Chapter 382: Disconnected (1)
"Is there any update from the north so far?" Zhang Qin Feng asked the acting captain while making his way towards the 008 Assailant-Class. Tianci was seen following him closely as he was given the necessary equipment to put on.
Except for his somewhat resembling Zhang Qin Feng's appearance, everything else on him was fresh and new. Although the other clones weren't bad-looking, there's a slight disparity in between when the other clones noticed Zhang Tianci.
'When did we have someone like him on the ship? Maybe he's someone with the same genetic base as the boss?' that was their primary guessing as the two get onboard the patrol ship.
"No, Boss. The northern remain quiet after the report. Do you need me to get in touch with them?" the captain replied.
"No need. I will be on my way over there now. Make sure to keep me updated if they get in touch again in other communication channels. In the meantime, please provide support to the two shipyard's lead engineers if they need anything." said Zhang Qin Feng.
"Yes, Boss. Please leave them to me. And Bon Voyage on your trip." the acting captain quickly responded before Zhang Qin Feng disconnected from the call.
The patrol ship took its time to make a reverse from its own designated hangar. After pointing its direction towards the north, the vessel gradually increased its speed while sailing north.
Zhang Qin Feng had Tianci familiarized himself with the soldiers following him in that three and a half-day journey.
He won't be leading the vanguard on this trip. The responsibility would fall to the first acting leader in the Continent of Carmine Union. Zhang Tianci will temporarily take the position of second in charge until further instruction comes in.
There's nothing that happened on the first day of their journey. But Zhang Qin Feng soon noticed that something was wrong at the end of their second day.
"Captain, come in." Zhang Qin Feng communicates with the 008's captain through a private channel. This was quite a sensitive today to talk about, after all.
"This is the captain. Is this call was regarding the communication with the vanguard's team?" the captain could roughly guess why Zhang Qin Feng would get in touch with him privately.
"Brilliantly answered, 008's captain. Now, tell me what is in your mind." Zhang Qin Feng secretly nodded in approval while still lying on the bed he's provided. Somebody like them is absolutely the people Zhang Qin Feng was looking for.
And as long the budget allowed it, he would not hesitate to fabricate a new body for these individuals to escape from the Blood Petrification Disease.
"The vanguards have been keeping in touch with us so far, but why would they stop after finding the hidden facility?" said the captain. His suspicion is indeed right on the money in this regard. Looking at how the vanguards have been keeping the communication open makes it harder to guess what happened.
"Make sense. But what is your opinion about this?" Zhang Qin Feng continued.
"If I may make a bold assumption, something like a trap has likely triggered when they found the facility. And this is not a simple trap since it could isolate our communication signal from the vanguards and five other patrol vessels."
"We should get into battle as soon as we reached the northern continent. Let's assume that all the crew members from the five patrol vessels were exposed to something unknown. I believe they shall be quarantined separately until we find out what happened." the captain said.
"I had the same thought as well. Let us proceed carefully and see what's waiting for us over there," said Zhang Qin Feng.
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Exactly three and a half-day from their departure, the 008 Assailant-Class finally arrived at the Continent of Carmine Union. Nothing much changed from an outsider's viewpoint, but the Luna Device in Zhang Qin Feng was saying otherwise.
The number of virus carriers is significantly more significant in the deeper part of the continent. Furthermore, the five other Assailant-Class Patrol Ships are nowhere to be found.
There can be two endings for a big ship like the Assailant-Class missing from the Luna Sensor.
Either the ships entered somewhere with a powerful electromagnetism field, or they were sunk. A third possibility might appear, but Zhang Qin Feng has not much hope nor creativity to guess what it might be.
"Tianci! Lead a team and get inland. Maintain communication as long as possible while searching for an answer to what happened. To avoid accidents happening, we'll ditch the electronic weaponry option and shift to traditional firearms."
"Fire a flare in case of emergency or when you found a clue of the vanguard team's whereabouts. Our priority is to regroup and search for our people before proceeding to the facility they mentioned."
"It might be too much for me to ask, but maintain distance and attention on all existing members inland. All of them will be in quarantine until we find out the reason for this situation," said Zhang Qin Feng.
"Any questions?" he asked.
"No, Boss!" the fifteen soldiers following Zhang Tianci acknowledged his order and prepared to depart. But this time, all four fast boats available on the Assailant-Class were sent out to make sure the perimeters were safe for them to wait here.
"This is Tianci. Can the vessel still receive our signal?" Zhang Tianci asked once the team landed on the beach. The fast boat was left there in case they needed to retreat urgently.
"Crisp and clear, Team Leader. Please proceed carefully." the captain of the ship replied.
"Noted. We will start moving further inland. Tianci out." the communication line was on standby, like how the walkie-talkie works.
In the meantime, Zhang Qin Feng is preparing his team of researchers and engineers. Unsure of what situation inland, he had all their equipment stashed in his Dimensional Storage before taking one of the fast boats after Zhang Tianci's footsteps.
And he soon found out what happened to the island.
[Bzzt… Powerful Electronic Interference on the entire island. Suggesting user main… Tain…]
[Toot!]
[System offline]
'Stein?' Zhang Qin Feng noticed that all support from Stein was lost the moment he took a step onto the continent.