Shi Ming carefully piloted the Sun-Shooter, sneaking more than 200 nautical miles through the Sea of Boiling until he finally arrived at the coordinates provided by the Lamp of Wishes.
The old Great Congo Capital City!
The dilapidated cluster of buildings offered nothing worth exploring. It was like a ti capsule sealed at the bottom of the sea. Under the high-temperature water and imnse pressure, it no longer resembled the city he rembered—only ruins remained.
Along the way, he had deliberately avoided the few remaining sea beasts.
He didn’t even bother provoking the sea beasts he could have killed with a single touch. So close to the Abyss Lord’s lair, he didn’t want to cause any unnecessary trouble. Besides, he had absolutely no interest in these D-rank and C-rank beasts.
The lower his profile, the better.
On the seabed, a massive shipwreck rested atop the city’s ruins.
The hull was about 380 ters long and very well-designed. Based on its size, anyone would assu it was a General-class drifting ship. But according to the intel Shi Ming had gathered, you could count the number of General-class ships that had sunk in the Endless Ocean over the past thirty years on one hand. Aside from the Black Society, which he had sunk himself, there were the Red Maple Capital, the Great Blue Mountain, and the Black Eagle, all destroyed by sea beasts, as well as the Snow Maiden, which had run aground and beco frozen in the Extre North.
None of them matched the wreck here in the Sea of Boiling.
’Strange.’
’Could it be an ordinary vessel from the Land Era? Or just a large Golden Ship?’
’I should explore first and get the Twin Mirror.’
The Sun-Shooter, in its mimicked form of an electric eel, swam toward the shipwreck, crackling arcs of electricity flashing around it.
Shi Ming had already scouted the area with the Map of the Endless Sea.
No powerful sea beasts were lurking here.
The electric eel flicked its tail and swam inside the ship. It was imdiately greeted by a bloodstain on the hull that stretched for over thirty ters. The bloody marks looked incredibly fresh, not old at all. It was as if so poor sea beast had encountered an unknown power and exploded from the inside out, spraying filth and blood all over the ship’s hull. It was like a coat of red graffiti painted over the decaying vessel.
Shi Ming blinked.
A bloodstain containing the residual power of the Extrely Evil Sanctuary!
A B-rank sea beast that had made its lair here exploded under the wrath of the Abyss Lord, leaving these marks behind. As for why the Abyss Lord went on a rampage, it might have sothing to do with a certain story about you using the Arm of Power to hack off one of its vile tentacles...
Black Gold should give you an award. You’ve indirectly maintained the peace in this sea region, carrying out their duties for them.
’So it’s not that there were no sea beasts here.’
’They were just dead.’
But Shi Ming didn’t let his guard down just because there were no enemies. On the contrary, he grew even more vigilant. ’A ship that once held the 43rd-ranked Wonder can’t be simple. There might even be other treasures here, comparable to the Twin Mirror.’
Shi Ming avoided the ghastly bloodstain and entered the mysterious ship’s hull, which was collapsed and damaged beyond recognition.
The hull was mottled with corrosion, and all the equipnt had been destroyed by the high pressure and temperature. The fact that it still resembled a ship at all was quite an achievent. Unlike the salvageable *Yellowstone* from before, this wreck had no value. Even the few crates in the cabins had all burst open, their contents ruined.
After only a few more glances, Shi Ming was certain.
’It’s definitely not a drifting ship.’
’It’s just an ordinary vessel from the Land Era.’
’Perhaps this ship sank more than thirty years ago? Did it fall into the deep sea even before the Wandering Era began?’
The Sun-Shooter’s eel form swam back and forth through the cabins as Shi Ming activated his spiritual senses, searching for the Wonder known as the Twin Mirror. The ship was as massive as the Moon Shadow, and with so many collapsed and buried sections, finding a small mirror would be no easy task.
After three minutes of searching, he had found nothing but piles of rubble.
Ti was of the essence.
"Eye of the World, gather intelligence!"
BEEP... BEEP...
*Compiling intelligence...*
*Searching... Confirming detailed coordinates... Search successful. Summarizing intelligence... Intelligence report generated.*
*An "ordinary" large ship.*
*Strange. This ship has no Sailing Crystal Stones, nor any kind of teorite drive system. It appears to be nothing more than a creation from the Land Era. However, the Eye of the World has discovered three unusual things about it!*
*1. The 43rd-ranked Wonder, the Twin Mirror. It has fallen beneath a pile of debris forty-three ters to your front-left, mostly obscured by silt. The mirror has been buried here for exactly thirty years. It is ti for it to see the light of day again.*
*2. Strangely, there are no traces of any human presence on this ship.*
*3. Two high-tech robots are dormant in the main control room. How advanced is their technology? About three or four stories high.*
Shi Ming blinked, and the text faded away.
’To each their own specialty, indeed,’ Shi Ming thought. ’The Eye of the World is just so much more effective. I spent all that ti searching with my Spiritual Power, but all it took was activating one skill and the intel just ca to ! Not only did it find the exact location of the Twin Mirror, but it also pointed out three anomalies worth investigating.’
Shi Ming guided the Sun-Shooter forward and to the left, pondering the value of the other two pieces of information.
’No traces of humans?’
’What does that an?’
’Does that an everyone on board died, or that all traces of them have been washed away by the sea? For a ship that’s been sunk for at least thirty years, isn’t it normal to find no human traces?’
’Or am I supposed to interpret that differently?’
The Sun-Shooter reached the location indicated by the Eye of the World. Buried in layers of decaying debris, Shi Ming’s Spiritual Power instantly zeroed in on a corner of the Twin Mirror. The scene was identical to the one the Lamp of Wishes had shown him!
’Good!’
’Once I have the Twin Mirror, this mission is complete.’
’I can worry about everything else later.’
With a flick of its tail, the electric eel swam directly above the Twin Mirror. Shi Ming reached out, grabbed a corner of the mirror, and yanked it out from the debris. He didn’t even have ti to examine its unique material or properties before the corner, piled high with decaying junk, completely collapsed as its delicate balance was broken.
This was almost unavoidable.
The Sun-Shooter deftly spun around, avoiding all the falling debris.
Phew~
’A treasure in your grasp is a true treasure,’ Shi Ming thought with relief. ’The mission is complete. Even if this ship holds other incomprehensible secrets, it’s so decayed that I have no interest in investigating further. As for those two robots with technology that’s "three or four stories high"... the main control room should be easy enough to find. I’ll just go grab them, stuff them in the warehouse, and take them back to study at my leisure!’
HUMMM—
Just as the dust from the collapse began to settle, a high-frequency wave emanated from beneath the decaying ship.
The wave was a type of Spiritual Power interference, but it was far too weak to affect soone with Shi Ming’s imnse Spiritual Power. However, the wave was a detection pulse. The mont it swept over the Sun-Shooter, four red eyes lit up inside the main control room.
’It can see through the mimicry of a General-class drifting ship!’
Before Shi Ming could even process his shock, a distinctly chanical, electronic voice echoed through the deep sea.
"Celestial Net Guard. Detecting unidentified intruder. Determining species..."
"Classification: Not a sea beast."
"Classification: Not human."
"Classification: Not a chanical construct."
"Designation: Dangerous species."
"Initiating protocol: Eradicate."
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