Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Launching a rocket while being five thousand meters underwater was a feat that was impossible given the current levels of science and technology on Earth.
On Earth, there was no energy source powerful enough to propel the rocket upward with so much force that it could dispel the terrifying water pressure and still soar into space after that.
There was also no material strong enough to ignore the crushing water pressure while maintaining the structural integrity of the rocket.
Unless
Divine power was involved!
Su Mo did not prepare the tools he needed for excavation, so he swam back up to the surface after discovering the place. His mind raced as he weighed the pros and cons of the matter.
“There are two options.”
“The first one is to use the Mountain and Sea Painting Scroll card to change the terrain and push these mountains back above sea-level to form a new floating island.”
“However, that means I’ll have to invest a Legendary-quality card into this matter even before I’ve managed to locate the God of the Ocean. This is quite a great expense and risk.”
“The second option is to use… The God of Cooking’s authority to create a kind of food that contains a large amount of energy.”
“Food?”
“As long as it contains enough energy, and as long as the external structure of the rocket is strong enough, I’ll launch it even though it’ll be from five kilometers underwater!”
Before actually seeing the rocket in its entirety and preparing for the launch, Su Mo decisively chose not to read any books on aerospace knowledge.
He did not want his imagination to be bound and, on the other hand, he wanted to act boldly!
The process of diving down was slow, but he swam back up to the surface within just a short period of time.
After twenty minutes, Su Mo could finally see the light from up above again. He started swimming even faster.
Phew!
Wow!
It was as if a prisoner in jail for decades had been released.
He had only spent half an hour in the depths of the ocean, but it felt like he had been down there for years.
Once he reached the surface, he could not help but gasp for air. Looking at the Sun-chaser floating on the surface of the ocean, his smile was undeniably bright.
It was at this moment that Su Mo also made a decision.
He was going to use the God of Cooking’s authority!
‘The game was updating itself right now. There might still be some supervision measures in place, but they would certainly be much weaker than before.
At this point, he was like a man stuck in the depths of the ocean.
If he did not seize this opportunity to see what was up there on a higher level, a future opportunity would be hard to come by after the game fixed its bugs and loopholes.
He might not even have a chance at all in the future!
“Oreo, can you handle the water pressure five thousand meters underwater?”
‘The God of the Ocean title did not give him the authority to grant abilities to other people.
Su Mo returned to the Sun-chaser and took out some pre-prepared small items, which he started to assemble.
The previous group buff bonus provided by the game when the Five God Incarnations descended had restored some of Oreo’s abilities.
Su Mo was not sure how much it had recovered but, at this point, Oreo nodded firmly, indicating that she had no problem withstanding it.
“Okay, let’s go down together later and explore these ruins!”
Su Mo felt the same sense of excitement and apprehension brewing that he had felt the first time he took Oreo along with him to explore the mysterious ruins of Liangfang Town.
After storing the last item in his storage space, Su Mo’s heart suddenly surged with endless pride.
The next second, after he once again lingered and looked at the brightly lit sky above the surface of the ocean, he, along with Oreo, leapt down!
Splash!
The splashing sound that he made when he jumped into the water was quite loud, but it was almost inaudible under the cover of the surrounding waves.
Before Su Mo could issue a command, Oreo surprised him.
Oreo shook her head and instructed Su Mo to swim over and lie on her back.
After Su Mo did so, Oreo transformed into a giant wolf that was over three meters in length, just like that time when she had transformed in front of the kobolds’ castle!
This time, Oreo’s body was more streamlined and her muscles were much more pronounced.
Rays of black and white-colored divine light gleamed under her glossy coat of fur, circling repeatedly on her skin before they disappeared underneath.
Vibrations rippled unceasingly from her limbs.
“Woof!”
A low, loud roar echoed, creating waves upon the surface of the water.
In the blink of an eye, before Su Mo could react, Oreo’s giant tail, which was over a meter long, started to rotate like a spiraling propeller.
A powerful propulsion force was generated. With it, the distance that they could cover in a minute increased from two hundred meters to
A thousand meters!
Even with the God of the Ocean title, Su Mo was still slightly shocked by this force.
Less than five minutes after diving downward, Oreo slowed down. They already arrived at the mountains!
Buzz.
‘Without waiting for Su Mo to take action, an orb that had a radius of three meters rose up around Oreo’s body, draining away all the surrounding water, thereby blocking the water pressure from affecting them.
“Damn, isn’t this a Water Repelling Bead?”
“Is Oreo already so powerful?!”
This was Su Mo’s first time seeing such a god-like ability up close. A hint of shock appeared on his face.
However, after seeing the slight look of pain on Oreo’s face, Su Mo moved quickly. He took a light stick out from his storage space and knocked it on his body.
Boom!
A flash of light instantly appeared five thousand meters underwater!
‘The seawater made the light appear less bright but, thanks to Oreo’s barrier, everything within thirty meters of them was clearly visible.
It felt like they were excavating the ruins of Atlantis.
Between these mountains, they scrutinized their surroundings carefully while diving down and swimming around.
In terms of material composition, these mountains were no different from those above sea-level.
They traversed the first mountain, and then the second.
‘When the first light stick ran out of fuel, Su Mo opened his storage space to retrieve a new one, but was surprised to find that.
The map inside the storage space had magically lit up!
“This is…”
Su Mo pulled the map out. Looking at the map, which shone even brighter once it was taken out, Su Mo had a guess.
The next second, as he turned around, the light of the map weakened a bit.
When he turned southward, the light became even weaker.
However, once he turned to the northwest, the light was almost as bright as his light stick. This was a miraculous sight.
“Umm… Let’s go in that direction and check it out!”
Following the direction of Su Mo’s finger, Oreo exerted force from her tail, and they shot out toward the distance.
“Stop. To the west!”
“Now to the south.”
“To the west.”
Su Mo quickly adjusted the direction they advanced in using the brightness of the map as a guide.
‘The brightness of the map also gradually evolved from light stick-level to lighthouse-level.
The light did not pierce Su Mo’s eyes as he was protected by Oreo.
However, this light was so bright that it made their surroundings, within a hundred meters, as bright as day!
It was as if Su Mo was only twenty-three meters deep underwater.
Before the light could become even brighter, a collapsed man-made building finally appeared in Su Mo’s line of sight!
“There’s a pile of rubble here. The stones are cracked more evenly, and there is no shortage of large stones present.”
“It seems that this is the real location of the ruins!”
Su Mo felt happy as he had finally discovered the ruins. He immediately leapt down from Oreo’s back and swam toward the pile of rubble.
According to the description written on the map, a battle had taken place here. This pile of rubble was most probably the outer area of the ruins.
If the stones in the periphery had cracked so evenly, some form of structural support must have existed.
Chances were that it was either the main entrance or a secret door!
Currently, Su Mo could lift as much as five tons easily.
Coupled with the attribute boost from the title of the Oracle of the God of the Ocean, he could easily lift those boulders even though he was underwater.
‘A few moments later, after some searching and moving, a passage blocked by debris appeared in front of Su Mo.
The passage also seemed to lead to the interior of the mountain.
“The map is responding stronger here, so this seems to be the right place.”
“As for the debris, it’s not a big problem!”
Su Mo had Oreo come over and shrink the scope of the protective shield. He placed the map in the middle so that it could light up his surroundings.
In the depths of the ocean, Su Mo instantly transformed into a humanoid excavator and violently got to work!
He picked up the rocks that could be moved by hand and threw them backwards violently.
He smashed the stones that could not be moved with an excellent-quality pickaxe that he pulled out from his storage space.
The quality of these stones was only average.
How could Su Mo’s excavation be stopped?
Only ten minutes had passed, but he had already cleared twenty meters of the passage by brute force.
Here, the debris started to take the form of large stones, which was evidence that there was some sort of structural support inside.
“It seems that the expeditionary army’s progress is not at all inferior to that of the Blazelanders. They might even be stronger!”
“To be able to construct such a building inside the mountain, they must have regained their ability to manufacture and utilize mechanical equipment and machinery!”
Su Mo struck with his pickaxe on a boulder once again. Looking at the stones that became more and more complete the further in he went, Su Mo’s body worked hard, and his mind was deep in thought.
Ina few moments, the area around Su Mo was cleared, and ocean water rushed inside, driven by the terrifying water pressure. It was just like how water would rush into a clogged toilet that was cleared.
Su Mo was in no hurry to enter. He waited until the ocean water had filled the space inside. He then gestured toward Oreo, and they advanced together through the gap.
‘The interior was different from the long tunnel he had been expecting. After passing through the gap, they were greeted by a confined space that was about 30 meters in length and 15 meters in height.
After the influx of seawater, Su Mo could clearly see that there were some particles floating about in the water.
Obviously, the objects inside had been crushed into pieces by the water pressure!
Su Mo picked up some of the pieces that were not crushed and examined them carefully. His gaze immediately turned serious.
He was not unfamiliar with these things.
It was the remains of body tissue of those crazy creatures in the Liangfang Town ruins!
These creatures could not feel pain and did not possess consciousness. They could even use some perverse attacks that were against the rules of physics.
Even 5,000 meters under the ocean, some of their body parts that still had skin and membrane on them were as hard as iron, and were not completely dead.
“Could it be that these crazy creatures were the ones that attacked these satellite ruins?”
Keeping this discovery in mind, Su Mo slowly swam downward.
Su Mo saw a door on the lower side of the wall near the inner part of the confined space.
This door was not constructed out of ordinary steel, but seemed to be a bit like the alloy that the door in Magoo’s shelter was built from.
He was in no hurry to study how he could open the door. He summoned the system and slowly scanned it.
Agreen light flashed, and a properties panel was displayed.
[Grade 9 Rhenium-Tin-Niobium Tri-Alloy Gate (Operating normally)]
[Description: A protective gate that incorporated a high-strength alloy in its construction. Possesses unimaginable impact resistance. Its front side can withstand the impact of a one-megaton TNT explosion. Cannot be broken by ordinary means.]
{Open: Use the secret key and enter the correct password to open.]
[First Upgrade Method: Change the ownership authority of the gate. Key in the host Su Mo as the sole owner of the gate’s authority in the base’s intelligent operation system. Host will have the right to open and close the gate. (3040 survival points required)]
[Second Upgrade Method: Corrosion. The system has detected that the object held in the host’s hand is highly corrosion, and can cause irreversible damage to the alloy. Collect enough (25kg) of the object and use it on the key connecting joints of the gate to corrode it. (1985 survival points required)]
(Comment: It’s more advanced than you can imagine! ]
“Holy sh*t, this… Are you sure that the Expeditionary Army is from Year 99?”
“This is a f*cking cyberpunk expeditionary army! D*mn it!”
Su Mo examined the properties panel displayed by the system. After confirming repeatedly that this gate could indeed withstand the impact of a one-megaton explosive blast…
1
He froze!
