Two pale water trails lashed like whips of death against the churning back of the abyssal beast.
"BOOM—!!!"
A muffled explosion erupted in the deep sea—not a sharp crack, but like a heavy hammer smashing into a water-filled leather sack.
The seawater convulsed violently.
Intense light instantly illuminated that small patch of dark ocean.
Immediately after, a nauseating mass of deep-blue liquid, mixed with shredded flesh and glowing tissue, gushed from the fissure like a volcanic eruption.
"Direct hit!"
Li Ruobing punched the air, her face flushed with excitement.
"Even a mountain would have a hole blown through it after two hits like that!"
However, Qin Yu's expression remained tense.
He stared fixedly at the screen, where the massive, crimson-black life signature still pulsed.
"Don't celebrate too soon."
Qin Yu's voice was cold, his hand already on the power output lever.
"An injury like that is nothing more than a pinprick to it."
"Not even a minor wound."
"But… it definitely hurts."
Before his words faded, a visible shockwave erupted from the colossal shadow, sweeping outward in an instant.
"ROAR—!!!"
It was an indescribable shriek.
It pierced through layers of seawater, through the alloy hull of the President, vibrating painfully in the eardrums of everyone in the cockpit.
On the screen, the massive red blotch representing the Leviathan instantly deepened, turning into a furious purple-black.
It was awake.
Thoroughly enraged.
Its five-kilometer-long body began to thrash violently, the white, flocculent matter clinging to it instantly pulverized by the terrifying force.
"Warning! Detecting extremely high-intensity infrasound attack!"
"Shield energy down by 5%!"
Yao Xue's fingers flew across the keyboard, her face pale.
"It's summoning its escorts!"
She didn't need to say it—everyone could see the horrifying scene through the windows.
The hundreds of Deep Sea Giant Eels that had earlier swum away, wary of the President's "tough shell," now went berserk upon hearing the roar.
Their pale, dead-fish eyes instantly filled with bloodthirsty red light.
They turned their massive serpentine heads and charged recklessly toward the President.
Hundreds of giant beasts, each dozens of meters long, charging simultaneously.
The scene was like stirring a hornet's nest.
Except each of these hornets could swallow the President whole.
"We're done for! We're done for!"
Yao Qian crouched on the floor, clutching her head in terror.
"There are so many! How do we fight this?!"
"Snakes everywhere—front, back, left, right!"
"We're going to be bitten to pieces!"
It was true.
On the radar screen, the red dots representing enemies had merged into a solid mass, surrounding the President completely.
Like a noose tightening rapidly.
The nearest Giant Eel was less than fifty meters from the stern.
Its maw, lined with sharp teeth, gaped open as if ready to crush the thrusters in the next second.
Li Ruobing gritted her teeth, her palms slick with cold sweat.
"Brother Yu! Let's fight them to the death!"
"I'll fire all the torpedoes, take out as many as we can!"
"Fight?"
A wild, cold smirk curled at the corner of Qin Yu's lips.
He watched the ferocious maws lunging from all directions as if they were a group of clowns in slow motion.
"Fight what?"
"If this ship of mine can't even outrun a bunch of mud eels, what the hell am I even doing here!"
Qin Yu viciously kicked open the restriction valve at his feet.
Both hands gripped the control stick, slamming it down hard.
"Yao Xue! Hold on tight!"
"Power Core Overload Mode, activate!"
"Let these beasts see what real speed looks like!"
"Vroom——!!!"
From deep within the belly of the "President," an unprecedented roar erupted.
It wasn't an ordinary engine sound.
It was the roar of the S-Class Item—the Deep Sea Cold Fusion Reactor—operating at full power.
And this wasn't just any ordinary reactor.
This was a super core enhanced by Qin Yu using the Everything Doubling Card!
Output Power: 400%!
Instantaneous Torque: Infinite!
Just as the leading giant eel was about to clamp its jaws onto the stern.
The four main thrusters at the tail of the "President" simultaneously speared out blinding white light.
No longer a deep blue.
But a searing white of energy compressed to its absolute limit.
"Boom!"
The immense recoil instantly vaporized the surrounding seawater.
In that second.
The "President" seemed to defy the laws of physics.
There was no gradual acceleration.
It catapulted from a standstill!
"Crunch!"
That was the sound of the giant eel's jaws snapping shut with brutal force.
But it bit nothing but air.
Sending several bloodied teeth flying.
The steel submarine that should have been there was now just an afterimage, appearing five hundred meters away!
"Holy shit!"
Li Ruobing was pinned to her seat by the massive inertia, feeling as if her internal organs were about to be squeezed out.
"What... what kind of insane speed is this?!"
"Are we in the water or flying through the sky?!"
Qin Yu's face was also flushed red, veins bulging on his neck.
The G-forces from this overload were overwhelming even for him.
But the fervor in his eyes only grew more intense.
"This is the power of an S-Class item after doubling!"
"As long as the power is great enough, water is just air!"
He jerked the rudder hard.
The "President" executed an impossible sideways drift at high speed.
The entire vessel sliced sideways through the current.
Barely dodging three giant eels charging head-on.
"Trying to surround me?"
"Try again in your next life!"
Qin Yu's fingers danced rapidly across the control panel, as if playing a deadly piano sonata.
"Weapon systems, free fire!"
"Target: all the trash that dares get within a hundred meters!"
"Blow their eyes out!"
The "President" wasn't just fast.
Its firepower was nothing to scoff at either.
But under Qin Yu's control, this ship played by no conventional rules.
It moved like an impossibly agile fish.
Weaving madly through the "meat net" formed by hundreds of giant eels.
Darting left!
Charging right!
Slamming to a halt!
Though the Deep Sea Giant Eels were massive and terrifyingly powerful.
Against this level of extreme agility, they were like a bunch of clumsy trucks trying to ram an F1 race car.
"Bang bang bang——!"
A giant eel had just tried to whip its tail for a strike.
Qin Yu dove sharply, skimming past its belly.
At the same time, the Deep Sea Specter unleashed its full firepower.
Powerful water cannons rained down like a storm onto the giant eel's soft underbelly.
Blood splattered everywhere.
The eel writhed in agony, its massive body crashing into another of its companions nearby.
Two colossal creatures, each dozens of meters long, tangled together, instantly throwing the area into chaos.
"Hahahaha!"
"Great shot!"
Li Ruobing had now adapted to the extreme speed. She controlled the plasma cannon, her eyes filled with killing intent.
"Yu-ge, steady the ship a bit more—I can aim at the big one!"
"No need!"
Qin Yu roared.
"To catch the leader, first capture the followers!"
"But these underlings are too annoying—we need to make them turn on each other first!"
Qin Yu fixed his eyes on the largest red dot on the radar.
The Leviathan was moving.
It seemed to have lost patience with this slippery "fly."
Its enormous body began to slowly turn.
A gaping maw, large enough to swallow a mountain, opened wide, directly facing the path of the President's charge.
A terrifying suction force suddenly erupted.
The surrounding seawater, along with the giant eels that hadn't yet managed to evade, were all sucked into its mouth.
"Warning! Strong gravitational current ahead!"
"The hull is losing control!"
Yao Xue's voice finally carried a hint of urgency.
"It's trying to suck us in!"
Qin Yu stared at the dark abyss drawing closer and closer.
Inside, rows of rotating, saw-like teeth gleamed, each one larger than the President itself.
Being sucked in meant being torn to shreds.
"Suck me in?"
A fierce glint flashed in Qin Yu's eyes.
"In this life, I hate nothing more than being sucked in!"
"If you want to eat, let's see if your teeth are strong enough!"
Just as the President was about to be swept into the devouring torrent,
Qin Yu yanked down the emergency brake lever.
At the same time, he activated the reverse thrusters.
"Turn!"
"Screech—!"
The hull emitted a grating sound of twisting metal.
Torn between the immense suction and the reverse thrust, the President forcibly executed a 180-degree spin in the water.
The bow became the stern.
But it didn't stop.
The force of the reverse thrusters, combined with its original momentum, sent it flying like a boomerang, tracing an eerily bizarre arc along the edge of the Leviathan's gaping maw.
"Whoosh—!"
It skimmed past.
Only ten meters away from those rows of teeth.
Close enough to see the rotting whale flesh caught between them.
"Fire!"
Qin Yu bellowed.
Li Ruobing understood instantly, slamming her finger down on the firing button.
"Eat shit!"
Two spare high-explosive naval mines were swallowed directly into the Leviathan's mouth by the suction force.
"Run!"
Without even glancing back after dropping the bombs, Qin Yu pushed the engines to full power, fleeing madly upward.
Three seconds later.
"Boom!!!"
A muffled explosion echoed from within the Leviathan's body.
The colossal creature froze abruptly.
Its mouth, which had been voraciously sucking in water, suddenly spewed out a cloud of black-red smoke and debris.
It had been choked.
While bombs of that magnitude couldn't kill it,
exploding inside its mouth was a uniquely "refreshing" experience—enough to make it question its very existence.
"Rooooar—!!!"
An even more piercing, even more furious roar erupted in the deep sea.
The Leviathan had gone completely berserk.
It no longer cared about the obstructive guardian eels.
The massive tail lashed out violently.
Thwack!
Over a dozen giant eels blocking the path were instantly pulverized into mush by this terrifying force.
Its five-kilometer-long body surged forward with overwhelming momentum, crashing toward the direction Qin Yu was fleeing.
This was the true Abyssal Lord.
Once it moved, the very heavens and earth seemed to tremble.
"It's catching up!"
Yao Qian stared at the rear monitor, tears welling in her eyes from fear.
"So fast! How can something that big move so quickly?!"
"It's desperate!"
Qin Yu gripped the steering wheel tightly, sweat beading on his forehead.
At this moment, the President was like a surfboard dancing on the crest of a tsunami.
The water currents behind them had been churned into chaos by the Leviathan.
The slightest misstep would send them spiraling into the turbulent flow, torn to shreds.
"Maintain distance!"
"Don't let it hit us!"
"Yao Xue, find me a route!"
"This damn place has such complex terrain—we need obstacles!"
Yao Xue now displayed astonishing professionalism.
Despite the violently rocking cabin, she remained steady, her eyes fixed on the topographic map.
"Two o'clock direction!"
"Three nautical miles ahead!"
"There's a Submarine Stone Forest!"
"The rock pillars there are extremely dense—its size won't allow it to enter!"
"Good!"
Qin Yu's eyes lit up.
"That's the spot!"
"Hang on tight! We're going all in!"
The President carved a zigzagging trail through the water.
Each turn was accompanied by a massive dark shadow sweeping past behind them.
That was the Leviathan's charge.
Every missed strike slammed into the seabed, blasting out enormous craters and stirring up clouds of sand and silt.
"This feeling... is way too damn thrilling!"
Though Li Ruobing was tossed about until dizzy, the light in her eyes grew brighter and brighter.
This was the apocalypse.
This was the feeling of being alive.
Battling such a monster was ten thousand times better than sunbathing on the ship!
"We're here!"
At Yao Xue's sharp cry, the darkness ahead revealed towering rock pillars, standing like giant fingers.
This was a unique landscape formed by underwater volcanic eruptions.
Each pillar stood hundreds of meters tall, with extremely narrow gaps between them.
For the fifty-meter-long President, this was natural cover.
But for the five-kilometer-long Leviathan—
This was a bed of nails.
"In!"
Qin Yu didn't slow down in the slightest.
The President shot forward like a needle, precisely piercing into the gaps of the Stone Forest.
Boom! Boom! Boom!—
The Leviathan behind them couldn't brake in time.
Or rather, in its enraged state, it had no intention of braking.
Relying on its thick, rugged hide, it crashed headlong into the pillars.
One massive rock pillar after another shattered and snapped like biscuits under its impact.
Dust billowed.
Debris flew everywhere.
But its speed was finally slowed.
Its colossal body became wedged between several of the thickest pillars, trapped and unable to advance or retreat, letting out only furious roars.
"Whew..."
Qin Yu let out a long breath.
He pulled the throttle lever back to normal cruising mode.
The President circled once within the depths of the Stone Forest, coming to a stop in a relatively safe position.
Through the murky water and the collapsed stone forest,
gazing at the Abyssal Lord still struggling madly, raging helplessly,
Qin Yu pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.
His hands trembled slightly.
It was the aftermath of adrenaline fading.
"See that?"
Qin Yu took a deep drag of his cigarette, letting the pungent smoke swirl in his lungs.
He looked at the three women, still shaken, and flashed a roguish grin.
"What good is being big?"
"In the face of absolute skill."
"It's just a living target."
"Now."
Qin Yu turned around, staring at the radar where a red dot—though stuck—still displayed a terrifyingly thick health bar.
The killing intent in his eyes sharpened once more.
"It can't move anymore."
"It's our turn."
"Yao Xue, analyze the location of its wounds."
"Ruo Bing, load all the remaining torpedoes."
"I'm going to peel its skin off, layer by layer!"