"Roger that! Watch me blast its guts out!"
Li Ruobing's voice came through the earpiece, so excited it had shifted in pitch.
At the bow of the "President," the alloy cannon barrel named "Deep Sea Specter" shuddered violently.
It wasn't firing explosive shells.
Instead, it launched water compressed to an extreme under immense pressure.
BOOM—!!!
There was no flash of fire in the deep sea.
Only a nearly invisible transparent shockwave instantly tore through the water.
The B-class Deep Sea Giant Eel, which had been opening its massive maw to swallow Qin Yu whole, suddenly froze mid-action.
In that instant,
it was like a high-speed train crashing into an invisible wall.
Its previously unstoppable, ferocious charge came to an abrupt halt.
SPLUTCH!
The eel's huge, hardened head was smashed inward, caving in.
Black blood exploded in the water like ink.
But that was only the first shot.
Li Ruobing was a woman who never understood the meaning of "knowing when to stop."
"Die! Die! Die!"
In the control room on the surface, Li Ruobing gripped the control sticks tightly, her thumb mashed down on the red firing button without letting up.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three consecutive high-pressure water cannon shots followed one after another like the relentless fists of the grim reaper.
The second shot shattered the giant eel's spine.
The third blasted its abdominal organs to pulp.
The fourth directly cleaved the eight-meter-long behemoth in two at the midsection!
Severed limbs and chunks of flesh tumbled through the water.
Shredded entrails mixed with foul, bloody water instantly dyed the surrounding sea a murky, dark red.
The nearby Sea Wolf Fish, which had been stirring restlessly, were terrified by the horrific commotion. They flicked their tails and desperately fled back into the rock crevices.
Qin Yu hovered within the bloody mist.
The faint blue glow of the energy shield on his black S-Class Armor flickered slightly, blocking all the gore and shockwaves.
He hadn't even needed to swing the Particle Battle Blade in his hand.
"Enough," Qin Yu said calmly, glancing at the minced meat that was once the giant eel before him. "This thing's flesh is sour anyway. No one would eat it even if we brought it back."
Over the earpiece, Li Ruobing let out an unsatisfied grunt.
"Tch, too fragile. I thought a B-class mutant would be tougher. It was like paper."
Yao Qian's voice cut in promptly, filled with admiration. "Ruo Bing, that's because our water cannon is too powerful! It's an S-class weapon! The compressed water pressure can pierce tank armor instantly. No matter how tough this fish was, it's still just flesh!"
Qin Yu didn't join their discussion.
He adjusted his posture.
"Black Ant Squad, clear the path."
"Continue the descent."
The ten robots dispersed agilely through the water, using their mechanical limbs to push aside the floating chunks of giant eel. Under the illumination of the large lights, they advanced once more into the depths.
Three hundred meters.
Four hundred meters.
As the depth increased, the surroundings became utterly silent.
Even the glowing jellyfish had vanished.
Only endless darkness and the increasingly terrifying water pressure remained.
The S-grade combat armor emitted a faint creaking sound.
That was the sound of its frame resisting the water pressure.
[Warning: External pressure approaching 60% of critical value]
[Oxygen remaining: 9 hours]
Qin Yu glanced at the data on his visor, his expression calm.
This level of pressure hadn't reached his limit yet.
"Yu! Look below!"
Yao Qian suddenly exclaimed.
"Radar has detected a massive energy signature!"
"Fifty meters directly beneath us!"
He didn't need her to tell him.
Qin Yu could already see it.
In the ink-black depths of the ocean floor.
A massive, translucent "bowl" had appeared.
No.
It was an enormous bubble inverted upon the seabed.
At least two kilometers in diameter.
Across the surface of this bubble flowed faint rainbow-colored halos, isolating the surrounding dark seawater.
And inside that bubble.
It wasn't barren seabed rock.
Enhanced by his armor's night vision capabilities, Qin Yu witnessed a breathtaking scene.
Green trees.
Red flowers.
Even collapsed white stone pillars covered in creeping vines.
It resembled the sunken ruins of Atlantis.
Or the mythical Dragon King's rear garden.
"My god..."
Li Ruobing watched through Qin Yu's camera feed and couldn't help holding her breath.
"It's so beautiful..."
"This is practically a miracle."
Qin Yu controlled his thrusters, slowly descending.
The closer he got, the clearer the massive bubble became.
This was an extremely stable energy field.
It had forcefully created a waterless space at five hundred meters depth.
"This is that 'Underwater Garden'."
Qin Yu stopped above the bubble.
He reached out.
His black metal-gloved fingers gently touched the transparent membrane.
"Bzzz—"
A tingling sensation, like an electric shock, traveled through his fingertips.
The membrane was elastic.
Like pressing against an inflated rubber ball.
"I'm going in."
"There might be brief signal interruption."
"Stay alert."
After speaking.
Qin Yu didn't hesitate.
He adjusted his center of gravity, dove headfirst, and his thrusters burst with propellant.
He shot downward like a nail, plunging straight into the massive bubble.
That moment.
Felt surreal.
Like passing through a layer of viscous jelly.
Immediately after.
His body suddenly lightened.
The heavy water pressure that had enveloped him completely vanished without a trace.
Replaced by a sensation of weightlessness.
"Thump!"
Qin Yu passed through the membrane and fell from the five-hundred-meter-high "water ceiling."
But he reacted instantly.
His armor's attitude control system activated immediately.
The thrusters emitted blue flames, stabilizing his posture.
He flipped mid-air and landed steadily on the soft ground.
"Bzzzt—"
Signal restored.
"Yu! Are you okay? You scared me to death! The screen went completely black!"
Yao Qian's anxious voice came through.
"I'm fine."
Qin Yu stood up straight.
He surveyed his surroundings.
The sea of flowers remained just as beautiful.
Not far from him.
Countless purple flowers bloomed.
These flowers were enormous, each the size of a washbasin, their petals displaying an eerie translucence, with stamens trembling slightly as if breathing.
A visible pink mist rose from this flower sea, permeating the entire space.
Even through the thick faceplate.
Qin Yu could almost "see" that cloyingly sweet fragrance.
It was temptation.
Barefaced temptation.
"So fragrant..."
Over the headset, Li Ruobing suddenly murmured without context.
"Even through the screen I can almost smell it... is that the scent of roses?"
"I want to eat cake now..."
Even Yao Qian's voice was becoming somewhat dazed.
"Brother Yu... look at that flower, it's so beautiful... it seems to be calling me..."
Qin Yu's brow instantly furrowed.
His gaze turned ice-cold.
"Yao Xue!" he snapped sharply.
"Cut off their audio reception! Administer the stimulant to them!"
"Already on it."
Yao Xue's calm voice came through, carrying a trace of gravity.
"This is a type of neurotoxin."It can transmit through visual and auditory cues too.""I've already blocked their displays and am injecting them with sedatives.""
A few seconds later.
The headset finally fell silent.
He stared at the breathtakingly beautiful sea of flowers before him, his eyes holding no appreciation whatsoever, only deep wariness.
It wasn't like this last time he came. This was no garden.
This was a graveyard.
He activated the S-Rank Battle Suit's built-in scanner.
Sure enough.
Beneath those lush roots and stems lay countless bleached white bones.
Some human.
Others the massive skeletons of Sea beasts.
All frozen in eerily twisted postures.
Kneeling on the ground, or curled up fetal.
Their skulls all facing the center of the flower sea.
As if on a pilgrimage.
Or like devotees who died in ecstatic rapture.
"Anyone else would probably have ripped their helmet off for a deep breath by now."
Qin Yu rapped his knuckles against his own faceplate, producing a dull thump thump.
The oxygen levels here were indeed very high.
For those long accustomed to life adrift at sea, this place seemed like paradise.
And that fragrance—even with the helmet sealed, just seeing those pink mists could trick the mind into feeling "this place is safe, this place is comfortable."
The last time Qin Yu and Yao Qian smelled this scent here...
That feeling.
It felt too real.
It would dredge up the deepest desires buried in your heart.
"I, Qin Yu, don't fall for this crap."
"I won't step in the same trap twice."
Qin Yu raised his right hand.
Quickly input a string of commands on his arm's control panel.
"Activate internal circulation mode, maximum power."
"Seal all external gas exchange."
"Enable visual filters, block mental interference waves."
As the commands executed,
The originally vibrant, bewitchingly beautiful sea of flowers instantly transformed on the display inside Qin Yu's faceplate.
The filters stripped away the hallucinogenic halos.
Those were no flowers.
They were gaping maws lined with dense fine teeth!
The pink mist was composed of countless microscopic spore parasites!
"Just as I thought."
Qin Yu snorted coldly.
"The prettier it is, the deadlier."
He didn't touch the flowers.
He wasn't here to play gardener this time.
He was here to dig for treasure.
"Time to get to work."
Qin Yu flicked his wrist.
Several streaks of light flashed.
On the empty ground before him, T-X Robots materialized out of thin air.
"Target: Ten meters underground."
"Scan for: S-Rank rare earth ore, high-energy crystals."
"Mode: Aggressive extraction."
Qin Yu pointed toward the center of the flower sea.
That was where the energy fluctuations were strongest.
And where the root system of these "man-eating flowers" lay.
"Dig it up for me."
"Whatever flowers or plants are there, clear them all out completely."
The blue light in the T-X Robot's eyes flashed.
[Command Confirmed]
[Mission Start]
"Rumble—"
The tracks rolled over the white bones, emitting a teeth-gritting crunching sound.
The massive spiral drill began to rotate.
Without any mercy.
And without any hesitation.
Those enormous demonic flowers that had been preening and attempting to bewitch Qin Yu.
Couldn't even last a second against the steel drill.
"Squelch!"
Sap splattered everywhere.
The petals were shredded to pieces.
The roots were torn out from the ground.
The once eerie sea of flowers instantly turned into a chaotic construction site.
"Squeal—!!!"
From deep within the flower sea, a piercing shriek seemed to echo.
The sound didn't resemble that of a plant.
Instead, it sounded like some kind of enraged beast.
The surrounding vines began to writhe frantically, like green pythons, lashing out at the T-X Robot.
"Smack! Smack!"
The vines struck the robot's alloy exterior, sparks flying everywhere.
But that was all they could do—create sparks.
The T-X Robot didn't even budge.
"Snap!"
A vine thicker than a thigh was cleanly sheared in two.
Green sap gushed out, carrying a nauseating, foul stench.
"Keep digging."
Qin Yu stood to the side, arms crossed, watching coldly.
"Cut down anything that dares to stand in the way."
"Let's see."
"What kind of treasure is buried down here, capable of nurturing such a nest of man-eating monsters."
As the T-X Robot advanced vio
lently.
A five-meter-wide pit rapidly took shape at the center of the flower sea.
The once-arrogant demonic flowers now trembled in fear, as if sensing their impending doom.
Suddenly.
"Clink!"
A crisp impact sound rang out.
It was the sound of the drill hitting something hard.
Not stone.
It was the sound of metal or crystal.
Immediately after.
An intensely rich blue light shot out from the bottom of the pit.
So bright that it pierced through the surrounding pink mist.
Qin Yu's eyes instantly lit up.
"As expected."
A greedy curve tugged at the corner of Qin Yu's lips.
"Fortune favors the bold."
"This muddy water wasn't for nothing!"