Darkness is synonymous with this world.

In the abyss of the ocean, nearly four thousand meters above the surface ice, no light could penetrate and tear through the infinite darkness that had existed since the dawn of the planet.

And under this cold and icy ocean that cannot be observed by the naked eye, it is not a barren and dead silence.

On the contrary, due to its special environment, a rich and diverse group of strange creatures has been derived, which have multiplied and evolved in the darkness for hundreds of millions of years.

Especially in some special areas with frequent geothermal eruptions, there are a large number of colorful and different organisms.

From time to time, in the darkness, you can see a large submarine plain paved with countless shimmering mosses, sitting on the undulating seabed.

It is like a mysterious deep-sea terraced rice field, dotting this lightless world.

Occasionally, schools of glowing fish swim by.

The tens of thousands of points of light of various colors, like bright stars, converge into ribbons like the Milky Way, shuttling through the sky in the darkness.

There are also countless large jellyfish, which exude surging fluorescence throughout their bodies, and under the wriggling of their tentacles, they seem to be strange ghosts lost in the deep sea, wandering aimlessly out of thin air.

A variety of strange creatures make up this lively underwater world.

It seems that even the eternal darkness has become no longer lonely in this silent noise.

After another two days of sailing, the fleet finally managed to get out of the safe passage of cargo in the rock tunnel and reach the edge of the hydrothermal wasteland on the ninth day after departing from the city of Sil.

At this point, the three-dimensional stereoscopic projection presented on the sonar display has finally changed significantly.

The rock formations that had always hung over the head were gone, replaced by an endless expanse and emptiness.

It was as if the clouds had cleared, and it was refreshing.

Meng Lei knew that from this moment on, the voyage fleet could be regarded as sailing out of the surface rock formations, drilling out of the earth's crust, and returning to the embrace of the sea.

And since arriving in this once thriving sea, the marine environment has also become extremely lively.

In addition to the still frequent harassment of the sea monster race, the fleet finally saw a large number of ordinary sea creatures that were not a threat along the way.

Three- or four-meter-long luminous flying saucer fish are often accompanied by the left and right, and all kinds of strange-shaped deep-sea fish can often be seen swimming outside the cabin.

On the seabed, colorful corals grow in a forest, reflected and embellished by schools of fish, like a vast psychedelic jungle, exuding an intoxicating charm.

Sailing is no longer boring, as the fleet clears the path of alien sea monsters and weaves through the jungle of coral and algae plants.

As they traveled around the edge of the hydrothermal wasteland, they wandered and lingered, almost oblivious to the unknown threats lurking in the darkness.

At this time, Meng Lei didn't have so much thought to pay attention to the fantastic underwater world outside the cabin.

Others can enjoy the scenery outside the cabin through the porthole or periscope in their spare time.

But Meng Lei, the supreme commander of the expeditionary fleet, actually became the busiest person in the team.

Although the rich and diverse marine environment can bring a touch of fun to the boring voyage, in the same way, with the development of the biological community, the feedback information of abnormal points received by the sonar detector is also increasing by dozens of times!

At a glance, the anomalies on the three-dimensional stereoscopic projection are densely displayed, and there are countless of them!

Mineable plant fibers and bare mineral deposits, as well as ordinary biological activity points and alien sea monster nests, etc., all kinds of anomalies are all over the sonar display, and Meng Lei's scalp is numb and his brain is confused.

It has to be said that the hydrothermal wasteland is indeed a fertile land.

There is a wide variety of resources and an abundance of biomes.

If this is placed at the stage of the Blue Star player's wilderness period, the resources in this sea area can almost meet the coordinated development of players in half of the channel.

But this resource-intensive area has now become a burden for Meng Lei.

It was a huge amount of work to distinguish which were threatening sea monsters and which were harmless fixed-point resources from the massive number of anomalies, and his brain was overloaded all the time.

But in order to ensure that the fleet can sail safely, he has to be on high alert at all times.

In the long run, it's really tiring.

On the second day of arriving at the hydrothermal wasteland, Meng Lei was finally exhausted, his spirit was overwhelmed, and his whole person was groggy.

As a last resort, he could only leave his job temporarily and handed over the work of driving the boat to Huo Ye.

He himself built a comfortable metal lazy chair from the fabrication table in the engineering cabin, and made a soft cushion out of collected plant fibers, and placed the chair in front of the porthole of the command room.

The whole person was lazily lying in the chair, drinking coffee and enjoying the sea view, chatting with Huo Ye without a match.

While taking care of work, I also took a vacation for myself.

There is no way, in order to hurry as soon as possible, he rarely sleeps in the past two days, and if he continues like this, he will be really tired.

And Hans, this guy, has nothing to do, and he also frequents the bridge command room, acting as a commentary for Meng Lei, and introducing some magnificent and splendid scenes along the way with great interest.

The environment around the hydrothermal wasteland, near the safe passage near the Coalition's gathering place, is quite rare.

Many alien natives may not have the opportunity to witness it in their lifetime, and can only appreciate one or two from the video.

On the evening of the ninth day of sailing, as we deepened, more and more alternative scenes appeared in front of us.

"Captain, look, look! That thing is the deep sea black chimney, a wonder that is only unique to the hydrothermal wasteland in Channel 66671, and it is difficult to see it anywhere else! ”

"And besides, do you see that strange thing?

They are not ordinary coral reefs, they are the ruins of ore veins left by pioneers a long time ago, the abandoned buildings and equipment during mining, the testimony of the prosperity of the 66671 channel, and the traces of history that exist in reality beyond written records! ”

In the command room of the bridge, Hans was excited like a child, constantly introducing Meng Lei.

Among all the members of the fleet, there are very few people who have had the experience of going to sea in hydrothermal wasteland, and Hans is one of them, and he has had more than one experience, and he can be regarded as the most familiar with this place.

But even after coming a few times, he was still extremely excited when he saw that rare sea view, not to mention Meng Lei, who saw this strange phenomenon for the first time.

Standing up with a warm teacup, Meng Lei stood in front of the porthole, and was involuntarily attracted by the scene outside the cabin.

I saw that in the boundless darkness of the deep sea, on the seabed where various polyps were scattered and growing, a large number of black chimney-like objects stood very conspicuously.

Billowing smoke erupted from the tops of pillar-like sulphurized sediments, some black and some white.

From time to time, it is still wrapped in dazzling red light, like miniature submarine volcanoes, which are erupting wildly.

The smoke, which contains a large amount of sulfide, often rises to a height of tens of meters, and is only blown away by the turbulent ocean currents around it, and then turns into a mist, carrying white organic matter in the seawater, which is wantonly dispersed on Sunday.

Due to the high temperature in the vicinity, the sea water twisted and boiled, and the lake was out of sight.

The smoke of sulfide, intertwined with black and white, swept like the wind in the field of vision, transformed into various indescribable forms, and finally dissipated into darkness.

The sight, full of strange magical flavors, looked very interesting.

In the vicinity of the hydrothermal eruption vents, through the bright light from the submarine searchlights, you can clearly see that there are a large number of coral reefs with strange shapes, which are very neatly located on the uneven seabed.

In terms of appearance, these reefs have a high degree of unity, as if carved out of a mold.

And it is angular, not like a natural formation.

According to Hans, these strangely shaped coral reefs are the ruins of the ore veins left by the alien pioneers.

They used to be mechanical equipment fixed to the deposit, but because they were not easy to disassemble and transport, they were left in place when the nearby metal was mined.

After years of erosion, the equipment has long been lost in its original appearance, and has become a natural breeding ground for hatching polyps and parasites.

Only from the structure and shape can be roughly discerned, the site looked like in the past.

Along the way, the fleet saw a large number of similar vein sites, as well as large areas of sulphide deposits that towered like stone forests.

The large-scale abandoned buildings stand silently in the deepest depths of the darkness, silently telling the prosperity of this place in the past.

"Awesome, awesome!"

Meng Lei couldn't help but marvel while sipping tea slowly.

"No wonder there are rumors that in the first half of the entire 66671 channel, there are more than 90% of the construction resources, all of which come from here.

Let's try it soon, everyone. 】

"Not really!"

Hans still said excitedly: "The entire 66671 waterway runs through nearly 10,000 kilometers from east to west, and there are more than 20 outposts along the way.

It can be said that the hydrothermal wasteland alone feeds an entire waterway!

The degree of prosperity when the land was opened up can be imagined! ”

Meng Lei nodded thoughtfully, and his heart was also shocked and inexplicable.

"However, we are still on the edge of this sea area, and what we see is only the tip of the iceberg, and the scene that can really appreciate the style of the past is still inside!"

Hans was excited, and seemed to have an inexplicable longing and admiration for the deeper part of this sea.

Hearing him say this, Meng Lei also had expectations and ordered the fleet to speed forward.

Six submarines weaved through darkness and smoke without a moment's pause, heading deeper into the hydrothermal wasteland.

At about ten o'clock in the evening, the fleet traveled more than 60 kilometers and saw the ruins of some even larger complexes.

The ruins are vast, like miniature city-states, larger than the lower districts of the city.

Although the range of the submarine searchlight is limited, the view does not clearly capture the full picture of these buildings.

The three-dimensional projection display, which can be simulated by the sonar display, is a rough reflection of the grandeur of these sites.

With a full two-kilometer sonar detection range, you can see all kinds of architectural traces.

Although dilapidated under the erosion of the sea and time, it still stands tall, silently rooted in the gorgeous and boundless underwater jungle.

Occasionally, you can see some huge and magnificent foundations, which seem to have been abandoned in the dark before they were completed, and I don't know what has happened.

The fleet went all the way, and Meng Lei sighed constantly.

If the Chongming Fleet can occupy such a treasure land rich in resources, then the future development is simply limitless, and any force on either side will have to rush to seek cooperation.

For now, though.

Even if you have such a rich belt, I'm afraid you won't be able to hold it at all.

Not to mention the alliance, even those arms companies and mining tycoons will not put such a piece of fat without fighting or grabbing.

Until the fleet has enough strength to protect itself, it simply cannot hope that it can safely dominate the party.

"Captain, the number of sea monsters will gradually increase from here, and we should probably slow down a little more and not go full speed anymore!"

At twelve o'clock in the evening, the fleet penetrated nearly a hundred kilometers into the hydrothermal wasteland.

Before going to bed, Hans reminded Meng Lei.

In recent days, as the combat ability of the fleet has become higher and higher, and the team cooperation has become stronger and stronger, it is common to encounter a small-scale group composed of a hundred and ten sea monsters, which are basically rampage and kill indiscriminately, without any slowdown.

The strange tides caused by the tidal phenomenon in space do not seem to have affected the edge of the hydrothermal wasteland so far.

Along the way, the largest monster siege the fleet encountered was only a surprise attack by two hundred gray algae crawlers.

Other than that, there is no bigger crisis going on.

The surrounding magnificent seascape and the ruins of the ore veins left by the pioneers of Tia in the past also attracted everyone's attention to some extent, and they relaxed their vigilance against the potential threat in the darkness, including Meng Lei.

However, Hans's reminder sounded the alarm for Meng Lei again.

The hydrothermal wastelands are far from a good place and are notoriously dangerous places within the entire waterway.

Before the spatial tide erupted, there was a large-scale strange tide that far exceeded the number of safe passages, and now that the space tide has fully exploded, no one knows how dense the sea monsters here will be.

So, to be on the safe side.

Before going to bed, Meng Lei called off the fleet and hid in the depths of an abandoned building, preparing to wake up tomorrow before setting sail again.

After days of high-intensity fighting, it was time for a good night's sleep......

82 Chinese Net