Seawater flowed into the ballast tanks, and the Submarine slowly descended into the sea.
A faint ringing filled their ears. Amid a slight sensation of weightlessness, the sonar's rhythmic "tap, tap" echoed through the cabin, growing clearer as they descended.
Everyone's fate rested within the Submarine's cramped hull. The slightest mishap could sink it and doom every passenger aboard.
Oppressive, stifling, unnerving—that was how the Submarine felt during its descent.
The Submarine's green lights made everyone look like ghosts. Little Aislin gripped Roman's hand, unable to keep fear from creeping in. She glanced around and found that most of the others were only pretending to be calm. Even the roughest of them, Manhunter, had a faint tremor in his face.
Yet when little Aislin looked at Xia Lun, her anxiety inexplicably eased.
Uncle Xia Lun was fierce and liked telling jokes that weren't funny at all, but even now, he radiated a strange sense of calm. It was as though he simply didn't know how to be afraid.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
The sonar continued to sound. A large cluster of bright dots suddenly appeared at the bottom of the control screen.
"There's something below the Submarine," Xia Lun said at once. "Hold on. I'm stopping our descent."
With that, he pulled the Flooding Dive Lever back to its original position.
Click.
As the lever returned to place, the slight weightlessness gave way to a feeling of increased weight. Xia Lun moved the control stick on his right, aiming the observation camera beneath the Submarine downward.
Static flickered across the screen. A moment later, everyone finally saw what lay below.
Only a small portion of the once-massive Collection Facility remained.
That remnant lay on the seabed like a snapped iron rod. After days of soaking and being battered by currents, its