Ren Yuanyang paused for a moment upon receiving Qin Haonan’s message, then replied, "Don’t worry, they probably won’t send a submarine to tail you."
"Why not?" Qin Haonan asked, confused.
"A submarine can’t keep up with your speed!" Ren Yuanyang explained with a chuckle. "Besides, in the current situation, a submarine wouldn’t dare to move around recklessly underwater."
Qin Haonan was taken aback. "Why?" he asked, puzzled.
"I’ll explain the specifics when you get back. Just maintain high speed, and the submarine won’t be able to keep up. You should be more concerned about whether there’s a drone following you," Ren Yuanyang replied.
Qin Haonan had dropped out of school early. If Ren Yuanyang were to explain the basic principles of submarines and the potential dangers of underwater cliffs, it would likely take a very long time. So, he decided it was better to wait until he returned.
"Okay, Boss!" Qin Haonan didn’t dwell on it and simply agreed.
Ren Yuanyang had only learned some basic facts about submarines online after stumbling upon a story about a Dragon Country submarine crew that miraculously survived an encounter with an underwater cliff, which had piqued his interest.
"Don’t forget to feed those animals!" Ren Yuanyang couldn’t help but add.
"Don’t worry, Boss! I’ve already started feeding them, and they’re eating very happily!" Qin Haonan replied with a laugh.
"Don’t feed them too much, though!"
"Roger!" Qin Haonan quickly took back most of the food he had placed in front of the animals.
Then, Qin Haonan pushed the speedboat to its maximum speed and sped toward the nearest Second-level Wind Sea Region.
"Captain Ji, is your drone keeping up?" Wang Jun asked in their three-person group chat.
"It’s following, but his speedboat is so fast! I’m afraid we won’t be able to tail him for long," Ji Yizhi said, frowning slightly.
Long Zhan said dismissively, "He’s just burning through his fuel. He’ll probably stop soon enough. After all, everyone’s diesel is limited."
"That’s true. Based on his heading, we should be able to figure out which low-level wind region he’s going to," Wang Jun agreed.
Ji Yizhi checked Qin Haonan’s direction of travel, took a screenshot, marked a point, and said, "He seems to be heading for this Second-level Wind Sea Region."
"That doesn’t look too far. He should be arriving soon, right?" Wang Jun replied after a glance at the screenshot.
"He’s already there. Our drone has a visual on him," Ji Yizhi said, frowning. "But I don’t see any other large vessels."
As he spoke, he shared the drone’s video feed.
According to their previous analysis, Ren Yuanyang’s group was supposed to have a large ship.
But the drone’s camera showed no large ships, only a variety of small boats, wooden planks, and other assorted floating debris.
"Could it be they don’t have a large ship? Were they just using a Smoke Bomb before?" Wang Jun also frowned.
"Highly likely!" Long Zhan agreed.
Having arrived in the Level 2 wind region, Qin Haonan saw a group of survivors. Keeping a safe distance, he asked, "Do any of you have plants? If you do, you can trade them with me for food."
The survivors grew tense seeing a speedboat approach. Although they had nothing left to be robbed of, they still worried the newcomer was a predator.
At the same time, they harbored an unrealistic hope: what if this was a rescue team?
When they heard Qin Haonan utter the word "food," everyone’s eyes began to glow.
A man, burly but weakened, immediately paddled his wooden plank toward the speedboat, a vicious gleam in his eyes.
"Maintain a safe distance, or you’ll face the consequences," Qin Haonan said in a low voice, glancing at the approaching man.
The man seemed to have descended into a frenzy, showing no intention of stopping. The distance between him and the speedboat was closing fast.
’There must be a lot of food on that speedboat. If I can just grab the kid on it, I’ll definitely be able to trade him for a ton of food!’ The man’s mind was filled with thoughts of food; nothing else mattered.
RAT-TAT-TAT!
The sharp crack of gunfire rang out. The man felt a sharp pain in his chest as his consciousness slowly faded to black.
Although Qin Haonan’s marksmanship wasn’t great, the distance between them was so short that hitting his target wasn’t a problem.
The gunshot sobered up all the survivors. Watching the shot man slide into the water, they all stared at Qin Haonan in terror, instinctively shrinking back.
"I warned him not to get close. He didn’t follow the rules," Qin Haonan said nonchalantly. "I’ll ask again: does anyone have plants to trade for food? If not, that’s fine. Just make sure to collect them in the future. I’ll be back to buy them from time to time."
After scanning the terrified crowd, Qin Haonan didn’t linger and piloted his speedboat away.
As soon as the speedboat was gone, the survivors snapped out of it and rushed toward the dead man, fighting over the "inheritance" he left behind.
Wang Jun and the other two were astounded as they watched this series of events unfold on the drone feed.
"This isn’t their main base," Wang Jun said, his eyes narrowed.
Ji Yizhi nodded. "They’re even more cautious than we thought. He’s in such a fast speedboat, yet he didn’t head straight back."
"Do they have that much fuel? All this running around must be burning a lot of it," Long Zhan said, confused.
"Besides that, the kid is pretty ruthless," Wang Jun commented.
"If he wasn’t ruthless, he probably wouldn’t have survived this long," Ji Yizhi replied.
"Is it, though?" Long Zhan chimed in. "He clearly warned the guy, but the guy kept approaching. Wasn’t he just asking for it? It’s not about being ruthless; any normal person would know how to react in that situation."
Wang Jun nodded slightly. "That’s true. But he has a gun and didn’t rob those survivors. Granted, they had nothing to steal, but the fact that he refrained still shows he’s retained some basic humanity. That’s not bad."
The other two nodded in agreement.
"Keep following him. I’m getting more and more curious about them," Wang Jun urged.
Ji Yizhi had already given the order to continue surveillance.
What Qin Haonan did next stunned the three of them.
They watched as the speedboat passed through one Level 2 wind region after another. If it encountered a group of survivors, the boat would stop for a moment. Qin Haonan would say something to them, and then continue on his way.
If there were no survivors, the speedboat would pass straight through without stopping.
"Captain, our speedboat is low on fuel!"
Upon receiving the report from their subordinate, the three men were even more surprised.
To ensure they could receive the signal from the drone, the speedboat they had dispatched was following the drone from a considerable distance.
The signal range of the drone they were using was about twenty kilometers. This meant their speedboat had traveled twenty kilometers less than the target’s, yet they were the first to run out of diesel?
"Didn’t we give you an extra hundred liters? You’ve used all of that up already?" Wang Jun asked with a frown.
"We have indeed. If we continue to follow, we might not be able to make it back to the nearest supply point!"

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