Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Yin Shixiong closed his eyes in an attempt to get a feel. Shaking his head after a while, he replied to Gu Nianzhi, “Nope, didn’t feel any vibrations. There was only shakiness from the sea. Were you referring to that?”
Gu Nianzhi closed her eyes and stood up on the bow of the ship. Spreading her arms, she tried to relax her body in an attempt to feel the surroundings. The feeling became stronger the moment she closed her eyes. The vibrations were increasing in strength —from the strength of a cat’s lick to the strength of raindrops falling onto one’s face. It was even slightly prickly.
However, the moment Gu Nianzhi opened her eyes, a vast, clear sky greeted her with the clear blue sea, along with some sea breeze and the sun blazing down on them. There were no raindrops at all. So where was the feeling of raindrops coming from?
That prickly feeling from the raindrops. Where did it come from? Gu Nianzhi began feeling frustrated.
“Brother Xiong, can you get in touch with Huo Shao and brother Ze?” Gu Nianzhi sat beside Yin Shixiong and leaned forward on her knees, supporting her chin with her hands. She looked at Yin Shixiong like that, intently.
Yin Shixiong shook his head. “Stop rushing. If you don’t, I’ll begin to panic too. Nothing will happen. Signals are usually bad when it comes to deeper dives. It’s common. Think about it like this—no news is good news, yes?”
This sentence did not calm Gu Nianzhi down. This was especially so when she felt the vibrations increasing in strength the moment she closed her eyes.
Gu Nianzhi stood up again and paced around the deck. She stopped occasionally, held on to the poles of the ship, and looked far off in the direction of the blue hole.
…
Huo Shaoheng and Zhao Liangze had already managed to swim to the place where the sphere was located. The water temperature was extremely low; they felt that they did not wear a thick enough dive suit even though theirs already had the function of keeping them warm.
Zhao Liangze felt his temperature decreasing gradually. He was cold.
Their communication system broke down the moment they entered the blue hole. The only way for them to communicate was to sign to each other. Thankfully, they could still see each other. If not, the situation would’ve been much worse.
“It’s a big rock.” Huo Shaoheng swam one round around the sphere. He signed to Zhao Liangze. “Do you want to measure the density of this rock sphere? See if it’s hollow?”
Zhao Liangze fixed the instrument around the sphere and began measuring. Huo Shaoheng took his sniper rifle and swam to the rock on the other side to keep a lookout for him. A normal sniper rifle would be affected underwater. The bullet would be affected by the currents and would not be as accurate.
However, as Huo Shaoheng and the guys were always on missions under special circumstances, their weapons were all modified. The sniper rifle he had was designed for underwater use.
Just a short while after they began working, there was movement amid the quiet waterscape. Huo Shaoheng sensed danger. He was about to drag Zhao Liangze back to his hiding place when he saw a black figure swimming toward them at high speed.
That black figure was amazingly fast. When Huo Shaoheng first noticed it, he thought that it was some kind of sea snake. He even felt that it was odd that such a creature would be appearing in the blue hole, a place where no other living organisms were found. In the end, the figure was already only about 10 meters from him before he snapped back to reality. He could’ve broken all human records in swimming competitions with that speed.
Huo Shaoheng’s pupils contracted. It was clear now; that figure wasn’t any sea snake. It was a person looking like a sea snake! His body was long, narrow, and extremely flexible, just like a sea snake!
He was breathtakingly fast, as if he had blended in with the waters. He was already less than a meter away from Huo Shaoheng and Zhao Liangze before Huo Shaoheng could do anything.
Huo Shaoheng knew that there wasn’t time to waste. His body reacted faster than his mind: He had already raised his gun. Pursing his lips, he fired a shot at the man’s chest.
It seemed like the man did not expect anyone to be as quick as him. As a result, he had no form of protection. Spreading his arms, a bright ray of light reflected from the blade of his knife and shone through the sea.
Zhao Liangze turned instinctively to the source of the sudden brightness before realizing that someone was approaching them, and that person was brandishing a knife at him! Everything happened so quickly. He was attempting to flee when he saw blood gushing out from the man’s chest.
The person felt a sudden coldness spread from his chest and closed his eyes even before he felt pain. He was still holding on to the knife in death…
Zhao Liangze knew that Huo Shaoheng was covering him. Quickly packing up, he hung the equipment around him and swam in Huo Shaoheng’s direction.
Huo Shaoheng panicked. He would’ve pulled Zhao Liangze over personally had those people not come. By hiding there, no one knew he was there, and it was the perfect spot to cover Zhao Liangze. However, people were coming now. By going over to his side, Zhao Liangze had just shown the enemy his hiding spot; there were bound to be more people behind that man. They’d be able to catch both of them together.
Huo Shaoheng thought quickly, then swam out from his hiding place and changed to a new spot.
When Zhao Liangze reached Huo Shaoheng’s hiding spot, he panicked when he did not see him, worrying that he had met with some kind of mishap. However, looking around him, he realized that, other than the person who had been shot by Huo Shaoheng just now, no one else was injured.
Mr. Huo must be safe…
That was how Zhao Liangze comforted himself. It was only then that he managed to snap back to reality. He realized that he shouldn’t have swum in the direction of Huo Shaoheng’s hiding spot. It was exactly the same logic as if they were in a battlefield: If the soldier who was being covered ran to the soldier who was covering him, both of their locations would be exposed to their enemies at the same time. Then they’d be killed by the enemies in an instant. Therefore, Zhao Liangze stopped trying to look for Huo Shaoheng. Instead, he hid behind the reef on his own.
Huo Shaoheng looked at Zhao Liangze behind a reef not far away. He was looking in the direction of where the man had come from when he saw that Zhao Liangze was not swimming toward him anymore.
If he guessed correctly, this man wouldn’t be alone. He was worried about Gu Nianzhi and Yin Shixiong as well, who were above the waters.
Huo Shaoheng checked his sniper rifle carefully and pitched it onto the reef. He even removed his scope. This was to prevent any form of reflection that would give his hiding place away.
A short while later, as he’d expected, some people swam over. However, it wasn’t just one person this time—it was three, swimming in the form of a triangle.
Every single one of them wore suits made to look like sharks. They had not knives in their hands but guns like Huo Shaoheng’s! And if those guns could be used underwater, they must have been excellent.
Huo Shaoheng felt even more stressed. He hid behind the reef and aimed at the person swimming in front.
Boom!
The low sound of a gunshot was heard amid the silence of the bottom of the ocean.
The person swimming in front convulsed. The next thing they knew, he was bleeding from his chest. Hugging his sniper rifle, he spiraled downward into the deep sea.
The blue hole seemed to have no end. The person’s corpse was just like the previous guy that Huo Shaoheng had killed. He just slowly sank down into the depths. Eventually, he was out of sight. No one knew where he would end up, either.
The other two people seemed afraid of Huo Shaoheng’s shooting skills. They stopped for a while before swimming back, fleeing for their lives.
Backs facing me. That will be easier to handle.
Huo Shaoheng remained emotionless and raised his sniper rifle from behind the reef. Two gunshots later, both divers joined their comrades and spiraled down the blue hole.
Zhao Liangze breathed a sigh of relief. He raised a thumb at Huo Shaoheng to praise him. Huo Shaoheng signed to him, signaling that he should not move and that he had to change his hiding spot.
This was a blue hole where signs of living organisms were scarce. Had they been on land, shooters would have had to change their hiding spot for every shot they fired instead of firing two shots from the same place.
Zhao Liangze nodded and retreated back to his hiding spot. He continued to fidget with his device in an attempt to get connected to Yin Shixiong and Gu Nianzhi, who were above the waters.
When no one else came after he’d waited for 15 minutes, Huo Shaoheng swam to the reef that Zhao Liangze was hiding in to sign to him that they had to leave the blue hole quickly and return to the ship.
Zhao Liangze nodded and, carrying his equipment, followed Huo Shaoheng. However, they realized that they had a problem when they swam to the intersection between the blue hole and the ocean.
There had been no obstructions when they’d come in. The color of the waters had just looked different. However, on their way out, they realized that there was an invisible wall at the same intersection. You couldn’t see it, but you could feel it. An electric current shocked them the moment they tried to swim forward. Their internal organs almost gave way.
Compared to Huo Shaoheng, Zhao Liangze had a weaker physique. He was only shocked once behind Huo Shaoheng, and his organs were badly affected. He puked a mouthful of blood and stained his diving goggles.
“What’s going on? Why is there an electric fence here?” Zhao Liangze panted as he signed to Huo Shaoheng. “Should we try another direction?”
Currently, the electric fences that were sold in the market were not transparent—they required a physical fence before electricity could be run through it. Only after connecting everything to the main system could the fence receive signals to send currents to intruders when the fence was touched.
However, Zhao Liangze and Huo Shaoheng both knew that the electric fences in the army had surpassed such technology long ago. They had managed to come up with invisible electric fences. Electric fences like these were excellent in many ways. They were transparent, safe, easily set up, and portable. All they needed was a tiny main system before they could be set up.
However, based on what they knew, setting up such a huge invisible electric fence underwater was a technology that no country could yet achieve.
“Let’s try again.” Huo Shaoheng and Zhao Liangze split up to test along the ends of the fence, hoping to find an opening.
However, after trying for one whole hour and being almost paralyzed by the electrical currents, they were still unable to find an opening in the fence!
