Chapter 684.2: The Truth |
Sisi glanced at the display and hurriedly pressed the deploy button.
A basketball-sized metal sphere shot out of the submersible’s belly, trailing a cable as it drifted toward the wreckage.
It approached but suddenly froze in mid-water as the taut cable snapped it backward.
Sisi’s expression stiffened and she checked the parameters.
Still a little short…
As she prepared to maneuver closer, a sudden ocean current shoved the probe upward, tangling it around a tilted turbine blade.
The probe swung like a pendulum until its cable wrapped tightly around the blade. That was more than a little short.
Seeing Sisi’s face turn grim, Tail whispered, “What happened?”
“It’s nothing serious. The probe got stuck. Someone needs to detach it. Tail, stay here.”
It’s not that scary…
She tried to convince herself, it was just game modeling.
Just as she reached for her safety belt, Tail sprang to her feet and opened the equipment locker. Within a minute she had put on a full deep-sea diving suit. She struck a thumbs-up pose and yapped, “All we need to do is detach the probe from the blade, right? Leave it to Tail!”
She looked like she was going swimming, not into a deep-sea hazard zone.
Sisi stared blankly, then whispered, “… Are you sure?”
Tail grinned. “Piece of cake!”
She stepped into the airlock, saluted playfully, and sealed the hatch. Water flooded in as the outer hatch opened.
Tail pushed off the doorway and drifted out into the deep, heading straight for the probe. It wasn’t a difficult job. Basically, any competent person could do it.
However, Sisi still clenched her fists nervously.
The darkness outside felt like a monstrous maw.
How is this girl not afraid?
Then Tail’s upbeat voice came through. “Got it loose! What next?”
Snapping out of her daze, Sisi quickly tapped the map. “Just move it to the spot on the interface. I marked it.”
“Roger!” Tail tucked the probe under her arm, fired her suit’s little propeller, and floated toward the terminal.
Two mechanical arms extended from the probe, locking onto the terminal like a spider. The rest would handle itself.
Sisi let out a breath and watched the progress bar fill.
“Data transfer underway… will take about five minutes. Tail, everything okay?”
Tail waved at the floodlight.
“Yep! Though it’s eerily quiet here…”
Sisi frowned. “Probe is connected… Tail, maybe you should come back.”
“No rush. I’ll stay till the data’s done. Just in case something happens.”
“Nothing should go wrong, right? Just come back now!” Sisi muttered.
Tail instantly caught the hesitation. “Sisi, are you scared?”
Sisi jumped. “What?! No, what would I be scared of?!”
“That’s strange. A worker in a morgue afraid of the deep sea…”
“That was not a morgue…!”
But before she could finish, Tail yelled, “Sisi! Something’s under you!”
Sisi froze and didn’t reply for a long time. Only after a moment did she snap, “Don’t joke at a time like this!”
“I’m not joking! There’s something down there! Move your spotlight!”
A faint tremor crawled up through the sub’s hull, growing stronger.
Sisi’s heart lurched. She forced the spotlight downward. The beam pierced the abyss and illuminated a massive amber eye staring straight at her from within a stone basin.
The eye was the size of a truck.
Behind it, dozens of thick, gray-black tentacles floated like vines across the rocky seabed.
When did it move there?! No, it had been there all along!
A cold shock crawled through her spine. Her fear of deep water and tentacles overlapped as she felt her heart stopping for a moment.
The vibrations intensified as the seawater roared around the sub.
She knew. That was the silent roar of the deep-sea giant.
“GIAO?! Tentacle monster?!” Tail’s scream jolted Sisi awake.
“Tail! PROTECT THE PROBE!” Without hesitating, she cut the cable linking the probe to the submersible. A heartbeat later, a shadow whipped across its side. The submersible spun like a golf ball struck by a club, smashing into a metal support pillar.
The pillar bent and groaned beneath the impact as someone slammed into the roof of the submersible.
Dizzy and barely conscious, Sisi slammed the throttle, maxing out the propulsion system. She shot out from under the collapsing structure just in time.
Debris thundered down behind her, burying the rocks below.
If she had hesitated, She would already be dead.
“Haah… haah…” Panting violently, she forced herself to scan the seabed.
The monster had vanished, but she knew, it was still there, hiding somewhere nearby.
“Tail…? Are you okay?”
She received no answer. There was too much debris and too many cables.
“Damn…” Grinding her teeth, Sisi reset her route, heading straight back into the central ruins.
The raw data was still in the probe. It had to be retrieved.
At the same time, Muda’s desperate voice blasted over the radio. “What the hell are you doing?! Testing a nuclear weapon?!”
There was no time for playing around.
Sisi snapped, “A monster appeared! A giant tentacled sea monster is below the ruins!”
“That’s impossible! Large mutants avoid that area! The turbines are…”
“That’s the problem! Because of the electricity, fish won’t enter the ruins. But something forced that thing to stay inside, it’s starving! I think it’s something related to neural interference. What do you think?!”
“Neural interference?! Impossible!”
“No time, whatever is controlling it is nearby! Can you detect other interference sources?!”
Muda shouted, “Forget that! GET UP HERE NOW!”
“My teammate is still down there! And I’m getting that probe back even if I die!”
“Are you insane?! That’s our war, ours! You don’t have to die for it!” Muda roared, gripping the radio with white knuckles.
Though he yelled, the channel had already gone silent, only the waves answered him.
He couldn’t understand. Why would they go this far? They had known each other barely half a month, and it wasn’t even a pleasant experience.
No one here cared about them and no one wanted them here.
Gritting his teeth, Muda suddenly turned and roared, “Shut down the neural interference device!”
The sailor froze. That device scared mutants away, turning it off meant they were putting themselves in danger.
“But…”
“Shut. It. Down!”
“Yes, sir!” The sailor complied in terror.
Muda shoved his way back to the bridge, staring at the terminal. At first, the screen was silent. Then, a tiny ripple flickered across it, like a dragonfly touching water.
His heart leapt into his throat.
There was another interference source!
“Lock onto its position!” Muda burst out the door and yelled to the deck:
“Prepare depth charges!”
The sailor swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes sir!”
Blip’s Thoughts
[New Expansion Update: Blade - Unbound, new book release!]
[Forum post (reddit):https://www.reddit.com/r/noveltranslations/comments/1ufqq2d/blade_unbound_new_novel_launch_ama_with/]
[Blip’s thoughts: HELLO FELLOW READERPEOPLE, wonder if you noticed me being a little less active in the comments section this month, but it’s all good now, I’m back! I was busy preparing for the release of my newest translated novel, Blade - Unbound!]
[Though a completely different genre from GTR, this novel has great world building as well, something I would say hundreds of years BEFORE the wasteland! (weird connection but not wrong) If you wish to read a classic wuxia, Blade - Unbound is for you! And yes, I read it myself before deciding to translate it so ✧ദ്ദി( ˶^ᗜ^˶ ) seal of approval!]
[Intro: Step into a world where martial arts intertwine with Daoist mysticism, ancient rituals, ghosts, spirits, the underworld, hidden sects, and long-buried secrets! Follow Li Yan as he uncovers a side of the jianghu few dares tread, a world where one mystery lead to another, and every step forward comes at a price!]
[If you are an enjoyer of a strong world-building novel, slightly slower in pace but progresses well, supernatural folklore, and an atmosphere filled with danger and wonder, Blade - Unbound is what you’re looking for!]
[Chapter 1-20 is now live, and we’ll be releasing 4 chapters a day up to chapter 52! Hope you guys join me on this interesting journey, fellow jianghu travellers!]
[Little Seven: HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE Little Seven thinks it’s pretty good too! Hope to see you guys there!]
