under the mask

"The coordinates have been confirmed, and the transmission signal is smooth."

Joe leaned closer to the communication terminal: "Start underwater video recording." He sat down excitedly and rubbed his hands, looking at the video recording images simultaneously displayed on the light screen, these images will be transmitted to the ground as soon as the recording is made This is what he believes is the greatest value of this operation.

The unprecedented close-range first-hand video data, if we can capture those strange and special creatures in the sea of ​​death, such as the larger population of Sharman...even people have never seen before!I hope he won't burst his blood vessels because of being too excited!

"Oh, look at those silver swordfish..." Joe stared at the school of fish flashing across the screen, and murmured unconsciously: "They are much stronger than their compatriots on the main star... Could it be that the sea of ​​death is full of auxin? …"

Russell sat absent-mindedly on the other side of the driving platform, crossed his legs and looked out of the observation window.Now they are still on the part of the continental shelf. The entire seabed space is magnificent and unbelievable. The most amazing thing is the color of the sea water. The sea surface near the part where they entered the Sea of ​​Death has been ice-melted. The army uses helicopters as much as possible. It is possible to expand a space for them to go out of the water directly. Because of this, the light in this shallow sea without ice cover is sufficient, and the sea water presents a dreamy blue of different shades... and the farther surroundings are covered with hard water. The ice caps and thick snow, under the refraction of light, the sea water appears white.

The continental shelf extending down from the coast is a world of corals, and giant squids shuttle through the colorful coral formations, startling the tiny sea creatures among them.

No ocean scientist could resist the allure of the sight, but Russell found it ironic.

"The melting of ice is still going on," the young man in military uniform standing behind Russell issued a new command, raised his head and said softly to him, "I think we can go deeper, but it's best not to leave the continental shelf... three hours We must return to within [-] nautical miles of the coastline, which is near here, which is a safe range."

Russell didn't respond to him, not even moving his eyelashes.Instead, Joe wailed in frustration: "Three hours! What can we find if we don't enter the center of the ocean?!"

Scott seemed to have no objection to Russell's attitude at all, but said to Joe in a business-like manner: "The task of us and the army is to ensure the safety of all personnel. The plan submitted by the institute shows that this is just a small-scale scientific investigation—— Safety is the most important thing, three hours is already a breakthrough, no one is sure that this bionic detection ship will not be attacked by other creatures in the sea of ​​death."

Joe shaved the stubble under his nose uncomfortably, and could only hope in his heart that the equipment and personnel on the other detection ship would be enough for them to achieve something within three hours.In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the Sea of ​​Death like they do now, they have paid a high price. These two exploration ships are not designed to stay in the warehouse for many years.Originally, he had hoped to go into the water to collect samples himself, but this normal scientific investigation procedure was rejected by the military, and finally it was agreed to replace it with a deep-sea robot.

What a pity!

He glanced at the lavender-haired researcher who was still distracted, and slandered in his heart, didn't he say that Second Lieutenant Scott was a protégé of Researcher Russell?It is said that if Russell had not personally selected Scott and brought him into the military science institute for an internship, Scott would not have entered 'there' at such an age... But looking at the atmosphere between the two people in front of him, it is like death The sea's ice caps are as cold and hard as winter.

After nearly two hours, Joe's drowsy expression was finally broken. After entering the water, they encountered "very cute" sandman mermaids - a group!

"Sharman!! It's Sharman!! Oh God, we read it right—look at them—there are so many little mermaids—!!" Joe raised the palm-sized communication terminal and roared: "It's so wonderful—it's— -incredible--!!!"

The people in the entire command room could hear the fanatical cheers from the other end of the communication port. Judging from the monitoring screen, another detection ship was obviously changing direction, trying to approach the group of Sharmans.

"Follow them," Scott frowned, and in a deep voice signaled the captain in charge of driving the exploration ship to follow his companions, "Warning them, don't continue to approach Sharman, otherwise this operation will stop immediately."

The captain glanced sideways at the person with the highest military rank in the airtight cabin, but unfortunately the beautiful researcher didn't respond to his inquiry, so he had to turn around with Joe's resentful gaze, and at the same time send instructions to another ship.

Russell looked out of the window. Outside the half-meter-diameter circular observation window, several Sharman mermaids gradually appeared. He could see a small group of about forty mermaid cubs swimming around and playing in the distance. The mermaid population found these two ugly and strange giants. The male mermaid in the leading position issued an infrasound wave, and all the Sharmans who were hunting around the silver sword fish retreated and gathered carefully, protecting the cubs in the middle...

There was a little guy who was obviously very naughty. He swung his chubby tail and rubbed against the giant squid. The newborn calf was circling around the squid without fear of tigers. He was facing the round observation window, but he didn't know that there was a human being standing across it. The pressure shell looked at him gently.

This is a future mermaid king... The birth rate of males in Sharman is very low, and most of the Sharman population is composed of one male, N females and a bunch of cubs, which means that each male cub will , will leave the population of birth until they have their own big family.

Scott's eyes flashed, he bent down, and his hands crossed the sides of Russell's body to support the glass window.

"You have already adopted one... Do you want another one?" His cold and deep voice rang in Russell's ears, "I never knew you were so caring... Teacher."

Russell looked into Scott's eyes reflected in the glass, and snorted in disgust.

Joe's fussy shouts sounded behind them, and Scott straightened up nonchalantly, taking a few steps back.He looked at the snow-white nape of Russell's lavender short hair, but in his mind he thought about the scene when they met for the first time. In the underground shooting range of the Military Science Institute, the slender and beautiful researcher used a heavy machine gun Sweeping away a row of moving targets without stopping, in the background of the smoky shooting range is the opponent's pure white lab coat...

Then the researcher put down the weapon in his hand and turned around, those gray eyes piercing through his thoughts like knives.

He could never forget that scene.

That look.

"This is a lost little mermaid." Joe huddled next to Russell, carefully looking at the cub who had been following the exploration ship outside, his eyes glowing: "Can we... I mean... move faster Unknowingly..."

"There are dozens of these little things at the Institute of Oceanography." Russell said lightly, "Didn't you stay there for the past week?"

Joe couldn't help sighing: "What's the use of that, those female mermaids don't know what's going on, they die one after another quickly, we don't know how to raise those cubs at all... After much trouble, most of them died, and the rest We dare not move a few of them at all, so we can only keep them in the aquarium. The more experimental samples, the better."

He turned his head and looked at Scott pleadingly. He finally understood that no matter how high the military rank of Russell was, it was the "Pallard" who made the decisions here.

Scott stood there expressionless, and finally nodded slightly.This is also one of the plans.They have been tracking the nearby Sharman population for some time in the past. Although it was difficult, they finally made it to this point smoothly.

With permission, Joe quickly walked over, controlled the artificial arms and legs on the operation panel here, and surrounded the little mermaid.The confused little guy was caught before he could figure out what was going on, and was injected with a nerve paralyzing drug for a moment, and his little fat tail drooped listlessly.Joe breathed a sigh of relief, pressed the button, and waited for the little mermaid to be brought into the detection boat. If his movements were slower, or if the cubs were more vigilant and emitted infrasound waves, then they would face the Sharman population not far away. The siege would be too tragic.

Scott narrowed his eyes and looked at the simple silver metal control panel, and pressed it with his finger on the side without any trace.

boom----

The arms and legs that were entangled with the little mermaid suddenly tightened, and that small body exploded in front of the observation window—the blue plasma and meat paste covered the entire glass window! !

"Oh no——no, no——!!!" Joe was stunned by this scene, and suddenly turned his head to look at Scott's shocked and furious growl: "You——you did it on purpose—"

His face was pale, his eyes protruded in shock, and after a few seconds of blank brain, he reacted suddenly, rushed to the driving platform and grabbed the captain's shoulders and shouted: "Quick!! Return to the coastline!!! Quickly, quickly—— ——"

His voice echoed hysterically in the airtight cabin, creating a frightening effect.

The captain panicked and opened the communication port and the internal channel for an emergency notification. The giant squid in the blue water slowly changed its direction, but as soon as its curled arms and legs stretched out, those bits and pieces of flesh and blood drifted away with the current of the ocean. Go... the bloody smell of the mermaid quickly dissipated...

"Urgent notification Urgent notification: Squid No. [-] is returning home urgently, start the emergency drainage procedure! All personnel gather near the life-saving lock and leave the boat! Repeat again!..."

"You're a crime!!" Joe collapsed on the armchair, staring at Scott and gnashing his teeth: "You violated the security law, I swear you will be sent to a military court!!"

Scott looked at the control panel calmly, and his subordinates kept issuing instructions to the ground.

"What are you still doing?!" Joe wanted to kill this ignorant kid with a gun: "You will kill us all——!"

Russell stood up suddenly and walked out of the airtight cabin. When he passed by Scott, he was grabbed, and his arm was like a steel hoop.

"Where are you going?" Scott closed the control panel with one hand and looked back at him.

"You want to follow me to the toilet?" Russell raised his chin impatiently at him.

Scott suddenly showed a smile, and his cold and stern demeanor suddenly became sunny, but the next second he lowered his face, and his tone became cold: "Don't do anything stupid, Mr. Hells, just stay still."

Russell narrowed his eyes, his chest was so tight that it was about to explode.He slowly relaxed his strength, and the moment Scott let go, he suddenly took out a gun from his pocket and put it on Scott's head!Scott took a step faster than him, he tilted his head to the left almost at the same time, then raised his left hand like lightning, grabbed the back of Russell's neck and squeezed it hard, and the other person was completely limp in his arms.

Joe stared at them tremblingly, only to realize that in the command room, apart from him, the captain, and Russell, the rest of the soldiers all turned a blind eye to this scene... They were all from Scott.

This little-known little lieutenant... is simply a devil!

Scott gently supported Russell's lower back, picked him up horizontally and walked towards the driving platform.The monitoring screen was already covered by those Sharman mermaids who were like ghosts in the water, and those long tails were floating in layers of light in the sea, and they were surrounding them.

"Get out of the way." He forced Russell to Joe, then pushed away the shaking captain, opened the control panel to start the emergency drainage procedure, then took off his military cap and strode out: "You take He's going to the safety gear! Immediately!"

The four soldiers guarded outside the airtight cabin, and when they saw him come out, they gave a silent military salute, and then waited at the door of the command room according to his previous instructions, escorting the three of Russell until they escaped safely.

Scott walked towards the first airtight cabin without hesitation, where all the students stayed.Frame by frame of photos flashed in his mind until a boy with black hair and blue eyes.

Levi Spall.

Russell is very concerned about this student, the heir of General Andrew, the No.1 graduate of Imperial High School, the winner of the first-year mock battle competition...extraordinarily excellent.

The two exploration ships floated up quickly in a short period of time, and a large amount of high-pressure gas was injected to discharge the water in the main ballast water tank, but they were still some distance away from the coast, and it would still be difficult for them to escape if the mermaids followed closely. After 30 seconds, the detection ship finally surfaced entirely, and was only less than 50 meters away from the black reef shore. A group of stationed soldiers mobilized to extend the metal bridge to the detection ship. This was the only way. The hatch of the probe ship can only be connected to one bridge because of its narrowness.

"Sharman...the mermaid group still...have at most 1 minute...will...chasing them——"

There was an intermittent sound in the internal channel, apparently the signal had begun to be affected by the mermaid swarm.

1 minute, maybe less, more than 20 people have to pass this metal bridge to return to the shore safely in such a short time, everyone is nervous.

Li Wei heard a girl beside him sobbing for a long time, and a boy from the Academy of Sciences was praying in a low voice, his voice trembling like an earthquake.Abel held his hand tightly, with a serious expression on his face.Li Wei has never seen Abel's expression like this, and he began to feel a little nervous. They were at the hatch, and they didn't know what happened. It seemed that they were suddenly notified that a group of mermaids were chasing them like crazy. Come here, if you accidentally fall into the water, you will be torn to pieces.

"It must be those researchers who are doing shit..." Abel cursed in a low voice. The internal channels of other students have been blocked just now, but his earrings can receive more... He can hear a little movement in the command room, but There is no way to deduce the exact situation from it.He can only be sure that it has something to do with that director or Russell's actions... and that Scott...