Xu Qian suddenly thought of something and swam quickly towards the bottom of the ship. He reached out and shoved away the sediment on the seabed. The sediment stirred up made the surrounding seawater turbid, but Xu Qian still spotted the Rhospitals that had sunk to the bottom of the sea at a glance.

The pale yellow, transparent resin contained tiny, peach-pit-like particles.

The dimness of the seabed robbed them of their original luster, but when they were pulled from the seabed, the light amber seemed to bear the weight of hundreds or thousands of years.

As if by some strange twist of fate, Xu Qian looked at the sea cave again. He had a premonition that it would give him some answers.

He swam back to the sea cave, paused for a few seconds, and decided to go in and take a look.

Just as he was about to crawl inside, a red and yellow mask suddenly appeared in the sea cave. Xu Qian instinctively took several steps back. When he calmed down and looked more closely, he found that it was actually a living person.

The man wearing the red and yellow mask was clearly startled by him. He then held up his flashlight to his face and waved to Xu Qian to show his friendliness.

Xu Qian looked down and saw a string of words on the other person's waist: Matanzas, one of the countries supporting Ulan.

The other person also looked at his waist, presumably to see his country of origin.

Oh, it's a friendly country!

The two exchanged greetings in a very friendly manner. Then, Xu Qian watched as the Matanzas man emerged from the sea cave. Not only did he emerge, but he was followed by several divers dressed similarly. Besides the man, they seemed to have found some clues in the sea cave, packed in boxes, and each of them was holding collection tools.

Xu Qian stared at the boxes in their hands, feeling extremely uncomfortable—a feeling he had only ever experienced with that one person before…

Perhaps because Xu Qian had been staring at their clues, the leader of Matanzas swam over and patted him on the shoulder. The leader pointed upwards, seemingly wanting to go up and share the clues they had obtained.

Xu Qian withdrew his gaze, silently made a mark on the map, and then swam back to Diffin's group, with the Matansas people following him.

After a brief exchange between the two leaders, and finding no particular discovery on board, Defence's leader had a headcount taken. Once confirmed, they proceeded upstream with the Matanzas.

When Xu Qian returned to the ship to 'rejoin the team', he found a corner and activated his invisibility.

He only followed after they all went up.

...

Climbing onto the deck, the cool air made me feel relaxed. Although there were compressed air cylinders in the sea, how could compressed air compare to the smoothness of natural air?

The Matansas people also boarded Defence's ship. Their ship had arrived three days earlier, but unfortunately encountered a pressure blast the day before yesterday. Their large ship had to go to a reef to seek shelter from the storm. Once the weather improved slightly, the divers simply switched to smaller boats.

However, this experience was not important to Defence; they only cared about the clues that Matanzas found underwater!

After being completely disinfected, the Matansas man made a gesture of calming down, lingering for a while while holding the equally disinfected box. Just then, another Matansas small boat sailed in from a distance, carrying Matansas researchers.

These actions made Difen laugh. If you're going to wait for the leader, just say so. Why bother with all this?

"Hi--"

Stephen Murphy recognized the voice of the person who had entered, and his expression shifted, though his face was obscured by the protective suit he was wearing.

“I knew you’d be interested in this.” Maltz Jason extended a friendly, but gloved hand.

Stephen Murphy slapped the other person's hand away as a greeting.

Maltz Jason nonchalantly pulled back and continued, "Murphy, I have to tell you some good news, good news you'll never expect—"

Stephen Murphy gave him a "you're talking nonsense if you don't have a picture" look, even though the other person still couldn't see it.

Xu Qian, driving his stealth vehicle, waited patiently on the sidelines, listening to the two men's boasting until Maltz Jason called over the diving team leader, and only then did it officially begin.

Several wet boxes were carefully opened, but everyone in the crowd remained silent afterward, because what was inside was beyond their wildest imagination—

They were several broken fossils, each one of which was already incredible on its own, but when they were pieced together, the air seemed to freeze.

The upper body is clearly human-shaped, but the lower body is a severed fish tail.

Mermaids are characters that exist in countless novels and stories.

Now, right in front of them.

Just as everyone was getting restless, Xu Qian's expression in the corner grew increasingly grim, because this was not a mermaid, but a sea hag.

Demon Sea Goddess.

The appearance of the Demon Queen in Hidden God Valley carries a significance that could be significant or minor. As Xu Qian pondered this, his expression grew increasingly grim. What exactly had happened in Hidden God Valley back then...?

Just as the discussion room fell silent, the voices of the crew suddenly came from outside—

"Mr. Stephen, the situation is bad! A pressure mass is approaching, we must evacuate immediately—"

As soon as the sound fell, the ship suddenly lurched violently, not just a slight rocking as usual, but a real jolt that made people instinctively grab the table for support.

The sky outside had completely changed. Dark clouds covered the entire sky, making it seem as if a line had been drawn between the sky and the sea, and that line was also black.

At this moment, the experienced old captain kept shouting "amazing" at the sky, as if he had witnessed something incredible.

Then someone started babbling on and on, saying something like that Ulan was a strange place and that there might be something wrong with the things they had just retrieved!

In fact, besides those researchers, there were also several marine researchers and bioenvironmental specialists who came to Ulan this time. Difen made thorough preparations for the site exploration.

Seeing this scene, those who were interested in the ocean or the environment were not calm. Even the most staunch materialists would inevitably have their beliefs shaken and doubted when such an anomaly occurred in Ulan.

"Boom—" A bolt of lightning flashing red light fell from the horizon to the seaside.

It was as if a ghostly face was flashing incessantly in the sky, like a warning or a threat.

Even Xu Qian, who had seen the world, was stunned and stood there dumbfounded.

Suddenly, one by one, the Ulan crew members on the deck knelt down and worshipped the 'ghost face' in the sky, muttering something under their breath. Unfortunately, the downpour had already started, and the sound of rain hitting the deck made it impossible to hear what they were saying.

The scene was so eerie that it gave Stephen Murphy the creeps.

We can't stay here any longer! — That was everyone's thought.

The boat was rocking violently; this was no ordinary small boat. If even a boat like this was rocking like that, what was about to happen was definitely not a small scene.

Stephen Murphy grabbed the stunned captain and yelled, "Set sail—!!!"

The captain stared at him blankly, unmoved.

Stephen Murphy fired a shot into the air, which brought the captain back to his senses, and he stumbled to his feet.

"Yes, yes, we have to get out of here!"

Just as lightning struck, a bolt of lightning hit the bow of their ship, and the metallic smell made everyone stop what they were doing.

Stephen Murphy stiffly turned his gaze away, rainwater quickly sliding down his protective suit; only he knew that he was actually soaked through.

Stephen Murphy turned his gun directly at Maltz Jason, shouting, "Give it back! Now!"

"—!!!" Maltz Jason was going crazy, but he knew perfectly well that Stephen Murphy was an even crazier than him, who could turn on him in an instant, and he had to do as the other party said.

Maltz Jason had no choice but to grab the leader of the stealth team and yell, "Go! Do as he says!"

The team leader seemed to flinch, "Going into the water now might be dangerous..."

Maltz Jason gripped the other man's shoulders tightly, a forced smile creeping across his face beneath his protective suit. "You're in danger too—"

The team leader had no choice but to lead the others back to the seminar room, carefully put the mermaid fossils back into the box piece by piece, and then go back into the sea.

Xu Qian did not go down with them, but waited on the deck with the people on the deck. Just after Matanzas and his group went into the water, the wind and waves subsided a lot, but the lightning and thunder in the sky still roared.

Time passed, and the dark clouds seemed to have had their fill of anger, with glimpses of sunlight peeking through them.

Just then, the people of Matanzas surfaced, and the sky cleared up instantly, as if nothing had happened and it was just a dream.

Stephen Murphy suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, his legs went weak, and he felt as if he had escaped from danger.

At that moment, someone appeared beside him—Louis from the group. "Professor Stephen," he said, "I secretly extracted something from the fossils earlier. Perhaps this trip wasn't in vain..."

Stephen Murphy was initially flustered, but then he realized it was all over and everything should be alright. He patted Louis on the shoulder with great relief. "Goodness! I'll give you a bonus when we get back!"

Looking at the trembling old man Maltz Jason beside him, Stephen Murphy's still relatively young face immediately broke into a smile, and his mood improved considerably.

Xu Qian looked up at the now clear sky and wondered what had happened under that pristine expanse...

...

After a brief repair, Defence's large ship sailed away, not turning back to leave the Welsh Strait, but instead heading to join forces with the Matanzas.

Once Xu Qian saw that they had reached a safe position, he stealthily slipped into the water and flew into the sky with a great lightness skill, heading back to the marker he had left behind.

Because he still wanted to go in and see what was inside!

Author's Note: You guys haven't forgotten that the Welsh Strait is actually a submerged hidden valley, have you? ~/doge