The police station was dim and silent.
Ikumi was tied up tightly with ropes, her proud curves exposed without mercy.
Zhan Lan stared at the celebrity of the East Sea Team, unable to hide her discomfort.
She turned to Chu Xuan and asked, "Are we… going to kill her?"
Chu Xuan didn't even bother to look at her.
"Minus one point."
Only Yujin understood what he meant.
Chu Xuan looked down at Ikumi from above, expression unreadable.
"Tell me the abilities of every member in your team."
"I—I won't say anything!"
Chu Xuan raised a hand toward Zhao Yingkong.
"Lend me your dagger."
As an assassin, Zhao Yingkong was far less hesitant than the others.
She didn't even need Chu Xuan to act himself.
A flash of cold steel, and Ikumi's little finger flew through the air.
"Ahhhh!"
A sharp, piercing scream echoed across the second floor.
Downstairs, Zheng Zha, Zhang Jie, and Nova were keeping watch.
They exchanged uneasy glances.
Even they weren't used to harming ordinary humans, and the discomfort showed clearly on their faces.
Chu Xuan's voice remained colder than ice.
"From this moment on, every time you refuse me… you lose another finger."
His face didn't move.
He calmly opened a notebook as if taking stock in a business meeting.
His tone was exactly the same as before—no emotion, no fluctuations.
"Tell me the abilities of every member in your team."
Screams rose and fell like waves on the second floor.
But Chu Xuan's cruelty far surpassed anyone's imagination.
Within an hour, he had extracted every piece of information about the East Sea team.
And Ikumi would never again be able to use her delicate hands to… assist male actors.
After gathering everyone together, Chu Xuan began summarizing.
"Three-Sword Style enhancement: Tanaka Jūsuke. Ultimate skill: 'Tiger Hunt.' If we use Zhao Yingkong as a benchmark—her combat power being 40—then Tanaka Jūsuke's combat power is 98."
"Gunswordsman enhancement: Nakamura Jinta. Already killed by Yujin. Based on the information Yujin provided, his strength should be around 95."
"Kozumi Masao. Toguro-style muscle enhancement: 90% transformation. Strength at 88."
"Finally, the captain of the East Sea team—Miyata Kuraki."
"Dungeon Fighter Online enhancement: Asura class. Third-stage gene lock. Since Yujin had to personally contain him, and is already familiar with his abilities, I won't repeat the details."
Yujin couldn't help asking, "Then what's his combat power level?"
Chu Xuan shook his head. "I only gave them a rough estimate. You and he haven't truly clashed yet, and I don't know your full capabilities either. Based on the intel we have, I'd say his combat power is above four hundred."
"…What about me?"
Chu Xuan thought for a moment. "Around one hundred and fifty."
Yujin understood Chu Xuan's personality. If he was giving numbers like this, it probably meant he was being conservative.
Zhang Jie felt a chill down his spine. "So that means he can basically crush us? The difference is that big… what do we even do?"
Chu Xuan pointed toward the room behind them, where Ikumi had already fainted from the pain. "What I said just now includes her being present."
"Huh?" Zhang Jie asked in confusion. "What use does this woman have?"
"Of course she's useful." Chu Xuan explained, "She's the East Sea team's psychic power controller. Without her, the East Sea team can barely function."
Yujin raised his hand. "They still don't get it. Without a psychic controller, it's like having your spy satellite ripped out while the other side's satellites cover the entire map. Your whole map is black. It's like driving a truck at night through a mountain road with no headlights—you don't even know if there's a cliff in front of you, so you don't dare move forward."
Chu Xuan nodded. "I've never played many games, but your explanation is accurate."
"Then…" Zheng Zha scratched his head. "How do we take advantage of that?"
Yujin immediately understood Chu Xuan's meaning. "We stall! Stall until their driver gets sleepy, and then he'll drive himself right off the cliff!"
The setting shifts.
The setting sun cast its blood-red glow across the walls of Impel Down, dyeing the towering, oppressive fortress in a sinister shade of dark crimson, as if pushing the newly captured prisoners one step at a time toward an inescapable abyss.
A group of newly arrested prisoners, escorted by Marine soldiers, walked slowly and heavily toward the massive gate of Impel Down like lambs being led to slaughter.
Their eyes were filled with despair and terror, yet within them flickered a faint longing for freedom.
In the moment the Marine guards relaxed their vigilance, a few prisoners exchanged glances, a flash of resolve passing between them.
Seizing the chance, they burst into motion like wild horses breaking free from their reins and sprinted toward the edge of the sea!
Only one thought echoed in their minds: If we can just jump into the ocean, maybe we can escape this hell.
The Marine escorts were stunned by the sudden rebellion. After freezing for a second, they immediately snapped back to their senses. They charged toward the fleeing prisoners, shouting:
"Stop! Don't run!"
Their weapons were raised high, ready to fire the moment the prisoners crossed the line.
The jailers standing by the shore, however, acted as if they had expected all of this.
They didn't step forward to help the navy capture the escaping prisoners.
Instead, they folded their arms across their chests, watching with mocking smiles, as though they were enjoying a show.
Their eyes were filled with cold indifference, as if the prisoners' life or death had nothing to do with them.
The prisoners threw everything aside and charged straight toward the sea, and the waves quickly swallowed their bodies.
They paddled desperately, flailing their arms as they swam toward the distance, their hearts burning with the hope of freedom.
They believed that as long as they swam far enough, they could break free from the prison's chains and reclaim their lives.
But they never imagined that beneath the seemingly calm surface of the sea, a tremendous danger was lurking.
Suddenly, a huge shark burst out of the water, its massive body looking especially terrifying under the fading sunset.
The shark leapt high into the air, sending a towering splash into the sky.
One prisoner didn't even have time to react before the shark swallowed him in a single bite.
His scream was instantly drowned by the waves, leaving only expanding circles of red spreading across the surface.
Right after that, the sea began to churn violently, as if it had been brought to a boil.
A whole swarm of sharks rushed in, their eyes shining with a bloodthirsty light as they opened their enormous jaws and lunged at the remaining prisoners.
The prisoners screamed in terror, thrashing wildly in the water, desperately trying to escape the pursuing sharks.
But their strength was nothing compared to the sharks'. There was no way for them to escape their fate.
One prisoner after another was torn apart, their blood dyeing the sea red as their bodies disappeared into the sharks' mouths, leaving only scraps of clothing and severed limbs drifting on the water.
Seeing this horrific sight, the navy soldiers who were preparing to jump in and seize the prisoners froze on the spot.
Their faces turned pale, and their hands trembled uncontrollably as they clutched their weapons tighter, as if that was the only thing giving them a sense of safety.
Just when the navy thought the bloody disaster had come to an end, and before their hearts could calm from what they had just witnessed, a massive dark silhouette emerged on the distant sea.
As the shadow became clearer, an enormous tentacle broke through the surface—like the arm of a demon reaching out from the deep abyss of the ocean.
The tentacle was unbelievably thick, almost the size of a battleship, its surface lined with circular suction cups and hard, keratin-like plates that gleamed with a cold, eerie light under the sunset.
Every time the gigantic creature moved, it stirred up mountain-like waves, the entire sea surging violently as though it was completely under its control.
The giant octopus was clearly enraged that the sharks had stolen its prey, and it swung its colossal tentacle, slamming it down on the water.
Each strike was like a small tsunami exploding outward, the rising wall of white waves crashing toward the shore with overwhelming force.
The moment the waves crashed down, everything in their path was mercilessly swallowed and washed away.
Just moments ago, the criminals' torn clothes and severed limbs were still floating on the surface—yet now they vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed in this sea at all.
Several Marines turned pale at the sudden, horrific sight.
Their legs weakened, barely able to keep them standing.
A few soldiers instinctively removed their caps, wiping the seawater splashed onto their faces with trembling hands, their eyes filled with fear and despair.
They understood all too clearly that before this powerful and unknown sea creature, they were tiny and fragile—nothing more than prey that could be devoured by the abyss at any moment.
The leading Marine forced down his terror and gave a shaky, hardly-proper salute to the jailers on the shore.
He reported with a trembling voice, "The handover is complete! We're leaving immediately!"
Urgency and panic leaked through his tone—he wanted nothing more than to escape this nightmare-like place as fast as possible.
The jailers watched the Marines' panicked retreat, the mockery on their faces growing stronger.
They stared coldly, unmoved, as if long accustomed to the horrors lurking in the waters around Impel Down.
To them, the Marines' fear and the prisoners' gruesome deaths were nothing but everyday scenes in this cruel world.
As the Marines hurried away, the sea slowly returned to its eerie calm.
The massive octopus sank back into the depths, leaving behind only the sea's surface—dyed blood-red by the setting sun.
****
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