Right, Alan took a breath, vigorously pushing down the pounding excitement in his chest.
To confirm his guess, he returned to the Cockpit in a hurry, locating the submarine's Sonar Detection System at the right side of the Central Control Panel.
This was a sophisticated instrument set that was not connected with the Central Control Panel; it took up a small space in the Cockpit.
Tapping it open, black data information appeared on the screen:
(Sonar Detection System (Primary). Current Maximum Detection Range: 500 meters
(In the bottomless darkness of the deep sea, the Sonar Detection System is the eyes and ears of the submarine; it's also the basic means for you to grasp the surroundings to a broad extent. Upgrade the Sonar Detection System as soon as possible so as to discover resource nodes and dangers in the darkness in time!)
"500 meters' detection range is merely a drop in the bucket!"
"However, it should be sufficient for the current stage!"
Alan complained again.
And he decisively activated the sonar system.
Next moment, the Sonar interface suddenly changed.
A three-dimensional vast map was projected in the air from nowhere.
The Challenger Deep submarine was located in the center of the map.
Clear sound waves were radiated continuously in a perfect circle from the Challenger Deep submarine, and then the returned information displayed a virtual topographical map of the surrounding sea area on the screen.
Through the map shown on the screen, it was estimated that the Challenger Deep submarine was in the deep sea, very close to the sea floor.
A distance of 100 meters away was a flat and huge seabed, which was covered by countless giant cracks.
Areas in front, back, left and right were blank empty areas; the sonar radar was unable to obtain information about topographical obstacles on these areas.
While the sonar signals were returning, twelve very faint red dots gradually appeared on the map display.
"Those were women that I was driving before the transmigration; it said in the announcement that it was based on proximity, then the other six are those called "Anomaly Points," right?"
Alan muttered to himself.
"Seems my luck isn't too bad that there are six Anomaly Points located at the Spawn Point, it's just that I don't know what is contained within the Anomaly Points..."
So saying, Alan had his mind concentrated on focusing at one of the red dots.
The next moment, a magic thing occurred.
Below that red Anomaly Point, distorted pale gold text emerged from nowhere, forming characters one by one.
(Distance 360 meters. There is a small patch of poor iron ore here. Although it's small in quantity, it's a considerable treasure for you in the Reclamation Period!)
"As expected!"
At the instant when Alan saw the pale gold system prompts, his breathing had been stopped and his heart pound violently!
It was just as he predicted; the system prompts not only showed details of items and equipments, but they also gave clues to the information of Anomaly Points detected by the sonar system!
Pushing down the surging excitement and fervent passion in his chest, Alan shifted his sight to the other Anomaly Points.
(Distance 420 meters. There is a patch of Fluorescent Grass here. If you explore carefully, you may find a dwelling place of a Deep Sea Swimming Crab there. Bring a Speargun and a Diving Knife and your first meal will be no problem.)
(Distance 498 meters. There is a small patch of poor copper ore here. Do not hesitate to pick it; Small gains accumulate, and you will one day build your own monument!)
(Distance 430 meters. There is a juvenile Deep Sea Worm foraging here. Take your courage and go to attack it, a worm with five-meter-long intestines will always be your tomb!)
As Alan's vision moved over the display screen, different system prompts appeared under each red Anomaly Point.
The pale gold system prompts seemed to be alive. It's as if a narrator who can only speak on their own accord continuously adds comments for Meng Lei from his own perspective.
That sense of being alive felt really bizarre; coupled with the dimly lit cockpit, it carried a chilling sensation of horror!
However, Alan did not have time to care about such things at present.
He knew that there must be a golden finger that completely defied game mechanics; that the pale gold system prompts should be that golden finger of his!
However, this seemingly insignificant golden finger seemed so monstrous in his hands now.
Hoo…
Alan took a deep breath, and burned the darkness outside the porthole in his eyes, a faint smile on his face.
With this golden finger, as long as he did not seek death himself, there should be no threat from this dangerous Ocean Planet in this survival process!
Being a careful person, Alan quickly suppressed the joy of obtaining the system, and readjusted his mentality.
He knew very well that in the vast deep sea Abyss of the Ocean Planet, there might be a potential threat that was not detected by the system, and so he could absolutely not take any risks.
Sitting on the leather seat, Alan narrowed his eyes, mentally combining all the information that he had obtained in this period of time. And then, he prepared to arrange the next reclamation plan. He had already grasped the game's contents and the overall structure of the submarine; it was time to set off!
The sonar display pulsed quietly. The red dots flickered. Alan's fingers danced over the control panel, his eyes narrowed as the golden prompts flickered below each anomaly. Iron ore… fluorescent grass… and then… The worm. His gaze lingered there half a second longer than the others. "...Not ideal," he muttered. Just as he was about to disengage the sonar- Ping. A new interface flashed open. [Communication Request Incoming...] Alan paused. "...Private channel?" That was new. He tapped it.
A brief burst of static- Then a familiar voice blared through.
"-Hello?! Can you hear me?!" Alan's expression flickered slightly. "...Tessa?"
"OH THANK GOD!" she practically shrieked. "It's you! Driver guy!" Another voice cut in immediately. "His name is not 'driver guy,' Tessa." Jade.
Of course. Alan leaned back slightly, one hand resting near the controls.
"I can hear you," he said calmly. The idea of contacting them had never crossed his mind.
Monica muttered. "What the hell is this place?!"
"Some kind of survival game," Alan replied. "you saw the announcement, didn't you?"
A brief silence followed. Then Nadia spoke... Trying hard to sound composed as before. "...We've been trying to figure things out. None of us are getting any instructions. Just basic screens." Alan's eyes flickered-briefly-to the fading golden text on his display. He answered without hesitation. "its the same for everyone." Smooth. Natural. Alan knows that the human mind could be far more dangerous, no other person must know about his hint Prompts.
"we need to form a group, we're not moving alone," Jade said firmly. "That would be suicide."
"Agreed," Nadia added. "We stick together. Seven submarines are better than one." Tessa chimed in, half-joking but tense underneath: "Yeah, group survival. I've seen enough movies to know this is the smart move."
Alan's gaze shifted back to the sonar. To the red dots. "...Which direction are you heading?" he asked.
"slightly west," Jade replied. "There's something on our radar. Might be resources."
Alan's eyes sharpened instantly. "Don't go there." The words came out colder than expected.
The channel went quiet.
"...What?" Jade said. Alan exhaled slowly, choosing his words carefully. "There are anomalies ahead," he said. "Not all of them are safe."
"We know that," Jade scoffed. "Isn't that the whole point of the game."
"You don't understand," Alan said, voice low. "The one you are heading towards might be a creature."
"...How would you know that?" Nadia asked. There it was. The question.
Alan didn't miss a beat. "Guessing based on patterns," he replied randomly.
Jade laughed lightly. "Wow. So now you're psychic?" "I'm serious." "Or paranoid," she shot back.
Alan's eyes locked onto the worm's marker, looking at six red dots going closer. "...If you ladies keep going," he said quietly, "you might run into something dangerous." Silence.
Then Tessa's voice, softer this time: "Jade... Maybe we should-"
"No," Jade cut in. "The scared driver might as well stay there and do nothing."
Nadia hesitated. Then: "...We proceed. Carefully."
Alan closed his eyes briefly. "...suit yourselves."
But his hand tightened slightly on the control panel.
The channel stayed open.
At first-nothing. Just faint static. Then- "Wait... Do you guys see that?" Lila's voice. Quiet. Uneasy. "...something just moved." Alan's eyes snapped to the sonar. The red dot- Shifted. Fast. "you had better back off," Alan said immediately. "Now!"
Too late. A scream tore through the channel. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT-?!" A violent crash echoed. Metal shrieked.
"IT HIT US-!"
"My hull integrity is dropping!"
"JADE-MOVE-!"
The sound that followed- Was heavy, iron twisting under external pressure.
"...It's on the hull-" Monica's voice trembled. Then- A deafening crunch. Screaming. Cut short. Static.
Alan's jaw tightened, he said sharply. "Respond!"
Nothing.
Then- "...everyone retreat... Immediately!" Nadia's voice shaking
"Renee is gone-Monica too-" "MOVE! MOVE!"
The sound of the submarine tail fan spinning rapidly through water. Panic. Breathing. Someone sobbing.
Tessa cried. "It's behind us-!"
Alan's pupils shrank. His eyes snapped to the sonar- Multiple moving signals- His heartbeat spiked instantly.
"...Damn it. Are they trying to kill me?"
"Why are they escaping in my direction?" His hand hovered over the engine controls. If that thing followed- This fragile submarine wouldn't last seconds.
"Keep moving," Jade said sharply. "Get out of here!."
"We're trying!"
The abyss worm signal...Stopped.
Alan stared at the screen. The red dot... Did not move further. Seconds passed. Nothing. "...It's not chasing us," Lila whispered.
Alan leaned back slowly. Sighs in relief. Eyes still on the sonar. No one spoke for a while. Only chaotic breathing. Shaky. Uneven. "...two of us are dead." Nadia's voice. Too controlled.
Jade spoke-but this time, no arrogance. "...You knew." Alan didn't respond. "...You knew, didn't you?"
A long pause.
Then he sighs again "You can't blame me, I warned you."
Nadia spoke next. "...we will follow you from now on."
Alan's eyes flickered. Golden text faintly pulsed on his screen. Unseen by anyone else.
"...Just don't slow me down," he said calmly. Alan slowly shifted his gaze back to the remaining anomaly points. Five left. "...This world really doesn't forgive mistakes," he muttered.
Outside the porthole... Darkness remained absolute.
But just then, the Central Control Panel suddenly transmitted a slight tremor, and the list of Regional Communication Channels on the display screen simultaneously erupted in a blinding red light. Instantly, the entire Cockpit was enveloped by the crimson light, making the atmosphere incredibly tense and eerie. "What the hell is going on?" Jade asked
Alan's heart skipped a beat; somewhat confused, he hastily clicked open the Communication Channel to see what had happened. The moment he opened the Communication Channel, he immediately saw that the indicator in the upper left corner of the list, representing the number of active people in the region, had plummeted from 100000/100000 to 99461/100000! He knew almost without thinking that the missing numbers must represent players who had already died! "It seems a lot of people got hit too. Hundreds of people are out just in this short amount of time?!"
He quickly checked the chat content within the channel, hoping to gather some useful information. Upon checking, he realized that the Communication Channel, which had previously been filled with diverse chat messages, was now ringing with massive cries for help!
[George: Government! Government! Come and save me! Something outside my submarine seems to be screaming, the sound is so loud and terrifying!]
[ Vanguard: Holy mary, what's going on? My submarine seems to have been hit by something just now, and the Depressurization System is alarming! Deep]
[Blue: Me too! Something is coming in the sea. They seem to be scratching the hull of my submarine outside. Help!]
[ Giant: Sea Monster! There's a Sea Monster! It's huge. It just swam past right in front of me. Just one tentacle is bigger than my submarine. I can't even see the whole thing. It almost capsized both me and the ship!]
[Yamamoto: F*ck, really, there really are Sea Monsters! Too many, there are too many of them! There are red dots everywhere on the sonar image. They are closing in on me. What the hell are these things?! Mom, save me!]
[ Moyo: I must leave first. My submarine hull has been torn open by monsters, and the water level in the living cabin has reached sixty percent. The seawater will soon flood the Cockpit! Everyone... Glug glug glug glug glug...]
[ Black Pearl: Everyone calm down. The Novice Protection Period must be over now. The game is using this Threat Mechanism to force us to set sail quickly! Everyone, don't stay at the Spawn Point any longer, move out immediately!]
...Watching the cries for help flooding the Communication Channel, Alan slowly frowned.
His mood gradually grew heavy.
After he had witnessed the Sea Monsters killing two people, this phenomenon was clearly not isolated! From this, it was evident that there seemed to be no Novice Protection Mechanism whatsoever in this Deep Sea Survival Game! It had only been a few minutes since the start, and most people hadn't even figured out the operating methods or the submarine's structure, yet the crisis had already quietly descended. Many people were attacked by unknown creatures at this early stage; the difficulty of survival was simply insane! After a brief moment of contemplation, Alan dared not delay any longer. Although it seemed calm around him now, a deadly crisis could engulf them at any moment. At that point, even with the system supporting him, he couldn't avoid ending up buried in a fish's belly! After all, driving such a broken reclamation vessel, lacking even a single ship-mounted weapon, he would have no ability to fight back if he encountered a Sea Monster.
Alan immediately decided to set sail and leave the Spawn Point area first! "Alright ladies time to move out, every man for himself." "Every woman for herself in this case"