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In the silent clinic, only ragged pants could be heard. Pale light cast down, piercing into a pair of pupils that constantly dilated and contracted. The figure strapped to the chair mumbled incoherently, struggling desperately. The chair, bolted to the floor, creaked and groaned in the disinfectant-scented air, accompanying the unbroken scratch of a pen against paper. "Relax. Don't be nervous. Open your mouth." The doctor lifted the tongue depressor, tossed it into the trash bin, and turned to the assistant. "Male, adult, healthy, Grade A-plus. Mark him with a yellow tag. Next." The assistant kept his head down, scribbling notes, while behind the chair, another man raised his hand and expertly pressed an injector gun against the 'patient's' neck, pulling the trigger. Instantly, the struggling figure went limp and silent. Then, amid piercing shrieks, another person was dragged inside and strapped to the chair. "Female, elderly, weak vitality and short life expectancy. Grade C... white tag. Next." "Female, young and pretty. Grade B-plus. Tag her green..." "This one won't do. High on drugs. Grade C-minus..." "This one's no good either. Write it off as scrap." "Grade B-plus, red tag... Grade C-minus, white tag... Grade C, white tag... red tag..." "Next!" The injector gun clicked again and again, operating like an assembly line. Out in the corridor, wailing or numb captives were pushed into the clinic one by one, then dragged out one after another and shoved into different rooms. Suddenly, spine-chilling weeping and screams rang out. And immediately cut off. With a click, the opened door swung shut. Only the creaking rattle of a cart remained, laden with sealed containers, leaving two intermittent bloody tracks across the floor... stretching toward the cold storage. In cages flanking both sides of the corridor, the sedated spoils were categorized and tossed into their respective destinations, unable to utter a single sound. Only hollow eyes stared wide, gazing blankly at the pale lights overhead. In the dead silence of the bottom deck, there was not even a whisper. Amid the droning hum of machinery, faint, phantom sobs seemed to echo perpetually. While the efficient sorting and slaughter proceeded below, faint cheers and clamor drifted down from the top deck. Mixed with angry shouts and curses. Two entirely different worlds. "What kind of garbage is this?" On the top deck of the Ivory, a scream cut short as a raised golf club paused in midair. Renut stepped on the dying figure beneath his boot, turning back with furrowed brows. "Wasn't it a bumper harvest? The quota I turned in is even higher than last time." "The quantity is fine, but the loss rate on your merchandise is far too high—it's down six percentage points compared to the same period previously." A middle-aged man who looked like a doctor offered a flattering smile and reminded him, "The Second Master hopes you'll be more mindful. After all, they're meant to be sold. Spending money on cosmetic surgery to patch them up is an extra expense. Besides, some clients prefer all-natural goods, and we must do our best to accommodate them." "Tell him to fuck off!" Renut barked a laugh, swinging the club down with full force. A rush of displaced air gave way to a brief scream that choked into silence. Amid the cheers of his subordinates, the human head took flight like a golf ball, trailing arcs of crimson as it soared, plunged, bounced, and dropped right into a circular buoy floating on the sea. Instantly, another roar of cheers and catcalls erupted. "Haha, see that? Did you see that, you dumbfucks! Not a single one of you can touch me!" Renut turned around, laughing wildly. "Daddy still wins!" "..." Beside him, the man who had just spoken froze, his white lab coat splattered with fresh blood. "All that corporate bullshit about 'granularity,' 'leverage points,' 'cutting costs and boosting efficiency'... He studied in the Federation until his brain rotted, if you ask me. Dragging factory rules over here to boss people around with endless petty shit." Renut casually flicked his wrist, tossing the bent club into the man's hands. Catching sight of the stiff, terrified, blood-spattered face, he suddenly grinned and patted the man's cheek: "Tell him to come talk to me when he actually becomes the head of the Sukarno family." *Plop.* A dislodged eyeball slipped from the doctor's shoulder, bounced onto the deck, and was crushed underfoot in his panic, triggering another burst of raucous laughter. "Mark it down, mark it down—that wasn't my doing." Renut grinned and waved for someone to bring up a fresh one. He tilted his head back, threw down a glass of strong liquor, then picked up a straw and snorted a deep line of powder off the table with a shake of his head. His body twitched violently several times before he let out a satisfied sigh, his gaze blurring into an intoxicating haze. Amid a round of boos, another severed head flew off course and splashed into the sea. "Off my game... got too tired earlier..." The subordinate tried to make excuses, only for Renut to kick him aside. "If you can't hack it, get lost! Next man up! Keep going! Motherfucker, I'm hot today! Watch me clean every last one of you dumbfucks out!" He picked up another golf club, took his stance, grinned, and raised his arms—only for the blaring, high-tempo music to abruptly cut out. Sudden silence fell. A dark-skinned, burly man shoved past the bystanders and stepped forward. "General, there's a ship ahead. Something looks off." "Oh?" Renut blinked in surprise, then grinned broadly. "Run into colleagues, have we? Told you my hands were hot—room for another meal! Everyone, battle stations!" With a dull squelch, he crushed the now-useless 'ball' beneath his foot without a second thought. The messy deck instantly took on a chilling, murderous edge. Two escort frigates ahead accelerated, cutting through the turquoise waves. Before long, their deployed drones transmitted visual feeds of what lay ahead. For a moment, everyone stared blankly before erupting into sheer joy. Cheers rang out! Amid the rolling, murky waters, a battered, dilapidated freighter chugged forward, spewing thick black smoke. Its rust-coated hull was covered in countless welds and patches, devoid of any markings, registration data, or even a satellite transponder... It was unmistakably a shady smuggler vessel! Having just spotted the silhouettes appearing on the distant horizon, it seemed to freeze in panic before catching on, desperately attempting to swing around and flee. Unfortunately, it moved as slow as a crawling turtle. One glance at its submerged waterline showed how absurdly overloaded it was. Even as frantic figures began dumping cargo overboard, it was far too late. "Heh, right at our goddamn doorstep, and a fat prize walks right in!" Renut grinned with relish and glanced at the man beside him. "What are you staring at? Transmit a message. Ask if they need a hand." Amid raucous laughter, a hailing signal was broadcast over the radio channel: "Vessel ahead, heave to immediately. We are the Seven Cities Joint Defense Fleet. Cease propulsion and prepare for inspection. Repeat, heave to and prepare for inspection..." With each repetition, the tone grew steadily colder and more authoritative, until a blustering, frantic roar crackled back over the receiver: "Mind your own fucking business! Do you have any idea whose ship this is?! Cross Sixth Master Ling, and every single one of you from top to bottom is dead meat!" "Haha! Ling Liu's throwing his weight all the way from fucking Gray Port to the Seven Cities? Real impressive, tough guy!" Renut waved a hand, bored of the back-and-forth, and signaled his men to open fire. Thunderous blasts shook the air, spurring the freighter into an even more desperate sprint—until, with a colossal bang, plumes of dense smoke billowed up. The freighter stalled dead in the water, utterly crippled. Fire broke out in its hold. Through his binoculars, Renut could see the pursuing frigates closing in. At first, the crew seemed determined to put up a stubborn last stand, several figures on deck wildly firing rifles in vain. Once the frigate spooled up its autocannons and unleashed a torrential barrage, everything went dead silent... The freighter's hull was chewed full of gaping holes in a gruesome display. "Smugglers," Renut sneered. Such blinded, greedy fools risking everything—he had seen countless numbers of them. Smuggling had rules of its own. Even without official tariffs, the requisite tribute couldn't be shorted by a single cent. Short it, and heads rolled. And this kind of reckless idiot who turned off all navigation and transponders to gamble their lives across the Endless Sea just to dodge paying tribute wasn't anything new. Under normal circumstances, across the vast and boundless sea, a lone vessel had nine chances out of ten of slipping by unnoticed. But once caught, everyone from the captain to the cargo owner and the buyer would be wiped out down to the last relative. And nobody would shed a tear! "Kill them all." Renut waved his hand in dismissive command, unburdened by the slightest hesitation. Even if they weren't Ling Liu's men—hell, even if it were Ling Liu's own flesh and blood—if Renut killed them and let the word out, Ling Liu would still have to say thank you. Break the rules, and you deserve to die! Killing them was practically doing heaven's work! Free money delivered straight to his door—he'd be an idiot to turn it down! Pure profit! Watching the frigate pull alongside and the firecracker pops of gunfire ring out without pause, Renut scoffed and lowered his binoculars, turning back toward his unfinished game of golf. He had thought it might be some formidable opponent, but it was just this sort of bottom-feeding trash... Damn it, wasted his nerves for nothing! He picked up the club once more, waiting for the crew below to bring up a new target, but after waiting a good while, the clueless bastards hadn't moved an inch. "It got bit, General!" A cry rang out as the spotter holding binoculars shouted in utter shock, "My god, it got bit!" "You dumb piece of shit, what are you making such a fuss about?!" Renut rolled his eyes and shook his head. At this distance, getting caught by a frigate meant being swallowed whole was only a matter of time. What was there to panic about? Yet seeing the look of abject horror on every subordinate's face and hearing the terrified shrieks erupting over the comms, he paused. Instinctively, he raised his binoculars once more. Then, he froze in his tracks... Wait! What the fuck did you mean by 'got bit'?! Are you telling me a broken freighter on the verge of sinking just took a bite out of our frigate? Through the lens of the binoculars, he saw... the beat-up, smoking freighter suddenly, in the most literal sense possible, split open a massive maw. Then, without the slightest hesitation, it took a savage bite straight into the frigate right beside it. *CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!* In a matter of seconds, more than half of the frigate's prow vanished into the freighter's iron jaws. Sparks sprayed in wild cascades; steel groaned and shrieked in agony... Literally bitten. Literally swallowed. Literally not a scrap left behind! Even the main cannon, still firing frantically, was taken into its mouth, shells swallowed down into its belly. Under the torrent of autocannon fire, the freighter continuously shed loose debris, but an instant later, even the autocannons were submerged into that abyss of darkness, disappearing from sight... Terrified figures leaped from the vessel one after another, plunging into the sea and paddling frantically away. Across the entire stretch of water echoed that scalp-numbing, shrill grinding sound. *Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp...* In under half a minute, the entire frigate had been thoroughly devoured into the belly of the riddled freighter through the gaping maw at its bow. And then... [*Burp~*] The massive steel maw opened once more, puffing out a wisp of black smoke. Scraps lodged between its teeth fell into the sea, vanishing with a splash. Immediately after, a chilling illusion gripped everyone's minds... That monstrous freighter seemed to be looking over at them! Ravenous, salivating. It ate hearty, it loved to eat, it wanted more! At that exact instant, thunderous booms erupted from the horizon at the edge of their vision! "Fire!" At Minkler's command, the Seven Cities Joint Defense—having long since locked their targets—unleashed their full salvos! *BOOM!!!* Nightmare crashed into reality without warning. An ultra-long-range strike spanning over fifty kilometers, a fantastical beyond-visual-range bombardment, struck Renut's flagship, the Ivory, with dead-center precision! A protective barrier violently manifested in thin air, only to be completely punched through in the next instant! Having stripped away layer after layer of its casing, an alchemical artillery shell carved a massive arc across the sky, diving sharply downward from midair and nearly smashing Renut directly in the face. Roaring flames, deafening blasts. At this point, how could Renut still fail to realize... "Fuck me, enemy attack!!!"