pjbooks Chapter 248 He's back again!
Chapter 248 He's back again!
He heard his own voice.
Very peaceful.
It wasn't because he was calm.
This is because once fear exceeds a certain threshold, a person's vocal cords will actually relax.
"Captain?" The first mate asked in disbelief.
"Stop the car," Watanabe Kazuki repeated.
He opened his eyes.
"Shut down the engine. Turn off all active sonar. Turn off the fire control radar."
The first mate stood there, stunned.
"Now!"
The command was executed.
The roar of the diesel engine gradually subsided, the propeller slowed down, and finally stopped rotating.
The Wakasa lost power on the sea.
Go with the flow.
The command center was so quiet that you could hear the waves lapping against the hull.
Kazuki Watanabe made a very difficult decision.
He walked to the communications station.
Pick up the cordless phone.
Tune to an international public frequency.
Take a deep breath.
Then he said in broken, heavily accented Chinese—
"Unidentified underwater target... This is... the research vessel Wakasa."
"We have no hostility."
"please……"
His Adam's apple bobbed.
Please do not attack.
……
Inside the cockpit of the Sea Devouring Shark.
Zhang Yan and Nie Qingcheng both heard the sound coming from the public frequency band.
Stumbling blocks of Chinese.
A trembling ending note.
Please do not attack.
Nie Qingcheng put her legs down.
She turned and glanced at Zhang Yan.
His expression was subtle.
"Is he begging for mercy?"
"almost."
"He begged for mercy before you even laid a hand on him?"
"I tapped the bottom of his boat."
"Just one tap?"
"Um."
Nie Qingcheng leaned back in her chair.
The curve of her lips widened slightly.
That wasn't a laugh.
It's that kind of smugness—"My man is just that awesome."
Zhang Yan pulled up the footage from the external camera.
The mechanical shark was attached to the bottom of the "Wakasa", like a remora clinging to the belly of a whale.
However, this "remora" could tear this "whale" to pieces.
Zhang Yan tapped a few times on the control panel.
The mechanical shark's external speaker was activated.
Underwater acoustic communication mode.
He picked up the microphone.
"Wakasa number."
The sound was converted into low-frequency sound waves, which penetrated the water and the ship's hull, and entered the other ship's hull.
In the command center, everyone heard a young, calm, almost indifferent voice.
It came from beneath my feet.
It came from every inch of the ship's steel.
It's as if the ship itself is speaking.
"You are in the waters of China."
Watanabe Kazuki's hand trembled slightly.
He gripped the microphone tightly.
"We—we are leaving—"
"I didn't ask you to speak."
The voice remained calm.
But Watanabe Kazuki kept his mouth shut.
Two of the crew members around him were already trembling.
"Your flag is fake."
Zhang Yan's voice continued to come from inside the ship's hull.
"The vessel is a Mizuho-class. It belongs to the Japan Coast Guard. You are using a flag of convenience as cover to conduct reconnaissance missions within China's exclusive economic zone."
Every word was like a nail.
It was nailed into Watanabe Kazuki's back.
Because everything is correct.
Not a single word is wrong.
"You lost three ships in these waters a week ago."
Zhang Yan's tone remained unchanged.
It's like stating a news report.
"You should have seen the report."
Watanabe Kazuki's lips were trembling.
He has seen it.
Of course I've seen it.
That's why he's so scared now.
"Then you should know—"
Zhang Yan paused for a moment.
"I don't like repetitive actions."
"But if you make me repeat myself—"
"Next time, no survivors will go back to write reports."
Some people in the command room had their legs completely give way.
He leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to sit on the floor.
Sweat rolled down Watanabe Kazuki's forehead, one bead after another.
He opened his mouth.
Unable to make a sound.
Then--
"Thump."
Another sound.
From the bottom of the ship.
It's a little heavier than last time.
Like knocking on a door.
The second time.
Nie Qingcheng watched the footage from the external camera in the cockpit—the mechanical shark's head gently nudged the bottom of the "Wakasa".
Zhang Yan controlled the force and direction with extreme precision.
It will not cause any structural damage.
But when that muffled thud entered the ship, it was more terrifying than a torpedo.
Because the torpedo is there to kill you.
And this time—
This is to remind you that you've already died once.
Nie Qingcheng looked at the thermal image of Watanabe Kazuki's face on the control panel.
My forehead and neck were all red.
Heart rate reading: 147.
"He was terrified," she said.
Zhang Yan put down the microphone.
"That's about it."
"Aren't you going to say a few more words?"
"No need." Zhang Yan increased the thruster power to 20%.
"The scary stuff is best left unsaid. Saying even one more word would lower my credibility."
The mechanical shark slowly separated from the bottom of the ship.
With a flick of its tail fin, it glided into the depths.
Zhang Yan did not let it disappear directly.
Instead, it maneuvered it to slowly circle the hull of the "Wakasa".
A perfect circle was drawn on the other party's sonar screen.
Then--
A sea-devouring shark surfaced from the port side of the "Wakasa".
Black shark fins sliced through the sea, revealing most of its body in the sunlight.
A streamlined mechanical body six meters long.
The jet-black nano-coating gleams coldly in the sunlight.
Beneath the semi-transparent armor on the top of the cockpit, one could vaguely see the silhouette of a person sitting inside.
In the command center.
Watanabe Kazuki rushed to the port window.
He saw it.
That shark.
It's exactly the same as the photo in the report.
Black. Streamlined. Six meters.
There wasn't a single seam on its metal body.
Like a perfect work of art.
--No.
Like a perfect murder weapon.
His fingers were gripping the window frame, and he didn't even feel his fingernails being flipped over.
Then, the mechanical shark's cockpit canopy opened.
A young man stood up from inside.
Wearing light gray casual clothes.
The sea breeze blew up the hem of his clothes and his hair.
He stood on the shark's back, his hands in his pockets, and turned his head to look in the direction of the "Wakasa" command room.
His expression was very calm.
It was like passing by and just glancing at it.
Watanabe Kazuki saw his face.
Young, handsome, and even somewhat scholarly.
She looks to be under twenty-five.
The contrast between this face and that terrifying mechanical shark is chilling.
Then--
The young man slightly raised his chin towards the command room.
It wasn't a nod.
It wasn't a greeting either.
More like—
"You saw it?"
"Got it?"
"roll."
Three layers of meaning.
An action.
Watanabe Kazuki felt as if his soul had been nailed to the window by that action.
Zhang Yan stood on the shark's back for five seconds.
Enough for everyone behind every porthole to see his face clearly.
Then he returned to the cockpit.
The hatch closed.
The mechanical shark silently sank into the water.
The black outline faded more and more in the sunlight, until it disappeared completely.
Only a ring of ripples remained on the sea surface, slowly spreading outwards.
Then even the ripples disappeared.
Inside the command room of the "Wakasa".
Thirty seconds of absolute silence.
Watanabe Kazuki loosened the window frame.
All ten fingers are white.
Two of my fingernails are cracked and bleeding.
He didn't feel any pain.
He turned around and looked at his pale-faced subordinates in the command room.
"...Full speed back to base."
His voice was so hoarse it didn't sound like his own.
"Heading to 120. Returning to Yokosuka."
Nobody asked why.
No one raised any objections.
The diesel engine of the "Wakasa" was restarted.
The propeller churned up water.
The 3,100-ton patrol vessel began to flee eastward at its maximum speed of 25 knots.
Like a fish whose tail has been bitten by a shark.
Swimmed as fast as they could.
Watanabe Kazuki stood in the command room, facing the direction he had come from.
His back was soaked with cold sweat.
Sweat streamed down his forehead and into his eyes, making him squint.