The fierce wind tore through Qin Yu's black tactical windbreaker.
Dapeng's sharp claws dug firmly into his shoulders, carrying him like a black meteor as they plummeted straight into the gaping maw of the Absolute Zero Trench.
The deeper they fell, the faster the light vanished.
In less than ten seconds, their surroundings had plunged into utter silence and darkness.
Crack, crack, crack—
A teeth-grating sound of freezing suddenly erupted beside Qin Yu's ears.
Even Dapeng, with its SSS-grade mutant physique, began to rapidly accumulate a layer of eerie blue frost on its feathers.
It let out a pained screech, its descent faltering for a moment.
This was no ordinary cold.
This was the System's Underlying Physical Laws forcibly stripping the temperature from this space!
At that moment.
Dozens of blinding, icy-blue exhaust flames suddenly erupted above Qin Yu's head!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The roar of overloaded Thrusters violently tore through the deep silence of the trench.
Qin Yu jerked his head up.
Through his goggles, he saw rows of dazzling metallic streaks, defying the Extreme Cold Storm capable of shredding steel, diving frantically toward him!
Leading the charge was a fiery red figure.
Li Ruobing.
The [S-Class Adaptive Liquid Armor] on her body was operating at maximum output.
Her Berserker Pipe Wrench was dragged behind her with one hand, trailing a long stream of sparks.
"Qin Yu!"
Li Ruobing cursed through the comm channel.
"Think you're hot shit now, huh?!"
"Trying to ditch me and go play the hero alone?"
"Not a fucking chance!"
Close behind her was Elena.
Her S-class mechanical arm flickered with violent arcs of electricity in the darkness.
She wasted no words.
Her actions spoke clearly enough.
"Valkyrie Corps, all units, cut Deceleration Engines!"
Elena's voice in the channel was ice-cold.
"Full-speed descent!"
"Target, directly below the Boss!"
"Anyone who dares block the Boss's path, crush them!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Dozens of top-tier supermodel guards clad in dark gold S-grade armor, like a swarm of suicidal steel hornets, surged past Qin Yu's position, forcefully forming a Circular Defense Array beneath him.
Looking at these crazy women.
Qin Yu, suspended mid-air, couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
"Are you all out of your minds?"
Qin Yu snapped irritably.
"You just abandoned all that scrap metal up there? Coming down here to die?"
Li Ruobing executed a sharp turn, her thrusters blasting a fierce jet of flame as she came to a steady hover on Qin Yu's left.
Even through her armor's visor, Qin Yu could picture her fiery, gritted-teeth expression.
"Save your breath."
Li Ruobing swung her pipe wrench.
"My man, I protect him myself."
"If we die, we die together!"
Elena hovered on Qin Yu's right.
Her mechanical arm emitted a sharp metallic crackle.
"Boss, you said it yourself."
"Your team doesn't need cannon fodder."
"But we need you."
Hearing their words and looking down at the dozens of Valkyries standing ready below.
Qin Yu took a deep breath.
Cursing aside.
But deep down, it felt as if something had struck him hard.
In this post-apocalyptic wasteland where people devour each other, to have a group of women willing to leap into the abyss with you...
It was worth it.
"Fine."
Qin Yu's eyes hardened, and he shook off Dapeng's claw.
"Dapeng, get back to the surface and guard the President for me!"
"Screech—!" Dapeng, as if granted a pardon, frantically flapped its frozen wings and soared upward.
Qin Yu activated the tactical coat's micro anti-gravity module, and his body began free-falling.
"Since we're all down here now..."
"Let's show that Executive Officer exactly how we tear his trump card to shreds!"
"Beep-beep-beep—!"
Just then, a piercing alarm suddenly blared wildly inside everyone's armor.
Yao Qian's voice, choked with tears, forcibly cut into the public channel.
"Brother-in-law! Ruobing!"
"Run! The temperature drop curve is completely out of control!"
"This isn't normal seawater below! It's an Absolute Zero Field!"
Yao Qian's fingers hammered on the keyboard with thunderous force.
"Your S-Class Armor can only hold for thirty more seconds at most!"
"After thirty seconds, the molecular structure of the armor will freeze and shatter completely at absolute zero!"
As if to confirm Yao Qian's words...
"Crack!"
The armor on the left arm of a Valkyrie charging at the forefront suddenly split open with a fissure.
Like a plague, the crack instantly spread across her entire body.
"Ah—!"
The Valkyrie let out a scream.
Her thrusters instantly died, and her entire body plummeted like a cold stone into the deeper darkness.
"Grab her!" Elena's eyes widened in fury.
Just as Li Ruobing dove to rescue her, the armor on her legs emitted an unbearable creaking sound.
The temperature was too low.
This wasn't cold in the physical sense.
This was a "Death Logic" forcibly written by the system.
Any item not reaching Rule-grade would turn to dust here!
"Kekeke..."
From deep within the darkness.
A bone-chilling, eerie laughter suddenly echoed.
Immediately after.
On the radar screen, dense clusters of blood-red dots lit up like stars.
These were the Mutant Aberrations lurking at the bottom of the Absolute Zero Field.
Each one's energy fluctuation steadily stood at the S-grade peak.
Sensing the presence of living beings, they were surging upward madly.
Ahead, absolute zero freezing the armor.
Behind, endless abyssal monsters opening their maws.
A truly hopeless situation with no chance of survival.
"Qin Yu! Hand over the fragment!"
From above in the sky, the Executive Officer's hysterical electronic synthesized voice faintly echoed once more.
"Submit now, and I might still leave your corpse intact!"
"Otherwise, all of you will become feces for these Trench Scavengers!"
"Submit?"
Qin Yu sneered coldly.
Trapped in this desperate situation, he showed not a hint of panic. Instead, he reached back into his system space.
"In my whole life, I've never even had cervical spondylosis. And you want me to submit?"
Qin Yu's finger stopped on a compartment in the farthest corner of the space warehouse.
"Hum—!"
A sphere, only the size of a fist but emitting an intensely terrifying, blinding white light that seemed capable of burning through space itself, instantly appeared in Qin Yu's palm.
[Item Name: Miniature Star · Eye of Helios]
[Item Rating: S-grade (Special Consumable)]
Looking at this "miniature sun" in his hand.
Qin Yu smiled like an utter madman.
"Absolute zero, huh?"
"Freezing everything, huh?"
Qin Yu raised the light sphere radiating destructive energy with one hand.
"Ruo Bing! Elena!"
"Everyone, switch all armor energy to Heat Insulation Mode!"
"Close your eyes!"
Upon hearing Qin Yu's command, Li Ruobing and Elena did not hesitate for a moment.
"Executing orders!"
Dozens of S-Class Armors instantly transformed, their dark golden surfaces coated with a thick layer of Heat Insulation Coating.
"Executive Officer."
Qin Yu looked up, raising a middle finger toward the pitch-black space above.
"Today, I'm gonna set off a firework for you."
As soon as the words fell.
Qin Yu's right hand suddenly exerted force.
"Crack!"
The outer Force Field Shield enveloping the miniature star was crushed in his grasp!
"Boom——!!"
Indescribably intense light instantly illuminated the bottom of the Absolute Zero Trench!
This was not a bomb explosion.
This was the birth of a sun!
A hundred million degrees of core heat, like an ancient beast suppressed for millions of years, roared and surged in all directions!
"Sizzle sizzle sizzle——!"
The System's proud "Absolute Zero Field," upon contact with this extreme heat.
Emitted a wretched scream as if it were a living creature.