This assassin is upright

Chapter 482 Second Investigation!

"Boom~"

With a barely audible underwater splash, Yu Zhun crossed a hundred-meter-deep seawater, transitioning from the highly corrosive water to clean water. The surrounding environment instantly improved, allowing him to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Although he is now immune to seawater corrosion thanks to the power of the mutation inducer, who wouldn't want a better environment?

Thinking to himself, Yu Zhun looked up at the sky.

Above his head was a vast, dark outline, seemingly obscuring everything, with no end in sight.

That's a desolate island of ruins.

Yu Zhun didn't know what the island used to look like, but he knew what it looked like now.

In areas above -100 meters above sea level, it resembles a giant mushroom, with the part in the sea resembling the mushroom's open cap, but below it is only a single stone pillar that appears small compared to the rest of the island, yet still has a diameter of several thousand meters.

Over the centuries, the terrifying corrosiveness of seawater has carried away almost all structures that could be eroded, leaving only a very few special rock components that could withstand this corrosion and were extremely strong, which eventually settled into the shapes we see today.

But in the area below -100 meters, the ruined island presents a completely different scene.

It was a magnificent underwater mountain range, several times larger than the ruined island.

This mountain was also a prime suspect for Yu Zhun.

After much thought, he still felt that this place was most likely the source of the earthquake.

Swimming in the sea, Yu Zhun slowly circled the mountain, observing it as if he could find something special about the majestic mountain that did not belong to nature.

But after a few hours, Yu Zhun gave up on this approach.

Because he swims too slowly.

In just a few hours, he had only seen less than one percent of the entire mountain area. At this rate, it would take more than ten days or even longer just to search the entire mountain.

“That won’t do.” Yu Zhun narrowed his eyes slightly, a thoughtful look appearing in them.

The best course of action is, of course, to patiently wait here until tomorrow's earthquake.

But the earthquake hasn't started yet, so it would be a waste to just sit here idle.

While pondering, Yu Zhun suddenly thought of something.

He slowly took out the key he had obtained from the lava.

One minute…

Five minutes...

ten minutes…

A silver shadow flew swiftly from a distance.

A smile immediately appeared on Yu Zhun's face.

Great, fishing successful.

Before long, the silver mermaid reappeared in front of Yu Zhun.

Looking at Yu Zhun who had returned once again, its eyes were filled with anticipation, as if it felt that Yu Zhun had changed his mind and was going to open that door.

Reading the expectation in the mermaid's eyes, even Yu Zhun himself felt a little guilty.

"We'll have to wait a bit longer regarding the door issue."

He spoke slowly, and seeing the expectation in the mermaid's eyes gradually disappear, he quickly said, "But I promise you, I will definitely find a way to open that door later!"

The mermaid's eyes regained their hope, and she began to gesture.

This time, Yu Zhun understood what the other party meant.

The mermaid was asking what she had come for this time if she hadn't come to open the door herself.

“I want to do something,” Yu Zhun said casually. “This matter requires your help, which is why I called you here.”

The mermaid pondered for a moment, then nodded vigorously.

If it could help Yu Zhun, the other party would probably open that door for it as soon as possible, right? Thinking this, it gestured and asked Yu Zhun what exactly it needed to do.

“What I need to do should be very simple for you.” Yu Zhun pointed to the huge mountain area in front of him. “I need you to help me find out if there are any traces of human intervention in this mountain.”

Man-made traces?

Realizing what Yu Zhun was looking for, the mermaid's eyes lit up, and she nodded without hesitation, pointing in a certain direction in the mountain area.

"You know?" Yu Zhun's eyes lit up instantly.

"take me!"

The mermaid nodded, then quickly swam in a direction she remembered.

After swimming a certain distance, it will wait in place until Yu Zhun catches up, and then continue swimming forward.

As he swam with all his might, Yu Zhun felt that his body was undergoing some strange changes. His skin became smoother, reducing the friction with the seawater to the extreme, and his swimming speed gradually increased.

Noticing Yu Zhun's increased speed, a hint of surprise appeared in the mermaid's eyes, but she didn't pay too much attention to it, and simply increased her swimming speed silently.

The two slowly approached their target location in the seawater, and finally, the mermaid stopped.

"Is this the place?" Yu Zhun also stopped and looked around curiously.

This is an inconspicuous area, with exposed rocks and seawater-specific sand surrounding the mountain, looking no different from other areas.

He slowly approached, tentatively feeling around, but still couldn't find anything unusual.

"Are you sure there are man-made traces here?" He couldn't help but turn to look at the silver mermaid, asking again to confirm.

The silver mermaid grew anxious and began to frantically gesture in the water.

"You mean..."

Understanding the silver mermaid's gestures, Yu Zhun's expression gradually became interesting. "A long time ago, when you passed through this area, did someone come to this location?"

The silver mermaid nodded emphatically.

"Are you sure it's a human?"

The silver mermaid nodded again.

"The other party has been lingering here for a long time?"

The silver mermaid nodded once more.

A thoughtful look immediately appeared in Yu Zhun's eyes.

Aside from the ruined island, there shouldn't be anyone else who could come to this place, and only the people of the ruined island know the truth about this sea area best.

There are no terrifying creatures here, only utter silence.

So what are the people on this deserted island trying to do by lingering in this location?

With this question in mind, Yu Zhun gently placed one hand on the rock wall.

One by one, tendrils emerged from his palm, gradually penetrating the cracks in the rock wall, branching out at each fissure, and rapidly spreading throughout the entire area before him.

The next moment, his expression changed slightly.

As he retracted the roots, Yu Zhun's hand suddenly reached for one of the rocks, and then he forcefully pried it apart.

It was a complete rock block over ten meters long, with most of it submerged in the sand, except for a small section exposed. Yu Zhun, in the water, could not exert any force and was unable to move it for a while.

At that moment, another pair of hands covered in silver scales appeared beside Yu Zhun's hands. With their combined effort, the rock finally began to move. Once the entire rock was pried open and sank into the deeper seawater, Yu Zhun's gaze immediately locked onto the exposed area behind the huge rock.

Immediately afterwards, his pupils contracted slightly.

A metal object, which looks to be only the size of a fist, is embedded in the internal crevice of the rock and appears to still be working.

If Yu Zhun hadn't sensed the unusual nature of the rock through his roots, he would never have imagined that such a huge rock could hide such a mystery.

"What is this?" he couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

The silver mermaid beside him quickly shook her head, then gestured as she explained.

When it saw people before, it didn't dare to get too close, so it didn't see what the other person did here, nor did it see this thing before.

"Alright then." Yu Zhun nodded.

He had only asked casually and had no expectation of getting an answer from the mermaid.

After carefully approaching it, Yu Zhun hesitated for a moment, looking at the square object whose indicator light was still flashing, but ultimately did not move it.

He remains quite wary of location-based technological products.

However, Yu Zhun had already memorized the details of this matter, and after returning to shore, he could ask the rats, who had research and knowledge of various technological products.

Perhaps the other party can give him a reasonable answer.

After questioning the mermaid again and confirming that she only knew this one location, Yu Zhun explored the surrounding area.

After gaining nothing further, he bid farewell to the mermaid.

Of course, the promises still need to be made.

"Don't worry, I'll open that door as soon as possible!" Patting the mermaid on the shoulder, Yu Zhun turned and swam towards the island above.

Only the silver mermaid remained, filled with excitement and anticipation.

We'll go back the way we came.

Before long, Yu Zhun had already quietly returned to the desolate island, to the Black Hawk team's base, in a place undetected by surveillance cameras.

The rest of the Black Hawk team, who were the first to notice the commotion, rushed over to greet him. Even Black Hawk, who had just recovered and was able to walk again, came out of his resting room and looked at Yu Zhun with some concern.

"I heard from Wolf Fang and Iron Tower that you went to explore underwater?"

"The surveillance of the coastal border on this ruined island is very strict. Did they not discover you?"

"Don't worry, Captain, I've taken that into account." Yu Zhun shook his head, then laughed. "We did make some discoveries this time we entered the ocean."

"The desolate island in ruins has indeed hidden something."

As he spoke, he found paper and pen, and quickly drew the outline and details of the technological creation he had seen, relying on his memory, and then handed it to the mouse.

Do you recognize this?

"This..." The mouse took it and looked thoughtful. "It looks familiar, but I can't quite remember why."

“I think I’ve seen this before.” He looked at Yu Zhun, hoping to find a clue from Yu Zhun’s experience. “Where did you see something similar?”

“Underwater,” Yu Zhun said casually. “It’s hidden behind a large rock, very well concealed.”

"Hidden behind the rocks..." the mouse murmured, then its expression changed slightly. "You didn't touch it, did you?"

"No." Yu Zhun shook his head. "What do you think it is?"

"Yes." The mouse breathed a sigh of relief and slowly said, "You didn't move, that's for the best."

"This thing is called a structure matrix positioning alarm device."

Hearing this long string of technical terms, not only Yu Zhun, but also the other three members of the Black Hawk team looked bewildered.

"To put it bluntly, what is this thing for?" Wolf Fang couldn't help but ask.

"This thing is used to monitor the external structure of certain large objects in real time to ensure that no problems occur," the mouse explained casually. "For example, if there is a very large mountain, and I place this device on the surface of the mountain, then these devices will be like dots, outlining the contour of the mountain."

"If one of the points has moved."

"This means that the outline of the mountain has changed."

"An upper limit can be set in advance. If the movement of the site exceeds this limit, an alarm will be triggered immediately."

"In this way, we can detect geological changes such as landslides and subsidence in the mountains immediately."

“So you mean…” Yu Zhun looked thoughtful, “that the mountainous area in the ocean that I found also has many similar devices.”

"Is this just one of them?"

“Yes.” The mouse nodded. “That’s why I asked you if you moved that device. If you did, it would definitely trigger an alarm.”

"Luckily I didn't move." Yu Zhun breathed a sigh of relief.

“But…” Black Hawk looked thoughtful, “If the people who placed these devices in the sea were truly from a deserted island in ruins.”

"And what were their motives for doing this?"

"I guess they're afraid the ruined island will collapse?" Wolf Fang said casually. "No matter how powerful the ruined island is, it's still an island."

"Didn't Yu Zhun say that the stone pillars supporting this island have been eroded by the sea and have shrunk considerably? If there is a problem with the mountain below that supports the stone pillars, the ruined island may collapse at any time."

“By then…” Wolf Fang clicked his tongue.

"What Langya said makes some sense." Yu Zhun frowned and pondered.

Given the geographical environment of the ruined island, they certainly had reason to monitor the condition of the mountain structure that served as the island's base at any time.

嗏

Is that really the only reason?
Yu Zhun felt that there were other reasons behind this.

After all, if they were truly worried about the collapse of the isolated ruins, then the higher-ups on the island would not have initiated a daily earthquake.

After all, such a large-scale tremor could cause the island to capsize at any moment.

Therefore, to understand all of this, we probably need to start with earthquakes.

"I will go into the sea again to investigate first thing tomorrow morning." Yu Zhun took a deep breath. "This time, I will stay underwater until the earthquake strikes again."

"I want to see with my own eyes where the earthquake happened and what caused it."

"Go ahead." Black Hawk patted Yu Zhun's shoulder heavily, an encouraging look on his face. "Tomorrow, I should be able to recover my full strength."

"I plan to take Wolf Fang and the other two to the Saike Technology Research Institute."

"Go to the research institute?" Yu Zhun was slightly taken aback.

“Previously, I used the gene-enhancing drug from the Divine Relic Church, which nearly led to my death,” Black Hawk said slowly. “If there is anyone who can solve my problem, it is probably only the SACK Technology Research Institute, which has the most in-depth research on evolution.”

"Coincidentally, after I took the initiative to contact them, they were also very interested in my situation, so they invited me to the research institute for testing tomorrow."

“Didn’t you say the earthquake occurred directly beneath the research institute?” Black Hawk chuckled. “In that case, we can be considered to be working together from the inside out.”

"So that's how it is!" Yu Zhun looked enlightened.

He was then left speechless, feeling both amused and exasperated.

The team leader entered the research institute so easily, something he himself had failed to do.

(End of this chapter)