Chapter 456: Viola returns

Only now did the members of Ryan's team clearly see the mechanical gate that had previously summoned the mechanical greatsword. Each of them wore an expression of extreme astonishment, as if they had just seen an extraterrestrial organism.

"Is this still an ability?"

"Space?"

"I was curious from the start—where did so many drones come from?"

"Too incredible. So this is what a mechanical ability is!"

The group discussed it animatedly. Gadi and Vanessa looked at Lin Xian with amazed expressions: "I think I roughly understand now why we couldn't detect his Spirit-Oscillation value. Mechanical abilities seem to be more... mysterious than all other abilities." She carefully pondered the adjective.

"I feel the same," Vanessa nodded.

Ryan watched this scene and let out a breath. He now understood the terrifying energy of this Sword-Bearer. It seemed the plan he had prepared really wouldn't be of much help in front of Lin Xian. Thus, Ryan immediately assessed the situation and said to Azir: "Iron Arm, transmit the Haven information and coordinates to Team Leader Lin."

Azir was stunned for a moment, then immediately complied.

Lin Xian received the information and input it into the Iron Rain drone system. Right now, this operation was more complex than he had imagined. Although the number of strange entities in this sea area might have decreased significantly, they could not let their guard down.

Although the Iron Rain drones were slightly weak when dealing with large strange entities, their special metal and waterproof properties made them perfectly suitable for use as underwater information relays.

Splash!

Soon, under Lin Xian's control, a large number of drones began to enter the water. This step was first to confirm the situation underwater. If they could directly open the backup energy-release port, there would be no need for anyone to go down and take risks.

At this moment, a small monitor appeared in Lin Xian's hand. The underwater footage captured by the cameras on top of the drones would be synchronized to the monitor in real-time.

Under Lin Xian's command, the drones dove into the sea one after another. Ryan, watching Lin Xian's operation from the side, reminded him: "Strictly speaking, none of the energy-release ports for the Deep-3 device are located further than the waters adjacent to Haiyan Island."

Lin Xian nodded. While operating the drones, he replied: "I know what you mean. These energy-release ports are all within the influence of the seabed crustal layer of the Garan Volcano. It is precisely because of this that the thing caused the Garan Volcano to revive from a dormant state."

"I can't be entirely certain if that is the specific case; the Foundation keeps this information confidential. I just want to say that if the volcano begins to move violently, the earthquake alone might destroy all the geothermal facilities."

Lin Xian said bluntly: "So, if we can release energy, it will at most only affect the geothermal wells near the submarine base. If the volcano erupts, we won't be able to control it at all. However, the plan mentioned earlier might be worth a try—treating a dead horse as if it were a living one."

Ryan understood Lin Xian's arrangement. He walked over to look at Lin Xian's control panel and immediately let out a soft exclamation of surprise, saying somewhat doubtfully: "Only corpses left?"

Just a moment ago, the number of strange entities had reached a level that made one's scalp tingle just by looking at them. Yet, beneath the water's surface at this moment, there seemed to be nothing left but the corpses of various strange entities constantly sinking, with large amounts of black Qi permeating the area.

"With so much black Qi, are no other strange entities approaching?"

"It might be because this area was once the territory of that vortex monster. Although the vortex monster was slain, its aura likely still lingers in the water, so the other strange entities dare not approach these waters," Erika said at this time.

"It could also be because you just sucked all the blood crystals here dry. Coupled with the fact that there is no geothermal core dissipation here, these strange entity corpses and dissipated dark energy are not as attractive as other areas," Lin Xian said.

Erika smiled upon hearing this and looked at Lin Xian: "I think you are right."

"In that case, it seems those strange entities didn't retreat, but were quickly attracted to other areas after losing their marked target," Ryan said, lifting his sunglasses.

"Makes sense," Kiki said.

"I almost thought I was going to lose my life here just now. I didn't expect this sea area to actually become so quiet," Vanessa couldn't help but remark.

"Even so, we cannot let our guard down," Gadi reminded in a deep voice.

There weren't many strange entities underwater, which was naturally good news. But if one were to lose their vigilance toward this treacherous ocean because of it, they would absolutely take a massive fall, and it would be no exaggeration to say they might even lose their lives because of it!

Lin Xian's drones continued to dive. Light was no longer visible, leaving only the lights of the deep-submergence vehicle and the visual signals from sonar scanning. Under Lin Xian's operation, the deep-submergence vehicle soon dove several hundred meters. The seabed was rugged with strange rocks. As they continued to dive, countless relay drones floated in the deep sea like chain balls. Guided by the coordinates and deep-water hydrological information provided by Ryan, Lin Xian soon found a metal pipe hidden among the strange rocks. Clearly, this was the backup energy-release pipe Ryan had spoken of.

The deep-submergence vehicle followed the backup energy-release pipe forward and soon found the energy-release port of this pipe.

The energy-release port was located at an underwater cliff. What was fatal was that the energy-release port was completely blocked by the corpse of the giant vortex monster. The giant insect corpse lay across the seabed, and the seawater was almost obscured by large patches of black blood, causing the deep-submergence vehicle's camera system to be severely affected.

Seeing this, Lin Xian's brow furrowed immediately. This was too unlucky. Scanning down, he couldn't see where the energy-release port was at all, and Lin Xian's deep-submergence vehicles were all small devices that couldn't resolve this massive skeletal remains.

"It seems to be completely blocked..." Kiki's brows knitted together. She immediately looked at Lin Xian and said decisively: "I'll go down and move it!"

"Let me go. My body can withstand that kind of water pressure," Gadi from Ryan's side stood up at this moment: "I shouldn't have any problem leaving this to me."

"Wait a moment."

Lin Xian's gaze flickered: "A large number of strange entity corpses are currently sinking. We can't be sure if it's truly safe yet. I'll scout a bit more."

Lin Xian immediately released more drones to begin spreading out and searching around the giant corpse. Several deep-submergence vehicles probed toward the seabed cliff. As soon as they approached the seabed cliff, Lin Xian's operating device began to transmit some peculiar sounds. The sounds were mixed in with the noise of water pressure and began to gradually become dense—rustling, making one feel somewhat horrified.

"Sounds like an insect tide?" Kiki said. But as soon as she finished speaking, she saw a hair-raising scene.

The situation on the seabed was very complex. Ocean currents stirred up silt, and some unknown flocculent matter floated in the water, completely obscuring the vision of the deep-submergence vehicle. Visibility was definitely no more than ten centimeters; one couldn't even see their own feet when looking down. Yet, the seabed cliff appeared unusually calm. The seawater within the cliff seemed as if it had been frozen by someone casting a spell.

The moment the deep-submergence vehicle's lights turned on, everyone was stunned by the image on the monitor!

The sides of the cliff were pitted and cratered, filled with holes of various sizes like cheese. Each hole had a strange entity lurking within it. Outside the holes, countless strange dark red tentacles clung to the surface, and the tentacles were covered in deep-sea insect maggots. Just looking at it made one's scalp tingle. When the lights shone downward, less than five centimeters below the deep-submergence vehicle, it had completely turned into an ocean of deep-sea insect maggots!

"It seems we guessed wrong. There are still quite a few here..." Vanessa said.

"These things don't look like they just arrived. They shouldn't be the kind of strange entities that can release dark marks." Lin Xian observed solemnly, then looked up at the elusive black floating island in the distance of the sea and said: "They look more like they were released by that insect nest."

Thump, thump, thump.

A strange knocking sound suddenly rang out.

Lin Xian looked closely. The deep-sea insect maggots had somehow crawled onto the deep-submergence vehicle. They opened their ferocious mouthparts and constantly gnawed at the metal parts on the vehicle's body.

Just then, the image on the screen suddenly went dark. Lin Xian immediately controlled the deep-submergence vehicle to look up. A giant anglerfish had appeared in the waters above the vehicle at some point. This giant anglerfish was covered in all sorts of strange tentacles.

The tentacles were very long, swaying with the seawater like seaweed, but everyone present knew that this was definitely a Special-class strange entity!

Suddenly, the giant anglerfish opened its mouth. It was an incomparably ferocious and terrifying mouth. A circle after circle of teeth, sharp as metal, unfolded. In just the blink of an eye, it swallowed all the deep-submergence vehicles scouting the seabed cliff into its mouth.

Zzz.

The image on the monitor in Lin Xian's hand constantly twisted and deformed, finally freezing in the giant anglerfish's massive belly. Deep green gastric acid dripped down, the deep-submergence vehicle was instantly dissolved, and the connection was completely severed.

Looking at this image, the atmosphere suddenly turned heavy. If someone had gone down to scout just now, being eaten wouldn't be the most terrifying thing. The biggest worry was being marked again, as then this sea area would continue to become lively.

"Phew." ===== CHAPTER 457 =====