Chapter 412: The Prince's Letter
The sea is rising and falling, and the waves are rippling.
At first glance, beneath the deep sea surface there is a deep blue, hiding countless unknown secrets.
"call……"
The evening sea breeze blew by, ruffling Mercer's clothes.
He had an indifferent expression and did not move a muscle, as if he had become a sculpture, quietly floating on the sea.
An invisible pressure was slowly released from him, majestic and heavy, becoming heavier and heavier, like a mountain, as if it was going to press down and smash the vast ocean below!
Around him, several subordinates were nervous and looked down at the sea.
They knew that although Mercer seemed calm, his anger had not subsided.
"Lord Mercer is dissatisfied with us." One subordinate felt bitter and couldn't help thinking to himself.
Night is about to fall, and a whole day has passed.
They mobilized so many forces, but they didn't even see the shadow of the masked man, and didn't catch any trace of him!
Such a living person seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.
Is this possible?
In this world dominated by machines and metal, is it really that difficult to find a flesh and blood creature?
The Southern Seas is a fairly large area for humans, and many places are full of unknowns, as if shrouded in a layer of fog.
But the headquarters of the Mechanical Clan's Deep Divers camp is here, right on this sea.
This is the home of the mechanical creatures of the Deep Diver camp.
The mechanical clan has been operating here for many years, and they know exactly how many uninhabited islands there are in this sea area, as well as the location, characteristics, species of flora and fauna, etc. of each island.
Previously, many people speculated that after the masked man was forced to the sea, he would not be able to find a place to hide or replenish supplies, and would soon be captured or killed.
Not only them, but many creatures within the mechanical race also think so.
Even some mechanical creatures felt that the scale of this deployment was too grand.
"In order to deal with one human, is it necessary to awaken the sleeping warriors of the entire continent?" This morning, such a voice was heard in some mechanical tribe bases.
"Energy is in short supply now, and the psychic resources stored in various bases are running low."
"The war over the past twenty years has consumed too many resources, and we haven't recovered yet..."
The mechanical race is a race with very high action efficiency.
Generally speaking, as long as an order is given from above, it will be carried out immediately by the people below, and almost no one will raise any questions.
But this time, there were more questioning voices.
Not only the Central Continent, but also many Mechanical Clan bases on the Left and Right Continents have received orders for full-scale action, all for the sake of the high-ranking wanted criminal codenamed "Masked Stranger".
Many mechanical creatures don't understand why this masked stranger has such a high priority inside.
Although they had doubts, they did not dare to disobey the order and could only carry it out with a sigh.
"Alas, the spiritual energy resources consumed for each action are immeasurable."
There are sighs, and naturally there are also voices of support and confidence.
"It is the will of the Lord. Do not question it. Capture the human called Masked Stranger at all costs!"
"With this level of search, we can capture him and bring him back to the base in less than a day!"
"It's just one day, how much energy can it consume?"
However, more than half of the day has passed.
Almost all the islands in the southern sea area were turned upside down, and many islands had their foundations dug up, but not even a trace of Su Xia was found.
The layers of blockade nets on the coastline were triggered many times, but most of the time, they caught seagulls that wanted to eat French fries at the dock.
As for what lies beneath the water...
All the underwater forces that can be deployed in the entire deep divers camp have already been dispatched.
However, these mechanical creatures are scattered across the vast ocean and there are still too few of them. So far, there is no accurate exploration result. However, we have found several shipwrecks from the last century and dug up some rotten metals of little use.
"Lord Mercer is so angry, probably because he thinks we are not doing our job well." Several subordinates on the sea thought of this.
"Yes, even we didn't expect that after the entire race took full action, we couldn't find a small human being."
Several subordinates looked at each other and passed information , and they were all extremely helpless.
In fact, some problems within the Mechanical Clan had already been revealed in Seahorse City.
Just as Todd, another high-ranking member of the Mechanical Clan, said at the time, the Mechanical Clan has enjoyed peace for too long and has forgotten danger. Many Mechanical creatures have forgotten their honor and are not as good as they were during the war.
If we go back in time, back to the period of racial war with the human race, at that time, the situation seemed dangerous, but it was also the fastest growing period for the mechanical race.
During that period, external pressure was everywhere.
It was as if there was a voice roaring in the heart of every mechanical creature, demanding that they continue to evolve and become stronger, otherwise the war of races would surely fail!
It was a crazy period of history, and the whole world seemed to be on the brink of destruction.
But that is also the most beautiful history of the mechanical race.
Under the threat of war, unprecedented technologies emerged one after another, countless bottlenecks that had plagued our predecessors for decades were broken through, and the whole world ushered in an era of technological explosion.
After the war, the mechanical race won a complete victory. How high-spirited were they at that time?
At that time, every mechanical creature thought that from then on, they could do anything!
But now, they can't even find a human being!
"Could it be that the masked man is hiding at the bottom of the sea?"
"The supplies he brought with him won't be enough to sustain him for too long. Maybe there are creatures in the sea that can support him?"
By now, many mechanical creatures had to turn their attention to this deep and boundless ocean, just like Mercer now.
Mercer has always been confident, and this time is no exception.
As time passed, the last trace of the sky was about to disappear below the sea level. He slowly closed his eyes and said lightly: "He...can't escape."
"Sir, what do you want me to do for you?" Several subordinates stepped forward.
"Contact all the major bases. I need more soldiers who can operate underwater for a long time to speed up the transformation."
"yes!"
"Implement a complete blockade of the seabed." Mercer ordered again: "Don't trust any detection equipment, believe what you see... The masked man may have an invisible submarine, don't look at him with your current technological perspective."
…
At this moment, under the sea, in a certain area, inside a submarine.
Su Xia was half-crouching in the submarine, wearing translucent gloves, holding a cyan-gold metal sword in his hand, looking serious and examining it carefully.
This long sword was the one that the small robots had found in the shipwreck before, and now it was put into the submarine.
[Sword of the Iris Empire: The symbol of imperial power, only the monarch can pull it out...]
A description pops up.
Just as Su Xia guessed, it was the Imperial Sword that had been lost for a hundred years.
Today, the sword is more than half decayed, with rust all over the surface, and it no longer looks like what it once was.
"What a pity, it's just an ordinary weapon." Su Xia sighed. His skeleton sword had been destroyed, leaving only fragments. Now he really wanted a handy cold weapon.
This legendary sword of imperial power is not as magical as rumored.
After losing its royal glory, it was not much better than a greatsword made by a village blacksmith. In Su Xia's eyes, it was just a useless piece of scrap iron.
What's the use of a sword if it can't kill people?
Judging from the degree of corrosion on this broken sword, if it were used to kill someone, the sword would probably shatter completely before the person was killed.
"Captain, there are too many boxes loaded with gold coins, and the storage compartment of this sightseeing submarine does not have enough space. We need to return to the main submarine and transfer the gold coin boxes." Sarah suddenly reminded.
"No need, just let me throw them all into the storage space."
Su Xia put down his sword and collected his thoughts.
He glanced at the image behind him on the display screen and saw a huge black shadow, like a giant sea beast following in the water behind him - it was the big submarine.
To prevent any accidents, Sarah kept her attention on controlling the large submarine to ensure that the two submarines were neither too far nor too close.
At this time, there were more than thirty small boxes in the storage compartment of this small submarine, and all of them were filled with gold coins.
"Captain, how does it feel to hunt for treasure in the sea?" Sarah asked with a smile.
"It's okay. It's considered a dream come true after an hour." Su Xia sighed softly. Her mood had calmed down and she no longer felt as excited as she did at the beginning.
Compared with the story described in the book "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", Su Xia's experience this time was indeed too bland and lacked a lot.
Now, he was looking forward to the starry sky above his head even more.
It is a vaster world that is worth spending a lifetime exploring.
Su Xia left his seat, bent over, walked to the outside of the storage cabin, opened the door, stretched out his hand and waved it lightly, and the more than 30 boxes of gold coins disappeared and entered his storage space.
"The storage space really is like a game world." Sarah chuckled .
At first, Su Xia's ability to collect things surprised Hal.
Hal thought that Su Xia could tear the space apart with his bare hands and directly open a rift in the other dimension.
"What if this is a game?" Su Xia asked her.
"Then it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Player."
Sarah still smiled and didn't care: "But, Captain, have you ever thought that maybe the real earth you think of is also a game world?"
Su Xia shook her head: "What do you think?"
"True and false are relative concepts, and also idealistic concepts." Sarah smiled. "As long as you think it is true, it is true. If you think it is false, it is false."
“…”
Su Xia shrugged, said nothing more, and returned to her seat.
He really didn't want to discuss such a mysterious topic, because it would definitely lead to a dead end in the end.
Next, Sarah activated the rest of the small exploration robots and had them all enter the shipwreck to move the small boxes of gold coins.
Boxes of gold coins were carried back to the submarine, and Su Xia's wealth was growing rapidly.
At the same time, the search for the rest of the shipwreck has not stopped.
More than ten minutes later, there was a new discovery.
"Captain, the little robot found a special box." Sarah reminded.
Hearing the sound, Su Xia raised her head.
In the upper left corner of the monitor, the little robot found a larger box in the corner of a room on the third deck.
The appearance of this box is similar to those small gold coin boxes. The surface is covered with gray-black flocculent seabed sediment, and its original appearance cannot be seen.
"Just open it?" Sarah asked.
"Well, open it."
After receiving the order, the small robot in the sunken ship immediately took action and hit the box lock hard.
With a click, the long-rotten lock was immediately broken, and a crack appeared on the box.
The little robot reached out and pressed both ends of the box lid, slowly opening it, allowing the contents of the box to appear in front of Su Xia.
"No gold."
Su Xia's eyes focused and she saw a very ordinary glass bottle in the box.
The glass bottle was light green, translucent and a little rough. It was the bottle for the sugar wine that sailors loved the most in the last century.
There is naturally no need to lock a wine bottle like this solemnly in a box.
Su Xia noticed that through the translucent glass bottle, he could vaguely see a rolled-up object, which seemed to be a scroll.
"A message in a bottle?"
This bottle and the contents of the bottle inexplicably triggered certain memories of Su Xia.
"Bring it back and see what's inside the bottle." Su Xia gave the order.
"OK."
After a while, the little robot brought the box back to the submarine.
The surface of the box was wet, and a rotten smell filled the air, as if it had been buried in a swamp for a long time. The smell was indescribable.
Su Xia put on gloves as usual and also put on a gas mask, then took out the glass bottle from the box.
He shook it gently, and there was a shaking and crashing sound coming from the bottle.
"It really is a message in a bottle." Su Xia reached out and pinched the cork at the mouth of the bottle. She pulled it gently, and with a "pop" sound, the cork came out.
He turned the bottle upside down and shook it a few times, and the rolled paper in the bottle fell out and landed in his hands.
The paper pages are yellowed, but fortunately they are sealed well and have not been eroded by sea water, so they are still dry.
[You got the item "Prince's Letter", open it and take a look]
A prompt suddenly popped up from the system, leaving Su Xia somewhat puzzled.
He gently put the glass bottle down, casually wiped the sea water on his body, then took off his gloves and returned to the front seat with the scroll.
Su Xia turned on the light on the top, and the submarine cockpit suddenly became much brighter.
He slowly opened the letter and began to read.
[Item: Prince's Letter]
[At 2 a.m., water began to fill the watertight compartments of the cruise ship. The ship was doomed to sink. I never expected that my journey of freedom would end here.]
【……】
[When you read this letter, I should be dead]
[I am the prince of the Iris Empire and the next monarch. I am destined to sit on the throne of the kingdom.]
[But I am tired of the endless struggle and power, and I also hate the high palace throne]
[I don't want to lift the heavy sword of the empire]
【……】
Su Xia sat in her seat, looking serious and focused, reading every line of text carefully.
In this letter, the prince expressed his disgust for power.
At that time, the Iris Empire was at its peak. He possessed a position of power that countless people envied, had endless wealth to squander, countless beauties to choose from, and could get almost anything he wanted...but he found such a life boring.
His ideal in life is to find a quiet and peaceful place, meet a quiet and elegant lover, and live an ordinary life.
For the sake of his ideals, he finally took action, took the sword of power and a little money, escaped from the palace, and began his journey to freedom.
"A little money?"
Su Xia's eyelids twitched, and she couldn't help but look back at the storage cabin at the rear. Seeing the boxes of shining gold coins, she didn't know what to say.
