"Mechanical arms in position."
"Locking onto target head cutting points."
Yao Xue's fingers lightly tapped the screen, her usually calm voice carrying a rare tremor.
It was one of excitement.
On the screen, two massive alloy mechanical claws slowly opened, reaching toward the Leviathan's hill-like forehead.
It was akin to an ant preparing to dine on an elephant with a knife and fork.
"Slowly, slowly."
Qin Yu stood before the main console, eyes fixed on the screen, not even noticing the cigarette in his mouth burning down to the filter.
"Don't scratch that skin."
"That thing could probably make armor even missiles couldn't penetrate."
Li Ruobing stood to the side, arms crossed, watching the enormous corpse draw closer, unable to help but swallow hard.
"Yu-ge, besides that Crystal Mother thing, do you think there are other treasures in its brain?"
"Those teeth look pretty good too. Could we pull them out and make them into spears?"
Qin Yu chuckled, spitting out the cigarette butt.
"Pull them!"
"Even if it's just a single hair, we're taking it all!"
"We're upholding..."
Before he could finish.
The smile on Qin Yu's face froze abruptly.
The SS-Rank Mind Deterrence Matrix Radar was suddenly blaring warnings!
The [Sea Soul Crystal Mother (Fragment One)] in his pocket suddenly grew scalding hot, as if it were about to sear the flesh of his thigh.
"Something's wrong!"
Qin Yu's pupils contracted sharply, his heart skipping a beat.
On the screen.
The colossal creature that had originally seemed "utterly dead."
That enormous, dull eye.
Suddenly twitched.
At this distance of less than a hundred meters.
That eye fixed its gaze firmly on the "President" hovering before it.
The extinguished red light, in that instant, like a star in its final flare, erupted with a blinding crimson radiance!
It wasn't dead!
It was playing dead!
This ancient monster, who knew how many years old, was actually using its own body as bait!
"Retreat!!!!"
Qin Yu's shout seemed to drain every ounce of his strength, his voice cracking with the strain.
There was no time to explain.
He kicked Yao Xue away from the mechanical arm controls, his hands gripping the power thrust levers with all his might.
Not pulling back.
But stomping the emergency overload valve to the floor and yanking the helm hard to starboard!
"Boom——!!!"
The "President's" engines groaned under the strain.
But it was too late.
In that very instant.
The Leviathan's shattered maw opened at an impossible angle.
No roar.
Only a compressed black energy wave, mixed with countless bone fragments and rotten flesh, like a point-blank Star-Destroying Cannon blast, erupted violently!
"Warning! High-energy reaction!"
"Shield overload! Shield overload!"
The system's shrill alarms instantly blared, drowning out Yao Qian's scream.
"Bang——!!!"
Even though Qin Yu had already executed an extreme evasive maneuver.
That terrifying energy wave still grazed the President's port side.
If the previous battle was a rollercoaster ride, then this was a plane crash.
The entire submarine was sent tumbling through the deep sea like a soda can struck by a sledgehammer.
All the lights in the cockpit instantly went out, leaving only the red emergency lights flashing frantically.
Sparks flew everywhere.
Every piece of glass emitted an ear-piercing screech.
"Hold on!!!"
Qin Yu was thrown into the air, slammed hard against the ceiling, then crashed back onto the floor.
But he had no time to feel the pain.
Rolling wildly across the floor, he grabbed the nearby fixed handrail.
"Ruo Bing! Power!"
"Don't let the engines stall!"
"If they stall, we're finished!"
Li Ruobing was currently pinned to the co-pilot's seat by her safety harness, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth—clearly, she had been badly shaken by the impact.
Hearing Qin Yu's shout, she gritted her teeth, enduring the intense pain, and reached for the smoking power restart button.
"Move... damn it!"
"Zzzzt—"
A surge of electricity crackled.
The propellers, which had already stopped spinning, roared back to life at the last possible moment.
Like a startled beast, the President lurched and twisted its way out of the terrifying turbulence.
Behind them.
Another deafening "boom" echoed.
Although the black energy wave hadn't struck directly, it completely flattened the hundreds-of-meters-tall stone forest behind them.
Countless rocks were vaporized.
The seawater evaporated instantly, forming a massive vacuum bubble before violently collapsing.
The shockwave caught up with the fleeing submarine once more, kicking it away like a soccer ball.
...
Three minutes later.
At the edge of a trench two nautical miles from the explosion site.
The President finally stabilized.
It looked utterly battered.
The armor plating on the port side was completely dented, as if punched hard.
Cracks covered its once-sleek hull.
The mechanical arm that had just extended to collect the spoils was completely gone, leaving only sparking wires at the broken stump.
The cockpit was in complete disarray.
Documents, cups, and even half-eaten snacks were scattered everywhere.
"Cough, cough..."
Qin Yu climbed up from the floor, wiping the blood from his face.
It had dripped from the gash on his forehead.
"Damn it..."
"That sneaky bastard."
"That beast... actually knows how to bait and ambush."
Supporting his waist, he limped over to the main console.
Yao Xue and Yao Qian both unbuckled their safety harnesses at this moment. Though injured, their wounds weren't fatal.
"Report the damage."
Qin Yu's voice was hoarse, carrying the fierce determination of someone who had narrowly escaped death.
Yao Qian typed on the keyboard while crying, her hands trembling.
"Port-side armor severely damaged. Air-tight integrity down to 70%."
"The collection mechanical arm... is lost."
"Five A-Grade Gun Turrets destroyed."
Hearing this series of damage reports, Qin Yu felt his heart bleed.
This was the hard-earned foundation he had painstakingly built!
That single blow had cost him at least thousands of units of resources!
"As long as everyone's alive."
Yao Xue walked over, holding a first-aid kit, and skillfully tended to the wound on Qin Yu's forehead.
"If we had been just one second slower earlier."
"We wouldn't have just lost an arm."
"We'd have been blasted to dust."
Qin Yu let the alcohol-soaked cotton ball wipe over his wound, his eyes fixed on the still-flashing radar screen.
That red dot.
The one representing Leviathan.
It was now flickering wildly, brighter than before, yet extremely unstable.
"It's still alive?"
Li Ruobing wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, her eyes filled with unwillingness.
"Let's go back and finish it off!"
"This time, we'll stuff explosives right up its—"
Qin Yu shook his head.
He pressed down on Li Ruobing's hand as she reached for a weapon.
"Don't move."
"Look there."
Following Qin Yu's pointing finger, everyone turned their gaze to the deep sea outside.
Even from two nautical miles away.
The commotion there was still terrifyingly intense.
The Leviathan had now completely broken free from the stone forest.
But it wasn't pursuing them.
Because it had gone mad.
That earlier energy wave seemed to have drained the last shred of its sanity and vitality.
It thrashed and bit wildly in place.
Its massive tail indiscriminately attacked everything around it.
The seabed was churned into chaos.
Sand and silt mixed with its own deep blue blood, staining the waters into a hellish hue.
"It's…"
Yao Qian stopped crying, staring blankly at the scene.
"A final flare of life."
Qin Yu coldly uttered four words.
"That last attack was made by burning all its remaining life force."
"Its internal organs are probably completely shattered by now."
"Its mind is fried too."
"Right now, it's just venting, waiting to die."
Qin Yu pulled over a chair and sat down, lighting a cigarette that, though crushed, was still smokable.
He took a deep drag.
Letting the nicotine numb the stinging pain in his nerves.
"We'll just watch from here."
"Observe from the sidelines."
"No one goes near."
"A monster of this level—its dying kick would kill anyone it hits."
Time passed minute by minute.
Ten minutes.
Twenty minutes.
The commotion over there grew smaller and smaller.
The earth-shaking roars gradually turned into low, mournful whimpers.
The massive body's movements slowed more and more.
Like an engine running out of fuel.
Finally.
With one last feeble twitch.
The enormous head once again slammed heavily into the seabed's mud.
This time.
It didn't rise again.
The crimson glow in its eyes completely faded, turning into a dull, dead gray.
The turbid seawater around slowly settled.
Everything fell into deathly silence.
Only the sound of breathing, rising and falling, filled the President's bridge.
Beep—
A crisp system notification broke the silence.
To Qin Yu, this sound was more beautiful than any heavenly melody.
That red dot that had been weighing on his mind.
Had completely vanished.
Immediately after.
A series of golden system notifications flooded his vision like a cascade.
[Ding]
[Successfully killed Abyssal Overlord-Grade Creature—Deep Sea Tyrant Leviathan (Molting Period) (SSS-Grade)!]
[Ding! Detected high-energy-level items within the target!]
[Scanning for loot…]
[Obtained: Sea Soul Crystal Mother (Fragment Two)!]
[Obtained: Complete Heart of the Deep Sea Tyrant (SSS-Grade Ingredient/Material)!]
[Obtained: Ancient Deep Sea Relic Chest (SSS-Grade)!]
Looking at this dazzling array of rewards.
Qin Yu's face, which had been as dark as a pot just moments ago, instantly broke into a radiant smile.
He slapped his thigh hard, not caring that it aggravated his wound.
"Hahahaha!"
"Worth it!"
"This round was a huge win!"
"What mechanical arm, what armor plating—all just a drop in the bucket!"
He stood up, the greed in his eyes burning once more.
This time, fiercer than ever before.
"Move!"
"Take us over!"
"This time, it's truly dead!"
"Our spoils!"
"Don't leave even a scrap of its hide behind!"
The President, dragging its damaged hull, started up again.
Though battered in appearance, though limping along.
Its momentum was even more arrogant than before.
That was the posture of a victor.
When the submarine returned to the side of the corpse.
The sense of awe remained just as intense.
But this time, no one was afraid anymore.
Because this was their prize.
Qin Yu stood before the shattered observation window, gazing at the enormous corpse floating in the water and the crystal emitting a faint blue glow, slowly drifting out from the wound in the corpse.
That was the second Ocean Soul Crystal Mother.
It resonated intensely with the one in his pocket.
The corner of Qin Yu's mouth lifted slightly, revealing an extremely dangerous curve.
"The second one, secured."