Chapter 456: Tiny Remote Islands Have Lousy Signal
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Curly Hair didn’t have too many other ideas. After he’d finished all eight chests, he returned a few times to search for similar chests but to no avail.
Fang Zhao had told him not to casually eat the deep sea creatures there. Scaring them was fine, but eating wasn’t. Thus, Curly Hair left, but not before biting a few more chunks from the submarine wreckage. The power core was especially tasty.
——
Above the submarine wreckage, three fully armed submersibles cautiously made their way towards this area that people termed the Devil’s Trench.
They had indeed experienced multiple instances of communications interference as they approached the fabled abyss of danger. Fortunately, they hadn’t encountered any strong undercurrents during this time.
The stifling environment at the sea floor left the crew uneasy and fearful of this unknown world.
Humankind had already headed into outer space and stepped foot on other planets. However, they still hadn’t throughly conquered the ocean. Many areas in the deep sea still hid their secrets.
“We’ve reached the middle without any issue… If there is nothing wrong with the map, we will reach the target soon.”
“No dangers discovered. Looks like luck is with us today.”
They had never imagined to find success on the first try. This was an exploratory operation. Who would be willing to brave the dangers here if they weren’t forced to do so?
But, it was strange. Their three bionic torpedoes seemed to have suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth.
The three torpedo attacks had failed, leaving them ever more apprehensive of Yanzhou’s coastal defenses.
Seriously, their interceptions were so strong it made their hairs stand on end!
Not even a ripple remained!
The “T” branches in other regions had immediately stopped with the bionic torpedo plan and instead discreetly researched the current state-of-the-art in interception technology.
They had reason to suspect that the imitation biotechnology method stolen from the military had a bug. Maybe the military had planned for them to steal it!
Unfortunately, they had sacrificed many lives and revealed many of their bases to seize this imitation biotechnology.
Now, it even seemed like this was all a plan to target them!
How crafty!
Those here had no choice but to change their original plans. The organization’s higher-ups were already dissatisfied with the Yanzhou division. If they weren’t able to make any results, they would suffer disastrous consequences within the organization.
They desperately needed to prove themselves through a successful attack.
After losing three precious bionic torpedoes, their commanders had temporarily cut a large portion of their funding, recalled all bionic torpedoes and halted the plan. It seemed like they had been left out to dry.
“T” Organization’s Yanzhou division chief was so worried lately that he had started balding.
Originally, they had wanted to just blow up a densely populated place with less security such as Yanzhou’s commercial districts.
But, they were worried about ruining the organization’s other plans. They knew that “T” had a lot of plans, but they just weren’t in the know. Since the various divisions operated independently, their division didn’t have the bigger picture.
Furthermore, the Yanzhou Military District was watching them very carefully. They would likely be stopped before even getting close to any commercial areas.
With limited options, the Yanzhou division could only search for other means to earn merit such as finding resources.
The Yanzhou division chief ultimately placed his sights on the submarine that had sunk more than a hundred years ago. One of his seniors had been in charge of transporting the power ore. Unfortunately, the crew had encountered the Yanzhou Navy and hadn’t been able to escape. In the end, the submarine had been sunk. Not a single crewmember had survived.
Eight tons of Grade A power ore had sunk into the ocean.
Eight tons!
2
How much time and effort had been spent to collect eight tons of Grade A power ore?!
And it had all f*cking sunk!!
This incident had also been a huge blow to the organization, leaving them very dispirited. The organization had been forced into a period of quiet recovery.
After that, the organization no longer transported more than two tons of power ore at once. Grade A power ore was also transported separately.
What was more, the event was a result of pure misfortune. The plan itself was sound, but the Yanzhou Navy had been holding an impromptu training exercise. Reportedly, this impromptu exercise was a special commemoration for the death anniversary of some Yanzhou bigwig from the Period of Destruction after many years.
1
They hadn’t received any information beforehand and had been stunned by the news.
F*cking Yanzhou Navy!
Who was that Period of Destruction hero? Something Fang?
2
Who the hell cared. He was long dead and gone.
It was rumored that there had been many plans to blow up that person’s grave at the Cemetery for Martyrs, but those bunch of cemetery guards were too hard to deal with. None of the plans ever succeeded.
Because of their long-standing grudges, every newly appointed Yanzhou division chief would receive a mission to blow up graves in the Yanzhou Cemetery for Martyrs, especially the one for the Fang guy.
In a certain hidden underground hideout, “T” Organization’s Yanzhou division chief was directing the salvage operation with a gloomy look on his face.
Normally, he wouldn’t stake so much on a sunken submarine lost over a hundred years ago, but he really didn’t have any other alternatives.
The price of A-grade power ore had fallen quite a bit with the discovery of new power orde deposits, but these eight tons would still be worth around fourteen billion.
Fortunately, communications technology had advanced quickly. Even though the salvage operation experienced some interference a few times, it was still overall quite smooth. They had managed to approach the objective without any strong undercurrents or deep sea creature attacks. The chief thought to himself that even the heavens were helping him!
1
“Stay vigilant for attacks from giant deep sea creatures.”
“Understood! But boss, are there really giant creatures of legend here?” one of the men in the submersibles asked.
“I don’t know.”
“The area we are close to is very peaceful. Perhaps there aren’t even any fish at this depth, let alone deep sea monsters. It is all just a dead zone. Documentaries have only managed to capture some indistinct shadows. Who knows if these fabled monsters actually exist? Some even suspect those documentaries to be faked.”
Though they agreed outwardly, deep down, they still believed the existence of the deep sea monsters.
The men inside the three submersibles raised their level of vigilance.
“Found it! The sunken submarine!”
The submarine that had lain there for over a hundred years no longer held the same structure.
“Find the ore first!” An impatient voice sounded through the communications device.
“Got it, Boss!”
The men within the three submersibles were also excited. Eight tons of A-grade power ore. This was worth over fourteen billion!
They could rest easy after this was done!
As planned, one submersible was for ore extraction, and the other two were for protection.
Just that….
“Boss, there aren’t any readings of ore.”
“The cases used to store the ore are made of special materials that make the ore difficult to detect. Go search for those cases. Eight tons of ore should be stored in at least eight cases.”
After a while, the extraction team reported back.
“Boss, the submarine looks to have sustained heavy damage. Only the wreckage remains. The edges of the severed portions are uneven… like they’ve been bitten by a dog.”
“Not a funny joke.” The voice over the comms was icy cold. Clearly, their chief wasn’t in a good mood.
“Chief, they really do like bite marks. There really are giant deep sea monsters!!” The man in the submersible was fearful. If something could chomp the submarine into this state, wouldn’t crushing their submersibles be very easy?
Honestly speaking, they were more willing to blow up Yanzhou’s cemetery than stay here to feed the fishes.
“Find the cases!” A stern shout came through the comms.
“Yes!”
In the end, the attraction of “eight tons of A-grade power ore” was stronger than the fear of “giant deep sea monsters”.
However…
“Chief, we can’t find any cases! It’s empty here. A whole chunk of the submarine is missing! The power cores have also vanished! It looks… looks like something bit through it recently.”
“…”
Heavy breathing could be heard on the other end of the comms. The chief was probably livid.
He felt that everything was going against him.
“Look again! Search the vicinity! See whether there are any… Bzz… traces… Bzz Bzz…”
“What did you say, Chief? That wasn’t clear!”
There was nothing but static. However, they didn’t panic. They had experienced some communications instability earlier. It would come back.
But, after a while, they still had nothing but static. In fact, the submersibles’ control systems began encountering issues as well.
This time, the men in the submersibles all panicked.
“Retreat, retreat, retreat! Quickly withdraw! Regroup in the shallows!!”
The submersibles were losing more and more control, and their movements became erratic.
As the submersible began pumping water out of the ballast tanks to rise, all instruments suddenly stopped working, as if there was a power failure.
A shrill ringing sound echoed, and the crewmembers’ visions went blurry.
——
Elsewhere, Fang Zhao was on a call with Nanfeng.
Nanfeng was reporting some recent matters to Fang Zhao. He had received many requests for collaboration ranging from variety shows, news interviews, and others. Fang Zhao’s decision was needed for whether to accept or decline them.
Ever since Fang Zhao moved to the island, Nanfeng’s duties had become more important. However, he had no complaints and instead was rather happy about it. Fang Zhao had given him another salary raise, but that wasn’t the only reason he was happy. Most importantly, Nanfeng had made connections with many other important people. This would benefit his future professional path.
“Then, I will reject the variety program and only accept Yanzhou Television Station’s interview program. As for the collaborations… Bzz Bzz…”
Nanfeng heard some static before the communications were completely cut.
Nanfeng turned to Yan Biao and Zuo Yu. “I already said it, the signal on those remote islands is too lousy.”
Nanfeng, Yan Biao and Zuo Yu were worried about losing contact with Fang Zhao and wanted to head over to take a look. However, they received a notice from Yanzhou’s Coastal Monitoring Station saying that a mild earthquake had occurred in a nearby marine trench causing serious magnetic anomalies. They asked people to avoid this stretch temporarily.
Thus, the three of them couldn’t do anything but sit tight and wait.
A mild earthquake wasn’t much, but magnetic anomalies were troublesome. The degree of severity of the anomalies was uncertain, and they weren’t willing to risk malfunctions while flying over.
“Sigh, the city is great. Why did boss want to move to a tiny island?”
At this moment, on the tiny island.
After the communications were cut, Fang Zhao discovered that a familiar flickering was appearing on all display screens.
Fang Zhao stepped out of the room and gazed towards the ocean.
What sort of changes were happening now?