The steam from the hotpot had dissipated, leaving only a faint lingering scent of beef tallow in the air.
Everyone was stuffed.
In this damned world, being able to eat until full was itself an extreme luxury, even a sin.
Yao Qian, that girl, was sprawled inelegantly on the sofa, rubbing her slightly bulging belly, a bit of sauce still smeared at the corner of her mouth, groaning and unwilling to move.
Li Ruobing was more efficient, getting up to clear the dishes. Just before leaving, she raised an eyebrow at Qin Yu, her eyes carrying a hint of teasing, then gestured with her chin towards the staircase.
The meaning was clear: someone is waiting for you.
Qin Yu wiped his mouth and drained the last mouthful of beer.
He stood up and headed upstairs.
The door to the master bedroom was slightly ajar.
Pushing it open, a faint, delicate fragrance greeted him.
It wasn't perfume, but the fresh scent of shower gel mixed with a woman's unique body fragrance.
The lighting in the room was dimmed to a warm, ambiguous yellow.
Yao Xue stood by the window.
She had already changed out of her loungewear.
In its place was a black silk nightgown.
The gown was thin, clinging to her body and outlining breathtaking curves.
Hearing the door close, she turned around.
A blush that hadn't yet faded colored her cheeks, whether from the spiciness of the hotpot or from what was about to happen.
"Full?"
"Mhm."
Yao Xue lowered her head, her voice soft.
She walked up to Qin Yu and reached out to unbutton his windbreaker.
Her movements were gentle, like a young wife awaiting her husband's return.
Who could have imagined?
Not long ago, she was still that aloof, commanding head of surgery at a top-tier hospital.
"About Xiao Ya... thank you."
Yao Xue whispered as she hung up the clothes.
"I said, no need for formalities among our own."
Qin Yu reached out, pinched her chin, and forced her to look up.
Yao Xue's eyelashes fluttered.
She looked into Qin Yu's unfathomably deep eyes and bit her lip.
Then.
Without any hesitation.
Her knees bent.
...
Outside the window was the pitch-black, perilously silent sea, teeming with hidden dangers.
Inside the window was a scene of tender intimacy and vibrant warmth.
This was the apocalypse.
This was the feeling of possessing power.
...
At the same time.
In a stretch of sea approximately fifty nautical miles from the "President."
The night was thick as ink.
A bizarrely shaped, enormous raft hovered three meters above the sea's surface, swaying slightly with the ocean breeze.
This was Qi Chun's [S-Class · Floating Fortress].
Called a fortress, it more closely resembled a makeshift aerial junkyard.
Enormous airbags, unknown propellers, and all sorts of miscellaneous planks and sheet metal were cobbled together to barely keep this several-hundred-square-meter foundation aloft.
Although it didn't fly high, didn't fly fast, and frequently emitted strange creaking and groaning noises...
It was indeed flying.
This was the miracle that the vast majority of survivors could only look up to in awe.
At this moment.
On the central platform of the fortress.
A plump, round-faced little fatty sat cross-legged on a cool mat, holding half a watermelon in his hands and scooping out bites with a spoon.
This person was Qi Chun.
"Sigh..."
"This damn weather, even the watermelon isn't sweet anymore."
Qi Chun sighed, stuffing a large spoonful of red flesh into his mouth. Juice trickled down the corner of his lips, dripping onto his oversized T-shirt printed with "All Villains."
He glanced in the direction where Qin Yu had been earlier.
Though it was far away and no flames were visible, the energy fluctuations coming from that direction had caused the compass needle in his hand—specifically used for treasure hunting—to spin wildly several times.
"Brother Qin is truly fierce."
Qi Chun casually tossed away the watermelon rind (after all, they were in the sky—it wouldn't hit any flowers or grass, and if it hit a fish, it would be the fish's fortune).
"That commotion must mean he got his hands on some incredible heavy weapon."
"I need to step up my game too."
Qi Chun was a smart person.
Though he appeared honest and simple, with no ambition to dominate, he understood one thing clearly:
Only by being strong enough could he qualify to be friends with the strong.
Just then.
"Rumble—!!!"
The night sky above suddenly split open with a purple crack.
It wasn't lightning.
But a genuine spatial rift.
A terrifying suction force descended from the sky, instantly causing the surrounding seawater to boil and form a massive whirlpool.
"Holy shit?!"
Qi Chun was so startled he nearly rolled off the cool mat.
"What's going on?"
"Is the sky falling?"
Before he could react.
A massive object burning with blue flames fell out of the rift.
It looked like...
A broken corner of an ancient palace?
Or perhaps the engine compartment of some high-tech spacecraft?
In any case, it was enormous, carrying an aura of apocalyptic destruction as it plummeted straight toward his Floating Fortress.
"It's over, it's over!"
"My life is finished!"
Qi Chun screamed in despair, clutching his head and scrambling toward the nearby cover.
However.
The expected collision never happened.
The massive burning object, when it was still ten meters away from his fortress, suddenly seemed to sense something.
It came to an eerie, suspended halt.
Immediately after.
The blue flames on its surface instantly extinguished, revealing a silver-white metallic shell beneath, adorned with intricate glowing runic patterns.
A gentle beam of light enveloped Qi Chun's entire Raft.
[Ding! Compatible vehicle detected!]
[Ding! Player possesses "Great Fortune" constitution (hidden attribute)!]
[Fusion in progress...]
A cold system notification echoed in Qi Chun's ears.
Qi Chun lifted his chubby face from the crook of his arm, squinting his already small eyes as he stared at the unbelievable scene before him.
The massive silver object began to disintegrate and reassemble like liquid metal.
Then, bit by bit, it merged into the worn wooden planks and rusted iron sheets beneath his feet.
The once precarious Floating Fortress began to undergo a dramatic transformation.
The wooden planks turned into silver-white alloy.
The leaky airbags transformed into streamlined anti-gravity engines.
Though the area didn't expand, the overall quality upgraded from "scrap recycling station" to "future interstellar warship."
[Ding! Congratulations, survivor Qi Chun!]
[Your vehicle, "Floating Fortress (Semi-finished)," has fused with the extraterrestrial core component: "Sky Wing · Unit 01."]
[Vehicle rating upgraded!]
[Current Rating: SS-Class (Growth Type)]
[New Trait: Cloud Concealment. Can activate optical camouflage at any time, perfectly blending into cloud cover, undetectable by radar.]
[New Trait: Gravity Field. Can manipulate gravity within a 500-meter radius around the fortress, capable of exerting up to 10x gravitational pressure.]
[Maximum Flight Altitude: Increased to 300 meters!]
Qi Chun stood there, mouth agape in a daze.
A watermelon seed fell from the corner of his mouth, hitting the ground with a crisp sound.
"SS-Class..."
"And it can fly three hundred meters?"
"My goodness..."
He suddenly jumped up and pinched his own thigh hard.
"Ouch!"
"It's not a dream!"
Qi Chun excitedly spun around three times on the spot, his over two hundred pounds of flesh jiggling with the motion.
This is fate!
This is luck!
"Hehehe..."
Qi Chun let out a rather lewd chuckle, reaching out to touch the cold, hard silver railing beside him.
"With this thing..."
"Who would dare bully me in the future?"
"If I don't like someone, I'll just fly right over their head and drop... ahem, throw rocks!"
But soon, he calmed down.
He glanced at the still calm sea surface in the distance.
"No, can't get carried away."
"This thing is good, but it doesn't have any offensive power."
"At best, it's just a turtle shell—good for running and hiding."
"If it comes to a real fight, it still takes someone ruthless like Brother Qin."
Qi Chun's eyes shifted, a glint of shrewdness appearing in them.
"The firepower on Brother Qin's ship made my heart race even from a distance."
"But still..."
"Now, I should be qualified to be a 'strategic partner' with Brother Qin, right?"
Thinking this, Qi Chun felt much better.
He sat back down on the reed mat and picked up the half-eaten watermelon.
"Come on, let's celebrate."
"For SS-Class!"
"For world peace!"
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