Hard Enough - Chapter 83: Afternoon antics

One week before the destruction of the earth, Xiao Yu fused his soul with the main computer of an interstellar spacecraft, and fled before the destruction of the earth.

After the integration with the computer, Xiao Yu possessed the powerful computing power of the computer, but also possessed powerful innovation and exploration capabilities as a human being. As a result, the humble interstellar spacecraft in which Xiao Yu lived began to continuously evolve from a chemical engine to a nuclear power engine, and from a nuclear power engine to a positive and negative material annihilation engine. The volume and mass also began to increase. Big.

With the continuous development of science and technology, Xiao Yu also began to try to build a true interstellar super fleet that integrates attack, defense, exploration, landing, and acquisition …

- Description from Uukanshu

No matter how twisted the world becomes, humans will always remain humans.In the face of their doom edging closer, their greed doubles instead of fading away. Their selfishness is unwavering—they simply want everything, even at the cost of endangering those closest to them.For that is the truth of humanity.So, if everything is linked to iniquities and sins, then unlike them, I won’t shy away from these possibilities—I will embrace them.---Synopsis:Kael, a young man from Earth—a dimension renowned for its technological advancements and brilliant minds—returns on a tour sponsored by his school.But fate has other plans.A Dimensional wave crashes into Earth, mutating the entire world into a grotesque landscape of unexplored horrors.Those who survived the dimensional impact awakened to newfound strengths, while those who didn’t perished—or worse—transformed into monstrosities far more fearsome than any beast.The world has returned to the law of the food chain. The strong will endure and rule, while the weak are devoured.Kael must cling to his sanity and navigate this nightmarish new world with a mission: to protect all he has left.But things take a darker turn when the system he acquired reveals an unexpected and horrifying backlash:{Consume human flesh}{Or perish within the next 24 hours}The clock is ticking, and Kael is left to grapple with an impossible choice that could seal his fate—or his humanity.

Deep below the earth's surface, a mystifying subterranean seascape lurks, an archipelago bathed in inky blackness where suspense and horror hold court. Here lie strange islands and even stranger monsters, far beyond the realms of human imagination. In this domain, mankind is far from dominant; instead, madness and death rule supreme.

Pleading for mercy from the unknown creatures of the deep only leads to a slow, tortured existence. The trapped survivors gradually distort, losing what made them human, both physically and mentally, to the gloom as they remain trapped in this eternal obscurity. Their only hope? A perilous expedition into uncharted sea territories.

Fueled by determination, Charles embark on this daunting voyage aboard his steamship, aiming to reclaim humanity's past glory. Together with his crew, they sought a way out of this hidden sea world, a path back to the sunlit world above, where humans once stood tall.

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I read a few comments from Chinese readers that compared this novel with Lord of Mysteries because of similar elements: Lovecraftian, western fantasy, first industrial revolution, and steampunk. However, I have yet to finish reading Lord of Mysteries to do any actual comparison, but I do think those who have enjoyed that novel would enjoy this as well. Also, the author of LotM, Cuttlefish That Loves Diving, also did a shout-out for this novel, so I guess he approves of it too?

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“You dragged me into this world. Now you kneel in it.” — Tim SlokovBy day, Tim Slokov was a quiet office drone. By night, a ruthless online critic of fantasy novels. But when a mysterious force transmigrates him into the dying body of an elven outcast—doomed and powerless—Tim realizes he’s become the tragic background character of someone else’s story.Only he refuses to die quietly.Denied justice, Tim is granted a single gift: the Shattered Necromancy System, a broken power fueled by death itself.[Seek Me, O Death — Passive]: Every kill becomes a servant. Every soul feeds his army.[Death Embrace — Active]: He becomes what he commands—gaining the power of his dead.[Arise — Active]: The battlefield becomes his stage, where his fallen rise again.Armed with cursed power, Tim must evolve himself—and his ever-growing legion of the dead—to claw his way up a world that wants him erased. But vengeance is only the beginning. As his strength grows, so does the truth behind his forced arrival... and the god-like force that wants him broken.Tim isn’t here to play the hero.He’s here to rewrite fate—one death at a time.