Chapter 684 The truth that sank to the bottom of the sea
The night is dark and the sea is rough.
Muda, who was standing on the bow of the speedboat, was looking intently at the red and green light spots rising and falling with the waves in the distance, and his eyes could not help but be filled with memories.
About two months ago, it was a quiet and peaceful scene. The orange-yellow rollers rose and fell with the fluctuations of the ocean currents, exuding a shimmering light in the sun, just like wheat fields growing on the sea.
The rising and falling waves are its swaying golden color.
But now, that magnificent golden color has become history, just like the disappeared city of Shilong.
Scattered metal parts and burst pipelines sank into the sea together. The generator sets were like wild horses that were runaway, washed to pieces by the turbulent waves, and disappeared into the endless sea.
Sometimes, Mu Da couldn't help but think.
Perhaps human beings are such unrepentant animals, they will continue to repeat the mistakes they have made more than once, and repeat the cycle of destruction and rebirth again and again, and finally miss the good times in the past when everything is irreversible.
Maybe one-
The claims of the Torch Church are not entirely wrong.
If you want to eradicate the bad roots in human nature, you can only delete those despicable traits from your genes, and then ascend into another higher-level creature.
As his thoughts gradually drifted away with the sea breeze, Mu Da estimated that the time was almost up, so he took out the walkie-talkie and pressed the button.
"This is the maritime patrol. We are about to pass through the blockade area...requesting permission."
A burst of noisy electrical sound came from the walkie-talkie, followed by a rude voice followed by a long yawn.
"Patrol team? What are you doing here?" Mu Dayan said concisely.
"We tracked an abnormal sonar signal, so just in case, we came over here to take a look."
"Okay, do you need reinforcements?"
"It's not necessary at the moment."
"Okay, then keep in touch. If you need reinforcements, we will be there soon."
The voice in the communication channel was relaxed and pleasant, and he was even chewing potato chips, leaving no doubt about what he said.
It seems that after more than two months, the brothers patrolling this area have become lax after all.
But it's no wonder.
This ocean current power station has been destroyed. There is no need for the submarine in Shelter 70 to launch another attack on the facility that has been destroyed once.
After the brief exchange ended, Muda hung up the communication with a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, then switched the communication channel of the walkie-talkie and lowered his voice.
.The target is just below the buoy in front. That's all I can help you. You'd better not stay too long. I can only wait for you for fifteen minutes at most."
After a while, an echo came from the intercom. "Roger, thank you."
"You're welcome, and wish you good luck.
After speaking, Mu Da waved his hand and motioned to the pilot in the cabin to continue moving in the northwest direction and cruise around the buoy not far away.
The sailor standing behind Mu Da, carrying a rifle, hesitated for a moment, and finally couldn't help but speak.
"...Why should we help them?" This kind of thing is not without risk.
If they were discovered by the Federation Navy and they were covering a Shelter 70 submarine into the wreckage of the Ocean Current Power Station, no matter how they explained it, they might not be able to explain it.
Staring at the dark rising tide, Mu Da actually didn't understand why he agreed to do this favor.
The Federation has already characterized the attack, and the conflict between the survivors on the islands and Vault 70 goes far beyond just a power station.
Even if those guys from the alliance found any new clues, he didn't think those clues could change anything.
That was just a trigger. But one-
He still wants to know what the truth is.
Perhaps there is one ten thousandth of this
Another possibility.
After being silent for a long time in the noisy sea breeze, he slowly spoke.
"It's not just about helping them."
"We are also helping ourselves.
The sailor looked at the officer's back blankly, not knowing what to say for a long time...
At the same time, directly below the speedboat, a drum-shaped submarine was turning its propeller and slowly moving towards the facility sunk on the seabed.
This submarine is exactly the one Huang Guangwei stranded on the beach before.
The researchers of the scientific expedition team not only helped repair the damaged power system and simplified the operating module, but also installed harpoon launchers, underwater grenade launchers, etc. at Sisi's request and flew them from Dawn City to French fries.
Hong Kong’s underwater weapons system.
Since they have not been tested in actual combat, even the researchers who installed these weapons on the submarines do not know whether these things can actually work.
However, considering that this mission might be attacked by aquatic mutants lurking under the sea, Sisi chose to take them with him.
At the same time, she also prayed silently in her heart—
Hopefully these guys won't be needed on this mission.
"Speaking of which, this place is really spectacular..."
Sitting in the cockpit, Sisi turned on the submarine's searchlight, followed the camera with his eyes, and carefully inspected the metal wreckage so close to him.
I saw a ring with a diameter of more than ten meters deeply embedded in the seabed. In the middle of the ring was a huge metal impeller. At this moment, these impellers, like the metal brackets outside, were all wrapped around runaway cables.
Like a sunken ship caught in seaweed.
This should be the submarine turbine generator of the ocean current power station, and the floating generator floating on the sea, which has been washed away to an unknown place, should belong to different power systems.
There are dozens of similar turbine generators nearby, and this is just the part she can see right now.
Countless metal remains are scattered on the rocky seabed, and colorful fish pass through the dark shadows from time to time.
This place does not look like the remains of a power station, but like an underwater city that has sunk to the bottom of the sea.
Looking at the area illuminated by the searchlight, Tail, who was sitting in the passenger seat, opened his mouth in surprise, and from time to time he let out an incredible exclamation.
"My giao...such realistic light and shadow effects!
This flowing texture detail!
There’s also this CG-level scene modeling! It’s simply amazing, isn’t it?
It's a pity that VM didn't have a signal, otherwise she really wanted to share the scenery here immediately with Sesame Paste and Rourou who stayed on the shore, as well as everyone on the forum.
"A weak current has been detected outside the submersible. It seems that a few generators are still working... No wonder no alien species are seen here."
After taking a look at the alarm that pulsed on the central control screen, Sisi operated the searchlight and camera to move to the left side of the submersible, and quickly locked onto an area with no fish activity.
That's probably the source of the leakage.
Marking the area on the map, Sisi looked at the instructions on the aircraft and tapped the screen with his index finger, reset a safe route, controlled the submersible to carefully circumvent the area, and continued towards
Goal forward.
Based on the information provided by the resident of Vault 70, the NPC of the scientific expedition team not only helped draw a three-dimensional model of the wreckage of the ocean current power station, but also prepared an exploration path and data collection plan in advance, greatly reducing the amount of manual operations.
After arriving at the target area, she only needs to make some adaptable fine-tuning of the route based on the situation on site.
This task is actually very easy.
So much so that she was thinking that before she finished exploring this ruins, she could stop by and check out the coordinates of the sunken research ship "Golden Coast".
Different from Sisi who was always busy with something to do, Tail, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was looking out the window of the cockpit with excitement on his face, wishing he could weld his face and nose to the window together.
His unstressed look did not look like an investigator on an infiltration mission, but more like a tourist here for sightseeing.
It wasn't until the submarine drove under a turbine generator that she suddenly remembered the mission in progress and looked at Sisdao excitedly.
"That's right Si! How should we investigate next?"
Staring intently at the three-dimensional map model on the central control screen and the green dot indicating the current position of the submarine, Sisi took a deep breath and said.
"It's very simple. Arrive at the designated area on the map, release the detector, wait for data collection, and then recover the detector."
"Eh?!" Tails looked at Sisi in surprise, "Is it that simple?"
"It's not that simple, there are a lot of dangers here... Wouldn't it be a good thing to be simple? Why are you so disappointed?
Sisi glanced at Awei hastily, looking at this regretful guy, he couldn't help but make a helpless expression.
Meeting those helpless eyes, Tai Tai reached out and scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly.
"No way! It's certainly a good thing to be simpler, but if this happens... wouldn't it be unnecessary to even leave the cabin?"
Sisi thought for a moment and said.
"Probably not necessary."
"Well!"
Tails had a deeply shocked expression on his face, looked at Sisi pitifully, and repeatedly confirmed, "But...is it really okay if I don't check it carefully? What if there is something missing?"
The clues are hidden in the belly of the fish or behind the rocks—"
"How could there be such a thing?" Looking at this whimsical guy, Sisi couldn't help but complain, "Do you think this is some kind of detective's crime scene?"
For nearly two and a half months, the Federation of the Southern Islands must have conducted a careful investigation and search of this sea area.
Under such circumstances, it is unrealistic to expect to discover any new clues that have been missed by the Federation Navy. The most promising clues are those that appear to be ordinary.
For example, the operating data of power stations, etc.
What the Alliance's scientific expedition team is best at is digging out clues from massive amounts of data. If there are any suspicious clues, they can tell them at a glance.
After learning that there was no need to leave the cabin for investigation, Ah Wei suddenly felt like a deflated ball and sat listlessly in the passenger seat.
Sisi glanced at her from the corner of his eye and couldn't help but ask.
"...Speaking of which, this is the bottom of the sea with a depth of more than 100 meters. Aren't you afraid at all?"
Taiyi gave her a strange look and tilted his head. "Afraid?"
"Such as... phobia of the deep sea or something like that."
Looking at Si Si, who was staring intently at the central control screen, Tai Tai seemed to have guessed something, and the corner of his mouth gradually turned up into a narrow smile.
"Oh! Tails understand! Sisi's weakness is the bottom of the sea!"
"What kind of weakness is this? And how is it possible... There's nothing to be afraid of."
Sisi was stunned for a moment, and almost blurted out his retort, but the gaze that was fixed on the central control screen seemed unconvincing.
It was rare to see a good friend look so embarrassed. The teasing smile on Taili's face became more and more obvious, and the raised corners of his mouth became more and more undisguised.
"Then take a look out the window!"
Sisi immediately refused without thinking.
"I don't want it, it's the same as looking at the screen." "Just take a look!"
"Okay, okay... stop making trouble, O'Wei, we're at the place, it's time to get down to business!"
As he spoke, Sisi glanced at the parameters in the upper left corner of the central control screen and hurriedly took a photo of the button to launch the detector.
I saw a metal ball the size of a basketball ejected from the abdomen of the stealth gas, flying to the metal debris more than ten meters away with a lead.
The metal ball is getting closer and closer to the interface, and it is about to get closer.
However
At this moment, something embarrassing happened.
I saw the metal ball floating forward suddenly stopped and was caught by the straight lead.
Sisi's expression froze, and he hurriedly looked at the parameters on the central control screen, saying something bad in his heart.
Not even close...
Just when she was about to operate the submersible to get closer, a sudden inrush of ocean current blew the detector holding the data cable upward, and it hung on a propeller leaning on the metal debris.
on the leaves.
The detector with the lead wire was like a pendulum, making several loops on the propeller blade, and the lead wire was completely wrapped around the blade.
This time it's more than a little worse.
Noticing the gradually serious expression on Sisi's face, Taili also put away his joking expression and asked cautiously.
"Si, what happened?"
"Nothing, just a small problem. I accidentally made a mistake and the detector got stuck on the blade. Someone has to go over and pick it off from the blade...Awei, wait here for me."
After all, you still have to wipe your own butt.
After taking a look at the deep darkness outside the cockpit, Sisi swallowed and gritted his teeth and reached for the seat belt.
It's actually not that scary...
She muttered silently in her mind, trying to convince herself that everything around her was just a game model and there was nothing scary at all.
Just when she finally made up her mind to unbuckle her seat belt, she saw that Tai Wei had already stood up from her seat, opened the metal cabinet in the cockpit, and dug out the fully enclosed deep-sea diving suit placed inside.
It only took less than a minute to put on the diving suit, and Tail gave a thumbs up to Sis with great enthusiasm.
"Just remove that detector from the blade, right? Leave it to the tail!"
The guy seemed to be rushing to go swimming, and there was no sense of disobedience in changing his decompression diving suit into a lifebuoy.
Sisi looked at her blankly, and after a while he whispered.
"...Are you okay?" Tails grinned.
"a piece of cake!"
After saying that, she walked backwards into the buffer warehouse, playfully made a salute gesture, and neatly closed the buffer gate.
The seawater pouring into the cabin filled the buffer cabin, and then the outer door slowly opened outward.
After spitting out a long string of bubbles, Tail, wearing the thick diving suit, stood at the edge of the cabin door and kicked his legs. He slowly floated out of the cabin and moved towards the detector wrapped around the blades of the turbine generator.
past.
This work is indeed not difficult to say. It can even be said that it is enough if you have the skills.
However, Sisi, who was sitting in the cockpit, couldn't help but sweat for Awei.
The deep darkness was like a monster's open bloody mouth. I don't know why this crazy guy wasn't afraid at all.
Just as she was thinking this, an energetic voice came from the communication channel.
"Oh! It's been unlocked... Si! What's next?"
After coming back from his daze, Sisi quickly stretched out his index finger and pointed at the central control screen.
"Ah, just move the detector to the interface. I'll send you the location."
"receive!"
After confirming the position of the interface through the visual window of the helmet's eyepiece, he clamped the detector under his elbow with his tail, then started the small propeller installed on the back of the diving suit with a whoosh, and swam towards the marked position.
It was a terminal welded to a metal bracket.
The screen has failed, but the wiring is still intact.
Tails brought the detector close to it, and soon two mechanical arms stretched out from the sides of the metal ball, grabbed the terminal, and fixed themselves firmly on it like a spider.
Then you just need to let it finish it on its own.
The tail loosened its grip and floated back.
From a short distance, I watched the little guy connected to the terminal operate and connect the thread originally connected to the terminal screen to his round body.
Sisi, who was sitting in the cockpit, breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the progress bar on the central control screen.
"Data transmission is in progress.\n.\n.\n.\n.\n.\nIt will take about 5 minutes. Ah Wei, how is the situation over there?"
The tail floating next to the detector waved its arm vigorously towards the bright searchlight, and then a dull voice came from the communication channel.
"Oh! Everything is normal. It's so quiet here!" I always feel like there is something bad hidden in the dark waters.
Sisi said worriedly.
"The detector has been connected...Awei, why don't you come back first."
"Don't worry, I'll wait until the data transmission is completed. What if something unexpected happens?"
"Probably...not that much." As he said this, Sisi swallowed unconsciously.
However, that imperceptible pause was heard by someone on the other end of the communication channel.
A narrow smile suddenly appeared on his face, and his tail said with a mischievous smile.
"Eh? Could it be that Sisi is scared?"
Sisi was stunned for a moment, and his face turned red as soon as he realized what he was doing.
"What are you talking about? I, I have nothing to be afraid of!"
His right hand touched his tail under the heavy decompression helmet, leaning against the metal bracket, and made a motion of rubbing his chin with his index finger.
"It's a bit strange that Sis, who works in the morgue, is also afraid of something!"
"What morgue! I'm in the pathology department!"
Listening to the voice coming from the communication channel, Sisi explained in a dumbfounded manner. However, before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by a sudden call of alarm.
"Si! There's something down there!"
Sisi was stunned for a moment and quickly sat up straight from the chair.
"Are you kidding? Stop joking at this time!"
"No, I'm serious. It seems like there's something out there. Look around with your searchlight. Don't keep pointing it at me!"
Almost as soon as Awei finished speaking, a slight tremor penetrated through the bilge of the submarine and climbed up to her ankles from far to near.
Sisi was startled, as if he realized this mistake he shouldn't have made, and quickly lowered the searchlight and shined it directly below the submarine.
That beam of light was like a sharp sword piercing the darkness, piercing into a dark abyss.
The moment she illuminated the abyss, she discovered an amber pupil hidden in the huge rock basin, staring at her intently.
That eye is as big as a truck.
Gray-black tentacles as thick as buckets floated behind it, like vines wrapped around the wall, covering the rocky seabed.
When did this guy move here?! Or...
It's always there!
A bone-deep cold crawled up Sisi's back.
The combination of fear of the deep sea and tentacles made her heartbeat stop for a while.
The tremors transmitted through the cabin became more and more intense, and the seawater around the submarine seemed to be boiling.
she knows--
That's the silent roar of this deep sea beast!
"My giao! Tentacle monster?!"
The sound of the tail made Sisi wake up suddenly, and she roared loudly almost out of reflex.
"Awei! Protect the detector!"
As she finished speaking, she decisively cut off the traction rope between the submersible and the detector, regardless of the progress bar that was already halfway there.
Facts have proved that her judgment was correct.
Almost as soon as she cut off the traction rope, a roaring black shadow hit the side of the submarine.
The submarine hovering next to the wreckage instantly seemed to have been shot high into the air.
Like a golf ball, flip
It rolled and flew out, and did not stop until it hit a metal support heavily.
The metal bracket was bent due to the impact, and an overwhelming creaking sound came through the bulkhead of the submarine, along with a muffled sound that landed on the top of the submarine.
Shaking his groggy head, Sisi reluctantly woke up from his coma. With his remaining consciousness, he adjusted the output power of the power system to the maximum and drove the submarine away before the alloy structure above fell.
Dangerous area.
Almost as soon as she drove less than ten meters away, rolling mud swayed not far behind the submersible, and the collapsed metal fragments slowly but surely buried the rocks below.
If she hadn't reacted quickly enough, she might have been in danger. "Huh..."
Sisi, who was leaning on the seat, was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling violently.
There was no time to hesitate, and she stared intently at the central control screen with the traffic lights flashing wildly. She operated the searchlight and camera to quickly scan the seabed below, circling towards the north side of the ruins while hurriedly searching for the sea monster.
trace.
The guy seemed to have disappeared, without a trace.
But Sisi knew very well that that guy was definitely still around here, and he was hiding somewhere near the ruins of the power station!
"...Tail! Are you okay?" There was no answer in the communication channel.
Scattered metal debris is everywhere, as well as cables floating around the turbine generator, forming a natural shielding field.
"cut......"
Gritting his teeth, Sisi punched the armrest of the chair, then extended his index finger to tap on the screen, resetting the route back to the center of the ruins.
The data transfer has not been completed and the original data is still stored in the detector.
If it is transported bit by bit through small water pipes with wireless transmission, the huge data may have to be transmitted for as long as the year of the monkey.
Not to mention possible packet loss!
The only way now is to take the detector back.
It seemed that she sensed the movement on the bottom of the sea. At the same time as she rushed to the center of the ruins again, the NPC named Mu Da sent a communication request.
While staring warily at the dark seabed, Sisi reached out and pressed the on button.
Almost as soon as the communication was connected, the roar of fried wheat reached her ears.
"What are you doing?! Testing nuclear weapons?!"
There was no time to talk nonsense with this guy, so Sisi took a deep breath and focused on the key points.
"Monster! There is a sea monster here...with many tentacles! It's somewhere under the ruins of the Ocean Current Power Station!"
The other end of the communication channel was stunned for half a second.
"Sea monster?! How is that possible! The large alien species will not go near that area at all. There are still power turbines working there——"
Si Si: "Here's the problem! Because of the current, fish usually won't enter the ruins at all, but something forced that big guy to stay inside. I suspect it's starving to death... I think
It’s psychic interference, what do you think?”
Mu Da exclaimed.
"Psychic interference?! How is that possible!"
Sisi: "No time to explain...the thing that controls that thing should be around here. Do you have any way to locate other mind interference devices? If you can, it will be of great help!"
Mu Da roared and shouted: "Don't worry about the mind interference device for now, come up here right now!"
Listening to the NPC's anxious voice, Sisi said calmly.
"My teammate is still down there, and I will never leave her behind. And the detector... I have to get that thing back, even if I die!"
"Are you crazy?! That's our war! It's ours! You don't have to risk your life for it!"
Mu Da stood on the speedboat with his eyes wide open, holding the walkie-talkie tightly in his right hand and roaring with all his strength.
However, there was no echo from the other end of the communication channel, leaving only deathly silence.
The noisy waves are like
The rapid drum beat drowned the white foam that kept pouring out of the sea.
He couldn't understand.
What are these guys doing so hard for? The total time they have known each other is less than half a month!
And this short half month cannot be said to be very pleasant.
I don’t know how many people are waiting to see those people’s jokes, I don’t know how many people
I wish they could get out of here immediately and go back to their wasteland.
Mu Da gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the echoless walkie-talkie in his hand.
Talk about ending the wasteland...
Who cares about that kind of thing!
At least here, no one cares at all!
After taking a deep breath, Mu Da suddenly seemed to have made up his mind and turned around and shouted in the direction of the cockpit.
"Turn off the mind interference device!"
The sailor standing in the cockpit was stunned.
The mind interference device is their tool to drive away alien species.
If that thing is turned off, they are at risk of being overturned at any time.
"But one-"
The sailor tried to dissuade him, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he was pushed back by the commander's roar.
"I said! Turn it off! Now!"
"Yes!" Facing the officer's murderous gaze, the sailors did not dare to hesitate. They could only turn off the mind interference device in a hurry and pray silently in their hearts that no alien species would target them.
Mu Da quickly walked into the cabin and pushed him away, staring at the terminal screen.
After the mind interference device was turned off, there was silence on the screen, as if it was broken.
Mu Da held his breath and waited anxiously.
At this moment, an undetectable ripple suddenly appeared on the screen as calm as water, just like a dragonfly crossing the water.
The moment he saw the ripples, his heart suddenly jumped to his throat.
That was a signal from a mind interference device—is it really true?!
It was not only Mu Da who was shocked, but also the sailor standing next to him, whose face was filled with incredible shock.
The only psychic interference device within a dozen miles is on their speedboat.
Where did the signal come from?! "Lock its location!"
After saying these words, Mu Da opened the door and walked out of the cockpit, shouting at another sailor on the speedboat and continuing to shout.
"Depth charge preparation!"
Realizing the seriousness of the problem, the sailor swallowed and nodded quickly.