Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 840: The Disappearing Submersible
At this time, above Yagunakotor.
The flashing light on the virtual screen, symbolizing the submersible, stopped moving after it descended to the seabed and stayed there for a full minute.
"What's going on?" Layton, who was keeping an eye on the submersible's movements, couldn't help but frown. "Is there something wrong with the submersible, or are Lao Chi and the others debugging it? Why hasn't it moved for so long?"
Just when Layton was about to contact them to ask about the situation, the light that was originally flashing normally suddenly went out!
"The signal of the submersible has disappeared! Repeat! The signal of the submersible has disappeared!" Not far from the control console, a logistics personnel of the God Hunter Group who was responsible for coordinating the communication equipment looked up from in front of the equipment and shouted loudly to Layton.
"What's going on? Is there a problem with the equipment?" Leighton turned around and asked anxiously.
"It's not clear yet, and we're investigating !" the logistics staff member replied.
It takes three minutes to conduct a comprehensive troubleshooting of the entire set of communication equipment, but for Layton, these three minutes seem as long as thirty years...
"Deputy... Deputy Head..." The logistics officer stared at the screen blankly. The light reflected from the screen hit his pale face. Combined with the dark environment, he looked a bit creepy. "We have checked the entire set of communication equipment... including the hardware and software. There is no fault."
"No faults? Then why did Lao Gou and the others' signal disappear?!" After waiting for such a long time, Layton was obviously unable to accept this result.
Compared to other "accidents", he would rather the logistics staff tell him that there was a problem on their side.
"Generally speaking, there are two possibilities for this situation," the logistics staff replied. "The first is that there is strong interference between the submersible and us, and the second is that the submersible has actively turned off its signal transceiver."
"No..." Zofia's voice sounded at the side, "They are no longer in this sea area."
Leighton was stunned for a moment, then turned to look in the direction of Zofia Soma, who was standing in front of the screen displaying the environmental scan image. Under the detection of Yagunakotor's powerful detection equipment, the details of the entire seabed and the entire underwater city were all displayed vividly on this three-dimensional image composed of monochrome lines.
"At the moment when the submersible's signal disappeared, the scanning image showed a situation similar to 'frame drop'. When the image returned to normal, I could no longer find the location of the submersible." Zofia said.
Although the environmental scan of Yaguna Kotor is real-time, its operating mechanism is actually very similar to that of sonar. The image will be updated once after each scan. The original update frequency was about fifteen times per second, but just now, the picture was not updated for two full seconds. When it was updated again, Zofia found that the submersible that Hound and his companions were riding in had disappeared from the screen.
"How could this happen?" Layton put his head close to the screen, staring and searching carefully... Let alone the submersible, he couldn't even find the outline of the suspected submersible wreckage.
"Deputy Captain, Miss Soma, the detector detected an abnormal undercurrent!" Another logistics staff member suddenly stood up and said.
Layton rushed to his side in two steps and looked at the screen in front of the logistics staff.
On the screen was a bizarre three-dimensional model, with closed circles of ripples like the contour lines on a topographic map - except that as the screen was refreshed, these ripples were constantly changing, and the ripples in one direction seemed to be pulled by some force, bulging outward for a large part of a circle.
"What's the abnormal undercurrent?" Leighton asked anxiously. As a layman, he couldn't understand this kind of image at all, so he could only rely on professionals to interpret it.
"Here, here, and here." The logistics staff with professional qualifications in this area pointed at several "protruding" places on the screen with his fingers. "There are abnormal undercurrents in these places without any signs. After restoring the source of these undercurrents through 3D modeling and comparing and analyzing them with the data in the database, it can be basically confirmed that a violent explosion occurred at this location. These undercurrents are actually all shock waves generated by the explosion."
Although the explosion location could not be pinpointed to a point, the circled "source area" was not far from where the submersible 's signal disappeared... As for the violent explosion, Layton immediately thought of the torpedoes equipped on the submersible that used "concentrated crystals"!
These torpedoes were equipped by him and Chi Hanfeng themselves.
"It's a torpedo! They used torpedoes underwater!" Layton clenched his left fist and smashed it hard on the palm of his right hand, making a crisp "pop" sound. "They must have encountered a battle down there, which caused the signal to disappear! No, I have to go support them!"
As he said that, Layton strode towards the equipment depot, but before he had taken a few steps, Sofia called him.
"Layton, there is no equipment on Yaguna Tor that can withstand the water pressure at this depth. You can't get out at all!"
"If I don't have the equipment, can't I just make it myself?" Layton said without looking back, "Here are plenty of materials, parts, and processing equipment... I don't believe that a living person can be suffocated to death by shit!"
"Are you planning to...build a makeshift submersible?"
"What else?" Layton switched the communicator in his hand to full-channel mode and shouted, "All people in the engineering department, immediately put down your work, take your tools, and gather at Hangar No. 1! Now, immediately, right away... I repeat, all people in the engineering department, gather at Hangar No. 1, this is the highest priority order!"
Layton's loud voice echoed throughout the core power room through the loudspeakers. People in yellow or blue work clothes poured out of various buildings and ran in the same direction.
The Engineering Department of the God Hunter Group was established at Layton's strong request. It was an independent department that was separated from the Logistics Department and even on the same level as the former. The main task of the Engineering Department was to be responsible for the research and development and transformation of the equipment of the front-line members of the Hunting Group. From large aircraft missiles to small belt buckles, all the equipment worn by Ke Lan and others came from the hands of the Engineering Department. Since the budget was quite sufficient, the Engineering Department never included "cost performance" in its considerations. All products were basically pursuing the ultimate performance and quality. Even the private customization series of those long-established top equipment brands were not qualified to compete with the products of the God Hunter Group's Engineering Department.
After all, those big brands have to consider revenue and losses when doing business, but the engineering department of the God Hunting Group does not need... a professional team of hundreds of people, plus a budget investment that is hundreds of times that of mass-produced equipment, just to serve a few people, so the things produced naturally cannot be compared with ordinary custom-grade equipment.
In addition to the two department heads, Layton and Chi Hanfeng, they also "borrowed" many top industry experts and skilled workers from the Ye Group and the Soma Group... The engineering department of the God Hunting Group has evolved from an unknown small workshop to a leader that surpasses industry standards in just a few months... Except for aircraft carriers and battleships, there is almost nothing that this engineering department cannot build.
"Everyone in the engineering department, listen up. We are in big trouble." Layton explained to others through the intercom as he walked. "Just now, the 'Giant Squid' submersible lost contact with us. Judging from the direction of the water flow, at least one 'Fang IV' torpedo was detonated underwater before the submersible sent a signal.
"You should all know that Yaguna Kotor is now three thousand meters below the sea level in the Central Sea. The water pressure at this depth is enough to crush us into a piece of thin paper... I now need you to use all the materials and tools you can find to build a submersible that can withstand the water pressure at this depth... No, a submersible alone is not enough, I need a highly mobile weapon that can fight underwater!
"Six hours. I can only give you six hours. Whether it's designing, assembling, or debugging, it must be completed within these six hours! Do you understand?"
When they heard that the deadline was only six hours, the members of the Engineering Department who were rushing to Hangar No. 1 immediately started to discuss in low voices.
"Is the deputy commander crazy? Six hours... not even enough to draw a complete design drawing. How can we build a submersible that can be put into use? Unless we copy the drawings of an existing submersible... but the problem is that the inner shell of that thing is formed in one go using special forging equipment, and there is no such equipment on the Yaguna Kotor!" said a middle-aged man wearing an oily yellow work suit and a safety helmet of the same color turned upside down on his head.
"You're wrong about one thing. What the deputy commander wants is not a submersible that can be put into use, but an underwater mecha that can be used in combat... Under normal circumstances, I think it would take several months just to discuss the feasibility of the plan. Six hours... Tsk..." Another burly man, who had his work jacket tied around his waist, only wearing a vest on his upper body with his bare arms exposed, and holding a box of heavy mechanical tools in his hands, responded.
“No matter what is built by then, I will never drive it even if you kill me.” The middle-aged man shook his head with a pale face. “Just thinking about myself being compressed into a membrane by the water pressure makes me feel that the food I ate not long ago is churning in my stomach, as if it will come up at any time.”
"Then you'd better hold back and don't vomit... I heard from the people in the logistics department that there doesn't seem to be much food left... I guess this is why the deputy commander is so anxious." The sturdy man said in a low voice.
Although the food shortage was no longer a secret, he still felt a little hesitant to discuss such a disturbing topic in public.
"Then can't we sail the Yaguna Tor away from this place?" The middle-aged man pushed up his glasses that had slipped to the middle of his nose. "Even if...even if we are being chased by the Ark fleet, there is no need for us to escape to the bottom of the Zhonghai Sea, right?"
"You ask me that, who should I ask... Never mind, let's not talk about that. Let's think about what to do later... Build a high-mobility submersible capable of combat in six hours... If we succeed, I think both your name and mine will go down in history."
…
…
The members of the engineering department quickly gathered in Hangar No. 1. There were a total of 174 people, 35 of whom were from the R&D team, and the other 139 were skilled workers in various workshops.
Although they are called "skilled workers", anyone who is selected into the engineering department, even if he is just a "small worker" responsible for tightening screws, can hold an engineer qualification certificate in his pocket.
"I have already told you the mission objectives on the way here, so we won't waste time here. If you have no objection, let's get started!" After saying this, Layton rushed directly to the computer beside him, opened the mapping software, and loaded the design of the submersible that Hound and his men drove away.
More than a hundred people looked at each other, and no one stood up - if they were to talk about objections, they certainly had some, not only some, but also quite a few, but they also knew in their hearts that even if they really raised these objections, Deputy Captain Layton would definitely not listen.
Instead of wasting time and energy, why not seize every minute and every second to complete this "impossible task"...
Layton looked at the drawing of the submersible on the screen with a frown - he knew, of course, that designing an underwater vehicle out of thin air was not something that could be accomplished overnight. According to his idea, he would use the submersible that Hound and his crew drove away as a basis, copy it, and further transform and strengthen it.
But after he took a rough look at the design drawings, he realized that his idea was really naive.
At least one-third of the parts of this submersible cannot be processed on Yaguna Kotor, and the submersible can withstand the water pressure at a depth of three thousand meters. These one-third of parts play a vital role.
For example, the one-piece forged inner shell cannot be replaced by other processing methods. If it is processed by splicing, whether it is riveting or welding, the seams will inevitably crack under heavy pressure...
