Chapter 84: The Ocean’s Colossus

Today, under no circumstances could Fang Yuan be allowed to continue searching for Ke Bei underwater.

“Fang Yuan, look, isn’t that my sister Pei Xi up there?” Chong Chong’s gaze suddenly shifted to the helicopter circling overhead.

One of the helicopters had its door open, and Chong Chong easily spotted the figure seated inside the cabin. Who else could it be but Pei Xi?

“Pei Xi? Why is she here?” Fang Yuan lifted his head, and his eyes, sharp as telescopes, instantly caught sight of the black-and-white silhouette on the helicopter—it was unmistakably Pei Xi.

“Master, should we let Sister Pei Xi know? We really can’t let them mistake you for a giant fish and blow you up.” Chong Chong was still terrified by the depth charge from earlier.

“No need. She’s probably already seen us,” Fang Yuan replied, then unexpectedly raised his hand and waved at the helicopter, seemingly unafraid that anyone reckless might decide to shoot at him.

Sure enough, after Fang Yuan waved, the helicopter with Pei Xi aboard veered toward them.

There was no ship nearby for a landing, so a soft ladder was lowered from the helicopter. Fang Yuan grabbed the ladder and climbed aboard.

“Fang Yuan? It really is you! How did you get here?” Pei Xi stared at him as though she were seeing a creature from another world. They had come all this way without spotting any boats; she had no idea how he had managed to arrive alone.

She knew Fang Yuan was skilled at diving, but the distance was far beyond the limits of normal swimmers.

They’d had lunch together just hours ago—at most, they had been apart for a little over two hours. And now, here they were in deep-sea waters, at least a hundred kilometers from shore. For a person to swim a hundred kilometers in two hours was akin to the speed of a city car.

“I… I came by ship, of course. But midway, I jumped into the water for a swim, and when I surfaced, all I saw were you people,” Fang Yuan said with a smile. “But what about you? Shouldn’t you be at the police station giving your statement? How did you end up here?”

Fang Yuan glanced around the helicopter. Apart from the pilot and Pei Xi, there was no one else aboard.

“Don’t mention it—the police station! I haven’t even stepped through its door,” Pei Xi replied. “When I went, I thought I’d retrieve your car first. But when I got there, the person I mentioned to you before, Li Mingbo—the chairman of the aerial club—was assembling ships. Once I learned what was happening, I found out they’d discovered clues about Ke Bei, so I came along.”

When Pei Xi spoke of Li Mingbo now, her tone was far more respectful than before. She realized she had misjudged him: they weren’t ignoring Ke Bei’s fate, but rather mobilizing all their resources to uncover clues. As soon as they found a hint regarding Ke Bei, they set out immediately.

The information they received indicated that Ke Bei had entered deep waters, so they deployed not only helicopters but also large ships.

These ships belonged to Li Mingbo’s company and were normally rented out to wealthy tourists.

“These ships aren’t all just for tourists, are they?” Fang Yuan asked, glancing at the pilot.

“I’m not entirely sure. But I saw them fire something just now, and then whatever it was exploded underwater,” Pei Xi replied. She wasn’t familiar with Li Mingbo’s fleet; each vessel seemed enormous.

“By the way, after that explosion earlier, the blast radius was huge. Where were you at that moment?” Pei Xi suddenly realized that Fang Yuan might have been dangerously close to the blast.

Hearing Pei Xi’s question, the pilot couldn’t help but glance back at Fang Yuan, his eyes full of suspicion.

“You must be mistaken. If I had been nearby, wouldn’t I have been blown to pieces?” Fang Yuan joked, deflecting Pei Xi’s doubts from another angle.

He didn’t directly explain where he had been, for lying wasn’t his strong suit. Fortunately, Pei Xi didn’t press further, or he truly wouldn’t have known how to answer.

After all, he had been less than fifty meters from the explosion site.

“So, you said you found clues about Ke Bei. What did you learn? Tell me quickly,” Fang Yuan sensed the pilot didn’t believe his story and hurriedly changed the subject.

“I heard from Li Mingbo that their intelligence indicated Ke Bei had an invisible tracking device implanted in his body. Li Mingbo had someone hack and connect to the device, and found that Ke Bei had entered deep waters and was moving rapidly,” Pei Xi explained. “We followed the signal all the way here and finally found traces nearby. What astonished us was that Ke Bei’s signal was coming from beneath the sea.”

Hearing Pei Xi’s explanation, Fang Yuan finally understood that the depth charge’s target wasn’t some large creature.

Could the fluctuations he’d sensed in the water not have been caused by a sea creature after all?

He knew a little about submarines. If Ke Bei’s signal originated from the deep ocean, it was likely he was inside a submarine. Fang Yuan recalled being thrown into the sea by those people before—perhaps they had tossed him overboard as they departed.

Yet the timing was perplexing.

If they had used a submarine, they should have left long ago, possibly vanished to parts unknown.

Could it be that the submarine’s speed couldn’t match his own swimming?

A loud bang interrupted his thoughts. Fang Yuan heard another explosion and saw the roiling sea below, indicating the depth charge had detonated in shallow water.

“Are you certain Ke Bei is down there?” Fang Yuan was still skeptical; relying on a single signal seemed insufficient to confirm it was really Ke Bei.

“This tracking device is implanted inside a person’s body. Without specialized scanning equipment, it can’t be detected,” the pilot finally spoke up, explaining the origins of the device after hearing Fang Yuan’s doubts.

“Implanted inside the body?” Both Fang Yuan and Pei Xi widened their eyes in astonishment.