Chapter 100 Death Route: A Hunt

"Later we found out that it wasn't a cruise ship bound for Heaven."

"It was a hearse sailing toward Hell."

This sentence was taken from the title page of Little Fatty Chen's later blood-stained memoir.

Three days ago, Imperial Capital Military Port.

A heavy frigate that was originally majestic had been forcefully modified beyond recognition.

The missile launchers on the foredeck had been crudely dismantled.

In their place was a massive, expensive, windproof, climate-controlled glass room.

The room was covered with a thick, premium velvet carpet.

Jiang Chen was lying inside, completely lacking any sense of decorum.

His head was pillowed on Iliya's fluffy, snow-white fox tail, and he was sleeping soundly.

[Ding! Detected that the host is engaging in an "Epic Seaview Sleep."]

[System Evaluation: Turning a killing machine into a luxury bed.]

[Your level of profligacy has surpassed ninety-nine percent of your peers. Reward: One bottle of automatic sunscreen.]

The sea breeze blew, bringing a faint salty and fishy scent.

Iliya, dressed in a custom black and white maid outfit, sat idly to the side.

Holding a cattail leaf fan, she was fanning Jiang Chen one stroke at a time.

"Sister Su, are we really going to the Endless Sea?"

Iliya looked at the endless deep blue outside the window and asked softly, a trace of unease in her eyes.

Su Qingyue stood at the edge of the deck.

Today, she wore a crisp set of cyan martial attire that outlined her graceful figure.

In her hand, she held a newly replaced S-rank alloy longsword.

Having experienced the life-and-death bloody battles of the Northern Frontier, she had shed the delicate air of a noble young lady.

Between her brows, there was now a touch of sharp Nirvana Sword Intent.

"Yes."

Su Qingyue didn't even turn her head, her voice firm.

"To find the Materials to upgrade the pillow, and so that we can become stronger ourselves."

She looked back at the youth sleeping peacefully in the glass room.

That face looked harmless to humans and animals alike, yet it carried far too much.

"He's too tired. We can't always hide behind him and be a burden."

Just then, the hull of the ship suddenly jolted in a strange way.

It wasn't the slapping of the waves.

It felt more like hitting some massive, soft object underwater.

The surrounding temperature abruptly dropped by over ten degrees.

On the sea, a thick layer of grayish-white mist had risen at some point, blotting out the sky and sun.

"Something's wrong."

Mu Qingxue walked out from deep within the cabin, her elegant brows tightly knit.

She was draped in a thick mink coat, but her lips were still somewhat pale.

"The humidity in the sea breeze is too heavy; it even carries a faint stench of corpses."

Mu Qingxue clutched her chest, her brow slightly furrowing.

"This kind of extreme Yin energy is making my Cold Poison act up again."

Hearing this, Su Qingyue immediately sensed danger.

She tightened her grip on the sword hilt and walked quickly toward the bridge on the second floor.

As soon as she pushed the door open, a strong smell of blood wafted toward her.

Su Qingyue's pupils shrank suddenly.

The lights in the bridge were flickering wildly.

The military radar screen, which cost tens of millions, had been smashed to pieces by some Sharp Weapon.

Several thick main control wires had been forcefully torn apart, emitting blinding blue electrical sparks.

The helmsman in charge of steering the ship was now lying in a pool of blood.

His throat was completely torn open, and the edges of the wound showed disgusting, bluish-black rotting flesh.

"Enemy attack!"

Little Fatty Chen, who was following behind, shuddered in fear and was about to shout at the top of his lungs.

"Shut up!"

Su Qingyue clamped her hand over Little Fatty Chen's mouth, her gaze cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice.

She glanced at Jiang Chen, who was still sleeping soundly in the glass room below.

"Don't wake him up."

Su Qingyue lowered her voice, her tone carrying an unquestionable resoluteness.

"He just went through a major battle; his Mental Energy needs deep sleep to recover."

She slowly drew her longsword, the blade reflecting her cold eyes under the flickering sparks.

"Now, we'll handle this ourselves."

Su Qingyue stepped out of the bridge like a seasoned hunter, her sharp gaze scanning the deck shrouded in thick mist.

Quiet.

A deathly silence.

Other than the sound of waves slapping against the hull, there was no other noise.

Suddenly.

At the edge of the gunwale, a hand reached out silently.

It was a pale, bloated, withered claw with extremely long nails, covered in slimy water plants.

It gripped the steel railing tightly.

It was trying to pull a wet, foul-smelling body onto the deck bit by bit.

[Warning! Detected a large number of low-level undead creatures attached to the bottom of the ship!]

[Type: Corpse-Hand Water Ghost.]

[Objective: To pierce the hull, sabotage the route, and drag living people into the sea.]

Facing such a terrifying monster, Su Qingyue did not cry out.

Even the rhythm of her breathing wasn't the least bit disturbed.

Her toes tapped lightly on the deck, and her entire being was like a graceful swallow, instantly gliding over ten meters.

Just as the water ghost's hideous head peeked over the gunwale.

A sword light flashed.

Chii!

A very soft sound.

That bluish-black head, covered in disgusting barnacles, soared directly into the sky.

Before the black, stinking blood could spray onto the deck, it was instantly evaporated by the Nirvana flames attached to the blade.

It dissipated into a wisp of blue smoke.

With a flick of her wrist, Su Qingyue performed a sword flourish and steadily sheathed her longsword, her movements as smooth as flowing water.

She looked coldly as the water ghost's headless corpse fell into the deep sea.

"I said it."

Su Qingyue looked into the depths of the thick mist, her eyes reflecting the unyielding pride of a noble family's Prodigy.

"This place is off-limits. Whoever dares to come up, dies."

Mu Qingxue stood behind her, a smile of admiration flashing in her eyes.

These two girls, in a succession of crises, had finally begun to reveal their own brilliance.

...

However, the scale of the crisis far exceeded their imagination.

Deprived of its radar and helmsman, this steel behemoth drifted blindly in the thick mist.

No one knew how far it had deviated from its original route.

As a bone-chilling Yin wind swept past.

The thick, wall-like mist ahead was finally blown open, revealing a massive gap.

When they clearly saw the scene before them.

Both Su Qingyue and Mu Qingxue simultaneously sucked in a breath of cold air.

Their stomachs churned.

On the surrounding sea surface, countless mountains of flesh floated densely.

Those were the corpses of hundreds of deep-sea giant whales!

Their bellies were turned up white, their flesh highly decomposed, and their intestines and internal organs were spilled all over the sea.

The surrounding seawater was dyed a nauseating dark red.

It was like a veritable Blood-Sea Shura Field.

And in the very center of these massive corpses.

A massive, entirely black, dilapidated three-masted sailing ship was slowly approaching them like a ghost returning from Hell.

On the sailing ship's mast hung a hair-raising flag.

It wasn't ordinary fabric.

It was a blood-colored skull flag made from sheets of human skin flayed alive, crudely stitched together!

As the wind blew, the human-skin flag made a tooth-aching fluttering sound.

"It's... the Skinning Cult."

Mu Qingxue's voice trembled, a rare occurrence.

That ghost ship, flying the human-skin flag, was approaching with endless madness and killing intent.

Silently, it drew closer to Jiang Chen's sleeping pod.