instruments remained in the bridge.
The smile on Qin Yu's face vanished instantly at that moment.
He walked over to the console and pressed the red button marked "No Unauthorized Entry."
This was the captain's privilege.
Locking down the bridge.
After doing this, he took a deep breath and retrieved something from the corner of his system storage—something he had deliberately ignored until now.
[Ocean Soul Crystal Mother (Fragment · One)]
The item obtained from the Underwater Garden.
The system had previously warned that this thing was overflowing with energy, possibly even touching upon the truth of the world.
Qin Yu had left it buried at the very bottom of his storage, gathering dust.
It wasn't that he didn't value it.
He simply didn't dare to mess with it.
His intuition told him this thing was a hot potato.
But just now.
Just as the President dove into the deep sea, passed beneath the Black Tide, and the radar swept over that massive shadow in the depths—
This thing in his storage moved.
Even through the system space, Qin Yu felt a burning sensation.
"Come out."
Qin Yu growled softly.
The irregular crystal, no larger than a palm, appeared in his hand.
It was no longer the dull, gray stone it had been before.
Now.
This fragment, known as the Ocean Soul Crystal Mother, was glowing.
An eerie, ghostly blue light, the kind that seemed to belong only to the deepest parts of the Abyss.
The light wasn't constant.
It was breathing.
Bright, then dark.
Bright, then dark.
The rhythm was extremely slow.
But with each pulse, Qin Yu's heart would pound violently in sync.
Thump.
Thump.
It was as if something was resonating with his heartbeat through this stone.
Qin Yu felt his palm burning.
The stone seemed about to sear through his flesh and burrow into his bones.
"So hot…"
Gritting his teeth, Qin Yu didn't let go.
He stared fixedly at the fragment.
The system's earlier description had been simple, calling it only an "anchor point of the world."
But now.
This stone seemed to have come alive.
It trembled faintly in Qin Yu's palm, its sharp end slowly rotating like a compass needle, finally locking firmly onto a direction.
Southeast.
Qin Yu snapped his head up, looking in that direction.
Outside the window lay the pitch-black sea.
It was also the direction where Yao Xue had seen that massive shadow disappear on the radar.
And more than that…
It was the direction the Black Tide was moving.
"Just as I thought."
Qin Yu's voice was hoarse.
He paced back and forth in the cockpit, the crystal still scorching in his hand, its direction unwavering.
No matter how he turned, the crystal's tip always pointed toward where the deep-sea behemoth had gone.
"I knew it couldn't be that simple."
Qin Yu placed the crystal on the console.
He pulled up the earlier radar playback.
On the screen, the massive red blot reappeared.
It was two thousand meters deep.
And above it on the surface, the dense, swarming Black Tide.
Before, everyone had thought the Black Tide was a natural disaster, a randomly moving swarm of insects.
Wherever they went, hell followed.
But what if…
It wasn't random?
Looking at the compass-like crystal, Qin Yu's mind instantly connected the dots.
"The Black Tide is made of insects."
"Insects are decomposers, scavengers."
"They move in swarms, devouring all organic matter."
"But…"
Qin Yu's fingers tapped lightly on the table, producing a steady tap-tap sound.
"In nature, scavengers of this scale usually follow behind what?"
The answer was obvious.
Predators.
Apex predators.
Like vultures following lions, or hyenas trailing cheetahs.
The Black Tide wasn't migrating on a massive scale because it wanted to move.
It was because…
They were "following the food source."
That massive thing deep beneath the sea was the real protagonist.
It hunted in the depths, or perhaps its very existence provided some kind of nourishment for the Black Tide.
That's why the Black Tide clings stubbornly to the sea surface above that thing, like a guard.
"Fuck."
Qin Yu couldn't help but curse.
The truth was too insane.
The Black Tide, which all of humanity avoided like the plague, was just a layer of "dandruff" from that deep-sea monster?
Or perhaps its parasitic companion?
Then the level of that monster…
SS-class?
No.
Qin Yu recalled the Abyssal Demon Whale from earlier.
Though massive, that Magic Whale was only three hundred meters long.
But the shadow just detected on the radar…
Was at least five thousand meters!
It was a moving underwater mountain range!
"SSS-class…"
"Or even higher."
Qin Yu felt his throat go dry.
He picked up the Ocean Soul Crystal Mother again.
It was still glowing, still pointing the way.
"The system said this thing is a cornerstone of the world, five pieces in total."
"The remaining four are scattered across the seas."
Qin Yu stared at the stone in his hand, which acted like a compass, his gaze gradually sharpening with a fierce intensity.
"That reaction just now…"
Qin Yu raised the crystal to eye level.
Its deep blue light reflected in his pupils.
"This thing… it's yearning for its 'kin'."
"Or perhaps…"
"It's yearning for something on that deep-sea monster."
Qin Yu took a deep breath.
If his speculation was correct,
Then the remaining four Ocean Soul Crystal Mothers were most likely on similar monsters or guarded by creatures of that caliber.
"In other words."
"If I want to gather all five of these damn stones, I'll have to go god-slaying?"
Qin Yu laughed.
A somewhat savage laugh.
If this had happened right after he crossed over, he would've thrown this stone as far away as possible without a second thought and run for his life.
In this apocalyptic world, survival was the only truth.
Provoking a monster several kilometers long was just asking for death.
But now.
Qin Yu glanced at the heavily armed President.
And remembered the thrill of blasting the Magic Whale to pieces with a single shot.
Ambition…
It swells with power.
"Hiding won't solve anything."
"If the Black Tide follows that thing…"
"Then as long as I want to survive on these seas, I'll run into it again sooner or later."
"Rather than being passive and getting beaten up when that happens…"
Qin Yu clenched his fist tightly, gripping the scorching-hot crystal in his palm.
"I'll take the initiative."
"So what if it's SSS-class?"
"As long as it dares to show a health bar, I'll kill a god right before your eyes."
At that moment.
The crystal in his hand seemed to sense Qin Yu's soaring killing intent.
"Hum—"
A visible blue ripple erupted from within the crystal.
Instantly sweeping through the entire cockpit.
All the screens flickered.
Immediately after.
A line of blood-red system text bypassed his retinas and exploded directly in Qin Yu's mind.
[Ding! Ocean Soul Crystal Mother (Fragment · One) has been activated!]
[Detected resonance between host's current mental fluctuations and the Crystal Mother!]
[Special tracking mission unlocked: The Gaze of the Abyss]
[Mission Description: You have glimpsed a corner of this world's truth. Beneath the pitch-black sea, the rulers of the old era are awakening. They devour the world's rules, maintaining a false balance.]
[Mission Objective: Hunt the remaining four "Abyssal Lords" holding Crystal Mother fragments.]
[Current Tracking Target: Deep Sea Tyrant Leviathan (Distance: 15 nautical miles, moving)]
[Hint: The target is in an extremely weakened state (molting period). The Black Tide is constructing a defensive perimeter for it.]
"Extremely weakened..."
Qin Yu stared at those four words.
The fire in his eyes instantly blazed.
Originally, he had felt some apprehension toward that five-thousand-meter behemoth.
But now?
Beating a drowning dog—that was something Qin Yu excelled at!
"Molting period?"
"Constructing a defensive perimeter?"
Qin Yu sneered, licking his dry, cracked lips.
"No wonder that Black Tide just now was stationary."
"So it's protecting its boss."
"That makes sense."
"Strike while the iron is hot."