"Ephemeris 212, March 20."

"All the cargo has been loaded, we will leave at six o'clock in the afternoon, this voyage is a long way, I am afraid that I will not be able to dock for a long time to rest, while I still have some free time before departure, maybe I can go into the city and relax......"

……

On the central control display in the command room of the Sea Locust bridge,

A thin middle-aged man with a slightly drunk look on his face sat in front of the camera and left a short video.

This is the content of the logbook that Meng Lei found from the command room of the ghost cargo ship.

Regarding the shipping ship's cargo list, Simon and the others rummaged through most of the corners of the cabin, but found nothing.

Perhaps it was eroded by the thalamic fungus, or it may have been buried in the flesh and mycelium that littered the ship, and disappeared into this world forever as the clean-up began.

In conclusion, the investigation of the manifest was inconclusive and could not be used to obtain any useful information.

But none of that matters.

Fortunately, the data black box in the center console of the command room was not too badly damaged.

As soon as Meng Lei got the black box, he immediately returned to the Sea Locust with Gina, and then began to interpret the data content.

The process of interpretation is very smooth,

It didn't take long for Meng Lei to get the video of the ghost cargo ship's logbook this time.

However, judging from the number of videos, the captain of the ship did not record much content, and it is not known whether there is any information about the batch of genetic modification equipment in it.

At more than ten o'clock in the evening, Meng Lei made himself a cup of coffee, sat alone in the command room on the bridge, and patiently investigated.

The first video is very simple, and it is not difficult to find out from the words of the middle-aged man, which is a record of the submarine before it set sail.

There's nothing to scrutinize about the content,

The only useful information is a specific date of departure.

Judging from the date of departure, the departure time of this ship is not short, and nearly half a month has passed since now.

It was probably after the outbreak of the Molten Outpost incident that Meng Lei and the others were on their way back last time.

Thus

The appearance of this batch of genetic modification equipment is most likely unrelated to the conflict between the alliance and the segregated organization.

However, the relationship cannot be completely ruled out.

It's certainly not that easy to get your hands on this batch of equipment, so the delivery time doesn't make up for everything.

Perhaps, this is a part of the separation plan that has been designed for a long time?

Emptying his messy thoughts, Meng Lei patiently clicked on the second video.

"Ephemeris 212, March 20, six p.m."

"All the preparations before departure are over, and the contents of this mission are as follows.

The voyage was mainly responsible for food support for the Mondstadt Gathering Area of Channel 66548, starting from the Sinia Food Processing Factory and passing through Channels 66623 and 66671, with a total distance of 5,400 kilometers and an estimated time of one month.

3,500 tonnes of food resources and 500 tonnes of various food raw materials.

A total of 42 crew members were involved in the transport mission, which was registered at the Sinia Food Processing Outpost.

All the staff are in good condition, there are no symptoms of any cases, all the test values have reached the standard, there is no hidden danger of navigation, and they can set sail at any time......"

A templated record of the voyage, spoken from the slightly hoarse accent of a middle-aged man.

There was only less than six hours between the content of the first video, and the middle-aged man's body seemed to be more drunk, and his eyes were still slightly tired, but with a different kind of satisfaction.

At the end, the middle-aged man added.

"Oh, I love the Sinia Food Processing Station, the bar is heavenly, the girls are hospitable and the quality is even better than the city of Sill, it's so special!"

With that said, the video ends.

Although there is no nutrition, it can be seen that the middle-aged captain is indeed sensitive.

Meng Lei directly ignored the last part of the video, held a cigarette in his right hand, and gently tapped the desktop of the console with his left hand, his eyes fell into contemplation.

Judging by what this video provides, there is nothing special about this ghost cargo ship.

Except for the extremely long distance of the total voyage, more than 5,000 kilometers, which is more exaggerated than the voyage of the shipwreck of the Ceres, everything is normal.

Among them, there is no mention of the batch of genetic modification equipment.

Meng Lei couldn't tell whether this batch of goods had already existed when it set sail, or whether it had been secretly added somewhere on the way.

"From the food processing station, the goods must be crowded when they are loaded on the ship, and if it is a smuggled product, in order to avoid being discovered, it should not have existed at that time, so it seems that this batch of goods is likely to be halfway onto the ship......"

Meng Lei groaned secretly, and suddenly a sense of powerlessness rose from the bottom of his heart.

If his guess was correct, the origin of the shipment could almost be said to be impossible to investigate.

The deep and dark alien ocean is vast, not to mention that there is no such thing as cameras in the channel to monitor along the way, just find a hidden corner away from the safe channel, and quietly complete the transfer of smuggled goods in the dark, this matter is impossible to find out at all.

In such an environment, the contraband can be transported in a fair and bright manner, and the alliance does not have so much manpower and energy to supervise on the way.

As a result, with the death of those in the know, any suspected smuggling items will lose clues.

The information about the client will be kept secret forever, buried in the boundless darkness.

Meng Lei sighed heavily,

After pondering for a long time, he clicked on the third video and continued to watch it patiently.

Although he was frustrated by this discovery, he still had a glimmer of hope and tried to find some other clues from the following logbook.

However, it is regrettable.

The ghost cargo ship's logbook was already very small, and the captain didn't seem to like to be very fond of recording what happened during the voyage.

All the content is the same, a brief explanation of the sailing location and the safety of the goods.

Other than that, there is no more information.

Only in one video, there was a small episode that was more than the others, which caught Meng Lei's attention.

It was the penultimate video of the entire logbook by time, and it took place three days ago.

At the time, the ghost cargo ship had not yet entered the cargo aisle of Channel 66671 and was still navigating through a tunnel in the rock formations of another nearby channel.

When the emaciated middle-aged captain reported the current coordinates, a crew member who looked like the first mate suddenly walked in from outside the command room.

When the hatch opened, he didn't know that the captain was making a video recording, and directly reported:

"Captain, they're coming!"

After saying this, he noticed the scene in the command room.

So he immediately shut up, turned around and walked out again.

Just after he left, the middle-aged captain immediately dropped a closing sentence, and the content of the video came to an abrupt end.

This sudden episode didn't explain anything, but Meng Lei faintly felt that something was wrong.

"They are coming", who is this "they" referring to?

At that time, the submarine was in a rock tunnel away from the outpost, and under normal circumstances, it would not have been possible to run into other passing ships.

Taking a step back, even if it was a chance encounter along the way, the two ships would pass by.

At the top of the sky, at most, I politely say hello with a short-distance communication system.

There are more cases of strange misses, after all, no one knows anyone.

But the feeling revealed by the words of the first officer in the video is obviously known to the other party, and even, there seems to be a hint of waiting for the other party in it.

This situation is obviously not normal.

"Could it be that the 'they' that this crew member is referring to are the principals of the genetic modification equipment? The two sides chose to transfer the equipment in a remote area away from the outpost, and then transport it to another place by transport boat? ”

Meng Lei frowned slightly, lying on his back on the chair in the command room, staring at the ceiling, and fell into deep thought.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was a great possibility, and that the truth might be as he had guessed.

However, there is no evidence to support this fact, and everything can only remain at the stage of speculation.

And, even if he finds evidence that his guess is right.

However, the identity of the consignor of this batch of goods includes the destination where the goods are to be delivered, as well as the ultimate purpose of the other party's smuggling of this batch of goods.

Everything is still unknown,

The answers to these questions are not at all possible from the logbook alone.

"Forget it, all the members of the ghost ship have become vegetative, the clues are all broken, and the truth is completely impossible to investigate, so let's end this matter......"

In the end, after checking the contents of the log several times repeatedly, and still no new discoveries, Meng Lei had no choice but to give up.

The existence of this batch of smuggled goods is very secretive, and it is deliberately hidden by the captain.

Even if there are still people alive on board, it is estimated that it will be difficult to know the inside story.

And now, all the more than 40 members of the ghost ship were parasitized by the thalamus and turned into strange plant lifeforms, and they were wiped out by Simon and others, and none of them were spared.

Under such circumstances, how easy is it to investigate and collect evidence?

It is no exaggeration to say that even if all the ancient and modern Chinese and foreign plus two-dimensional detectives are found, they are helpless in the face of this kind of thing.

What's more, Meng Lei is not a professional in this area.

However, the careful Meng Lei still silently recorded the coordinates of the location of the ghost ship three days ago.

This matter was strange from beginning to end, and he planned to report the situation to Chen Yu and Roger after the communication was restored, and see if they could analyze anything from it.

It would be nice to find some useful information for the current situation, and if not, there would be no loss.

Anyway, this time I prostituted two valuable genetic modification equipment, and I already made a lot of money.

Even if you don't talk about the value of these two devices themselves, they are of great significance for the future development of the Chongming fleet.

At least it opened a new door for Meng Lei, giving him the opportunity to step into the field of genetic modification and get in touch with this cutting-edge biotechnology in advance.

In particular, he has a greater advantage than the alliance in this regard!

For this reason alone, the value of these two devices cannot be measured in monetary terms, which is the most crucial thing.

Turn off the logbook video and take the data black box out of the console.

Meng Lei looked at the time, it was already more than eleven o'clock in the evening.

At this time, the maintenance personnel of the voyage fleet were still working overtime on the ghost ship, and the combat team was also continuing to carry out the clean-up work.

The E-class transport ship had been so badly eroded by the thalamus that it would not be easy to get back into normal operation.

According to the judgment of Byron's two A-class engineers, judging from the current maintenance progress, it will take at least ten hours to completely repair the ship, at least to get it on the road stably.

However, it would take only six hours of work to simply restore the power system of the ballast tanks, keep the pumps running normally, and maintain the buoyancy of the submarine.

Once the ballast tank's pumps are repaired, the beacon station can be repaired with confidence.

Before going to bed, Meng Lei arranged the order of the shift for night work.

Then Byron gave them that, after restoring the buoyancy of the submarine, they gave priority to the problem of the beacon station.

The maintenance of the transport boat was not in a hurry, anyway, the ship could not run here, but the signal could not be restored for a while, and he always felt a little uneasy.

In such a deep-sea environment, losing contact with the outside world is a terrible thing.

As if abandoned by the whole world, turned into rootless duckweed, and as if exiled to the desolate and lonely deep space of the universe, endless loneliness and depression can easily make people have mental problems.

After explaining the work arrangement, Meng Lei did not continue to stay up late.

Back in the captain's room, the exhaustion accumulated from the previous battle against the vegetative people exploded, and he didn't even bother to change his clothes, Meng Lei fell directly on the bed in civilian clothes and fell into a deep sleep.

This sleep can be said to be dark.

The injury to his left arm, coupled with the physical and mental exhaustion, made the quality of sleep surprisingly good.

When I woke up, I felt a lot clearer and radiant.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Meng Lei got up and washed up briefly, and then came to the restaurant to prepare breakfast.

During this time, he asked about the progress of the work through the headphones.

After a night's time, the power system of the E-class transport boat has been restored to normal under the emergency repair of everyone.

The reactor and sonar transmitter of the beacon station have also been repaired under the guidance of two A-class engineers, but there are still loopholes in the external structure, and water seeps into the interior of the site from time to time.

It is estimated that in another hour or so, it will be completely repaired.

But at least, by this time the signal was on, and everything was back to normal, including the navigation system.

For this result, Meng Lei is still quite satisfied.

After making breakfast, he immediately brought a hand-held tablet, ready to report Chen Yu's safety first.

It has been almost a day since the voyage fleet lost contact with her hometown, and Chen's mother must have been unable to sleep and eat, and she felt extremely anxious, so she had to say hello to him first.

however

When the lock screen interface was opened, Meng Lei's right hand holding Kuaizi suddenly froze, and his heart was also groaned.

In the middle of the screen, there are more than 70 unread messages!

Meng Lei suddenly had an ominous premonition and felt that something was wrong.

"It's less than twenty-four hours, how can there be so much information, is there something wrong at home?!"