Back in 2000, shortly after TPC was announced.

At that time, TPC was just a grassroots organization, and its internal structure was a framework composed of multiple organizations.

This includes the Oceanographic Research Society, a subordinate department of the World Voyage Company, which is the predecessor of today's oceanographic survey team.

World Voyage is nominally a cruise company specializing in maritime transportation, but in fact it has some "part-time jobs" that are not very legal.

Salvaging shipwrecks or unknown treasures on the high seas is one of the side businesses of World Voyage.

At the beginning, Iwama was a newly recruited diver of the World Voyage Company, and was specially assigned to the Oceanographic Research Society to be responsible for research work.

After a period of time, it is not a long run-in period.

Iwama managed to gain the trust of the management of the Marine Research Society, and then joined the "day-to-day" of opening a side business for the company.

From the beginning of the discomfort, to the later habitual......

Just when Iwama thought that such days would continue until the World Voyage Company collapsed.

A sudden commission disrupted the trajectory of his life.

According to the employer, they needed World Voyage to help them go to the South Pacific to salvage the wreckage of a falling satellite.

The specific address is located between the Klimos Islands and New Caledonia, and the depth of the dive is about 1,000 meters.

The information provided by the employer is very detailed, not only with coordinates, depth, but also with sketches of salvage targets.

Therefore, as long as the company goes over, finds the wreckage of the satellite according to the map, and then brings it back to the surface of the sea, it can complete this lucrative task.

Generally speaking, a deep dive mission of this caliber is only possible for the most elite divers of the Voyage Company.

As a newly recruited diver, Iwama naturally does not have this qualification.

But he was fortunate enough to be selected by the headquarters to join the salvage team as a substitute.

It is said that in order to ensure the smooth progress of this salvage mission, the company deliberately spent a lot of money to build a new deep-sea submersible using the technology and patents shared by TPC.

However, it wasn't until they arrived at the target location that the group found that it was far more strange than everyone imagined.

There is no trace of life on the surface of the sea without waves.

Not even the most tenacious seaweeds are found in this area.

According to the information found by the locals afterwards, this sea area has been like this since ancient times.

Therefore, in some local indigenous beliefs, it is also regarded as the residence of the "god of the sea", and no foreign creatures are allowed to invade it.

The name "Dragon Palace" is derived from this.

In view of this particular situation, the salvage team hesitated for a long time.

Only then did the salvage task officially start under the repeated urging of the employer.

To everyone's surprise, the salvage process went surprisingly smoothly, and the divers recovered the wreckage of the satellite in the mouth of the employer with little to no difficulty.

It was a disc about 70 centimeters in diameter and less than 10 centimeters thick.

In addition to the shape and material that do not look like the wreckage of a satellite, the disc is also engraved with various unknown patterns and words.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Then you can tell it's not a satellite wreckage."

With a look of disdain on his face, Iwama was clearly impressed by the details of the salvage.

However, after the disdain, a faint sadness suddenly appeared on Iruma's face.

"It's a pity that we didn't pay much attention to these ...... at the time"

"If you hadn't reminded me last time, I'm afraid I wouldn't have known until I died, and it turned out that their deaths were not 'accidents'."

As he said this, Iruma's gaze lingered on the old photograph for a long time.

Since the completion of that salvage mission, the members who participated in the mission at that time have left the company one after another, and then mysteriously disappeared or died for various reasons.

It wasn't until someone from the Galvin Company appeared and offered to ask for some of the information before the dissolution of the Voyage Company.

Iwama realized that something seemed wrong?

"So, you went and investigated the employer at the time alone."

It was obviously a questioning sentence, but Lu Xuan's tone was very affirmative when he said this.

"Yes, I went to investigate the truth of the year on my own afterwards."

With a deep sigh, Iwama seemed to regret his impulsiveness and ignorance.

"The results of the investigation confirmed my suspicion that my friends did not die accidentally."

"Their deaths are related to the wreckage that was salvaged in the first place......"

"Only I survived because I didn't have direct contact with the wreckage."

There was a brief pause in his voice, and Iwama sighed again.

"But I wasn't so lucky this time."

"In the process of investigating employers, I was discovered by 'them'......"

"I managed to escape from 'them', but 'they' set their sights on my wife and daughter."

couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, only to hear Lu Xuan ask in a strange low voice.

"Is that all?"

This time, it was Iruma's turn to be a little stunned.

"It's just...... Such? ”

Listening to the meaning of Lu Xuan's words, what happened to him didn't seem to be a big deal.

"Forget it, then I'll ask another question."

Suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed to a person in the old photo, Lu Xuan continued to ask.

"Do you know this person?"

Among the five people in the old photo, there are crew members, divers, first mates, and captains, which indeed look like the standard personnel of a standard salvage company.

But in addition, there is a man dressed like an adventurer in the photo.

Combined with the story Iwama had previously described, the adventurer-like man seemed a little out of place.

"Him?"

After Lu Xuan's reminder, Iwama suddenly shook his head.

Immediately afterward, Iwama looked at the man in the photo, and the blankness on his face gradually turned to horror.

"How...... Possible?! ”

His eyes widened in disbelief, and an inexplicable chill suddenly arose in the depths of Iruma's heart.

No matter how much Iwama remembered his former friends in his mind, he could never remember the name of the fifth person.

If it weren't even for Lu Xuan's deliberate awakening, Iwama wouldn't have realized that there was one more person in the photo.

But herein lies the crux of the matter.

Although Iwama is pretty sure he doesn't know the fifth person in the photo.

But the man gave him a very familiar feeling.

This familiarity is not an illusion caused by memories that are too far away.

On the contrary, Iwama always felt as if he had met this man not long ago, but he couldn't remember where he had met him.

This contrast between reality and memory made Iruma look up blankly.

"This man...... Who is it? ”

——Commuter/Recommended Ticket——

(End of chapter)