Li Ruobing received the order, and the wildness etched into her bones was instantly ignited.
She didn't care that the stone forest outside was collapsing at that very moment, nor did she care about the behemoth raging just a few hundred meters away.
All she knew was that Qin Yu had given the command, so it had to be done.
"Received!"
Li Ruobing wiped the sweat from her face with a swift motion, her long legs pushing off the ground with explosive force, the taut muscles of her thighs visible even beneath her clothing, outlining powerful lines.
She lunged toward the weapon loading port like an agile leopard.
"Clank—"
Under her control, the heavy mechanical arm roared to life.
A massive reserve torpedo was pushed into the launch tube.
"Tube one loaded!"
"Tube two loaded!"
"Yu-ge, just say the word, and I'll stuff every last bit of ammunition in this submarine down its throat!"
Li Ruobing licked her lips, her finger hovering over the red launch button, her knuckles turning white from the strain.
Her eyes were filled with a madness that seemed ready to shatter everything in sight.
Seeing Li Ruobing like this, Qin Yu shook his head.
"Not yet, wait a moment."
As he spoke, Qin Yu opened the system's main control panel.
His gaze fell on the [A-grade Bionic Submersible Weapon - Deep Sea Specter (Mechanical Octopus)].
Now that he had the "President," a steel behemoth that could roam freely in the deep sea, this artifact designed for ambushes seemed somewhat redundant.
"Come out."
With a thought from Qin Yu, a flash of blue light appeared.
On the spacious floor of the cockpit, a metallic object the size of a millstone materialized out of thin air.
It was a round head supported by eight mechanical tentacles gleaming with a cold metallic sheen.
A single-eye camera flickered with an eerie red light.
It looked both intricate and strangely futuristic.
Qin Yu stood up and grabbed a large military-green canvas bag from the nearby weapon rack.
He unzipped it.
Inside were the high-energy plastic explosives (C4) collected from Zhao Gang and his men in the maze, along with several bundled contact mines.
"Yao Xue, come give me a hand."
Qin Yu dumped the explosives—enough to level a small building—onto the floor.
"Wrap it up tightly for me."
"Since it's a 'Specter,' it should look the part."
"I'm going to turn it into the deadliest oversized grenade in the deep sea."
Yao Xue was taken aback.
She looked at the A-grade item on the floor, then at the dangerous explosives.
"You're going to use it… as a suicide truck?"
"Isn't that too extravagant?"
"This is an A-grade item. Even if you don't use it, you could trade it for a lot of core materials in the trading channel."
As a former head of surgery, Yao Xue not only had an expert understanding of human anatomy but also knew the value of such precision instruments.
In this resource-scarce post-apocalyptic world, high-tech products like this were priceless treasures.
To just blow it up?
It seemed like an utter waste.
Qin Yu sneered, picking up a block of C4 and directly wrapping it around one of the Mechanical Octopus's tentacles with strong adhesive tape.
"Wasteful?"
"That depends on how you calculate the cost."
"That Leviathan out there is a treasure trove from head to tail."
"Whether it's its blood, its flesh, or the 'Ocean Soul Crystal Mother' inside its body."
"Even if we only get one of those, its value is ten thousand times that of this broken octopus."
Qin Yu's hands moved swiftly, showing no caution despite handling explosives.
"In business, you have to be willing to invest."
"Besides."
"In this godforsaken place, anything left unused is just trash."
"Making trash serve its purpose—that's what I call making the most of everything."
Watching Qin Yu's decisive and ruthless movements, the three women fell silent.
This was Qin Yu.
When it came to survival and profit, he never hesitated.
Even if it was a priceless Grade A item, if it became a burden or could be exchanged for greater gains, he wouldn't hesitate to throw it away as cannon fodder.
Ten minutes later.
The originally sleek, sci-fi-styled Mechanical Octopus had completely transformed.
It had swollen in size.
Its eight tentacles were densely wrapped with yellow blocks of explosives.
On its round head, two Contact Mines were perched.
It looked like a bloated, ticking time bomb of a monstrosity.
The messy tape and exposed fuses gave it a distinct post-apocalyptic, violent aesthetic.
"It's ugly, I'll admit."
Qin Yu dusted off his hands, looking satisfied with his creation.
"But as long as it makes a big enough bang, that's all that matters."
He walked over to the control panel and typed a command into the keyboard.
"System connection established."
"Control permissions for 'Mechanical Octopus' obtained."
"Codename changed to 'Magnetic Rod.'"
"Manual operation mode activated."
The decompression hatch in the belly of the President slowly opened.
Seawater flooded in.
The Magnetic Rod, burdened with its deadly mission, was swept out by the current.
It adjusted its posture in the water.
The eight explosive-laden tentacles didn't hinder its agility.
The Thruster activated.
Like a gray ghost, it silently slipped into the murky seawater.
On the main screen in the cockpit, the view instantly switched.
It became the Mechanical Octopus's primary perspective.
Murky.
That was the first impression.
All around, dust and debris swirled.
It was the aftermath of the Leviathan's frenzied rampage against the stone forest.
"That old thing is still struggling."
Qin Yu gripped the remote controller with both hands, his focus as intense as if he were playing a game with no save points.
"It's stuck, but not dead yet."
"A monster of this size has terrifyingly tenacious vitality."
"If we don't shred its insides, once it recovers and collapses this stone forest, we'll be in big trouble."
On the screen, the massive shadow grew clearer.
The Leviathan was wedged between three giant stone pillars.
Its five-kilometer-long body thrashed wildly, each impact causing minor earthquakes on the seabed.
Large chunks of rock fell from above.
Several times, they nearly crushed the small Mechanical Octopus.
"Watch out!"
Yao Qian nervously gripped the back of her chair, gasping as a massive rock on the screen narrowly missed the camera lens.
Qin Yu remained expressionless.
His fingers twitched slightly.
The Magnetic Rod executed an incredibly agile roll in the water.
Dodging the falling rocks.
Continuing forward.
This was the true worth of an A-grade item.
Even loaded down with extra weight, its maneuverability was still leagues beyond those clunky, dumb torpedoes.
"The target is right ahead."
Qin Yu's voice was soft, yet carried a chilling edge.
On the screen, the Leviathan's colossal form filled the entire view.
And on its back.
The massive wound torn open by the previous torpedoes was now gushing dark blue blood.
The wound was enormous.
Tens of meters wide.
Like a gaping, ferocious maw.
The muscle tissue inside was still writhing, attempting to heal.
"That's the spot."
Qin Yu narrowed his eyes.
"Those two torpedoes weren't wasted."
"They opened the door for us."
"Go in."
The "Magnetic Rod" accelerated.
It didn't choose to attack the Leviathan's eyes or any other location.
Instead, it charged straight for that still-bleeding wound.
The closer it got, the stronger the oppressive feeling became.
Through the screen, it was as if one could smell that nauseating stench of blood and decay.
"Zzzzt—"
The signal began experiencing interference.
Snowy static appeared on the display.
"Strong Magnetic Field Interference."
Yao Xue stared at the data analysis.
"The energy reaction inside its body is too intense, it's interfering with the remote control signal."
"Ten seconds until disconnect."
Ten seconds.
Enough.
Qin Yu slammed the control lever all the way forward.
"'Magnetic Rod,' get your ass in there!"
On the screen.
The Mechanical Octopus became a blur, plunging directly into that churning fissure of flesh and blood.
The view instantly turned a deep crimson.
This was inside the Leviathan.
Massive blood vessels crisscrossed like giant blue pipes.
Surrounding them were muscle walls still twitching.
"We're there."
Qin Yu released the control handle.
His finger moved to the red button labeled "Self-Destruct."
"Magnetic Rod."
"Your mission is complete."
Without the slightest hesitation.
His thumb pressed down hard.
"Beep—"
The image on the screen froze instantly.
Then turned completely black.
Signal lost.
But in reality.
Hundreds of meters away, deep within the stone forest.
"BOOM——!!!"
A deep, muffled explosion detonated from within the Leviathan's body.
The sound didn't seem to travel through the water; it was more like a hammer striking directly on everyone's hearts.
The "President" shuddered violently.
Immediately after.
Everyone witnessed a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
The Leviathan, which had been thrashing wildly moments before, suddenly stiffened its entire body.
Like a rubber band stretched to its absolute limit.
On its back.
At the site of the original wound, only tens of meters wide.
The area suddenly bulged outward as if inflating.
Then.
"SPLAT——!!!"
A sky-filling spray of flesh and blood fragments, mixed with shattered bones and pulverized organs, erupted like a volcanic explosion.
The seawater was instantly dyed an inky blue.
The previously somewhat intact back was now blown open into a colossal crater over two hundred meters in diameter!
Even the vertebrae, blasted into a mangled mess inside, were visible.
This was an internal detonation.
No hard scales to block it.
The combined power of the C4 and Water Mines was released at three hundred percent efficiency within the confined muscle tissue.
"Rooooaaarrrgh...!!!"
The Leviathan let out a shriek of utter, extreme agony.
This cry no longer held the fury and rage from before.
Only pure, unadulterated pain.
And the terror of impending death.
Its massive body convulsed violently several times, and the claws that had been firmly gripping the rocks went limp.
The enormous head slammed heavily into the silt on the seabed.
Stirring up a cloud of dust dozens of meters high.
The eyes that had once emitted a savage red light began to rapidly dim.
It stopped moving.
"Is... is it dead?"
Yao Qian cautiously peeked out, her voice trembling as she stared at the corpse in the distance, which lay like a collapsed mountain range.
"Such a huge creature..."
"Just blown up like that?"
Li Ruobing was also stunned.
She looked at Qin Yu's back, her eyes filled with awe.
This was a truly ruthless man.
To kill a monster, he could even treat an A-Class Item as disposable chopsticks.
And this method of internal detonation...
It was dirty.
But also incredibly effective.
"It's not completely dead."
Qin Yu looked at the radar, where a red dot, though extremely faint, still persisted.
He lit another cigarette, took a deep drag, easing the tension that had gripped him moments before.
"A centipede may die, but it never stiffens."
"Let alone an SSS-grade monster like this."
"It's just severely injured and unconscious, or perhaps forced into a Suspended Animation State."
Qin Yu turned around and looked at the three women who were still in a daze.
The coldness on his face gradually faded, revealing a bright, toothy grin.
The humorous, joke-loving Qin Yu had returned.
"Alright, stop spacing out."
"The main course is served."
"Get your knives and forks ready."
"Let's go perform a craniotomy on this old thing."
"And while we're at it..."
Qin Yu shook the Tactical Dagger in his hand, a greedy glint flashing in his eyes.
"Let's dig out that 'Ocean Soul Crystal Mother.'"
"This round..."
"This round is called turning a bicycle into a motorcycle—a massive win!"
Li Ruobing was the first to react.
"I knew it!"
"Following Brother Yu, there's never a losing deal!"
She jumped up excitedly, throwing herself onto Qin Yu's back.
"That 'Magnetic Rod' blew up perfectly!"
"Out with the old, in with the new!"
"After this job, can we trade up for an S-Class Item?"
Qin Yu laughed and gave her a light slap on the backside before peeling her off.
"What are you thinking?"
"Are S-Class Items as common as cabbages?"
"Hurry up and get to work."
"Extend all the mechanical arms."
"If we're late, all the small fry around will come scavenging."
"Yes!"
Inside the cockpit, the atmosphere instantly shifted from extreme tension to the joy of a bountiful harvest.
The "President" restarted.
This time, it was no longer fleeing or lurking.
Instead, it moved like a proud victor.
Swaggering toward the monarch lying in a pool of blood.
Yao Xue sat in the co-pilot's seat, preheating the mechanical arms while glancing at Qin Yu beside her.
This man...
When he blew up that A-Class Item earlier, he didn't even bat an eye.
That decisiveness, that ruthlessness...
Even in this post-apocalyptic world, it was a terrifyingly rare quality.
Yet, in the next moment, he could joke and laugh with them, making harmless banter.
"What's wrong? Staring too hard?"
Qin Yu noticed Yao Xue's gaze and turned to look at her with a teasing smile.
"Did you think your husband was just too cool for words?"
Yao Xue's face flushed red. She adjusted her glasses, returning to her usual cool, icy demeanor.
"Stop joking around."
"I'm just worried you'll squander all our resources."
"If there's nothing good inside this Leviathan, I'll see if you don't cry."
Qin Yu laughed heartily.
"Cry?"
"The word 'cry' doesn't exist in Qin Yu's dictionary."
"If there's nothing inside,"
"I'll just grill all five thousand meters of this meat."
"Enough for us to eat until the next century!"
Jokes aside.
When the President truly stopped beside the Leviathan's massive head,
the sheer visual impact still made everyone hold their breath.
It was enormous.
Even lying on the ground, its height surpassed that of the submarine floating nearby.
The layers of thick scales, even though shattered, still emitted an intimidating, chilling gleam.
This had once been the absolute ruler of these seas.
But now,
it was merely a piece of meat on Qin Yu's chopping block.
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