"Captain, it’s not that I’m afraid of dying. I’m afraid of dying for nothing!" the helmsman said as he continued to guide the submarine’s descent.
The captain nodded slightly. "I understand. But our esteemed leader is on this submarine too!"
The helmsman froze for a second. "He’s on board, too?"
Testing a new type of submarine is always somewhat dangerous. It was certainly a surprise that the leader of the Peach Blossom Base was personally participating in the test!
"What’s more, our ship’s captain gave the order: follow the leader’s instructions to the letter," the captain continued.
The helmsman paused, then nodded. "If the ship’s captain has that much faith in him, and the leader himself is here for the test, they must be pretty confident about this!"
"Theoretically, yes. But no matter how this submarine was modified, diving ten thousand meters is just absurd. Besides, the modifications were done way too fast!" the captain said, a note of resignation in his voice.
The submarine was now ready to dive. The captain stopped dwelling on his concerns and gave the order directly: "Begin the dive. Go slow. Monitor all parameters. If anything comes up, abort the dive immediately!"
"Yes, sir!"
The submarine slowly slipped beneath the water.
This was the first post-flood submarine dive, and everyone was on edge.
Soon, the submarine reached a depth of one hundred meters. All parameters were normal, and all compartments were operating smoothly.
"Maybe we were just being too cautious before. It seems we can dive just fine after the flood!" the helmsman said with a laugh.
The captain shook his head slightly. "Haven’t you noticed how exceptionally smooth and stable this dive is?"
The helmsman paused, then nodded. "You know, now that you mention it, it really is!"
Just then, the soldier monitoring the hydrographic data suddenly called out, "Report! Detecting a sharp change in water density! We might have hit an underwater cliff!"
"What?! Surface, now!" the captain shouted.
The helmsman froze again. "But the sub is completely stable. If we’d really hit an underwater cliff, we’d be losing depth rapidly from the density change. The hull could even be torn apart. But the depth gauge is rock-steady. Could the density meter be malfunctioning?"
"Impossible. The density meter is a mature technology. It shouldn’t be failing," a nearby soldier immediately countered, shaking his head.
At that moment, an expression of sheer disbelief crossed the captain’s face. "Don’t tell me... the modifications actually worked?"
The helmsman’s eyes went wide. "Captain, are you saying the modified sub can withstand an underwater cliff? How is that possible?"
"The facts are right in front of our faces. We have no choice but to believe it," the captain replied grimly.
"Should we continue the dive?" the helmsman asked.
"Continue," the captain confirmed with a nod.
Over the next while, the soldier at the hydrographic station repeatedly reported encountering underwater cliffs, but the submarine remained perfectly stable.
"The hydrographic conditions post-flood are atrocious," the captain remarked with feeling. "Thank goodness command made the right call to ground the subs. It’s far too dangerous down here!"
They had only been diving for twenty minutes and had already encountered three underwater cliffs!
Dragon Country had once performed a miracle in the annals of submarine history, successfully recovering from an underwater cliff. But even that same crew wouldn’t dare claim they could pull it off a second time, especially not with so many of them appearing one after another!
Soon, they reached the submarine’s original maximum depth.
"Captain, reporting! We’ve successfully descended to 598 meters. This is our sub’s maximum operational depth!" the helmsman announced, his eyes on the depth gauge.
"Any anomalies in the compartments?" the captain asked, his voice low and serious.
"All normal, sir!" the helmsman replied, his voice equally grave.
The captain gave a slight nod and commanded, "Continue diving."
This time, the helmsman raised no objections. ’This submarine is completely different now!’
The submarine successfully passed the six-hundred-meter mark and kept on descending.
Every soldier on the submarine was a bundle of nerves and excitement. They worried something might go wrong, but at the same time, they felt they were about to witness history in the making.
Meanwhile, Ren Yuanyang was still on a leisurely video call with Wang Jun.
The submarine’s captain hurried over to them. "Captain Wang, Leader! We’ve passed our original limit! We’re at 666 meters now!"
Hearing this, Wang Jun burst out laughing. "Hahaha! The submarine Master reinforced is really something else!"
"You can actually pick up the pace. You’re descending too slowly," Ren Yuanyang said to the captain with a smile.
The captain looked a little embarrassed. "It’s just... this is our first time handling such an advanced submarine. We need to take it slow and get used to her!"
"I understand. You can gradually increase your descent speed," Ren Yuanyang replied with a slight nod.
The captain immediately grabbed a nearby intercom and ordered, "Gradually increase our rate of descent!"
"Yes, sir!"
In the moments that followed, the submarine broke one depth record after another.
One kilometer. Two kilometers. Three kilometers...
An hour later, their sonar detected the seabed.
"According to the sonar, we should be at the bottom!" the captain said excitedly.
’There’s absolutely no other submarine on Blue Star that can dive this deep!’
The entire submarine was operating perfectly. Everyone was calling it a miracle.
"Turn on the searchlights. Let’s see what the former land looks like now!" Wang Jun ordered.
"Yes, sir!"
As the submarine’s external searchlights flared to life, they finally saw what lay below the flat-topped mountain: three tall buildings, standing silently on the seabed!
Occasionally, a deep-sea creature would emerge from one of the buildings, only to dart away the moment it was touched by the searchlight’s beam.
Seeing this, Wang Jun couldn’t help but sigh. "In the face of a cataclysm like this, human civilization is so fragile."

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