Chapter 2455: Gloomy Trench
A Red Zone. That was definitely not good news!
The density of the demon creatures was almost at the level of a horde.
Their decision to set up their camp below the seaweed forest was not much different from organizing a disco in a graveyard!
"We"ve concealed the camp. Low-level demon creatures won"t attack us in huge numbers, but we do have a serious problem. If we send out stronger signals with the beacons, the demon creatures will pick up the energy ripples. Every creature in the seaweed forest will learn our location," the captain informed his general.
The forest of seaweed was above them. Their sensory devices were very advanced, but the beacons were similar to an Element Sensor. It would also be sending their coordinates to the nearby demon creatures if the signal was too strong.
The demon creatures hated those signals. They would show up in huge numbers and kill every human they saw. They would only stop after they destroyed the source of the signals!
"Let"s hope we can find the answer at a depth of one and a half kilometers," Zhang Xiaohou answered calmly.
------
Captain Tong brought some Water and Shadow Mages with him to scout the trench.
They maintained communication with the camp. Even though they could not use communication devices directly, they had other ways to relay information to the camp.
A day later, Captain Tong had finished exploring a kilometer into the trench. His group had encountered creatures that were several times stronger than the sea monsters above at the bottom of the sea.
On the second day, several soldiers were injured. They only managed to reach a depth of fourteen hundred meters.
On the third day, Captain Tong and his men returned with grim and regretful faces.
"Yang Xiajie was carried away into a crack in the trench. We were attacked by sea monsters, too. We had no choice but to retreat," Captain Tong reported.
"What was the depth?" Zhang Xiaohou asked.
"Sixteen hundred meters. I"ve marked the coordinates of the crack," Captain Tong answered.
Old Jia, who was in charge of logistics, interrupted after hearing Captain Tong"s report, "General, the sea monsters at the depth of sixteen hundred meters are most likely species of the deep sea. However, we couldn"t explain the strong force that carried Yang Xiajie away at the crack."
"How much time do we have if we extend the range of our sensor beacon?" Zhang Xiaohou asked.
"Two days at most."
Zhang Xiaohou frowned.
They only had seven days left. Zhang Xiaohou was still unsure whether the trench was the Dragon King Krill"s nest. They could not afford to waste any more time!
"Tian Cheng, Hua Yuezhu, you two stay behind and look after the camp. Tan Feng, Captain Tong, bring the rest of our men and come with me!" Zhang Xiaohou ordered.
The sensor beacon was extremely important to their mission. They would be going blindly into a forest full of tigers if they did not learn the demon creatures" whereabouts in advance.
They now had to explore beyond a depth of fifteen hundred meters in the trench.
"We can fend off the sea monsters, but we won"t be able to support you if you go any deeper into the trench!" Tan Feng warned him.
Without any support, their general would die if he was in any trouble. It was too risky!
"General, I"m your Imperial Bodyguard. I have to go with you," Hua Yuezhu reminded him.
"Protecting the camp and updating us with the sea monsters" whereabouts is important to guaranteeing our safety," Zhang Xiaohou told her.
Hua Yuezhu was lost for words.
---
They did not waste any time. Zhang Xiaohou led the two captains and the rest of the soldiers into the trench.
Old Man Zhen was worried about their safety, and decided to go with them. Not only was he familiar with the Bohai Sea, he was also an Advanced Mage!
He was one of the founders of the factories that were fis.h.i.+ng the Dragon King Krill. However, he had retired after he had a conflict with his partners.
"General Zhang, I was a soldier too. I might have quit being a Mage after some serious injuries, but I should be able to help," Old Man Zhen said sincerely.
"You guys, take good care of the old man."
"Affirmative!"
The group headed into the trench. There was still some faint light when they were several hundred meters deep. They were able to see the walls on both sides.
A marine trench was gloomier and scarier than a chasm in the mountains, not to mention how deep it was.
The deeper they went, the greater the pressure they were under. It felt like they were entering a different world.
Humans revered forests, mountains, glaciers, and deserts, as they had explored most of them.
What about a deep marine trench?
There might be unknown species in the trench. The fear in their hearts kept growing because of their imagination and the sense of unknown.
Their hearts would soon be filled with darkness, fear, and cold.
When Zhang Xiaohou and his men were in Beijiang, they believed their mentality had grown significantly after witnessing the primitive wilderness.
However, he realized the trench was much scarier than the primordial wilderness as he was going deeper into it.
If death was the scariest thing to humans, the feeling of going into a deep marine trench was almost the same as the fear of death. There was nothing but darkness around them.
It felt like they had been abandoned by the whole of mankind!
---
"General, Old Jia has extended the range of the sensor beacon. It now can reach twenty-five hundred meters into the trench," Tan Feng signaled Zhang Xiaohou with a series of gestures.
There was no longer any light at their current depth.
A Light Mage was using magic to light up a limited area, but it had only illuminated a tiny circle, with total darkness outside of it.
Zhang Xiaohou nodded as Captain Tong came over and pointed at a nearby wall.
"This is the marking I left. Yang Xiajie was sucked into a crack around two hundred meters below," Captain Tong signaled with a worried expression.
Zhang Xiaohou asked everyone to stay on alert as they continued deeper.
The strange thing was, they did not sense any force from the crack this time. This left them feeling even more uneasy.
"I"ll go inside. Wait outside here," Zhang Xiaohou signaled to his men.
The others immediately spoke up against the idea. Captain Tong said, "Yang Xiajie is already dead. If anything happens to you inside it..."
"Did you confirm he"s dead in person?" Zhang Xiaohou asked sternly.
Captain Tong hesitated. Yang Xiajie was still alive when he was sucked into the crack!
However, how could he possibly be alive still after he was separated from the group?
"We can"t abandon him if we haven"t confirmed he"s dead. We can retreat temporarily, but we can"t give up on saving him."
Zhang Xiaohou"s crisp gestures reminded Captain Tong of the code of conduct of his troop!