Chapter 147

The interior space of the 'Diving Dragon' manned submersible was smaller than the bathroom in Wang Hao's house.

Zhao Gong was wearing a heavy pressure-resistant suit, squeezed in front of the observation window, his face almost pressed against the spherical pressure-resistant glass.

Beside him was Li Kui in similar attire, nervously checking the readings on various instruments.

"Depth two thousand eight hundred meters... external pressure 28 megapascals..." Li Kui's voice came through the internal communication system, carrying a slight tremor.

"Steady," Zhao Gong's voice was unusually calm, even a bit... leisurely?

"We're nowhere near the limit. When I was young and went down into mine shafts, some of the old tunnels had pressures not much lower than this."

"Old Zhao, mine shafts don't have water pressure that can crush steel like dough," the voice of the pilot, Xiao Wu, came from the pilot's seat.

He was a deep-sea diving veteran in his early thirties, but his tone carried awe for the deep sea.

"We're currently bearing the weight of three hundred kilograms per square centimeter. If this observation window cracks even a sliver, the three of us will become canned food on the seabed."

"So it can't crack," Zhao Gong patted the frame of the observation window, the action as casual as if he were patting his own window at home.

"This glass was made in our old factory twenty years ago; I revised the formula three times. Don't worry, it's sturdy."

The submersible continued to dive.

The beams from the external floodlights pierced the eternal darkness, illuminating a strange and magnificent world.

Deep-sea corals, pale as bone, reached into the void like ghostly hands;

Transparent salps drifted like floating crystal lanterns;

Occasionally, strange-looking fish darted past the edge of the light zone, their eyes degenerated into two white dots, their mouths large enough to swallow their own heads.

"Damn, this is a real eye-opener," Zhao Gong rarely swore, but his eyes were as bright as searchlights, "This place, you can tell just by looking that there must be plenty of treasures."

Li Kui pulled up the seabed topographic map, which marked the target area.

A known group of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, codenamed "Black Chimney No. 7".

According to the data, it had the high pressure, low temperature, and special chemical environment needed to form 'Dark Crystal'.

"Temperature reading abnormal," Xiao Wu reported, "Three hundred meters below the port side, the water temperature jumped from 3 degrees to 15 degrees... and it's still rising! There's a hydrothermal flow!"

The submersible tilted slightly, approaching the heat source.

Soon, a spectacular sight appeared outside the observation window.

In the seabed rift, over a dozen "chimneys" several meters high were spewing thick black "smoke".

That was a particle flow formed when mineral-rich hydrothermal fluid met the icy seawater.

Around the chimneys, colorful metal sulfide deposits piled up, shimmering with gold, copper, and iron luster under the lights.

Even more strangely, this forbidden zone for life was actually teeming with a large number of peculiar creatures.

There were tube worms two meters long, white blind shrimp the size of a palm, and strange species that glowed like alien jellyfish.

"Life is truly tenacious," Li Kui murmured.

"Stop being sentimental," Zhao Gong had already pulled up the control interface for the external mechanical arm.

"Look for 'Dark Crystal'; that stuff usually deposits in the low-flow areas on the side walls of the vents, dull in color, with an iridescent sheen on the surface."

"Xiao Wu, get closer to the third chimney on the left, slow down."

The 'Diving Dragon' moved slowly like a deep-sea behemoth, its mechanical arm extending.

Just as it approached the target chimney, the submersible suddenly shook violently!

"What's going on?!" Li Kui grabbed the handrail.

"Strong turbulence!" Xiao Wu's forehead broke out in sweat, his hands gripping the control stick tightly.

"The chimney eruption is unstable; the hydrothermal fluid and cold seawater colliding created turbulence... it's a bit like an underwater tornado!"

Outside the observation window, the previously relatively stable black smoke column suddenly became frantic.

Fluid mixed with scorching rock debris whipped against the submersible's hull, emitting a teeth-grinding "creak" sound.

The alarm lights went on.

【External pressure fluctuation exceeds limit! Hull stress monitoring points A7, B3 alert!】

"Retreat! Retreat first!" Li Kui urged.

"Wait," Zhao Gong was staring fixedly at an inconspicuous depression on the side wall of the chimney, "I see something."

In that patch of light and shadow blurred by turbulence, a rock wall reflected an extremely faint, rainbow-like sheen.

It was very faint, but Zhao Gong recognized it at a glance—that was the unique optical characteristic of 'Dark Crystal'.

"Xiao Wu, steady the ship! Give me thirty seconds!" As he spoke, Zhao Gong's hand was already gripping the fine control stick for the mechanical arm.

"Old Zhao, it's too dangerous!" Xiao Wu looked at the jumping stress data on the dashboard, "The hull already has micro-deformation!"

"That's why we have to be fast!" Zhao Gong didn't blink, his fingers gently pushing the control stick.

The external mechanical arm, like his own arm, reached precisely toward that rock wall.

The tip of the mechanical claw was fitted with a special low-temperature drill and suction sampling head—this was something Zhao Gong and Li Kui had designed overnight before departure, specifically to deal with brittle minerals like 'Dark Crystal'.

The mechanical claw touched the rock wall.

Just then, a more violent hydrothermal eruption surged from the bottom of the chimney!

The black, turbid fluid, carrying high-temperature debris, bombarded the mechanical arm like cannonballs!

"Squeak—creak—"

The harsh sound of metal deforming came through the hull.

The monitor showed that the wrist joint of the mechanical arm had a visible bend.

"Mechanical arm damaged! Must retract!" Xiao Wu roared.

"Almost there!" The veins on Zhao Gong's forehead bulged, but his hand was as steady as if it were welded to the control stick.

He manipulated the deformed mechanical claw, using the gentlest force to "pry" a palm-sized piece of dark ore from the rock wall.

The suction sampling head successfully captured it.

"Got it! Retract!" Zhao Gong shouted.

The mechanical arm retracted with difficulty, swaying in the turbulence.

When it was finally pulled back into the cabin, the crack in the wrist joint was clearly visible.

The submersible surfaced rapidly, moving away from the hydrothermal vent area.

The cabin was in a mess, and the various alarm sounds gradually subsided.

All three were panting, their pressure-resistant suits soaked with sweat.

Zhao Gong, however, acted as if nothing had happened, impatiently opening the inner hatch of the sampling chamber.

The mechanical claw released, and the dark ore rolled into his thick-gloved palm.

The surface of the ore was dull and lusterless, looking just like a piece of ordinary seabed basalt.

But Zhao Gong held it up to the cabin light and slowly turned it—

An extremely faint, yet definitely present, rainbow-like sheen flowed across the surface of the ore.

"It's it," Zhao Gong's voice was filled with satisfaction, "That's right, this is 'Dark Crystal'."

Seven days later, the Dragon Chant Special Materials Laboratory.

That piece of 'Dark Crystal' raw ore, collected through such peril, had already been processed into powder.

Under an ultra-high-magnification electron microscope, its nanostructure presented an extremely rare "mosaic" form where amorphous and crystalline states coexisted.

"It is this structure that gives it astonishing compressive toughness and energy dissipation capability," Li Kui pointed to the image on the screen, explaining to the team members gathered around.

"Simply put, when subjected to immense pressure, its atoms will 'slide' rather than 'break', distributing the energy evenly throughout the entire material network."

Zhao Gong stood in front of the laboratory bench, facing a small high-temperature, high-pressure reactor.

He was precisely mixing the processed 'Dark Crystal' nanopowder with special titanium alloy powder, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, and a new type of self-healing polymer.

"The ratio is key," Zhao Gong said while operating, as if talking to himself, or as if giving a lecture to everyone.

"Too much 'Dark Crystal', and the material becomes brittle; too little, and the effect isn't enough."

"The titanium alloy is the skeleton, the carbon nanotubes enhance toughness, the polymer is responsible for 'self-healing' micro-damage... and we still need to add some rare earth elements to improve interface bonding..."

His movements were as precise as a watchmaker's, every weighing and every stirring carrying a certain rhythm.

Three days later, the first batch of 'Dragon Scale-Abyss' composite armor test pieces was finished.

In the testing workshop, everyone held their breath.

The test piece was sent into a huge high-pressure test chamber, which could simulate the pressure environment of the ten-thousand-meter deep sea.

The pressure gauge needle began to climb: 1000 meters, 2000 meters, 5000 meters...

When the pressure reached the equivalent value, the test chamber emitted a low hum.

But the strain sensor data on the monitor showed: test piece deformation rate 0.07%, far below the safety threshold.

"Passed!" Li Kui's voice carried excitement.

The subsequent tests were even more rigorous: low-temperature brittleness test, salt spray corrosion test, high-speed water flow impact test, and even simulated hydrothermal chemical corrosion test...

'Dragon Scale-Abyss' passed all of them with excellent results.

Zhao Gong picked up a final finished piece and flicked it with his finger.

There was no clear metallic ring, but rather a low, thick "hum" sound, as if tapping on some living thing.

"It's done," he said only two words, but every wrinkle on his face smoothed out.

The news of the material breakthrough was like a shot of adrenaline, injected into the entire 'Deep Blue' project.

A week later, Li Yang's design room.

In the huge 3D projection, the full appearance of the 'Flood Dragon' deep-sea mech was presented in its entirety for the first time.

The streamlined cruise form was twelve meters long, resembling a giant whale, with a foldable vector pump-jet propulsion array on its back;

The humanoid operational form was four and a half meters tall, with thick limbs, obvious multi-layer protective structures at the joints, and a detachable operational/weapon module bay on its back.

"The pressure-resistant hull design based on 'Dragon Scale-Abyss' armor is finally complete!" Li Yang pointed to the structural perspective view.

"The hull uses a multi-layer gradient structure: the outermost layer resists corrosion and biological fouling, the middle layer is the main pressure-resistant layer, and the inner layer provides cushioning and thermal insulation."

"All moving joints have triple pressure-compensating seals."

He switched the screen: "The transformation mechanism uses a segmented deployment style to avoid complex mechanical reorganization under high pressure."

"Changing from cruise form to humanoid takes ninety seconds, and reverse transformation takes seventy seconds."

Chen Guang reported next: "'Abyss Eye' system integration complete."

"The sonar array is arranged on the mech's head and chest, the LiDAR is in a retractable cover on the shoulder, and the blue-green laser communication antenna is located on the back."

"The underwater communication relay network plan is also set."

"We designed a 'Messenger' mechanical eel, two meters long, which can carry three relay nodes and has an endurance of seventy-two hours."

Wang Hao jumped to the front and pulled up the weapon module animation: "Watch closely! Supercavitating torpedo launcher, integrated into the left arm, six rounds per load;"

"The right arm is a high-pressure water jet cutting arm, with pressure reaching 500 megapascals; cutting steel plates is like cutting tofu;"

"There are also two sonic shock cannons on the shoulders, non-lethal, but capable of shaking light underwater robots within fifty meters into a pile of parts!"

His animation demonstration was visually striking; the torpedoes left long cavitation trails in the water, and the water jet cut through the simulated target like a light saber.

Zhao Kaiyuan finally spoke: "The deep-sea adapted 'Dragon Heart' reactor has completed theoretical design and partial module testing."

"We redesigned the liquid metal cooling circuit and added a pressure balance system."

"Regarding the propulsion system, the vector pump-jet thruster reached 95% of the expected target efficiency in the simulated high-pressure water tank."

He paused: "However, the energy management algorithm for the entire system still needs optimization."

"The deep-sea environment is complex, and the mech's energy consumption fluctuates greatly under different operating conditions, requiring more intelligent dynamic adjustment."

Feng Yan listened to all the reports, his gaze falling on the majestic deep-sea mech in the center of the projection.

"Final assembly progress?"

Li Yang pulled up the production schedule: "All key components have begun processing, and some standard parts have already started assembly."

"It is expected that in ten days, we can conduct the first land-based integration test. If everything goes smoothly, in twenty days... the 'Flood Dragon-Type 1' can enter the water."

"Good," Feng Yan nodded.

"Notify the Oceanic Administration to coordinate the test sea area and the support fleet."

"The first deep-diving test, target depth three thousand meters, duration four hours, mission: basic maneuverability test and simple environmental sampling."

He looked around at everyone: "Who will be the first pilot?"

The conference room was quiet for a second.

Then, Li Yang raised his hand.

"I will," he said, his tone calm, but his eyes burning with fire.

"I designed it, I know it best. And... I want to see with my own eyes how much pressure our 'Dragon Scale' can withstand in the real deep sea."

Feng Yan looked at him, not answering immediately.

Wang Hao leaned over: "Brother Li, why not reconsider?"

"It's pitch black down there, and there's a possibility of running into stuff from those bastards at 'Confluence'..."

"That's exactly why I should go," Li Yang smiled, "If we really run into them, I know where the 'Flood Dragon's' limits are, and I know how to use it."

Chen Guang pushed up his glasses: "I agree."

"We all know Old Li's operational level, and he has the deepest understanding of the mech system, so he'll react fastest to unexpected situations."

Zhao Kaiyuan and Zhao Gong also nodded in support.

Feng Yan pondered for a moment, then finally made the decision: "Approved. Li Yang will serve as the primary pilot for the first deep dive of the 'Flood Dragon-Type 1'."

"Chen Guang, Wang Hao, and Zhao Kaiyuan will accompany the support fleet to provide remote technical support and data analysis. Old Zhao, you and Li Kui..."

"We'll wait on shore," Zhao Gong interrupted him, patting the armor test piece in his hand.

"And optimize this thing some more while we're at it. For the first time at sea, we don't ask for merit, just to avoid mistakes. Remember, the deep sea won't give you a second chance."

Li Yang nodded solemnly.

The meeting ended.

Everyone dispersed to make final preparations for the upcoming maiden voyage to the deep sea.

Li Yang was the last to leave the design room.

He turned off the projection and looked at the huge SouthSea map on the wall, his gaze falling on the red dot marking the location where 'ExplorerNo7' lost contact.

Three thousand meters deep.

Darkness, high pressure, the unknown.

And the possibility of something not belonging to this world hidden there.

He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.

In twenty days, the answer would be revealed.

And in the special materials laboratory, Zhao Gong was holding a 'Dragon Scale-Abyss' armor test piece up to the light, carefully checking the surface.

On the edge of the test piece, there was an extremely tiny rainbow-like sheen that could only be seen at a specific angle.

That was the mark of the 'Dark Crystal'.

And it was also the brand of Dragon Chant that the 'Flood Dragon' would bring back to the deep sea.