An unknown amount of time had passed.
There was no day or night at the bottom of the sea.
Only the flickering green numbers on the instrument panel silently recorded the passage of time.
"Beep—"
"Depth: 300 meters."
"Cabin pressure: Normal."
"Oxygen Circulation System: Remaining filter life 12%."
Li Ruobing's voice shattered the deathly silence.
She tugged up the already slightly pilled, form-fitting tank top she was wearing, revealing abdominal muscles more defined than they had been a month ago.
It was the result of long-term adaptation to a high-pressure environment, passively strengthening bodily functions.
"One month."
In the corner, the Medical Pod door slid open with a hiss.
Qin Yu stepped out.
Bare-chested.
His once somewhat pale skin now had a metallic, bronze-like sheen.
He twisted his neck.
"Crack, crack."
The sound of popping joints was particularly jarring in the quiet cabin.
"Had enough sleep?"
Yao Xue was sitting by the console, holding a scalpel and gesturing with it over a piece of ore collected from the seabed.
She pushed her gold-rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose. The anxiety in her eyes had lessened, replaced by a deep-sea-like calmness.
"Any more sleep and I'd devolve into a fish."
Qin Yu took a bottle of water handed to him by Yao Qian and gulped down a large mouthful.
The cool liquid slid down his throat, sending a shiver through his body.
Refreshing.
This feeling of being alive was truly refreshing.
"What about that big guy outside?"
Qin Yu pointed toward the pitch-black seawater beyond the porthole.
"Long gone."
Li Ruobing didn't turn her head, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
"Ever since you blasted its lair into a vacuum with that shot that day, there hasn't been a decent mutated shark within a five-hundred-nautical-mile radius."
"That 'Deep-Gazing Eye' is probably hiding in some trench licking its wounds."
"But..."
Li Ruobing's fingers paused, her tone turning serious.
"Something's off."
"What's off?" Qin Yu wiped the water from the corner of his mouth.
"The data."
Li Ruobing tossed a tablet to Qin Yu.
"We've been hiding underwater for a month."
"But during this month, the radio signals from above went from chaotic noise to complete dead silence."
"Just yesterday."
"The dead silence disappeared."
"Replaced by a brand new, highly regular frequency band."
Qin Yu took the tablet, looking at the bizarre red wavy line on the screen that resembled an EKG.
It was a broadcast.
A full-channel broadcast.
But he couldn't understand the content; it was garbled code.
"It's not any existing language."
Yao Xue walked over, pointing at the garbled code.
"But the frequency is very high, almost like some kind... assembly call."
Qin Yu narrowed his eyes.
He had been a turtle hiding in the deep sea for a month.
Not out of fear of death.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the overload cooldown of that "Netherworld: Death's Kiss."
Waiting for the backlash from the shattered Ocean Stabilizing Pearl to subside.
And more importantly, waiting for that "administrator" he had frightened to reshuffle the cards in its hand.
"Looks like there's been a version update."
Qin Yu casually tossed the tablet onto the sofa, a bloodthirsty curve lifting the corner of his mouth.
"Hiding won't solve anything."
"Since they've sounded the assembly call."
"It would be rude not to show our faces."
"Prepare to surface."
The command was given.
The entire "President" instantly came to life.
The Anti-Gravity Engine, dormant for a month, emitted a low, rumbling roar.
"Vroom—!!!"
The hull trembled.
The Ballast Water Tanks began draining.
Massive bubbles burst open around the ship.
"Ruo Bing, warm up the weapon systems."
"Switch Kiss of Death back to conventional mode."
Qin Yu walked over and sat in the captain's seat, resting his hand naturally on the armrest.
"Yao Xue, take Qian Qian to the defensive positions."
"Depth 200 meters…"
"100 meters…"
"50 meters…"
Light.
Long-awaited light.
It pierced through the thick bulletproof glass, illuminating the dim cabin.
But in that instant, everyone's expressions changed.
That wasn't sunlight.
"Why is it… red?"
Yao Qian pressed against the window, her pupils trembling.
"Splash—!!!"
With a massive spray of water, the "President" broke through the surface.
Returning to the sea.
But the sight before them made even Qin Yu suck in a sharp breath.
There was no blue sky.
No white clouds.
The sky overhead looked as if it had been split open with an axe, densely covered in black cracks.
And between those cracks…
Hung a massive, eerie… blood moon.
The entire world was shrouded in a faint, blood-red haze.
The sea breeze no longer carried the scent of salt and brine.
Instead, it was mixed with a strong, metallic odor.
The smell of blood.
"Beep beep beep beep!!!"
Before anyone could react.
The System Panel before Qin Yu went berserk, flooding with pop-ups.
Red exclamation marks dominated his entire retina.
[Region-wide Announcement! Region-wide Announcement!]
[Version update complete!]
[Current Version: 2.0 · Wasteland Era]
[Due to unknown rule collapse in the region (don't ask, someone cheated), regional barriers have shattered!]
[Global zones forcibly merged!]
[Current surviving players: 3.2 billion / 7 billion]
[New rules activated:]
[1. Safe zones? Gone. If you want to sleep, keep one eye open.]
[2. Resource Point refresh mechanism canceled. Want supplies? Go steal. Go kill.]
[3. "Faction" system unlocked.]
[4. "Plunder Value" added. Killing, looting, destroying ships—all earn Plunder Value. Plunder Value can be directly exchanged for S-Class and above supplies/Blueprints/abilities.]
[Special Note:]
[In this version, kindness is the greatest sin.]
[Survive.]
[Even if you become a demon.]
Qin Yu's eyes swept over the blood-red text, reading ten lines at a glance.
He laughed.
Laughed so hard his shoulders shook.
"Interesting."
"Truly interesting."
He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.
The red flame glowed eerily in the blood-colored haze.
"They think we're not dying fast enough."
"Did they just turn the Survival Game into a battle royale?"
"Yu-ge! Look over there!"
Li Ruobing suddenly pointed at the radar screen, her voice sharp.
"A ship is approaching!"
"It's moving fast! It's not a Raft!"
Qin Yu turned.
Through the red haze.
He saw, less than two nautical miles away.
Three black steel speedboats were rapidly closing in on the President in a triangular formation.
These were no ordinary speedboats.
Their bows were welded with menacing rams.
Heavy machine guns were mounted on their decks.
Several withered corpses hung from the masts of each vessel.
Swaying gently in the sea breeze.
As if displaying their trophies.
"So these are the so-called 'new version players'?"
Qin Yu blew out a smoke ring.
Not a trace of panic in his eyes.
Only a mocking look, as if watching a gift-bearing child.
"Perfect timing."
"Just woke up, my hands are a bit rusty."
"And here come the delivery boys."
The three speedboats had clearly also spotted the President, which had just surfaced.
In their eyes.
This strangely shaped, unmarked ship was nothing but a piece of tender meat.
"Woo woo woo—"
A piercing alarm sounded from the opposing vessels.
Immediately after.
A loudspeaker voice boomed across the sea.
"Ship ahead! Cut your engines immediately!"
"Men jump overboard! Women stay!"
"Supplies confiscated!"
"We are the vanguard of the Frenzied Shark Fleet!"
"Resisters will be skinned and hung from the flagpole!"
Arrogant.
Domineering.
This was the inevitable product bred under the new rules.
When order collapses, violence becomes the only passport.
"Skinned?"
Qin Yu seemed to have heard a joke.
He stood up and walked to the control console.
Reaching out, he gently stroked the red weapon launch button.
Although the Kiss of Death had entered its recovery phase after dormancy and could no longer use Void Mode.
In its conventional form, the High-Precision Sniper Cannon.
Against such scrap metal.
Was child's play.
"Ruo Bing."
"Here."
"Tell them who I am."
A cold, alluring smile curled at the corner of Li Ruobing's lips.
She understood Qin Yu all too well.
She directly switched on the external loudspeaker.
Cranking the volume to maximum.
"This is the President."
"I am Qin Yu."
"You have three seconds."
"Get lost."
A brief silence.
Then.
A burst of wild, derisive laughter erupted from the speedboats.
"Qin Yu? What the hell is Qin Yu?"
"Never heard of him!"
"Some old news from another district, right?"
"Brothers! Let's go! Skin this brat and make shoe insoles out of him!"
"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—"
Tongues of flame spat forth.
Dense bullets struck the President's protective shield, stirring ripples of blue light.
Not even a scratch remained.
Qin Yu shook his head.
The mockery in his eyes vanished.
Replaced by absolute coldness.
"Gave you a chance, but you're useless."
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