Chapter 456

At this moment, the members of Ryan’s team finally saw clearly the mechanical gate that had summoned the mechanical greatsword, their faces filled with shock, as if they had seen extraterrestrial life.

“Is this even an ability?”

“Space?”

“I was curious from the start—where did all those drones come from?”

“Incredible. So this is what mechanical ability really is!”

The group buzzed with chatter; Gade and Vanessa looked at Lin Xian with astonishment: “Now I understand why we couldn’t detect his Soul-Wave value—mechanical ability seems more… mysterious than any other ability.” She pondered a precise adjective.

“I feel the same,” Vanessa nodded.

Ryan watched the scene, exhaled deeply, and now understood the terrifying power of this Swordbearer. Clearly, the plan he had prepared would be useless against Lin Xian. He immediately assessed the situation and told Azir: “Iron Arm, send the Haiven data and coordinates to Team Lin.”

Azir paused, then immediately complied.

Lin Xian received the data and input it into the Iron Rain drone system. This operation was more complex than expected; though the number of anomalies in this sea area had decreased significantly, vigilance could not be relaxed.

Although the Iron Rain drones were slightly weak against large anomalies, their special metal and waterproofing made them ideal for underwater information relay.

Splash!

Soon, under Lin Xian’s control, the drones began descending en masse into the sea. The first step was to confirm the underwater conditions—if the backup energy-release port could be opened directly, there would be no need for risky human descent.

At this moment, a small display appeared in Lin Xian’s hand, showing real-time footage from the drones’ top-mounted cameras.

Under Lin Xian’s command, the drones dove into the sea. Beside him, Ryan reminded him: “Strictly speaking, all energy-release ports of the Deep-3 device are within range of the waters near Haiyan Island.”

Lin Xian nodded, operating the drones as he replied: “I know what you mean. All these ports lie within the influence of the Garan Volcano’s underwater mountain range crust—precisely because of this, that thing reawakened Garan Volcano from its dormant state.”

“I can’t be certain if this is accurate—the Foundation keeps this information classified—but I’m saying that if the volcano begins violent activity, even just the earthquakes could destroy all the geothermal facilities.”

Lin Xian said bluntly: “So even if we release energy, it would only affect the geothermal wells near the submarine base. If the volcano erupts, we can’t control it. But the plan you mentioned earlier—maybe we should try it. Better than doing nothing.”

Ryan understood Lin Xian’s plan and stepped closer to examine his control panel. He let out a soft “Huh?” in confusion: “Only corpses left?”

Moments ago, the number of anomalies had been so overwhelming it made one’s scalp crawl just to look. Now, beneath the surface, only the sinking bodies of anomalies remained, thick black mist drifting everywhere.

“So much black mist—why aren’t other anomalies approaching?”

“Perhaps because this area was once the territory of the Vortex Beast,” Erica said. “Though it was slain, its aura likely still lingers in the water, deterring other anomalies from entering.”

“Or maybe you just drained all the blood crystals here, and with no geothermal energy leaking out, these corpses and scattered dark energy aren’t as attractive as elsewhere,” Lin Xian said.

Erica smiled, her gaze fixed on Lin Xian: “I think you’re right.”

“So it seems these anomalies didn’t retreat—they just lost their target and were quickly drawn to other areas,” Ryan adjusted his sunglasses and said.

“Makes sense,” Kiki said.

“I almost thought we’d die here—never expected this sea would become so quiet,” Vanessa murmured.

“Even so, we can’t let our guard down,” Gade warned gravely.

Few anomalies underwater was good news—but if they grew complacent toward this treacherous ocean, they would suffer a catastrophic fall, and losing their lives wouldn’t be an exaggeration!

Lin Xian’s drones kept descending; light vanished, leaving only the submersible’s lamps and sonar signals. Under his control, the submersible quickly sank hundreds of meters. The seabed was jagged with strange rocks. As they descended further, countless relay drones floated like chain balls in the deep sea. Guided by Ryan’s coordinates and deep-sea hydrological data, Lin Xian soon located a metal pipe hidden among the rocks—clearly the backup energy-release conduit Ryan mentioned.

The submersible followed the backup conduit forward until it reached the energy-release port.

The port lay at a deep-sea cliff, but the problem was: the corpse of the giant Vortex Beast completely blocked it. The massive insect carcass sprawled across the seabed, black blood nearly obscuring the seawater, severely impairing the submersible’s camera systems.

Seeing this, Lin Xian frowned. This was bad luck—scanning revealed nothing of the port’s location. His submersibles were all small devices, utterly incapable of moving such a massive corpse.

“It’s completely blocked…” Kiki furrowed her brows, immediately turning to Lin Xian: “I’ll go move it!”

“Let me go,” Gade from Ryan’s side stepped forward. “My body can withstand that pressure. I can handle this.”

“Wait.”

Lin Xian’s eyes flickered: “Many anomaly corpses are still sinking—we can’t confirm safety yet. I’ll probe further.”

Lin Xian immediately deployed more drones to spread around the giant corpse. Several submersibles headed toward the deep-sea cliff. As they neared, strange sounds began transmitting through his control device—mixed with water pressure, they grew denser, a faint rustling that sent chills down their spines.

“Like a swarm of insects?” Kiki said. But before she finished, she saw something horrifying.

The seabed was chaotic—currents churned up silt, and unknown filamentous matter drifted in the water, completely obscuring visibility. Visibility was under ten centimeters; even looking down revealed nothing below the feet. Yet the cliff face remained unnaturally still, the seawater within it as if frozen by magic.

The moment the submersibles’ lights turned on, all of them froze at the image on the screen.

Both sides of the cliff were pitted like cheese, filled with countless holes. Each hole housed an anomaly. Outside each hole, countless dark red tentacles clung, crawling with deep-sea maggots. Merely glancing at them made one’s scalp crawl. When the light shone downward, less than five centimeters beneath the submersible, the seabed had become a sea of deep-sea maggots.

“Looks like we were wrong—there are still plenty here,” Vanessa said.

“These things don’t seem to have just arrived. They’re not the kind that emit dark markers,” Lin Xian observed grimly, then looked toward the distant, drifting black floating island: “More like they were released from that insect nest.”

Thud. Thud. Thud.

A strange knocking sound suddenly echoed.

Lin Xian stared—deep-sea maggots had somehow crawled onto the submersible, their grotesque mouthparts opening, gnawing relentlessly at its metal components.

At that moment, the screen abruptly darkened. Lin Xian immediately raised the submersible’s nose. A giant anglerfish had appeared above it, its body covered in bizarre tentacles.

The tentacles were long, swaying like seaweed in the current. But everyone present knew: this was a Special-Class anomaly.

Suddenly, the giant anglerfish opened its mouth—a horrifying, monstrous maw lined with concentric rings of metallically sharp teeth. In the blink of an eye, it swallowed every submersible probing the deep-sea cliff.

Sizzle.

The image on Lin Xian’s display twisted and warped, finally stabilizing inside the anglerfish’s massive belly. Greenish-black gastric fluid dripped—the submersible dissolved instantly, the connection severed.

Watching this, the atmosphere turned icy. If someone had descended, being eaten wouldn’t have been the worst outcome—the real fear was being marked again, which would make this sea area lively once more.

“Huh.”