"Beep—beep—beep—"
At that moment, it was a point-to-point encrypted call request from the Chat Channel.
"Ruo Bing, answer it."
"Yes."
Li Ruobing tapped on the virtual keyboard.
The massive main screen flickered, the static cleared, revealing a large round face that occupied most of the screen.
It was that chubby guy with the Floating Fortress, Qi Chun.
His current background seemed off.
It wasn't the dim ship cabin from before, nor the sea surface.
Behind him was a pitch-black night sky, and... the clouds seemed to be beneath his feet?
The wind noise was loud, roaring into the microphone, making Qi Chun's curly hair fly around like a bird's nest.
"Hello? Hello! Boss Qin! Can you hear me?"
Qi Chun shouted at the top of his lungs, still holding half a leftover braised pig's trotter in his hand, his mouth greasy.
Qin Yu pulled over a chair and sat down, crossing his legs. He took out a lighter from his pocket, flicked it open with a "click," and lit the cigarette in his mouth.
"I can hear you."
"Spit it out if you have something to say."
Qi Chun shrank his neck, chuckled, quickly put down the pig's trotter, and wiped his hands haphazardly on his clothes.
"No, no, no, Boss Qin, I came specifically to thank you!"
"Just now, I saw the rankings change."
"That bastard named Zhang Nanhai, his name turned gray."
"Boss Qin, what you did was absolutely satisfying! You really helped me vent some anger!"
Qin Yu wasn't surprised.
"It was just a small matter."
"Alright, skip the pleasantries."
Qin Yu flicked the ash from his cigarette, his gaze sharp, staring straight at Qi Chun on the screen.
"You may look simple-minded, but that's just an act for others."
"You wouldn't come without a reason."
"That background from your perspective..."
Qin Yu pointed at the screen.
"You're not on the sea surface right now, are you?"
Qi Chun was taken aback for a moment, then gave a thumbs-up.
"Incredible! Nothing can escape your sharp eyes, Boss Qin!"
At this point, the playful expression on Qi Chun's face faded somewhat, replaced by a rare seriousness, even a hint of lingering fear.
He leaned closer to the camera, lowering his voice, even though only the howling wind surrounded him.
"Boss Qin, I won't hide it from you."
"A couple of days ago, I got lucky and got my hands on a big thing that fell from the sky, which upgraded my fortress."
"Now I have an SS-class Vehicle that can fly three hundred meters high."
"This is also the main thing I wanted to tell you."
Qin Yu's eyes narrowed.
Three hundred meters.
At this height, in this world full of fog and seawater, it meant absolute reconnaissance authority.
The legendary "God's Perspective."
"Go on."
Qi Chun swallowed hard, glanced back at the darkness behind him as if afraid something might be chasing him.
"About half an hour ago."
"Right when you caused that big commotion over there, when the energy fluctuations were at their strongest."
"I saw something from up in the sky."
"Or rather... a cloud."
Qin Yu furrowed his brow slightly.
"Cloud?"
"Yeah, an abnormal cloud." Qi Chun gestured. "It's pitch black everywhere at this time of night, so I couldn't see clearly at first."
"But my radar now has dual-mode thermal imaging and sonar."
"That cloud—it's moving against the wind!"
"And at an extremely fast speed, at least fifty knots!"
"It's about a hundred nautical miles northeast of your position."
Qin Yu's heart skipped a beat.
Northeast.
Against the wind.
Fifty knots.
Isn't this thing heading straight for the President?
That S-class Parasitic Larva just sent out a distress signal, and now this thing reacts.
It seems Chen Xiaoya wasn't lying.
This must be the so-called "Sky Island"!
Or rather, that monster's "mother."
"There's something even weirder."
Qi Chun's voice trembled.
"I took advantage of flying high and tried to get closer for a better look."
"But as soon as I got within about five kilometers of the edge of that cloud, my ship started alarming."
"Gravity Alarm!"
"My altimeter went haywire, jumping between three hundred meters and negative fifty meters."
"The scariest part was, I saw seawater... seawater flowing upward into the sky!"
"Not like a waterspout."
"It was an entire area of seawater, as if it had lost gravity, turning into huge droplets floating in mid-air, then being sucked into that dark cloud!"
"I almost lost control right then. If it weren't for the powerful thrust of this SS-class Engine, I'd probably have been sucked in by now!"
"Boss Qin, there's definitely something huge inside!"
"That oppressive feeling is a hundred times stronger than when I first saw the Sea Beast Tide!"
Listening to Qi Chun's description, Qin Yu quickly constructed the scene in his mind.
Gravity imbalance.
Seawater flowing upward.
Immense suction.
This perfectly matched what Chen Xiaoya said about the "black stone" and "anti-gravity."
That wasn't a cloud.
It was a mobile war fortress with some kind of force field control ability!
"Is that thing still moving?" Qin Yu asked gravely.
"Yes!"
Qi Chun glanced at the instrument panel beside him.
"And it's accelerating!"
"Straight-line distance, it should be less than eighty nautical miles from your coordinates now."
"Boss Qin, run!"
"That thing might not necessarily be coming for you, but wherever it passes, even the fish in the sea get sucked dry."
"It's a moving black hole!"
Qin Yu sneered.
Run?
Where to?
Once locked onto by a high-level creature, there's no escape unless I discard that crystal.
But discard it?
That's a trophy I earned through my own skills, the key to uncovering the truth of this world.
Once it's in my pocket, it's mine.
Want it back?
Come and take it with your life.
"Qi Chun."
Qin Yu suddenly spoke, cutting off Qi Chun's incessant chatter.
"Huh? I'm here, boss."
"Thanks."
Qin Yu said this sincerely.
In this apocalyptic world where everyone fends for themselves, Qi Chun risking danger to deliver this warning—this favor carried weight.
"I'll remember this intel."
"I'll treat you to hotpot later."
Hearing the word "hotpot," Qi Chun's eyes lit up.
"Really?"
"All you can eat."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Qin Yu's mouth.
"But right now, I've got work to do."
"Stay far away yourself. Don't get hit by stray bullets."
"Hanging up."
"Beep—"
The communication cut off.
The screen returned to its dark standby state.
Qin Yu sat in the chair, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then suddenly opened them.
The laziness in his eyes vanished completely.
In its place was the icy, piercing gleam that only appeared during moments of the hunt.
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