Chapter 2453 - The Marine Trench
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
The next day, Zhang Xiaohou and Hua Yuezhu told the old man they were going to look around the island as an excuse to leave his house.
They regrouped with Tan Feng, who was keeping a close watch on the factory. He told Zhang Xiaohou the same thing Hua Yuezhu had told him last night.
The workers were indeed catching the Dragon King Krill, but they were merely after the Sea Silver Granules in their blood.
What they were doing was not necessarily illegal. They would just have to pay some fines to the Environment Protection Department.
"It seems like the residents on this island have no clue as to how dangerous the Dragon King Krill are. They don't seem to know the details of the Luning County incident because of their lack of communication with the outside world, nor did they link the Dragon King Krill with any other incidents," Zhang Xiaohou said.
"The villagers and factories are actually doing the country a favor, but the number of Dragon King Krill they have caught is nowhere close to our target," Tian Cheng added.
It was impossible to estimate the number of Dragon King Krill in the Bohai Se; they could only estimate the number of Dragon King Krill in every thousand liters of seawater. It was like counting sand, even if they were using the number of Dragon King Krill every thousand liters of seawater as the unit of capacity!
"Tian Cheng, where did the Deep Sea Scorched Silver the villagers are refining come from?" Zhang Xiaohou asked.
The Deep Sea Scorched Silver was a rare substance that the Dragon King Krill could not digest. If the peninsula was only a little canteen for the Dragon King Krill instead of their nest, they might be able to find the Dragon King Krill's' nests if they could find the Deep Sea Scorched Silver.
"It will take a long time for us to track down the exact coordinates. We only have around ten days left," Tian Cheng had to reply.
The Dragon King Krill ranged widely across the Bohai Sea. Not only would it take a long time for them to learn the places the Dragon King Krill had been to by examining the residue in their bodies, they would also have to cross-analyze a lot of information.
The Deep Sea Scorched Silver could only be found on the seabed of deep oceans. It was definitely not an easy task!
"General, I think we can tell the old man the truth. The old man's son also mentioned he only knew a little information. His father knew a lot more than him. If we tell him the threat of the Dragon King Krill, he won't ignore the country's safety, even if he has some concerns," Hua Yuezhu spoke up.
Zhang Xiaohou nodded. Their only choice was to be honest with the old man and hope he could provide them with more valuable information!
Nevertheless, they had come to the right place, as the residents on the peninsula were more familiar with the Dragon King Krill and had been catching them for years.
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Zhang Xiaohou brought Tian Cheng, Tan Feng, and Hua Yuezhu with him. They all changed into their uniforms.
The old man was sitting in the yard. He was surprisingly calm when he saw them.
"Have a seat." The old man shook off his cigarette ashes, completely unruffled by their appearance.
"Old man, I am sorry for not being honest with you," Zhang Xiaohou said as he sat down.
"A general at such a young age. It's been years since I last set foot out of this place. I didn't expect our country to have such great talents now!" the old man exclaimed.
The others remained standing behind Zhang Xiaohou, instead of taking seats themselves.
The old man's son ran out of the kitchen and yelled, "Father, what do they want? My father has nothing to do with it. Take me instead!"
"Please don't misunderstand. We are from the military, not the Environment Protection Department."
"What are you yelling for? Sit down, they are soldiers. Why are you holding a knife? Do you want to pick a fight with the government?" the old man shouted at his son.
The old man's son finally calmed down, and crouched down beside the table with a regretful look. He did not even get himself a stool.
He knew what he was doing was not right. He would be in trouble one day, but the day had come earlier than he had thought.
"Old man, do you know about the creatures the factories are catching?" Zhang Xiaohou asked directly.
"Are they related to the recent incident?" the old man asked slowly.
"Mm, they destroyed Luning County. Their numbers are many times greater than what you are catching. Based on our investigations, the Bohai Sea has several thousand times the number of Dragon King Krill found here. Once they gather together and charge at our coasts, they will destroy hundreds of our cities in just a few hours," Zhang Xiaohou said.
The old man's wrinkled face filled with astonishment.
The old man definitely did not expect the Dragon King Krill to be such a huge threat!
"I told the people of the factories years ago that those things were dangerous. I was hoping they would report them to the authorities, but everyone was too poor back then. They could finally escape poverty by catching the creatures, yet it still became such a huge problem!" the old man said regretfully.
"It's not entirely your fault. After all, even the Research Union couldn't fully examine these creatures, which are so invisible in the sea. We just have to find their nests as soon as possible, and annihilate them before they invade our coasts!" Zhang Xiaohou said.
"How are you going to eliminate them?" the old man asked.
Zhang Xiaohou did not answer the question. The Forbidden Curse was confidential. The military had no plans to disclose it to the public.
The old man understood silently. As Zhang Xiaohou had deduced, he was a Mage. He knew it would be a confidential operation if they had sent a general on the mission!
"It's indeed difficult to detect these creatures. It was a coincidence when we caught them at first. We didn't believe there was something in the water at first since they don't bite wood, living creatures, or the fruits we had planted. We eventually discovered they could eat steel and rocks, and then we thought of making nets with Scorched Silver to deal with them," the old man explained.
They had only started to fish for the Dragon King Krill five years ago.
They had discovered the Dragon King Krill when all the coincidences came together. Otherwise, they would never have known there were tens of thousands of Dragon King Krill roaming around the peninsula.
"These Dragon King Krill are probably coming from a marine trench nearby. The deepest part of the marine trench has lots of Scorched Silver that we humans would struggle to mine. The strange thing is, even though the Dragon King Krill can't digest the Scorched Silver, they will still eat it," the old man went on.
Zhang Xiaohou took out a detailed map of the Bohai Sea and put it on the table. "Old man, can you help us mark the location of the trench?" Zhang Xiaohou asked him.
"I'm afraid it's difficult to find it on the map." The old man rolled up the map and gave it back to Zhang Xiaohou.
As Zhang Xiaohou was feeling a little dismayed, the old man stood up and declared, "I'll bring you there. If I'm not too old to recognize the way, we should be able to find the trench!"
