Flying in the sky, the storms and heavy rain beside it were only separated by a thin curtain of water two meters away, as if they had no effect on the world inside.

I took out my phone and browsed the web, but there was still no signal.

I'm a little bored, let's go play in the water.

The sea below was turbulent at that time.

Due to the impact of the storm, the waves can reach heights of over ten meters.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that two fishing boats were caught in the waves.

The text on the hull is all in English, calling it Victoria I and Victoria II.

Both boats were without lights and were taking on a lot of water; they looked like they would capsize soon.

Wu You had no intention of saving anyone, because there was simply no one left to save.

There was no one on either of the two boats, which looked like fishing boats from the outside.

I don't know if it was thrown into the sea somewhere during the storm.

I reckon the chances of survival are slim. In such a marine storm, even with a life jacket, you wouldn't survive long if you fell into the water.

More likely, they will be knocked unconscious by the giant wave and then die within minutes.

However, something on the trawl net of one of the fishing boats that hadn't had time to fold up caught Wu You's attention.

It was a giant squid.

A rough estimate suggests that the long tentacles and body together are at least 20 meters long, and the head resembles the tip of a cold weapon.

Isn't that a giant squid?

This was one of the materials Wu You had been looking for, but the one in the net was clearly dead.

This second-largest invertebrate in the world lives in the deep sea, and it is easy to distinguish it from the colossal squid.

Although the latter is known as the largest invertebrate, its tentacles are relatively short.

Although it's dead, it suggests there might be living ones on the nearby seabed.

He directly ordered Ao Guang to take him down with him. After a real dragon entered the water, Wu You and Ao Guang once again came to the bottom of the water.

After diving several dozen meters, the seawater became very calm, and the impact of the storm above on the water below was almost invisible.

We continued to descend deeper into the ocean.

When we reached a depth of at least six or seven hundred meters, we could finally see the seabed.

Wu You is now observing by sharing vision with Ao Guang; his own naked eye can no longer see the pitch-black surroundings.

There were also some bioluminescent deep-sea fish around, and Wu You collected them without hesitation.

A surge of electricity struck Ao Guang, and a large number of fish, big and small, turned belly up.

After searching for a long time, no trace of the giant squid was found, but a deep trench was discovered, the depth of which could not be discerned.

Having stayed at the bottom of the sea long enough, Wu You was starting to feel a bit depressed, so he decided to go back to the surface.

I glanced at the location mapped in the system, marked it silently, and plan to explore it again next time.

Unfortunately, in reality, entering the Beast Mountain only allows you to return to the same place you entered. It would be so much better if you could teleport to explore different areas.

Just as I was about to swim up, several tentacles wrapped around the cliff face in the distance of the trench.

Several giant squid leaped up from below and swam away.

One of them was particularly striking; its length far surpassed even the world's largest record, reaching a full 40 meters.

"Damn it!" Wu You couldn't help but swear.

"Ao Guang, get that bastard!"

...

Yang Dawei was completely stunned when he received the news. Two ships and their crews were just released like that?

Although the two large oil tankers belonged to the same ocean shipping company, the hijacking ultimately occurred because it was done at his request.

Therefore, apart from a portion paid by the insurance company, the majority of the ransom will be paid by Yang Dawei.

The bargaining with the pirates is about to begin.

Yang Dawei first finalized all the plans for purchasing and receiving the Saudi prince's stockpiled fuel.

Only after paying the Saudi prince a fuel deposit did they begin preparing loans and borrowings to cover the remaining payments for the goods and ransom.

He was also surprised to receive a call from an ocean freight company.

The other party repeatedly asked him over the phone whether he had paid the ransom privately, and Yang Dawei naturally answered no.

But I also subconsciously recalled Wu You's joking remark on the phone, "Why do we have to pay a ransom?"

However, he only thought about it casually and didn't connect Wu You with the pirates' unusual behavior at all.

No matter how much face someone has, it can never be greater than that of the heads of state of various countries.

Even the Somali government itself couldn't do anything about those pirates, let alone Wu You.

What followed was a barrage of interviews from journalists.

The group of reporters questioned the freight company, the government, and Yang Dawei.

Those with long reach even connected with some organizations in Somalia.

They asked all sorts of questions.

Some asked if anyone had paid the ransom, others asked if the military had intervened, and some even asked if Yang Dawei or the freight company had any other dealings with the pirates.

The answer they received was, of course, "no comment," and at most, the crew could glean some speculative information through satellite communication.

But this is no challenge for journalists, especially those covering gossip.

All you need is a news story to start a story.

Not enough content? We can help you "enrich" it.

As a result, numerous news articles about Somali pirates releasing hostages and cargo and fishing vessels were posted in a short period of time.

Besides the established fact that the ship's crew was released, much of the lengthy content uses words like "maybe," "speculate," and "should be."

The lesson content, however, was written in a way that seemed logical, insightful, and precise, analyzing the inner struggles of Somali pirates in the face of their external environment.

The headlines were all like, "Somali pirates release hostages; you won't believe their real purpose," "The turbulent situation in Somalia is caused by something quite surprising," and "Two Chinese cargo ships were released; it wasn't due to internal Somali conflict or international intervention—the result was unexpected!"

Clickbait titles on Baidu Tieba and forums actually appeared quite early.

But I don't know when clickbait headlines started to become popular, but it's been in recent years.

At first, such headlines could pique people's curiosity and get them to click and read.

However, everything has its limits. When most online news websites do this, it will only cause more and more people to feel disgusted.

Wu You scoffed as he looked at the news articles that kept popping up on his phone's browser.

He had only been home for a short time, but the news was moving just as fast as he was.

...

My phone rang; it was Yang Dawei.

"Hello, Mr. Wu, are you home?"

Yang Dawei's voice sounded very energetic.

"Yes, Mr. Yang, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Oh, it's like this. I've arrived at Xiaoshan International Airport. If it's convenient for you, I'll come to visit you this afternoon."

Wu You chuckled and made a joke.

"What if I'm not available, or not at home? Mr. Yang, didn't you even give me a heads-up before coming to Qiantang?"

Yang Dawei laughed heartily.

"It's alright, it's alright. Even if it's inconvenient for you, Mr. Wu, I can stay in Qiantang for now, and I'll visit you whenever it's convenient for you."

"Alright, enough joking around. Come over this afternoon, I'll be here."