Qingmu walked over and gently patted Xia Xiaoxiao's back, comforting her, " Situ might be alright."
She sighed, gave a helpless smile, and said thank you.
Qingmu felt he should tell her about the captain's diary, but he was afraid she wouldn't believe him, so he opened his phone and showed Xia Xiaoxiao the captain's diary stored in a Ghost file.
Xia Xiaoxiao was increasingly surprised as she looked at the sight, which undoubtedly brought her hope. Although the research vessel ultimately met with misfortune, and no survivors had been found so far, at least it wouldn't be as devastating as a submarine disaster. The hope seen in extreme despair, even if it was as thin as a hair, was as inspiring as the dawn's first light.
"Thank you." Xia Xiaoxiao handed the phone back to Qingmu, looking sincerely into Qingmu eyes.
Qingmu said, "Don't be so polite, I'm Meimei's godfather!"
Xia Xiaoxiao burst out laughing, thinking of Meimei, and the sadness on her face was instantly covered by happiness.
How is Meimei?
"I'm fine, I just miss my mom a little."
"Yes, I was just thinking of going back to see her too!"
In despair after her fruitless search for Situ, Xia Xiaoxiao had originally planned to return to China to visit her daughter. If Situ was gone, her daughter would be her only remaining concern.
But the news Qingmu brought her made her waver again. If her husband was still alive, was he now stranded on a deserted island, barely clothed and starving, waiting for rescue?
Qingmu saw through her thoughts. He originally wanted to suggest that she go on the ship with him to find Situ, but when he thought about the turbulent and unpredictable situation in the South Pacific and saw Xia Xiaoxiao's extremely beautiful face, he suddenly understood Situ.
"If you miss her, go back and see her. Meimei is growing more and more like you!" he said.
Xia Xiaoxiao seemed a little surprised; she had originally thought that Qingmu would invite her to go to sea with him. She looked at him; beneath his messy hair was a handsome face, his eyes deep and firm, full of wisdom, yet with a touch of childlike confusion, as if he possessed an endless curiosity and pursuit.
She suddenly understood what he meant, just like her husband.
"You two are so alike!" she said.
Qingmu paused for a moment. "What do you mean, 'remarkably similar'?"
Xia Xiaoxiao smiled gently, "In some ways, if you stare at your husband for a while, you might even think that you look alike."
Qingmu laughed and said, "I heard he's famously handsome and can charm every woman in the world."
"You're the same, except you hide it with your appearance," Xia Xiaoxiao said.
Qingmu wasn't narcissistic enough to believe such a thing, and asked, "So, have you decided to go back?"
Xia Xiaoxiao gazed at the surging waves on the sea, lost in thought for a long time. No one knew her husband better than she did. If there was any danger, even Situ couldn't withstand it, so her efforts would be in vain. Perhaps only Qingmu —a man even her husband found mysterious and unfathomable—could be of help.
Sometimes she couldn't understand it. These two men had never met, they didn't know each other, and they even distrusted each other, yet they had a strange, inexplicable trust in each other.
In the most critical moment, Situ asked her to take her daughter back to Wuzhong, not only because Wuzhong was Xia Xiaoxiao's maternal home and the Xia Family's power base, but also because Qingmu was in Wuzhong. Situ said that as long as Qingmu was there, the entire Wuzhong would be safe. What a profound trust that was!
"Okay, I'll listen to you and go back to see Meimei." Xia Xiaoxiao snapped out of her reverie. "I'm leaving Xingzhi's matter... in your care!"
"Okay." Qingmu nodded.
The word "good" felt like a promise weighing as heavy as a mountain to Xia Xiaoxiao.
She smiled, thinking to herself, "That's men for you! She's probably met the two most outstanding men in the world; one became her husband, and the other became her daughter's godfather."
Qingmu suddenly remembered something, took off his backpack, and took out the glass jar filled with Polish rectified vodka that Su Huilan had put inside.
"This was just discovered a few days ago, taken from a woman. Take a look, is it the chip that Laboratory No. 19 was researching?"
Xia Xiaoxiao took it with a puzzled look and examined it carefully through the glass in the sunlight.
"That's right, this is the experimental chip," she said with certainty, then added with a hint of doubt, "But as far as I know, both the experimenter and the test subject are dead. Moreover, this chip appears to be an enhanced version of the fourth-generation product, but Laboratory No. 19 only researched the fourth-generation product; the fifth-generation product was still in the design phase when the lab suffered a devastating blow."
"You mean this was developed in another lab?"
"We can't be sure right now; we need to take it back and study it further."
Is it possible that Laboratory No. 19 is still around?
"Impossible. If it's still there, then it's being secretly controlled by someone."
"Could it be Dream Society?" Qingmu asked with some concern.
"I don't know." Xia Xiaoxiao also felt the situation was serious. "If that's really the case, it's terrifying. As far as I know, Laboratory No. 19 has several other very advanced projects, some even more incredible than our chip project."
She then inquired in detail about how Qingmu obtained the chip, saying, "This kind of chip can't be studied with ordinary equipment; it has to be sent to an advanced laboratory."
"Didn't you want to go back to Wuzhong to see Meimei? Why don't you go see Professor Mei?" Qingmu said. "It's just that going through customs might be a bit troublesome."
Xia Xiaoxiao nodded and said, "Okay, I'll figure something out with customs."
Qingmu knew she was also a very capable person, so he didn't say anything more.
At this moment, a group of people came out of the camp. Apart from the base staff, they were probably rescuers who came to ask for supplies. Su Huilan and Petru also came out. A beautiful and elegant woman and a big man with Redbeard and red hair were very eye-catching in the crowd. Another person who was equally eye-catching was a tall officer in military uniform.
The officer strode confidently toward Qingmu and Xia Xiaoxiao. Upon reaching them, he smiled politely at Qingmu and asked Xia Xiaoxiao, "Is this your friend?"
Xia Xiaoxiao introduced, "Oh, this is Qingmu, my China friend, we were born in the same city." She then said to Qingmu, "This is William, my friend in the navy, he's always been helping me."
William extended his hand and said, "Hello, I am Lieutenant Commander William Halsey, captain of the Swordfish, Joint Task Force of the Pacific Ocean Third Fleet."
Qingmu shook hands with him numbly. "Oh, your name is really long. My name is Qingmu."
William chuckled, then turned to Xia Xiaoxiao: "Shouldn't we be going?"
Xia Xiaoxiao smiled at Qingmu and said solemnly, "Please."
Qingmu nodded and said, "Spend some time with Meimei, don't worry about things here."
William chivalrously escorted Xia Xiaoxiao away from the shore, heading towards the pier where warships were docked in the distance. He heard William ask her, "What are you holding in your hand?"
Xia Xiaoxiao shook the glass jar. "A marine specimen. I'm taking it back to China."