50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 269 3-Mile Route Map

Half an hour later, Sun Zhiwei returned to safe waters. After confirming that there was no one on the surrounding sea, he released the speedboat from the space.

Then, right there on the speedboat, he sent an encrypted telegram to Xu Yimin.

This time the content is much more detailed: The new baby is coming home soon, and the baby is shy around strangers, so please prepare a safe and comfortable little nest at home.

As for the backup on the road, he thought it best to forget about it; the matter was too big, and the more people who knew about it, the more dangerous it would be.

In a few years, our family will be able to ease tensions with the United States and will soon enter a period of rapid development. If this matter comes out, it will only add more complications and wouldn't be good.

If they weren't discovered this time, fine. If they were discovered, they would have to escape. If they couldn't escape, they would have to be silenced. If they couldn't be silenced, they would have to die rather than reveal their nationality.

After sending the telegram, he didn't wait for a reply. Seeing that it was still early, he decided to go to Fogo Island to prepare supplies for the five men's journey.

He estimated that this voyage home would take at least half a month. If the 'Swordfish' had planned the longest route, then it would be normal for them to sail for a month.

Therefore, preparing supplies for a long journey is essential, including not only food but also drinking water.

Fogo Island may be small, but it attracts a steady stream of tourists every year to see the volcano, and there are quite a few restaurants there.

Sun Zhiwei did not plan to purchase food from the local market, as fresh food was not suitable for use on a submarine.

There are only 5 of them, not enough to operate the equipment, so it's impossible to assign someone specifically to be a cook.

He wanted all kinds of frozen foods, dehydrated vegetables, canned luncheon meat, and the like—basically, foods that could be boiled and eaten.

The restaurant with the most abundant frozen food was the buffet they had eaten at earlier.

After several rounds of communication, Sun Zhiwei managed to purchase enough frozen food for five people to eat for a month from the restaurant manager.

The ingredients were packed in a large box and then loaded onto his speedboat.

Before dark, Sun Zhiwei returned to the submarine base and used his spatial storage to put all the frozen food he had purchased into the submarine's kitchen cold storage.

After that, they never went out again, and instead practiced operational skills behind closed doors at the base.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the proposed route for the 'Swordfish' was drawn up.

His plan was to travel south from the Cape Verde Islands, directly into the Indian Ocean from the southernmost tip of Africa, far from the coast.

Then it heads east, entering the Tasman Sea from southern Australia, then north to the Coral Sea, passing through the Warriors Strait into the Bismarck Sea.

Then, following the coastline of Papua Island westward and northward, we crossed the Sulawesi Sea and the Sulu Sea into the Spratly Islands.

After carefully considering the route, Sun Zhiwei offered his opinion.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but there are many special markings on this nautical chart."

After Sun Zhiwei said that, the others began to examine the nautical charts carefully.

This is a nautical chart that comes with the submarine's command center; it's probably military supplies brought by the soldiers who come to operate the submarine.

There are several different colored markers on it, marking locations in various corners of the world.

They had actually seen the swordfish a long time ago, but since there was no written description, they didn't pay any attention to it.

"Green indicates military bases, blue indicates friendly supply ports, and orange indicates overseas radar stations."

Swordfish immediately realized that the route he had designed passed through many military bases and radar stations, which was clearly unsafe. "Sorry, I overlooked that information. I'll redesign the route map now."

"No need to redesign, just modify this as is."

"It's safe all the way to the southern tip of Africa, and that won't change."

"From the southern tip of Africa to the southern tip of Australia, the route passes through several islands in the southern Indian Ocean."

"The Kerguelen radar station here isn't targeting us. It's for navigation of Antarctic research vessels. It's not strict about underwater searches; you just need to avoid it for 500 kilometers."

He moved the flight path 500 kilometers north, and the tall guy next to him, Xiao Liu, asked in confusion, "Why not go south of the radar station?"

Sun Zhiwei explained without turning his head:
"The Kerguelen Islands are already the closest islands to Antarctica. Further south, the probability of encountering sea ice on the seabed will greatly increase."

"We're short-handed, so it's best to avoid this kind of danger."

"I see. We also need to consider the impact of temperature on seawater and shipping routes. Thank you for your guidance."

"You're welcome. Let's move on to the next part. It's no problem to go around from the southern waters of Australia to the eastern part of Australia and enter the Tasman Sea."

"But be careful when entering the Coral Sea from the Tasman Sea. The Great Barrier Reef is located here, and it is full of reefs. No country has yet created a map of the seabed here."

“This stretch of the route is too dangerous for our voyage. I suggest we continue north through the Tasman Sea, avoiding the Coral Sea, and enter the Pacific Ocean from the eastern Solomon Islands.”

"But the Pacific Ocean is entirely under the control of the bald eagles. Wouldn't we be in even greater danger there?"

“You’re right. So, after entering the Pacific Ocean from the Solomon Islands, we don’t need to go deep into the Pacific. Instead, we’ll head west along the Solomon Islands and return to the route you just took from the northern Bismarck Sea.”

"This section passes through the territorial waters of several small countries, which is a good idea. Crossing the territorial waters of multiple countries will make everyone think twice and worry about public opinion."

"We don't need to worry, since there are no Chinese characters on our ship. And I'll erase the hull number on the outside later."

"I have no objection to going all the way from here to the Sulu Sea, but you need to think about how to enter the South China Sea from the Sulu Sea."

"Palawan Island to the west of the Sulu Sea is like a ruler blocking our way home."

"Your original plan was to pass through the many small islands north of Palawan."

"It must be noted here that there is a Bald Eagle base in the region, which is the largest in the area, located north of Palawan – Clark Air Base of the African Union."

"There is an aircraft carrier battle group here, and their anti-submarine warfare capabilities are very strong."

Swordfish immediately realized that it had to avoid Clark Air Base.

"So you want to go from the south of Palawan Island, right? But the south is a famous international waterway, and too many ships pass through there every day."

Swordfish also voiced its concerns: "Didn't you want to keep it a secret? Didn't you want to sail through uninhabited areas? That's an international waterway."

"When faced with two evils, choose the lesser one. The north is already under their control, and we can't go through there, so we can only go through here."

"Moreover, isn't it good that there are many civilian ships? With countless ship engines interfering with each other, aren't we safer?"

"Even if we assume, hypothetically, that a submarine from another country discovers us here, would they dare to make a move in this international waterway?"

(End of this chapter)