The power of the sea was immense; the deeper you went, the greater the pressure, and the flooding became more intense. Even though the submarine hadn’t submerged too deep, the overwhelming force behind it was driving water into the area like crazy.
Echo had nothing in her hands, and the viewport beside her had just a small crack, but in an instant, the pressure ripped it open wider. The surrounding steel began to show signs of splitting, but Echo didn’t have time to think. She grabbed the edge of the inner compartment and pushed her back against it.
“Hurry up, go!” she shouted, feeling the immense force pushing her forward.
She gritted her teeth, holding her position, trying to block the raging flow of water coming in. Every little bit she could keep out felt like a glimmer of hope.
Adolph’s subordinates saw what was happening and rushed to help, using their bodies to try to block the water. These were the people Adolph usually sent to coordinate with Ryan; they understood the basics of firearms and knew that this wouldn’t do much, but they reacted before they could think it through. They were only buying a moment, trying to buy time.
“What the hell is going on?” Bill in the control room gripped the controls, his hands shaking.
The pressure was so high that the gauges had almost stopped working, unable to measure just how intense the situation was. Instruments began to sway uncontrollably, and danger was closing in fast.
Meanwhile, above the surface, Adolph and Cobra had already retreated over ten nautical miles at Ryan’s order, watching from a distance as several ships remained clustered together on the water.
Suddenly, from the captain’s room, Adolph and Cobra were focused on the ships when an earth-shattering explosion rang out. Looking through the binoculars, they saw three vessels being torn apart by a massive force, flames consuming the nearby old warships in mere moments.
The sea erupted in violent waves, with water shooting up to a hundred meters high. The roaring flames were quickly extinguished by the towering water column, which shot up from the ocean floor like a nuclear blast. It rose high before settling on the surface, while the surrounding waves surged outward in a frenzy.
The deep blue water glimmered with a murky glow, and a low rumble echoed across the surface, making Adolph and Cobra’s faces pale.
“Retreat! Increase speed!” Adolph barked, slamming the binoculars down, his voice cold as a gust from hell.
Without waiting for further orders, Cobra pressed the lever, and the floating warship spun around sharply, racing backward at full speed.
“Nice move, really putting in the effort-using uranium, no less,” Adolph said darkly, watching the turbulent waves racing toward them.
The howling on the surface grew louder, sounding like a dragon’s roar, filling the air with an oppressive noise that made his ears feel stuffed, even from the ship.
“What kind of metal-based explosives are these? This is obviously…,” Cobra started to say but trailed off.
Echo knew what uranium was; it was heavily processed, highly contaminating, and its radioactive power was terrifying.
If it weren’t for experts and manufacturers, who would even recognize this stuff? Just the fact that Echo identified it as explosives was impressive.
“Ryan must have guessed what it was; otherwise, he wouldn’t have ordered us to retreat,” Adolph said coldly, taking in the enormous scene before him.
Cobra pondered this for a moment and nodded.
Metal-based explosives were powerful, but they were on a warship, which had top-notch blast protection. Even if there were several tons of explosives, they couldn’t take them down. Ryan must have assessed from Echo’s words that this was some kind of chemical compound. Their warship was solid, but it couldn’t match the speed of the submarine they were on. If they didn’t dodge, under such force, the ship would be obliterated.
“Contact Ryan’s location.” Adolph frowned suddenly, realizing the waves were approaching quickly.
Ryan’s submarine was fast, but even it couldn’t outrun such a powerful attack.
As soon as Adolph spoke, Cobra was already at the communication equipment, both of them sensing the urgency of the situation, their expressions turning grave.
“Boss, how are you? What’s going on?” Cobra asked urgently, steering the ship backward while trying to reach Ryan.
There was no reply, just static and noise, sending a chill down Cobra’s spine.
Adolph’s frown deepened as he noticed Cobra starting to tremble slightly. He slapped Cobra on the back, coldly saying, “He’s Ryan. If he can go, he can come back.”
Cobra knew that the communication between Ryan and Hawk was audible, so both Adolph and Cobra understood that everyone had boarded the submarine. But now they couldn’t get in touch. Cobra frowned at Adolph’s words.
He was right; Ryan wasn’t impulsive. If he chose to go, he definitely had a solid plan-that was just who Ryan was.
Meanwhile, underwater, the submarine was shaking violently. Bill struggled to keep a grip on the vibrating controls, as more bad reports piled up. Various parts of the submarine were failing under the immense pressure, leading to irreparable damage.
“Shut off the oxygen systems.”
“Stop the drainage systems.”
“Raise the hull, reduce water pressure.”
A series of commands flowed from Bill’s mouth, and the others in the control room responded calmly and quickly.
“Shut down all systems.” A cold voice suddenly came through, and Bill didn’t need to look back to know Ryan had arrived.
“Stop all auxiliary systems.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Bill gave the order and quickly stood up to switch places with Ryan.
Ryan took the captain’s seat, gripping the vibrating control stick and pushing it down hard, holding it steady. He rapidly operated the control panel as lights flickered on, and said in a low voice, “Turn off all lights except in the captain’s quarters. Maximize speed.”
“Got it.”
“Stop all operations.”
“Lights off.”
“Disengage docking.”
“Power up, accelerate.”
His calm and methodical commands cut through the chaos like a tiger, but they were ten times more powerful than that, showing an exceptional level of composure.
In the cabin, the cracks behind Echo were widening. The force of the water was hitting her so hard that she had lost feeling in her body.
The lights went out, the temperature control systems shut down, and the heat made it nearly impossible to breathe.
Water rushed in, rising from her calves to her waist and quickly moving toward her chest. Echo gritted her teeth, knowing death was waiting just ahead, with only Ryan to rely on.
With all other auxiliary systems down, the submarine’s speed surged to its peak.
Ryan kept his grip firm on the shaking control stick, his blood-red eyes fixed on the fluctuating course indicator, and said, “Contact Cobra. We need extraction.”
Bill nodded and quickly adjusted the communication device in his ear. He switched to the internal channel he had set up with Tiger, since the connection between the submarine and the warship was down. They couldn’t maintain the signal, but he could reach Tiger.
“Boss, Boss, are you receiving? Can you hear me?” Cobra asked urgently as he maneuvered the warship backward, the static noise growing increasingly concerning for both him and Adolph.
“Cobra.”
A different signal suddenly came through, and Cobra saw Tiger’s image flash onto the screen.
“Southwest, at a forty-five-degree angle. Boss’s ship will arrive in one minute. We need your extraction, hurry! The ship is leaking badly and can only hold for another minute,” Tiger said, scanning the signals in front of him with a serious expression.
Without a second thought, Cobra adjusted their heading and sped toward the angle Tiger indicated. “Keep in touch. I need to know the details.”
“Okay.” Tiger didn’t waste any more words; he quickly typed away on the keyboard, communicating with Bill and relaying the information.
“Boss, you have forty-four seconds until you meet up with Cobra. The massive waves are approaching us at speed; we have five seconds left,” Bill said calmly, glancing at his watch.