Chapter 178 Escape from the Island

"Captain, what should we do next?"

This is the sixth day since we arrived on the island.

Even though they were mentally prepared for the difficulty of completing this task, the Jiang family did not expect it to be delayed for so long.

After the three-day leave requested by Huang Liping and three others expired, they had to return to work on the train on Line 3.

After all, although the other two families working on the shift were easy to get along with, they couldn't just dump all the chores of the dining car onto them. Plus, there didn't seem to be any real danger here, so when the holiday came, they went back. All the chores of the dining car were now handled by Jiang Qian and Jiang Weimin.

Fortunately, the team members weren't too many people assigned to this mission, and since they helped out during their breaks, the workload on the dining car wasn't too heavy, and Jiang Qian and Jiang Weimin could handle it perfectly. However, Jiang Qian would occasionally get anxious when she thought about the lack of progress on the mission.

However, Jin, Tony and others who had left the island and returned to it shortly afterwards did not share the same emotions as her. They were overly relaxed. It was not because they were confident in the mission, but in their eyes, finding the USB drive was obviously impossible.

But they wouldn't say so. After all, they had applied to the International Rescue Organization to come here on a mission under the pretext of assisting and monitoring the Flower Country's operations, and had even applied for a large amount of crystal cores from the rescue organization in advance as mission funding. If these Flower Country people returned home early because they couldn't find their USB drives, how would they be able to enjoy their comfortable days on the train with pay?

Jiang Qian naturally had no idea what these foreigners who had been staying in the carriage eating and drinking were thinking, because communication between them required a system or translation by team members who knew foreign languages. In order to avoid trouble, and also worried that she, who had never undergone strict confidentiality training, would inadvertently reveal any secrets, Jiang Qian would not talk to them unless necessary. Her attention was almost entirely on the team members who were carrying out the mission.

Yesterday, when the team members who had just finished their shift came back, they had already told them about a giant mutant octopus at the bottom of the lake and reminded them not to get out of the car. Jiang Qian had been worried about the team members who were out on their mission all day.

Although the team member who came to report the news yesterday said that the mutant octopus reacted very slowly and was not very active, it was still a huge monster after all. If it went crazy, they might not be able to deal with it with just a few people.

Jiang Qian was worried while kneading the dough in her hands vigorously.

After Huang Liping and Jiang Dong returned to the dining car of Line 3, only Jiang Qian and Jiang Weimin were left in the dining car. Although they were still able to handle the work, they had not made time-consuming meals such as sesame cakes and hand-rolled noodles for two or three days.

Jiang Qian was feeling a bit sick of eating white rice after several days in a row. Coincidentally, she had been feeling restless and had no desire to rest today, so she came to the food truck to change everyone's taste in the evening.

The rough dough slowly became smooth in her hands. Jiang Qian put it aside to rise and took out another bowl of flour to make the pastry.

After the pastry was prepared, she took out a rolling pin from the cupboard. Just as she was about to put the proofed dough on the chopping board, she saw through the window a group of small black dots on the ice surface rapidly converging towards the train.

Jiang Qian was startled and didn't care about the work in her hands. She quickly called the system to open the train door.

Although the faces of the small black dots rushing towards them from a distance were still unclear, there was no one else on the island except them, and Jiang Qian subconsciously thought of what she had worried about before.

The system had obviously noticed the situation outside and opened the door as she spoke, while also monitoring the situation around the train.

The people in the distance were getting closer and closer. Jiang Qian leaned against the window and looked out, and found that they were indeed the team members who went out to carry out the mission.

Although I don’t know what happened, I think it must be something big that made them come back in such a hurry.

When the team members arrived at the ice near the train, they saw that everyone was still carrying large and small bags. Jiang Qian did not hesitate and immediately rushed out of the train to help them take over their belongings so that they could move faster. But before she could get close, she heard a shout.

“Get in the car!”

"Hurry, get in the car! Don't get off, quick!"

The shouts of more than one person were a bit chaotic, but they gathered into a huge sound wave on the ice and suddenly hit Jiang Qian.

She slowed down her pace, hesitated for two seconds, gritted her teeth, and got back into the car.

After seeing her get back on the scooter, Shark and the others breathed a sigh of relief. However, they felt a sense of urgency coming from behind them and couldn't help but accelerate the scooter under their feet.

After the team emerged from the lake bottom, they left their original location almost immediately. Soon after, the octopus, following the scent, punctured a large hole in the ice where they had been. If they hadn't retreated in time and remained where they were, the consequences would have been disastrous.

But before they could congratulate themselves on their escape, they felt the violent vibrations of the ice behind them continue unabated. Without even turning to look, they knew the octopus hadn't given up on chasing them and was still following closely behind them.

The ice surface, which took them more than half an hour to cut through with an ice crusher, was like fragile glass under the attack of the giant octopus's tentacles, and cracks appeared in just a few strokes.

They had to run forward at full speed, fearing that if they were a step late, the ice under their feet would break and everyone would fall into the cold lake and become food for the octopus.

During the evacuation, they had lost a lot of equipment in order to speed up the process. Fortunately, the sacrifice was useful and they finally managed to create a safe distance from the octopus that was chasing them.

The current situation is not urgent, so when they see people getting off the car, their first reaction is to ask them to get back on the car quickly.

Although the octopus was a step slower than them, judging by the current situation, it would catch up sooner or later. They couldn't stay on this island any longer; they had to leave before the octopus reached the shore!

Shark watched the figure disappear through the doorway, hoping she'd grasp the unspoken part of his call and seize the opportunity to leave. While a single glance wasn't enough, Shark felt less anxious as he thought about the team members he'd contacted through the team's internal communications.

But Jiang Qian, whom he had high hopes for, got into the car as he said, but in a panic she was unable to think rationally as usual.

She watched the people approaching the car, feeling increasingly nervous. Seeing the other four team members who stayed in the car carrying a few boxes and trying to get off, she hurried over to help.

But in this situation, no one dared to let her get off the bus, and the team members immediately pushed her aside.

"It's very dangerous outside. Once the captain and the others get on the train, it will leave soon. You all stay in the carriage!"

The team member who was speaking spoke in a hurried tone. Seeing Jin and Tony lying by the window and looking out, eager to try to get out, he changed his tone and repeated it in a language they could understand.

Jin and the others had just realized the seriousness of the situation from their expressions. After hearing the instructions, they naturally did not dare to act recklessly, but instead came over to help.

When Jiang Qian heard the team members say they were leaving, she reacted and hurried to the cab.

By the time she reached the cab, Shark and the others had already arrived on their scooters near the train. They didn't rush back on board, but instead joined their teammates who had gotten off the train to move the unloaded crates further toward the center of the lake.

Afterwards, seeing that the cracks in the ice were about to spread to their feet, the group hurriedly got into the car.

Jiang Qian could clearly see from the large screen in the cab that the ice near the train was constantly breaking apart from the center toward where they were, then collapsing in sections. Some of the broken ice remained afloat, while others sank to the bottom of the black lake. Beneath the constantly crumbling ice, something was silently surging, approaching them.

Thinking of the danger hidden at the bottom of the lake, she didn't dare to look any closer. After seeing the last person get on the train, she controlled the train to take off without even closing the door.

The immense force pushing upwards, the inertia evident due to the urgency, caused many people on board to stumble a few steps before finally finding their footing.

The train flew higher and higher, farther and farther away from the island. From high above, the sea breeze, carrying moisture and a fishy smell, poured in through the still-open doors, completely destroying the remaining warmth within the carriage.

Just when everyone was shivering from the cold, a huge explosion suddenly came from under the car, deafening and sending shattered ice flying everywhere.

But the team member who pressed the remote control of the explosive frowned and couldn't help biting his back teeth when he saw the octopus still active under the ice.

Jiang Weimin, who was originally resting in the carriage, woke up after feeling the violent thrust. He came out of the room and was first filled with cold air in his lungs, choking and coughing, and then frightened by the explosion.

He didn't know what was going on and subconsciously looked for his daughter, but he looked all over the dining car and couldn't find her.

He stood there in a daze, but was dragged to a corner by the dark-skinned team leader.

Shark lowered his voice, "Where is the cab? Take me to find Jiang Qian!"

After hearing this, Jiang Weimin came to his senses.

"Why!"

He knew that this was a critical moment, and he had heard from his daughter before that the team leader named Shark knew her identity, so he did not hesitate and took his men directly to the cab.

Jiang Qian in the cab was worried at the moment. When she saw the two of them, especially Shark, coming in, she instantly felt relieved.

"Captain, what should we do next?"

On the clear large screen in the cab, the ice on the lake had almost completely shattered, reflecting the blue sky, like beautiful Ru kiln porcelain.

But all three of them could see the aggressive "creature" lurking under the ice, and they could not ignore the dancing tentacles that stretched out from the cracks in the ice.

Obviously, although the explosion just now caused some damage to the octopus, it did not affect its attack power much, but made it even more agitated.

Shark looked at the big screen and felt a little troubled for a moment.

They did bring a lot of weapons this time, and it should be no problem to deal with an octopus. However, although they were allowed to use these weapons during this mission, the power of these weapons was different.

A batch of weapons like bombs have just been used, but they cannot cause much damage to the octopus. More powerful weapons should be able to cause damage to the octopus, but while destroying the octopus, the island will inevitably be affected.

They came to this island to look for information, but they haven't found it yet. If they're not careful...

Shark shook his head. He didn't want to use this method unless it was absolutely necessary.

Jiang Qian has the same concerns as Shark.

After the train was upgraded and equipped with weapons, she was not afraid of the giant octopus with bared fangs and claws. However, because it involved important information, she was inevitably hesitant to deal with the octopus.

While the two were thinking, the doors of the train gradually closed. Although it was still flying around the island, the straight-line distance between it and the island was getting farther and farther.

Looking at the octopus in the lake in the center of the island, the shark couldn't think of any other solution for a moment.

"Let's find a place to land nearby first! We can figure out the rest later!"

They searched the lake for nearly a week, turning almost the entire bottom of the lake upside down, but they couldn't find any trace of the USB flash drive that Giss had mentioned.

Now, the only rooms left to check were the two labs at the end of the corridor previously occupied by the octopus. There was a high probability that the USB drive was there. Shark was unwilling to give up halfway.

But the octopus was obviously manic. If the team members continued to look for it at this time, it would be very dangerous.

So they could only wait, until the octopus calmed down again, and then they would look for an opportunity to enter the research institute to look for the USB drive.

Jiang Qian also thought it would be better to leave first, so as soon as Shark spoke, she asked the system to find a nearby island and determine the driving route.

After Shark saw the location of the island where they were going to land on the map, he got out of the cab.

In the carriage outside, other people were leaning on the bed and looking out of the window.

The frozen lake surface has broken into pieces, but the octopus, unable to find its target, is still waving its tentacles frantically, stirring up the already turbid lake water.

Jin, Tony and others looked at the giant octopus and felt sympathetic.

Before this team from the Flower Country came, they had also been to this island, but at that time they did not go too deep. Because of the thick ice, no one realized that there was such a dangerous octopus active under the ice.

Now thinking that this huge and dangerous octopus might have been watching them from under the ice at that time, they couldn't help but feel a little scared.

As people who often sailed on the sea, they had of course seen many mutated marine creatures: mutated sharks, killer whales, even giant sea turtles... and of course, mutated octopuses as well.

Logically speaking, they shouldn't be so frightened of a creature they've seen before, even if it's in a more dangerous situation than just now. However, as soon as they thought of the unusual tentacles of the octopus they had just seen, Jin, Tony and the others couldn't remain calm.

【Author’s words】

Thank you all for your support. The next chapter will be updated before 10pm on Saturday.