Chapter 84

The NZN003 fishing boat followed the Fudong for about 10 minutes, constantly calling out to drive it away.

But according to Tang Wen's naked-eye observation, the NZN003 weighed at most two or three hundred tons, and its speed was only around 8 knots.

The Fudong maintained a straight course and quickly left the NZN003 far behind.

Half an hour later, the fishing boat's shadow was no longer visible on the radio or in sight.

The sky quickly darkened, and the ocean rapidly turned into an all-swallowing darkness.

Tang Wen came to the Fudong's combat information center, where Tang Yi was looking at other sunken warships marked on the map.

"Commander, we really should have another ocean-going fleet; aircraft carriers and battleships sunk during the Second World War are mostly concentrated around the islands of the South Pacific and West Pacific."

Tang Wen squinted, scanning over the sunken locations one by one, and said in a deep voice:

"Civilian vessels going out to the open sea is no problem, but... it wastes too much time; a round trip takes a month, which is not cost-effective."

The shipwrecks around the islands in the southwest part of the Pacific are both large and numerous, and they are in international waters.

If we build a few high-speed yachts in the future, we indeed need not take much risk, but the problem is that even so, the time consumed is truly too long.

A voyage of four or five thousand nautical miles at a time, drifting for such a long duration.

"It doesn't have to be by boat."

Tang Yi placed his hand near the Solomon Islands, which are about 6,000 kilometers from Goose City.

"Let the salvage ship take its position first, then you fly over on a seaplane, refuel, and fly back; the entire journey can be flown at low altitude in public airspace, which should be very safe."

"Do we have a seaplane capable of flying 6,000 kilometers in one go?"

Tang Yi: "Of course we do, the Kawanishi H8K flying boat, with a maximum range of 7,100 kilometers; originally an anti-submarine aircraft, it can be summoned by Tier V and above Russian battleships. You already possess the Yahagi, so you can summon two Type 2 seaplanes at once.

The Hornet is also equipped with PBY seaplanes, but their range is only 4,000 kilometers."

Upon hearing this, Tang Wen remembered the game setting: in World of Warships, battleships can directly "make a phone call" to summon anti-submarine aircraft for support, dropping depth charges into the water to attack submarines.

Some special-class battleships can even summon high-explosive bombers with a phone call.

No matter when, no matter where, a phone call and within seconds support aircraft appear out of thin air... truly a magical game.

If taking a seaplane, a round trip would take just one or two days, which would be completely acceptable.

"If the sunken location of a warship is relatively clear, perhaps we can also try modifying a seaplane to conduct salvage directly, which would be much more efficient than a salvage ship."

After all, Tang Wen does not need to truly salvage steel; placing an iron chain on a large seaplane would be enough to handle it.

Having found a faster way to salvage steel, Tang Wen could not help but feel somewhat pleased, abandoning his original plan to return to the cabin to sleep, and seriously considering where to go next to salvage other shipwrecks.

As soon as dawn broke, everyone on the Fudong heightened their alertness.

The sunken location of the Yamato is less than 200 nautical miles from the nearest Japanese island, basically already entering the key patrol zone of the Coast Guard.

Although it is still international waters, the current Japan has demarcated so-called "Exclusive Economic Zones"; plainly put, within 200 nautical miles of territorial waters, only their own fishermen can fish, and they have the right to detain fishing boats from other countries that intrude.

Tang Wen was already prepared: reach the shipwreck location as quickly as possible, and if discovered, pretend to be lost and find an opportunity to escape.

The Matsukaze-class's speed of 20 knots is not fast for a patrol boat, but it can definitely maneuver for a while; dragging it out until nightfall would basically allow them to shake off the pursuit.

If there is truly no other way... Tang Wen currently has 1,200 gold coins in hand.

Gold coins are the only resource that can directly purchase warships from the arsenal, but slightly better warships cost several thousand; the price of the Yahagi in the arsenal is as high as 4,300 gold coins.

The cheapest Tier II destroyers cost 1,250 gold coins; fortunately, Tang Wen discovered that a 25% discount card is updated every month, equivalent to him possessing 1,600 gold coins.

This price point can buy a Tier II American destroyer, the Shi Misi, for only 1,400 gold coins; the Shi Misi is an old 700-ton destroyer from the First World War, but it possesses five 76mm main guns and comes with its own captain.

If they get entangled, just buy the Shi Misi on the spot to cause chaos; as for the outcome, it is not something Tang Wen can predict.

The Shi Misi, with its own captain, will faithfully execute the cover mission; even if it sinks, it does not matter.

After all, according to the World of Warships mechanics, damaged warships still require payment for ammunition fees, deployment fees, fuel fees, and a bunch of other miscellaneous costs; sinking is much simpler:

A warship sunk in battle only needs to pay a salvage fee to be resurrected directly at the port, which includes all prices for repairs, ammunition, etc.

But for a rotten ship like the Shi Misi, even if it is not salvaged and is simply discarded, it does not matter; at least the tens of thousands of tons of steel obtained far exceed the value.

At 11:25 AM, the Coast Guard patrol boat that had been a constant worry still had not appeared, and the Fudong arrived at the sea area where the Yamato sank.

This time the sinking depth was about 350 meters; various enthusiasts had long ago marked nearby landmarks and shipwreck location information through public channels, so one only needed to follow the map to find it.

The clarity under the sunlight was very good; the Fudong's sonar and metal detectors were activated at full power.

With a larger hull and power supply, the Yamato's massive hull was as obvious as the sun in the darkness.

Tang Yi checked the position of the purchased GPS receiver, which was almost completely consistent with the coordinates in the newspaper.

"Release the grappling hook!"

By the ship's railing, the heavy hook and cable were thrown directly into the sea, dragging the winch to spin rapidly.

According to the data already obtained, the Yamato had broken into three sections due to capsizing and corrosion; Tang Wen's goal was to salvage all of them.

When the winch stopped spinning, Tang Wen did not hear the expected prompt.

"Move left 300 meters, and drag in a rectangular trajectory."

Tang Yi was calm and unhurried; GPS positioning inherently has an error of several hundred meters, so trying a few more times would suffice.

Under the control of the system captain, the Fudong accelerated to maximum speed in only a dozen seconds, so this process was completed very quickly.

Tang Wen, fully focused, leaned over the railing, as if he could already see the rust-stained wreckage on the seabed; finally, the familiar prompt sounded in his mind:

【Steel Discovered: 23,520 tons of steel wreckage, recovery rate 82%】

【Discovered: Tier X Battleship Yamato (Sunk)

Pay salvage fee: 271,000 silver coins, then return it to your port】

"Stop!"

Seeing Tang Wen's face suddenly change, Tang Yi hurriedly asked:

"Did you catch the wreckage?"

"Caught it, just..."

Tang Wen thought for a long while, then turned his head and asked:

"If we get them to give us a Yamato, we should be able to sell it for quite a bit, right?"

Tang Yi looked at him in confusion, then instantly understood.

"You mean you can repair it?!"

Though it was hard to believe, Tang Wen still nodded.

The Yamato, sunk for 51 years, completely rusted through and broken into three sections, was identified by the system and could be salvaged?

No, how could something in this condition be repaired?

This reminded Tang Wen of the Car Modification King of Los Santos; only it could compare to the ship-salvaging setting.

271,000 silver coins were nothing; climbing the normal tech tree to get a Yamato would cost over a million experience points, then require spending 18 million silver coins to purchase it.

Getting a Tier X battleship for such a small amount of silver coins was practically a giveaway!

Moreover, once salvaged, it would be delivered directly to the port, so there was no need to worry about accidents along the way.

But the problem that followed was... was the port about to get another 70,000-ton cement ship?