Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Brother Xiong, why did you bring all these out to sea?” Gu Nianzhi went to the narrow boxes beside Yin Shixiong and touched them. They were the boxes for the sniper rifles in the headquarters. She had seen them when she was at the headquarters with Huo Shaoheng before. Looking at the number of boxes, it seemed like they’d brought a few sets.

Yin Shixiong leaned the boxes against his body. “It’s better to be well prepared than to have not prepared. It’s safer to just bring them along.”

All right then. Such a careful person. You wouldn’t be able to find many in the world, anyway.

Gu Nianzhi stopped persisting. She walked to the shore and raised her arms, waving at the ship that was making its way towards them.

Huo Shaoheng was navigating the ship in the bridge attentively. He looked in front and saw a young lady whose perfect figure couldn’t even be hidden with long pants and a top meant for sports. That lady was waving at them enthusiastically.

Judging by that figure, it was his Nianzhi.

Huo Shaoheng smiled. He accelerated the ship. It roared and moved in front at a faster speed.

…

“Huo Shao, this is such a beautiful ship.” Gu Nianzhi boarded the ship and explored around for a while before sitting down comfortably in the cabin.

This space felt like a little living area. There were lush sofa seats on both sides of the cabin and a long table as a coffee table in the middle. There were also built-in cabinets behind the sofa seats on the walls. The space was well utilized.

Huo Shaoheng asked Yin Shixiong to navigate the ship and went to the cabin himself. He opened one of the cabinets and retrieved some bottles of ice cold rum and coconut juice and placed them on the table.

Gu Nianzhi opened the cabinet again to take a look inside. “Oh, this is a refrigerator!” she exclaimed happily.

“There’s a kitchen at the back, too. We can barbeque.” Huo Shaoheng opened the cap of the rum and downed it in one gulp.

Seeing that, the corners of Zhao Liangze’s lips twitched. “Mr. Huo! That is rum! Not beer! Must you down it that quickly?”

“Rum can warm you up. I suggest you have one as well.” Huo Shaoheng handed a bottle of rum to Zhao Liangze. “We still have to dive at the blue hole later on. Don’t catch a cold.”

“Dive? Is it a deep one?” Gu Nianzhi skipped to Huo Shaoheng’s side, full of curiosity. She grabbed his arm and swung on it. With sparkling eyes, she asked, “Can I go, too?”

“No.” Huo Shaoheng and Zhao Liangze rejected her flatly.

“There’s a blue hole in the waters near the water of the Gus’ island. I need to go and take a look. The currents are strong, and the temperature is low over there. You’re a lady. It’d be better if you did not go to such a place to dive.” Huo Shaoheng placed a bottle of coconut juice in front of her. “Have some coconut juice. Then let Da Xiong bring you to fish for crabs.”

Gu Nianzhi cheered up immediately upon hearing that she should go crab fishing. She nodded happily. “Sure, sure! I’ll go crab fishing with Brother Xiong and steam them for you guys after you get back.”

“Good girl.” Huo Shaoheng caressed her head and proceeded to change into his diving suit with Zhao Liangze.

Gu Nianzhi walked to the bridge and sat on the high stool beside Yin Shixiong. Smiling cheekily, she said, “Brother Xiong, Huo Shao says that you’ll bring me to fish for crabs later.”

Yin Shixiong wanted to dive as well, but he could not go against Huo Shaoheng’s orders.

Holding on to the rudder, he grumbled, “Why would you even need me to bring you for crab fishing? It’s not like you can’t go on your own.”

They also went crab fishing back in Hua Xia Empire.

“Well, that’s true—I can go on my own, but Huo Shao wants you to accompany me.” Gu Nianzhi tilted her head and moved closer to Yin Shixiong. She looked at his face closely, gave a sly smile, and said, “Huh? You’re unhappy? Ah… You want to dive as well, don’t you?”

“Of course.” Yin Shixiong rolled his eyes at her and turned the rudder expertly to avoid a wave coming in their direction. “This is a world-famous dive site. The water is also the best in the world with zero pollution.”

“I want to go, too…” Gu Nianzhi sighed. Looking around the bridge, she saw that Huo Shaoheng and Zhao Liangze were changing in the back cabin. Lowering her voice, she whispered to Yin Shixiong, “Brother Xiong, why don’t we go on a dive in secret after they’ve gone down?”

Yin Shixiong pursed his lips immediately and gave Gu Nianzhi a meaningful look. Gu Nianzhi did not manage to catch the hint. They were on the embassy’s ship instead of a ship from the Special Forces. Therefore, she’d assumed that there wouldn’t be many tapping devices.

“Nianzhi, you want to go against my orders in broad daylight?” boomed Huo Shaoheng, his voice filling the bridge.

Gu Nianzhi jumped and covered her ears and almost fell from her stool. She looked around fearfully and stammered: “H… Huo… Sh… Shao, where are you?”

How could he have heard when she had spoken so softly?!

Yin Shixiong pointed to a button that was easily overlooked. Then he pointed to his mouth and ear.

Gu Nianzhi understood. Most likely for easy communication, Huo Shaoheng had installed a tapping device in the ship. Who would have known that it would mean ruining Gu Nianzhi’s sneaky plan?

Gu Nianzhi shuddered. Hopping off the tall stool, she mumbled, “I… I think I’m having seasickness. I need to have a rest in the cabin.” Then she escaped.

Yin Shixiong laughed heartily and spoke into the tapping device. “You’ve scared Nianzhi, Mr. Huo. Her face was so pale.”

Huo Shaoheng snorted and ignored the issue altogether. He told Yin Shixiong, “I’m going to enter the waters with Little Ze soon. You remember the directions, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do. The Gus’ island is just a nautical mile ahead. Should I stop the ship at the island’s dock?” Yin Shixiong asked pointedly.

“Look around on the outside first.” Huo Shaoheng was extremely curious about the surroundings of the island. He wanted to know how Gu Xiangwen had managed to conceal the island from everyone. It would be extremely beneficial to the army if he could find out.

The stealth equipment used by the army—for example, the fighter jet—still used technology like messing up radar signals in order to remain hidden. However, with modern satellite technology, it was getting tougher to conceal those jets. Therefore, Gu Xiangwen’s technology was extremely valuable.

“What was even rarer was that Gu Xiangwen had had this technology at least seven years ago. If he hadn’t become a vegetable… Wow! Imagine how much he would have been able to refine that technology…” Zhao Liangze sighed and put on his diving suit with Huo Shaoheng.

Completing their outfit with the diving equipment, they went to the side of the ship and looked far ahead. The blue hole that was near the waters of the Gus’ island was right in front of them. An area amid the otherwise turquoise waters was a brighter hue of blue compared to the waters around it. It was a deep and striking blue.

If someone, anyone, were to describe the colors of the waters around the blue hole to be aquamarine, then the waters in and around the blue hole itself would have been the purest of blues: sapphire.

Looking at such a pure shade of blue from above, it felt like looking down at an eye in the ocean gazing up into the sky as it shimmered. The shape of the blue hole was a perfect circle. No one knew if it was a wonder of Mother Nature or manmade.

“Let’s go down and see if there are any interesting things inside.” Huo Shaoheng waved and flipped into the ocean.

He had felt that in order to conceal the island, Gu Xiangwen would not have only done what he had seen on the island. Therefore, he wanted to inspect the area around the island as thoroughly as possible. It was a pity that he did not have the luxury of time and could only skim through everything hastily and report what he saw here to his mother, Song Jinning, after he returned to the Hua Xia Empire. His mother, Song Jinning, was a high energy physicist in the army. She would be more than familiar with these things.

Zhao Liangze followed Huo Shaoheng and jumped into the ocean and swam towards the blue hole in front of them.

The waters around the blue hole were a significantly deeper shade of blue than the surrounding waters. Therefore, it was rather easy to differentiate between them. They carried diving equipment and other instruments for the detection of light and sound frequencies. They also had wireless communication systems.

Following the currents, they swam. Many tropical fish swam around them as well. Perhaps because humans were rare in this area, the fish were not afraid of them at all. On the contrary, they were swimming along with them, seemingly having fun. Their tails created waves and hit Zhao Liangze right in the face.

He avoided the fish instinctively by swimming to the side. Seeing the “culprit” swim away haughtily, Zhao Liangze hissed angrily: “I swear I heard that fish snigger!”

Yin Shixiong’s voice came through from the communication system: “Little Ze, fish can’t talk, much less snigger. Are you too deep underwater that you’re beginning to hallucinate? Pfft! If we had known earlier, we could’ve let me go down instead. I’m way healthier than you are!”

“Get lost, you preschool principal; go accompany the kids for crab fishing!” Zhao Liangze retorted.

“Zhao Liangze!” Yin Shixiong hit the rudder with his fist angrily, his voice blasting into the communication system.

Zhao Liangze smiled victoriously and increased his speed to catch up with Huo Shaoheng. The blue hole was right in front. They could feel the currents becoming stronger as they got closer, moving in the direction of a spiral. They would be “sucked into” the blue hole on the other side if they weren’t careful. They communicated through the communication system, which was linked to the ship.

…

Gu Nianzhi lay down on a deck chair on the side of the ship with a fishing rod in one hand, fishing from the ship. She wore a huge hat to keep the sun out of her face and even had a huge umbrella on top of her deck chair.

She had a communication system as well; she put it on the table beside her. She could hear Huo Shaoheng and Zhao Liangze talking. Yin Shixiong sat beside her, looking glum, slicing pineapples for her.

The ship was anchored somewhere near the blue hole. They were waiting for Huo Shaoheng and Zhao Liangze to return.

“Hey. With such amazing weather and a beautiful sea view, you are going to just sleep it away?” Yin Shixiong finished slicing the pineapple and was feeling bored. He snatched Gu Nianzhi’s hat, trying to disturb her.

Gu Nianzhi snatched her hat back and laughed. “Of course not. I’m trying to see if the fish will bite the bait. This way, I can play games on my phone as well.”

“I’ve had enough of you!” Yin Shixiong shook his head. Standing up, he took his rod and walked to the other side of the ship.

A voice came from the communication system. “We’re in the blue hole…”

There were some disruptions from the communication system immediately after they said that. Then all was silent.

Gu Nianzhi looked at the communication system and slapped it a couple of times. “Huo Shao? Brother Ze? Are you guys in the blue hole already?”

There was no reply.

…

Just then, someone noticed movement in the blue hole as well. After contemplating, she called Gu Yanran.

“Yanran, it’s time to make it up to you. Go to your family’s island now. Someone entered the blue hole.”