The night was deep, with billowing waves at sea.
Muda, standing at the bow of the speedboat, gazed intently at the distant red and green lights bobbing with the waves, and his eyes involuntarily filled with a hue of nostalgia.
Just over two months ago, that place was a peaceful scene, where orange-yellow drums undulated with the ocean currents, gleaming faintly in the sunlight like wheat fields on the sea surface, with the undulating tide as their swaying gold.
Now, that spectacular golden spectacle had beco history, just like the vanished Shilong City.
Scattered tal parts and burst pipelines sank into the sea together, and power generator units, like runaway wild horses, were scattered by the roaring waves, disappearing into this boundless sea.
Sotis, Muda couldn’t help but think.
Perhaps humans were such unrepentant creatures, repeatedly making the sa mistakes more than once, and ti and again cycling through destruction and rebirth, until everything was irredeemable, then yearning for the good old days.
Perhaps—
The doctrine of the Torch Church wasn’t entirely wrong.
To eradicate the vile roots of humanity, one must remove those despicable traits from the genes, thus ascending to a higher form of life.
His thoughts drifted with the sea breeze, and Muda, estimating that the ti was almost up, took out the walkie-talkie and pressed the button.
"This is the Marine Patrol Team, we are about to pass through the blockade area... requesting passage."
A burst of noisy static ca from the walkie-talkie, followed by a crude voice accompanied by a drawn-out yawn.
"Patrol Team? What are you doing here?"
Muda said concisely,
"We’ve tracked an abnormal sonar signal, just to be safe, we ca to check it out."
"Okay, do you need reinforcents?"
"No need for now."
"Alright, then keep in contact, we’ll be quick to assist if you need anything."
The voice in the communication channel was casual and leisurely, even munching on chips, not doubting his word in the least.
It seed that, after over two months, the brothers patrolling this area had indeed beco complacent.
But that was not surprising.
The ocean current power station had been destroyed, and there was no need for submarines from Shelter No. 70 to attack a facility already destroyed once.
After a brief exchange, a relieved Muda hung up, wiped the sweat from his forehead, then switched the communication channel on the walkie-talkie and lowered his voice.
"...The target is right below that buoy, that’s all the help I can offer. You better not linger too long, I can only wait for you for fifteen minutes."
Monts later, a voice ca through the walkie-talkie.
"Received, thank you."
"You’re welco, good luck."
After that, Muda waved his hand, signaling the driver in the cabin to continue northwest, circling the nearby buoy.
Standing behind Muda, a sailor carrying a rifle hesitated for a mont before finally speaking.
"...Why are we helping them?"
This was not without risks.
If the Federal Navy discovered them covering a submarine of Shelter No. 70’s model entering the ruins of the ocean current power station, no matter how they explained it, it likely wouldn’t clear things up.
Gazing at the pitch-black churning tide, Muda didn’t understand himself why he had agreed to help.
The Federation had already pinned down that attack, and the conflicts between survivors from the Islands and Shelter No. 70 went far beyond a power station.
Even if those guys from the Alliance ca upon so new leads, he didn’t think those would change anything.
It was rely a trigger.
Yet—
He still wanted to know what the truth really was.
Maybe there was one in a million other possibilities.
Amidst the noisy sea wind, after a long silence, he slowly spoke.
"This isn’t just about helping them."
"It’s also about helping ourselves."
The sailor, bewildered, stared at his superior’s back, at a loss for words...
...
Simultaneously, directly below the speedboat, a drum-shaped submarine with its propellers spinning, moved slowly toward the sunken facilities on the seafloor.
This submarine was the sa one Huang Guangwei had found stranded on the beach.
Researchers from a scientific expedition had not only repaired its damaged power system and simplified its control modules, but at Si Si’s request, had also fitted it with harpoon launchers, underwater grenade launchers, and other underwater weapon systems air-shipped from the City of Dawn to Potato Harbor.
Given that these weapons had not been battle-tested, even the researchers who had installed them on the submarine weren’t sure they would be effective.
However, considering the mission might encounter attacks from Aquatic Variant Humans lurking beneath the sea, Si Si still chose to bring them along.
She also silently prayed in her heart—
Hoping they wouldn’t need to use these tools.
"Wow, this place is truly spectacular..."
Sitting in the cockpit, Si Si turned on the submarine’s searchlights, moving the cara around ticulously, examining the tal wreckage that was now close at hand.
A massive tal impeller deeply embedded into the seabed was visible, entangled by out-of-control cables just like a shipwreck caught by seaweed.
This was likely the underwater turbine generator of the ocean current power station, distinct from the floating power generators that had been carried away by the sea.
Nurous similar turbine generators were nearby, and this was just what she could see for now.
Countless pieces of tal debris lay scattered across the rugged seabed, with colorful fish occasionally darting through the dark shadows.
The place didn’t resemble the wreckage of a power station so much as a subrged underwater city.
Watching the area lit by the searchlights, Tail, sitting in the co-pilot’s seat, opened his mouth in awe, uttering incredulous exclamations from ti to ti.
"Dude, the realistic light and shadow effects!"
"These flowing texture details!"
"And the CG-level scene modeling!"
"This is freaking aweso!"
It was a pity there was no VM signal, otherwise, he really wanted to share this scene imdiately with Sesa Paste and at at, who were left ashore, and with everyone else on the forum.
"The submarine detected faint electrical currents outside; it seems so generators are still working... no wonder we haven’t seen any Variants."
After glancing at the flashing alerts on the central control screen, Si Si moved the searchlight and cara to the left side of the submarine, quickly identifying an area devoid of any fish activity.
That must be where the leak was originating.
Marking that area on the map, Si Si, while comparing the machine-translated manual, pointed her index finger at the screen, resetting a safe course, and cautiously maneuvered the submarine around that area, continuing towards the target.
According to intelligence provided by a resident of Shelter No. 70, the expedition’s NPC not only helped create a 3D model of the derelict ocean current power station but also prepared an exploration path and data collection plan in advance, greatly reducing the manual effort required.
Once she arrived at the target area, she only needed to make so improvised minor adjustnts to the route based on the conditions at the scene.
The task was actually quite easy.
So easy that she was considering, after exploring these ruins, taking a detour to visit the coordinates where the ’Golden Coast’ survey ship had sunk.
Different from the ever-busy Si Si, Ah Wei, sitting in the co-pilot’s seat, watched excitedly out the window of the cockpit, almost as if he wanted to glue his face and nose to the window.
His completely relaxed deanor didn’t seem like that of an investigator on a covert mission, but rather like a tourist here for sightseeing.
It wasn’t until the submarine moved under a turbogenerator that he suddenly rembered the mission at hand, turning excitedly to Si Si.
"Right, Si! What are we going to investigate next?"
Staring intently at the 3D map model and the green dot indicating the submarine’s current position on the central control screen, Si Si took a deep breath and said,
"It’s simple—reach the designated area on the map, deploy the probe, wait for data collection, and then retrieve the probe."
"Eh?!" Ah Wei looked at Si Si, a surprised expression on his face, "Is it really that simple?"
"It’s not exactly simple—there are plenty of dangers here... but isn’t it good that it’s simpler? Why do you seem disappointed?"
Si Si glanced quickly at Ah Wei, observing his regretful face, and couldn’t help but make a resigned expression.
eting her resigned gaze, Ah Wei scratched the back of his head and sheepishly chuckled,
"Of course! Simpler is always better, right? But then... we wouldn’t even need to leave the cabin."
After thinking for a mont, Si Si said,
"Probably not necessary."
"Um!"
Ah Wei’s face showed a deeply stricken expression, pitifully looking at Si Si and confirming repeatedly, "But... isn’t it risky not to check thoroughly? What if there are clues hidden inside fish bellies or behind rocks—"
"How could there be such things," Si Si couldn’t help but retort while looking at this fantastical thinker, "Do you think this is a cri scene from a detective novel?"
After nearly two and a half months, the Southern Islands Federation would certainly have thoroughly investigated and searched this area of the sea.
In such a case, hoping to find new clues missed by the Federal Navy is unrealistic; clues most likely to reveal sothing are those that seem ordinary,
like the operational data of the power station, etc.
The Alliance’s science team excels at extracting subtle leads from massive amounts of data, and they could spot any suspicious clues at a glance.
Learning that there was no need for an external investigation, Ah Wei deflated like a punctured ball, listlessly sitting in the co-pilot’s seat.
Si Si glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, unable to resist asking,
"...speaking of which, we are over a hundred ters deep in the sea. Aren’t you even a little scared?"
Ah Wei looked at her strangely, tilting her head.
"Scared?"
"Like... thalassophobia or sothing."
Watching Si Si intently staring at the central control screen, Tail vaguely guessed sothing and slowly ford a sly smile on her lips.
"Oh! Tail gets it! Si Si’s weakness is the ocean floor!"
"What kind of weakness is that? And how is that possible... there’s nothing to be afraid of."
Si Si was montarily stunned, her retort almost slipping out, yet her gaze glued to the central control screen seed utterly unconvincing.
It was rare to see her good friend in such an embarrassed state, and Tail’s mischievous grin grew more pronounced, her lifted corners of the mouth increasingly undisguised.
"Then take a look outside the window!"
Si Si instantly refused without even thinking.
"I don’t want to, looking at the screen is the sa thing."
"Just one look!"
"Alright, alright... stop it, Ah Wei, we’ve arrived at the destination, it’s ti to get serious!"
As she spoke, Si Si glanced at the paraters in the upper left corner of the central control screen and hurriedly pressed the launch detector button.
A basketball-sized tal sphere was ejected from the belly of the submarine, pulling a cable and flying towards a pile of tal debris a dozen ters away.
The tal sphere was getting closer to the interface, almost touching it.
However, just then, an embarrassing incident occurred.
The drifting tal sphere suddenly jerked, halted by the taut cable.
Si Si’s expression stiffened, and she hastily looked at the paraters on the central control screen, ntally cursing, "Crap."
Just a bit more...
Just as she was about to maneuver the submarine a bit closer, a sudden current blew the cable-tied detector upward, catching it on a skewed propeller blade.
The detector, dragging the cable, swung like a pendulum on that propeller blade, with the attached cable completely entangled around it.
Now the gap was more than just a little.
Noticing the increasingly solemn expression on Si Si’s face, Tail also put away her joking deanor and asked cautiously,
"Si, what happened?"
"Nothing major, a small problem, I just made a careless mistake. The detector got stuck on the blade, and soone needs to go and pick it off... Ah Wei, wait here for ."
At the end of the day, you have to clean up your own ss.
Si Si glanced out at the vast, dark expanse outside the cockpit, swallowed, and bravely reached for her safety belt.
It really wasn’t that terrifying...
She chanted inwardly, trying to convince herself that everything around was just ga modeling, nothing truly scary.
Just as she finally decided to unbuckle her safety belt, she saw Tail already standing up from her seat, opening the tal cabinet in the cockpit, and pulling out the fully enclosed deep-sea diving suit stored inside.
It took her less than a minute to suit up, and Tail energetically gave Si Si a thumbs up.
"Just remove the detector from the blade, and it’s all good, right? Leave it to Tail!"
That guy, eager as if rushing off to swim, switching from his decompression diving suit to a life ring felt utterly seamless.
Si Si stared at her, bewildered, and after a long while, she quietly said.
"You’re not hurt, are you?"
Tail flashed a grin.
"No big deal!"
After saying this, she backed into the buffer chamber and playfully saluted before neatly closing the hatch of the buffer field.
The seawater flowing into the cabin filled the buffer chamber, and then the outer door slowly opened outward.
Exhaling a long stream of bubbles, Tail, clad in her sturdy diving suit, stood by the hatch and pushed off with her leg, drifting out of the cabin toward the detector entangled on the turbine generator blade.
The task wasn’t exactly difficult.
You could even say it just needed a hand.
However, sitting in the cockpit, Si Si couldn’t help but fear for Ah Wei.
That deep, dark abyss seed like the wide-open maw of a monster, and she had no idea why this careless guy wasn’t afraid at all.
Just as she was thinking this, an energetic voice ca from the communication channel.
"Oh! It’s already been detached... Si! What’s next?"
Snapping out of her daze, Si Si quickly pointed her index finger on the central control screen.
"Ah, just move the detector to the interface, I’ve sent you the location."
"Got it!"
After confirming the location through the visual window on her helt, Tail tucked the detector under her elbow and with a grunt activated the small propeller on the back of her diving suit, swimming toward the marked position.
It was a terminal machine welded to a tal support.
The screen was dead, but the wiring was still intact.
Tail brought the detector up close, and soon two chanical arms extended from the side of the tallic sphere, gripping the terminal and securing itself onto it like a spider.
Now it just needed to complete the task on its own.
Tail released her hold and drifted backward a bit, watching the little fellow connected to the terminal go to work, attaching the wires previously linked to the terminal’s screen to its own round body.
Si Si, sitting inside the cockpit, sighed in relief and said while looking at the progress bar on the central control screen.
"The data transfer is underway... it should take about 5 minutes, Ah Wei, how’s everything on your end?"
Tail, hovering next to the detector, waved vigorously toward the bright searchlight, then a muffled voice ca through the communication channel.
"Oh! Everything’s normal, it’s so quiet here!"
Si Si, worried about what might be lurking in those dark waters, said,
"The detector has been connected... Ah Wei, why don’t you co back?"
"No rush, I will wait for the data transfer to complete, just in case sothing happens."
"It... shouldn’t really be a problem." As she spoke, Si Si unconsciously swallowed.
However, that barely noticeable pause was picked up by soone on the other end of the communication channel.
A mischievous smile appeared on Tail’s face as she cheekily said.
"Eh? Si Si, are you scared?"
Si Si blinked, her face flushing red as she realized what was happening.
"What are you talking about, what could I possibly be afraid of!"
Right Hand, resting by the tal support, made a motion of rubbing his chin with his finger.
"It’s weird, the Si Si who works in the morgue is actually scared of sothing!"
"What morgue! I work in the pathology departnt!"
Listening to the voice coming through the communication channel, Si Si explained with an amused frustration but was cut off abruptly by a sudden, alert cry.
"Si! There’s sothing below you!"
Si Si was slightly startled and imdiately sat upright in her chair.
"Are you joking? This is not the ti for jokes!"
"No, I’m serious, there really seems to be sothing there... and, check your surroundings with your spotlight, don’t just aim it at !"
Almost the mont Ah Wei’s words finished, a light tremor passed from the distant depths up her ankles through the subrsible’s hull.
Si Si’s heart lurched, suddenly aware of this unintended blunder. She quickly lowered the spotlight towards the underside of the subrsible.
The beam of light was like a sword piercing through the darkness, plunging into a pitch-black abyss.
And as she lit up that abyss in an instant, she saw an amber-hued pupil nestled in a massive rock basin, steadfastly staring back at her.
The eye was the size of a truck.
Thick, gray-black tentacles, as stout as barrels, floated behind it, entwining like vines on a wall, crawling all over the rugged seabed.
When had this creature moved here?!
Or had it...
Always been there!
A bone-chilling cold crept up Si Si’s spine.
Her fear of the deep sea and tentacles compounded, stopping her heart montarily.
The increasingly intense vibrations transmitted through the hull showed the surrounding seawater boiling.
She knew—
That was the silent roar of the deep-sea beast!
"I giao! A tentacle monster?!"
Tail’s voice startled Si Si out of her fright, and she almost reflexively yelled.
"Ah Wei! Protect the detector!"
As she spoke, she disregarded the halfway-completed progress bar and decisively cut the tether between the subrsible and the detector.
Her judgnt proved right.
Almost the instant she cut the tether, a whistling shadow struck the side of the subrsible.
The subrsible, hovering next to the debris, spun out like a struck golf ball, smashing heavily against a tal support and coming to a stop.
The tal support bent from the impact, and the squeal of it bearing too much weight ca through the subrsible’s walls, along with the dull thuds landing on top of the subrsible.
Dazed, Si Si barely woke from her daze, dialed the power system to maximum with the last of her consciousness, and steered the subrsible away from the falling alloy structure.
Just as she drove less than ten ters away, rolling mud flared behind her, and falling tal debris slowly but firmly buried the rock beneath.
If it weren’t for her quick reaction, she would probably have been beyond help.
"Phew..."
Si Si, leaning back on her seat, was gasping for air, her chest heaving wildly.
There was no ti to hesitate. She intently stared at the central control screen where the signal lights were frantically flickering, the spotlight and cara swiftly scanning the seabed below as she circled around the northern side of the ruins, hurriedly searching for traces of the sea monster.
That creature had vanished without a trace.
But Si Si knew all too well that it was definitely still nearby, hiding sowhere close to the power station ruins!
"...Tail! Are you alright?"
There was no response on the communication channel.
tal debris was scattered everywhere, and the cables floating around the turbines ford a natural shield.
"Damn..."
Si Si clenched her teeth and punched the armrest of her chair, then proceeded to tap the screen with her index finger, resetting the course back to the center of the ruins.
The data transfer was not complete yet; the raw data was still stored in the detector.
If they were to transfer the massive data through the limited capacity of wireless transmission, it would take forever.
Not to ntion the possibility of data loss!
The only way now was to retrieve the detector.
As if sensing the stirrings of the ocean floor, at the sa ti she was heading back to the center of the ruins, an NPC nad Muda sent a communication request.
Keeping a wary eye on the dark seabed, Si Si reached out and pressed the accept button.
Communication had barely connected when a roaring voice burst into her ear.
"What are you doing?! Are you testing nuclear weapons?!"
Si Si took a deep breath, focusing only on what mattered, and said,
"Monster! There’s one here... a sea monster with many tentacles! It’s under the ocean current power station ruins sowhere!"
There was a half-second pause on the other end of the communication channel.
"A sea monster?! How is that possible! Large Variants don’t co near that area, there are still turbines working—"
Si Si, "That’s the problem! Because of the electricity, normal fish don’t enter the ruins, but sothing forced that big guy to stay there, I suspect it’s almost starved to death... I think it’s mind interference, what do you think?"
Muda exclaid in shock.
"Mind interference?! Impossible!"
Si Si, "No ti to explain... Whatever’s controlling that thing must be around here sowhere. Can you locate any other mind interference devices? It would be a huge help if you could!"
Muda roared, "Forget the mind interference device for now, you damn well hurry up and co up!"
Listening to the anxious voice of the NPC, Si Si responded calmly,
"My teammate is still down there; I can’t possibly leave her behind. And the detector... I must retrieve it, even if it costs my life!"
"You guys are insane?! This is our war! It’s ours! You don’t have to risk your lives for it!"
Muda stood on the speedboat, his eyes wide, gripping the walkie-talkie in his right hand, shouting with all his might.
However, there was no longer any response from the other end of the communication channel, only a deadly silence.
The noisy waves, like rapid drumbeats, drowned out the white foam surging up from the sea.
He couldn’t understand.
What on earth were these people fighting so desperately for?
They hadn’t even known each other for half a month!
And that brief half-month hadn’t been pleasant at all.
Who knows how many people were waiting to see them fail, how many people couldn’t wait for them to leave and go back to their Wasteland.
Muda clenched his teeth, gripping the silent walkie-talkie tightly in his hand.
Talking about ending the Wasteland...
Who the hell cared about that!
At least here, no one cared!
Taking a deep breath, Muda suddenly seed to make a decision and turned back towards the direction of the cockpit, shouting,
"Turn off the mind interference device!"
The sailor inside the cockpit froze.
The mind interference device was their tool to drive away Variants.
If they turned it off, they risked being capsized at any mont.
"But—"
The sailor tried to protest, but was imdiately shouted down by his superior.
"I said turn it off! Now!"
"Yes!" eting his superior’s murderous gaze, the sailor dared not hesitate, hurriedly turned off the mind interference device, and silently prayed that Variants wouldn’t target them.
Muda walked briskly into the cabin, pushed him aside, and stared intently at the terminal screen.
After shutting down the mind interference device, the screen was silent, as if it was broken.
Muda held his breath, anxiously waiting.
At that mont, a barely noticeable ripple appeared on the calm screen, as if a dragonfly had skimd across the water surface.
The instant he saw that ripple, his heart shot into his throat.
That was a signal from the mind interference device—
Could it be?!
Both Muda and the sailor standing next to him were shocked, their faces filled with disbelief.
The only mind interference device within tens of miles was on their speedboat.
Where was the signal coming from?!
"Lock onto its position!"
Dropping these words, Muda pushed open the door and walked out of the cockpit, shouting loudly to another sailor on the speedboat.
"Prepare the deep-water bomb!"
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the sailor swallowed, nodded rapidly,
"Yes!"
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