Otherworld Girl Development Guide

Wang Fugui skillfully maneuvered the iron ball behind the foreman, and soon passed by four other iron balls that were heading in the opposite direction. After exchanging a greeting with their lights, they entered the underwater exploration site.

Illuminated by LED lights, a small town emerges from the seabed...

An underwater city—this sight was unprecedented for Wang Fugui, who stared wide-eyed. Only upon closer inspection did he realize it was an underwater ruin.

It appears to have sunk to the bottom of the sea due to the movement of continental plates.

At the site of the ruins, there are 16 other iron balls in operation, with pulse lights on the balls flashing from time to time to indicate their status.

It has to be said that humans are truly social animals. Working alone in an unfamiliar environment versus working with a group of people, especially close friends, is a completely different experience.

The foreman used lights to give instructions: Spread out, search, and be careful!

After giving instructions, Wang Fugui joined the underwater treasure hunt.

Over countless years, some of the buildings in the ruins suffered severe damage, while others remained relatively well-preserved. Although Wang Fugui was not familiar with the architectural style, he vaguely felt that some of them resembled the buildings he had seen in the "Bel Kingdom".

"What is that?"

Soon, Wang Fugui stopped in front of a collapsed building. Light shone through the gaps in the structure, revealing what appeared to be a metallic sheen...

Something's up!

Wang Fugui signaled with his light to alert him that he had discovered something unusual. The foreman and his coworkers quickly stopped and moved closer to the ruins, while the coworkers also looked around warily.

Although the iron ball doesn't have any self-defense weapons, those two hydraulic mechanical arms are not just for show!

After the foreman's machine approached, it was repeatedly confirmed that there was indeed a metallic reflection inside. Then, the foreman's machine was operated to insert the needle into the external module.

The foreman at Iron Ball is not the kind of foreman who watches workers work on an assembly line or even acts as a capitalist's lackey. The foreman here has professional underwater knowledge, knows how to handle underwater accidents, and knows how to safely bring his underwater coworkers to the surface!

They represent the most advanced productive forces and the fundamental interests of their fellow workers, so their performance evaluation is much stricter than that of ordinary workers!

The foreman manipulated the probe to penetrate deep into the crevice. The probe had a built-in lighting system at its top, and an optical sensor transmitted the image inside.

"This is..."

The image sent back appears to be some kind of machine, and a very well-preserved one at that, which is of great scientific value.

After retrieving the probe, the foreman first placed a beacon transmitter on the building to alert the other work teams that there were valuable objects there, and then signaled to start excavation.

However, underwater operations are a technical job, and the risks must be thoroughly assessed before excavation begins.

Life is of paramount importance!

The foreman spent at least 20 minutes repeatedly surveying the building. After confirming that there were no additional risks, the foreman signaled to begin excavation.

Four iron balls were used in pairs to clean up the collapsed building.

Underwater operations, thanks to buoyancy, meant that things that looked heavy weren't as heavy as they seemed. Combined with the powerful force provided by the hydraulic arm with its steel balls, large pieces of debris were quickly cleared away...

However, the cleaning wasn't quick; it took half an hour to get it initially clean...

Wang Fugui glanced at the prompts in the cockpit. He had been working underwater for an hour and a half, and he would have to return to the surface in another two and a half hours.

After another half hour of clearing, once the mud and sand stirred up by the activity had settled, Wang Fugui finally saw what was buried underwater: a "vehicle" that appeared to be relatively well-preserved, but with a hole in its outer shell, seemingly caused by some kind of weapon.

Wang Fugui didn't care what destroyed the vehicle; that was a question for the experts to consider. All he knew was that the prize money would be substantial, at least six figures!

One of my coworkers, a poor guy who couldn't afford a house or find a girlfriend on Earth, has now married a beautiful local girl and bought a 130-square-meter low-rise apartment. His life is getting better and better.

The foreman signaled to his workers to clear the area around the vehicle in preparation for moving it onto the platform.

Wang Fugui and his fellow workers got to work, using a robotic arm to break up some rubble, attaching steel cables to the vehicle, and then one worker operated an iron ball to act as a crane, while the other two workers worked together to lift the vehicle.

Buzzing... The propeller of the iron ball stirred the seawater, the steel cable gradually tightened, and the resulting tension was transmitted to the vehicle, which was slowly lifted up. The workers went forward to clean the vehicle to ensure that it would not be damaged further due to bumps.

It took them at least another 40 minutes to clear the vehicle out. Wang Fugui instinctively looked down at the area beneath the vehicle, and under the lights, a massive skeleton came into view.

The skeleton appeared to have been hit by a vehicle, with multiple fracture marks on its body. Under the long erosion of the seawater, the flesh on the surface had been completely decomposed, but it could still be vaguely seen that it was left by some kind of creature. Judging from its appearance, it was definitely not human!

Upon seeing the enormous skeleton, Wang Fugui felt a slight unease, perhaps due to megalophobia, for some reason.

He turned to look at the foreman and asked with a light signal: What should we do?

We'll talk about it next time.

They have acquired a high-value vehicle; now all they need to do is get this valuable contraption onto the water.

Four iron balls propelled the vehicle toward the winch, moving further and further away from the unknown creature.

After arriving at the winch location, the foreman secured the vehicle to the winch, and the other iron balls were also fixed in place, quietly waiting for the winch to start and take them home.

Chapter 354 Abnormality

The winch pulled the iron ball in the sea and the ancient civilization's vehicle that had been retrieved up to the surface.

Wang Fugui was calculating how much bonus he could get from this expedition while in the driver's seat, and maybe even get a commendation. Working here now, he could earn money and make a name for himself... it was very motivating.

As he was thinking, Wang Fugui suddenly felt the iron ball wobbling.

It's normal to have undercurrents underwater; someone without professional training would probably get nauseous after just a few moments of being tossed around.

Wang Fugui adjusted his posture and looked at the ancient civilization's vehicle, wanting to confirm whether it was securely fixed.

The vehicle swayed slightly with the undercurrent, which was unavoidable in the ocean, and the undercurrent was much stronger than the waves on the surface.

"what?"

Whether it was his imagination or not, Wang Fugui thought he saw something resembling an "Ultraman energy indicator" light up on the vehicle as it shook.

I couldn't help but maneuver the iron ball closer to take a look...

The propeller propelled the iron ball closer to the vehicle, and Wang Fugui noticed that there was indeed an indicator light flashing on the vehicle!

Suddenly, a bad feeling arose in my heart, and I quickly manipulated the signal light, flashing it a few times to attract the foreman's attention.

The pulse light signal caught the foreman's attention, and he moved the iron ball closer. Wang Fugui pointed to the indicator light on the ancient civilization vehicle.

"!!!"

The foreman glanced at the time; it would take another 20 minutes before they reached a depth where they could communicate. Once they reached the designated depth, they needed to send out the message immediately.

At a depth of 3200 meters underwater, it is very difficult to send messages to the surface, meaning that at this moment the surface fleet was unaware that they had retrieved a big "treasure".

Hopefully nothing unexpected will happen in these 20 minutes.

Just then, they suddenly heard an explosion coming from the sea in the distance.

The foreman, who frequently heard such explosions, immediately recognized the weapon as a 533mm anti-submarine torpedo!

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The outermost 039-class API submarines on duty were listening for unusual noises underwater.

Suddenly, the passive sonar picked up the sound of something stirring the seawater, and the sonar officer began to listen carefully.

"Direction 340, distance 1200... Confirmed to be a sea monster approaching..."

"Launch tube number one..."

Before the captain could finish speaking, another signal was detected by the sonar.

"Captain, another sound source detected... no! Two!"

"Launch tube number one, launch tube number two, launch tube number three, fire!"

Without hesitation, the captain gave the order to launch the torpedoes, and then said, "After launching the torpedoes, adjust the course, move closer to the fleet, and load new torpedoes."

"understand!"

The Type 039 submarine is merely a forward reconnaissance vessel; it cannot handle enemy attacks alone and requires the cover of surface ships.

The surface and underwater operations work together. The time it takes for a submarine to change torpedoes can be quite long, requiring surface ships to provide cover.

The torpedoes inside the torpedo tubes were propelled out by the impact of the pulse water tanks, and then, under the control of the fiber optic cables, they moved toward the three locations of the abnormal noises.

The captain of submarine 039 took out his pocket watch and started timing.

During launch, because the fiber optic cable behind the torpedo is connected to the submarine's fire control system, it is impossible to make an emergency turn, as doing so would break the fragile fiber optic cable.

Three 533mm heavy torpedoes approached the location of the unusual noise. Upon reaching the designated attack area, the fiber optic cable was severed, the torpedoes' homing sonar heads activated, and they fired active sonar signals into a fan-shaped area in front of them.

((?))

The active sonar waves struck the sea monster, and the hardened areas on its shell reflected the sonar back, indicating the direction of the torpedo.

A deafening roar echoed underwater, the sound waves traveling almost instantly at speeds far exceeding those in air...

A minute later, the second torpedo hit its target, the deafening roar accompanied by the low growl of a sea monster...

One minute and twenty-three seconds later, the third torpedo hit...

"Turn the rudder!"

The captain gave the order to return to port.

At the same time, the sonar equipment on surface ships also heard the sound of the torpedo exploding.

"Report from ship's command: bearing 320, distance 2200, sound of torpedo explosion detected..."

The ship's commander immediately picked up the phone and said in a deep voice, "Fleet, anti-submarine operations commence. Ships 041 and 042, move forward..."

The ship's command issued orders one by one, and the fleet began to deploy according to the orders.

Two Type 054L corvettes, 041 and 042, quickly moved forward, activating their naval guns, anti-submarine rocket launchers, and vertical launch modules, while 533mm torpedo launchers extended out of the hull.

Thump! High-pressure air propelled the anti-submarine torpedo out of its launch tube, and the torpedo entered the water...

"Order the research vessel to stop sending people down and deploy a pulse beacon to get everyone back up quickly!"

At a depth of 3200 meters underwater, radio waves cannot penetrate this depth; they can only be penetrated by sending pulse beacons into that depth.

With a whoosh, the pulse beacon was launched into the sea and quickly sank to the seabed...

At the underwater excavation site, a high-mass pulse beacon will be deployed and quickly sink to a depth of 3100 meters. Then, the internal device will be activated, emitting light pulse signals.

The bright light can travel a long distance in the deep sea, alerting underwater personnel to evacuate the seabed as quickly as possible.

As Wang Fugui was rising, he watched the beacon glide by in the distance, carrying bubbles as it sank towards the seabed.

Immediately afterwards, a series of explosions came from afar. Wang Fugui recognized the sound; it was an anti-submarine rocket from a warship, and the explosions were now closer than before!

A glance at the depth gauge showed that we were still 100 meters away from where radio communication was possible...

Explosions of all sizes came from afar, giving Wang Duoyu a feeling of being caught in the New Year celebrations. The short distance of 100 meters had never felt so long.