After experiencing an unprecedented deep dive, Meng Lei obtained his first gain from this deep-sea survival game.
Although it was only three units of iron ore, it was an extremely important step in his life.
He wandered in the deep sea 2,000 meters below sea level, and lingered in the unknown dark abyss.
In the past, he would not even dare to think about such a thing.
But now, he had experienced it for himself.
It was difficult to express his myriad emotions.
The moment he returned to the submarine's airlock, Meng Lei even had the illusion that a lifetime had passed, as if he had been reborn!
He sat on the ground weakly for a long time until the pump had drained all the seawater in the airlock. Only then did Meng Lei adjust his emotions. He got up from the ground in his heavy diving suit and returned to the living quarters.
He took off his diving suit and placed it back in the cabinet.
The automatic oxygen refill function was activated, and the content of the oxygen cylinder slowly rose.
Meng Lei glanced at it. It would take about five minutes to fill the oxygen cylinder, so he ignored it.
After putting down the harpoon and the diving knife, Meng Lei suddenly remembered something.
Apart from the backpack that came with the diving suit, he had not found any storage facility like a store room in the submarine.
"If I could only rely on the ten-slot backpack in the diving suit to store resources, it won't be long before the backpack is full. There must be a store room in this submarine, but I haven't found it yet."
After some thought, Meng Lei swept his gaze across the living quarters.
He finally found a storage chest in an inconspicuous corner beside the air mattress.
(Small storage chest. It can hold 30 different types of resources. There is a limit of 10 units for each type of resource. Please choose your storage items carefully!)
The chest was not large, and it did not have much capacity.
However, at this stage, a 30-slot storage chest was enough to fully satisfy the storage needs.
It had to be known that when Meng Lei eventually made a trip out of the cabin, he had only obtained three units of iron ore.
How many times would it take to go out and collect storage items to fully fill all the 30 slots of the storage chest?!
To most people, they might not even have the chance to fill the storage chest before they lose their lives.
Therefore, a 30-slot storage chest was definitely enough for now.
Meng Lei returned to the cabinet and took out the three parts of iron ore from his diving suit backpack and stored them in the submarine's storage chest.
Although there was no risk of losing them even if they were placed in his backpack, Meng Lei had always been more cautious. He felt that it was safer to store them in the storage chest.
After completing all this, Meng Lei left the living quarters and returned to the cockpit.
Of the three anomalies marked on the sonar display, the red dot representing the iron ore had disappeared. At this moment, there were only two left.
Meng Lei did not stay where he was for long. He piloted the submarine directly toward the nearest anomaly.
The time period for exploration was extremely precious. Before he could secure the most basic survival conditions, he could not waste it easily.
As he advanced, he had nothing to do. Meng Lei opened the communication channel again to see how the progress of the other players was.
He discovered that in just a short while, the communication channel was filled with curses!
Most of the players were complaining and berating the System for opening a mystery box.
There were also some players who had deep-sea phobia. They looked at the incomparably deep darkness outside the porthole and did not dare to leave the cabin at all. They cursed and complained.
[Azure: Damn it, what kind of bullsh*t System setting is this? It's simply not giving anyone a way out! The first anomaly I chose was a huge sea snake. If it weren't for my sharp eyes, I would have died long ago!]
[From the Heart: The person above, don't push me. I ran to two anomalies and only picked up two units of plastic. There was nothing. I was almost ambushed by a huge crab! Have you seen a crab more than a meter long? One of its pincers was thicker than my leg! I almost peed in my pants!]
[Concorde: Have all of you left the cabin and gone into the water? It's so dark outside. Aren't you all afraid? I was almost driven crazy sitting in the submarine. You guys are really bold!]
[Cyclop: I have claustrophobia and deep-sea fear. Is this hell?!]
[Love Sauce: Boohoo… I dare not go out. It's so dark outside, and I don't know how to swim. I want to go home. I want to find my mummy…]
[Foodie: I'm so hungry. I haven't eaten for a day before I transmigrated. There isn't even a bottle of mineral water in this godforsaken place. If any of you have found food, can you put it up on the trading system and donate some to me? I'll definitely return the favor in the future!]
…
In the communication channel, cries and curses intertwined.
Even though the surviving players had all dodged the lethal crisis of the first wave, the hellish game setting had become the greatest obstacle before most players.
However, not everyone was in despair and feeling helpless.
There were billions of people on the Blue Planet, even in each sea route area, there were at most 100,000 players.
With such a huge base, the number of elites was definitely not small.
Like Meng Lei, many people had already started to set sail and they had made different discoveries.
[Central Province: Friendly reminder. About ten kilometers in the vicinity of the birth point, resources are relatively poor and the ecological environment is relatively barren. According to the navigation route planned by the automatic pilot, the deeper you dive, the higher the probability of scanning anomalies. Everyone, let's not stay in the sea near the birth point for too long. Head for the deep sea as soon as possible!]
[Explorer: Everyone, don't try to surface anymore. I have already confirmed just now that 500 meters above the birth point, the seawater has already frozen and is covered in countless cracks. It is impossible to reach the surface of the sea. It is better to follow the automatic navigation obediently.]
[Nautilus: Those who don't know how to dive, don't worry. The System has already given us diving skills. This should be some kind of hard rule of the game. Even a landlubber like me knows how to dive, you guys should be able to too.]
…
Meng Lei peeped at the screen silently. After watching for a while, he gained some information.
From the information provided by the Explorer, he was at least certain that the surface of this planet was indeed covered in ice, and the thickness of the ice layer should not be small.
Currently, they were more than 2,000 meters below sea level. Just 500 meters up, the seawater had already frozen.
The actual thickness of the ice layer was at least a thousand meters!
The cracks discovered by the Explorer had also confirmed that at some point in the future, the ice in the shallow area might collapse. This transformation was already in progress.
Although the consequences were unknown, Meng Lei felt that it was better to follow the System's request and arrive at the first outpost as soon as possible within seven days.
In addition, the distribution of resources mentioned by the Central Province was also a relatively critical piece of information.
However, compared to the other players, there were more anomalies, although they represented more resources.
Nonetheless, with the greater risk, it also meant that the probability of a sea monster appearing would also increase!
However, after Meng Lei had silently closed the communication channel, his expression was relaxed.
He could see the System notifications. The unknown hidden dangers to others did not exist for him at all.
This alone was enough to ensure his safety.
Even if he had to go on steadily, he would inevitably become the last batch of survivors.
Of course, since he had obtained the System, Meng Lei's ambition was definitely not just to survive.
No matter what, he had to make a name for himself in this game of survival on an alien planet!
The water flowed, and the white flocculent organic matter was like snowflakes floating in the deep sea, constantly lining up on both sides of the porthole.
Meng Lei steered the submarine directly 200 meters away and wandered toward the anomaly which was marked as a storage box.
The other anomaly, which showed that it was barren with seaweed, had gradually been pulled away at this moment. Meng Lei did not plan to turn around and explore it anymore.
He planned to dive deeper as soon as possible according to the clues provided by Central Province so that he could collect the resources faster.
However, before that, Meng Lei felt that it was better to keep the storage box with the unknown items in it first. There might be something good inside.
Soon, about five minutes later, the submarine arrived near the storage box.
This was an equally barren sea. On the yellowish-brown seabed, there were reefs baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, but there were no signs of life.
With the guidance of the three-dimensional virtual map, Meng Lei slowly approached the anomaly.
The pale searchlight kept sweeping in all directions, trying to find the storage box hidden in the reef.
However, after half a day, he did not find anything.
The shape of this reef was really too complicated. It grew in all directions. It was neither flat nor regular. It was difficult to see through it at a glance.
In the end, Meng Lei stopped the submarine firmly more than ten meters above the anomaly. He memorized the location of the storage box.
Then, he walked toward the airlock again.
At this moment, the oxygen cylinder of the diving suit had been refilled. Half an hour of oxygen supply was enough for him to explore the nearby sea.
The gate opened, and the cold seawater swallowed Meng Lei again.
With the first experience, Meng Lei stabilized his body firmly this time and did not fall from the force of the seawater.
When the water level had completely submerged the airlock, he immediately swam out of the airlock and dived directly toward the reef beach at the bottom of the submarine.
The strangely-shaped reef beach had an extremely complex environment. Meng Lei turned on the light at the top of his diving suit and searched for a long time in the large pile of rocks.
Finally, in a hidden corner, he found a white square storage box about 30 centimeters long and wide.
"Found it!"
Meng Lei was delighted. He immediately wanted to put the storage box into his backpack and wait till he returned to the submarine to open it to check.
However, at this moment, he discovered that the white storage box could not be treated as a resource and be placed in the backpack of his diving suit; he could only hold it in his hand.
Helpless, he could only hold the storage box with both hands and swim back into the submarine with great difficulty.
The moment the door to the airlock closed, Meng Lei could not wait to open the box. A milky-white spherical object appeared in front of him.
[Congratulations on finding a small gravity ball. It can create a small gravity trap. When a small fish approaches, it will be pulled by gravity and be not able to escape. This will greatly increase your efficiency in catching fish!]
[However, the gravity ball was a little damaged. It could only be used again after being restored and recharged.]
After reading the System's introduction, Meng Lei's eyes lit up!
"Gravity ball?! Hey, this is damn good stuff!"