"Killua Zoldyck."
For some reason, Killua felt a sense of closeness to Pride, so he introduced himself, but did not shake Pride's hand.
"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Killua."
Pride smiled and withdrew his right hand, completely unconcerned.
He seemed even younger than Killua, but in his demeanor, he was as composed as a man like King Bradley.
Illumi and his party took the elevator to the ground level.
Here, Killua saw the "Abyss" of the base, that hundreds-of-meters-wide, deep, dark hole that left one deeply shocked.
He didn't know what that thing was used for, but just looking at the staff members moving up and down the inner wall of the deep hole on steel cables, doing something, he knew it wasn't built just for looks.
The metal door embedded in the mountain slowly opened with a "rumble," and Killua followed the group out of the base.
Night, 8:45 PM.
Illumi stepped out of the base and stood on the platform. A cool breeze ruffled his bangs, letting the tails of his suit jacket flutter in the wind.
Outside on the platform,除了 (chúle - apart from) the on-duty staff and patrolling guards, everyone else had returned to the base to rest.
At this time, the Clarencia Rainforest was silent. The air was filled with mysterious dark colors.
Above this dense forest, shrouded by night, a half-moon hung in the sky.
Moonlight was like gauze.
"Rustle rustle rustle..."
The rapidly rotating helicopter rotors kicked up gusts of strong wind. Accompanied by the roar of the helicopter engines, Illumi and Killua climbed into the helicopter, which slowly ascended.
Meanwhile, at this time, in the southern high seas, tens of thousands of miles away from the Republic of Padokia.
"Drip drip... drip drip..."
On the turbulent sea surface, a floating buoy, flashing with white light, drifted, beeping.
"Rustle rustle rustle..."
Two helicopters, braving the misty rain, swept across the sea, flying towards a large tugboat. And behind the tugboat was a large semi-submersible offshore drilling platform.
"Waverider, Explorer One requesting response, over."
"Received, Explorer One, this is Waverider."
"You may land."
In the command room, a staff member in a white uniform put back the communicator and turned to a pot-bellied middle-aged man in a plaid shirt.
"They have arrived."
"Very good."
The middle-aged man nodded, indicating he had received the message, and continued speaking to a staff member in front of him.
A moment later, the middle-aged man and other employees stood on the command platform, looking at the two transport helicopters slowly descending onto the deck. All of them had a sense of ominous foreboding on their faces.
"This... doesn't look good."
The staff member who had previously been responsible for liaising with the military personnel exhaled, his face filled with worry.
"It seems we're going to be dragged into a major incident this time."
The pot-bellied middle-aged man also looked worried.
Looking at the continuously disembarking fully armed soldiers from the transport helicopters, and some experts in camouflage uniforms carrying silver-white cases, their faces grew increasingly grim.
"Oh~ no way, look who those guys are?"
A staff member pointed at the soldiers of varying heights disembarking from the second helicopter, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Ozuma Federation's most elite special forces—the [Dragon Abyss Special Forces]."
The middle-aged man looked at the special forces soldiers and also lightly shook his head.
No matter what special incident it was, they were now all implicated and could not escape.
At this time, after the special forces soldiers disembarked from the helicopter, they were still waiting for something at the helicopter's cabin door.
The next moment, someone pushed a large black box out from inside. Two special forces soldiers went to meet it. One pushed from behind, and one pulled from the front. The group walked towards the cabin.
"Hey, there's a strange person."
The middle-aged man looked over upon hearing the sound. He saw a white-haired man, carrying a huge pipe on his shoulder, leap from the first helicopter, leisurely surveying his surroundings.
"Don't think too much. It's time to work."
The middle-aged man patted the person who spoke on the head and turned away.
Soon after, this salvage ship was fully taken over by the military.
"Tony, how's the situation?"
"There are still two auxiliary valves on the oil well to deal with."
In the command room, a screen displayed two staff members working underwater.
"How deep are they now?"
A short-haired man in a camouflage t-shirt leaned on the command platform and asked the staff member.
He was Colonel Kiyan, the person in charge of this operation.
"500 meters," the staff member replied.
"I need them to dive to the deep-sea area below 700 meters."
"No problem, they can do it."
Behind Colonel Kiyan, a middle-aged man in a suit with slicked-back hair confidently replied.
He was Martin, the person in charge of cooperation between the oil company and the military.
"Notify Quinner." Martin instructed a staff member.
"Yes, sir."
The staff member immediately notified Quinner, the foreman of the drilling platform.
"Martin."
At this moment, the white-haired man who had been standing behind them stepped forward, his right hand resting on the middle-aged man's shoulder.
"Are you just happily handing over this mess to those idiotic military teams?"
"I can't help it. Company orders state I must fully cooperate with the military's operation," Martin shrugged, his face helpless.
"Professional matters should be handled by professionals. Bringing in these people will only make things worse," the white-haired man said disdainfully, then, carrying his huge pipe, he walked out of the command room.
"Hey, wait a minute."
"Morel."
As soon as Morel stepped out of the command room, Martin chased after him, putting his arm around Morel's shoulder and whispering.
"How about this? I'll arrange for you to go below the platform later."
"I'll talk to Foreman Quinner and have him take you along. Then you'll go down with the Dragon Abyss Special Forces and the foreman's people."
"That should be fine, right?"
Martin finished speaking, patted Morel's shoulder, and asked with a smile.
"When do we go down?" Morel asked.
"Soon. I estimate we'll be going down before midnight tonight."
Morel nodded upon hearing this, then turned and looked deeply at the military personnel in the command room, and the special forces soldier who was talking to him.
At this time, Foreman Quinner, who was working below the drilling platform, received a communication request from above. He quickly put down his work and went to the communication room.
"What is it?"
Quinner opened the screen. Colonel Kiyan, in a camouflage t-shirt, appeared on the screen.
"One of our 'Sea Dragon' class nuclear submarines, carrying 150 officers and soldiers, went mysteriously missing two months ago. After investigation, the nuclear submarine sank to the seabed approximately 700 meters from here."
"We have been unable to establish contact, and the cause of the accident is unknown. Your company has been authorized by the Navy to participate in the rescue with your equipment."
"This operation's codename is 'Operation Save the Dragon'."
Foreman Quinner slumped into his chair upon hearing Colonel Kiyan's words.
"Oh~ damn it, you want us to search for a crashed submarine on the seabed?"
When Quinner sat down, an inquiring voice sounded from behind him. He looked back and saw that everyone had already gathered in the communication room.
"No, we know its location, but it's at a depth of 700 meters, below which we cannot salvage. So we need one of you to dive into the submarine and search for any possible survivors."
"As for other matters, you don't need to concern yourselves. The Dragon Abyss Special Forces soldiers will handle it."
Colonel Kiyan tilted his head back. A soldier in a beret appeared behind him. He was Lieutenant Coffey, the leader of this operation team.
"Damn it, if you have people, why don't you go down yourselves and do this?"
A man in a white t-shirt, holding a bag of potato chips, complained.
"If we could, we would, of course."
"But conditions currently don't allow it. If we wait for our rescue equipment to arrive, the storm will already be raging in this area."
"You must depart before midnight tonight. Midnight is fifteen hours before the storm arrives. This is our best option right now."
Colonel Kiyan explained to them.
"No, no, no, why should we risk our lives for you?"
"Just because you're military personnel? And we're just oil workers?"
The man eating potato chips complained again.
"I have been authorized to offer you five times the normal pay for your usual diving work." Suddenly, Martin, the company representative, appeared on the screen and said to them: "This money will be immediately deposited into your salary account when you accept."
"When you return from the seabed, you can take the money and celebrate, buy cars and houses. You can even live comfortably for the rest of your life if you're careful with your spending."
Martin's words immediately made the employees cheer, smiles on their faces.
"No, our people are not suitable for this kind of work. We are just oil workers."
However, Quinner, the foreman, felt that this matter was not so simple and stood up to refuse.
"Hey, what are you saying, Quinner?"
"That's right, this money is five times the normal pay. There's no easier money to earn than this."
Many people immediately grew resentful, gathering around Quinner and heckling him.
"Shut up!"
Quinner roared angrily. The voices of the workers present instantly ceased, and they all quieted down.
In the video, Colonel Kiyan, seeing that Quinner had managed to suppress everyone else's dissatisfaction with a single roar, raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.
So, he stood up, stepped aside, grabbed Lieutenant Coffey's shoulder behind him, and brought him to the screen, saying.
"This is Lieutenant Coffey. He will take a team of Dragon Abyss personnel down and supervise you."
"I don't care who you send down, but I'm in charge here now," Quinner said, shaking his head expressionlessly. "As long as it concerns the safety of these people, don't think you can order us around."
"Otherwise, we're not doing it!"
Quinner's attitude was strong. Other employees looked at him, their eyes filled with respect and trust.
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