Chapter 406: Deep Sea
“This may be the true beginning, where life awakens from its unconscious slumber.”
This is a line from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, which is very suitable to describe the vast ocean.
The adventure in the book is full of ups and downs, and the underwater world is colorful and diverse.
When you open the book, you will feel as if you have sunk into the boundless sea, traveling with Captain Nemo.
However, Su Xia cannot see everything described in the book for the time being.
This submarine is not a tourist submarine. It has no windows on its surface and can only observe its surroundings through high-frequency sonar.
Su Xia could not directly see the seabed outside, and could only use the array sonar to sense the location and type of obstacles outside.
Life under the sea is even lonelier than life on a starship.
Su Xia remembered that the spaceship of Dr. Aigar that he saw in the psychic hallucination had a porthole, and it was right in his personal lounge, through which he could observe the outside universe.
Although the universe outside the porthole is dark most of the time, it is better than seeing nothing.
"No wonder submarine soldiers are required to have high psychological qualities. No one can stand being trapped underwater for a long time." Su Xia said.
"Captain, if you feel bored, you can go out for some fresh air." Housekeeper Sarah seemed to see what Su Xia was thinking and suddenly said.
"Go out for some fresh air?"
Su Xia was stunned. They were more than a thousand meters underwater. How could they get out?
With his small body, he would most likely be crushed on the spot in such deep water.
He suddenly remembered that when he first acquired this submarine, he had seen an introduction to deep-sea pressure suits in the submarine manual.
"Is it a pressure suit?" Su Xia asked immediately.
"Yes, you can leave the submarine in a pressure suit, and there are other options."
"What choice?"
"Captain, your Nautilus is equipped with underwater lifeboats and sightseeing boats." Sarah smiled slightly and waved her little hand in the air, presenting a three-dimensional structure diagram of the entire submarine in front of Su Xia.
It can be seen that there are several smaller submarines at the bottom left side of the submarine's four-story structure.
On one of the boats, more than 30% of its surface is made of specially structured ultra-pressure-resistant glass, which is what Sarah called a sightseeing boat. It can accommodate 3-5 people and can dive to a depth of about 6,000 meters below the sea.
The other few are specially configured lifeboats, which can also accommodate 3-5 people, and they seem to be prepared for important members.
This lifeboat looks very strange. It is all black, like a smaller version of a humpback whale, with a tiny round window in the eye area. Its maximum diving depth even exceeds that of the large submarine, reaching about 18,000 meters.
This kind of Zenithian technology does not exist at all on Earth.
On Earth, the diving limit is just over 10,000 meters.
"If you don't want to ride on these two types of submarines and want to experience it firsthand, you can also wear a pressure suit and go out of the torpedo tube." Sarah tapped lightly on the three-dimensional structure diagram in front of her, pointing out the location of the torpedo launch compartment.
This submarine is equipped with six 533mm torpedo tubes and carries 18 super-high-speed torpedoes, which is an important means of fighting the enemy.
If Su Xia encounters a mechanical underwater creature, he will have eighteen chances to attack.
These torpedo tubes also serve as exits from the submarine.
Su Xia only needs to wear a pressure-resistant suit, get into the launch tube when the outer cover is closed and the inner cover is open, then close the inner cover, fill it with water and open the outer cover, and then he can get out of the launch tube.
In short, this launch tube is a bit like the airlock of a space station.
Su Xia thought about the feeling of getting out alone.
The deep sea, cold, dark, terrifying...
The feeling of being surrounded by endless pressure and the unknown made him shudder just thinking about it, and he immediately gave up the idea of going out.
"I'd better take the sightseeing boat." Su Xia made a choice. "Sarah, can I contact you on the sightseeing boat?"
"Of course, I will operate the sightseeing boat for you, and you just need to enjoy the underwater world." Sarah knew what he was worried about.
"That's good."
"By the way, the sightseeing boat has a fishing system that can capture the underwater creatures or items you want."
"There shouldn't be anything to catch."
"You never know." Sarah chuckled. "There are many treasures hidden in the sea, including meteorites that have fallen to the bottom of the sea, shipwrecks from different eras, pirate treasures from centuries ago, and strange sea creatures. Maybe there is something you like."
"oh?"
Su Xia touched his chin, thought about it, and felt that what he said made sense.
His current financial resources are too meager. Compared with many level 5 or 6 creatures, he is an absolute pauper.
A level five creature like Hu Hanhai often hangs around in various war ruins in the wilderness. He has found countless treasures from those ruins. He owns countless famous paintings, antiques, treasures, etc. He is so wealthy that he can even give those rare collector's edition books to Su Xia at will.
Su Xia has always wanted to find an opportunity to enrich his family assets and fill the empty storage space.
Now that I think about it, isn’t the sea a treasure pot?
The treasures accumulated on the seabed are no less than those on land.
Moreover, most of the relics and ruins on land have been explored.
Even those that have not been explored have many that have been included in future projects of adventure teams and exploration organizations and will soon be opened. The competition is fierce and all parties want to get a piece of the pie.
Only the sea...
There is no competition here, and countless treasures are quietly sinking on the seabed, waiting to be discovered by treasure hunters.
"This is a good opportunity, but unfortunately I don't have much time." Su Xia said with some regret, "If I had time, I would just stay at the bottom of the sea for a few years and search all the areas that can be searched."
"Captain, time is relative," Sarah reminded softly.
"No, for me now, time is absolute."
Su Xia shook her head and said, "I need to accumulate wealth quickly and become stronger as quickly as possible."
Endless wealth can help him build an invincible army.
And his strong power can ensure that he has absolute leadership over this army.
Su Xia calculated that if he put aside the public supplies in the Beifeng Organization's warehouse and his father's collection in the basement of the pharmacy, and only counted his personal wealth, the funds he owned in this world would be just over 100 million.
Among them, some were obtained by him in the alien jungle in the southwest area.
At that time, he, Sun Lang, Chang Rufeng and the others were searching the jungle for corpses and picking up valuable items from the corpses. They divided the items after returning and each of them got 20 to 30 million.
Speaking of which, Sun Lang and Chang Rufeng, the two guys from the tavern, are now staying in the oasis camp and refuse to leave.
They ate and slept every day, mingled with the members of the North Wind Organization, and when they had free time, they went to the wreckage of the spacecraft to enter the simulation system to challenge star-level achievements, feeling as if they were having a great time.
Apart from the 20 to 30 million, a large part of the rest of the money was looted by Su Xia from Andrew's basement not long ago.
The most valuable items are three boxes of pearls.
Each box of pearls was worth tens of millions . One box was left by Su Xia to the Yuanhang Fishing Company that sold fish, and the other two boxes were kept by him.
"This kind of pearl containing spiritual energy is the default trading item of many organizations. It is more valuable than gold, and spiritual energy can also be extracted from it." Su Xia's eyes lit up and he suddenly thought of something.
He immediately asked the housekeeper: "Sarah, I want to find a special kind of pearl oyster on the seabed. It is a Zerg creature, and the pearls it produces are pure psychic energy blocks."
Sarah smiled slightly: "Captain, I know the creature you are talking about."
"Keep an eye out for me. I need a lot of pearls."
"Captain, do you want to purify enough psychic potion by crushing the pearls?"
"Yes."
Su Xia nodded: "On this planet, more than 80% of the psychic resources are controlled by the mechanical race. If you want to obtain psychic potions, you can only find a way to catch insects or get this kind of pearl."
"No problem, I'll keep an eye on it for you."
“Is there still a chance now?”
Su Xia suddenly thought that pearl oysters mostly live in shallow sea areas, and many are hidden in the mud a few meters or more than ten meters below the seabed, otherwise those "clam collectors" would not be able to catch them.
He has now dived to about 1,400 meters below the sea. The surroundings are dark and silent, like a forbidden zone for life.
Before, Su Xia’s only thought was to escape and avoid being hunted down by the mechanical tribe.
Thinking about it now, I may have missed a lot of opportunities to catch pearls.
"There's a chance." Sarah smiled gently. "My data records that this type of pearl oyster is found in most areas of the seabed. After all, they are Zerg creatures with strong vitality and adaptability. They can live in the deep sea, and... they will consciously escape from shallow sea areas where they are easily caught."
"So, those clam collectors on the seashore only catch those that can't escape?"
"Yes, the pearls they collect are mostly collected within a few months or one or two years."
Sarah smiled and said, "Captain, you should be able to collect five, six, or even more than ten years."
Su Xia was relieved: "That's good."
"Captain, psychic energy has only been around on this planet for about twenty years?"
"Yes."
"It seems that you can only collect pearls that are about twenty years old at most." Sarah's voice was filled with a hint of regret. "If you were on those ancient planets, you could collect super pearls that are hundreds or even thousands of years old."
"It's good to have it. I'm not picky about food." Su Xia smiled.
According to Sarah, those super pearls that are hundreds of years old are at least the size of a basketball and are all priceless treasures.
Treasures at this stage are more useful than just refining psychic potions.
Of course, pearls that are hundreds of years old are extremely rare, even in the starry sky.
After all, the combat effectiveness of this type of Zerg creature is too low. In the eyes of other marine Zerg creatures, it is just a moving tonic, and few of them can live to a hundred years old.
"Captain, please follow me."
Accompanied by Sarah, Su Xia came from the top floor of the submarine to the bottom floor and saw the sightseeing boat in the cabin on the bottom floor.
This sightseeing boat is not big, about fifteen meters long. Compared with Su Xia's Nautilus, which is over two hundred meters long, it is like a newborn baby.
It has a special streamlined beauty as a whole, and its appearance resembles a small blue whale. The front area is covered with a special glass to facilitate people inside to observe the outside world.
“Buzz——”
With a slight sound, the hatch slowly opened.
Su Xia bent over and entered the submarine. She felt a little depressed and couldn't stand up completely because the space inside was very narrow.
Although the instructions stated that it could accommodate 3-5 people, Su Xia felt it was a bit crowded for one person.
He hunched over and walked slowly to the area with a transparent glass shell in front of the submarine. He sat down there and adjusted the seat to put himself in a more comfortable sitting position.
There is a triangular console in front of the seat and a display screen on the front left.
Sarah began to introduce the functions of the buttons on the console to Su Xia: "Captain, this blue button can turn on the fishing system. At the same time, several different pictures will appear on the display screen in front of you on the left, showing the situation below, on the left, on the right, and on the top of your submarine..."
Her illusory body sat on another chair next to Su Xia. She spoke in a gentle voice and patiently explained, occasionally raising her glasses, like a female doctor teaching students.
Although she can control the entire submarine, she must consider unexpected situations and at least let Su Xia have the ability to save herself.
"This sightseeing boat is also stocked with deep-sea pressure suits. If the submarine has a problem, such as losing power, you can wear the pressure suit and leave, Captain..."
She explained for about half an hour, instilling some important matters and basic principles into Su Xia.
Fortunately, Su Xia's comprehension ability was strong enough, and he basically accepted these key points of knowledge.
Then, Sarah asked with a smile: "Captain, are you ready?"
Su Xia nodded: "Ready."
"Okay, your first underwater sightseeing trip begins!"
Sarah smiled gently and waved her hand lightly, and the whole sightseeing boat shook instantly.
Outside, the cabin also shook, and the metal support supporting the sightseeing boat slowly rose.
Immediately afterwards, seawater began to emerge from dozens of small holes around the cabin.
The cold sea water gathered in the cabin, the water level slowly rose, soon submerged the sightseeing boat, and gradually filled the entire cabin.
“Buzz——”
After the water was full, the curved door in front of the cabin slowly descended.
There was another compartment ahead, also filled with seawater.
Sarah began to control the submarine. With a hum, the submarine started to power and slowly broke away from the metal support below. It drove out of this cabin and entered another cabin, floating in the sea.
Immediately afterwards, the door of another cabin also dropped, revealing a long elliptical passage filled with sea water.
"Please take a seat, we are leaving."
Sarah smiled gently and drove the submarine into the passage.
The surrounding water was surging, and the submarine slowly accelerated. In the blink of an eye, it had sailed out of this long passage.
And outside the passage is naturally the boundless deep ocean.
In an instant, a depressing and cold feeling came over me!
Su Xia was sitting at the front of the submarine, with a transparent sightseeing glass in front of her, facing the unknown and dark endless sea.
After driving out of the passage, it felt like crashing into an abyss, as if there was the terrifying giant mouth of a deep-sea monster in front of us.
"call……"
He took a deep breath and his heart beat faster.
Fortunately, Sarah was sitting next to me.
If he were alone, the feeling of panic would probably be many times greater.
“Captain, take a deep breath and relax.” Sarah smiled softly, “Many people who enter the deep sea for the first time are in a similar situation as you, or even worse than you.”
"Well, thank you." Su Xia said.
Then, with a click, Sarah turned on the submarine's external searchlight system.
After all, it's a sightseeing submarine, how can we survive in the darkness outside?
As the lights were turned on, the entire submarine instantly became a light source in the deep sea, and the world outside the submarine also became a little more hazy.
"Huh? Captain, you are lucky. You encountered a pearl oyster just as you came out." Sarah said with a smile.
"Where is it?" Su Xia's heart moved and he asked hurriedly.
"It's just ahead." Sarah pointed ahead.
"Isn't that a stone?"
Su Xia looked closely and with the help of the light, saw a rough and uneven dark brown stone.
There are plenty of these stones on the vast seabed and they can be seen everywhere.
