Chapter 686: Fierce battle under the deep sea!
Chapter 686: Fierce battle under the deep sea!
On the other side.
At the moment when the submarine driven by Sisi was pulled away by a tentacle as thick as a bucket, the light of the flying searchlight instantly became like a broken match, and disappeared into the silent deep sea in the distance along with the submarine that was blown away.
”Si!”
Wei couldn’t help but exclaimed, but no sound could be heard through the bulky diving helmet.
After a full minute, a thunderous muffled sound came from the distance.
The submarine seemed to have hit the bracket of a turbine generator set, causing a small-scale collapse.
Looking at the turbidity rolling in the darkness, Wei was panicked, but there was nothing he could do.
There was silence in the communication channel, and the turbid mud obscured the last tiny ray of light.
The entire water area seemed to have returned to silence, and the silence was terrifying.
There was no light here.
No air.
No sound.
There was only endless silence and darkness, as well as the occasional tremors and muffled sounds that came with the bubbles, like the whispers of something indescribable in the abyss.
Controlling the frequency of her breathing, Tail carefully retreated to the side of the ruins, huddled under a protruding metal bracket, and tried to make herself look smaller.
The round spherical detector was not far to her left, still working quietly.
The cable connecting it to the submersible had drifted away with the surge of the ocean current.
Now Tail finally figured out where the ocean current that had blown the detector crooked came from.
Maybe it was the “breath” of the monster!
Realizing that the monster was not far below him, Tail felt a tingling sensation on his scalp, and his eyes kept drifting to the spherical detector next to him that was holding the terminal.
”Fuck! How do you say that this thing is finished collecting? Huh? It’s loosened?”
As she finished her words, the round spherical detector suddenly retracted its mechanical arm that was holding the metal bracket.
Seeing that the rising ocean current was about to wash it away, Wei Tail quickly stretched out his arms and hugged it, holding the basketball-sized detector tightly in his arms.
”Done!”
Looking at the detector in his arms, Wei Tail let out a long breath, with a smug expression on his face.
However, before he could be happy for two seconds, the smug expression froze on her face.
The problem came.
How should she bring this thing back?
This area of water is located in the middle of the southern sea area, and it takes three or four hours to sail even by speedboat.
With just the diving suit she was wearing, she might not be able to swim back even if she died of exhaustion.
Not to mention that she might encounter more terrifying alien species than the sea monster waving its tentacles along the way.
”Oh my God… This time it’s over!”
It turned out that it was too early to be happy just now.
Just when she was anxious, there was a rustling sound of electricity in the communication channel, followed by intermittent voices.
”Awei… How are you?”
Hearing the familiar voice, Wei Tail excitedly exclaimed in a low voice.
”Si! Great, you’re still alive!”
Sisi, who was sitting in the cockpit, breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that Wei was still alive, and then couldn’t help but slightly curl up the corners of his lips.
”What are you talking about? I’m not that easy to die… But then again, you’re still in the mood to joke, it seems that there shouldn’t be any problem.”
Wei smiled and said with full energy.
”Oh! Of course, Wei is fine now!”
Sisi: “That’s really great… By the way, Wei, can you see where the guy who knocked me away is?”
”Uh… It’s a bit difficult,” Wei carefully stuck his head out of the gap in the ruins and looked outside. He felt like he was soaked in black ink. “It’s pitch black here, I can’t see my hand in front of me, I can’t see anything.”
Sisi sighed.
”That’s true…”
This is the deep sea.
Not to mention that it’s night outside, even during the day, there probably isn’t much light that can reach such a deep place.
Listening to the silent rustling sound in the communication channel, Wei took a deep breath and said with courage.
”Do you want me to find a way to lure it out? I have a flashlight here–”
”Don’t do that!” Hearing this dangerous statement, Sisi interrupted her without thinking, and continued in a hurried tone, “It’s hard to say whether the weapons we brought will be useful to that guy. If possible, we must try to avoid exchanges of fire… I will fire a few flares near you in a while, they will mark your evacuation path. If possible, try to bring out the detector as well, we need the data on it.”
Tail: “Oh! Leave it to Tail!”
Listening to the energetic answer in the communication channel, Sisi couldn’t help but reveal a relieved smile on her face.
”Well! Leave it to you!”
Although Ah Wei usually looks not very smart, he is still very reliable at critical moments.
Extending her index finger and pointing at the central control screen in the cockpit, she switched the ammunition of the remote weapon station to flares, aimed at the approximate position of the detector and pressed the launch switch.
With a few short bangs, tiny milky white bubbles shot forward, and halfway through the flight, they emitted a seductive orange-red light.
The faint light was like a match lit in the dark, outlining a crooked trajectory in the dark ruins.
Using the light of the flare to confirm the evacuation route, Tail held the detector tightly in his arms, kicked his legs and quickly left the half-collapsed metal bracket, slowly floating towards the half-metal blade illuminated by the flare more than ten meters away.
The sea monster waving its tentacles was nearby.
She couldn’t get too close to the flare, otherwise she would be discovered, nor could she get too far away, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to see anything around.
Perhaps because the surroundings were too quiet, Tail felt her heart pounding so hard that she could even hear the beat of her pulse.
”Giao…”
This was too exciting!
The darkness that enveloped her from all sides was like the monster’s open mouth. It was hard not to lose all her courage just by meeting its gaze.
This is true for those who are involved, and it is also true for those who are not.
Sitting in the cockpit of the submarine, Sisi stared at the flashing green dot on the central control screen and held his breath involuntarily.
”Good job, Ah Wei!”
Only the last fifty meters were left!
Looking at the green dot getting closer and closer, her lips moved slowly, and a trace of sweat oozed from her clenched palms.
Forty meters! Thirty
-five!
Thirty–
seeing that the green dot was about to break away from the wreckage of the power station, but at this moment, something strange happened!
The flashing green dot on the screen seemed to hit a wall, and its forward momentum suddenly stopped.
Sisi, who was staring at the central control screen, was suddenly startled. Without hesitation, she immediately turned on the searchlight at the front of the submersible.
A beam of dazzling light pierced through the darkness and shone directly below the struggling Ah Wei and the detector in her hand.
A tentacle as thick as a bucket stretched out from the ruins on one side, firmly grasped the bulky deep-sea diving suit, and circled around it.
After all, it was a deep-diving equipment that could withstand a pressure of one million Pa. The bucket-like tentacles did not immediately crush it and Awei inside into a ball. However, just by listening to the voice in the communication channel, one could guess that Awei’s current situation was not optimistic.
”Jili Gulu Gulu——”
Seeing that the tail was caught by the tentacles of the sea monster, Sisi panicked and quickly operated the remote weapon station, aiming at the root of the tentacle.
”Hold on! Awei!”
While shouting loudly, she decisively pressed the launch button.
Two long and thick harpoons were fired from the belly of the submersible, drawing two cotton-white tracks in the dark deep sea. One of them drilled into the depths of the ruins, and the other hit the tentacle that stretched out from the ruins without bias.
The head of the harpoon pierced the monster’s skin, and then the explosives tied to the harpoon exploded instantly, and a milky white bubble appeared while the fire flashed.
As the bubbles dissipated, a basin-sized wound was imprinted on the root of the tentacle, and dark green liquid continued to ooze out from the breach – it seemed to be its blood!
Even though the two harpoons were not professional underwater weapons, but were just a thing made of harpoon launchers and mixed explosives.
But in the face of sufficient equivalent, the alien was still seriously injured.
However, surprisingly, it did not release the tentacles that caught its tail because of the injury, and the deep-sea diving suit under heavy pressure had already made a wail of being overwhelmed.
With the help of the searchlight, Sisi was surprised to find that the basin-sized wound was wriggling with tiny cilia and healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
That was an equivalent that could even overturn a tank!
What kind of monster is this guy? !
Unable to wait any longer, Sisi made a prompt decision and quickly switched to the grenade launcher, firing a volley of bullets at the healing wound.
Dense bubbles shot out like arrows, focusing fire on the base of the tentacle.
With a series of bangs, the basin-sized wound was instantly buried by a layer of tiny bubbles and mud.
However, this grenade is not a professional underwater offensive weapon. Although it is invincible in the jungles of Baiyue Province, it is still a bit stretched in the deep sea below 100 meters.
The tentacles that were hit by a round of bombardment did not move at all, and the damage effect was far less than the two “Goblin Harpoons” before.
A dull roar came from the deep sea, and the sound was like a mockery from the sea monster.
”Si-I can’t hold on any longer!” At this time, the intermittent sound of the tail came from the communication frequency band, and the sound seemed to be about to break at any time.
”Hold on, Wei!”
Trying to calm himself down, Sisi stopped firing meaninglessly and operated the searchlight to search around for a while, trying to find the weakness of this giant sea monster.
This guy was very cunning. He hid behind the ruins of a huge turbine engine, using metal brackets and turbine shells as shelter to protect most of his body.
Sis even had a feeling that the reason why it exposed one of its tentacles, instead of pulling its tail back behind the shelter to eat it after being injured, was that it used her as bait to wait for her to come over!
Following the searchlight, Sis soon found that just below the circular turbine where the sea monster was hiding, there was a reef of porous material and rows of bent metal brackets.
With a thought in her mind, she immediately adjusted the crosshairs of the remote weapon station, aiming at the bottom of the turbine generator and clearing the ammunition bay.
One by one, fragmentation grenades drilled into the narrow space like locusts, and exploded quickly while blowing the reef and metal bracket supporting the circular turbine into pieces.
Amid a burst of metal wailing that was overwhelmed, the circular turbine, which was already tilted backwards, collapsed like a landslide, and pressed heavily on the sea monster hiding behind it.
The huge body had no time to dodge. The giant sea monster shaped like an octopus was instantly crushed by the giant engine that was more than ten meters high. With a dull wail, it fell into the rolling mud.
”Cough!”
Tail coughed in the communication channel. She was thrown out by the exhausted tentacle while holding the detector. She rolled in the ocean current and crashed into the ruins on the side.
Aiming at the signal sent by the detector, Sisi pushed the output power to the maximum, drove the submersible to chase her, and opened the hatch to the outside at the moment of approaching.
”Come in quickly!”
Tail almost lost the line on the spot after hitting the ruins. The red alarm light on the helmet of the diving suit had already lit up.
Fortunately, the physical fitness of the awakened person allowed her to barely hold on. She stretched out her hand to grab the open hatch, and then with a sudden force, she rolled sideways while holding the round detector and slid in.
The hatch was heavily closed.
The pressure indicator applied to the diving suit quickly decayed, and then the seawater in the buffer chamber began to drain out.
Looking at the darkness disappearing in the crack of the hatch and the green signal light in the dark cabin, Tail, who was sitting on the ground, took several deep breaths before calming down his breathing, rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue.
”Ahem – giao! Tail almost turned from Tail to Tail-chan!”
Sisi, who was holding back his laughter, couldn’t help but puffed in the communication channel. He coughed dryly and asked with concern after recovering.
”Are you okay?”
”I’m still…”
Tail was about to answer, but just as she opened her mouth, a huge impact hit the hatch that was so close, causing her to fly from the floor to the ceiling in an instant.
A muffled “clang” sound passed through her head, and she felt that her jaw might be dislocated. She reached out to bend it back, but was blocked by the mask of the diving helmet.
Before she could recover from the previous round of impact, the second impact soon followed.
The sea monster seemed to be furious. It climbed out of the collapsed turbine generator and started to bang at the submarine hiding in the dark.
When she was about to faint, Tail finally touched the folding chair with a safety belt in the buffer cabin. Since she couldn’t unfold the chair, she fastened herself to the chair with the nylon buckle on it.
Listening to the clanging sound coming through the cabin wall, Tail took off the helmet on her diving suit with great effort. She fumbled with her hands on her chin for a while and finally twisted her dislocated jaw back. Fortunately, the
extreme pain in this game is blocked. If it were in reality, she would probably have fainted from the pain.
The tinnitus gradually dissipated, and a hissing sound came from the communication channel.
”…That guy is not dead yet! Sit tight!”
Tail: “Giao! This boss’s blood is too thick!”
Sis: “It’s not just the problem of thick blood, the healing speed of the wound is not like that of ordinary aliens. Maybe it is a genetically modified artificial species!”
Tail: “Artificial synthetic species?!”
Sis: “That’s right…Except for the Torch Church, I can’t think of any other possibilities!”
Tail: “What should we do now?!”
”There is no way. The weapons on our submersible have almost no effect on it. Now we can only pray that it is not fast. As long as we can get away from this ruin, there is a way to escape… Damn!” Sis, who was still calmly analyzing the situation a second ago, suddenly exclaimed.
Hearing the exclamation, Tail was also startled and asked hurriedly.
”What’s wrong, Si?!”
”The power system…The thing that was just repaired seems to be broken again!”
”Giao?!”
Looking at the power failure alarm flashing on the central control screen, Sis was sweating profusely and poked the screen with his index finger.
However, the submersible did not obey at all. Under the action of inertia, it rolled forward and drifted with the ocean current.
At this moment, the reckless submarine suddenly stopped, and the surrounding walls made a series of creaking friction sounds.
Through the side window of the cockpit, Sisi saw a huge tentacle, which went around the dome and along the outside of the drum-shaped submarine, and circled tightly.
She could even see the suction cups as big as barnacles stuck to the outer glass!
It seemed that their good luck had finally run out, and the sea monster lurking in the dark finally caught them.
”Gan…”
The pressure sensors in the four directions on the screen were instantly full, and her heart was instantly raised to her throat, and the memory of fear emerged again.
There was no time to react at all, and the acceleration of several g pressed her to the chair.
The tentacle was like a shot put in its hand, lifting the submarine high up and making a starting position for throwing a shot put.
Just as the tentacle was about to smash them and their boat to pieces on the reef, a metal sphere shaped like a sea urchin suddenly fell into the silent deep sea with a string of bubbles.
Its diameter was about half a person’s height, and the conical firing pins were as long as a forearm.
The sea monster crawling on the reef on the seabed obviously discovered this uninvited guest, but did not take it seriously.
But soon, the guy paid a heavy price for his rash behavior.
Only when the iron ball approached his back, a dazzling light instantly lit up the silent deep sea.
The wine-red flames wrapped in broken iron pieces exploded in an instant, and a bubble cavity several meters long was instantly opened in the deep sea below a hundred meters!
The scorching temperature made the sea monster waving its tentacles let out a painful wail.
Large pieces of bubbles gushed out from the reef, as if the entire sea area was trembling under its twisting.
The tightly grasped tentacle subconsciously loosened, and threw the submarine in its hand out like throwing a can.
”Si–we are flying!”
Listening to the excited exclamation in the communication channel, Sisi felt like a rocket was stuck under her seat, staring at the dark outside the window with her nerves tensed.
”The best, it’s best to fly!”
In this deep sea without light, she couldn’t tell the directions at all.
At their current speed, if they hit the reef or the seabed, the final outcome would be a pile of scrap metal, and then they could only wait for others to come and excavate them-
if the monsters in this sea area intend to leave them with a whole body.
Fortunately, the worst did not happen.
After flying for a while, the submarine stopped accelerating under the resistance of the water flow, and floated quietly in the water like a jellyfish.
”…Si! What was that thing that exploded just now?!”
Listening to the excited voice in the communication channel, Sisi, who was leaning on the seat, panted for a moment and said slowly.
”It should be the bomb of the federal patrol… It seems that they have taken action after all.”
Tail: “Huh!? Doesn’t Tail owe them another favor?”
Sis: “Not really… As long as we can bring this detector back, they will be the ones who owe us a favor.”
She had no doubt about this.
Although the scientific expedition team has not yet analyzed the data, this sea monster lurking under the ruins is enough to explain many problems.
The terrifying recovery ability is very much like the work of the Torch Church, and it desperately prevented them from taking any clues from the ruins, which means that there must be something they are looking for here!
At this time, a dull loud noise was heard not far away.
The speedboat of the federal patrol dropped a second depth charge on the sea monster, and this was probably the last one on the speedboat.
The depth charge filled with picric acid and high explosives is enough to overturn a submarine with a displacement of 10,000 tons.
Even if the sea monster has an amazing recovery ability, it is still a little bit lacking in front of this professional underwater weapon.
After being hit twice in a row, the sea monster waving its tentacles finally swallowed its last breath in humiliation after a painful wail, and fell heavily on the ruins of the ocean current power station and the broken reefs.
A moment later, a noisy voice came from the communication channel.
”…How are you?”
Sisi said after adjusting his breathing.
”It’s okay, just the power system and pressure sensor are damaged…other things are fine.”
”That’s bad.”
”What’s wrong?”
”The federal fleet is heading towards us…you just made too much noise!”
There was a hint of annoyance and anxiety in the voice.
Obviously.
This will be very troublesome for him.
After thinking calmly for a few seconds, Sisi spoke.
”Can you find a way to lead them away?”
Muda: “Do you think they are idiots?!”
Sisi took a deep breath.
”There is no other way… Do us a favor.”
Muda was stunned.
”What?”
Sisi: “Take the detector to French Fries Port for me, and I will share its coordinates with you later… Our researchers can analyze the data inside. Remember, you must take it to French Fries Port if you still want to find out the truth.” Muda: ”
What about you?”
Sisi: “Emm… Since you have helped us so much, how about giving you a first-class merit?”
Muda: “What?”
Without waiting for the guy to respond, Sisi stretched out his index finger and pointed at the central control screen to hang up the communication, and then transferred the communication to Wei who was sitting in the buffer cabin.
”Awei, throw the detector out.”
”Huh?!” Wei was surprised and put his face close to the small window of the buffer door, looking at Sisi sitting in the cockpit and asked, “Throw it out?! Are you not going to take it back?”
Sisi made a helpless expression.
”I would like to, but unfortunately this broken submarine is no longer usable, and the federal navy is on the way here… We can only ask the NPC named Muda to help us deliver this express.”
”Oh! Got it!”
Tail nodded, put on his helmet again, waited for the seawater to fill the buffer tank, manually opened the outer hatch, and then threw the spherical detector out of the cabin with force.
The silver metal sphere floated into the sea and soon floated up slowly.
It won’t be long before it floats to the surface of the sea and is recovered by the speedboat waiting there.
After doing all this, Tail closed the hatch of the buffer tank and floated back to the chair and sat down.
Without immediately draining the water from the buffer tank, Tail asked in the communication channel.
”What about us? What’s next?”
Sisi leaned back in the seat, pinching his tired eyebrows with his index finger and thumb.
”Let me think…”
First of all, this is the submarine of Shelter No. 70.
Although they had shown their faces at the port of the roundabout island, not many people had seen her face. Whether she was captured as a resident of Shelter No. 70 or directly revealed her identity as a resident of Shelter No. 404, both were feasible options.
Comparing the two options, she actually preferred the former.
This way, she would have the opportunity to contact the top leaders of the Federation, and maybe figure out what was going on with the sea monster, while also avoiding direct diplomatic disputes between the Alliance and the South Islands Federation.
Of course, there was actually a third option.
That was to find a place to bury herself.
She would be able to be resurrected in Dawn City in three days, and she would be able to return to French Fries Port in a maximum of five days by airship. This was the most convenient way.
Just when Sisi was hesitant, a light blue antenna icon suddenly popped up on the radar of the central control screen, and then automatically received an unfamiliar communication request.
”…This is the ‘Dolphin’, we have received your distress signal and are heading in your direction.”
Not only did Sisi hear the voice, but the tail sitting in the buffer cabin also heard it, and a surprised expression suddenly appeared on his face.
”What’s going on?”
Sis stared at the central control screen blankly, swallowing unconsciously.
”I don’t know… I guess it’s probably a certain safety detection device of this submarine that automatically sent a distress signal. The Dolphin is probably the No. 70 Shelter submarine patrolling in this area?”
At the same time, a towering ship shadow has emerged on the turbulent sea in the distance.
Completely different from the speedboat of the federal patrol team, that ship is a serious warship. Not only does it carry two thick and long gun barrels on the deck, it is also equipped with torpedo launchers and powerful close-in defense guns.
It is a federal destroyer.
Standing at the bow of the speedboat, Muda held a walkie-talkie in his hand, and there was a hint of complexity in his eyes when he looked at the flagship in the distance.
He was thinking about how to explain to his superiors.
Of course, compared to how to explain to his superiors, what made him feel more complicated was the signal captured by the terminal of the mind interference device just now.
The mind interference device is a gift from the Torch Church to the Southern Islands Federation. This technology does not exist in Shelter No. 70.
Even if the residents of the shelter have mastered the relevant principles, they are not as proficient in applying them as the Federation.
There is only one explanation for why the signal that should not have appeared appeared in the waters controlled by the Southern Islands Federation without anyone noticing and evaded searches again and again.
This is definitely not something that a captain can do. At least it has to be someone in the Navy General Staff or even the top authorities, or even a group of people!
For some reason, the insider hindered and even completely misled the federal authorities’ investigation of the ruins of the ocean current power station.
If this is true –
was it really Shelter No. 70 that blew up the ocean current power station?
Looking at the approaching warship, a trace of solemnity gradually emerged between Muda’s brows.
I always feel that things are getting troublesome…
–
(Diarrhea… Never eat raw pickles again)
(End of this chapter)
