Chapter 83: The Empty Ship

Why had this ship stopped in such a place? With a hint of curiosity, Fang Yuan poked his head out and, seeing no one on deck, leaned out further, half his body exposed. How strange—why was there not a single soul on board?

He listened intently and confirmed it: the ship was utterly deserted.

“Master, could it be that everyone on this ship was eaten by a giant shark?” The usually talkative Chongchong had grown quiet lately; hearing his sudden voice startled Fang Yuan.

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out if we take a look.” With those words, Fang Yuan pulled himself up and landed lightly on the deck.

He glanced at the wheelhouse—empty, as expected.

The ship was well-equipped, and, surprisingly, there was a cup of steaming coffee. Clearly, someone had been here just moments earlier. Fang Yuan entered the cabin and saw at once the spacious interior, with a square table and cushions laid out on either side.

On the table sat two cups of coffee. He reached out and touched one—the coffee was still warm. This meant someone had been here very recently. With this realization, Fang Yuan grew wary.

From a distance earlier, he thought he’d seen two figures on deck. How could they have vanished in the blink of an eye?

Circling the ship to be sure, Fang Yuan found no one and didn’t dare linger. He slipped back into the sea and disappeared beneath the waves.

In the ocean, Fang Yuan felt as if he were a great fish, moving freely—though he lacked the graceful lines of a mermaid. Watching the fish darting around him and the shifting play of light, he had the sense of drifting through a fantastical dream, untouched by reality.

Suddenly, in the bright water, he saw a dark object plunging into the sea. The next moment, a thunderous roar echoed from above.

This is bad!

Alarm bells rang in Fang Yuan’s mind. He could guess the identity of that falling object.

There was no time to ponder why it had appeared—he shot downwards toward the depths as fast as he could.

Seconds later, not far behind, came an explosive detonation.

The power of a depth charge is immense; the force unleashed in that instant is more than any human could withstand. Everything within the blast radius was annihilated. Even fish farther out were killed or maimed in droves. The school of fish that had just been circling Fang Yuan was now reduced to shreds.

Fortunately, he had reacted quickly and avoided the worst of the blast. Still, he felt as though a pair of giant hands were pressing him relentlessly toward the abyss.

Here, nearly a thousand meters deep, the pressure was already extraordinary. Coupled with the force of the explosion, Fang Yuan felt like the filling in a meat bun, squeezed from all sides.

Were it not for his unusual physical strength, he would have been pulverized like the rest.

“Master, what was that thing just now? Why was it so powerful?” Chongchong had never seen such a weapon before. It was just a small chunk of iron, yet its destructive force was terrifying.

“That was a depth charge. But why would such a thing be here?” Fang Yuan’s heart still pounded with fear. Even with his current might, no amount of strength could contend with heavy weaponry.

Just as he began to let his guard down, Fang Yuan sensed a sudden change in the currents around him.

A large creature was nearby?

The water shifted violently—a sign of something big, and moving fast. Remembering the depth charge, Fang Yuan reasoned that someone must be fishing nearby, and not just for any fish but something enormous.

But to use such deadly weapons—wasn’t that excessive? If they were caught, it would be a serious crime.

Since there were large creatures in the area, Fang Yuan decided it was best to give them a wide berth. He had no real fear—even if faced with the king of the seas, he would not be daunted. But he was here to search for Kerber’s body and did not wish for any other complications.

Still, with no sign of Kerber, Fang Yuan was convinced that this time, survival was a slim hope at best. He had not given up, simply because he refused to abandon that last shred of possibility.

He rose toward the surface, knowing that, generally, large creatures would dive deeper after being attacked. If he simply floated at the surface, he’d be safe enough.

As he neared the water’s surface, the roar from above grew ever clearer.

“Master, why are there so many helicopters in the sky—and where did all these big ships suddenly come from?” The moment they broke the surface, Chongchong saw the dozen or so massive vessels that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

They hadn’t been there before; Fang Yuan had only seen a small ship, and it was deserted. They had only been underwater for ten minutes or so—how could so many ships have arrived in such a short time?

“Chongchong, we can’t afford to offend these people. They’re armed to the teeth. If they decide to target us, I’ll be blasted to bits,” Fang Yuan said warily, eyeing the men on the decks of those ships.

The men were armed with cannons and rocket launchers. If they mistook him for a target, he wasn’t confident he could escape unscathed.

“I know, master. I think we should leave as quickly as possible—this place feels dangerous,” Chongchong replied, sensing the lurking threat in the area and wanting nothing more than to get Fang Yuan away.

“Let’s wait and see. We might catch some news about Kerber yet,” Fang Yuan answered nonchalantly.

Yes, it was dangerous. But Fang Yuan was no longer the man he once was; even back when he was just a graduate student, he would not have backed down in the face of such challenges. If he’d lacked that courage, the professor would never have brought him to those remote, frozen lands.

“Master, then let’s stay at the surface and go nowhere else. At your speed underwater, you might end up as someone’s target,” Chongchong said nervously.

He hadn’t seen the large underwater creature just now, but perhaps he already knew what it was.