Chapter 3620

When Matsushita Heikichi, his voice hoarse like a cracked gong, sang along with the original recording, he suddenly noticed a figure appear beside him.

Before he could even react, his entire body had already lost the ability to move.

He could only stare in terror at Ye Chen, his whole being thrown into utter panic.

Ye Chen did not know whether the man understood Chinese, but considering that these Japanese working on the scientific expedition vessel had at least a university education, he assumed they could understand some English, so he prepared to give the man a psychological suggestion and then question him in English. Yet when he actually began the psychological suggestion, he was shocked to discover that the man's sea of consciousness already contained a suggestion!

A cultivator?!

Ye Chen's whole body suddenly went on high alert.

In Antarctica, there are cultivators besides myself?

Then… this person must be one of the three Grand Elders who vanished from the Ground Net system after arriving in Ushuaia, right?!

A few days ago, just as Ye Chen set off for Antarctica, the Ground Net system detected that one of the three Grand Elders had already arrived in Ushuaia.

At the time, Ye Chen had worried whether this person was tracking him, but later there was no further news of him.

He did not know that Wu Boklin, in order to come to Antarctica, had abandoned all public transport and instead taken a fishing boat to the shipping lane of the scientific expedition vessel, seizing the opportunity to board this Japanese research ship.

But now, seeing that this Japanese crewman had already been given a psychological suggestion, Ye Chen immediately guessed the route the Elder had taken to reach Antarctica: it was this very scientific expedition vessel he was on.

Since the scientific expedition vessel is grounded here, it proves the other party had already arrived in Antarctica long ago, and the recent major movements of the Japanese Antarctic expedition team are likely all under his control.

At this moment, Ye Chen felt deeply worried.

He did not know what purpose the Elder had in coming to Antarctica—whether to find him, to find Lin Wan'er, or for some other ulterior motive.

He wanted to question this Japanese man directly to get clarity, but thinking that the man had already been psychologically suggested, he could not help but feel anxious again.

Psychological suggestions cannot coexist.

That is to say, if I want this Japanese man to obey me, I must first erase the suggestion left by that Elder.

Although Wu Boklin's strength is far greater than Ye Chen's, spiritual energy is still extremely precious to him, so when he psychologically suggests ordinary people, he merely touches on it briefly and does not waste too much spiritual energy. As long as Ye Chen uses stronger spiritual energy, he can erase the suggestion left behind.

But this also carries a great risk.

Once that Elder returns, once he sees this man, he will very likely notice something abnormal about him.

Even if I still have this Japanese man obey him at that time, if he investigates carefully, he will also discover that the psychological suggestion in the man's sea of consciousness has been altered. This is like everyone recognizing their own handwriting—others imitating one's handwriting to deceive a third party might work, but it would never fool the person themselves.

Soon Ye Chen realized again that he seemed to be caught between a rock and a hard place.

Performing a psychological suggestion risks being discovered by the other party; if he does not perform one, he can only kill this Japanese man, otherwise the man will certainly report to the other party immediately.

But killing him also still carries great hidden dangers.

A person who has been given a psychological suggestion cannot commit suicide or disappear on their own; if he disappears, there must certainly be someone else behind it.

The other party may have already put the entire ship's crew under psychological suggestion, which dooms them to never turn on each other, so whether killing this Japanese man or making him disappear, the other party will also sense the danger.

After thinking it over, Ye Chen still decided to take the risk and try the psychological suggestion—at least it still offers a chance to deceive the other party.

Moreover, this scientific expedition vessel is likely not the other party's main base for searching Antarctica, so perhaps the other party will not come in person himself, in which case there would be no risk of being discovered.

Thus, Ye Chen immediately made his decision: he used stronger spiritual energy to erase Matsushita Heikichi's psychological suggestion, then implanted a new one.

Once his psychological suggestion took effect, Ye Chen spoke in English: "You were left behind here—whose orders were you following?"

Matsushita Heikichi immediately replied: "I am following the orders of Master Guanghan."

"Master Guanghan?" Ye Chen wondered in his heart. He pulled up on his phone the file of the Broken Qing Sect Elder who had gone missing in Ushuaia, showed it to the man, and asked: "Take a look—is this the person?"

Matsushita Heikichi immediately nodded: "Exactly. He is Master Guanghan."

His answer was not surprising to Ye Chen, so he asked again: "Where is this person now?"

Matsushita Heikichi answered: "The Master should now be at Wu Han Palace."

"Wu Han Palace? Where is that?"

After Wu Boklin styled himself Master Guanghan, he had treated these Japanese as his slaves, so he specially ordered Kikuchi Kohei to notify everyone about the renaming of the scientific expedition station and his self-bestowal of the title Master Guanghan, so Matsushita Heikichi had long received the instruction.

Facing Ye Chen's question, he truthfully said: "Wu Han Palace is simply the Japanese Showa Antarctic Research Station, renamed by the Master."

Ye Chen momentarily felt both amused and exasperated—this Elder certainly had a playful mind, even giving the Japanese scientific station such a chuuni name; it seemed he also harbored a desire, like Wu Feiyan, to become the head of a sect.

Subsequently, Ye Chen asked him: "Has Master Guanghan recently come here?"

"No." Matsushita Heikichi said: "Since he landed and headed for the research station, he has not returned here, though a few days ago he sent people over to transport some supplies."

Ye Chen continued: "Do you know what he intends to do in Antarctica?"

"Not really." Matsushita Heikichi replied: "I only heard that the Master has dispatched several snow vehicles and a helicopter, now using ice radar to scan the entire Antarctic continent."

"Ice radar? What is it for?"

Matsushita Heikichi said: "It scans the structure beneath the ice cap, probing depths of two to four thousand meters, to reveal the terrain and structure beneath the ice."

"Beneath the ice cap..."

Ye Chen could not help but frown.

That Elder had these Japanese searching beneath the ice cap—apparently he did not know that Ye Chen and Lin Wan'er were also here.

But what is there to search for in the Antarctic ice cap? It has already formed for millions of years; here, one might not even find a dinosaur fossil.

He asked Matsushita Heikichi: "Do you know what he is looking for?"

"I don't know." Matsushita Heikichi said: "I only know they are currently conducting surveys outdoors every day, Wu Han Palace's fuel consumption is severe, and they need to transport some ship diesel from our oil depot, but according to their consumption rate, our ship's fuel will soon run out—let alone lasting until the summer sea ice melts; we might not even survive this winter."

Ye Chen frowned and asked: "If there is no fuel, do you have only a dead end?"

"Exactly." Matsushita Heikichi said lightly: "If fuel runs low, we won't last two days before freezing to death."

Ye Chen inwardly sighed—this Elder seemed like a butcher who cares nothing for human life, utterly indifferent to these people's survival in pursuit of his goal, even accelerating their demise.

A sudden curiosity welled up in him: what exactly is that person seeking in Antarctica?