White Tower Strait Had No Rising Sea Current

"Three hours?"

Qi Hai snatched up the urgent dispatch tube.

The paper bore the seal of the Rogue Town Weather Observatory, with an observer's signature at the end.

The continuous drop in deep-sea pressure, the shift in the northeast wind, and the frequency of seabed tremors were all recorded in meticulous detail.

Su Hang read it only once.

"Mia, is it real?"

"The seal is real, and the observation format checks out."

Mia unfolded the original logbook she had just brought back from the observatory and pressed nearly seven days of data beside it.

"But this current can't come."

Lorne looked up.

"Why not?"

"Before a Rising Current forms, deep cold water keeps rising upward."

"The water temperature outside Rogue Town's harbor only dropped by half a degree today. It'll take at least another twenty days."

Mia pointed to a set of numbers in the letter.

"It says it dropped four degrees here."

"If there had really been a change like that, the outer harbor would be full of dead fish, and cold salt would have formed on the hulls."

"We saw none of that on the way here."

Qi Hai looked at Su Hang.

"Someone's urging us toward White Tower Strait."

The coordinates marked at the end of the letter lay exactly sixty nautical miles northwest of Rogue Town.

At full speed, the Dawnbringer could barely make it there within three hours.

The bronze compass in Su Hang's arms still pointed toward the sky.

The system had also sent a vague sensation.

A high-weight opportunity lay above, yet it gave no tide window, much less confirmed that White Tower Strait was the true entrance.

"Change course. Head for the White Tower."

Qi Hai pressed a hand onto the chart.

"You believe this letter?"

"No."

"Then why go?"

"They put effort into forging an emergency report from the weather observatory. We should at least let them know the message was delivered."

Su Hang looked at Mia.

"Keep the main ship three nautical miles outside the strait."

"Launch the unmanned balloons first. No ability users are allowed near the rigging."

Qi Hai let go of the chart.

"Now that sounds like someone who signed restriction clauses."

"Enough talk. Prepare ordinary gliders."

Two hours later, White Tower Strait emerged beneath the fog.

Two gray-white stone towers gripped a narrow channel between them, and the sea in the middle was unnaturally calm.

There was no upwelling cold water, no sign of a water column, and even the seabirds avoided the tower tops.

Mia raised a wind flag.

"The airflow is moving southward sideways, and the sea surface is sinking."

"A Rising Sea Current can't possibly appear here."

Lorne asked from the side.

"Go around?"

Su Hang looked toward the top of the White Tower.

An observatory flag hung from the rock wall, but its corner showed no salt erosion. It had clearly been replaced recently.

"Send them a boat first."

The sailors pushed out a wooden frame.

Two hot-air balloons hauled a small unmanned boat into the air. Its hull was stuffed with iron blocks, and a drum wheel simulating keel vibrations had been installed beneath it.

Qi Hai flipped the switch.

The drum wheel spun, sending dull impacts into the strait.

The unmanned boat had barely entered between the towers when the balloon on the left suddenly split apart.

There were no arrows.

No gunshots.

The balloon had been cleanly severed down the middle.

The wooden frame plummeted, and the balloon on the right was immediately slashed open by six long cuts.

Mia's pupils contracted.

"There are wires in the air!"

Rumble!

Mechanisms began turning inside both White Towers at once.

The placid sea was violently torn open, and a gigantic black net rose from beneath the water, iron chains along its edges stretching all the way to the tower tops.

The unmanned boat crashed into the net, and the vibrations beneath its hull instantly ceased.

Every intersection in the mesh was embedded with black ore.

"Seastone."

Qi Hai drew his blade and lifted his telescope.

"Fine wires in the air cut sails, and a giant net underwater seals off ships."

"If ability users fall in, they won't even have a chance to struggle."

The Den Den Mushi suddenly connected to an unfamiliar channel.

"Correct assessment."

Grave's voice came from the White Tower, carrying the stiff texture of mechanical processing.

"Unfortunately, you've already missed the Rising Current."

"The next one really will take a year."

Su Hang picked up the Den Den Mushi.

"Finished?"

"You don't regret it?"

"There isn't even a bubble on the surface. What do you have to make me regret?"

"Didn't the system urge you?"

"The high-weight opportunity is in the sky."

"If you wait another year, the designated recipient may have already completed their destiny loop."

"You know a lot about Opportunity Interception Determination."

The other end of the Den Den Mushi fell silent for half a beat.

Su Hang's smile grew fainter.

"The White Reef Torpedoes were yours too."

Grave did not deny it.

"Seven torpedoes failed to force Nika into her complete form, and half a fake route failed to make you risk your ship."

"Su Hang, you're more cautious than the reports said."

"You're more afraid of dying than I expected."

"I'm in the White Tower. Do you dare come in?"

Qi Hai immediately covered the Den Den Mushi.

"He's baiting you."

"I heard him."

Su Hang took the telescope, his gaze traveling upward along the Seastone net.

Beside the rotating shaft at the tower top was a string of tiny serial numbers. Beneath the black paint, the World Government's three-ring mark showed through.

The warheads of the White Reef Torpedoes carried the same prefix.

"Causality Observation Experiment, serial number 007."

Qi Hai looked in that direction.

"A World Government research facility."

"There's no record of this department in the Navy archives."

"That's why they used underground forces to act."

Su Hang lowered the telescope.

"The main ship stays out of the strait."

"Qi Hai, release all the remaining unmanned balloons and cover the observation ports at the tower top."

"You're going in?"

"Ordinary gliders aren't affected by Seastone."

"The space between the towers is full of invisible wires."

Mia had already finished measuring the wind.

"The wires are anchored between the two towers and only cover the front of the strait."

"There are no load-bearing towers at the northwest upwind side. If you glide in from there, you can clear the wire array and land on the upper level of the left tower."

Qi Hai frowned.

"The landing spot is only ten paces wide."

"Then you'll have to aim the lights properly."

Su Hang took off his outer coat and removed every piece of metal equipment that might catch on the rigging.

He kept only a short blade, a grappling hook, and an ordinary glider.

Qi Hai threw him a pair of leather bracers.

"Core fusion must not exceed the safety limit."

"I won't use my ability."

"What if you run into Seastone wires?"

"If I can't cut through them, I'll go around."

"If you refuse to withdraw twice in a row, I'll take over the operation."

Su Hang fastened the bracers.

"You're becoming more and more like a captain."

"You forced me into it."

Six unmanned balloons rose into the air at once.

Fine wires shot from the White Tower and sliced apart the first three in succession.

But under Mia's control, the remaining balloons abruptly soared higher, tossing cloth sacks filled with white ash toward the tower tops.

Bang! Bang!

The white ash burst apart, revealing every previously transparent wire.

"Northwest wind, twenty-two knots!"

Mia raised the first green light.

"Take off!"

The glider shot from the Dawnbringer's temporary launch rack.

Su Hang did not stretch his arms. Relying solely on the wind, he skimmed across the sea and rose swiftly along the outer wall of the White Tower.

Grave stood inside the observation room and violently shoved a researcher aside.

"Retract the upper wires!"

"Too late!"

"The rigging is coated in white ash. Retracting it will jam the rotating shafts!"

"Activate the defensive cannon!"

"The barrel will hit the load-bearing pillars first!"

Grave seized the researcher by the collar.

"Then let it break!"

The cannon at the tower top turned.

Mia immediately switched to a red light and flashed it three times in succession.

"Veer left!"

Su Hang sharply pressed down on the wing.

The shell grazed the right wing and exploded behind him.

The blast wave shoved the glider several yards sideways, throwing the landing point completely off the tower-top platform.

Qi Hai grabbed the signal lamp.

"Twenty meters left!"

"Give him a second landing point!"

Mia aimed the yellow light at the drainage rack beside the tower.

Su Hang saw the light and immediately released his glider.

His body plunged downward as he swung out an ordinary grappling hook, catching the drainage rack with precision.

Boom!

The out-of-control glider crashed into the cannon barrel.

Its wooden pole jammed the gears, and black smoke billowed from the entire gun platform.

Su Hang swung along the rope, smashed through a window, and rolled into the top-floor observation room.

The three armed guards had only just turned around when a dagger smashed into the first man's wrist.

The gun muzzle veered aside, and the bullet shattered the control console.

The second man pulled out a Seastone baton.

Su Hang sidestepped it, grabbed the man by the collar, and used his momentum to slam him into the iron door.

Just as the third man raised his gun, Su Hang kicked a tabletop into the air.

Bang!

The tabletop struck him square in the face, sending both man and gun staggering backward several steps.

Grave stood at the end of the corridor, holding a black document case.

"You really dared to come in alone."

"You really dared to wait for me."

"I was only confirming the final item."

Grave pressed a red mechanism beside the wall.

The entire White Tower suddenly shuddered.

Terrified shouts from the researchers rose from below.

"The watertight chambers have been sealed!"

"The self-destruct valves are opening!"

"Seawater has already entered the lower level!"

Grave backed into the escape ladder.

"In ten minutes, the White Tower's supports will break away from the seabed."

"Chase me, and you can obtain all the causality research materials."

Su Hang looked toward the other end of the corridor.

More than a dozen researchers were trapped inside the watertight chambers, with seawater already rising past their ankles.

Grave tore through the escape ladder's chain lock, his voice drifting up from below.

"In ten minutes, the White Tower will sink. Only you or those researchers can survive."