Silent Ark

Chapter 59: The Sinking Kingdom

The reason Liu Pan was startled awake was actually because something woke him up.

He stood up.

Wang Xindong looked up: "What's wrong?"

"On the right," Liu Pan said.

His voice changed again, and it sounded exactly like the twelfth thing.

Wang Xindong couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong—

The sound was louder than any other sound in the room, but only he could hear it.

"What's on the right?" Wang Xindong asked.

Liu Pan did not answer.

He walked toward the observation window of Unit 0.

The view outside the window is of the building's interior space.

In the corners where the light couldn't reach, it was pitch black.

Liu Pan looked to his right.

That "restless" direction.

His right hand was trembling, as if something was desperately craving something. It was a terrible feeling, like a wild beast that hadn't eaten for days.

He turned and walked toward the cabin door.

"Liu Pan." Wang Xindong stood up.

Liu Pan's hand was on the hatch switch.

"I need to go out."

"Shen Qingci said he would stay—"

"Not going in."

Liu Pan's voice was very flat.

The calmness with which Shen Ruozhi reads the data.

"It's another direction."

Wang Xindong stood in front of the cabin door.

Give me a reason.

Liu Pan looked at him.

"Because of things in that direction—"

He paused for three seconds.

"--I won't wait forty-seven minutes."

Wang Xindong did not move aside.

Liu Pan didn't force the issue.

He just stood there, his hand on the hatch switch, looking to his right.

in the dark.

Something is moving.

Carvings on the building walls —

Topographic map.

The lines in the area on the right are glowing.

Faint, pulsed light.

Heart rate.

Wang Xindong saw it.

His hand loosened its grip on the hatch.

"The communication channel is on," he said.

Liu Pan pressed the switch.

Seawater rushed into the airtight compartment.

He went outside.

To the right.

Heading towards that "unsettled" direction.

Head in the direction of that pulse of light.

Unit-00's sonar picked up a signal.

From outside.

In the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Something is approaching.

Very big.

It is much larger than Unit-00.

Wang Xindong stared at the sonic screen.

The outline of that signal—

streamline.

There is no propeller.

There are no conventional thrusters.

At a depth of 4,200 meters, at 70 knots.

The fastest deep-sea submarine ever built has a top speed of less than ten knots.

It is flying.

Wang Xindong grabbed the communicator.

"Shen Qingci".

"explain."

We have guests.

Liu Pan walked about 300 meters.

The lights on the deep-sea armor can only illuminate fifteen meters ahead on the seabed.

He doesn't need a lamp.

He could "see" more clearly when his eyes were closed.

But his eyes are open now.

Because he needs to stand on the seabed.

I need that real tactile feel.

right.

The feeling of "restlessness" is getting stronger and stronger.

shock.

Vibrations below the human hearing threshold traveled up from the seabed rock layers, through the metal frame of the hydraulic suit, and into his bones.

Something is breathing underground.

He continued walking.

Four hundred meters.

The terrain has changed.

The seabed is no longer a flat sedimentary layer—

A bulge appeared.

Geometric shapes.

It was mostly covered by sediment, but the ridges were still there.

straight line.

It's a straight line again.

He stood on that mound.

The lights shone down.

Below the sediment—

metal.

It's the same black color as the pillar.

But it's not a pillar.

It's the roof.

He was standing on the roof of a building.

Sonar Display—

The building extends at least two kilometers to the right.

Two kilometers.

It is ten times larger than the building at the base of the pillar.

The building at the base of the pillars is a porch.

This is the main hall.

Liu Pan squatted down.

The light shone on the black metal surface underfoot.

There are engravings.

round.

Concentric circles.

Seven.

There is a groove at the center of the circle.

The shape of five fingers.

Human hand.

An authentication system built by a First Age civilization had a groove shaped like a human hand reserved in it.

His right hand was still three centimeters away from the groove.

"Liu Pan".

Shen Qingci's voice came through the communicator.

His hand froze in mid-air.

"return."

Restrained, composed, but each word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Now."

"There's one here—"

"I know what's there," Shen Qingci said. "It's marked in the Ninth Department's files."

The exploration report of the divine instrument that Professor Chen Dunli salvaged in the East China Sea three years ago.

The same groove found elsewhere is a biometric authentication interface.

She paused for a second.

"You put your hand in, and it will read your biosignals."

Then--"

"And then what?"

"Then it will know what you are."

Liu Pan looked at the groove.

Five fingers.

Human hand.

He withdrew his hand.

stand up.

Turn around.

He took three steps toward Unit Zero.

Then he stopped.

The edge of the building's roof —

In the darkness of the ocean floor, light is moving.

Blue light.

It was as cold as liquid nitrogen.

The light rose from beneath the building.

silent.

There were no bubbles from the propeller, and no disturbance from the water flow.

A blue light glided upwards along the surface of the building.

Then the second one.

The third way.

The light rays are arranged in a regular pattern.

Then it appeared.

streamline.

There are no seams.

Approximately 120 meters in length.

Four times that of Unit 00.

Twenty meters wide.

It rose from the bottom of the building and hovered fifty meters above Unit Zero.

No attack.

No warning was given.

It just hovers.

observe.

Then it opened.

The side panel tapers inwards, revealing a space.

Blue light shone through it.

Someone came out.

Three.

Two and a half meters.

Grayish-white skin, covered in dark blue coverings.

It was the same size as the guard behind the partition.

But they are different.

These three are brighter.

The covering is a darker color, almost black, with fine, flowing patterns on its surface.

Circuit.

Blood vessel.

I can't tell.

They weren't wearing anything—

Except for that covering.

Seawater at a depth of 4,200 meters and a pressure of 800 atmospheres.

They were standing in the water.

It's like standing in the air.

One of them raised his hand.

It extends towards Unit Zero.

Open your palms.

Six fingers.

The system of Unit 0 suddenly lit up.

All screens switch simultaneously —

Wang Xindong did not take any action.

External signals have taken over the display system.

A set of symbols appeared on the screen.

Shen Ruozhi stared at the screen.

"Mathematics," she said, "the sequence of prime numbers. 2, 3, 5, 7, 11—"

She stopped counting to the thirteenth item.

"They are speaking through mathematics."

The symbols on the screen continued to scroll.

Following the sequence of prime numbers are the fundamental physical constants.

Speed ​​of light.

Planck's constant.

Fine structure constant.

Each one is accurate to sixteen decimal places.

Then--

The last two digits of the fine structure constant have changed.

Shen Ruozhi's fingers stopped.

"This is the value on the day of the whale fall," she said softly. "The offset of the fine structure constant on the day of the whale fall."

They recorded it.

She looked up at the window.

The three figures were still suspended in the water.

The palm was still open.

"They're introducing themselves," Shen Ruozhi said, "their names, addresses, and shared experiences."