Chapter 219: The First Limit (Happy May Day)

The once-clear Indian Ocean lost every trace of gentleness as the storm drew near. Lead-gray storm clouds surged in wildly, until the boundary between sky and sea blurred completely.

The whole world at this moment seemed to have been swallowed by this violence; a blue beacon block bobbed helplessly with the waves, now flung into the air, now slamming heavily back into the water.

Every so often, a wave would wrap around it and drag it under, then the next crest would fling it far away again.

Simply watching the camera tumble was enough to make the livestream viewers feel like throwing up; they couldn't imagine how the man clinging desperately to the beacon block could endure the fury of heaven and earth unleashed like this.

Against such power, human strength was utterly insignificant. Even a million-ton-class giant vessel, facing the storm, was no better than a dead leaf, able only to passively endure.

At this moment, the sounds of waves, wind, and thunder wove together into a deafening roar; not a trace of peace remained on the sea surface, only violence, and the entire Indian Ocean seemed to have become a furious abyss.

It was Qin Yun's first time feeling his muscles pushed to their absolute limit; wherever his hands gripped, the fatigue rippling through his muscles kept urging him to let go.

But he knew that the moment he let go, he would be completely swallowed by this storm.

Without the beacon block's protection, in such a terrifying storm, whether he could survive would be pure luck. So no matter how exhausted he was, he didn't dare let go. Victory was within reach — he only needed to endure today, and tomorrow the sky would be high and the sea wide.

Watching the footage on the screen, Lin Xia's face went deathly pale. As someone from a fisheries conglomerate, she had experienced storms like this before. But she had never seen a person fight against such a force, and she couldn't understand how anyone in the world could be like this.

She knew self-media streamers made money, but this was beyond extreme.

Over the past few days, she had followed Qin Yun's account and watched every single one of his videos, only then realizing that he was none other than the account currently ranked first in followers on Douyin. Actually, she had seen his videos before — she just scrolled past them, and the Algorithm had naturally filtered him out for her.

Starting from Qin Yun's very first video, Lin Xia didn't skip a single one, watching each from beginning to end.

The more she watched, the more amazed she became, the more she felt this man wasn't quite a normal human being.

Meanwhile, back in the Gulf of Aden, Tan Zong and Cai Yan had also looked into Qin Yun — because they needed to report his deeds, they naturally had to investigate the person. They were officials; investigating a person was far too easy.

A person's full history, if you really wanted it, could be easily traced all the way back to birth.

"Good lad, it's a waste he didn't join the military."

After learning about Qin Yun's situation, Tan Zong slapped his thigh in regret.

Cai Yan beside him, however, held the completely opposite opinion.

"You are a commander, a major general — the military is a place that values the collective. Individual bravery matters, but it also doesn't. With all of Xiao Qin's abilities, putting him in the military wouldn't exactly be a waste, but there'd be little room to use them. If he were to truly have a stage, he'd probably have to go carry out those perilously dangerous missions."

Tan Zong didn't argue with him; he felt that if Qin Yun joined the military, putting his skills to use for the country was the proper thing.

Watching the churning images on his phone, he shook his head: "Doesn't this kid get dizzy? He can still talk freely, not showing the slightest sign of giving out."

"Not easy at all." Cai Yan also looked at the screen — the camera inside showed nothing but a tumbling action camera, water and more water — "This money is Xiao Qin's to earn."

How long this storm would last was something Qin Yun hadn't expected.

A full three hours — he had lost control of his body for a full three hours.

The limit, the true limit — it was Qin Yun's first time experiencing it.

When the storm subsided, the dark clouds dispersed, and sunlight fell on him once more, he didn't have a shred of strength left. The muscles in both hands, now relaxed, had begun to completely go limp and spasm; the side effects of the adrenaline boost were now slowly making themselves felt.

He lay motionless on the beacon block, only managing to send the drone flying out.

When the camera focused on his ashen face, everyone saw a fatigue visible to the naked eye — a weariness that seeped out from the very bones, impossible to conceal.

Even his breathing was the body's instinctive heaving; each inhale and exhale was filled with utter helplessness.

"Holy shit, first time seeing Qin-ye so wrecked."

"That dude's really not human — three hours, a full three hours."

"Jesus, Qin is insane."

"Qin-ye's badass — finally got to see Qin-ye's limit."

"666, if it had gone on any longer, Qin-ye probably wouldn't have held on."

"Slap—!"

Qin Yun felt a little strength return, and with great effort shifted from lying on his stomach to lying on his back. Looking up at the drone, he waved weakly and laughed: "Tired, way too tired — I don't even have the strength to stand up right now. If a oceanic whitetip shark showed up at this moment, I'd be done for."

"Huff…"

"It's currently four in the afternoon local time. There are still four hours left before today's livestream ends — hopefully nothing unexpected happens in those four hours."

Qin Yun chatted on and on, in bits and pieces, letting the sun overhead bake down on him. Then, before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

At this moment, the combined online audience across the four platforms' livestream rooms had reached over a hundred million. More than a hundred million people watched Qin Yun drift into deep sleep, and very few left the stream — this scene instantly became a hot news topic.

Watching the utterly exhausted Qin Yun, Su Huan's tears spilled out; her heart ached unbearably, and she felt wretched at being able to do nothing.

Fortunately, the nine-day livestream was already nearing its end.

Tomorrow — tomorrow morning she would be able to hold that figure she longed for day and night once again.

When Qin Yun opened his eyes again, two hours had already passed. The sun was setting now, and what met his gaze was a breathtaking view of molten gold; the sheer impact of it slowly pulled him into a sitting position.

Stretching lazily, Qin Yun looked somewhat embarrassed at the camera: "Sorry, I was just too exhausted — fell asleep without realizing. But after two hours of sleep, my stamina has finally recovered quite a bit."

"While there's still time, I'll give away the thirty-odd oceanic whitetip shark teeth I have as gifts to everyone. Anyone interested can tap the lucky draw in the upper-left corner of the screen — I'll offer eight lucky draw slots on each platform. Winners, I'll mail them out once I'm back, though the delivery time isn't guaranteed."

Hearing Qin Yun say he'd be giving away those sharp oceanic whitetip shark teeth, the livestream audience immediately grew excited.

"Haha, the luck-god's online — I'm definitely gonna win."

"Hope God can favor me just once."

"Can't win the Powerball, but surely Qin's teeth will land on me once."

"I counted — over a hundred million people fighting for thirty-some teeth, holy shit, that's almost lottery odds."

As soon as Qin Yun finished speaking, Su Huan immediately launched the lucky draws across the four platforms; since each platform was different, the methods naturally varied too.

"Anyone who's interested can join in. Oh right, Xiao Huan, put up one physical gift bag every ten minutes on each platform…"

Even if it ended now, this livestream would still be a smashing success.

Spending a little on these trivial gifts meant nothing to him. He'd simply earned too much over these nine days — the seventy-something million estimated on the first day was actually on the low side; the real number over these nine days was close to a hundred million.

This terrifying money-making ability was frighteningly strong.

That's why Qin Yun didn't care about giving away some gifts — compared to a hundred million, everything he'd given away didn't even amount to a fraction.

But a generous streamer and a stingy streamer naturally give people very different impressions. Qin Yun didn't really care about being stingy or not, but he still accepted Su Huan's suggestion.

As the great sun sank into one end of the ocean, the last afterglow slowly faded, and the starry sky reclaimed the heavens above.

Qin Yun briefly replenished water and food, then ended the livestream when the time was right.

After packing up the equipment, Qin Yun sat on the beacon block, gazing at the Indian Ocean under the stars, feeling unusually relaxed. Though his body was exhausted and weak, his mood was excellent.

……

The next morning at eight o'clock, Qin Yun started broadcasting on time.

He had already packed everything, waiting only for the rescue helicopter to arrive, after which he could end his nine-day Indian Ocean survival livestream.

While interacting with his viewers and waiting for the helicopter, a change suddenly appeared far out on the sea. Qin Yun quickly turned the camera toward it, and everyone instantly saw a massive creature slowly rising from the ocean surface.

"Could that be Xiangxiang?"

"Damn, did Xiangxiang come to see Qin Ye off?"

"So intelligent?"

"Hahaha, Qin Ye didn't save him in vain."

"Dadadada…"

The sperm whale's sound echoed. Qin Yun carefully listened, stood on the beacon block, waved his hand, then jumped into the water and pushed the beacon block toward Xiangxiang.

"I was still a little disappointed, but he actually came to see me off."

Qin Yun was delighted; pushing the beacon block, he soon reached Xiangxiang's side.

He climbed back onto the beacon block and shouted loudly: "Xiangxiang, are you here to see me off?"

"Dadadadada"

"Thank you. If you ever run into trouble, remember to call my name—I'm Qin Yun."

The livestream audience fell silent.

"Damn, do you have any shame?"

"If shouting your name in the ocean actually worked, I'd shout it next time too."

"Haha, Qin Zhen is funny."

"If he ever needs to call your name, you probably couldn't save him anyway."

Over the ocean, a helicopter gradually approached; when the pilot saw the scene on the water, he was stunned.

"OMG, is that… a whale?"

Su Huan waited until the helicopter landed, then yanked open the cabin door, desperate to throw herself into the arms of the man on the sea.

She waved her hands vigorously, shouting something repeatedly.

Unfortunately, the helicopter's noise was too loud—her voice couldn't reach Qin Yun.

Seeing the helicopter appear, Qin Yun waved to Xiangxiang: "I'm leaving now. Goodbye."

Xiangxiang seemed to understand; suddenly spouting a jet of seawater, it slowly sank and vanished completely.

Watching Xiangxiang depart, Qin Yun smiled and turned back to the drone: "Hello everyone, I'm Qin Yun, a temporary survivor of an air crash. On the Indian Ocean, I struggled for nine days and finally received rescue."

During these nine days, I faced problems such as lack of water, sun exposure, and food shortages; endured several terrifying storms; was surrounded by oceanic whitetip sharks; nearly bitten by a venomous sea snake that appeared here by chance; and even encountered pirates.

"But despite all the dangers, I always escaped death—not by luck, but by solid survival knowledge. So friends, if you ever survive an air crash and end up in the ocean, don't panic. Hold on. The longer you hold on, the greater your chance of rescue."

Hearing this, everyone fell silent.

"Damn, you had an air crash? May your whole family have an air crash."

"I think air crashes are always fatal."

"Survivors of air crashes are rare, though not impossible."

"I think if I were stuck in this hellhole like Qin Ye, I couldn't last even one day."

"Fuck yeah!"

"Hahaha!" Qin Yun was in excellent spirits now. "Alright, this nine-day livestream is over for now. The next one will only happen after I've recovered—when it does, I'll announce it on social media. Goodbye."

As he finished, both drones immediately flew away.

Qin Yun grabbed the descending winch line, and his body slowly rose. At that moment, the secondary camera focused on the drone, clearly showing Qin Yun entering the drone, where a beautiful woman tightly embraced him and passionately kissed him.

At the same time, the system panel popped up.

【Check-in task completed. Reward received: +1 to Overclock Skill】

【Overclock Skill LV1: Computers can be overclocked—why not people? Kid, you can do it.】