Chapter 231: Man-Eating Mysterious Sea Area

Chapter 231: Chapter 231: Man-Eating Mysterious Sea Area

At this very moment, Huo An suddenly felt a bit grateful for Goring’s arrival, which had helped him out of a tight spot.

As soon as Goring pushed the door open, he met Huo An’s grateful gaze. He looked left and right in confusion. He wondered what was going on. He had only stepped out for a moment—had Governor Huo been replaced by an imposter?

"Ahem... Sorry, sorry. I just went to pick someone up."

Goring stepped aside slightly, revealing a man and a woman behind him. They were likely the Captain of the Guard Team and the person in charge of the Federation Army.

"Good, good. Everyone, come in quickly. Don’t block the doorway."

As the oldest person present, President Lucas took the initiative to control the room. After all, he was the one who had invited Liang He and Huo An this time. As the middleman, it was necessary for him to build a bridge of communication.

"Hello, you three. I am Ao Ke, the Captain of the Guard Team."

As soon as they sat down, the man among the new faces was the first to introduce himself. Since he was the Captain of the Guard Team, the other woman must be from the Federation Army.

"You are Liang He? I am Federal Colonel Leila, the person in charge of this operation."

Before anyone else could introduce her, Leila took the initiative and aimed her attention directly at Liang He.

She had heard a lot about Liang He from various sources. Leo, who had led the Federation Army to assist last time, had told her quite a bit about Liang He’s heroic combat achievements. As a fellow woman, she greatly admired Liang He.

"Hello, Leila."

Sensing the goodwill radiating from Leila, Liang He didn’t mind her directness. Instead, she smiled and shook her outstretched hand.

After brief greetings, the staff began serving the dishes in an orderly manner.

"Miss Liang He, this is the seafood, fruits, and vegetables you requested."

The special seafood feast prepared for Cedriel and Lanton was also delivered at the same time.

"Thank you."

Liang He poured the seafood feast into the exclusive food bowls for the Mojin King Tiger and the Canglan Hunting Eagle respectively. Once she finished, she noticed that no one had started eating yet and belatedly apologized.

"I’m sorry, I’m used to letting them eat first. You really didn’t have to wait for me."

Feeling that she had unintentionally burdened the others, Liang He looked helplessly at Huo An beside her. Huo An, who understood her fairly well, chuckled softly and stepped in to smooth things over.

"I think Deputy Governor Goring would be very happy to steal a bit of knowledge from you."

After all, she was the only Breeder capable of feeding Evolutionary Beastmen.

Suddenly being called out, Goring felt a bit flattered, but he also understood Huo An’s intention and nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, yes, exactly. We are all very eager to learn from Miss Liang He."

"...Actually, you can just call me Liang He."

Although she was grateful for Deputy Governor Goring smoothing things over, Liang He really wasn’t used to people constantly addressing her as Miss Liang He. After all, they would be spending the next several days together, so being too polite wasn’t ideal.

"Liang He is right. Everyone should relax a bit. You are all young people; just calling each other by name is fine."

President Lucas could probably sense Liang He’s awkwardness as well, so he spoke up to support her. Leila and Ao Ke weren’t pretentious people either. Being able to interact more casually was, of course, much more comfortable.

"Alright! Then we won’t use titles like Captain or Governor anymore. Let’s all be direct. You don’t need to call me Colonel either."

Leila, being the most straightforward, was the first to respond to the call. Since the two women present had no objections, the others naturally wouldn’t have a problem with it. The initially stiff atmosphere was instantly broken, and things began to turn harmonious.

"As expected, if you want to build good relationships, you still have to eat together," Deputy Governor Goring muttered softly, showing his approval of Blue Star’s dining table culture.

Everyone began to enjoy their dinner. When they were almost finished, Huo An took the initiative to ask about the Mysterious Sea Area.

"I heard from President Lucas that the entire Guard Team previously responsible for patrolling that sea area went missing without leaving any information behind?"

Logically speaking, even if they encountered danger, the Guard Team should have been able to trigger an alarm in an instant, automatically transmitting their final footage back to facilitate subsequent rescue efforts. But from what they were saying, there was absolutely no news at all.

"Yes. We find that very strange as well."

As the Captain of the Guard Team responsible for the entire reserve, Ao Ke was naturally the most knowledgeable about the Guard Team’s disappearance.

"At that time, the Guard Team in charge of the G Sea Area was conducting their patrol along their usual route..."

Because Skalan Star was an Ocean Planet, the reserve covered a massive area. For convenience, it was divided using letters like A, B, C, D, and so on. The Mysterious Sea Area that caused the Guard Team’s disappearance fell within the boundaries of the G Sea Area.

"At first, their communication with headquarters was perfectly smooth, and the footage transmitted by their trackers was normal."

Out on the sea, it was impossible to install fixed monitors; footage could only be transmitted via trackers. Before every patrol began, the Guard Team responsible for that zone would establish contact with headquarters to ensure they could seek help immediately at the first sign of danger or abnormality.

"But when they advanced into that Mysterious Sea Area, the transmitted footage suddenly went black. We couldn’t see anything."

In the beginning, Ao Ke and the others could still hear faint cries for help, but when they tried to listen more closely, they heard nothing at all.

"Once we realized an accident had occurred, we immediately dispatched the nearest squad for backup."

The result was predictable. Even with prior precautions, they too ended up missing.

The consecutive disappearances of two groups made the experienced Ao Ke instantly realize the severity of the problem. He had wanted to report the issue to Bolu District Chief, but he couldn’t contact him no matter what he tried. He later had no choice but to report the situation to Goring first.

"Due to Bolu District Chief’s disappearance, as the Vice District Chief, I had no choice but to bypass the chain of command and contact our superiors, and they sent Leila."

Given that no useful information or transmitted footage had been left behind, Leila was even more cautious. She didn’t take rash action right away. Instead, she gathered information from the staff who were familiar with the situation in the G Sea Area.

"After figuring out the geographical situation of the G Sea Area, I led a small team in a submarine exclusive to the Federation Army and approached that Mysterious Sea Area."

To guarantee their safety, she also used the Federation Army’s sturdiest metal chains to tether the submarine to a Sea Ship. If any uncontrollable situation occurred, the Sea Ship would immediately reel in the metal chains and pull the submarine they were in back to safety.

"Fortunately, Leila had prepared a backup plan."

Speaking of this, Goring still felt a lingering fear.

"After they got close to that Mysterious Sea Area, their vision suddenly went pitch black, just like the final footage transmitted by the missing Guard Team."

They couldn’t see anything. It was so dark you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face.

"We were sitting inside the submarine, yet we couldn’t see a thing, and bizarre cries for help kept ringing in our ears."

They were shrill, piercing, and erratic. Listening to it made one’s scalp tingle from the depths of their heart, as if they were being targeted by some strange creature.

"Later, I tried to contact headquarters but found it completely useless. The submarine felt like it was being pushed along and was no longer under my control."

Realizing they were likely going to lose control, Leila fired a signal flare immediately. The submarine was swiftly pulled back by the Sea Ship, and that was the only reason they managed to escape with their lives.