The Ocean (Radio Edit)
(Is this song appropriate for the occasion?)
Midnight, 12:20 AM.
Abandoned drainage gates on the outskirts of Port of Newark.
The night wind, carrying exhaust fumes from burning heavy diesel fuel, howled all the way from the Atlantic Ocean.
The Deep lay listlessly on the floating platform in front of the drainage gate, gazing at the barren sea surface in the distance.
The bright moonlight shone down, making the entire sea exceptionally calm, with only the rippling waves and not a single boat in sight.
"Fuck... This damn New Jersey water is full of condoms, sanitary napkins, and industrial heavy metals. Even shit smells better than this."
The Deep creature, its back pressed against the gate pipe, exhaled a long breath of stale air.
He has been on guard here for six hours since he received John's assignment tonight.
There was less than an hour left before the equipment handover mentioned in the intelligence report.
So, the idle the Deep simply floated listlessly on the surface, its memories slowly sinking back to the scene before its departure—
Frenchie pulled four sheets of paper from the broken printer in the cubicle.
The paper was filled with fragmented data extracted from the intelligence provided by Carol.
The document contained snippets of encrypted communications, several deceptive cargo tracking numbers, and corresponding port arrival schedules.
" Polaris ": Pier 3, docked at 1:40 a. m.
" Aegis ": Pier Compound V, docked at 2:05 AM.
In total, the two ships arrived at the port less than half an hour apart, and their unloading windows highly overlapped.
Therefore, Frenchie drew three heavy red circles above the timeline to represent the time points that could be extracted from the crane unloading and trailer transfer.
At this moment, everyone in the base gathered around.
"We need to handle two locations within 35 minutes, separated by a deep water area of over 300 meters."
"If the loading and unloading processes at both terminals are carried out simultaneously, the window of opportunity left for us is less than twenty-five minutes."
"Therefore... only the Deep can meet this condition."
John analyzed the situation, looking at the Deep, its face filled with despair.
Then, the scene shifts.
The unfortunate the Deep appeared beneath this hidden drainage sluice gate, floating on the surface, munching on a freshly opened chocolate bar.
Just then, a deep whistle suddenly rang out outside the sluice gate, piercing the night wind and causing fine ripples to spread across the water.
The Deep suddenly snapped back to reality, instinctively shrinking halfway into the water, leaving only his eyebrows and eyes visible as he gazed towards the harbor.
Behind the breakwater, several moving searchlights were slowly approaching.
The Deep Hai stuffed the entire chocolate bar into his Barry, his eyes wide open—
That was clearly a pilot ship.
This means that the Polaris arrived seven minutes earlier than they had predicted.
"Damn, are you in such a hurry to see Jesus?"
The Deep cursed under his breath, casually tossed the chocolate bar wrapper onto the shore, and then...
"Whoosh!"
It plunges straight into the water, like a smooth water bullet cutting into the water column, with seawater rushing up along its side and the Deep rushing down to the bottom at an extremely fast speed.
It is worth mentioning that since the Deep gained the ability to control water, it has never relied on physical body movements to swim.
Instead, it controls the flow rate of the water around it, creating a sense of "propulsion" to accelerate forward.
It's more than three times faster than before.
"Gurgle~ gurgle."
The waterways of Port of Newark are only a dozen meters deep on average, and the bottom is covered with heavy metal sludge from decades of industrial discharge, resulting in extremely low visibility.
But with his evolved senses in the Deep, he can establish a faint connection with any organism in the water.
Including conches, seaweed, corals... they share their senses from their existence in this body of water with the Deep.
Therefore, even in the Deep, in trenches where no light can be seen in the middle of the night.
It can also obtain near-three-dimensional particles provided by these " Cornetto " beings in one's mind through "perceptual sharing".
These tiny white particles can disrupt the physical fault structure of an entire body of water.
Even the faint resonance caused by the propellers of distant ships forms a clear three-dimensional outline.
"..."
In the trench, the Deep silently sank to a certain depth, and then, with a thought, stood upright in the water.
"Hey buddy, can someone pick me up?"
With the emergence of the Deep mental fluctuations.
Not long after, the silt at the bottom of the trench began to churn violently, and a huge black shadow burst through the water from the depths of the current.
It was a female great white shark over five meters long, its body covered in rough, grayish-white skin.
Above his right eye is an old scar from when he was slashed by a speargun years ago.
(Why female? This will be on the test.)
The Deep affectionately named her " Aisha," Aisha, the Queen of Sharks.
"Whoosh--"
Aisha swam affectionately to the Deep's side, nuzzled the Deep's waist with her broad snout, and made a low, soft gurgling sound.
The Deep grinned, straddled Aisha's dorsal fin, gripped her strong back skin tightly with both hands, and then squeezed his legs together.
Aisha flicked her tail fins and surged forward with the undercurrent.
" Aisha, you're fucking awesome!"
The Deep lay on Aisha's broad back, whispering in her ear.
"Once this job is done, I'll go to the best Japanese restaurant in Manhattan and get you ten of the highest-grade bluefin tuna, the kind that's so fat and juicy..."
What nuclear wastewater? What I'm bringing you is an absolute gem, practically impossible to find on the market! Absolutely no radiation, and there's plenty to go around!
Upon hearing this, Aisha's eyes lit up, and she excitedly wiggled her huge tail fin before leaping up in a burst of speed.
The turbid waves surged, heading straight for Pier No. 3.
At 1:35 a. m., the " Polaris " successfully docked.
The massive gantry crane emitted a loud grinding sound as several thick steel cables slowly lifted an ultra-heavy explosion-proof container from its boom.
On the dock, dozens of Vought special forces teammates, armed with assault rifles, patrolled vigilantly in several formations, each carrying a searchlight.
The blinding beams of searchlights sliced across the water's surface, scanning for any potential instability.
"Gurgle gurgle..."
The Deep rode on Aisha's back, lurking in the turbid current directly beneath the container, looking up at the massive steel behemoth weighing tens of tons.
"Holy crap... this thing is fucking huge, heavier than the bathtub on the roof of the Vought Tower."
The Deep tried to manipulate the water flow to push the bottom of the container, but the container only wobbled slightly and did not react otherwise.
The heavy military explosion-proof box, weighing tens of tons, combined with the deadlock of the gantry crane's hydraulic lock, is completely useless against even a small flow of water.
Are you suggesting I break it with my bare hands?
"Fuck, what do we do? We can't let Aisha bite the steel cable with her teeth... that would fill her teeth with wire."
The rusty brain in the Deep was spinning frantically.
At that moment, he suddenly saw the underwater pile foundation of the gantry crane.
No... such a big iron lump working in water would definitely get scalded.
If the machine gets too hot, you have to frantically drink water to cool it down, and the water flow near the water inlet will be extremely strong.
Maybe... something can be used to block it?
Thinking of this, the Deep patted Aisha on the back, indicating that she should go around to the side of the pile foundation and slide in that direction toward the cooling pump inlet underwater at Pier No. 3.
Then, she just hung there in the water, her eyes closed.
He quickly extended the commands from his mind to the waters within a hundred-meter radius.
"Hey guys, block that drain hole! Shut it down!"
At the same time as brainwave transmission.
Hundreds of blue crabs and tens of thousands of small fish that had been sleeping in the nearby waters were drawn by him, and like a black surging wave, they rushed madly toward the underwater grid of the gantry crane.
In less than a minute, the densely packed shellfish and mud completely blocked the cooling water intake.
Soon, the main motor of the gantry crane on the shore emitted a piercing short-circuit sound due to overload.
"It works... I'm a fucking genius!"
A flicker of wild joy flashed in the Deep's eyes.
Just as the gantry crane overheated, causing the hydraulic arm to shake violently, the steel cable reached its limit of tension.
The Deep suddenly leaped off Aisha's back, twisting his waist and swinging his arms.
The surrounding tens of tons of seawater are compressed into an extremely thin stream, which flows directly towards the lubrication bearing of the gantry crane's main load-bearing pulley.
"Gurgle gurgle..."
The high-pressure water jet quickly washed away the grease in the bearing, accompanied by high-temperature overload.
The massive pulley system shattered instantly under the immense elastic potential energy!
"Thump--"
With a loud bang, the steel cable snapped.
The thick cable snapped open suddenly, sweeping across most of the dock, and two heavy trucks were overturned on the spot.
The liquid nitrogen container, weighing tens of tons, swayed violently on the hook, the steel cable spinning continuously due to inertia.
Soon, the unsupported box tilted and crashed down.
With a muffled "thud," the box crashed onto the concrete embankment at the edge of the dock, instantly cracking open a large hole in its shell.
At the instant of the rupture, high-pressure liquid nitrogen, enveloped in thick white mist, surged out of the crack, transforming into thin white pythons that darted erratically along the ground.
The extremely cold air rushed onto the sea surface, and the water immediately erupted with a piercing hissing sound.
Immediately afterwards, the white ice spread outwards at a visible speed, and the surface of several dozen square meters was frozen into a pale white ice shell in the blink of an eye.
The waves crashed against the ice, making a dull thud.
At the same time, the internal circuitry inside the enclosure became brittle and hardened under the ultra-low temperature, breaking off one after another.
Completely invalid.
At this point, chaos erupted on the shore. Vought's guards were shouting at the top of their lungs, and the sirens were blaring incessantly, creating utter confusion.
"Pfft... ptooey!"
Not long after, half a head suddenly surfaced in the water.
The Deep stared at the "masterpiece" on the shore, spat out the frozen ice shards in its mouth, and then patted Aisha's nose triumphantly.
"Damn, finally got one sorted out... There's still one left, let's go, Princess Aisha!"
The Deep roughly calculated the time; there were about 20 minutes left.
So he mounted Aisha again, swung his legs to tear through the waves, and led the swarm of sharks straight toward Compound V.
It was exactly 2:00 AM.
The Aegis was docked at the port as usual.
Because of the accident at Pier 3, security at Pier Compound V was instantly tightened several times over.
Six more patrol boats equipped with sonar appeared on the water, towing detection arrays as they cruised back and forth.
They were pushing the sonar Pulse underwater in circles, trying to find the "culprit."
"Fuck... Aisha, cover me up underneath."
The Deep turned on a searchlight, then shifted its position from its fins to its belly, and then, tightly pinching its gills, inch by inch, it moved forward against the shadow of the hull.
Aisha minimized the swing of her tail, and the two of them, using the foundation as cover, slowly passed through the scanning gap.
This time, it clearly took twice as long as last time to find the location of the sewage outlet on the bottom of the ship.
"Gurgle gurgle..."
The Deep gripped the protruding edge of the drain valve, using his entire back and waist to forcefully twist the valve at an angle against the direction of the water flow.
At this point, the seawater, blocked from flowing out, backflowed through the pipes, immediately creating a tiny vortex near the sewage outlet.
The backflow of water tugged at the steel plates at the bottom of the ship, causing the nearly tens of thousands of tons of hull to tilt slightly... The angle was subtle, and the reaction was not obvious.
But the Deep, close to the hull, one could clearly hear the low groans coming from deep within the steel plates.
As the angle tilted, the container in mid-air was swayed and its direction was skewed. The metal corner slammed hard against the ship's side guardrail, making a dull thud.
At the same time, the entire boom suddenly tightened with a "creak".
Now!
Without hesitation, the Deep raised his hand and unleashed a high-pressure water jet, which struck the crane's main power control board squarely.
The sparks crackled a few times above the water's surface before going out, and a puff of white smoke immediately rose from the control panel.
The sling suddenly loosened, and the steel cable plummeted downwards.
"Buzz--"
The container tilted to one side, smashed through the secondary deck, and then with a loud crash, sliced through the water and plunged straight into the sea.
"Why is this so strange..."
The sound of something sinking to the bottom gradually rose up.
The Deep immediately sensed something was wrong—the sound was too muffled, completely lacking the sound of machinery breaking apart.
Feeling uncertain, the Deep quickly manipulated the water flow to shrink downwards, and then took a closer look.
Sure enough, at the last moment before the box entered the water, a sealed protective shell popped out, completely encasing the core compartment.
The Deep operation was on the right track; some seawater had indeed seeped in, and the power strip was emitting small plumes of black smoke.
But looking through the gaps in the protective layer, the chips were completely intact and untouched.
"Shit..."
The Deep, suspended in the water, stared at the pile of scrap metal for a long time.
Damn it, I went through all that trouble, took such a long detour to get in, and all I got was a lousy shell?
"No... we're running out of time!"
The Deep glanced at his watch, wondering whether to fire another shot, when a sudden chill ran down his back, from the back of his neck all the way to his tailbone.
He sensed that the water behind him had suddenly calmed down from its ripples.
It's as if the flowing seawater was forcibly sucked out by a force, leaving only a huge, empty vacuum.
And it was at this moment!
Aisha's dorsal fin suddenly stood upright in response, and her tail lashed out violently.
Get out of the way!
"Holy crap! What's going on?!"
After being injected with the New Compound V, the Deep reacted much faster than before. With an extreme sideways movement, it used the recoil from the water to suddenly dart away and gain a distance.
Glug glug...
Numerous water bubbles churned and rolled across the entire field of vision in the Deep, partially obscuring his view.
"Varied..."
Just as he was feeling confused in the Deep and wanted to ask Aisha what was going on...
A sudden change has occurred!
"Boom--!"
A straight blue-black shadow tore through the water layer, flashing past in an extremely short time, its speed collapsing into a mere streak.
The Deep only managed to catch a glimpse of a blurry outline.
Before he could even see anything clearly, he was struck squarely in the chest by an enormous impact.
"Splash!"
The water layer within a radius of tens of meters was completely ripped up, and the surging water, carrying mud and sand, rushed in all directions.
The recoiling water pressure acted like a wall, then collapsed with a roar, crashing heavily onto the surrounding waves.
"Vomit--"
Faced with this enormous impact, the entire body of the Deep was like a miniature mayfly, directly knocked to the ground and sent flying backward.
A metallic sweetness welled up in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, which spread into a hazy red mist in the dark water.
"What exactly is it...?"
With the resonance of ocean perception.
The constantly drifting white particles in the Deep's brain began to gather.
Then, gradually, a muscular body appeared, dressed in a high-necked, old-fashioned blue military uniform, with white eyes and an aura of righteousness.
That was... a person?
(I went to see " Brand New Day " today, and I didn't forget you guys even while watching the movie. Keep updating, hahaha)