Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 831: Solution

"Just stay here," Charles immediately rejected the suggestion. "We're humans. If we can take care of something using tools, there's no need for us to risk our lives."

Sparkle had grown incredibly strong, but it was still better to be safe than sorry. What if something inside could harm his daughter? Even if it couldn't kill her and could only harm just one of her tentacles, it still wouldn't be worth it.

The Governor of Hope Island's command quickly spread throughout Sottom. Soon, several massive cannons jutted out of Sottom's hull. These cannons were Sottom's original cannons, but the shells that were being loaded into the cannons were Hope Island's latest and largest shells.

The threaded silver shells were so heavy that it took four people to load them into the cannons.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Once the shells were loaded, the cannons were fired, and deafening explosions reverberated throughout Sottom. SITE 6 was instantly engulfed in flames. No spot was spared, as everything on the surface of the site received a baptism of fire and flames.

It took no time for SITE 6 to be on the same level as the sea surface, and the bombing lasted for a full thirty minutes. They only stopped when Sottom's cannons showed signs of overheating.

However, Charles' wasn't done yet. He whispered into the black walkie-talkie, and three airships with a logo of a black skull on their air bag took off from Sottom. The airships were dragging a spherical object the size of a house toward SITE 6.

Under everyone's gaze, the airship soon arrived above the elevator shaft. Gray smoke billowed out of the airships as they let go of the sphere, allowing it to fall straight into the pitch-black elevator shaft down below.

Charles' expression was solemn at the sight. He raised his hand, and Sottom moved backward, slowly but steadily retreating from the island.

Two minutes later, the island remained silent. However, just as everyone thought that nothing was going to happen, their ears abruptly started buzzing.

Before they could realize what was going on, an extremely powerful shockwave swept toward them from SITE 6.

The shock wave was so powerful that many people on Sottom were thrown to the floor. They had retreated quite a distance away from SITE 6, but some of them still ended up getting injured by the shock wave.

The Foundation's SITE 6 evidently could not withstand such a powerful attack. The waves churned as the site collapsed, and it sank slowly to the bottom of the sea.

A deathly silence hung over Sottom at the distant turbid whirlpool beneath the searchlights. Many people surreptitiously glanced at Charles with a hint of fear in their eyes.

They weren't afraid of relics, cold weapons, and hot weapons, but a power capable of sinking an entire island was a different story altogether.

Islands were everything in the Subterranean Sea, and Governor Charles had just sunk an entire island before their eyes.

One of the ship captains on Sottom couldn't help but tremble. He was actually a chess piece—Julio's hidden chess piece. His job was to monitor and report the Northern Seas' current affairs to Julio.

However, the unbelievable sight that he had just witnessed made him change his mind. He decided to abandon his identity as a spy and live his life as one of Hope Island's ship captains. He believed that becoming an enemy of such a powerful existence was a foolish decision that would surely lead to his death!

Charles couldn't care less about the thoughts of the many people on Sottom. He cast a satisfied gaze at the distant whirlpool. SITE 6's destruction had to be a major blow to those humanoid fissures.

"Aliya, send a submarine over there and give me a sitrep."

Soon, the submarine returned and confirmed Charles' theory. SITE 6 had become an underwater ruin, and the seawater was slowly melting away the ice. They also reported finding no traces of those humanoid fissures.

Charles had achieved his goal of eliminating those humanoid fissures, but the fact that the site was now underwater added a layer of complexity to the expedition.

Earlier, they just had to explore a building on an island, but now, they had to dive into the water and look for his skull inside the ruins on an underwater island.

Fortunately, they no longer faced any dangers. The divers in heavy diving suits and connected to long oxygen tubes began clearing the ruins of SITE 6 beneath the water.

The site clearing was slow and dull, but Charles wasn't in a hurry. If it was going to take a while, then so be it. Upon seeing that they were no longer in danger, Sparkle left to visit her mother.

"And that's it. Daddy wears a diving suit every day, and he stays more time underwater than on land," Sparkle recounted to Anna inside a simple room.

Anna was noting something down with a pen, and her hand stopped upon hearing Sparkle's words. "Okay. It's fine for him to take as much time as he needs. It's not something precious for him to be so desperate to retrieve it, so he doesn't have to be in such a hurry to find those broken bones."

Sparkle walked up to Anna and gently massaged Anna's shoulders. "Mom, how are things going here? Do you need my help?"

Anna reached out with her right hand and patted Sparkle's hand gently. "Don't worry. The Fhtagn Covenant can no longer do anything explosive. What they did previously was their attempts at a last stand. Anyway, do you like seafood? The Eastern Seas has a ton of seafood for you to eat."

The wall before them suddenly cracked open, and a brightly lit island was revealed down below.

The island was the Iron Statue Island in the Eastern Seas. The waters around the island were full of floating corpses and burning ships. A deformed black octopus was sprawled out beneath the massive iron statue.

The octopus was massive, spanning at least several kilometers long. The octopus' barbed suckers and the bizarre inscriptions on its slimy figure told every onlooker the power it possessed.

Unfortunately, it was dead, and it perished a long time ago. The stench of decay emanating from the octopus permeated the island, and the ink oozing from its figure gave the surrounding waters a pitch-black hue.

"It doesn't look fresh," Sparkle said, shaking her head.

"You're such a picky eater. But it's fine. You can live without eating, anyway," Anna replied.

Sparkle pointed at the ships docked at the pier down below. "What are they doing?"

"They're in the middle of taking over this island. As I said, our goal is to eliminate the Fhtagn Covenant. We're in the Northern Seas, so we don't need the resources and the islands of the Eastern Seas.

"And do you really think that these bastards would be as diligent as they are now if it weren't for the rewards I offered?"

"Doesn't that mean we're losing out on this?" Sparkle asked, and her face revealed a tinge of regret.

"We're losing out? No way my plan will result in us losing out. I told them that the islands are theirs, but the prisoners of the Fhtagn Covenant belong to me."

"I really thought that the Eastern Seas would have a sparse population. The sun's baptism had killed many of them, after all, but guess what? The Fhtagn Covenant's policies that urged the people to reproduce resulted in a population boom. I think there are around twenty million people in the Eastern Seas."

Sparkle blinked and stared calmly at her mother's side profile. "Mommy, Hope Island has no shortage of people."

"I know. I have no plans of transporting these people to Hope Island. I'm planning on using them here," Anna said casually, but the air in the room instantly became frigid.

Anna only had one way to make use of the Subterranean Sea's people.

"Anyway, your daddy has really become quite arrogant," Anna said mockingly, "Does he really think that I can't make do without him? That is not true at all. I have my own ways to achieve my goal."

Sparkle's brows furrowed as she fell into deep contemplation.

"Why don't we ask Daddy about what he thinks of your plan first?"

"Think about your father's personality and ask yourself this—will he agree with what I'm about to do?

"No."

"There you have it. Since he's not going to agree, why bother asking about what he thinks? Wouldn't I be asking for trouble if I were to consult with him about this?"

Anna looked down at the crowd on the island that appeared to be smaller than ants. She was a god in the eyes of Fhtagn Covenant's prisoners.

"Ah, right. I forgot to ask you earlier. Is Pede's corpse still there?"

Sparkle swept her gaze across the prisoners down below and shook her head gently in response to her mother's question. "The corpse isn't there anymore."

"Ah… What a shame. I thought I could scrounge a free meal."