58: We're risking our lives to accelerate, so those idiots can just eat our exhaust fumes!

Seeing Chen Du look at him, Xiao Gang's skin hardened once more, becoming as tough as steel.

"Pretty boy, you just wait!"

After saying that, he leaped up and jumped back onto the dragon boat.

Chen Du stared at Xiao Gang's retreating figure as he jumped back.

In that moment just now, he truly felt the intent to kill.

But he held back.

If this guy's defense was tough enough and a single strike failed to kill him instantly, the invincible deterrence he had built up would collapse.

These idiots were completely scared out of their wits.

If they had even a bit of brains, they would have chosen to fight a war of attrition or use hit-and-run tactics.

As long as they stalled past the duration of the skill, it was truly uncertain who would have come out on top.

Before the dragon boat could pull away,

Li Yaozhi suddenly grabbed Chen Du's arm.

"Stop fighting... stop now!! Everyone, stop fighting!!"

Her eyes were wide, staring blankly behind the two vessels.

Seeing her expression, Chen Du quickly asked, "Li Yaozhi! What do you see?"

Li Yaozhi's voice was urgent: "Run!!"

"Behind us... something that eats people... is catching up!!"

Everyone subconsciously looked back.

They saw the surging sea behind them,

Where a vast shadow, deeper than the night itself, was swallowing all light and spreading toward them!

"...Run!!"

Li Yaozhi gripped Chen Du's arm tightly.

Her cold eyes were dilated, and two lines of bloody tears seeped from the corners of her eyes.

"That is... the Abyss..."

She didn't need to explain.

Because the sky had fallen.

The sea behind them, which had merely been gloomy, now looked as if a whole bucket of thick ink had been poured over it.

Rumble...!!!

About three nautical miles behind the two ships, the sea level rose without warning.

Immediately after, a tentacle so thick it was suffocating burst out of the water!

It was at least twenty meters in diameter!

Its surface was covered in thick barnacles and seaweed, and it was even embedded with several rusted shipwrecks like diamonds.

It pierced straight into the clouds, reaching a height of over thirty stories!

With just a single swing in the air, the wind pressure it created whipped up giant waves tens of meters high!

"Crap!"

Even Chen Du couldn't help but curse.

Is this a monster for the newbie period? This is like a max-level boss in full gear wandering into a newbie village to slaughter everyone!

"A monster... that's a monster as big as a mountain!!"

Not far away, the muscle men on the fierce tiger dragon boat were paralyzed with fear, no longer shouting about snatching women.

Before this world-ending giant, humans were as insignificant as a joke.

"What are you dazing off for?! That thing is coming for us!!"

On the high platform, Brother Shan was the first to react.

He fiercely slapped the head of the person next to him: "Row!! Everyone row for me!! Do you want to become fish bait?!"

[Talent Activated: Morale Boost!]

A dark red halo exploded outward.

The burly men on the dragon boat were like they'd been given a shot of adrenaline, driving them to swing their oars frantically.

"Heave—ho! Heave—ho!!"

The rhythmic rowing chant rang out.

The fierce tiger shot across the sea, its speed actually surging to 14 knots!

"Captain! This is bad!!"

Inside the bridge, Tang Ran's voice was distorted: "Our limit is only 12 knots! That monster's speed has reached 15 knots! We're going to be caught!!"

At this moment, to save their own lives, the fierce tiger used its agility to cut directly in front of ferry no. 0819!

Brother Shan looked back with malice on his face: "Sorry, ladies! Better you die than me! Your ship is big, just right to stay behind and feed that big guy!!"

"Throw them! Throw all the cargo boxes down! Block them!!"

At Brother Shan's command, the muscle men at the stern of the dragon boat continuously threw sundries and wooden barrels from the ship into the sea.

Thud, thud, thud!

A large amount of floating debris filled the shipping lane.

ferry no. 0819 was massive and couldn't maneuver as flexibly as the dragon boat to avoid them.

The bow repeatedly struck the obstacles, forcing the speed down below 11 knots!

"Those bastards!!"

Xia Xin was trembling with rage and fired an arrow.

But with the sea waves towering, the arrow lost its aim and was blown away by the wind.

Seeing the mountain-like shadow behind getting closer and closer, the stench of the deep sea almost made everyone faint.

An Nuonuo found a trench coat to wrap around herself and huddled by Chen Du's legs, shivering.

"Chen, Chen Du... are we going to die?"

"Die?"

Chen Du stared at the frantically fleeing dragon boat, a flash of brutality in his eyes.

"They want to use me as a stepping stone? They're not worthy!"

He pushed open the bridge door and roared into the loudspeaker: "Xia Lai! Where are you!!"

"I'm here, I'm here! In the bottom hold!!" Xia Lai's voice came through accompanied by the sound of clanging metal, sounding exceptionally excited.

"Our current speed isn't enough! I want to go faster! Even if we run this ship into pieces, we have to charge out!!"

"Copy that!!"

Xia Lai poked her head out from a messy pile of parts.

Her face was covered in black engine oil, but her eyes were frighteningly bright.

"Captain, I've been waiting for you to say those words!!"

"A normal speed increase definitely won't work! We have to use the hard stuff!"

"I have a modification plan! It can push the steam turbine's output power to the limit! The top speed can reach 24 knots!!"

24 knots!

That was double the speed of a normal ferry!

"But there's a price!" Xia Lai said quickly. "It requires consuming all the alloy materials in our inventory! And there's only a 30% success rate. If it fails, the boiler might explode!!"

"Don't talk to me about probability!"

Chen Du glanced at the tentacle shadow covering half the sky behind him. "If we don't modify it, it's 100% death! If we do, we can at least gamble! I'm going all in!"

"ferry no. 0819! I am now authorizing Xia Lai! Activate Modification and Upgrade Mode!!"

[Ding! Captain's command detected! Resource library unlocked!]

[Remaining materials: titanium alloy x36, refined steel x116, copper ingot x12, deep sea mithril x12...]

Clatter—!

The precious materials in the warehouse turned into flows of light and poured out.

"Hehehe... this is the romance of a Mechanic!!"

Xia Lai laughed wildly, sucking the materials into her dimensional toolbox, and then jumped onto the glowing red boiler.

As her mechanical arm pressed down on the vibrating pipes, thug one instantly transformed!

Several faint blue electric arcs shot from its fingertips, slicing open the engine casing.

"Babies, time to work!"

At her command, titanium alloy plates, refined steel ingots, and deep sea mithril poured out as if they cost nothing.

With the boost from Mechanical Affinity, these hard metals were quickly softened and restructured by the high-temperature plasma flame stream emitted by thug one.

Xia Lai's movements were as fast as lightning!

Liquefied deep sea mithril was rapidly injected into the piston core, and she used titanium alloy to wrap the drive shaft in a silver-gray exoskeleton.

"Fuse! Reconstruct!"

Her mechanical palm slammed hard onto the main control valve, and countless complex metal patterns spread from her palm across the entire machine.

"Burn for me—!!!"

Buzz—!!!

The entire ferry suddenly jolted!

The dark exhaust pipe suddenly spat out dark red sparks.

The rising and falling sound of gears meshing was like heavy metal rock music exploding in the depths of the ship.

"How much longer?!" Chen Du roared.

"Three minutes! The boiler needs three minutes to preheat!!"

Xia Lai roared back, "During this time, the speed will drop to 9 knots! Captain, you have to hold on!!"

9 knots?

How was that different from stopping the ship?

The people on the fierce tiger also noticed this.

"Hahaha! They've stalled!!"

Brother Shan stood at the stern of the dragon boat, laughing so hard tears came out: "I told you this pretty boy was no good! Dropping the ball at the critical moment!"

"It's just a pity for those pretty little things. If only they had come onto our dragon boat!"

"Brothers, put some back into it! As long as that big guy eats them, we're safe!!"

The distance gradually closed!

A soul-piercing low-frequency whale song echoed across the sea.

That sky-reaching tentacle slowly lowered, looming over ferry no. 0819.

The massive shadow quickly swallowed the sunlight on the deck, like the gavel of doomsday judgment.

"Captain! Help!"

Lin Keke and Zhao Mengmeng hugged each other and screamed, closing their eyes to wait for death.

Only Chen Du stood motionless at the stern.

He lit a cigarette.

The sea wind was violent, and it took three tries with the lighter to get it lit.

"Phew..."

The smoke was exhaled and instantly torn apart by the wind.

Chen Du looked at the approaching tentacle, then glanced at the countdown on the system panel.

"...Three... two... one..."

"Time's up!"