"Mermaids? That's just the sailors' imagination, right? A chimeric creature that's both human and fish can't possibly exist." Old Xiao nodded and shook his head as he listened to Jiang Ling's fantastical story. He then concluded, "If they really exist, mermen are more likely, but more likely, they're some unknown creature with psychic abilities. You've described it in such detail, could it be possible that you've seen one?"
"No, that's just my guess."
The more Jiang Ling spoke, the more she realized that the political commissar might not understand the whole story of this operation, even though he was as smart as he was and vaguely realized part of the mission objectives.
She ultimately decided to conceal the truth. Professional matters should be left to professionals. Having these veterans, who had died once before, carry out suicide missions wasn't a traditional skill in this country. In other words, the level of confidentiality for those in Unit 509 might not be high enough.
If she had not accidentally encountered a communication node of the ocean mutants, she might have been kept in the dark by those "sea monsters" just like Ning Weihe.
Judging from the conversation between the two of them, they were both bluffing.
The Sirens' base was clearly in the so-called "South," which, according to Jiang Ling, probably referred to the Southern Pacific. In other words, these mutants simply couldn't sustain the costs of a cross-equatorial operation. Their small number of troops might have infiltrated from an unknown underwater warm current, the existence of which was clearly known to the Countermeasures Bureau.
As for Lao Ning, he simply didn't know the Sirens' true strength. His psychic abilities were suppressed by the Sirens' bio-signal amplifiers, making him afraid to fight those scumbags. In fact, if he were allowed to let go, he alone would be enough to teach the entire group of Sirens a lesson.
In the past, Country Z, and indeed, pre-war nations around the world, would often disguise covert activities under the covers with vague, legitimate pretexts. Claims like scientific expeditions, military exercises, unusual weather, and even malicious incidents could all be man-made, deceptive tactics designed to divert attention. However, these tactics were merely designed to deceive the unsuspecting public. Intelligence agencies adept at such tactics could easily decipher their true purpose, though the timing and location might differ.
Through observation and summary, Jiang Ling felt that Lao Ning and his men might be looking for an opportunity to permanently resolve their underwater threat. Perhaps searching for the black box and collecting biological samples were simply side tasks, small tasks that usually only required the factory to produce more drones and then wait for the mission to be completed. The mutant entangled in the submarine's nose might just be part of No. 509's camouflage plan.
Of course, perhaps this is really just a scientific expedition - a scientific expedition that can find the enemy's weaknesses, undermine the enemy's fighting will, and reduce the enemy's enthusiasm for war.
Jiang Ling wasn't a professional intelligence analyst; she simply reorganized the information she had gathered in her mind. She thought she had figured out the purpose of 509's mission, but when she deduced their actions, she discovered some minor issues.
If the mutant was a disguise, then why use the crew's expertise as leverage? Were they exploiting the Sirens' inability to build submarines? The knowledge of the sailors is transferable. Once the Sirens have standardized their training, they can mass-produce biological submersibles capable of threatening humanity.
If the Countermeasures Bureau had complete intelligence, why would they have sent the F4 members on a mission to risk their lives, both underwater and on the surface? Unless they also didn't know what the Siren's true form was.
Perhaps the Countermeasures Bureau knew they could use psychic abilities, but simply didn't know the Sirens' weaknesses. However, this contradicted the previous point. After all, uncontrollable Awakened Ones were like expired bombs, and they should be treated with extreme caution.
In addition to these, there is one most important point - Jiang Ling did not know what weapons No. 509 carried. She had once looked at the dozen brown-green cigars in the torpedo compartment, but apart from the shocking function, she could not get any more useful information.
In her opinion, those were just weapons; what they were wasn't important. Even with her limited knowledge, she knew that attack submarines wouldn't launch nuclear attacks. So, understanding those little firecrackers wasn't her style.
Jiang Ling closed her eyes, lost in thought, and ignored the final low-energy warning on her visor. When she opened her eyes and wanted to ask Lao Xiao beside her, she discovered that the exoskeleton's electronic control system and power assist functions had completely failed. There might still be some energy left in the energy pack, but it was probably only enough to send a distress signal once, and she had to be on the surface, outside the exoskeleton, to operate it.
She tried to move her body, and the resistance of the seawater became very noticeable. While the exoskeleton wouldn't become scrap metal once it ran out of power, it was indeed a bit difficult to propel this multi-hundred-kilogram device with muscle power alone without any power assistance.
Jiang Ling struggled to pat the equipment box twice with her hands, but unfortunately their wake noise was so loud that Lao Xiao didn't notice anything unusual about her.
So she had to turn back to the embrace of superpowers.
[Lao Xiao, I have bad news for you. My exoskeleton is out of power.]
[You can turn on the emergency module under your crotch... Yes, that's the switch!] It wasn't easy for Political Commissar Xiao to say this. He needed to transfer brain signals from the language center to the hippocampus, something most people probably couldn't even learn.
Jiang Ling pressed the button, and a 20-centimeter-long round tube was released from the bottom of the exoskeleton. The electronic control system quickly recovered, but it remained in low-power mode.
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