After Xia Ji and Xia Qing successfully reunited, they headed straight for the trading mine. They traveled at top speed because dark clouds loomed over the sea, creating a terrifying atmosphere. Although it wasn't raining, there was only a light breeze, and everyone was extremely tense and anxious.

Fortunately, they quickly entered the other side's patrol area, made contact with the people there in the storm, and entered their nuclear submarine.

The ship's captain did not appear; only two white officers received them and inquired about their visitor.

Xia Ji could only say that they were the first team to arrive to learn about the mineral resources here, and more team members would arrive later.

The person who received them didn't say much, only telling them to wait until the storm had passed before taking a submarine to inspect the base.

They waited for two days. The storm at sea raged for two days and two nights. After it subsided a bit, Xia Ji and the others waited another night before boarding the submarine to head to the underwater base.

The distance was quite far, and it took them nearly eight hours to dive into the depths of the sea and reach the seabed.

Xia Ji transferred Xia Qing and Meng Yu to his side. After entering the base, he carefully observed their facial expressions and reactions, but found nothing wrong.

But the more seemingly no problems there were, the more Xia Ji's intuition told him that these two were definitely hiding something from him.

Xia Qing and Meng Yu were trained by Xiao Yi, so their mental fortitude was unquestionable, and dealing with his questioning was not a difficult task for them.

But according to them, they were unconscious on the ship that captured them, and when they woke up, all the crew members on the ship were gone, leaving only them and other team members. This story is actually quite far-fetched.

They gave only this one answer, and they were absolutely certain of it. Xia Ji smiled and indicated that she believed them.

Upon entering the base, they wasted no time and immediately had someone take them to the mine to check the situation.

The white leader took them there. Xia Ji and the others stood at the cave entrance for a long time, but apart from feeling a little uncomfortable, they couldn't see what was going on below. It was just too deep.

They wanted to send someone down to take a look, and the white team leader also wanted to send them down, but the elevator had not been repaired and could not be lowered.

Xia Ji's expression turned somewhat strange upon hearing this: "What about the people down there? Don't they need to come up? We already feel uncomfortable standing here at the cave entrance; the mining workers inside must be in even worse conditions, right?"

The team leader had already received instructions from above and knew how to answer: "Since deciding to trade the mining rights of this mine to you, we have withdrawn the workers here and stopped mining operations. Once the terms are agreed upon and the contract is signed, this mine will be yours, and you can decide for yourself."

Xia Ji frowned. The other party's words sounded nice, but what he saw in front of him was more like a mess.

Unable to go down into the mine, he didn't dwell on it too much. He led his men away and then went on to familiarize himself with the situation within the base.

The guards inside the base were very vigilant and ignored all their questions and inquiries. The people who received them only answered questions they could answer, and they remained silent when asked to provide more comprehensive or in-depth information.

After half a day, Xia Ji and his team's work was not progressing smoothly, and his confidants felt that there was something wrong here.

Xia Ji wasn't surprised: "No problem, they wouldn't easily hand this place over. There are no surveillance devices here, which makes things easier for us. After we finish the surface work, we can rest for a while and then investigate secretly."

Five days later, when the other three warships arrived, Xia Ji and the others went out to report, having already grasped some of the situation.

"A disturbance occurred at this base eight days ago. The exact origin of the disturbance is unclear, but many smoke bombs and poison gas bombs were dropped on the base. After the disturbance was quelled, many of their own people died, but no infiltrators were found. Furthermore, their base leaders have not appeared since that day, and then white people entered the base and took over its affairs."

Based on this timeline, shortly afterward, we received the West's agreement to cooperate and their willingness to trade here.

Furthermore, we discovered that all the warehouses in the base had been suddenly emptied, which was found when they were searching for the enemy after the rebellion was quelled. At the same time, the area around the solar energy mine was ordered to be sealed off, and no one except the dedicated guards was allowed to approach.

These events all occurred within an hour of the quelling of the unrest, and the leader inside told us that they had evacuated all the miners, but the information we gathered indicated that no one had actually left.

The man told us that none of the miners who went down into the mine ever came back up. The conditions inside were extremely harsh; many had become monsters. Once inside, they could only stay there until they died; no one had ever come out.

Xia Ji recounted all the information they had gathered over the past few days. The base appeared to be strictly managed, but in reality, if the benefits offered tempted them, they could get quite a bit of information out of them.

Captain Zhao wasn't too surprised when he heard the news: "The energy in the light mine is enormous. Our staff are only studying that small piece, and they are extremely careful. Even so, there have been cases of people being burned and having their eyes damaged. Not to mention the workers who went down into the mine, if nothing unexpected happens, they may all be gone."

Xia Ji thought the same way. When he learned about these circumstances, he felt very sad for a long time.

"I wonder who is causing the chaos inside?" Captain Zhao's voice rang out again, followed by his own question and answer: "It should be a very capable group or individual, and most likely they are friends, not enemies."

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