Qiu Shi didn’t know what kind of mood Xing Bi was in when he said that sentence.
Xu Jie and Ji Sui had been his teammates since the days of the ancestors. They had experienced the peak, betrayal, endured disgrace, and faced life and death together.
And now, knowing full well that Xu Jie and Ji Sui were very likely still alive, choosing to give up on them was, for Xing Bi, once again a choice that might bring painful consequences.
“Then let’s hurry up.” Although Qiu Shi’s heart was tossing violently, he said nothing, “Explain the plan.”
“We’ll go in from the surface,” Xing Bi projected the simple terrain map that Song Heng had sent onto the ground. “Song Heng sent three suspected entry points. We observed from the air and judged the order to try them in the shortest time possible…”
Xing Bi glanced at them, “Me, Bai Zhan… plus Qiu Shi, we’ll go down.”
“I can swim, I can go down.” Deng Yeye said.
“I still need you to observe from the surface, and the immune ones need your coordination,” Xing Bi said, “You can’t go down.”
“The people I brought are made for this,” Deng Yeye said, “One more person going down means a greater chance of success.”
“Qiu Shi going down too?” Bai Zhan asked, “He can’t swim, right?”
“I’m fine.” Qiu Shi said.
Bai Zhan looked at him and started putting on his glider.
“What are you staring at?” Qiu Shi asked, taking a breathing apparatus handed to him by Xing Bi from one of the nomads’ speedboats, “You’re a disabled guy but you still can go down.”
“Who the hell said I’m disabled.” Bai Zhan fixed the propulsion device.
“The system is damaged,” Qiu Shi said as he put on the glider, took the propulsion device, “And my leg was just injured.”
“If you said that any later, my leg wound would already have healed.” Bai Zhan said.
“Huh.” Qiu Shi said.
“Huh what?” Bai Zhan said.
“Let’s go.” Xing Bi said.
Four speedboats charged into the sea. Of course, Qiu Shi had never used a glider before, and Xing Bi hadn’t taught him, probably because it wasn’t that difficult to operate.
After only a few seconds, the gliders on their backs slowly lifted. Before Qiu Shi could stand and get ready, his whole body was pulled upward.
“Release the rope.” Xing Bi’s voice came through the earpiece.
It wasn’t on the team channel, only he could hear it.
Qiu Shi slowly loosened his grip on the rope and used the wind to rise higher into the sky, able to see the four speedboats below racing across the sea and cutting through the white waves.
The height wasn’t as high as the previous hot air balloon, but looking at the sea water below with its varying shades made him feel even more nervous, as if an unknown abyss was waiting to swallow everything that fell into it.
The speedboats followed the tunnel heading deep into the sea. The roaring sound of wind and waves filled his ears.
Qiu Shi could vaguely see the outline of the underwater tunnel, as well as the part that had been blasted and collapsed before. That section was already flooded with seawater. Without knowing the exact explosion point, he couldn’t judge what condition the people inside were in.
The fierce battle on the shore was now clearer to see—the fire from the explosion, the smoke from gunfire, the nomads’ deafening shouts…
Qiu Shi frowned and turned his gaze away, focusing instead on the underwater structure ahead that might have been a hallucination or perhaps a real silhouette.
It was a huge disc-shaped building, quietly lying beneath the seawater, very deep, almost no sunlight reached it. He could only judge its approximate location and shape by the fact that its color was lighter than the surrounding seawater.
“Don’t get too close.” Xing Bi said.
The speedboats kept a distance from the disc and began circling around its perimeter.
From the air, they could see the tunnel leading directly to this disc. But the disc was connected to four tunnels. Only this part, near the entrance tunnel, was close to the water surface and visible from above. The rest extended downward into the deep sea, disappearing into the darkness and impossible to trace.
For now, it seemed this was the only completed building in this area. It was very likely that 249 was hiding here; otherwise, there’d be no need to fiercely guard the tunnel entrance, nor wait for Xing Bi to enter the inspection zone, or risk the uncertainties during that time. The strategy was probably to use Ji Sui and Xu Jie to drag Xing Bi into the blast point.
“Enter the water at point A.” Xing Bi said.
“Got it.” Qiu Shi replied.
“Got it.” Bai Zhan’s voice came through.
“Okay.” Deng Yeye said.
Qiu Shi bit down on the breathing apparatus. It was very simple in design, with only one unclear gauge indicating how much breathing air remained. It was full and would last at least half an hour.
Compared to Yun City’s equipment, the gear of these wild post-apocalyptic survivors was very simple, mostly homemade or modified, and using it always relied a bit on luck.
Xing Bi timed it well and jumped into the water from the glider, followed by Deng Yeye.
“I’m the tail.” Bai Zhan said.
“Mm.” Qiu Shi responded, unfastened the buckle at his waist, and fell into the water from the air.
The sensation was far more terrifying than falling into a river. When Qiu Shi just touched the sea surface, a wave rolled over and slapped him underwater.
Then he heard the muffled sound of water flow. When he looked around, all he saw were bubbles from his entry, even a little disoriented about up and down or left and right. He didn’t dare to turn on the propulsion device immediately.
Fortunately, it wasn’t his first “dive,” and with unrestricted breathing, he quickly regained control of his body. Xing Bi appeared beside him, grabbed his arm, and pointed forward, signaling to go that way.
Then Bai Zhan dropped into the water beside them like a cannonball—smooth but heavy. Possibly due to a better entry angle and his weight as a bioroid, he sank about two or three meters deeper than Qiu Shi.
After they confirmed each other’s positions, everyone turned on their propulsion devices. Xing Bi and Bai Zhan led, one in front and one behind; Qiu Shi and Deng Yeye took left and right positions, diving deeper.
Approaching the disc-shaped building underwater, Qiu Shi realized it truly was a very standard disc, and the bottom was not flat but curved like a slope.
There was no light around, especially after entering the bottom part of the disc.
Deng Yeye turned on a light fixed on her shoulder, illuminating a small area ahead. The seawater was both clear and murky, refracting light that flickered with clear glimmers, but in front of them floated clusters of suspended particles. Just a few meters away, the light could no longer penetrate the darkness.
Qiu Shi observed the surroundings carefully, his peripheral vision fixed on Xing Bi’s legs. In this environment, as long as they drifted into a spot without light, he might lose his sense of direction.
The entrance should be at the bottom of the circular platform — a door, an opening. Qiu Shi changed direction, planning to swim up to look for clues.
But just as he turned, he sensed a shadow not far to his right. Although outside the light was dark, this shadow was obviously darker. Having experience retrieving bodies at night, he didn’t need to look closely to know there was something there.
He was about to turn his head and adjust his position to take a closer look, when Xing Bi and Bai Zhan, who were swimming behind and in front, stopped simultaneously. They turned their bodies, raised their guns, and fired toward the shadow.
Two bullets shot out with white water trails toward the shadow.
Following the bullets’ trajectory, Qiu Shi noticed a smaller humanoid shape in front of the shadow.
There was a person there, carrying some kind of large black object.
But the underwater resistance slowed the bullets. The figure there slightly shifted to avoid the bullets, then the figure—originally upright—suddenly bent forward and lunged toward them.
At the same time, the shadow behind him suddenly surged forward.
Deng Yeye turned around. After the light illuminated the seawater to their right, Qiu Shi saw two rows of huge white teeth.
Damn.
It was a freaking huge shark!
Qiu Shi was so startled he nearly cursed out loud through his breathing apparatus. He quickly changed direction and moved closer to Xing Bi, avoiding the shark’s attack path.
Deng Yeye moved toward Bai Zhan at the same time.
The shark passed between the four of them. Xing Bi and Bai Zhan launched attacks from both sides. They kicked fiercely, rushing to the shark’s side. Xing Bi pulled out a long knife and stabbed into the shark’s neck.
That position should be the neck.
For Qiu Shi, who had never seen a shark or much of the world, that spot was simply the neck.
Bai Zhan likely stabbed the same spot. Two streams of black liquid poured out from both sides of the shark’s body.
Qiu Shi also drew his knife, ready to attack the figure below.
Before he could get close, the figure suddenly tilted his head back and flipped backwards, executing a perfect backflip underwater. At the same time, the shark, wounded, suddenly surged upward at an angle, pulling Xing Bi and Bai Zhan, who were still clinging to it, and flipped over as well.
The figure below spun his body again, and the shark followed, spinning again, throwing Xing Bi and Bai Zhan off along with the knives embedded in its body.
The powerful water currents from the two spins swept Qiu Shi and Deng Yeye several meters away in the water.
Watching the shockingly synchronized movements of the shark and the figure below, Qiu Shi realized:
This was the level-two bioroid with diving ability sent there years ago.
What their original mission was had long been unknown, but at this moment, the level-two bioroid before him was the controller of this symbiotic shark.
Perhaps because of the strange and unknown underwater environment, this shark and its controller looked even more bizarre and terrifying than the wolves and bears they had encountered in Zheng Ting’s camp.
Xing Bi signaled a hand gesture to him.
Qiu Shi understood and pulled out his knife. He kicked hard and charged toward the shark.
Without any external force to leverage, he felt very uncomfortable. Compared to the explosive bursts of running and jumping on land, the power of advancing and retreating with a thruster underwater felt frustrating.
Even worse was the speed. When the shark turned its head and lunged at him with its mouth wide open, Qiu Shi found it hard to attack or even dodge gracefully.
He only retreated less than a meter before the shark’s two rows of teeth were right in front of him.
Damn.
He couldn’t even find an attack angle. The only thing he could do was kick the shark’s nose or upper lip.
Deng Yeye grabbed the shark’s dorsal fin from behind and charged, stabbing a knife into the top of its head.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Qiu Shi imitated the level-two bioroid’s movement, did a fierce forward flip to get above the shark, and also stabbed his knife into the top of its head.
The shark’s body stiffened briefly, then began struggling.
But soon it stopped, as if frozen in the water.
The level-two bioroids below had already been killed by Xing Bi and Bai Zhan, and it too hung quietly in the seawater.
Qiu Shi pulled out his knife and kicked the shark’s head. It slowly sank, the resulting current causing it and the bioroids to stick together, slowly rotating as they descended into the darkness below.
Qiu Shi breathed a sigh of relief. Without time to think further, he adjusted his gear and checked his breathing apparatus.
Xing Bi swam over, glanced at the readings on his respirator.
Fifteen minutes left.
Probably because of the intense exertion just now, or maybe the device was inaccurate, or leaking — they definitely hadn’t been underwater for fifteen minutes.
Xing Bi patted his shoulder and turned to continue searching for the entrance.
Soon, they found a square opening below that looked like a door.
But it was neither damaged nor had any sign it could be opened from the outside. Xing Bi quickly felt around the edge of the opening, then made a hand signal — they would go to point B.
Point B wasn’t far from point A. If they couldn’t enter at B either, they’d have to head to C, but by then Qiu Shi and Deng Yeye’s breathing apparatuses would probably need to be replaced.
When looking at the map, Qiu Shi hadn’t thought the distance was far. But moving below the circular platform, he realized how far one point was from another.
After the earlier shark encounter, even the relatively short distance from A to B felt incredibly long.
As they neared point B, Xing Bi pointed downward.
Qiu Shi looked down. It was too dark to see clearly. Deng Yeye adjusted the light and shone it down.
As the light slowly reached the depths, Qiu Shi felt a chill in his heart.
Suspended quietly in the seawater diagonally below them were a dozen large iron cages, each corner hanging with airbags, anchored by chains below.
The cages were covered with water plants and various shells, looking like they’d been here for decades. Judging by the shape of the airbags, there were probably more cages before, but some airbags had broken and caused those cages to sink.
Among the remaining dozen intact cages, the upper few had open doors, while the lower cages were all closed. Inside, five or six sharks remained, looking just like the one that had just attacked them.
Qiu Shi felt his hands and feet go cold. The seawater was already chilling, but now his spine froze as well.
However, the surroundings were quiet, no other bioroids detected, and they seemed not to have disturbed the sharks as they passed above.
Deng Yeye quickly turned off the light, and the cages faded back into the darkness.
Swimming beyond the cages about ten meters further, Qiu Shi felt his hands numb from the cold. Deng Yeye kept moving her fingers, and Xing Bi stopped, flipped over, and looked upward.
Qiu Shi followed and saw an upward square shaft that looked like a ventilation shaft from their angle, estimated to be nearly thirty meters long.
Deng Yeye shone the light on the shaft walls, revealing many metal nails and hooks left behind — as if a ladder or something similar had once hung here.
The entire ventilation shaft was filled with seawater. If their respirators ran out, there was no air pocket to breathe.
But this should be the entrance. At the top, a faint cross-shaped object was visible, looking like a miniature version of the handle below the Yun City laboratory.
Xing Bi made a gesture to Bai Zhan. Qiu Shi didn’t understand exactly, but guessed it meant Xing Bi would go up, and Bai Zhan would assist.
Bai Zhan took out a coil of steel wire from a small pouch tied to his waist.
No wonder—having mingled with the vagrants for over a hundred years, the bioroids carried special weapons used by the vagrants.
Bai Zhan fastened one end of the steel wire to Xing Bi’s belt. Xing Bi glanced at Qiu Shi and then pointed upward. Qiu Shi nodded, intending to signal “be careful,” but he couldn’t find any suitable hand gesture. With his breathing apparatus in his mouth, he couldn’t even form words with his lips.
Xing Bi smiled and made a hooking gesture on Qiu Shi’s face.
Bai Zhan quickly turned his head away and gave them the middle finger.
Xing Bi laughed and raised his propulsion device, entering the ventilation shaft.
Bai Zhan slowly let out more steel wire. The ventilation shaft could barely fit one and a half people, the space too cramped. If an emergency occurred, they could pull Xing Bi back by tugging on the wire.
Qiu Shi tilted his head back, gently kicking the water, watching as Xing Bi slowly ascended, eventually reaching the top of the shaft and beginning to try to open the door.
Bai Zhan had already tightened the extra steel wire, wrapping it around his arm, one leg braced against the shaft’s edge, ready to pull Xing Bi down at any moment.
Qiu Shi glanced at his breathing apparatus reading—only five minutes left.
The underwater world was filled with countless sounds, not as quiet as he had imagined. Besides the sound of the current, there were strange whistles, gurgles, the water sliding past ears, and a faint ringing caused by the pressure on his eardrums. Still, he heard a dull, distant metallic creaking sound from above.
At the same time, the ventilation shaft was no longer pitch black; a beam of white light poured down.
Bai Zhan suddenly pushed off the edge of the shaft’s entrance, and as the door opened, he pulled Xing Bi down nearly two meters. After confirming there was no danger above, he returned to the entrance and loosened the wire.
Xing Bi climbed through the upper opening into the interior of the disc. About ten seconds later, he tugged on the steel wire.
Bai Zhan nodded to Deng Yeye, who grabbed the wire and entered the ventilation shaft, with Qiu Shi following behind, pulling on the wire and bracing himself against the shaft walls to ascend.
Xing Bi pulled Deng Yeye up first, then reached out and grabbed Qiu Shi’s hand.
To be honest, until this moment, Qiu Shi—who had never been in contact with water like this—suddenly felt the terror that seawater brought. He gripped Xing Bi’s hand tightly.
When Xing Bi pulled him out of the water, the bright white light and the suddenly quiet environment around them made Qiu Shi breathe a sigh of relief.
“I almost suffocated,” Deng Yeye whispered. “Kind of scary.”
“I thought you weren’t afraid,” Qiu Shi wiped the water off his face, lightly spitting. It tasted salty, bitter, and astringent.
“No way,” Deng Yeye said, “I’ve never dived this long before; I felt like I was going to die down there.”
After Bai Zhan climbed up, Qiu Shi finally relaxed and looked around.
They stood in a pool of water beside a speedboat. This was a docking area; the entire space was a dock, with a room on the side full of tools.
“This is a dockyard,” Xing Bi said. “Still part of the main building’s outer layer.”
“There’s a door,” Deng Yeye said.
“Locked,” Xing Bi replied.
“Can we blow it open?” Bai Zhan walked up from the pool; the space was wide and spacious. Besides the ship repair tools, there didn’t seem to be much else.
“If we can’t open it…” Xing Bi bent down to look at the lock on the door. “This isn’t a sensor password lock; this lock has probably been replaced.”
“Then we can pry it open,” Bai Zhan said, heading to the tool area.
They didn’t have much time. Even if they blew it open, their only goal was to find location 249 before 249 discovered them and took defensive measures.
This incomplete and damaged building gave them an advantage—many of the stricter security measures were probably disabled or hadn’t been activated.
Bai Zhan fetched two crowbars from the tool area and tossed one to Xing Bi.
“Going barebones prying?” Deng Yeye asked.
“What else?” Bai Zhan replied.
“I thought bioroids might have some extraordinary tricks in crises—something better than humans,” Deng Yeye said.
“We’re infinitely close to humans,” Xing Bi said, placing the crowbar against the door.
But the door gap was very narrow; the crowbar couldn’t be inserted.
Qiu Shi kicked the crowbar, pushing it in a little bit.
“This door is really high quality,” Qiu Shi frowned.
“The bioroid is coming,” Xing Bi said.
Bai Zhan kicked the crowbar as well. This time it wedged firmly into the door gap.
“See that?” Bai Zhan said. “We’re stronger than humans.”
“Enlightened,” Deng Yeye said.
With both crowbars wedged in the gap, Bai Zhan and Xing Bi each grabbed one and pressed down hard. The lock gave a muffled “thump” and popped open.
The four of them stepped back simultaneously, raising their guns toward the slowly opening door.
Outside was a corridor. As the door opened, the sensor lights in the corridor turned on one by one.
No one was outside; they heard no sounds. There were no other doors along the corridor sides, only a fire door slightly ajar at the end.
Xing Bi cautiously walked out, with Qiu Shi and Deng Yeye following behind. When Bai Zhan came out, he braced the crowbar against the door edge. Even if the door couldn’t be locked anymore, leaving it open made escaping easier.
The corridor was very quiet; only the sound of their footsteps echoed.
But when they approached the fire door, they heard a fifth set of footsteps coming from behind that door.
These footsteps were calm, neither lighter nor slower, as if completely relaxed.
“That walking sound…” Bai Zhan’s voice lowered with suspicion.
“Is…” Xing Bi also seemed puzzled.
The fire door was pushed open.
When Qiu Shi saw the face appearing from behind the door, he instantly felt a wave of terror: “Zheng Ting?”
