"Come out and clean up the mess."
These four words drifted lightly on the wind.
Carried by the sea breeze, they wormed their way into everyone's ears.
On the deck of the Polar Bear, the thugs who had been so arrogant moments ago now lay like dead fish slapped onto a chopping board.
Tenfold Gravity.
This was no joke.
An ordinary person would struggle carrying a hundred pounds of rice; this was the equivalent of suddenly having a small car dropped on them.
Crack.
One of the Berserker's arms, unable to bear the weight of his own body, snapped cleanly.
A shard of bone pierced through the skin, glaringly white.
"Agh—!!!"
The scream was forced back down his throat by the gravity, becoming a muffled gurgle.
Qin Yu crushed the empty beer can in his hand.
He tossed it aside casually.
Clang.
The can struck the Berserker's head.
Under normal circumstances, being hit by an empty can would just make a noise.
But within the Tenfold Gravity Field.
That can was heavier than a shot put.
It smashed a bloody crater directly into the Berserker's forehead.
"Still not moving?"
Qin Yu raised an eyebrow, looking at the still-smoking Floating Fortress opposite.
"Fatty."
"Are you planning to celebrate the New Year in there?"
"Or are you waiting for me to crush that scrap heap into a pancake before you come out to pick through the wreckage?"
The deathly silence lasted less than two seconds.
Over at the Floating Fortress, that already teetering protective shield vanished with a definitive pop.
Immediately after.
The gilded main door was kicked open from the inside.
A ball of flesh.
Yes, a massive ball of flesh.
With an air of wanting to stomp right through the deck, it rolled out of the fortress.
"Brother Yu!!!"
This shout.
Was piercing.
Full of grievance.
It was the kind of sound only a young bride who had suffered a grievous wrong could make.
Qi Chun's layers of fat jiggled wildly as he ran.
Dozens of underlings wielding various weapons followed behind him.
But these underlings were all stunned.
They watched their boss, the man who would demand roast chicken even while being shelled, now crying his eyes out, snot and tears streaming down his face.
He paid no heed to his image.
He jumped directly from the fortress exit, three meters above the deck.
Thud!
The deck shook three times upon his landing.
"Start the boat! Start the boat now!"
"That's Brother Yu!"
"That's my own dear father!"
Qi Chun scrambled and crawled towards a small docking skiff.
As he ran, he kicked the stunned underlings around him.
"What are you all standing around for?!"
"Get ropes! Get guns! Get knives!"
"Didn't you hear what Brother Yu said?"
"Clean up the mess!"
"Strip these bastards down to their underwear!"
Several skiffs shot out of the fortress's docking area like rabid dogs.
In the blink of an eye, they were alongside the Polar Bear.
Qin Yu stood at a higher vantage point, watching the fat man on the skiff waving frantically.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
"Ruo Bing."
"Adjust the Gravity Field to 'Target Hostiles Only'."
"Don't crush this fatty to death."
"Received."
As Li Ruobing typed on her keyboard.
That suffocating pressure instantly vanished for Qi Chun and his men about to board.
But for the Berserker and his crew.
It remained a crushing weight.
Thump.
Qi Chun's three-hundred-pound frame crashed heavily onto the deck of the Polar Bear.
He paid no attention to the enemies lying on the ground, groaning in pain.
Nor did he care about this S-Class ship.
His eyes were fixed solely on the man standing high above, dressed in casual athletic wear, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
"Brother Yu!!!"
Qi Chun spread his arms wide, his belly bouncing like a rubber ball as he lunged toward Qin Yu.
"Fatty, stay away from me."
Qin Yu took a step back in disgust.
He lifted his leg.
And kicked Qi Chun squarely in his elastic belly.
"Wipe that snot off your face."
"Don't get it all over my ship."
Qi Chun stumbled back two steps from the kick and plopped down on the deck.
But he wasn't angry at all.
Instead, he grinned widely, his expression uglier than if he were crying.
"You're really alive…"
"Warm and breathing…"
"And you can still kick people…"
He wiped the tears and snot from his face, laughing and crying at the same time.
"I knew it!"
"I knew a troublemaker like you would live a thousand years!"
"Everyone said you were dead—bullshit!"
"You? Dead?"
"The whole world could end, and you'd still be kicking!"
Qin Yu ignored his flattery.
He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and tossed it to Qi Chun on the ground.
"Enough."
"A grown man crying and sniveling—aren't you ashamed?"
"Look at how pathetic you are."
"Getting cornered and beaten at your own doorstep, and you didn't even dare to fight back."
Qi Chun fumbled to catch the pack of cigarettes.
Huazi.
Premium soft-pack Huazi.
In this post-apocalyptic world, these were more valuable than gold.
With trembling hands, he pulled one out and lit it.
He took a deep drag.
The harsh smoke filled his lungs, finally calming his racing heart a little.
"Brother Yu, you have no idea…"
Qi Chun exhaled a smoke ring, his eyes reflecting the relief of someone who had narrowly escaped death.
"This past month has been hell."
"Absolute hell."
He pointed at the thugs pinned motionless beneath his feet.
"These bastards are rabid dogs."
"That Odin—he really wants to wipe out everyone in our Chinese district."
"Seven of my allies are dead."
"All crushed by this ship."
"If I hadn't kept my head down, my few hundred brothers would've been fish food long ago."
As he spoke.
A fierce intensity flashed across Qi Chun's round face.
The kind of pent-up brutality that had been suppressed for far too long.
He turned his head and looked at the Berserker lying on the deck not far away.
The man who had been shouting earlier about skinning him alive.
Now lay there like a dead dog, face pressed against the deck, barely breathing.
Thud.
Qi Chun slammed the half-smoked Huazi onto the deck.
He drew a watermelon knife from his waist—one that hadn't even been sharpened yet.
"Brothers!"
"Get the hell up here!"
"What did this bastard say earlier?"
"That he'd skin us alive?"
"That he'd hang us from the flagpole?"
Qi Chun's men had been seething with rage for a long time.
Now, hearing their boss's command, they rushed forward with bloodshot eyes, like a pack of starving wolves.
"Boss! That's the Berserker!"
"Odin's top general!"
One of the men hesitated.
"Who gives a damn!"
Qi Chun slapped the back of the hesitant man's head.
He pointed at the dark, gaping cannon muzzle above them.
Then at Qin Yu, standing there with an indifferent expression.
"If the sky falls, Brother Yu will hold it up!"
"Today, even if the gods themselves show up, these bastards are dead!"
"Get them!"
"Tear apart everything that can be torn apart!"
"Leave not even a single screw on this ship!"
The order was given.
Those underlings, long driven mad by poverty, instantly transformed into locusts.
"Ah—!!"
"My hand! Don't snatch my ring!"
"Spare me! I surrender! I have supplies!"
Pleas for mercy.
Screams of agony.
The sound of bones breaking.
At this moment, they intertwined into the most beautiful symphony.
Qin Yu stood at a high point, watching the scene with cold eyes.
Cruel?
Perhaps.
But in the current Version 2.0.
This is the rule.
This is survival.
If these people aren't beaten until they hurt, until they die.
Tomorrow, it will be Qi Chun who dies.
It will be Qin Yu himself.
"Brother Yu."
Qi Chun, having finished handling matters over there, climbed up panting heavily, carrying that blood-stained machete.
His entire body of fat was trembling.
Whether from exhaustion or excitement was unclear.
"We've secured control of this ship."
"The warehouse is full of good stuff!"
"Just the steel alone amounts to thirty tons!"
"And over a dozen crates of compressed biscuits!"
Qi Chun presented an inventory list to Qin Yu as if offering a treasure.
His eyes gleaming.
"Brother Yu, all of this is yours."
"I won't take a thing."
"I just want this satisfaction!"
Qin Yu didn't take the list.
He merely glanced indifferently at the deck below, already torn to pieces.
"Keep the supplies."
"That's your spoils of war."
Qi Chun was stunned.
An S-class Icebreaker.
Thirty tons of steel.
He was about to say something when he saw Qin Yu's gaze fall upon the Berserker, who was still twitching slightly.
Qin Yu jumped down from above.
Landing right in front of the Berserker.
The Gravity Field from earlier had already been lifted.
But the Berserker was already crippled.
All four limbs broken.
He could only writhe on the ground like a maggot.
He lifted his head, his face covered in blood, and looked at Qin Yu.
The arrogance from before was gone from his eyes.
Leaving only endless fear.
"Qin... Qin Yu..."
"Don't kill me..."
"Odin won't let you go..."
"If you kill me, Twilight of the Gods will hunt you to the ends of the earth..."
Qin Yu smiled.
He crouched down.
Reached out and patted the Berserker's blood-stained face.
"Odin?"
"Twilight of the Gods?"
Qin Yu's voice was soft.
As if chatting with an old friend.
"Do you know where I've been this past month?"
The Berserker instinctively shook his head.
"I went down below."
Qin Yu pointed toward the unfathomably deep sea.
"Had a drink with the King of Hell down there."
"He told me."
"There are too many ghosts up here."
"Especially those ghosts who think they're gods."
"Too noisy."
Qin Yu stood up.
Placed a foot on the Berserker's chest.
Without any force.
Just that action alone made the Berserker wet himself in terror.
"Since Odin is so fond of hunting."
"Then take a message to him for me."
"Tell him."
"To wash his neck clean."
"And polish all his scrap metal nice and bright."
"Because..."
Qin Yu turned his head and looked at Qi Chun.
"Fatty."
"Huh?" Qi Chun responded instinctively.
"Do you have rope?"
"Yes! Plenty of it!"
"Hang him up."
Qin Yu pointed at the Polar Bear's mast, which was already half broken.
His tone was unnervingly calm.
"From the highest point."
"Flay half his skin off."
"Leave half."
"Don't let him die."
"I want everyone in these waters to see."
"This is what happens when you cross me."
Qi Chun shuddered all over.
Looking into Qin Yu's eyes, which held not a flicker of emotion.
The one who had returned in this Version 2.0...
was a true...
demon.
"Got it!"
Qi Chun gritted his teeth and roared.
"Men!"
"String this bastard up!"
"Do as Brother Yu ordered! Strip half of it!"
"Let him enjoy the sea breeze properly!"
"Ah—!!!!!"
A piercing scream instantly tore through the sky.
More agonizing than any before.
Qin Yu didn't spare another glance.
He turned and walked toward the boarding ramp of the President.
"Fatty."
"Huh? What is it, Brother Yu!" Qi Chun hurriedly scurried after him.
"Pull your men back."
"But don't blow up this ship."
"Keep it."
"Leave it as a memento for Odin."
Qin Yu stopped and looked at the eerie blood moon in the distance.
"Since they say I'm dead."
"Then I'll give them..."
"a dead man's carnival."
Qi Chun stared at Qin Yu's back.
Suddenly feeling his nose sting again.
He remembered the humiliation of the past month.
Remembered the supplies that had been stolen.
Remembered the brothers who had died.
He suddenly rushed forward.
And hugged Qin Yu's leg tightly.
This time, Qin Yu didn't dodge.
"Brother Yu..."
Qi Chun's voice trembled with tears.
But this time, it wasn't an act.
He was truly crying.
"You're back..."
"Does that mean... we don't have to be pushovers anymore?"
"Can we... fight our way back?"
Qin Yu looked down.
At this fatty clinging to his leg, crying like a two-hundred-pound child.
He reached out.
And ruffled that greasy hair.
"Wipe your tears."
"Pathetic."
Qin Yu raised his head.
His gaze pierced through the crimson mist, looking toward the distant north.
That was where Odin was.
"Pushovers?"
Qin Yu sneered.
"From today onward."
"On these seas."
"There's only one ancestor."
"And that's us."
"Let's go."
"Board the ship."
"I've got liquor there."
"Swallow down all the humiliation you've suffered this month."
"Then."
"We'll return it..."
"with interest."
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