The abyssal shockwave struck the surface of the Endless Ocean like an underwater hammer.
A towering wall of white foam erupted three miles into the sky. The gray sea turned black as ancient silt from the trench boiled upward, darkening the water for fifty miles in every direction.
Aboard the [Rank 6 Gu Family Hot-Spring Cruise Ship], the alarms on the bridge didn’t shriek. They chimed with the soothing melody of a bamboo wind chime.
Gu Changsheng stood at the bow railing on Deck Ten.
The wind tore at his linen shirt, but his feet remained rooted to the polished white deck. Behind him, Grandpa Fu carried a lacquer tray bearing four tall glasses of fresh coconut juice, complete with tiny paper umbrellas.
“Master,” Grandpa Fu said calmly, presenting the tray. “The seismic reading indicates a Rank 6 Peak entity ascending at two hundred knots.”
“The landlord is awake,” Changsheng said. He took a glass of coconut juice and handed it down to eleven-year-old Gu Nian, who had just joined him at the railing.
Gu Nian took a sip, his brow furrowed as he stared at the horizon. “Dad, look at the reefs ahead. That’s the Mermaid Clan’s territory, right?”
