Chapter 51: Sea Without Light 51
“Lan Lan? Lan Lan!” Xueyao Shu kept calling into the communicator, “Please respond if you hear me! Lan Lan! Please respond!”
Silence filled the communicator.
“I heard the sound of steel striking a body when we lost the heartbeat monitoring of Security Officer Lan Lan,” Adam said. “In case the officer is in danger, we can initiate Level One Alert.”
Adam was programmed to notify team members who hadn’t responded after repeating the call three times, filtering out unnecessary noise encountered during a mission, as many people being on the same channel could cause communication chaos. Multi-channel, real-time communication would only be activated for extremely urgent tasks, while single-team communication was the norm.
No one expected this mission to go awry; everyone thought the danger came from roaming pirates at sea. Who would suspect the people on the Kraken? The cargo company of the Kraken had numerous collaborations with the Federation government; otherwise, the Investigation Bureau wouldn’t be escorting them at sea.
“Activate Level One Alert.” After saying this, Xueyao Shu gestured for Kui Xin and Liu Kangyun to initiate action. The three of them sprinted down the corridor.
The ship’s AI control room was located on the second deck below, requiring extra protection. There was only one entrance, which could only be opened by scanning the captain’s biological information. The entrance was above in the captain’s office, accessed by stairs—there was simply no way to get down to the second deck.
“Level One Alert activated. Alerts will be sent to the communicators of all mission executors,” Adam said. “The Eleventh Squad has received Captain Shu’s task cooperation invitation and is preparing to board.”
“Jiang Ming,” Xueyao Shu asked, “how’s it looking on your end? Can you stay on deck to assist the Eleventh Squad?”
“Everything is normal here; I’m at the lookout point and can provide assistance,” Jiang Ming’s voice emerged on the communication channel.
Xueyao Shu replied, “Stay concealed, don’t act alone for the time being, and be cautious of enemies lurking in the shadows.”
Footsteps echoed in the empty corridor; each step on the metal floor made a heavy sound, resonating as if striking their hearts.
The more the situation escalated, the calmer Kui Xin became.
“Everyone…” Lan Lan’s voice suddenly came through the communication channel, sounding as if he was enduring pain. “I got hit on the head by a falling steel plate while fixing the control room; I’m fine now.”
Kui Xin slowed down, and Liu Kangyun sighed with relief.
“Damn, you scared me!” Jiang Ming said in the communication channel. “I thought you were dead!”
“Just a bit unlucky,” Lan Lan replied with a bitter smile. “I’m fine now.”
“Are you sure you’re okay, Lan Lan?” Xueyao Shu asked. “Where’s the captain?”
“The captain just left the control room to go to the circuit room to activate the backup power; the control room is currently in a power outage,” Lan Lan explained. “I’m really fine.”
“Security Officer Lan Lan, is your life status monitoring equipment still with you?” Adam inquired. “I can’t detect your heartbeat or physical status.”
“It’s still here… Ah,” Lan Lan replied. “The equipment broke. Wait, the captain is here!”
“Oh my God, what happened to you? Your head is covered in blood!” Captain Adam’s concerned voice came through the communication channel. “Come on, I’ll take you to the infirmary to get some medicine!”
“Looks like I won’t be repairing the control room tonight,” Lan Lan said. “Captain, I’ll head to the infirmary first; you all take a good rest.”
“…Go ahead,” Xueyao Shu replied.
A few seconds of silence filled the communication channel as Xueyao Shu appeared deep in thought.
“Voiceprint analysis complete; it belongs to Security Officer Lan Lan; personnel confirmed,” Adam switched communication channels, blocking Lan Lan’s feed.
Liu Kangyun completely relaxed. “False alarm; we can lift Level One Alert now…”
“No, please listen to my analysis before making a judgment,” Adam said. “The voices on the communication channel do indeed belong to Security Officer Lan Lan and Captain Adam, but audio analysis shows that Captain Adam was speaking directly into the communicator, not from a distance—this is illogical.”
Adam could determine whether a person was speaking directly into the microphone or from a distance based on the volume and pitch variations of the voices in the communication channel.
These differences are hard for the human ear to discern, but AI can analyze the discrepancies through audio.
“Is Lan Lan lying?” Kui Xin whispered. “The captain hasn’t left; he’s standing right beside him, even talking directly into the communicator.”
“If the captain had left, then he should be speaking from a step away or farther, with his voice transitioning from loud to soft as he moved away, but the audio lacks such nuanced changes,” Adam explained in simple terms. “I believe we cannot lift the alert; Security Officer Lan Lan has no reason to lie to his comrades. In the last few seconds, I compared several of Security Officer Lan Lan’s archived communications with me and found that his tone does not align with his typical behavior. I conclude that it is not Security Officer Lan Lan speaking into the communicator, but rather someone else.”
Xueyao Shu said, “We’re going to act as planned.”
“…Understood,” Jiang Ming’s serious voice came through the communication channel.
Liu Kangyun tightened his grip on his gun.
With Lan Lan’s fate uncertain, they were more anxious than anyone.
“I will individually block off the communication feed from Security Officer Lan Lan for the next channel communication. If something comes up, I will transmit it promptly to all teams. The Eleventh Squad is ready to board via the fixed cable line; backup will arrive shortly,” Adam said.
The earlier communication with Lan Lan did not ease the nerves of the Seventh Squad members; instead, it heightened their tension and alertness.
If the voice speaking into the communicator wasn’t Lan Lan, then who was it? Had someone mimicked Lan Lan’s voice? Had the real Lan Lan already been harmed?
Captain Adam was definitely not acting normally—what exactly did he want?
The helmet’s visor displayed a floor plan of the Kraken, making all the areas clear at a glance.
Now, they had two objectives. First, to confirm Lan Lan’s status. Second, to search the Kraken.
To access the control room, they needed to leave the second deck and head to the captain’s office on the main deck. With Adam’s help, they should be able to bypass identity verification to force open the control room door.
Kui Xin and his two teammates ran around a corner, arriving at the crew quarters. The crew quarters were not far from where they rested; it was a collective dormitory with four people in each room.
Their resting room was behind the crew quarters, which they passed when initially going down to the deck; the captain had mentioned that most of the crew would be asleep at that time.
“We’ve made such a noise running, and no one has woken up to check?” Kui Xin paused after running a short distance. “This doesn’t add up.”
Xueyao Shu and Liu Kangyun also sensed something strange. They slowed their pace, instinctively raising their guns, and together kicked open the crew quarters’ door.
With a loud bang, the door burst open, and the dormitory was empty.
Kui Xin turned the gun and kicked open the next door; the dormitory inside was still vacant. The three of them split up, kicking open five or six doors in succession, each room was completely empty; it was as if the crew had vanished, and the vast crew quarters were void of life.
“Where did everyone go?” Liu Kangyun was sweating profusely. “We clearly saw people when we boarded the deck!”
“Knock! Knock!” Suddenly, one of the dormitory doors made a knocking sound, while all the other doors remained silent.
“I think there’s danger behind that door,” Kui Xin whispered. “Something about this door feels different.”
The three members of the Seventh Squad gathered together, exchanging glances, fingers on the triggers, prepared for action.
Soon, the knocking sound behind the door ceased.
“Let’s take a look,” Xueyao Shu urged in a low voice.
He switched out his handgun for a submachine gun.
Kui Xin stepped forward and kicked the door open, only for dark red tentacles to pour out like a flood from behind the door, with a few of them wrapping around Kui Xin’s legs!
These tentacles sprouted fishhook-like barbs, oozing a gluey liquid that dissolved matter, and the Investigation Bureau’s bulletproof vests provided no protection; the barbs instantly slashed open Kui Xin’s thigh, causing blood to pour.
The tactile sound of Kui Xin’s combat boots scraping against the floor echoed as she swiftly braced her legs against the door frame, trying to halt the tentacles from dragging her inside, then raised her gun and fired.
With teammates beside her, she didn’t have to face the danger alone; Xueyao Shu rushed forward, shredding the dark red tentacles into pieces, temporarily forcing them back. Liu Kangyun removed a miniature bomb from his waist, pulled the pin, and threw it into the room.
The miniature bomb provided by the Investigation Bureau had a blast radius of only about two meters, so if positioned correctly, they wouldn’t have to worry about harming their own.
“Close the door!” Liu Kangyun gripped the doorknob tightly, bracing it against the frame, veins bulging on his forehead.
Kui Xin also seized the doorknob, with Xueyao Shu doing the same. Together, they pulled to shut the door, as several tentacles continued thrashing wildly, pressed against the door edge.
As soon as the door closed, a violent explosion reverberated within the crew dormitory. The trio was knocked off their feet by the shockwave, and the tentacles trapped in the door wriggled a few times before going still.
After a few seconds, the deformed door to the crew dormitory shook and fell, revealing the terrifying creature behind it.
From the mangled human torso emerged numerous dark red appendages, and the grotesquely deformed parasitic shell was nearly unrecognizable as “human.”
There were several corpses in the dormitory, all shriveled, completely drained of vital nutrients; this xenomorph had changed hosts more than once.
“How did a Red Spine Hunter end up on the ship?” Liu Kangyun exclaimed in horror as he stood up. “It’s even a growth stage, much bigger than our Investigation Bureau’s specimen!”
“It resembles a Red Spine Hunter, but this is a mutated version. A Red Spine Hunter should only have tentacles; they shouldn’t possess barbs!” Xueyao Shu, who was covered in dirt, was helped up by Kui Xin. He took a breath and coughed twice. “Adam, inform everyone! There’s an unknown xenomorph aboard the Kraken!”
Kui Xin had the least severe injuries; the wound on her thigh from the barbs was healing, and the burns on her forehead from the explosion were also mending.
Her expression turned grave. “Is the captain a member of the Secret Cult? Is he Heterogeneous Blooded? Otherwise, why would he harbor a Red Spine Hunter or even turn against Lan Lan? Are there more than one xenomorph in this place?”
Kui Xin cautiously scanned each shut door, muscles tense, feeling a heavy pressure in her chest.
Xueyao Shu stated, “We need to leave the lower deck; we might have to retreat to the escort vessel… but before we leave, we must at least confirm whether Lan Lan is still alive.”
“I advise against doing that, Captain Shu. The survival probability of Security Officer Lan Lan is below fifty percent. Given that the survival rate is less than half, I believe you should not take the risk of confirming; doing so could instead place yourself in danger,” Adam advised. “I have reported the entire situation on the ship to the team leaders as well as the minister and deputy minister. They have just issued orders for all teams to evacuate the Kraken as soon as possible. Please return to the deck, where the Eleventh Squad will assist you in getting back to the escort vessel.”
Adam’s tone resembled that of a human; it even simulated human thought processes to “consider” things, yet the mechanical tone and cold judgments reminded others of its identity as an AI.
It was a machine, of course thinking with absolute rationality to make the most self-serving choice, sometimes advising people to abandon their companions.
Before Xueyao Shu could make a decision, a strange male voice suddenly interrupted the communication channel.
“Xueyao Shu,” the man said. “Go to the deck and evacuate immediately. This time it’s not a suggestion; it’s an order. As an officer, I command you to retreat immediately.”
“Deputy Minister?” Liu Kangyun recognized the voice.
“…” Xueyao Shu fell silent for a moment before reluctantly saying, “Understood… we’ll retreat.”
“I need to check the refrigerator in the kitchen,” Kui Xin said, her hands never stopping as she loaded her firearm. “The note I found with Tang Guan indicated that what’s in the refrigerator is unusual; I need to find out what it is. It must be important.”
“We haven’t encountered any living person on our way here…” Liu Kangyun’s eyebrows twitched slightly. “Where did that crew member say he was hiding?”
“Don’t know,” Kui Xin said as she stepped back to the kitchen door.
The kitchen was close to where they were standing. They had just passed it, but due to the urgency to find Lan Lan, Kui Xin hadn’t entered earlier. Now that Adam determined Lan Lan’s survival probability to be low, and with the deputy minister ordering their immediate retreat, Kui Xin took this opportunity to check the fridge in the kitchen.
The kitchen door was locked. She shot the lockout and kicked the door open.
Inside the kitchen was empty, with various utensils neatly arranged, yet the sanitary condition was concerning—a foul odor of rotten food filled the space, and various canned goods were strewn across the floor, clearly having been neglected for too long.
Rushing to the refrigerator, fortunately, it was not password-protected. After unlocking the outer lock, she easily opened the door.
Liu Kangyun and Xueyao Shu followed her in, cautiously raising their guns as the refrigerator opened, a white mist billowing out.
After the perilous encounter preceding this, everyone’s nerves were stretched taut.
As the refrigerator opened, a putrid smell mixed with the cold air wafted out, and Kui Xin nearly retched upon catching a whiff.
“Tap…”
A frost-covered head rolled out from the refrigerator’s door, hitting the ground with a sharp sound, frozen solid.
Kui Xin staggered back, her eyelids twitching in horror.
All of the refrigerator is opened; behind the icy veil lay a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Dozens of bodies were stacked atop one another, forming a small hill.
Frozen blood stained the floor red, some even dripped down from the bodies, resembling hanging ice in crimson.
From the appearance of their clothing, it was obvious they were sailors from the Kraken.
The expressions of the three members of the Seventh Squad froze.
Kui Xin moved awkwardly, inadvertently kicking the head that had fallen at her feet; it spun around, revealing its face.
Bearded, with a broad face—Caucasian…
“Captain Adam!” Liu Kangyun exclaimed in shock.
A part of the captain’s body was right here… so who was the person speaking to them when they boarded?
One Adam was dead; was there another one in the world?
“Retreat!” Xueyao Shu forced the word through clenched teeth.
No need for further urging, Kui Xin and Liu Kangyun began to run, and the three once again sprinted down the corridor.
Just as they reached the deck exit, Liu Kangyun, who was running ahead, slipped and fell over, Xueyao Shu stumbled and fell as well. Kui Xin felt her foot slide on something, almost losing her balance.
The ground was covered with a thick, slippery liquid slowly oozing down from the deck steps, coating a large area.
“Engine oil!” Kui Xin recognized the smell.
There was always a faint odor of engine oil on the cargo ship, but now it was considerably stronger, and their feet were all coated in it.
Looking up, they noticed that the deck stairway entrance had somehow been locked.
They were trapped here!
Just then, footsteps echoed from above the deck.
With a crack, a lighter was dropped, igniting before it hit the ground.
Engine oil caught fire! The flames spread rapidly, and worst of all, Xueyao Shu and Liu Kangyun had oil all over them from their fall; fortunately, they instinctively began to rise and retreat just as the flames ignited, avoiding the immediate inferno.
They looked on in horror at the blazing fire; had they been just a moment slower, they would have turned into fiery torches.
“There’s water in the washroom! Hurry!” Kui Xin said quickly.
Without needing reminding, Xueyao Shu and Liu Kangyun raced towards the washroom.
Thick smoke rose, choking Kui Xin as she coughed violently. Fortunately, with the corridor being metal, the flames needed time to spread. Even so, the searing heat and the reflected heat became unbearably painful, accentuated by the smoke—they could choke at any moment.
Kui Xin ripped the bath curtain off in the washroom, wanting to wet it to cover herself; however, when she turned on the tap, no water flowed out.
“Damn!” Liu Kangyun, usually restrained with language, cursed, “The washroom has no water! Did that bastard pull the water valve?!”
“There’s a drinking machine in the kitchen with half a barrel of mineral water left. That should be enough,” Xueyao Shu said calmly.
Kui Xin searched around the washroom and found a bucket of mop water. “It’s a bit far to the kitchen; use this! Take down the bath curtain and soak it!”
They soaked the bath curtain with water, wrapping it around their bodies and covering their noses as they returned to the corridor, staring at the roaring blaze.
“Blow that thing open with the bomb!” Liu Kangyun unclipped the miniature bomb from his waist and hurled it toward the staircase.
The bomb was precisely targeted at the stairway barrier, and the moment it made contact, it exploded.
With a loud bang, the barrier sustained no damage.
Liu Kangyun broke down. “Why is this thing so sturdy?!”
“The Kraken was designed to undergo various anti-violence tests at the outset, to counter acts of piracy and other criminal armed forces; theoretically, the deck doors can withstand cannon fire without being deformed or shattered,” Adam explained. “I suggest you all wait in an oxygen-rich area for rescue. The weapons you’re carrying cannot open this door.”
Jiang Ming’s urgent voice came through to them. “Don’t panic! We’re here, trying to open the deck door; you guys back away!”
Thick smoke choked Kui Xin, causing her to cough violently, as she could still feel the floor’s heat through her tactical boots.
She wasn’t panicking; she could escape at any time. Shadow Transition allowed her to traverse through spatial barriers.
But Xueyao Shu and Liu Kangyun couldn’t escape.
As a teammate and someone who wanted to stay in the Investigation Bureau for the long term, Kui Xin couldn’t act too ruthlessly; it was her survival strategy.
Anyway, other teammates were already outside the deck door. She could wait a moment longer. She absolutely wouldn’t expose her trump card unless absolutely necessary.
