Faced with his teammate's teasing, Hansent gave an awkward chuckle and turned his gaze toward the viewport, changing the subject rather stiffly.
"Anyway, where are we now?"
Hope frowned as he looked through the forward viewport.
High-powered searchlights were mounted around the hull of the Poseidon.
Even so, beyond the area immediately surrounding the ship, everything remained pitch-black.
The searchlights' "feeble" glow clearly could not dispel the endless darkness within the ice giant.
"I'm not sure either..."
He shook his head, hesitation flickering in his eyes. "It looks like the clouds outside have gotten a lot denser."
As he spoke, he turned to glance at the various readings displayed in the holographic projection.
30 standard atmospheres.
"You should be at the boundary between the Ammonia Ice Cloud Layer and the liquid ammonia ocean now."
Lü Yongchang's voice suddenly came through the Superluminal Communication Device.
After the Exploration Ship escaped danger, Lü Yongchang had clearly breathed a sigh of relief, and his tone had grown considerably more relaxed.
"The boundary?" Hope frowned. "But... it looks like we're still inside the clouds?"
He reached out and swiped across the holographic display a few times.
Looking at the white "mist" in the camera feed, Hope spoke again. "And the camera beneath the Exploration Ship hasn't picked up this supposed liquid ammonia ocean either."
"That's normal," Lü Yongchang's voice came again.
"Unlike terrestrial planets, judging from the data returned by the probes and the models we've built, ice giants have no clear boundary between their atmosphere and ocean."
"As the surrounding pressure and temperature increase, the tiny ammonia crystals in the ice giant's atmosphere gradually liquefy, becoming small, mistlike droplets suspended in the atmosphere."
"From your perspective..."
"The clouds outside should look denser."
Understanding dawned on Hope, and he nodded repeatedly. "Then how much