frightfiction Chapter 137 Unexpected Changes
Chapter 137 Unexpected Changes
When Ji Lang and his group arrived with more than a dozen hovercraft, they saw the long thing extending from the passenger ship's deck. Everyone was so surprised that they couldn't close their mouths. These people had only arrived a few minutes earlier than them, so how come they had already gotten the ship and even laid out the way to board it?
"Don't be surprised, our teammate is a space-type ability user, so everything is safe." Lin Yun got off the last hovercraft, patted Liu Jia on the shoulder, and told them to relax. The group then followed Gu Nanfeng and the others onto the ship.
There were so many supplies that Lu Yuan had to painstakingly collect them bit by bit. He could easily collect what was within his sight with a thought, but the hovercraft was too large, and some items were blocked at the back, so he had to collect what was in front first. However, packing things up was now a piece of cake for him. He quickly finished cleaning up the battlefield, packed up the so-called "ladder to heaven," and returned to the passenger ship.
Because of Wang Sanhai and his crew, this time there are professionals to handle such a professional task as sailing the ship.
From where they are now, returning to the South China base is only a two- or three-hour journey, provided they have the base's coordinates. Passenger ships will be slightly slower, with the fastest journey taking about four hours.
The biggest commonality among all the vehicles in the Lu Yuan space is not how powerful or sturdy they are, but that they are all filled with food and water. This four-hour journey was the best meal that Liu Jia and his team at the base had eaten in a long time. Moreover, after eating, everyone was able to take a hot shower in their cabins on the passenger ship. It couldn't be more blissful.
"When I came out, Team Leader Liu said he would report my situation to the other bases, and that they might conduct some kind of experiment," Ji Lang, who had just finished a hot shower, sat down next to Gu Nanfeng at the bar of the passenger ship's restaurant and started rambling, "Tsk, why do I feel like Team Leader Liu is particularly unreliable?"
"Hmm." Gu Nanfeng nodded sullenly. "I just went to the cockpit and contacted the base, but there's been no response."
"No way?" Ji Lang jumped up immediately upon hearing Gu Nanfeng's words and ran towards the driver's seat.
"Still no response?" He had just walked into the driver's seat when he heard Qin Yuan's voice from inside.
"What's going on?" Ji Lang slammed the driver's side door open and walked in.
"I don't know. We sent signals several times, but there was no response. According to the radar, the original location of the base is now empty, as if it has vanished into thin air." Lin Yun was not very surprised to see Ji Lang come in. He pointed to the radar interface of the passenger ship. The coordinates that should have been the South China base were now empty.
"Could it be that the base has activated its protective shield?" Ji Lang glanced at the radar, then suddenly seemed to remember something and took a breath. "It's possible that the temperature drop has also affected the people on the base. They activated the protective shield, which will cover the entire base and also activate stealth mode, making it undetectable by ordinary radar."
Because Qin Yuan and Lin Yun arrived later, they didn't know as much as Ji Lang, who had been at the South China base. After Ji Lang finished speaking, he walked to the transmitter, picked up the microphone, and entered a string of numerical codes that Qin Yuan and the others hadn't been able to see clearly before saying, "I tied my communication signal to our yacht before. When we switched to this ship, I forgot to come and get it."
Just as Ji Lang was about to speak, a voice came from the other end of the microphone, asking, "Captain Ji, is that you?"
They were clearly the ones who were more anxious to contact the South China base, but judging from the voices, the base communications soldier on the other end of the line seemed even more anxious. When there was no response, he asked again, "Captain Ji, is that you?"
"It's me, what's going on?" Ji Lang heard the anxiety on the other end and immediately responded.
"We've finally got in touch with you! Something's happened at the base. Where are you now? We'll open a connection for you as soon as possible." After hearing Ji Lang's confirmation, the communications soldier could hear the urgency in his voice, but he wasn't as worried as he had been at the beginning.
Ji Lang quickly reported his coordinates and confirmed the landing dock with the communications soldier. The fact that they were on a passenger ship surprised the communications soldier, especially since he knew that all two hundred-plus people on board were relatively stable superhumans. It was like getting exactly what he needed.
Following the detailed coordinates provided by the communications soldier, Wang Sanhai finally managed to dock the passenger ship at the South China Base's pier.
"What happened?" As soon as he got ashore, Ji Lang sensed something was wrong. Usually, there would be several patrol teams at the port, but today there was only one patrol team. Moreover, their ship was full of people with superpowers. Shouldn't Team Leader Liu have come over immediately after receiving the news?
"Team Leader Ji, there's no time to explain. The others we brought back should be registered and checked according to regulations. Your squad, come with me first." Before the patrolman next to Ji Lang could reply, Commander Zhang, who had received the message, arrived in a jeep at breakneck speed.
The car he drove was a two-seater with a trunk. He didn't care whether it was for cargo or passengers, or whether it was overloaded or not. He dragged Ji Lang and the other nine people into the car, and drove away without saying a word.
Liu Jia and his group really wanted to go and see, but they were stopped. They had to register according to the regulations first. Although many of them were burly Chinese, the proud Chinese people were very obedient when faced with national regulations. They did whatever they were told and none of them dared to say anything.
Lu Yuan never imagined that his return to the research institute at the South China Base would be like this.
The researchers on site had all been called away, and what remained were half of the riot police in the base. They surrounded a ventilation window on the ground in layers.
Team Leader Liu's legs went weak and he collapsed into the protective circle of another team of riot police, all traces of his previous madness and high spirits for scientific research long gone.
The commander-in-chief and Pei Simin were surrounded by two groups of riot police. All that could be seen now was some kind of shield covering the air vent, which was occasionally lifted up by the air blast from below and then fell down with a "bang".
"Xiao Ji, you're finally back." Seeing Ji Lang and his team, the commander-in-chief finally breathed a sigh of relief and sat down in the chair that had been prepared for him.
"This is..." Qin Yuan wanted to ask, but then realized that now was not the time to ask, since it was definitely not something that could be explained in a few words.
“There’s a fire-type zombie down there, its exact level is unclear, but it might be level two. Nie Jiyang has successfully evolved into a level one ability user, but we still don’t know what his attribute is. He’s been down there for thirty minutes now, and it’s been like this ever since…” Pei Simin said, glancing at the throbbing shield. “We’re not sure if Comrade Nie Jiyang is still functioning properly, so…”