234: Chapter 234 The Tyrant Returns! The Gaze of the Sea of ​​Despair (Grand Finale)

The eastern edge of the Black Continent.

The coastline.

5:03 AM.

The shadows among the reefs suddenly felt wrong.

The shadows originally clinging to the rock walls began to swell, tear, and churn, as if some gargantuan entity was squeezing out from the other side of the darkness.

Boom—!

The shadows shattered half of the reef!

Fortress No. 0819 emerged from the void, its four massive mechanical legs stepping onto the beach, crushing footprints several meters deep into the sand.

The sea breeze poured onto the deck, carrying a salty, fishy, and damp scent.

An Nuonuo leaned over the railing, poking her head out and squinting at the faint streak of grey-white appearing on the horizon.

"It's been a long time since I've seen the sea..."

Mao Mao squatted by her feet, its nose sniffing hard toward the direction of the sea.

Then it sneezed.

Pfft—!

A glob of green snot hit An Nuonuo's slipper.

"Mao Mao! You're dead!!!"

"Awoooo—!"

The Ghoul took off running, its claws scraping a trail of sparks on the deck.

An Nuonuo chased after it with her protruding belly, but after three steps, she was gasping for breath with her hands on her knees.

"Come back... get back here..."

Mao Mao cowered behind the close-in weapon system, showing only its two ears and a pair of innocent eyes.

Lin Keke walked slowly out of the hatch, supporting her lower back.

"I say, Captain, can you be a bit more gentle with the teleportation? I feel like the baby in my belly just did a backflip."

"That's because you ate two bowls of instant noodles before bed."

Tang Ran followed out with her protruding belly, her imposing aura not diminished in the slightest.

"Bullshit! It was clearly three bowls!"

"...And you still have the nerve to say that?"

The deck gradually became lively.

Xia Lai held a radar scan in her hand: "When are we setting off?"

Chen Du sat in a rattan chair, legs crossed and unmoving.

Dark gold patterns spread from his collarbone to his jawline, flickering in the morning light.

He had a cigarette in his mouth and exhaled a puff of smoke.

"No rush."

"Watch the sunrise first."

The light of the sunrise had only just spread halfway.

The churning ink-colored seawater fell silent without warning.

The waves stopped, the wind stopped.

Even the maternity clothes hanging on the deck stopped fluttering.

A deathly silence.

Biscuit crumbs from Lin Keke's mouth fell onto her chest, but she didn't notice.

Because her gaze was pinned to the sky.

The clouds were splitting open!

Immediately following.

A massive, blood-red vertical eye slowly pressed out from the gap in the clouds.

That sense of being peered at was like ice water pouring down from the top of the head; everyone's hair stood on end.

An Nuonuo instinctively covered her belly and took half a step back.

Tang Ran gripped the scythe of calamity and held it horizontally in front of her.

This time.

The moment the vertical eye's pupil aligned with Chen Du, it flickered!

It didn't release its domain of fear.

It was hesitating.

Chen Du felt it.

He stood up from the rattan chair and flicked the cigarette ash.

Then, step by step, he walked to the bow of the ship.

His dark gold pupils calmly looked back at the giant eye that had once almost killed them all.

"It's been a year, and you actually still remember me!"

The vertical eye's pupil contracted slightly.

As if it were re-evaluating the tiny human standing on the steel deck before it.

Chen Du spat out a puff of smoke.

"Let me guess—what are you afraid of?"

He slowly raised his right hand.

Dark gold patterns lit up from his fingertips, spreading up his arm.

Shoulders, neck, cheeks—the patterns flowed faster and faster under his skin.

The shadow beneath his feet suddenly surged!

It overflowed from the deck, spreading down along the ship's hull!

The moment it touched the sea surface, the entire sea area trembled!

Ten meters, fifty meters, a hundred meters... the sea for hundreds of meters around was covered by the pitch-black shadow.

The shadow constantly shifted shapes.

Finally, it froze into the phantom of a giant roaring at the sky.

Chen Du tilted his head.

Dark gold flames erupted from the depths of his pupils!

The pressure of his status turned into a physical shockwave, exploding from the bow and slamming straight into the blood-red vertical eye in the sky!

The two forces collided in mid-air.

The crimson sea surface was pressed into a depression a hundred meters in diameter, seawater pouring in from the edges with a deafening roar!

One second... three seconds... five seconds...

The iris of the vertical eye trembled violently!

Then it averted its gaze.

That blood-red giant eye, which looked down upon all things and brought fear, slowly turned its angle.

It no longer looked directly at Chen Du.

After shifting, a blurred crimson afterimage remained in the vertical eye's original position in the sky.

On the deck.

No one spoke.

Lin Keke's mouth formed a perfect 'O' shape.

Tang Ran's hand gripping the scythe of calamity was shaking.

She was excited to the extreme.

Xia Mo stood behind and to the side of the bow, her Famous Blade sheathed, her gaze never leaving Chen Du's back.

When the wind blew, the corner of her mouth curved up slightly.

The god of fear.

Was afraid!

At that moment.

The sunrise that had been blocked on the horizon emerged completely.

Golden light spilled over the crimson sea, reflecting a strange and magnificent purple-red glow.

Half the sky was a blood-colored afterimage, half the sky was the golden light of dawn.

A doomsday sunrise.

Ugly, broken, and carrying the scent of blood.

On the deck.

The women with protruding bellies one after another walked to the ship's railing.

Xia Mo leaned into Chen Du's embrace.

His hand naturally rested on her slightly swollen lower abdomen, his thumb gently rubbing it.

"Is it beautiful?"

"Yes."

Xia Lai squeezed in from behind, her head resting on Chen Du's other shoulder.

"Make way, make way, I want to lean too."

"You've gotten heavier."

"That's your son being heavy!"

Xia Xin stood on the observation platform, her heavy sniper rifle mounted, but her eyes were secretly glancing toward Chen Du.

She was caught red-handed by Xia Lai.

"Sister! You're looking again!"

"No! I'm observing the sea surface!"

"The observation platform faces east, and the Captain is to the west. Your neck is twisted a hundred and eighty degrees."

Xia Xin buried her entire face behind the scope, her ears so red they could light a match.

An Nuonuo squatted next to Mao Mao, pulling a bag of potato chips from her pocket.

One person and one beast shared snacks while watching the sunrise.

The sound of Mao Mao crunching chips was crisp, and drool dripped onto the deck.

An Nuonuo shifted her bottom away in disgust.

Mao Mao let out a wronged whine and rested its head on her knee.

"...Fine, just don't drool."

"Ow."

Ye Qiu walked over with a tray, handing out nutritional soup one by one.

When she reached Chen Du, she smiled.

"Captain, remember to put the cup back after drinking. Last time, I searched for three days."

"That wasn't me."

"Mao Mao doesn't know how to use a cup."

"..."

Chen Du took the cup and had a sip, looking at the deck full of people and beasts.

"Tastes good!"

...

It only took forty seconds for the news of Fortress No. 0819 appearing on the coastline to spread.

Someone in a distant camp had seen the fortress's number through binoculars.

The world channel instantly exploded!!

[No. 0819 is back!! God Du isn't dead!! He appeared by the sea!!]

[It's been a year! I thought he and the Avatar of the Heavenly Dao died together!]

[Wait... did you see clearly? Those women around him... their bellies are bulging?]

[Holy crap... over thirty girls... all pregnant???]

[The Tyrant is truly the Tyrant! Mass-producing scrap metal on the battlefield, mass-producing offspring in bed!]

[Can you guys not just stare at their bellies?! Didn't you feel that pressure just now? The eye in the sky moved away! It moved away!!]

[Saw it with my own eyes! That vertical eye didn't dare stare at him. The god of fear—actually feared a human!!!]

[No, he's not human anymore, right? He fought the Heavenly Dao, swallowed a godhead, and the god of fear doesn't dare look him in the eye. What do you call that?]

[The Tyrant!!!]

The news flooded in like a deluge.

Upon receiving the news, the remaining Mechanical Divine Court strongholds dismantled their equipment and evacuated overnight.

The leaders of several large survival teams met urgently to discuss the feasibility of "paying tribute" to No. 0819.

Small teams scattered across various places spread the deeds of "God Du" like crazy.

From the first time he withstood the gaze of the Sea of Despair, to parading around with an archbishop as a flag,

to the flying punch that tore the sky, and then to the global announcement of swallowing a godhead—every segment was embellished and passed on by word of mouth!

The two words "God Du" were no longer a joke or mere admiration.

They were a faith.

...

The sun had risen completely.

The purple-red glow dissipated, and the crimson sea churned as usual under the sunlight.

The averted vertical eye in the sky still hung at the edge of the clouds, not disappearing.

It was still there.

But it didn't dare look over anymore.

Chen Du handed the empty cup to Ye Qiu and turned to face everyone.

His dark gold pupils burned quietly in the morning light.

"Rested enough."

"Let's go!"

"Target—Sleepless City!"

Fortress No. 0819 roared as it took its massive steps, treading into the crimson sea.

The moment the seawater submerged its mechanical ankles, the four giant legs began to retract and fold.

Steel plates flipped, meshed, and locked.

The fortress transformed back into a ship shape.

At the top of the island.

A black flag with dark gold patterns flapped loudly in the sea breeze.

The bow split the crimson waves, sailing toward the deep sea.

The last message pinned globally on the world channel came from an anonymous player with an ID of only four digits:

[If someone asks you who the strongest existence on this sea is?]

[You don't need to answer. You just need to tell him—No. 0819 is here!!!]

—The End—

Postscript Epilogue.

Excerpts from a survivor's log:

...Day 387:

"Today, a huge explosion came from the direction of Sleepless City; even our camp, two hundred kilometers away, felt the vibration. Some say God Du is fighting the god of fear. I don't know if it's true, but the sky in that direction was lit up all night."

Day 391:

"The signal from Sleepless City has finally been restored! A large amount of never-before-seen rare resources appeared on the trading channel, source labeled: No. 0819. I tried to contact them. A little girl's milky voice replied to me: 'The Captain said, one hand gives life essence, the other hand gives goods, no credit allowed~'"

Day 400:

"The vertical eye of the god of fear has disappeared. It hasn't appeared for a whole month. The color of the Sea of Despair is fading. Some say God Du did it. Others say the Heavenly Dao fixed it. No one knows the truth. But I know one thing—from today on, there's no need to be afraid when going out to sea!"

Day 500:

"I heard God Du's children were born—thirty-five of them!! All with heterochromatic double pupils—one dark gold, and the other different for each. Some call them 'The Tyrant's Offspring.' Others call them 'Seeds of the New Era.' Regardless of the name, the structure of this world has changed forever!"

"As for Chen Du himself?"

"No one knows where he is."

"But in the deep of night, standing on the coastline looking into the distance, one can occasionally see the silhouette of a steel behemoth, moving slowly on the horizon where crimson and gold intertwine."

"A black flag with dark gold patterns flies from the mast."

"Vague sounds of women's laughter, babies crying, and the howling of a Ghoul drift from the deck!"

"Then—everything vanishes into the mist."

"Like a dream."

"But everyone knows—"

"That was no dream."