Qin Yu's finger paused on Yao Qian's tear-dampened eyelashes.
Upon hearing the words "have a child," a complex emotion flashed through his usually unreadable eyes.
In this post-apocalyptic world,
Children were burdens.
That was the first ironclad rule in all survival guidelines.
Pregnant women had limited mobility, infant cries would attract monsters, and raising them required double or even triple the resources.
In a world where you couldn't even be sure you'd survive the next second, procreation was practically handing a knife to the Grim Reaper.
But Qin Yu looked at the girl in his arms.
She wasn't seeking protection.
She was seeking a reason to continue living like a human being in this broken world.
"Silly girl."
A roguish smile tugged at Qin Yu's lips as he gently tapped her nose.
"Do you know that baby formula is more expensive than gold now?"
Yao Qian froze, not expecting this reaction from Qin Yu.
She grew anxious, propping up half her body without caring about her exposed state, urgently saying:
"I... I can eat less!"
"I won't snack anymore, I won't drink cola, I'll save my ration share..."
"And I can do accounts, I can read radar, I can even teach him later..."
"Enough."
Qin Yu pressed her back into his embrace, cutting off her rambling.
The domineering force made Yao Qian instantly fall silent.
"My woman doesn't need to save rations."
"Even if we're raising not just one, but an entire football team, I can afford it."
Qin Yu's voice wasn't loud, but carried an arrogant confidence that felt reassuring.
He lowered his head, forehead pressed against Yao Qian's, their breaths mingling.
"About this matter, I won't deliberately try, but I won't avoid it either."
"If it happens, that's fate."
"Since it's fate granted by heaven, I can protect it."
"As long as this ship remains, as long as I, Qin Yu, still stand."
"Not just a child."
"Even if you want to raise a dinosaur, I'll catch one for you."
Yao Qian's tears started flowing again.
This time not from fear.
But from being moved.
In this era where human life was as cheap as grass, having a man willing to make such a promise to you...
This was ten thousand times heavier than any "I love you."
"Brother Qin Yu..."
Yao Qian murmured, her arms winding around Qin Yu's neck like vines.
"Then... shall we start working hard now?"
Her eyes were seductive, her voice soft enough to melt one's bones.
Qin Yu raised an eyebrow, feeling the rekindled fire in the delicate body in his arms.
The earlier fear and unease had now transformed into primal desire.
"Still not full from earlier?"
Qin Yu flipped over, throwing the covers aside.
"Then let's have a midnight snack."
"This time, no calling stop."
"Mmm..."
Yao Qian's gasp was swallowed between their lips.
...
The next day.
Early morning, 5:50.
The horizon was just beginning to show the first light of dawn.
The sea breeze carried the unique moisture and chill of morning, cutting across the deck like a knife.
Inside the command room of the "President," the atmosphere was so tense you could almost wring water from it.
Qin Yu stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling window, holding a freshly brewed cup of hot Americano.
He was in high spirits.
Last night's frenzy didn't seem to have drained much of his energy; instead, it left him looking even more vibrant.
Behind him, Yao Xue was checking various instrument readings.
Li Ruobing was wiping down her heavy machine gun, her eyes betraying a groggy, just-woke-up irritation.
As for Yao Qian.
The girl was slumped over the control panel, her legs a bit weak, occasionally stealing glances at Qin Yu's back, her cheeks flushed.
"Ten minutes left."
Yao Xue's voice broke the silence.
She adjusted her glasses and pointed at the blood-red countdown on the screen.
[Time Until Black Tide Activation: 00 Hours 09 Minutes 59 Seconds]
"The World Channel has gone insane."
Li Ruobing yawned and casually tossed a holographic projection into the air.
Even without her saying it, Qin Yu could hear the continuous stream of notification sounds from the communicator.
"Beep beep beep beep beep!"
The sound was as urgent as a death knell.
[World Channel]
"Move! Everyone, fucking move! Stop sleeping!"
"Why won't my engine start?! Help! Does anyone know mechanics?! I'll pay! I'll pay anything!"
"Ship ahead, get out of the way! Don't block me! I don't have brakes! If you get hit, it's your own fault!"
"I don't want to die... Mom... I don't want to die..."
"The Black Mist is moving! I see it! Those bugs are waking up! Their wings are flapping!"
"Run! Head east! Don't look back!"
Even through the screen.
Qin Yu could almost smell the stench of urine permeating the sea surface.
It was a collective hysteria.
After a night of torment.
Many hadn't rested at all; instead, fear had pushed their minds to the brink of collapse.
Now, the stay of execution was over.
The time for sentencing had arrived.
Qin Yu took a sip of the bitter coffee, his gaze indifferent.
"Start the engines."
"Preheat the nuclear reactor."
"Set cruising speed to 25 knots."
"We must maintain the lead position at all times."
"Yes!"
Yao Qian forced herself to focus, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
"Vroom—"
The steel behemoth beneath their feet let out a low roar.
It was the sound of power.
The confidence to survive.
5:58.
5:59.
The seconds ticked by.
Each one felt like a step on everyone's heart.
The moment the second hand hit zero.
[Ding!]
[6:00 AM has arrived.]
[The Black Tide has revived.]
[Today's Weather: Clear.]
[We wish all players a pleasant game.]
As soon as the cold system voice faded.
To the west.
The black line that had remained still all night began to move.
"Bzzzzzzzzzz—"
It wasn't the sound of machinery.
It was the resonance of billions of flying insects flapping their wings simultaneously.
The sound was low but piercing.
Like countless drills boring into people's skulls.
"It's here."
Qin Yu set down his coffee cup.
His eyes were fixed on the rearview footage transmitted by the drone.
On the screen.
The dozens of Rafts closest to the Black Mist instantly descended into chaos.
"Ahhhhhhh! It's moving! It's really moving!"
A man stood at the stern of his Raft, wildly swinging an axe in his hands.
Trying to fend off the approaching dark shadows.
But it was useless.
The Black Mist advanced like an unfeeling bulldozer, crushing everything in its path.
Its speed was terrifying.
Ten knots per hour?
No.
Visually, it resembled a colossal maw that instantly engulfed everything.
Crunch! Crunch!
The sound was like grinding teeth.
The man swinging his axe couldn't even let out a complete scream.
In an instant—
Just an instant—
He was swallowed by a tide of black insects.
As the Black Mist swept past,
The raft vanished.
The man vanished.
Only a faint red stain and a few floating plastic bottles remained on the sea.
Not even bone fragments were left.
"It's too fast…"
Yao Qian covered her mouth, her face deathly pale.
"Even faster than yesterday!"
"Yesterday, it seemed to have an acceleration period at the start."
"Today, it's already at full speed!"
Qin Yu sneered coldly.
"The system never said the Black Mist needed to warm up."
"Those who thought they could linger in bed a few more minutes are now sleeping forever."
On the screen,
Tragedies were unfolding on a massive scale.
The woman who had offered herself for fuel in the World Channel last night—
She had actually gotten a down jacket.
Now, wrapped in that grimy red coat, she was desperately paddling.
Her raft had no engine.
The man who had "bought" her last night had taken her body but hadn't taken her with him—nor given her a single drop of fuel.
"Take me with you! Please! Take me!"
She wept and screamed toward another raft not far ahead.
That raft had an engine, chugging black smoke.
"Get lost!"
Someone on that raft glanced back.
But he didn't see the woman—
He saw the black death closing in behind her.
Without a second thought,
He swung the raft around and sped away.
So desperate to lighten the load, he even kicked their last crate of bottled water into the sea.
"No—"
The woman's cries cut off abruptly.
The Black Mist had caught her.
That red down jacket stood out starkly amid the black swarm.
Then—
Vanished.
Like a drop of water falling into ink, without a ripple.
"That's the price of being slow."
Qin Yu's voice held no emotion.
He was no saint.
In times like these, compassion was the cheapest and most useless thing.
"Ruo Bing."
"Here!"
"Watch our backs."
"I'm not afraid of the bugs catching up."
"I'm afraid some desperate fools will try to use our raft as a shield."
Qin Yu's concern was justified.
As the Black Mist advanced,
Panic spread like a plague to the front ranks.
Those who had thought themselves relatively safe were utterly terrified by the carnage behind them.
The ugliest facets of human nature erupted completely.
Boom!
A loud crash.
About two nautical miles behind and to the side of the President,
A pirate ship flying a skull flag rammed directly into an ordinary sailboat.
It was Zhang Nanhai's fleet.
No—
To be precise, one of Zhang Nanhai's subordinates.
"Hand over your fuel!"
The pirates brandished crossbows, roaring wildly.
"Just the fuel! Or we'll sink your boat!"
"We'll all die together!"
The sailboat they'd hit carried a family of three.
The man clutched an iron rod, shielding his wife and child behind him, his face a mask of despair.
"I'm out of fuel! Really, I have none left!"
"I only have food! Bread! I'll give you bread!"
"To hell with your bread!"
The pirates wouldn't listen.
"Thwack!"
A crossbow bolt pierced straight through the man's thigh.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
"Ahhh!!"
The man screamed and collapsed to the deck.
The pirates swarmed aboard like sharks drawn to blood.
They had no time to loot supplies.
They rushed straight for the engine.
Drained the fuel tank dry, and even forcibly ripped out the still-hot engine.
Then.
They kicked the injured man, along with the sobbing woman and child, into the sea.
"Let's go!"
With the fuel and engine secured,
The pirate ship immediately turned around, fleeing eastward at full speed like a desperate wild dog.
Leaving the family of three floundering in the icy water.
Less than five hundred meters behind them,
A black line was approaching.
"Daddy... I'm scared..."
The little girl clung to a floating plank, crying hysterically.
Gritting through the agony, the man desperately pushed his wife and child onto the plank in the water.
He glanced back.
The sky was blotted out by swarms of black flying insects.
"Close your eyes!"
"Close your eyes, sweetie!"
"Don't look!"
These were the man's last words in this world.
The next second,
The Black Tide engulfed the area.
The crying ceased.
The waves continued to lap.
As if nothing had ever happened.
Aboard the President,
Li Ruobing's fingers were clenched white on the heavy machine gun's trigger,
Her knuckles pale from the strain.
She gritted her teeth, eyes slightly red.
"Those bastards..."
"Absolute monsters!"
Though usually bold and decisive in battle,
This was entirely different from cold-blooded slaughter.
"Yu, can we take a shot at them?"
"That pirate ship!"
"It's pissing me off!"
Qin Yu watched the screen.
The successful pirate ship, now with a new engine and fuel, surged forward, mingling with other vessels in a frantic escape.
"Not yet,"
Qin Yu said calmly.
"Besides."
"Look ahead."
He pointed to the edge of the radar screen.
There,
A strange red zone glowed.
"Sea beast activity, normal."
"That's what the system says."
"But in these waters, normal... is the most abnormal thing."
No sooner had he spoken,
"Crash!"
A tremendous noise erupted from ahead.
The pirate ship, freshly victorious and speeding away arrogantly,
Suddenly slammed into an invisible wall.
The entire stern lifted sharply.
"What's happening?!"
"Did we hit a reef?!"
The pirates onboard screamed in panic.
But this was the deep sea—where were the reefs?
Then,
A gaping maw lined with sharp teeth burst from the water.
It was a fish.
A mutated deep-sea anglerfish.
As large as a bus.
The glowing "lantern" on its head flickered with a deadly lure.
"Crunch!"
A crisp sound.
The once-dominant pirate ship was bitten clean in half by the giant fish.
Wood splinters flew.
The pirates who'd just been killing were now snacks in the fish's mouth.
The stolen engine, sparking, tumbled into the fish's maw.
"Ahhhhhh!"
The screams lasted less than two seconds.
The giant fish swallowed half the ship, its massive tail whipping up waves dozens of meters high before submerging into the deep sea and vanishing without a trace. Only a chaotic sea surface and rapidly crimson-stained water remained.
"See that?" Qin Yu's voice remained terrifyingly calm. "This is retribution."
"Or rather," he continued, "this is the law of these waters."
"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
"In the eyes of that leviathan, they're no different from the family of three they murdered."
"Just meat."
Li Ruobing released the trigger, exhaling deeply.
"Satisfying!" she declared. "Even though I didn't get to finish them myself, watching them get eaten by that fish was damn satisfying!"
Beside her, Yao Xue's frown deepened. "Brother Yu," she said, "this sea beast's size... it's larger than what we encountered yesterday."
"And more aggressive," she added. "It actually initiated an attack on a ship at full speed."
Qin Yu nodded. "Correct."
"The system is forcing our hand," he analyzed. "Black Mist pursues from behind, sea beasts block the path ahead."
"While we must guard against knives in the back from our own kind."
"This is the true 'survival challenge'."
He turned to gaze toward the endless eastern waters ahead, his eyes sharpening with intensity.
"Pass the order," he commanded. "All combat robots to the deck, assume level-one combat readiness."
"All weapon systems to standby mode."
"Yao Qian, maximize radar output."
"Any heat signature larger than five meters approaching requires no authorization."
"Open fire immediately!"
"Yes!" the three women responded in unison.
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