Searching for someone in northern Myanmar, and you call that earning tuition fees?

September 9th, 8:10 PM.

The high seas, on the pitch-black surface.

The "Breaking Waves" floated quietly on the edge of the trench, its engines completely shut down.

Su Ming stood at the bow of the ship, holding the old-fashioned sounding hammer in his hand, lowering it down again and again.

Five hundred meters of rope have been laid out, but it still hasn't reached the bottom.

"At least three thousand meters..."

Su Ming put away the sounding hammer, picked up the handwritten book, and turned to a page by the starlight.

"Deep-sea positioning method: When the sounding hammer cannot reach the bottom, the depth can be determined by 'listening to the echo'. Tie a hollow iron pipe to the end of a rope and put it into the water. As the iron pipe sinks, it will compress the air inside the pipe, and after reaching a certain depth, it will make a 'humming' sound. The depth can be estimated based on the pitch of the humming sound."

Su Ming looked up at the cabin.

He remembered there were several abandoned iron pipes on the ship.

Ten minutes later.

"For every ten meters of descent, the pressure increases by approximately 100 kPa..."

"At a depth of 3,200 meters, the total ambient pressure is approximately 32100 kPa..."

"Internal pressure of the high-pressure mixed gas cylinder: 40000 kPa..."

"Unit respiratory volume consumption ratio: approximately 320 times..."

Su Ming looked up and glanced at the four specially made high-pressure oxygen cylinders. These ridiculously heavy iron canisters were only enough to give him a few breaths at that depth.

"Barely enough."

He moved all the equipment onto the deck and then used a winch to hoist the "diving bell" up.

Just then.

The sound of an engine came from afar.

Su Ming looked up.

In the darkness, the silhouette of a ship is rapidly approaching.

The searchlight at the bow illuminated the sea, its beam sweeping directly toward the "Breaking Waves".

"The black octopus... is catching up."

Su Ming glanced at his watch.

8:40 PM.

There are still nine hours until dawn.

He must complete the dive, retrieve the hard drive, and evacuate before the black octopus arrives.

"There's no time."

Su Ming took a deep breath and crawled into the makeshift "diving bell".

Then, he pulled the handbrake on the winch.

"Click—"

The winch is loosened.

The iron bucket, carrying Su Ming, quickly sank into the dark depths of the sea.