227: Chapter 227 S-Rank Blind Box! Armed Tyrant's Harem Group

Two fist-sized cubes rested on the circular bed.

Intricate patterns of flowing deep blue and dark gold intertwined on their surfaces, casting ripples of light across the captain's quarters.

"Oooooh! Blind boxes!"

Lin Keke was the first to rush over, nearly stepping on An Nuonuo's small feet on the bed.

"Move aside, move aside! Let me shake them, I'm feeling lucky!"

"Get lost."

Chen Du pressed down on her reaching hand with a palm. "These were obtained by sacrificing an Overlord Rank Troll. If you shake them to pieces, can you afford to pay for them?"

Lin Keke pulled her hand back and crouched by the bed, rubbing her fingers together.

"Then can I at least blow some lucky air on them? Bless me with a gold drop! A gold drop!"

Tang Ran leaned half her body in from the doorway.

"Are they open yet? What came out?"

"What's the rush? They were just set down."

Xia Lai nudged her aside and squeezed into the captain's quarters first.

Xia Mo leaned against the headboard without moving, her cool gaze fixed on the two blind boxes.

Xia Xin stood furthest out, her eyes occasionally drifting toward the glow in Chen Du's hands.

She wanted to see, but felt too embarrassed to push forward.

Li Yaozhi was the last to enter, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed.

"Captain, an Overlord Rank blind box yields at least A-Rank equipment. If we're lucky..."

"It could be an S."

As the words fell, the captain's quarters grew quiet for a moment.

Everyone's breathing hitched slightly.

Chen Du picked up the first blind box and weighed it.

It was ice-cold to the touch, with a faint vibration coming from within.

"Opening it."

Shadow Power seeped from his palm, enveloping the surface of the cube.

Crack!

The shell began to split along the patterns, and light exploded outward!

The entire captain's quarters was swallowed by a blinding dark gold radiance, making even the window glass hum and vibrate.

Lin Keke instinctively covered her eyes.

Three seconds later, the light faded.

A heavy sniper rifle, entirely dark gold, floated in mid-air, slowly rotating.

The barrel was two meters long, and the caliber was ridiculously thick.

The body of the gun was covered in intricate storm patterns, emitting a visible distortion in the air.

Ding—

[Congratulations on obtaining S-Rank Weapon: Storm Ripper]

[Attributes: Ignores physical defense. Can be charged by injecting life essence; no ammunition required. Range: 8,000 meters. Includes penetration effect.]

The captain's quarters remained deathly silent for two seconds.

Then it erupted.

"S-Rank?! It really was an S! Ow..."

Lin Keke jumped up on the spot.

Her head slammed into the upper bunk beam, making her grimace in pain.

"An eight-thousand-meter range... ignores physical defense..."

Xia Lai stared wide-eyed at the attribute panel. "Is this a freaking sniper rifle? This is clearly a miniature railgun!"

Tang Ran swallowed hard. "Who's using it?"

Chen Du reached out and gripped the gun; it felt extremely heavy.

He didn't look at it for long.

Turning around, he held the two-meter-long heavy sniper level and handed it to Xia Xin, who was standing outside.

"Big Sis, take it."

Xia Xin was stunned.

She opened her mouth but no sound came out.

"Your Archer talent can correct the trajectory, and combined with this gun's defense-ignoring ability—"

Chen Du shoved the gun into her hands.

"From today on, you are the human self-propelled artillery of this ship. Within eight kilometers, there is nothing you cannot pierce."

Xia Xin held the dark gold heavy sniper, which was taller than she was, her fingers trembling slightly.

"...Thank you, Captain."

Xia Lai nudged her with an elbow from the side, lowering her voice: "Sis, you're blushing."

"I am not!"

"Even the tips of your ears are red," Xia Mo added.

Xia Xin buried her face behind the gun stock, her ears so hot they could fry an egg.

Chen Du had already picked up the second blind box.

Shadow Power poured in once more.

This time, the blind box exploded into a blood mist.

A thick, crimson mist smelling of rust gushed out from the cracks.

The temperature in the captain's quarters dropped several degrees.

An Nuonuo shuddered and instinctively hid behind Xia Mo.

The blood mist churned for half a second before condensing into a shape.

A massive, crescent-shaped war scythe, entirely pitch black.

Ding—

[Congratulations on obtaining S-Rank Weapon: scythe of calamity]

[Attributes: Attacks include a life-steal effect; 15% of damage is converted into Health.]

[Passive Skill 'Pain Frenzy': The more injured the wielder, the higher the attack power, with a cap of 300%. When resonating with Berserker-type talents, the cap increases to 500%.]

"A... a double gold?" Lin Keke's voice was trembling.

Tang Ran had stopped speaking.

She stared at the war scythe, something burning deep within her pupils.

Chen Du pulled up the war scythe and slammed it into the floor by Tang Ran's feet.

"Yours."

Tang Ran reached out.

The moment her fingertips touched the scythe's handle.

A terrifying wave of blood-colored energy exploded from within her!

Her S-Rank Talent [Undying Berserker] resonated violently with the scythe of calamity's passive!

The muscle lines all over Tang Ran's body suddenly tightened, and veins bulged under her skin.

A faint red halo permeated around her, and her entire presence surged by more than a magnitude.

She gripped the scythe handle and gave it a light swing.

Ssh—

The steel wardrobe in the captain's quarters was sliced in half by an invisible blade of air.

"...Awesome!"

Tang Ran grinned, revealing a row of white teeth, her gaze fanatical to the extreme.

"Captain! I'm with you for life!"

Chen Du lit a cigarette and leaned back on the sofa.

With two S-Rank weapons distributed, the team's firepower had undergone a qualitative transformation.

For long-range, there was Xia Xin's Storm Ripper, capable of piercing through three layers of armor with one shot from eight kilometers away.

For close combat, there was Tang Ran's scythe of calamity; the more she fought, the crazier she became, making her virtually unkillable.

Add to that Xia Mo's burst damage, An Nuonuo's wind blades, and Li Yaozhi's early warning—

What kind of war was this? Enemies might as well just line up to die.

...

An hour later.

The Roman-style large bathtub on the deck was steaming with hot vapor.

Chen Du leaned against the pool wall, his eyes half-closed.

The hot water soaked his aching muscles, and the mental fatigue from driving the relic power finally eased significantly.

Splash.

The sound of water echoed.

Li Yaozhi slid into the pool from the side, her long black hair tied in a loose bun.

She had changed into a nearly transparent white shirt as a bathrobe; the hem soaked in the water, the fabric clinging to the curves of her body as it submerged.

"Captain, turn your back around."

"What for?"

"To scrub your back."

Li Yaozhi wrung out a towel and placed her hand on Chen Du's shoulder blade.

The pressure was neither too light nor too heavy, her fingertips pressing down along the muscle fibers.

"The muscle groups in your shoulders and back are all stiff."

She leaned in closer, her breath brushing past Chen Du's ear. "If we don't rub them out, they'll get sore."

"When did you learn massage?"

"A Diviner's sense of touch is naturally good."

Li Yaozhi's fingers slid across his lower back. "Precisely grasping every... sensitive spot."

Chen Du turned his head slightly, meeting her eyes which were filled with a hint of a smile.

This woman was getting better and better at this!

"Captain! The grapes are washed!"

An Nuonuo ran over from the deck carrying a plate of green grapes, crouching by the pool to peel them one by one and feed them to Chen Du.

"These are sweet! Big Sis Xia Lai just traded for them on the exchange channel!"

Dozens of meters away.

The Archbishop was chained to the mast, his head hanging half-dead.

An Nuonuo's wrench was lying on the ground nearby.

On one side was the ultimate enjoyment of an apocalyptic tyrant; on the other, the living hell of the Mechanical Divine Court's second-in-command.

If this scene were broadcasted, it would probably infuriate the entire Divine Court to death.

"By the way—"

Li Yaozhi stopped her movements and picked up a deck of Tarot cards from the poolside.

"Before we go to the Holy Mountain, I need to perform another divination."

She drew three cards and flipped them over in sequence.

First card: The Sun, Reversed.

Second card: Death, Upright.

Third card: The Lovers, Reversed.

Li Yaozhi's hand froze.

"What is it?" Chen Du noticed her fingertips stiffen slightly.

"Death and the Sun are hanging upside down..." Li Yaozhi pushed her glasses, which were dotted with water droplets, her gaze complex.

"Peach blossoms and blood-light share the same source."

"Speak in plain English."

"The trip to the Holy Mountain will bring great rewards, but also fatal danger."

She paused, her voice lowering slightly. "...You will meet a woman."

"The cards show that the entanglement between you and her is more complicated than that of enemies."

Chen Du chewed on a grape, his expression unchanged.

"If I can beat her, I'll fight. If I can't..."

He reached out and pinched Li Yaozhi's chin, his thumb brushing over her moist lips.

"Then..."

Before he could finish his sentence.

The entire Fortress No. 0819 jolted violently!

The water in the bathtub sloshed wildly, splashing flower petals all over An Nuonuo's face.

"What's going on?!"

Soon, Xia Lai's voice rang out over the broadcast.

"Captain!! You need to come see this!"

Xia Lai took a deep breath.

"Twelve kilometers directly ahead in the canyon, the radar scanned a moving mountain?!"

Chen Du stood up abruptly.

Water droplets slid down his silhouette.

Almost at the same instant, the Archbishop chained to the mast opened his mechanical eyes.

A string of blinding red garbled code flashed deep within his eyeballs.

His lips moved, making a sound like a buzzing mosquito:

"It's too late... the Heavenly Dao Inspection Team has already... completed permission sharing with the Holy Mountain..."

"The elimination countdown... has already begun."