The First Order

"Beacon," Zhou Qi said calmly.

"Beacon, standing by," the soldier replied.

The soldiers had set up a signal tower as tall as a person next to the drilling platform. The red and blue lights on the tower flickered alternately, making it look like a light tower used to guide people back to a military base.

But this was no ordinary signal tower. Instead, it was an underwater sonar transmitter, equipped with an HFG-091 electroacoustic converter and signal processor.

The base array, rack server, and auxiliary equipment were all integrated within the signal tower.

At the same time, Zhou Qi would bring along an active sonar device the size of a suitcase when he entered the subterranean river to receive the coordinates of the signal tower.

The efficiency of transmitting electromagnetic waves underwater was very low. Therefore, sonar equipment became the most critical tool when the Qing Consortium was assessing how to transmit information underwater.

Its most important use was for Zhou Qi to find his way back after he completed his mission.

The huge maze of subterranean waterways was so complicated that humans would unwittingly lose their sense of direction if they swam in it.

Therefore, Zhou Qi also needed such a reference point to determine his position.

It was true that Zhou Qi was a water-type supernatural being. He could even breathe underwater through his skin like a real frogman.

However, he also had his limits. When his willpower was exhausted, Zhou Qi would have to switch back to staying alive as a normal person. At that time, he would need to use his mouth and nose to take in oxygen again.

In the past, Zhou Qi rarely took the risk to enter any subterranean river basin where the terrain was unclear because it was too dangerous.

Based on Zhou Qi's estimation, his mental strength could only support him staying underwater for two hours.

Therefore, he had to have a way out. Otherwise, he might end up staying in the subterranean river forever.

"Raise the security measures." Zhou Qi said, "Everyone, guard this place. I'll leave my escape route in your hands. Time check. If I don't return within two hours, you don't have to wait for me."

With that, Zhou Qi activated a 120-minute countdown on his waterproof electronic watch.

The soldiers also started their countdown timers.

With everything prepared, Zhou Qi did not hesitate any further. He picked up the active sonar device and sat at the edge of the pipeline leading into the underground abyss.

Zhou Qi suddenly asked the soldier in front of him, "Why do you feel that someone would be willing to sacrifice themselves to save your life?"

The soldier was stunned. "Because there's trust?"

Zhou Qi lightheartedly mocked, "How nice it is to be young. You can believe anything."

When the soldier saw Zhou Qi in a good mood, he asked, "Sir, you mean you don't believe it?"

"Me?" Zhou Qi smiled. "I don't know if I believe it or not."

Then he dove into the water and quickly disappeared.

Immediately after, the soldiers lowered the signal tower that was secured to a safety rope into the pipeline. As the red and blue lights sank bit by bit into the bottom of the pipeline, they looked like twinkling stars on a distant shore.

The underwater sonar transmitter tower would be secured by the safety rope in the subterranean river and illuminate the way home for Zhou Qi.

…

Luo Lan's convoy had already set off once again. Although Wang Run knew there had to be something to the commotion earlier, he could not be sure of what it was.

Time was tight, so he could not continue being pestered by Luo Lan along the way.

"Do you think Zhou Qi will carry out the plan accordingly?" Xu Man said, "He also said in the past it would be very dangerous to enter the subterranean river, right? If he can't find a way back, he might just die. Someone like him who loves money as much as his life, and has earned so much money from Mr. Qing Zhen over the years, how could he bear to die in a place like that?"

Luo Lan chuckled. "If you think he only cares about money, you've misjudged him. Why else do you think he was willing to make this trip to the Central Plains?"

"You trust him?" Xu Man said, "He's the most important part of this plan. If any part of his mission isn't…"

"Don't worry." Luo Lan shook his head. "I trust him."

As they spoke, the convoy arrived at the Artificial Intelligence Center in Stronghold 61.

There was only a lone black "Zero" sign at the top of the building. It was as though it was afraid others would not know what the artificial intelligence was called.

A large number of the Wang Consortium's troops were garrisoned around the building. Luo Lan muttered, "Don't you feel like those are soldier ants protecting a queen? It really makes my scalp tingle."

"It does look similar." Xu Man nodded.

"Looks like Wang Shengzhi is really dying soon. That's what they usually do when it comes to preventing a mutiny." Luo Lan curled his lips and said, "But I've never heard of anyone in the Wang Consortium who's capable of staging a mutiny. Isn't the authority firmly in Wang Shengzhi's hands?"

"There might still be some inside story we don't know about," Xu Man said.

In Stronghold 61, black armored vehicles were parked at almost every intersection within a one-kilometer radius with the building as the center. Temporary machine gun positions had also been set up.

When the convoy drove past, all of the Wang Consortium's soldiers stared at them coldly without any expression on their faces.

Someone was waiting to receive them at the entrance of the building.

Wang Run got out of the car and said to Third Brother Qing, "Mr. Qing Zhen, only you, Luo Lan, and Xu Man are allowed to enter the building this time. Please have the rest of your soldiers wait outside."

Third Brother Qing nodded lightly. This was a situation they had fully expected. As his current identity was Qing Zhen, everything would naturally have to go according to his wishes.

Wang Run continued, "Furthermore, the three of you will still have to undergo a security inspection and change clothes before you can proceed in. Of course, it's not that I suspect you all are carrying weapons, but the commander's body is weak and his immunity is low. To prevent you all from bringing allergens and bacteria in, we have to put these checks in place."

"Aren't you just afraid we'll smuggle weapons in? Don't make it sound so grand," Luo Lan muttered.

Though Wang Run heard this, he acted as though he heard nothing.

The Wang Consortium had invited Qing Zhen to the Central Plains for peace talks this time on the basis that both parties would respect each other.

Wang Shengzhi hoped Qing Zhen could take over the entire Alliance of Strongholds in the future, so he had to treat him with the same respect.

After entering Stronghold 61, even though Wang Run had received orders to forcefully bring them here, it was also partly due to Wang Shengzhi's failing health.

But even though Luo Lan's convoy had caused a lot of trouble while they were being brought here, Wang Run did not speak harshly to them. This was Wang Shengzhi's instruction to him.

Therefore, even if they wanted to conduct a body search now, the security personnel in the building would have to find a decent excuse to do so.

The security personnel started carrying out strict checks on Third Brother Qing, Luo Lan, and Xu Man with various detection equipment to ensure they did not bring any dangerous items to the basement levels.

At the same time, the three of them went into their assigned rooms separately and changed into cleanroom suits.

Under such scrutiny, it would be almost impossible to bring dangerous items into the basement of the building. However, Qing Zhen had already thought of this in his plan, which was why he required Zhou Qi's cooperation.

Wang Run waited outside the room. He looked at Luo Lan, Third Brother Qing, and Xu Man and said, "Please hand over your personal items to me for safekeeping. When you all leave the basement, I will return them to you as is."

Luo Lan shrugged. "I only brought a satellite phone with me, nothing else."

Wang Run said in seriousness, "You have to hand over the satellite phone to me as well."

Luo Lan raised his eyebrows. "Why? Is this how the Wang Consortium treats its guests? The Qing Consortium's number one and number two figures have come to your Wang Consortium's territory, yet you still want to confiscate our satellite phone? What's with the cautiousness? Or do you all not have any intention of negotiating with the Qing Consortium at all?"

But even though Luo Lan said that, Wang Run did not intend to back down. "Satellite signals can't be received underground. Boss Luo, it doesn't work even if you bring the phone down. I don't know what sense of security a satellite phone can give you. Or could it be there's something more to this satellite phone of yours?"

Luo Lan chuckled and said, "Whatever!"

With that, Luo Lan threw the satellite phone in his hand into Wang Run's arms and walked towards the elevator that led to the basement levels.

Behind him, Wang Run got someone to run a check on the satellite phone with their tech but did not find anything unusual.

This left Wang Run a little puzzled. He could clearly sense that Qing Zhen, Luo Lan, and the rest had other motives for coming to the Central Plains. However, he could not figure out where the problem was.

In fact, there were two key points in Zhou Qi's operation. The first was how he would return after his mission was completed, and that required an underwater sonar system to help him navigate his way back.

The second point was even more important. How was Zhou Qi supposed to locate the server bank in the subterranean river? He would need someone to get into the underground server bank and guide him on his way.

They could not bring any equipment down into the basement. Currently, the security protocols for the Artificial Intelligence Center were rigorous and terrifyingly complicated. However, Qing Zhen had never wanted to rely on equipment to achieve this. Instead, he was going to rely on people.

Xu Man.

The superpowers of superhumans had their own strengths and were independent of each other.

It was very difficult to make different superhumans work together unless one was as lucky as Ren Xiaosu to bring Wang Yun, P5092, and Xun Yeyu together.

But now, the method Qing Zhen used to ensure that Zhou Qi and Xu Man could work together was based on science.

Before this, no one other than Qing Zhen knew Xu Man had also awoken to become a supernatural being.

Just as Qing Zhen had said before, if you wanted to deal a heavy blow to the artificial intelligence, you would have to come up with something that even the artificial intelligence did not have in its calculations.

During the past two years, Qing Zhen seemed to have thought of how to destroy the server bank below Stronghold 61. From then on, this plan was born.

During this period, Qing Zhen had always maintained his mysterious whereabouts and rarely communicated with the rest of the world. This was so the artificial intelligence would not be able to obtain enough information from him.

Xu Man had awakened his power in the subsequent war with the Yang Consortium. But after Qing Zhen's instructions to him, he rarely revealed his power to the rest of the world. Moreover, his power was also more concealed: It was the control of sound.

This power had always been a little handicapped.

That was because Xu Man could only emit an ultrasonic wave of about 20,300 Hz, so it could not directly cause any damage to the human body. This made him a little different from other superhumans.

Even for a fair-skinned fatty like Xun Yeyu, his superpower was still very practical in war.

But what could Xu Man's control of ultrasonic waves at a frequency of 20,300 Hz be used for? Under normal circumstances, the frequency of an industrial ultrasonic washing machine was several times that.

However, Qing Zhen noticed another characteristic of ultrasonic waves. They had an extremely strong underwater propagation ability.

At this moment, Zhou Qi and Xu Man had become perfect partners with the use of sonar.

Xu Man was Zhou Qi's other beacon.

There was no such thing as a useless power in the world. It only depended on whether you could find someone who knew how to use it.

…

In the water, Zhou Qi advanced speedily with the sonar device in hand. Without even kicking his legs, he moved as fast as a fish.

The screen of the sonar device was an underwater radar as the green surveillance scan spun continuously in circles.

The screen showed a red dot flashing behind Zhou Qi. He knew that to be the beacon set up at the silt farm.

What he needed to do was to continue advancing in the opposite direction of that beacon. Then, he would wait for Xu Man to enter the underground facility of the Artificial Intelligence Center and activate the other beacon for him.

Zhou Qi looked at the waterproof electronic watch on his wrist. The countdown timer indicated 103 minutes.

He mentally calculated that he only had 43 effective minutes left. That was because it would still take some time for him to return to the surface. Otherwise, he would get trapped at the bottom of the river if his willpower was exhausted.

Therefore, if Zhou Qi still could not see the "Xu Man" beacon after 43 minutes, he would have no choice but to turn back.

On the sonar device, the green dot that represented Zhou Qi was getting farther and farther away from the red dot behind him.

He closed his eyes and continued moving forward with the river current. He was trying to ensure he could stay underwater for as long as possible by using minimal mental strength to move.

There was no external light source in the subterranean river. Only the illumination from the sonar device in his hand flickered like a firefly.

There was boundless darkness in here, but Zhou Qi was not afraid. This dark and peaceful environment felt very suitable for thinking.

Zhou Qi could vaguely hear a singing voice. It was just like when Luo Lan sang "Adieu, My Friend" to everyone at the stream at the back of Mt. Ginkgo.

This was Luo Lan's favorite song, but Zhou Qi always despised it as he found it too ill-omened.

But Zhou Qi had never told Luo Lan, Qing Zhen, and Qing Yi that the days when he used to steal ginkgo nuts on Mt. Ginkgo were actually the happiest days of his life. At that time, he almost believed in friendship.

A moment later, a new red dot appeared on the sonar device in his arms. It was right ahead of him.

The red dot indicated the device had located a signal source. According to the plan, when the second red dot appeared, that would be the indication of the location of "Team Server Bank."

Zhou Qi immediately opened his eyes, but he instantly sensed that something was off. That was because the red dot in front of him was approaching at an extremely fast speed.

He instinctively looked at his watch and saw the countdown timer indicating 89 minutes and 12 seconds.

…

As the elevator started descending rapidly, Wang Run simply looked straight ahead. Meanwhile, Luo Lan, Third Brother Qing, and Xu Man suddenly came into view of the huge underground facility.

Countless pieces of vacuum-sealed glass were mounted on the other side of the underground facility. It was as though Luo Lan and company had arrived at an aquarium. However, while an aquarium displayed fish, this place showcased the huge server farms the artificial intelligence ran on.

The rapidly flowing subterranean river became a natural cooling system for the server bank and ensured that the servers ran normally.

There was nothing unnecessary here, with no decorations and no daily necessities to be seen. It was totally clean…. It was just like the main hall in Ginkgo Manor that had been cleaned up by Qing Zhen.

And what was extremely similar was that there was a "black lake" of water at both places.

The "black lake" in Ginkgo Manor referred to the polished marble floor. Meanwhile, there really was a dark subterranean river over here.

At some point, Luo Lan felt that the dark lake water seemed to symbolize the other party's thoughts. Pure but deep.

Qing Zhen and Wang Shengzhi also shared something in common, in the sense that they were probably both very skilled at plotting.

A lot of people were used to neglecting Wang Shengzhi's competence. But in fact, the strategies Wang Shengzhi displayed when taking on his opponents were much more diverse than Qing Zhen's methods. They were also much broader in scope, encompassing politics, economy, the humanities, feelings among the common folk, and so on.

At this moment, Wang Shengzhi was sitting alone in his wheelchair and facing the server bank outside the underground facility. No one knew what he was thinking.

When he heard the sound of the elevator, he wheeled himself around and said with a weak smile, "Welcome to the Wang Consortium's masterpiece, the artificial intelligence, Zero. I'm sorry I didn't allow you all time for some rest. It's just that my physical self can't afford any further delays."

Third Brother Qing said, "It's alright. Since we're already at the Wang Consortium, it doesn't matter whether we get any rest or not. What's important is what kind of agreement Mr. Wang Shengzhi wants to reach with the Qing Consortium."

Luo Lan observed Wang Shengzhi carefully. Right now, he was very sure that Wang Run was not lying to him. Wang Shengzhi might really not have much time left.

It was probably because there was still a trace of obsession keeping him alive that he was able to hold out until "Qing Zhen" arrived with Luo Lan and company.

Translated by: Legge

Edited by: weirdo

https://www.webnovel.com/book/the-first-order_14219251705674005

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