I'm not a hero, but I didn't say I couldn't beat you.

"The exploration team has arrived at the designated location and is waiting for next instructions."

"Received, please observe the surrounding situation and change the diving equipment for exploration after confirming it is safe."

"clear."

This is a world where only "water" remains.

A world made of dead oceans.

Victory stood on the voyage ship, staring ahead. As far as the eye can see, there is only an endless ocean. But the sea breeze blowing is different from my hometown. It is neither refreshing nor has that salty smell.

In other words, the wind here is too clean. It's so clean, it's like there's nothing here.

"Water is obviously the source of life, but here it has become a nightmare for all life, no longer supporting the birth and continuation of any life?

I looked up at the sun above my head. It was very bright, but the sunlight had no warmth.

And since I came here, I have never seen the slightest sign of the sun moving.

"Is this the so-called dead world?"

Victory sighed, then glanced at the device in his hand.

"The environment is normal, distortion degree: 0, no [disaster] reaction has been found yet."

Then, the button of the communication device was pressed.

"Everything is normal, no danger found, application to enter the next stage of the mission."

"Received, application approved."

"clear."

In addition to the eight members who stayed on the ship, six employees, including Victory, went to the bottom of the cabin to put on special diving suits from the [Border Expedition Team].

Deep-sea diving suits are already extremely bulky and difficult-to-move equipment. After the special modifications made by the inspection team, if you want to talk about comfort, it is not at all. After all, so much miscellaneous equipment has been added, it’s good to be able to barely fit one person in. You can’t expect the reckless men on the expedition team to be very careful. But relatively, these diving suits have more important functions.

For example, a quantum communication system that can adapt to a variety of environments, a self-sustaining system that can survive for more than 7 days for a single person, a nanorobot system that can autonomously repair equipment and provide emergency treatment, and the most critical

【Micro Adaptive Disaster Survival System Ver.1.3.45】

This is a device that can resist the influence of distortion and prevent ordinary people from being assimilated by the [disaster] in places where the [disaster] phenomenon on the border is extremely unstable and even unscrupulous.

The original prototypes of this set of equipment were basically huge and difficult to carry. To be able to reduce such a large model to the point where it can now be carried with you, in a sense, the developers of the expedition team are quite powerful.

If you ignore that while simplifying the equipment, the opponent will also install a bunch of explosives.

Why is a self-destruction device installed on a diving suit?

Do you, the reckless men of the expedition team, only have nitroglycerin in your mind? !

The above part is the evaluation of their sister unit, the [Border Expedition Team], by the internal forum of the Federation.

They are brave, reliable, and full of exploratory spirit, and have made an indelible contribution to the continuation of the entire world.

But at the same time, each of their behavior is either reckless or even more reckless. If they can use explosives to solve the problem, they will never use a knife. If they can use heavy firepower, they will never talk to you about propriety, justice and integrity.

Or according to them, only enemies who have passed the test of firepower are worthy of fighting them.

I don’t know where this evil “code of chivalry” came from.

Of course, the above are all digressions. At least for Victory and his group of investigation teams from the United Federation, it is already a great thing to receive equipment support from the border inspection team.

After confirming that the team members' equipment was intact, the staff who assisted in wearing it quickly evacuated the bottom of the cabin. At the same time, the air valve is closed, and after negative pressure testing for air tightness and three warning sounds, seawater begins to be injected into the cabin.

"Please check the air tightness of the diving equipment and whether the various functions are functioning properly."

"normal"

"normal"

"normal"

"normal"

"normal"

"Everyone is normal."

"Confirmation received, the channel is normal, the remote life detection system is normal, the recovery cable is connected, everything is correct, and the bilge is expected to be opened in 30 seconds."

"The hatch is open, please confirm the final instructions."

"Putting--"

"Put."

The six-person team was thus "exiled" to the depths of this dead sea. And the safety ropes behind them are like the last rope between them and the world, pulling to ensure that they can return to the civilized world.

Now, they need to explore another world that has lost civilization.

"It has touched the seabed, the depth is 348 meters, and the mission search is now started."

"Received, [distortion value] has not been detected yet, please be careful."

"clear."

The place where they landed was more like the ruins of a certain city than the seabed. No, maybe using a city is too advanced. It looks more like an ancient city-state that was sunk into the water.

There are ordinary stone houses, and stone statues can be seen everywhere, but what is carved on the statue is neither a human figure nor a totem of a beast, but more similar to a stone tablet held up by the sun and the moon.

But if the record found is true, then it is probably the belief of human settlements in this world.

Looking around and observing the environment, although the water is already 300 meters below, the sunlight in this world can still clearly illuminate the bottom of the water. In this entire city-state, the one that clearly contrasts with ordinary houses is undoubtedly the center. That huge rectangular pyramid structure altar.

Instinct told Victory that what they were looking for should be there.

"The suspected target location has been found, the approximate direction has been marked, and we are requesting auxiliary detection."

"After receiving the coordinates, please keep the detector activated and slowly move towards the target location."

"clear."

Although this diving suit has a lot of messy gadgets, it doesn't have much equipment to assist movement, so you basically have to do it by yourself. It can't be said to be a slow move, but it's not too different. However, compared to the shorter and fastest route, which was the main road leading directly to the altar, Victory took the lead and chose another more troublesome path.

There are many other things that their team needs to confirm before going up to the altar.

After circling almost half of the city-state, it took more than an hour and a half before the team finally arrived under the altar.

Victory looked up and frowned.

He originally thought that as a city-state where the "stone tablets" were stored, more records would be left here.

But unfortunately, there is nothing left here except these empty stone buildings.

Whether it’s the traces of past civilizations, the records left behind, or——

Remains of the past.

Nothing is left here, it's too clean to be normal.

Since there is no information to be found outside, there is only one option, go to the top of the altar and find the "culprit" in the record.

"We have arrived below the target location and are ready to start climbing."

"Received, no special circumstances have been detected yet - correction, an item with a small amount of [distortion value] characteristics has been detected, the distance is 103.23 meters, [distortion value] intensity: D-, please stay vigilant when approaching."

"clear."

He and his teammates confirmed the situation with each other, and then started climbing in a 1/3/2 formation.

Victory walked in the center of the team, confirming the parameter fluctuations on the instrument while climbing up with the team.

"Strange, the indicators here are too stable..."

Both the temperature and the water flow rate were like fixed indices. If the data displayed by the six people's devices in his hands were not all the same, Victory would even think that there was something wrong with the equipment.

"There are waves on the sea, but why are there no ocean currents underwater? And after diving for more than 300 meters, the water temperature has not changed at all. Is this scientific? It's not right, regardless of the physical rules of the border and whether the intrinsic world exists Access, but this water..."

"Is it real water..."

There is no problem in the analysis of material composition. Just like the intrinsic world, it is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. However, except for the basic properties, everything has problems.

"Captain, we're here."

While thinking about the problem, the team has reached the top of the altar.

Compared with the extremely simple and even abnormal buildings in the city-state below, the appearance above the altar is more in line with people's understanding of ancient city-states.

There are pillars with exquisite patterns, steps with reliefs, floors with exquisite lines, and surrounding stone walls with words and pictures engraved on them.

"First archive the surrounding records and synchronize them to the exploration ship server. Don't worry about the thing in the middle until these are processed."

Everyone saw the "sacrifice" surrounded by the most exquisite stone pillars and sculptures.

But before coming into contact with it, they need to record everything around them first to avoid certain accidents from happening and causing them to lose these "clues" that may be important in the future.

This is the experience of the border inspection team. Whether the things that are enshrined are good or bad, they are definitely not a simple matter. If you don’t want to find relevant records and clues after something happens, you must record all the surrounding environment, objects, and information before contacting it.

After all, a place where [contained objects] can exist stably must have some reason.

"All information has been archived and uploaded, and we are now preparing to contact the codename: [Slate]."

"Received, the power of all detection instruments is fully turned on, the target state is stable, the distortion degree is [D-], and no other dangerous indicators have been detected."

"Copy that, now let's start the first contact."

The team greeted each other and selected three people for the first contact mission.

In other words, rather than speaking of contact, it is actually no different from recording the surrounding environment just now.

It's just a matter of recording the item's data and then archiving it.

However, for items with [Distortion], even the actions of [Record] and [Archive] may lead to some changes.

"First contact, completed."

"The data has been received, the target status is stable, the distortion degree is [D-], and no other dangerous indicators have been detected."

"Copy that, now let's start the second contact."

Now that the first contact has been completed and it is confirmed that the other party will not be observed, recorded or archived and cause loss of control, then the second part of the contact can be carried out.

That is to say, direct contact.

Victory took two steps forward, nodded to each other with several other teammates, and after confirmation, stretched out his hand towards the stone slab.

While Victory stared closely at the factual data displayed on the helmet, he gradually got closer. The distortion did not change, his heart rate increased by 20%, and the surrounding environmental parameters remained unchanged. After confirming all this, he decisively grabbed the stone slab.

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds...30 seconds...

30 seconds passed without any obvious changes.

Whether it’s the surrounding environment or the target’s [distortion]

"The second contact has been completed. No special circumstances have occurred. Application to start containment work."

"Received, permission to start containment work - wait! The flow of water near you is accelerating! The situation is not right, get out of there quickly!"

"Understood! Everyone, confirm the safety ropes and prepare to evacuate-"

However, a sudden burst of light interrupted Victory's instructions. The "slate" that had no reaction at all suddenly burst out with an extremely dazzling light, even causing the closest Victory and another team member to almost go blind.

Then, they felt a huge pulling force.

However, there are two forces at the same time, pulling on their bodies, one coming from the safety rope that ensures their safety and is used for recovery and emergency evacuation.

The other wave came from in front of them.

The stone slab whose light has been extinguished.

"An unexpected situation has occurred at the target! Hurry! Recover us!"

"Coming...in...back..."

Then, communication was interrupted.

If there were artificial satellites outside this broken world observing the entire world, then they would definitely be able to see it at this moment.

That huge whirlpool that could swallow up the ocean—