"Armory?"
The smile on Qin Yu's lips grew wider.
But there wasn't much warmth in that smile.
It was all calculation.
"Right ahead?"
He asked over the communicator.
"Yes, coordinates (1480, 9920)."
Qi Chun's voice trembled slightly, clearly still shaken from nearly being strangled by the vines earlier.
"That used to be a trench. Just now, tectonic movements pushed the volcano underneath right up."
"My drone's signal got fried by the heatwave as soon as it got close."
"Brother Yu, are we really going?"
"That place is basically a pressure cooker now. We might end up cooked ourselves."
"We're going."
Qin Yu's reply was resolute.
Not go?
What else would we do—drink the northwest wind?
Right now, the "President" might look intimidating.
But it's actually just an empty shell.
If those scumbags from the "Anti-Qin Alliance" really swarm us,
are we supposed to blast them with words?
"Ruo Bing."
Qin Yu hung up the communicator.
Turning around, he looked at the control console.
There,
the red warning light was still flashing.
As if the ship itself was crying out in pain.
"Pour this."
Qin Yu flipped his hand over.
A bottle emitting a faint green glow appeared in his palm.
S-Class Abyss Active Essence.
He had risked his life to get that earlier.
"Into the cooling tank of the power core."
Li Ruobing was taken aback.
She stared at the bottle.
What flowed inside wasn't water.
It looked like living mercury.
Still swirling on its own inside the container.
"This is S-rank material..."
She hesitated.
"Use it just like that?"
"Even though the ship's durability is low right now, as long as we find a place to repair it slowly..."
"No time for slow repairs."
Qin Yu cut her off.
His gaze shifted to the radar screen.
There,
dozens of red dots were closing in from all directions.
Moving fast.
Clearly all modified speedboats or assault crafts.
"See that?"
Qin Yu pointed at the screen.
"Those are sharks smelling blood."
"If they find out the 'President' is a pushover right now,"
"within half an hour,"
"we'll be torn apart for scrap."
"Pour it!"
His tone brooked no argument.
Li Ruobing bit her lip.
She didn't argue further.
Taking the bottle,
she opened the injection port in the engine room.
"Glug."
The green liquid poured in.
One second.
Two seconds.
Silence.
Then.
"Boom—!!"
The entire ship jolted violently.
Like a dying person injected with a shot of adrenaline.
The originally low, hoarse engine sound
instantly became high-pitched and powerful.
The charred circuit boards
actually began to heal at a visible rate.
A layer of green sheen spread across the metal surfaces,
then quickly faded away.
"Warning cleared."
"Power output: 120%."
"Hull structural integrity restored to: 85%."
"Additional effect: Abyss Activity (hull self-repair speed increased by 300%, duration: 1 hour)."
Li Ruobing stared at the data flashing on the screen,
her eyes wide as saucers.
"This..."
"It's repaired just like that?"
"And it's even more powerful than before?"
This is the true value of an S-Class item.
Qin Yu didn't speak.
He simply felt the vibrations beneath his feet.
That powerful, rumbling roar.
Made him feel much more at ease.
"Let's go."
He waved his hand.
"Full speed ahead."
"Let's go see that Armory Fatty mentioned."
"See if it can actually make our investment back."
...
Twenty minutes later.
The sea changed.
It was no longer that despair-inducing deep blue.
Nor was it the sickly pale green from earlier.
It was red.
A dark red.
The seawater seemed to be boiling.
Bubbling and gurgling.
The air was filled with a pungent smell of sulfur.
The temperature.
Was skyrocketing.
"Warning! External temperature has reached 60 degrees Celsius!"
"Cooling system operating under high load!"
Through the cockpit glass.
Ahead could be seen.
A black island.
Slowly rising from beneath the sea surface.
That wasn't an island.
It was a mountain.
A dormant volcano spewing black smoke.
And at the crater's location.
There was no lava.
Only a massive, rust-covered steel structure.
Like a giant steel beast.
Wedged inside the volcano's mouth.
This was the ruin.
The Ancient Armory.
"Holy cow..."
Over the communicator.
Qi Chun's voice was trembling.
His Floating Fortress, due to its massive size.
Could only hang far behind.
"This thing..."
"What era did this come from?"
"It looks even tougher than Odin's base!"
It was indeed tough.
Although the structure was covered in rust.
Within those cracks.
Blue arcs of energy still flickered.
Clearly.
Even after who knows how many years.
This place's defense systems.
Were still operational.
"Yu-ge..."
Qi Chun gulped.
"How... how do we get in?"
"The area is full of underwater currents."
"And that water temperature."
"Going down would turn us into boiled pork."
Qin Yu ignored him.
He was staring at the Radar.
Those dozens of red dots.
Had already caught up.
Less than five nautical miles away.
These people.
Really had no fear of death.
"Fatty."
Qin Yu's voice was cold.
"See that entrance?"
He pointed.
To a massive, half-submerged gate beneath the steel structure.
The gate was only open a crack.
About ten meters wide.
The water current inside was rushing like knives.
"I... I see it."
"Your fortress."
"Can't get in."
Qin Yu stated the facts.
"Huh?"
Qi Chun panicked.
"Then what do I do?"
"Yu-ge, you can't leave me behind!"
"Those bastards behind are about to catch up!"
"I have the S-Class Blueprint! I have Mithril! I'm a prime target!"
"They'll tear me apart!"
"Shut up."
Qin Yu frowned.
"Listen."
"You stay outside."
"Block the entrance."
"What?!"
Qi Chun almost fell out of his chair.
"Bl-block the entrance?!"
"You want me alone."
"To take on that whole group behind us?!"
"Yu-ge, you're my brother!"
"I want to live!"
"I'm not trying to get you killed either."
Qin Yu's fingers tapped on the control console.
The rhythm was fast.
"Your fortress might not fly high."
"But it's thick-skinned."
"S-Class defense."
"Those modified little dinghies."
"Can't chew through you."
"And."
Qin Yu paused.
A cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
"There's only that one entrance here."
"You just park your fortress across it."
"And it becomes an impassable barrier."
"I'm going inside to get the goods."
"You guard the outside for me."
"Anyone who dares approach."
"Sink them."
"But..."
Qi Chun still wanted to plead his case.
"No buts."
Qin Yu's voice suddenly turned grave.
Carrying a murderous intent.
"Fatty."
"Fortune favors the bold."
"If you hold this position."
"Whatever comes out of there."
"I'll give you twenty percent."
Twenty percent?
Qi Chun's whining stopped abruptly.
If anyone else said twenty percent.
It would be an empty promise.
But when Qin Yu said twenty percent.
It meant mountains of gold and silver.
This was Qin Yu, after all!
The man who dared snatch food from Odin's mouth!
If he said there were treasures inside.
Then there absolutely were!
"R-really?"
Qi Chun's voice trembled.
This time from excitement.
"When have I ever lied to my own people?"
Qin Yu retorted.
There was a two-second silence on the other end of the communicator.
Then.
A roar came from Fatty.
As if to bolster his own courage.
"Let's do it!!"
"Damn it!"
"Men die for wealth, birds die for food!"
"My three-hundred-square-meter villa isn't made of paper either!"
"Whoever dares come!"
"I'll crush them!!"
"Good."
Qin Yu nodded.
"Ruo Bing."
"Adjust our stance."
"Fold the side armor plates."
"We're going to charge."
"Understood."
Li Ruobing's hands danced across the keyboard.
The originally broad hull of the President.
Suddenly emitted a series of mechanical clicks.
The side decks flipped upward.
The entire ship became slender.
Like a sharp sword.
"Hold on tight."
Qin Yu stared at the narrow entrance filled with an aura of death.
It was a gateway to the unknown abyss.
But also the door to a vault of unimaginable wealth.
"Fatty."
"Remember."
"If even a single fly gets through."
"I'll throw you into that volcano."
"As fuel."
Without waiting for Qi Chun's reply.
Qin Yu slammed the throttle forward.
"Boom—!!"
The President's stern spewed a long trail of blue flame.
Harnessing the explosive power of the S-Class repair fluid.
The entire ship shot forward like an arrow from a bow.
Piercing through the boiling sea surface.
"Sizzle—"
The hull sliced through the scalding seawater.
Sending plumes of white steam into the air.
Qin Yu's ship.
Charged resolutely into that narrow gate.
In an instant.
Vanishing into the darkness and turbulent currents.
On the sea surface.
Only Qi Chun's massive Floating Fortress remained.
Looming solitary before the entrance.
"Huff..."
Qi Chun sat in the control room littered with snack bags.
Wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
Watching the red dots on the radar drawing closer and closer.
A flicker of ferocity flashed in the fatty's eyes.
It was the look of a cornered rabbit.
Ready to bite.
"Come on!"
"All of you, come on!"
He pressed the ship-wide broadcast.
His voice echoed across the empty sea through the speakers.
"This road belongs to me!"
"These trees were planted by me!"
"If you want to pass through here!"
"Ask if my S-Class flesh agrees!!"
In the distance.
The vanguard of the Anti-Qin Alliance.
Stared at the fortress blocking the only entrance.
Like a small mountain.
They were stunned.
"Is that... the third-ranked Floating Fortress?"
"Why is that damn fatty here too?"
"Is he guarding the door for Qin Yu?!"
"Damn it!"
"In for a penny, in for a pound!"
"Let's rob him too!!"
"Open fire!!"
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!"
Gunfire.
Instantly shattered the sea's tranquility.
And deep within the unfathomable Armory.
Qin Yu's world.
Had completely darkened.
Only the cold light from the instrument panel.
Illuminated his stern face.
"Entering inner zone."
"Signal jamming: 100%."
"Lost contact with the outside world."
Li Ruobing's voice sounded in the darkness.
"Qin Yu."
"Now."
"It's just us left."
Qin Yu looked ahead.
In the depths of that endless darkness.
There was a red light.
Flickering.
Like an eye.
Staring at this intruder.
"No."
Qin Yu said softly.
His hand slowly tightened on the control stick.
"There's still them."
"The..."
"Natives here."
"Roar—!!"
A muffled roar.
Came from the dark water below.
Not the roar of a living creature.
But the noise of metal grinding.
"Clack clack clack..."
On the radar screen.
Originally empty.
Suddenly.
A dense cluster of yellow dots lit up.
"High-energy reaction detected!"
"Type: Mechanical Guard!"
"Quantity:..."
Li Ruobing's voice paused.
Because that number.
Kept jumping.
One hundred.
Two hundred.
Five hundred...
"Seems."
A crazy smile curled at the corner of Qin Yu's mouth.
"This Armory's welcome ceremony."
"Is quite grand."
He glanced at the weapon bay that, though cooling, was still in a locked state.
No Kiss of Death.
No Qi Chun as a meat shield.
Not even a way out.
"Then bring it on."
Qin Yu abruptly pulled up the bow.
The "President" in the narrow waterway.
Executed a drift that defied the laws of physics.
Avoiding a torpedo fired from the darkness.
"Boom!!"
The rock wall behind them shattered.
Debris flew everywhere.
"All hands, prepare!"
Qin Yu's voice exploded within the cabin.
"Be it human."
"Or machine."
"Whoever blocks my path to riches."
"Dies!!"