CH 16

On Lu’s rescue boat, the two brothers were like a chicken talking to a duck1. The air between the two was barely a happy and harmonious one.

On the boat of the navy rescue team, the Squad Leader looked at Luoxi hesitantly, “Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital for an examination?”

The boat had already docked and all the other passengers had been taken to the nearest military hospital for examination. After being soaked in the sea for an extended period, no matter if they had or had no issues, they all needed to undergo a medical checkup using hospital equipment and stay there for a few days.

However, Luoxi insisted that she did not need to go to the hospital, and instead urged the search and rescue Squad Leader to contact the top brass as soon as possible. She will actively cooperate with them in search of the sunken ship.

It turned out that the Squad Leader suspected that the bracelet Luoxi found was looted by the foreign force along with a batch of gold that had gone missing in the past. Since the bracelet had been found, it was highly likely that the gold was sunk to the bottom of the sea, just like the bracelet.

The search for gold was considered an S-class mission of the special forces unit, with a high priority and strict confidentiality. The search and rescue Squad Leader, who had retired due to injury, still had a strong political consciousness and a doer personality. While on the boat, he took a photo of the bracelet and reported the situation to his former superiors.

After receiving the news, the military took it very seriously and ordered the search and rescue Squad Leader to keep Luoxi behind to assist in the search for the sunken ship.

Due to the urgency and confidentiality of the situation, the top brass almost instantly dispatched a team for the operation for fear of any changes caused by a delay. Whether it was the missing batch of gold or not, they needed to confirm it as soon as possible.

It wasn’t only Hua Xia that was searching for this gold. It was also being sought by various external forces.

Hua Xia has become more prosperous than before. Its foreign exchange reserves and state treasury were no longer empty. However, no country would dislike having more money, and with this batch of gold, the superiors would have more leeway in their actions.

Both the military and the people’s livelihood required money to sustain themselves.

Besides, the gold originally belonged to Hua Xia. A hundred years ago, when it was plundered, Hua Xia was unable to defend it. If it were to be taken away by foreign forces now, it would be considered an outrage.

Because of this, the other guests who had seen the bracelet were all taken to the military hospital by the navy. They will also stay in the military hospital overnight to prevent any secrets from being leaked out. If the situation were to change, there would naturally be a doctor in the hospital who would advise them to stay for additional days.

But despite the urgency, there was still time for medical evaluation.

It would take some time for the people sent by the superiors to arrive, providing ample time for Luoxi’s full body examination. However, Luoxi declined the offer on the pretext of not wanting to waste time. The search and rescue Squad Leader was a little touched. Despite the presence of many patriotic young people, only a few went to such lengths for their country.

She was such a good child with a proper upbringing!

Luoxi, unable to bear the Squad Leader’s fatherly gaze, turned her head silently.

One of the reasons she didn’t go to the hospital was because she was truly alright. When the tsunami hit them, she didn’t even get a scratch. She didn’t require a checkup at all.

The other reason was her fear of them discovering an anomaly in her.

She looked no different from a human at the moment, but just a dozen or so days ago, she was still soaking in the ocean of Asmana, flapping her golden tail that could stir up a huge wave with just one flick.

This human appearance was a shell simulated by her using her powers. In case she was detected to have bones that differed from humans, would be her boss capable of protecting her?

Thinking about the precarious situation of Batian Entertainment, which was on the brink of bankruptcy, Luoxi wisely declined such a dangerous thing as going to the hospital for a check-up.

Upon seeing the Navy’s commotion, Boss Feng suspected that the matter was not simple and might have been related to that bracelet. However, he could not understand why the Navy would attach such significance to the bracelet.

Despite the severity of the situation, when the search and rescue Squad Leader informed Luoxi that she needed to temporarily stay with the Navy and politely asked him to stay too, he tactfully agreed.

The Navy’s ship brought them to an island base where they were waiting for the crew to join them.

The Squad Leader provided a room for Boss Feng, equipped with a bed, table, and chairs. It looked like a place where soldiers rested. He politely asked Boss Feng to rest here for the night and did not confiscate his phone. Common signals were inaccessible in this area.

Before leaving, Boss Feng whispered a few words to Luoxi, out of concern that she may not fully grasp the gravity of the situation.

The general idea was to follow orders from the top brass, be obedient to them and have the right attitude. She should not be too focused on wealth and act recklessly. She has to cooperate properly with the top brass, and when she returned, she could soak in the swimming pool to her heart’s content.

Luoxi nodded like a little chick pecking at rice, obediently nodding every time he said something.

Boss Feng watched Luoxi’s back with melancholy as she followed the Squad Leader and wondered if she had understood what he said or not! He felt that she did not comprehend his meaning and was anxious.

The military acted quickly. Due to the attention the top brass gave to this issue, only elites were sent.

The team consisted of people with special forces backgrounds who possessed impressive skills, as well as a group of professionals including archaeologists and shipwreck salvage personnel.

To avoid attracting too much attention, the military used a rescue ship as a disguise, carrying shipwreck salvage and detection equipment. They set out to sea before dawn while it was still dark.

The military rank of the person in charge whom the army sent was not high, but this person’s stature was straight and his body exuded an air of bravery. It was evident that he was a man of real skills. The military insignia on his shoulder was earned through real combat and military achievements.

The person in charge was in his early forties, with dark skin and a reserved demeanor. When he went to inquire about the situation from Luoxi and saw that she was a delicate and beautiful young girl, he was afraid that his rough appearance would scare her so he forced a smile.

The soldiers behind him: “…..”

Their Chief might as well not smile. It was so stiff and distorted, it was even more frightening.

However, to their surprise, Luoxi accepted the smile and even returned one of her own.

Well, it was sweet. What a beautiful smile.

The soldiers couldn’t think of better words. They thought the smile was very very beautiful and very very comfortable.

The person in charge secretly let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the situation.

He was afraid of crying girls. If she were to become so frightened that she started to cry, he would not be able to ask any questions. Fortunately, she was a brave one.

From his observation, he could see that Luoxi was not putting up a front. She was genuinely not afraid, with no hint of nervousness, as if she was facing an ordinary person.

He came out of the special forces camp and participated in many peacekeeping missions, anti-drug operations in the Golden Triangle, and undercover missions in his youth.

He had seen blood on his hands and had fought against terrorists and drug lords. The intimidating presence he had accumulated over the years made most people feel terrified when they faced him. Even his own soldiers sometimes feared him.

However, the young girl in front of him was completely unafraid of him, not even scared of his murderous and bloody aura, which surprised him. But seeing someone completely unafraid of him made the person in charge feel happy.

After all, constantly seeing others being afraid of him and trembling with fear in front of him was too depressing.

The person in charge assessed Luoxi’s age and smiled.

A good child. If he had gotten married earlier, the children would have grown up already and his daughter would have turned out just as beautiful.

Seeing their boss’s smiling face, the soldiers behind him, who were familiar with him, grudgingly curled their lips.

Boss, wake up. You’re a single man and don’t even have a wife. What daughter can you look forward to? Not to mention your looks, even if the wife you find in the future was a fairy, you wouldn’t be able to give birth to such a beautiful daughter. You’re bringing down the average too much! 

The person in charge asked Luoxi about the situation with the bracelet, and also carefully inquired about the surprising nurse shark incident.

Luoxi thought that the other guests had already mentioned the nurse shark, so she didn’t try to hide it. It was just about the bracelet; she told them that after the tsunami when she went underwater again to look for people from the reef island, a nurse shark brought it to her in the southern waters.

Judging by the direction, the location was in the southern part of the South Sea, but the specific location still needed to be surveyed.

After listening, the person in charge felt that it would have been great if that nurse shark could have taken them there. Since it was able to bring the bracelet, that nurse shark must know the exact location of the shipwreck.

It was strange that despite many searches of the South Sea by Hua Xia, several shipwrecks had been found, but none of them had the gold. The top brass almost thought that the batch of gold had not met with any misfortune in those days, or that they didn’t take the sea route and the shipwreck was just a cover-up.

However, just when the top brass had lost hope, the bracelet’s appearance sparked surprising speculation.

If they could find the sunken ship with gold in the South Sea, it would be certainly listed as one of the greatest mysteries of all time. Could there be a special magnetic field in the South Sea that has prevented people from discovering and approaching the shipwreck for all these years?

There were too many mysterious and unknown regions on Earth and the person in charge was unable to explain them all. He only hoped that this time, he would not return empty-handed.

The area south of the reef island was a vast expanse of sea.

Determining the direction with the naked eye at sea was difficult. The person in charge didn’t expect Luoxi to find the location immediately. After passing the reef island, the professionals who salvaged the sunken ship began to get busy.

Because of its importance, the naval forces prepared not only side-scan sonar but also an ocean magnetic detector. The question of whether the sunken ship could be found remained a mystery to everyone.

The ocean was mysterious and unpredictable, with a complex seabed environment. The underwater targets were often affected by their surroundings, leading to difficulties in identification. The South Sea had been searched before with no results, further emphasizing the difficulty in discovering the highly valued shipwreck everyone was eagerly waiting to find.

Luoxi gazed at their location, which was still far from the sunken ship. Unfortunately, she couldn’t say that directly. When the person in charge asked, she hesitated briefly and told him that she had swam further south from this location.

The rescue ship continued its journey southward, with everyone on board filled with hope.

Only the Little Golden Dragon was deprived of the bracelet it had set its sights on and was grumbling in anger. After grumbling for a while and seeing that Luoxi was ignoring it completely, it angrily questioned her.

‘Why are you helping them? They stole my bracelet!’ 

Luoxi replied in her mind: ‘That bracelet was someone else’s property, and is also a first-grade cultural relic. Stealing it would lead to arrest.’ 

The Little Golden Dragon snorted contemptuously, ‘What’s there to be afraid of? We can go to another country.’

It has lived alone on the planet Asmana for a long time and had learned knowledge from The Brain that was left behind. When it left Asmana, it brought The Brain along. This content belongs to thehlifestyle.com, if you see this translation elsewhere, it’s been stolen!

The Brain had experienced traveling through the void and being struck by lightning, it was not functioning well. However, the technology on Earth, especially the network, was still in its early stages, making it very convenient to use The Brain to infiltrate the network and learn about this world.

The Earth was different from Asmana. There were many countries on the Earth, each governing itself, which meant that if it couldn’t stay in one country anymore, it could run away and change places.

The Little Golden Dragon felt that with Luoxi and its own abilities, they could live well anywhere and there was no need to aggrieve themselves.

It tried to persuade Luoxi: ‘I looked it up and this world is very interesting. It’s divided into two aspects – the Surface World and the Inner World. The surface world is the society where ordinary people live. It’s based on science. Nothing special. All extraordinary, special abilities and phenomena that cannot be scientifically explained belong to the inner world. The inner world of Hua Xia is particularly difficult to handle because of its long history, making it a high-risk area. Given your situation, unless you live as an ordinary person forever, you will inevitably encounter things from the inner world of Hua Xia, which is dangerous.’

Not to mention anything else, it was said that there were dragons in Hua Xia, real dragons!

That was not like it, a mediocre dragon made by humans with technology. It was a real dragon that could fly among clouds and summon wind and rain! Although they have vanished for thousands of years, who knows if they will suddenly emerge again?

Even if the real dragons have long since gone extinct, the nature of dragons was lustful, and there were many scale-clawed with the blood of real dragons.

These beings devoured each other to evolve into true dragons and purify their bloodlines. The Little Golden Dragon also had a trace of real dragon blood in its body. However, it was very weak. If this siren couldn’t protect it and let it be devoured by others, where could the Little Golden Dragon go to complain?

When Luo Xi heard about the Inner World, her interest was instantly piqued.

Translation notes:

[1] Like a chicken talking to a duck – fig. talking without communicating; people not understanding each other.