Chapter Eighty-Seven: Fangyuan Under Scrutiny

These were people who had spent years roaming the sea; what manner of thing had they not encountered? If one were to speak of "monsters," they had probably seen more than Fang Yuan had ever even heard of.

"Be more specific. Monsters are common enough, and we have seen quite a few ourselves. I don't know what sort of monster you're talking about," Li Mingbo said indifferently. People like them, who went out to sea year after year, often saw enormous marine creatures that ordinary people never had the chance to witness.

To a normal person, such sea creatures would surely seem like monsters.

So the "monster" Fang Yuan was talking about was not something Li Mingbo and the others took seriously at all.

"It was the largest marine creature I have ever seen. No—strictly speaking, it isn't a creature at all." As a graduate student in biology, albeit an unemployed one, Fang Yuan was certain that what he had just seen was not some living being.

After Fang Yuan described what he had seen, the others remained silent for a long while. It took a full five minutes before they finally reacted.

Then they burst out laughing. They had seen Fang Yuan's reaction many times before. Whenever someone claimed to have found some enormous sea creature they had never seen, they always looked just like this.

In panic, people often unconsciously exaggerate what they have seen, but in the end it usually turns out to be nothing more than some little-known creature.

So after hearing Fang Yuan's description, they naturally assumed he was one of those people.

They seemed already to have guessed what Fang Yuan had seen. It was probably the giant squid that so often appeared in movies. The ropes they had seen earlier also looked much like squid tentacles.

This kind of creature was said to be extremely mysterious, and extremely savage.

With that clue, they no longer seemed especially tense. Still, thinking of the person they were trying to find being out there with that thing, they could not help worrying about the as-yet-unseen Ke Bei.

"Then did you see Ke Bei?" Li Mingbo asked at once. "According to the signal we tracked, Ke Bei is right near the huge thing we located."

Fang Yuan shook his head. He had been so busy rescuing people just now that he had not thought of that.

"Can you show me Ke Bei's exact location?" Fang Yuan asked. If Ke Bei was really nearby, then he could go down and take a look.

"The position isn't very precise, because he's been moving nonstop, and very fast at that," Li Mingbo said as he took out a display screen. A red dot appeared on it, marking Ke Bei's position.

"At that speed, even our ship couldn't catch up," Li Fu said with a sigh upon seeing the blinking dot.

After getting a rough sense of Ke Bei's location, Fang Yuan had a plan in mind.

"I'm going to bring Ke Bei back. You all stay here. Until I return, please don't throw any more depth charges down there. Those things won't do a thing to it," Fang Yuan said helplessly.

He made that special request because he did not want to survive the great monster only to be blown into mincemeat by depth charges they casually hurled into the sea.

"Are you joking?" Li Mingbo could not help twitching at the corner of his mouth when he heard Fang Yuan.

Even if what Fang Yuan had seen was a giant squid, going back down now would be extremely dangerous.

He did not know what method Fang Yuan had used to save those people, but in no case could he allow Fang Yuan to knowingly go back down there and die.

His life had been bought by Ke Bei with Ke Bei's own life, and for that alone, Li Mingbo would not let Fang Yuan go back down again.

"Kid, you've got guts, even if you're a little reckless. I like that. Just listen to our captain—listen to our boss. This time, whatever it is, we won't let it off easily. In a little while, we'll show you what we're made of," Li Fu said when he realized Fang Yuan was not merely being polite, but truly intended to go down and look for Ke Bei.

Just for that courage alone, Li Fu felt Fang Yuan was a man who valued loyalty. People like them, who spent their lives wandering the seas, relied on the bonds of friendship to get by. If Ke Bei were to sacrifice himself for Fang Yuan, it would not be too heartbreaking.

"You? Still with those depth charges?" Fang Yuan said, somewhat displeased.

He had seen those depth charges just now; one had exploded more than ten meters from him. Not even his flesh-and-blood body had suffered a scratch, let alone that giant thing.

"Don't underestimate us. What we did just now was only a little trick to launch the tracking device. The first time failed, but the second time we successfully planted a locator on that thing. Once we confirm that Ke Bei and that thing are not in the same place, we can begin the real attack. Whatever it is, it'll be dead as a doornail," Li Fu said, his eyes shining with excitement.

That second depth charge had been fired by him, and thinking back on it now, he felt himself to be incredibly impressive.

"All right. If you run into any trouble and need to go into the water, call me." Although Fang Yuan did not entirely agree with their method, once he heard that they could use the tracking device to determine the exact positions of Ke Bei and that giant thing, he felt it necessary to know.

Thus, his own plan had to be postponed for the time being.

Sure enough, through the monitor they quickly locked onto the creature's position. But when Li Mingbo saw the two locator signals on the screen, his face was full of suspicion.

Fang Yuan could not help looking over, only to discover that the two dots on the display were almost completely overlapping.

"Fang Yuan, when you were down there just now, did you see anyone else beside that thing?" Li Mingbo asked, his gaze flickering as he spoke.

"No. Aside from those five people, there was no one else," Fang Yuan said without the slightest hesitation, his tone absolutely certain.

Though that thing was enormous, Fang Yuan was very thorough in his work. Afraid he might miss someone, after dragging those people back up, he had fearlessly circled the thing for two full rounds. Only after confirming that nothing had been overlooked did he return.

"You're sure?" Li Mingbo asked, his eyes full of expectation.

"Certain. The only thing I'm not sure about is inside it," Fang Yuan said, understanding what Li Mingbo was worried about.

Ke Bei and that thing were almost at the exact same point. Since Ke Bei was not outside, then he must be inside.