Three days later.
Capital City, Guoan headquarters.
Three floors underground, in the SSS-Level Top-Secret Conference Room.
Military generals, marine geology experts, and senior Guoan officials filled the seats on both sides of the long table.
The atmosphere was suffocatingly tense.
Satellite weather images of the East China Sea played on a loop across the large screen.
"That bank of white mist lasted only ten minutes." A geology academician pointed at the images. "No meteorological conditions could support fog this dense forming and disappearing instantaneously. This wasn't a natural phenomenon."
Seated at the head of the table, Ye Wenjun pressed his temples.
Ever since signs of a spiritual energy resurgence had appeared, one bizarre event had followed another. The Heavenly Hatred True Lord had emerged, Langya Blessed Land had been nuked flat, the Imperial Seal of China had shown unusual activity...
Now it was the ocean's turn?
"Any progress with the search and rescue?" Ye Wenjun asked gravely.
The East China Sea Fleet representative shook his head. "We deployed three antisubmarine aircraft and eight submarines. We've left no stone unturned, but there isn't a single trace. It's as though..."
He considered his wording.
"It's as though they simply vanished off the face of the earth."
The conference room fell deathly silent again.
Bang!
The conference room door was shoved open.
An intelligence officer rushed straight in without even knocking. His face was frantic, and his military cap had slipped crooked as he ran.
"Director Ye! Something's happened!"
Ye Wenjun snapped his head up. "Report!"
"Five minutes ago, in the South Sea Waters." The intelligence officer handed over a report still warm from the printer. "Three private luxury yachts lost contact. Their location was two hundred nautical miles south of the Sansha Islands. Sixty-eight people were aboard, including three wealthy foreign businessmen."