Several submarines sailed together around the outermost edge of the fleet, while the sailors inside them continued observing the three protected civilian ships through their periscopes.
After watching for some time, they were able to roughly determine which two ships were carrying cargo and which one was filled with people.
Scientists and scholars—strictly speaking, without scientific equipment to enhance them, these people's combat abilities were infinitely close to zero.
Besides, with the ships sailing across the open sea, the Peng Joe People had no reason to worry about them jumping overboard and escaping.
Once these people arrived in Peng Joe, they would be sent to the Royal Academy of Sciences for research projects or dispersed among various universities to teach their knowledge.
As long as they did not contemplate rebellion, the Empire believed that after three to five years, they would have sincerely submitted. These people could then leap straight into the middle and upper classes of Peng Joe society.
The soldiers and lower-ranking officers had no need to make things difficult for them, either.
Thus, no one on the ships restricted them to their rooms. Aside from certain areas they were forbidden to enter, they could wander around wherever they pleased.
On the decks and beside the rails, quite a few scientists who had barely left their laboratories their entire lives were experiencing this for the first time—let alone sailing across the sea to another continent.
Their moods could hardly be called good. Gefra had effectively perished, after all. Even so, they still stepped out of their cabins, feeling the salty, fishy sea wind rush against their faces and sensing the greatness and wonder of nature.
These people possessed the strongest thirst for exploration of all.
Thus, it was not long before the sailors observing from the submarines noticed