116: Chapter 116 No way, no way!

Li Taiping's body stiffened abruptly.

He whirled his head around, scanning their surroundings.

They were in the high-pressure depths of the ocean, thousands of meters down, amidst the ruins of eerie, ancient architecture. A sinister, headless statue loomed nearby, and not far off, the ashes of the recently vanquished twin sea beast were still visible.

Here? Doing *that*?!

Li Taiping's Adam's apple bobbed violently as a wave of wicked heat exploded in his mind.

"Great idea!"

Lin Qingxue's excited electronic voice suddenly crackled through the comms channel—she had heard everything!

BOOM!

Without any warning, Lin Qingxue retracted the armor covering her body. The silvery-white, streamlined metal expanded and reconfigured wildly!

A five-meter-tall, Excellent Grade, peak-level heavy assault mecha, resembling a steel demon god, slammed down onto the seabed silt, churning up a massive cloud of murky water.

"I'll stand guard for you!"

The mecha's eyes lit up with an excited red electronic glow as Lin Qingxue's voice rang out with conviction,

"I guarantee absolute safety! Even if an epic grade monster spawned right now, I'd keep it out!"

Li Taiping looked at the colossal mecha before him, then at Lin Weiyu's watery eyes, brimming with anticipation and madness. His cheek twitched.

At thousands of meters deep under immense pressure?

Inside ancient, bizarre ruins?

With a five-meter-tall mecha standing guard right beside them?

What the hell kind of experience was this?!

Too damn thrilling!

...

...

...

The sea surface exploded with a roar.

A white column of water shot skyward, shattering into countless glistening droplets that came crashing down.

Li Taiping and the others finally broke through the oppressive seawater, gasping greedily for fresh air.

By now, the horizon was tinged with the pale light of dawn, a red sun slowly squeezing itself up from the edge of the sea.

Golden morning light, like scattered gold dust, spread across the boundless ocean.

"It's already morning..."

Lin Weiyu wiped seawater from her face. Gazing at the rising sun, her chest heaving, she couldn't help but sigh.

Her voice carried a hint of relief at having 'survived a calamity' and an exhaustion she couldn't possibly hide.

"Yeah," Li Taiping echoed silently in his heart.

The world was clear, the bright sun hung high.

It felt good to be alive and back.

He glanced down at his own hands. The veins on the back were still faintly pulsing, and the muscles in his thighs twitched from prolonged tension.

Those ten hours of intense deep-sea exploration had nearly drained them completely.

Supporting each other, they climbed the rope ladder onto the deck.

The moment his head cleared the rail, Li Taiping froze.

On the ship's deck, Su Mei stood waiting quietly.

She wore a thin silk nightgown. The morning sea breeze pressed the fabric against her body, outlining an incredibly exaggerated and mature silhouette.

"What took you so long?"

Su Mei's voice carried a note of puzzlement and a trace of barely perceptible concern,

"Was the underwater terrain very complex?"

As she spoke, Su Mei walked over in her slippers.

Her alluring fox-like eyes narrowed slightly as her gaze swept over The girls.

Su Mei was filled with confusion.

She scrutinized The girls carefully.

These girls were so exhausted their legs trembled uncontrollably.

Most tellingly, their fair cheeks all bore a lingering, un-faded flush.

That look in their eyes, that posture...

If she didn't know they were safe and sound, having been down for a full ten hours, Su Mei would have genuinely thought they'd suffered some inhuman torment below.

Or perhaps, been engaged in some indescribably intense... combat.

"Sister Mei, why are you up so early?"

Lin Weiyu felt a pang of guilt under Su Mei's stare.

She instinctively shrank back, taking half a step backward to hide behind Li Taiping's broad back.

Su Mei was astute.

A woman who had navigated both the business world and the apocalypse, she could see through anything.

Seeing Lin Weiyu's shy, evasive little movements, and the similarly dodgy looks from the other girls...

A bold guess began to form in Su Mei's mind.

No way?

She frantically signaled to herself internally:

No way? No way? It couldn't be, right?

Even if Li Taiping's stamina is incredible, he couldn't possibly...?

Though the thought seemed absurd, Su Mei's playful side instantly kicked into high gear.

She sauntered over with lazy steps, stopping right in front of them.

Su Mei extended a pale finger and gently pinched Lin Weiyu's flushed cheek.

It felt warm to the touch, even slightly feverish.

"That's right," Su Mei said with a smile, her tone laced with lazy amusement. "I waited up for you all night~"

She deliberately drew out the last word.

"I'm not like you young folks, with such abundant energy.

"I just came out for a walk. Never expected to witness such a... spectacle."

Su Mei's gaze swept over the faces of Lin Weiyu, Xia Zhi, Sa Wanwan, and Lin Qingxue one by one.

Her eyes held three parts teasing, seven parts probing.

It made The girls squirm, utterly unable to meet her gaze.

Then, Su Mei turned her attention to Li Taiping.

She crossed her arms, accentuating that astonishing curve even more prominently.

Her eyes held a scrutinizing look and deep amusement, a half-smile playing on her lips.

That look seemed to say plainly:

You, kid... got some wild moves, huh?

Li Taiping felt his scalp prickle under her stare, a wave of intense awkwardness washing over him.

What the hell is this woman thinking?!

He tactically rubbed the tip of his nose, cleared his throat with a dry cough, and changed the subject.

Otherwise, this deck would become his personal hell today.

"Su Mei, don't jump to conclusions. Look at what we brought back!"

With a thought, Li Taiping accessed his storage space.

Swish!

Ten parchment scrolls materialized in his hands.

He produced the ten [Excellent Grade item upgrade scrolls] and handed them directly to Su Mei.

The scrolls were neither metallic nor wooden, their surfaces swirling with mysterious runic light. The moment they appeared, a pure energy fluctuation filled the air.

Su Mei instinctively took the scrolls.

She glanced down, her eyebrow lifting slightly, a flash of unconcealed surprise in her enchanting eyes.

"Upgrade scrolls?"

Her fingers lightly traced the patterns on the scrolls' surface, feeling the warm energy,

"And Excellent Grade ones?"

"Seems you had quite the haul this time."

Though she praised them verbally, Su Mei's train of thought remained serious for only three seconds.

The next moment, her mind drifted back to her earlier speculation.

Ten hours.

Su Mei silently repeated in her mind.

Of course she knew Li Taiping had taken The girls down to explore a dungeon, to gain strength.

But ten hours was such a long time.

Combined with the state The girls were in now...

In the dark, silent deep sea, with the right atmosphere... She felt she understood perfectly well what 'extraordinary' things might have happened.

Su Mei turned the Excellent Grade scrolls over in her hands.

She suddenly let out a long sigh, her eyes darting as she decided to test the waters with a bolder move.

"You were down there fighting monsters for a full ten hours!"

Su Mei deliberately adopted a stern expression, her tone carrying a hint of complaint.

"You didn't even send a message to say you were safe. Do you know how worried we were up here all night? We thought you'd gone down there to... 'fire some cannons'!"

As soon as the words left her mouth...

The air on the entire deck instantly froze.

Even the morning sea breeze seemed to halt abruptly.

The girls all froze in place.

Then, their faces flushed crimson 'whoosh' from their cheeks all the way to their ears, a pink hue even spreading down their necks.

Sa Wanwan was so embarrassed she immediately lowered her head, wishing she could vanish into a crack in the deck. Xia Zhi bit her lip, staring fixedly at her own toes.

Li Taiping's heart gave a wild, inexplicable thump.

This woman! What kind of words does she dare to blurt out?!

He opened his mouth, ready to explain, to argue that they had genuinely been fighting for their lives against monsters down there.

But he never expected...

Lin Weiyu, hiding behind him, suddenly popped half her head out.

She looked at Su Mei with those clear and utterly clueless eyes and replied without hesitation:

"Sister Mei guessed right on the mark."

Pfft!

Li Taiping nearly spat a mouthful of old blood into the sea.

Su Mei's body stiffened violently.

The Excellent Grade scrolls in her hand almost slipped onto the deck.

Her usually captivating fox eyes widened into perfect circles, her mind spinning with giant question marks.

???

This move completely stunned Su Mei.

No way! I was just saying that!

Su Mei screamed internally, her CPU nearly overheating.

She had just been casually testing the waters, teasing a bit to lighten the mood!

How could she have imagined that Lin Weiyu, this silly, innocent girl, would so bluntly admit to it!

"You... you actually did it?"

Su Mei's voice even stuttered a little.

She stared fixedly at Lin Weiyu's flushed, utterly earnest face, then glanced at the other girls.

Though Xia Zhi and the others didn't speak, their expressions of utter mortification and silent acquiescence told Su Mei everything she needed to know.

Case closed.

Even wilder than I am?!

Su Mei grumbled sourly in her heart.

She turned her head, looking at Li Taiping with an expression full of disbelief and even a trace of bizarre admiration.

That look, as if regarding some legendary beast, made Li Taiping's scalp tingle and cold sweat break out on his back.

Su Mei pouted her red lips, clearly looking somewhat jealous.

Her beautiful face plainly displayed three big words: I want in.

A wave of intense regret washed over Su Mei.

If she had known this deep-sea dungeon run was such a... Welfare Bureau, she would have fought tooth and nail to go down with them yesterday!

Missed out on several billion!

Li Taiping was genuinely at his wit's end now.

He was exhausted, his stamina depleted, his mental energy drained.

Faced with this god-tier misunderstanding that would only get worse the more he explained, he didn't even have the strength to clarify anymore.

This kind of thing... was truly hard to talk about.

How to explain? Say we were chased and slashed at by monsters for ten hours, hence the flushed faces and wobbly legs?

Who would believe that?!

He simply forced a laugh, trying to muddle through.

"Alright, alright, everyone's tired."

Li Taiping deliberately exaggerated a huge yawn.

He squeezed out two drops of physiological tears from the corners of his eyes, putting on an act of utter exhaustion, on the verge of collapse.

"So tired. I'm going to rest first."

Given the current situation, the best strategy was the thirty-sixth count—retreat. Get the hell out of there.

Li Taiping tossed out a few casual reminders about safety, then immediately turned and fled into the ship's cabin with unsteady steps.

Su Mei stood on the deck, watching Li Taiping's fleeing back, seeing how weary and drained he looked, his very silhouette radiating weakness.

Her heart ached.

"Forget it, I won't bother you anymore."

She sighed softly, retracting the hand she'd almost raised to call him back.

A smart woman knew when to tease and when to show care.

...

Li Taiping sprinted all the way.

He rushed into the captain's quarters first thing, locking the cabin door firmly behind him.

Without even removing his clothes, he threw himself heavily onto the soft bed, pulled the covers over his head, and fell into a deep, snoring sleep.

It was rare for him to shut himself alone in the bedroom.

No monsters, no seawater, no headache-inducing Shura Fields.

He slept through day and night, utterly dead to the world.

The luxury of sleeping alone and undisturbed!

For Li Taiping now, it was simply too precious!

So precious that, in the last second before his consciousness plunged into darkness,

his fingertips brushed unconsciously against the terminal on his wrist.

Beep—

An extremely faint electronic chirp echoed in the silent cabin.

The terminal screen flickered, emitting a weak blue light.

Deep within the storage space...

A palm-sized, ancient-looking token floated quietly.

[crew release order].

Li Taiping's brow furrowed slightly.

Subconsciously, he felt he had forgotten something extremely important.

A sliver of clarity flashed through his mind.

release order... crew...

But the next second, an overwhelming wave of fatigue crashed down, shattering that sliver of clarity to pieces.

His eyelids felt like lead weights, his brain completely shut down.

Screw whatever order! Even if the sky falls, it'll have to wait until I wake up!

His snoring gradually evened out. He was out cold.

...

On the deck.

Though Su Mei still muttered under her breath about 'favoritism' and 'that blockhead', the corner of her eye kept glancing toward the captain's quarters.

Her gaze was filled with unconcealed affection and understanding.

In this godforsaken apocalyptic world, it was that man who, single-handedly, shouldered the burden of survival for the entire ship, giving them a home where they could sleep in peace.

Not far away, the four girls—Lin Weiyu, Sa Wanwan, Xia Zhi, and Lin Qingxue—huddled together.

"We can't go on like this."

"We have to get stronger."

"Brother Taiping is too tired."

"We can't keep being protected vases."

"Next time, I want to stand beside him fighting monsters, not hide behind him."

"Exactly!"

"We need to level up like crazy!"

"We need to become super powerful!"

The girls exchanged glances.

No extra words were needed. A silent understanding quickly spread among them.

They secretly made a solemn vow in their hearts.

They absolutely had to improve their strength, no matter the cost.

Only by becoming strong enough could they truly help Li Taiping, lighten the load he carried alone during expeditions.

And for that, they needed robust, capable bodies!

Otherwise, how could they keep up with the captain's terrifying combat prowess?!

A full ten hours!

Who could understand?! Who could withstand that?!

...