Chapter 71 Doubts

There was nothing that needed attention when I returned home, so I took the opportunity to go offline for a while. By the time I went online again, it was already early the next morning, and the fleet had already entered China's territorial waters. Occasionally, some Chinese guild fleets could be seen around, but the number was relatively small. Large forces generally would not stay in the inland waters, either. Either go out on patrol for a decisive battle or simply do maintenance in the port.

I stood on the deck looking at the sea in the faint morning light, and suddenly a strange-looking ship caught my attention. This is a quadhull, to be precise, a rectangular structure with four boats connected. The four ships used as supports are all very large, and their superstructures have all been removed. There are no island bridges, masts, or even weapons on the huge and wide decks. If such a large ship is not equipped with any weapons, it must have other uses.

In the middle of the four ships I found the thing they were carrying. This is a large steel keel structure, shaped like the four hypotenuses of a pyramid, and its four feet just fall on the four ships. There are some relatively complex structures at the gathering point in the center of the steel keel, which appear to be some gears and transmission devices. The four black lines hanging from the center went straight into the water, and it was obvious that there was something under the water. If I guessed correctly, this should be a salvage ship, and its tonnage is not small. The four ships used as support are all 10,000-ton ships. The four ships together must be over 100,000 tons, and maybe more than 200,000 tons. Now, judging from the waterline, these ships seem to be carrying a lot of weight. The scales are no longer visible, and they are obviously overloaded. The purpose of dismantling the island bridge is to reduce the load, so it is impossible for these ships to transport cargo and draft so deep. The only explanation is that the lifting cantilever above them, and what it hangs in the water is the real load. What on earth could be so heavy in water? After removing the buoyancy of the water, how big would it be if it still weighed hundreds of thousands of tons?

There were several rings of warships parked on the sea near the salvage ship, protecting the ship among them. The purpose was obvious - to keep people away. It's strange that such a strange fleet could go unnoticed.

"Warning! Signs of fire preparation are found, the entire fleet is in a state of emergency." The horn on the Tyrant suddenly sounded, which was operated by the NPC in the observation room. Sending this kind of alarm means that the opponent's warship has begun loading its artillery and starting to target us. It is abnormal for a Chinese fleet to create such a tense atmosphere in China's territorial waters. They actually aimed fire at us flying the Chinese flag. It was obvious that they had something up their sleeves.

Many of the crew members of this fleet are pirate NPCs from back then, and they react very quickly to this sudden situation. Some other NPCs are from the Undead Legion, and they are also regular troops after all. Although they are transferred from the Army, their quality is there after all. Within 30 seconds after the alarm was sent out, the fleet responded. The battleships Tyrant and Eternal began to rotate their turrets to aim fire, and their automatic weapons also entered a state of readiness.

"Don't fire yet, maybe it's a misunderstanding." The first thing I said when I rushed to the bridge was to stop the shooting. Maybe the other party was just doing an important task and was overly nervous.

"President, we will suffer huge losses if we don't fire first at such a close distance."

"Order the small battleships to move to the right side of the fleet, pushing the large battleships Tyrant and Eternity in front. I don't believe they have the ability to penetrate the Tyrant's armor plate."

"Understood."

Our fleet began to change its formation, and all the large battleships with thick armor were concentrated on the left side of the fleet to form a defensive front. In order to ensure that if the opponent fires, we can fire back immediately, and the speed of the fleet also begins to decrease, which makes it easier for us to aim.

The fleet on the opposite side also began to change its formation relative to our actions. All the warships gathered here to confront us, and the salvage ship was blocked behind and became an object of protection. This action made us even more nervous.

I held up the telescope and said: "King Chuang, send the order to activate the Chameleon System." The so-called Chameleon System is the optical stealth system from the Black Octopus clan, but we have made some improvements and it is now practical. The finished product is the chameleon system. Although it cannot be completely invisible, the battleship will become transparent like plexiglass, which is difficult to detect without paying attention. Moreover, even if the two sides are very close, this kind of thing can reduce the opponent's hit rate by 3%.

The other side was very surprised by our changes, but all they did was point the barrel at us. The warships of both sides faced off against each other in this tense atmosphere. Our fleet slowly approached them until it reached a critical point and then the distance began to gradually become wider. Seeing us gradually moving away, the opponent's weapons still did not relax their vigilance. It was not until we left the opponent's fire range that they turned the muzzle away and restored the circular protective formation.

Hongyue looked at the direction of the ships and said, "Don't you think there's something fishy?"

King Chuang also nodded and said: "That's right. I have never seen the Chinese fleet so nervous. Although players on land are fighting very hard, China's maritime power has never had a fleet-level battle so far. After all, the naval battle system is still focused on external affairs. Yes. But this fleet...has a problem!"

Lin Yuedao: "It seems that we need to investigate. Unfortunately, I won't be able to fight if I go into the water. Can you call a few experts to explore the way?"

I stood up: "Aren't you just asking me to go?"

Hongyue also stood up. "I will go with you."

"I haven't said yet whether I want to go or not!"

"Aren't you curious about something strange?"

"I'm quite curious."

King Chuang immediately said: "Just go! Come back and help us and talk about it, otherwise everyone will be worried."

"Okay! Hongyue, let's go. King Chuang will take over the command until the fleet arrives in port."

"Okay, just leave!"

He and Hongyue went to the bottom of the Tyrant and found a speedboat like Atlantis. I rode up first, and Hongyue changed her own artifact equipment and put on the guild's order suit and followed me. She patted my helmet to signal that it was time to set off. As soon as I pressed the switch, the speedboat jumped out.

I pulled the handle, and the speedboat flew out of the water. Then I pressed the bow of the boat in the air, and the speedboat tilted forward, and when it entered the water, it suddenly plunged under the water. This is a special way for this type of speedboat to enter the water. Small speedboats do not have a buoyancy control system and can only use hydrofoils similar to airplane wings to control the depth. Therefore, the hydrofoils will not work unless the boat is pressed into the water.

We emerged from the waterproof door at the bottom of the ship and turned around to approach those strange warships. It is definitely not easy to find our speedboat, which is only two meters long, in such a large sea, not to mention that we are still underwater. The waves on the sea are our best cover. The track of the speedboat is quickly washed away by the waves, and no one can see us.

He quickly approached the fleet on guard at the periphery and headed directly to the center without paying attention to them. When we arrived next to the four conjoined boats, Hongyue suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled hard. My hand drove the steering handle, and the speedboat made a sharp U-turn and almost flew out of the water.

"what are you doing?"

Hongyue said nothing and just pointed forward. I looked towards the defense line, and there seemed to be something, which looked quite small.

"The underwater observation cabinet is sold at the port and is specially used for non-combat players. But they seem to be using this thing as an underwater checkpoint."

"You have really sharp eyes."

"It's not my sharp eyes, it was Xiaoye who discovered it."

"Night?"

"My demon pet, the Eidolon King, don't you know? He is now at a high level and can merge with me. He is much more powerful than your phantom."

"I protest against your personal attacks." Phantom suddenly stretched out a white limb and shook it desperately in protest.

I quickly pressed the Phantom back. "What do we do now?"

"Anyway, we want to see what they are fishing for, just down. They can't possibly connect that thing all the way to the bottom of the sea, right?"

"That's right." He started the speedboat again and rushed underwater.

The opponent's reconnaissance post only extended for more than thirty meters and then disappeared. We try to stay close to the center. Only when we got closer did we see clearly that what was hanging under the huge hanger was not a cable but a chain. Each link of the giant chain is as big as a house door, and the steel bars that make them are thicker than my waist. The steel bars that tied Hong Yue and I together were about the same thickness.

It seems that the things below are not as heavy as I first thought. After all, the chains themselves should weigh tens of thousands of tons. There are four chains in total now, and they are not separated from each other much. This shows that there is still a lot of depth below, or that the thing itself is not big.

As we continued to descend, a rectangular steel frame appeared in our sight. The four chains coming down from the top are actually connected to the four corners of the steel frame. There are some gears and transmission mechanisms inside the steel frame, and it also looks like a winch. Six chains stretched out from under the steel frame and continued downward until it was completely surrounded by darkness.

"It's dark down there, do you want to turn on the light?" I asked Hongyue.

"No need. I can get dark vision with Xiao Ye here, and you seem to have night vision too, so let's not turn on the lights, so as not to expose the target."

"Okay, let's continue diving."

As the water depth increases, the surroundings become darker and darker, but this does not affect our actions. According to our initial estimation, this place was near the continental shelf and the depth would not be too great. However, we did not expect that following the chain down, we actually discovered a large trench. The map of "Zero" is said to be modeled after reality, but the seabed map itself is incomplete, and Long Yuan has no way to compare it, so the ocean topography is almost entirely wrong. This trench here should not exist in reality, otherwise we should know about it.

The chain went deep into the dark trench, and we had no choice but to follow the chain and continue downward. "Pay attention over there." Hongyue suddenly pulled my arm, and we performed another stunt of sharp turns, and a giant monster flashed past us in front of us. There was only two or three meters between us and its mouth that suddenly closed.

This guy missed a hit and immediately turned around and rushed forward again. I made a move and the little dragon girl rushed out of a water vortex in the shape of a dragon. When the big guy saw Xiao Longnu, he rushed up to her without any fear, but he didn't hit her after just one confrontation and was running around in confusion. The monster seems to be a fish, but it is very big and has a strange shape. All deep-sea creatures look weird. But a fish is a fish after all, no matter how big it is, it is not a powerful thing. It will be beaten and run away with bruises in a few times.

After that guy escaped, no monster around dared to approach us. The little dragon girl kept circling around us, and the monsters followed us from a distance but did not come close. The types of creatures down here are really scary. Many images you can only see in nightmares appear in this deep sea area. There is a double-headed hairtail fish. I don’t know what it is, but it looks like a hairtail fish and has two heads. Originally, this guy planned to attack us, but when it approached, it was sucked in by something that suddenly protruded from the edge of the cliff, and then never appeared again. What a dangerous trench.

As the depth continued to increase, suddenly a big squid appeared in front. The little dragon girl made a threatening gesture, but the thing still rushed forward. Xiao Longnu and the guy were entangled and struggling. I wanted to help but didn't know how to intervene. Suddenly I remembered that deep-sea animals are afraid of strong light. "Hongyue, do you know how to illuminate?"

Hongyue replied in surprise: "I am a dark mage?"

This obviously means no, Xiaochun cannot be summoned here! Oh, and there are steel claws. He quickly took out the steel claws and pounced on him as soon as he appeared. The squid only had sixteen tentacles, and the steel claws were even more. The tentacles on both sides immediately became entangled and entangled with each other, and no one could move, but the little dragon girl was saved. The little dragon girl who regained her freedom was very angry, and her whole body lit up with green light. "Dragon Dissociation Technique."

This was the first time I saw Xiao Longnu using a direct offensive spell. There was just a flash of green light, and one of the squid's tentacles fell down inexplicably. The steel claws didn't even react to why the opponent's tentacles suddenly broke off, but he didn't care so much and shook off the tentacles to attack its main body.

Xiao Longnu's dissociation technique didn't seem to be over. The squid's tentacles began to break off one by one, and finally turned into a big bald gourd. The steel claw immediately wrapped its tentacles around the big guy, and then tore the guy alive. The black ink sprayed out like a bomb, and nothing could be seen around it.

When the ink disperses, there are only some suspended pieces of meat and some little monsters grabbing food. Energy is very precious in the deep sea, and it is shameful to waste it.

Continuing downward, various large monsters begin to appear, and they become larger and larger. It seems that the monsters on the bottom of the sea will always be larger than those on the sea surface. However, although these deep-sea monsters are large, they are not as active as the monsters in the middle sea water. The big monsters here are basically floating at a very slow speed. It feels like they are like enlarged ornamental fish, swimming leisurely. But it turns out that these big guys are still very aggressive, but they never chase their prey. As long as something floats into its attack range, it will be swallowed immediately.

Compared to the things above, these big monsters are safer, as long as you don't get close to them.

As the chain continued downward, something strange began to happen, and we actually found light underneath. The area with light was not large, only about the size of a football field, and people could clearly be seen moving there. It's darker here, so they can't see us, but we can see them clearly. These people are wearing various colored armors, and they all seem to have air-locking capabilities. Although diving armor is not very difficult to obtain, it is by no means something that can be obtained casually, not to mention that there are so many of them.

Those people seemed to be digging for something in the water, and some of them were holding the ends of chains to hang on something, which looked familiar.

"A battleship?" Hongyue recognized the thing first.

I looked carefully for a long time and found that this was indeed a battleship. But a large amount of metal precipitation has changed this thing beyond recognition. Bodies on the sea will rot and be refreshed quickly, and the same goes for sunken ships on the seabed. Unless it is a shipwreck for a mission, the system will quickly overwrite the sediment on the ship and then refresh it. This seems to be a new warship, not a mission ship, which means it didn't take long to sink. The more I look at it, the more I think it looks like a Japanese ship. The wasp-waisted structure does not look like a Chinese design.

Suddenly I remembered that when I came back from Japan last time, I encountered a strange Chinese fleet who asked us about a Japanese camouflage ship. Could it be this one? It feels like the location is similar, and the ship type and size are also consistent. It is very likely that this is the Japanese camouflage ship that we sunk last time. So why do these Chinese guild people want to salvage this Japanese ship?

"Look there." Hongyue pointed to the stern of the ship.

The stern of the ship was blown off by our shells, and the place is now a big hole. Many players come in and out here, seemingly looking for something. But what can they find? With such a large tonnage of the boom, so much manpower and material resources were used, and it was not to salvage the entire ship, what could it be?

Analyze according to the current situation. First of all, this thing must be very heavy, otherwise such a large lifting arm would not be used. Secondly, this thing is very important or valuable, otherwise it would not be so troublesome to salvage. Finally, this thing came from China, and the Japanese needed it very much. The camouflage ship that day was not trying to attack us but wanted to take this thing away. An object that meets so many conditions wouldn't be too simple, right? I want to see what is so important.