Thanks to the Electric Fantasy Kingdom, Chen Nian has actually seen a lot of military equipment and has even operated a lot of it himself. Of course, the processes in the game have been infinitely simplified, and he wouldn't be able to do it in real life.
Now that he was in a real submarine, Chen Nian was no longer too surprised like a bumpkin. The space inside the small submarine was relatively limited, and people could only move around. Chen Nian and Shafley sat in the driver's seat and the co-pilot's seat respectively, and fastened their seat belts.
Chen Nian knew that the complicated instruments in front of him were not his business, so he focused on looking around.
The upper hull of the submarine is made of transparent material, and its maximum diving depth is 1,800 meters. Although it is not very deep, it is enough for sightseeing.
Shafley skillfully checked the instrument system, confirmed that there was nothing wrong, and drove the submarine downward. The rippling sea surface slowly moved up in front of Chen Nian's eyes until his entire field of vision sank into the water.
After a brief darkness, the submarine sailed out of the parking area of the platform and into the vast sea outside.
Their diving depth was now only one meter. The sunlight could penetrate the sea surface and illuminate the surroundings, as if they were trapped in some kind of blue transparent gel.
The sea water was clearer than Chen Nian had imagined. The rising and falling waves kept hitting the front shield, and from time to time some tiny creatures floated past his eyes.
Shafley hovered nearby for a while, and only continued to sink when Chen Nian had appreciated the beauty of the shallow sea.
Everything was so similar to the game. Chen Nian recalled the time when he was wearing a diving suit and exploring Brown Castle. As he went deeper into the water, the light was gradually weakened by the sea water until it was difficult to see the surroundings clearly.
The searchlight was turned on, illuminating the front, and many fish swam past. Chen Nian subconsciously held his breath to make sure he was not noticed.
Mental strength is indeed useful!
Realizing this, Chen Nian became excited and no longer so nervous.
The submarine continued to sink. Chen Nian glanced at the instrument panel and the depth gauge showed that they were currently 213 meters underwater.
Shafley took him on a submarine trip specifically, so it shouldn't be just for sightseeing, right?
Just as Chen Nian was about to ask Alpha, he felt the submarine begin to slow down. Shafley raised his hand to adjust a knob on the instrument panel, the lumen increased, and the light of the searchlight continued to grow stronger.
Chen Nian saw the dark shadows at the end of the light and his eyes widened suddenly.
There were countless primitive creatures clinging to the base of cinnabar. They were like blood-sucking leeches, biting tightly onto the outer shell of the beacon, covering it so densely that there was not even any space to squeeze in.
Snails and shells cling to it, starfish stick to it, shrimps and crabs swarm around it, and fish bite it tightly.
There are so many of them that just seeing them can cause claustrophobia in people. Most of these primitive creatures are small in size, because the huge ones will be stopped and repelled when they approach the Ring Ocean Platform.
No matter how strict the defense is, it is difficult to stop so many small creatures. They are as pervasive as sea water, unless a giant protective cover is built to cover the entire beacon.
But the seabed topography is complex, how could it be that easy?
The military did do this at the beginning, but the shield would soon be damaged under the continuous attacks of the primitive creatures. It would cost a huge price to repair it, and it would be a huge loss of manpower, material resources and financial resources.
Through step-by-step exploration, the current management method has gradually been formed.
The submarine moved to the side. It took Chen Nian a long time to realize that he had been holding his breath. He quickly took a breath, and the stuffiness in his chest was immediately relieved.
This is what Shafley really wanted to show Chen Nian.
Primal creatures, and beacons.
These evolved marine creatures crave metals as a raw material for renewing their body parts, and the largest metal polymer in the world is the beacon.
They are...food?
Chen Nian looked at the scene in front of him and couldn't help but feel horrified. What if... what if the beacon really couldn't withstand the erosion of these creatures, what would be the consequences?
Chen Nian had seen countless primitive creatures in the fantasy kingdom of God, and now he was experiencing it in reality. When he thought about how everything that happened in reality might have an impact on the lives of tens of millions of people, he simply couldn't relax as he did in the game.
"Are we just going to let the beacon be parasitized like this?" Chen Nian pointed forward, a little incoherent, "Will it feel pain? I mean, the original creatures are a combination of machinery, and many of them have electronic components in their bodies. Will they upload some viruses or something that will have an adverse effect on the beacon?"
Shafla nodded. "There is definitely an impact, but it is still within the controllable range. Beacon has to perform core program maintenance every week to eliminate possible interference."
"And every day there are people and machines coming to clean it up, but these things are like dog-skin plasters. Once the old ones are removed, new ones will soon cover them up. We can only minimize the damage to the beacons in this process as much as possible."
Chen Nian pursed his lips. He had been living in the beacon for eighteen years, but this was the first time he knew all this.
Surrounded by seawater and hostile creatures, the supercomputer has stood for hundreds of years, providing the last refuge for the humans who created it.
As the submersible circled the outer wall, Shafley asked, "Want to see how the cleaners do their job?"
Chen Nian nodded, and he couldn't wait to move forward so that he could see a higher definition image on the display screen next to the instrument panel.
Under the water, the part of the beacon that is not open to the public actually has a more complex structure.
The six beacons were urgently built when scientists predicted that sea level rise could not be stopped. Their foundations were deeply embedded in the surface and were submerged little by little over time.
Today, the seabed has become an important channel for transporting energy upwards. The drastic compression of the living area has also caused an extreme shortage of energy. Fortunately, scientists have discovered a new type of energy. They extract a certain blue fluid from the seabed. The texture is similar to oil, but it contains more powerful energy than oil.
Through a spider-web-like, dense and complex system of pipes, seabed fluids are transported to every corner of the beacon, like blue blood rushing through blood vessels.
When was this fluid discovered? Chen Nian is a little unclear, but it was mined from deep underground.
There are pipes on the border between Information Processing Area No. 13 and the next area. Chen Nian would occasionally look up when passing by, but that was all.
There is a passage on the side wall of the beacon for cleaners and equipment to pass through. The submarine approached that direction and Chen Nian could see more clearly. At this moment, many professionals were cleaning up. They were wearing diving equipment as heavy as mechas, which protected the fragile human body.
The equipment shell should be made of organic materials, otherwise it would be a sitting duck in front of primitive creatures. Not to mention cleaning it, even saving its life would be a problem.
The approach of the submarine did not disturb them. Chen Nian held his breath and concentrated his mental strength around his body to ensure that he could isolate himself from the perception of the original creatures.
Otherwise, if something goes wrong, he won't be the only one to suffer.
As the specially formulated acid spurted out, the primitive creatures that were tightly attached to the beacon's shell were forced to loosen.
These acids will not cause damage to metals, but they can dissolve flesh. Primitive organisms that are not sufficiently mechanized will be directly melted and turned into thick blood mist that slowly spreads out in the sea water.
The cleanup continues day after day, and few people living in the Beacon, rich or poor, are aware of it.
Chen Nian watched quietly for more than ten minutes. He also saw with his own eyes the two teams of cleaners changing shifts. A passage that was only wide enough for one person to pass through would be opened on the side wall of the beacon. When the cleaners entered, of course some sea water and primitive organisms would also flow in. Finally, after layers of filtering, only humans would enter the safe room.
Small primitive creatures that broke through the defense line of the Ring Ocean Platform kept swimming towards Cinnabar. They passed by the side of the submarine and it was impossible to count how many of them there were.
Suddenly, a blue eye flashed across Chen Nian's horizon.
Chen Nian was stunned for a moment, then immediately turned his head to look. A fish whose exact species he couldn't identify swam past the submarine. Some special blue scales were scattered among the black phosphorus, forming the shape of an eye.
Suddenly, Chen Nian remembered the eye that appeared on his belly in the fantasy kingdom. The blue snake-shaped vertical pupil was like the energy fluid winding in a pipe, passing in front of him on the fish's body.
That inexplicable feeling of uneasiness reappeared.
"Let's go back." Chen Nian swallowed silently and turned to Shafley. Perhaps it was the strong sense of oppression brought by the deep sea, he was a little breathless.
"Okay." Shafley agreed and immediately drove the submarine up to the surface.
Finally, the depth reached where the sunlight could penetrate. The surroundings gradually became brighter, and Chen Nian's anxiety subsided a lot.
"It seems that the mental barrier is still useful." Chen Nian said, "Let's go to other places and take a look, and then we can find a place to eat outside at noon--"
As Chen Nian was speaking, he suddenly saw the blue eyes appear in his sight again.
The fish that were supposed to run towards the outer wall of the cinnabar and cling to it like a leech followed it for some reason.
It was right beside the submarine, close to Chen Nian's position, silently following his ascent.
Chen Nian's words stopped abruptly because he found that the second, third, and fourth eyes also appeared.
Countless blue pupils emerged from below, surrounding the entire submarine, and Chen Nian never relaxed his mental power to hide himself from beginning to end.
Shafla also noticed the movement and quickly pulled the lever to move upward.
The rippling sea was right above his head. Just before the submarine surfaced, Chen Nian saw the thin and deformed human figure in countless eyes.
It had two oval heads on its narrow shoulders, long thin arms that reached down to its knees, and four soft whiskers where its legs should have been, swaying in the sea water like a snake.
The monster's body was covered with sharp metal spikes, like thorns from a wild beast, which would pierce the nightingale's soft body and drink its blood happily.
In the center of the oval head, the emerald blue vertical pupil opened, staring coldly at Chen Nian.
——I am ██ you
His blank mind couldn't recognize how he reacted at that moment, but Chen Nian felt that he should have screamed in surprise.
The snake-shaped pupil whispered like a lip, and sprayed out a water arrow, piercing through the sea water and puncturing the submarine hull that could withstand 600 atmospheres of pressure.
The bullet pierced his left chest accurately.
In the cold sea water that quickly enveloped him, Chen Nian could not even feel the pain. He did not know whether Shafulai beside him hugged him in panic.
Chen Nian stared at the monster described by Uncle Jiang. Eighteen years ago, it appeared in the burning Chen family mansion and wanted to kill him. Finally, it appeared in front of him again today.
Severe pain and darkness came together, dragging him into an endless abyss.