Pacific waters. 137 degrees east longitude, 9.5 degrees north latitude.

The sun is shining brightly, and the sky is cloudless. The South Luzon Republic scientific research ship "Truth" is sailing on this vast ocean.

In fact, this is not a research ship in the strict sense of the word – it is converted from a yacht. Its predecessor was the "Imperial Princess" luxury yacht, which originally belonged to a wealthy family on Hong Kong Island. It was returning from Indonesia at the time of the cataclysm, and was subsequently captured by a group of pirates. The luxury yacht changed hands six times over the course of two years before being purchased by Southern Luzon and converted to become one of the most advanced scientific research vessels in the new country.

Wang Yuanwei was lying on a bench on the white deck, a glass of wine in his hand.

He had been in this position for an hour and a half, the ice in his glass melting into water, mixed with the amber liquor.

He was surrounded by three heavily armed guards—all three of whom stood in the heat of the sun for an hour and a half, without moving their positions. They followed the republic's youngest top scientist for three years, knowing that by this time he had fallen into a state of "sluggishness".

This means that he is thinking deeply. Once someone disturbs him at this time, he will inevitably usher in a swearing that will cover his face.

Almost everyone on the ship knew that this powerful young man had an extremely eccentric personality - he cared almost nothing but his own. He can spend four days and four nights alone thinking about certain problems in a daze, or he can babble and curse for three hours because half a glass of water in the room has been moved.

Many people think he is a psychopath. But he has to admit that this is a genius type of neurosis-because many of the devices on this ship that people can barely understand or can't understand at all are basically his handiwork.

However, it is said that he was not like this before.

It is said that once upon a time he was a calm and cautious young man with a slightly shy personality. But as time passed, his personality became more and more eccentric – more and more like his teacher.

Wang Yuanwei never shied away from mentioning his teacher's name, and he never hesitated to praise that teacher — even though some people in the know actually had a lot to say about his teacher's character.

Some say he wears out his brain from long hours of thinking – just like his teacher.

The research ship moved slowly, followed by a flock of seagulls hovering around the stern. In the middle of nowhere, a big bird swept over Wang Yuanwei's head, fluttered its wings and landed on the side of the ship to stand firm, tilted its head to stare at Wang Yuanwei, and then turned its head to comb its feathers.

But just as it was skimming the sky, a flying feather fluttered down—the white feather swirled and gently landed on Wang Yuanwei's forehead.

Then his eyelids fluttered violently.

The three guards exchanged uneasy glances. Take a step back.

Wang Yuanwei opened his eyes. Look straight into the blue sky with a vacant gaze and take a deep breath after three seconds, like a drowning person resurfacing.

Then he frowned, and looked around with anger and anger. And with his left hand, he touched the flying feather on his forehead.

The next moment he saw the bird on the side of the ship. So he straightened up suddenly. Shake the glass out of your hand.

However, his accuracy was a little worse. The glass spilled in mid-air and swept past the seagull. The big bird was frightened and spread its wings and flew into the sky.

Wang Yuanwei immediately roared angrily: "Kill it!" ”

He held out a hand to the bird. Fingertips trembled, repeating again: "Kill it!!" ”

The guard next to him silently and quickly drew the pistol at his waist and fired a random shot into the air. A puddle of blood bloomed in midair, and the seabird fell straight to the surface.

Wang Yuanwei jumped up from the recliner, kicked open the small round table beside him, strode to the side of the boat, and looked into the sea.

There was a small puddle of blood on the sea, which had been left behind by the research ship. He stared at the bloodstain for two seconds, then began to shout again: "Catch it up—get it for me!" ”

This strange order was immediately executed. Another guard strode to the side of the boat, leaped into the water, and shuttled through the waves like a fish, and soon found the carcass of the seagull.

Wang Yuanwei carefully looked at the wet bird carcass and circled it twice. Then he waved his hand solemnly: "Send it for testing—testing...... Crush it for me and check it out......"

The order he issued on this ship was undoubtedly the highest order, and his expression was so solemn and serious. So six staff members hurried over, carefully picked up the bird carcass in gloves, placed it in a transparent box, and transferred it to the laboratory on the lower deck.

And Wang Yuanwei walked away from the guard who was soaked from jumping into the sea as if avoiding the plague god, walked to the side of the boat, and waved to him in disgust: "You just stand there - don't move!" ”

The guard seemed accustomed to this attitude of his, pursed his lips deferentially, and stood under the scorching sun.

He stood for half an hour, the sea water on his body was dried by the sun, and his face was covered with a layer of white sea salt. After another half an hour, two staff members came over with a worried look on their faces and whispered, "Minister...... There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with that thing. ”

Wang Yuanwei looked at him and asked, "Nothing is wrong?" ”

"Yes." "There are several parasites on the body, but they are very common in this type of seabird. A gunshot wound to the head, which was the cause of death. Other than that - everything works fine. ”

Wang Yuanwei twitched the corner of his mouth and let out a long breath.

"Maybe there will be a problem next time." He whispered, as if muttering, "Maybe someone wants to kill me...... That's not exact. ”

He raised his head and glared at the man in front of him, "Maybe you're going to strangle me to death at some point, aren't you?!" ”

The other party took a step back in fear: "Minister-"

Wang Yuanwei snorted, turned his head and waved his hand: "Get out, get out of here!" ”

A few of them retreated as if they had been pardoned.

Wang Yuanwei rubbed his hands, lowered his head and walked to the guard's side, gave him a full collar, and said softly: "It's hard work." ”

The other side stood up expressionlessly.

Wang Yuanwei patted him on the shoulder again: "Protect me." I can't die. ”

The other party replied briefly, "Yes." ”

Wang Yuanwei smiled and sat back in his chair.

The ship has been on the ocean for a month. They're searching for a location, or something.

The anomaly appeared on a night a month ago.

At 137 degrees east longitude and 9.5 degrees north latitude, an anomalous vibration was suddenly detected near the Pacific Ocean. At first, people thought it was a small-scale undersea earthquake, but soon realized that this "earthquake" came strangely – the shaking was very regular.

It vibrates every three hours, ranging from 3.1 on the Richter scale to 5.1 on the peak Richter scale, then weakens and falls silent on the third night.

Over the course of three days, 72 hours, there were 24 vibrations.

And on the same night, a nuclear eruption was detected in the northern part of Siberia, near Murmansk.

The distance between these two points spans half the world, but it's hard not to wonder if there is any subtle connection between the two things.

Wang Yuanwei conducted this ocean-going scientific expedition because of this incident.

In times of peace, it would never have happened to stir up so much because of a single thought, but Wang Yuanwei thinks that perhaps the tremor means that somewhere under the sea there will be a kind of awakening. His proposal was approved by the Prime Minister of the Republic, and the President had no objection to it – in fact his demands would be met as best they could, even if they seemed unthinkable and unreasonable.

But now, a month later, they still haven't found anything. This made Wang Yuanwei more and more irritable, and his temperament became more and more eccentric.

For now he was half-leaning back in his chair, squinting his eyes at the sea in the distance. It is the junction of the sea and the sky, and a bright line separates the two spaces.

He looked at it for a while, and then took the intercom from the hand of the guard next to him: "Did you find anything?" ”

The response was the same - nothing out of the ordinary.

Wang Yuanwei sighed dejectedly, stuffed the intercom back into the guard's hand, and his tone became calm: "You say-could it be that thing has escaped?" Or is it really an earthquake? ”

The guard did not speak. After getting along for a long time, they understood that Wang Yuanwei at this time was actually talking to himself, and he didn't want to hear any possibility that might contradict the results of his thinking.

And Wang Yuanwei really did not show any dissatisfaction with the silence of the guards. He just squinted his eyes again and looked into the distance, and then froze.

Because there is a small black dot at the junction of the sea and the sky. The black dot seemed to be an island...... A semicircular island.

He immediately grabbed the intercom again and yelled, "What's that? What's that ahead?? ”

The intercom quickly returned a message that it could be some kind of large sea creature, perhaps a giant octopus, or a blue whale that was thought to be extinct.

But Wang Yuanwei got up from his chair and shouted angrily: "you, octopus blue whales - they are so long?? ”

As he spoke, he had already pulled the high-powered telescope from the guard and set it up in front of him. Through the electronic lenses, he could clearly see that what he thought was an island was actually the back of some kind of giant sea creature - and what looked like a lonely tree was actually a bone spur growing on its back.

In the process, the thing kept moving—its long spine skimmed over the surface of the sea, and it hadn't seen its tail for nearly thirty seconds. (To be continued......)