After speeding ahead for two hours, Qin Haonan stopped to take a break, just as Ren Yuanyang had specifically requested.
At night, visibility was poor, and people tired easily. Although Blue Star was now completely covered in water and the chances of encountering scattered survivors were extremely low, it was still better to be careful.
Qin Haonan stood up, strolled into the cabin, grabbed a few Cherry Tomatoes, and began eating them as a snack.
After a twenty-minute break, Qin Haonan resumed his journey toward the Aircraft Carrier Base.
After seven hours of traveling on and off, he finally reached a point fifty kilometers from the Aircraft Carrier Base.
By this time, Ren Yuanyang had already woken up and finished his Five Animals Qigong practice.
This latest episode confirmed that the comas only lasted for eight hours.
"Haonan should have reached the designated position by now!" Lu Jiamei said, peering out of the Banyan Forest. But the trees had grown even denser, completely obscuring her view of the outside.
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly. "I’ll send him a message and ask."
Just as he took out his phone, he received a message from Qin Haonan.
"Boss, I’ve safely reached the designated position. I will contact Wang Jun as planned and complete the trade!"
"Okay. Get the inflatable boat and the Cherry Tomatoes ready first, then contact Wang Jun," Ren Yuanyang replied.
"Got it!"
Qin Haonan stopped the speedboat, placed one hundred kilograms of Cherry Tomatoes onto the inflatable boat, then secured it with a cable before backing away to a distance of over one hundred meters.
Once everything was ready, Qin Haonan immediately sent a message to Wang Jun.
"Captain Wang, we’re ready on our end. I’ve sent you the coordinates. You can come over now."
When Wang Jun saw this message, he immediately notified Ji Yizhi, then replied to Qin Haonan, "Alright, one moment."
Currently, Ji Yizhi’s drones could only patrol a 30-kilometer radius, and this range could be even smaller in bad weather.
The position Qin Haonan had provided was 50 kilometers from the Aircraft Carrier Base, so even though Ji Yizhi’s drones were patrolling the area, they hadn’t spotted his arrival.
Wang Jun arranged for a speedboat, loaded with the crafted tools, to head for the location Qin Haonan had provided.
Three drones also took to the air, flying toward Qin Haonan.
"Captain, the rain is getting heavier. I recommend we maintain a tracking distance of 20 kilometers to ensure we can receive the drone’s signal feed in time," the soldier operating the drones said, asking Ji Yizhi for instructions.
Ji Yizhi nodded slightly. "Maintain a 20-kilometer distance, then."
"Yes, sir!"
A drone appeared above Qin Haonan’s speedboat, hovering there under the cover of the rain.
About ten kilometers away from Qin Haonan, another speedboat bobbed on the waves.
Several men inside the speedboat were staring at a monitor.
"Huh, why is there a speedboat here?"
"That speedboat looks familiar!"
"Familiar? You’ve seen this speedboat before?"
"Oh, I remember now! It’s that speedboat we spotted last time, the one that was with that bizarrely-shaped ship!" the soldier operating the drone exclaimed, the memory clicking into place. It had only happened recently, so he could still recall the details.
"Hmm? Why didn’t we deal with it then?"
"They were pretty far from our route at the time, and we didn’t spot anything out of the ordinary. Besides, we were in a rush to collect the resources bubbling up from the seabed, so we didn’t approach them."
"So we saw it on our way to get resources? That makes sense. We had plenty of people on the ship back then. Unless they were Evolvers, there was no reason to investigate."
"But why is he stopped here? And where’s that weird ship?"
It turned out this speedboat had been dispatched by the Dawn Cruise to reconnoiter the Aircraft Carrier Base. The Dawn Cruise had spotted Ren Yuanyang before, but they hadn’t sent a team to investigate back then.
The drone operator in this reconnaissance team was the very same soldier who had spotted Ren Yuanyang previously.
The reconnaissance leader’s eyes were glued to the monitor. He suddenly spotted something and immediately ordered, "Move it forward a little!"
The soldier immediately flew the drone forward. They soon spotted an inflatable boat with several baskets on it, covered by a raincoat.
"Why is there an inflatable boat?"
"Look closer. There’s a cable running between the inflatable boat and the speedboat!" the leader said, pointing to the monitor feed.
Only then did the soldier notice the cable. He grew even more confused. "What are they doing?"
The leader shook his head, his brow furrowed.
Just then, a speedboat approached rapidly from the distance and stopped a short way from the inflatable boat.
"That’s a speedboat from the Aircraft Carrier Base! Pull the drone back, now!" the leader commanded as soon as he saw the approaching craft.
The soldier was already piloting the drone to the side, where it hovered at a distance, monitoring both parties.
"We’ve arrived. Are we still trading the same way as before?" Wang Jun sent the message to Qin Haonan after learning his men had reached the designated location.
"Yes. I’ve placed half of the Cherry Tomatoes on the inflatable boat for your inspection. If everything checks out, place the tools we need on it. After I’ve inspected the tools, I’ll put the remaining fifty kilograms on the boat for you," Qin Haonan replied.
Although this arrangement still posed a certain risk for the Aircraft Carrier Base, Wang Jun agreed to it.
"Alright! We’ll do it your way!"
The team from the Aircraft Carrier Base immediately approached the inflatable boat and lifted the raincoat covering the baskets.
Their eyes were met with the sight of bright red, plump Cherry Tomatoes. At the same instant, a fragrant aroma filled their nostrils.
"They really are fresh Cherry Tomatoes! The stems on many of them are still tender! These must have been picked recently!"
Hearing the report from the team on-site, Wang Jun was pleasantly surprised. "They’re really fresh? Then give them the tools they asked for!"
To Wang Jun, fifty kilograms of Cherry Tomatoes was more than enough to split among their three fleets. Besides, they could harvest a great many seeds from just one tomato.
So, in his opinion, even if Qin Haonan didn’t give them the remaining fifty kilograms, this trade was by no means a loss.
The soldiers handling the trade immediately placed all the woodworking tools they had brought with them onto the inflatable boat.
"We’ve placed the tools. You can pull it back now!"
Seeing Wang Jun’s message, Qin Haonan immediately reeled in the cable, pulling the inflatable boat back. He hoisted the three toolboxes onto his speedboat and immediately started a video call with Ren Yuanyang.
"Boss, I’ve got the tools. Have Elder Hua confirm them!" Qin Haonan said, pointing his camera at the contents of the toolboxes.
Ren Yuanyang had called Hua Lingfang to his side when the trade began, precisely so he could check if any tools were missing.
Upon receiving Qin Haonan’s call, Ren Yuanyang immediately held the phone out in front of Hua Lingfang. "Go ahead and confirm."
Hua Lingfang nodded slightly and began remotely directing Qin Haonan to inspect the items.
After a thorough inspection, Hua Lingfang excitedly reported to Ren Yuanyang, "Sir, nothing is missing! And judging by their condition, they look brand new!"
"Alright, Haonan, go ahead and complete the trade," Ren Yuanyang instructed.
"Understood!"

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