From the data provided by the auto-navigation terminal, with the current location of Bottomless Valley, it would take at least three to four days to reach the gathering place of the outpost.
This was calculated from traveling at least 20 hours a day.
Without factoring the time to go into the water to gather resources and the time for rest, there was almost no time to waste.
In particular, with the current energy reserves of the submarine, it could only last for about three days.
Before the energy was completely exhausted, he had to think of a way to find enough energy ores to replenish it.
Otherwise, he would have to hunt down the alien planet sea monsters to obtain the mileage points to buy it.
In order to hunt the alien planet sea monsters, he had to build a shipborne weapon.
Otherwise, with just that small harpoon, not to mention an alien planet sea monster, even if he were to encounter a deep-sea giant crab, it would probably be difficult for him to break through its defense!
Therefore, Meng Lei immediately decided that he could not stay in the vicinity of the barren sea region for too long. He had to dive down as soon as possible!
After making up his mind, Meng Lei did not delay anymore.
He activated the submarine's automated steering mode and let the submarine dive deeper into the sea abyss at full speed according to the predetermined navigation route.
A faint mechanical roar sounded in the dead and desolate deep sea.
In the depths of the endless dark sea, Bottomless Valley was like an ant in the desert, emitting a faint light as it slowly wandered.
Along the way, scattered anomalies were detected on the sonar display.
Meng Lei only glanced at them briefly and took a look at what they were. Then, he continued to travel without stopping.
As he continued to go deeper, he encountered more and more anomalies along the way.
From a rough count by Meng Lei, the anomalies in the sea region in the vicinity were indeed mostly barren.
The System notifications had also clearly stated that these resources did not have much value to be mined.
However, as a game cheat that had a certain subjective consciousness, the System continued to remind Meng Lei of the concept of thriftiness.
However, they were all automatically ignored by Meng Lei.
In Meng Lei's opinion, instead of wasting his precious time on the resource points in the barren zone, it was better to go deeper as soon as possible and search for those relatively rich ore deposits.
When the gains from one trip into the water were comparable to the gains from two or three gatherings in the barren zone, it would not be too late to make a move.
Time passed minute by minute in the boring voyage.
In the first half an hour, the surroundings did not change at all.
Meng Lei sat in the cockpit. There was nothing but darkness outside the porthole.
In a daze, Meng Lei had a faint illusion.
The current environment was like driving on an endless highway. The unchanging landscape gave one the eerie feeling of being caught in some kind of weird deadly cycle.
That feeling was very bad. Over time, it was very easy for one's mind to be affected.
In order to ease this state, Meng Lei could only open the regional communication channel and secretly peer at the screen to divert his attention.
As time passed, the contents of the chat in the communication channel gradually became meaningful.
In the beginning, most people had wasted the precious number of times they could speak, which was only five times a day.
By the time they regained their senses, it was already too late.
Therefore, those who were still speaking enthusiastically in the communication channel were all relatively high-end players. They had maintained their relative calm at the beginning of the game.
The topics of discussion were all about survival.
From them, Meng Lei had obtained many valuable clues.
For example, a submarine called Inspiration had entered a strange and mysterious sea region 30 to 40 kilometers away from the birth point.
There, he found a large number of fluorescent plants.
Although it had no value to be harvested, the scene presented was magnificent. It was like a mythical kingdom that was intoxicating. It was also rich with all kinds of fish and sea creatures.
Moreover, there were also many anomalies there. Within a 500-meter detection range, there were at least ten anomalies on average.
However, most of these anomalies were occupied by sea monsters.
The captain of the Inspiration could only watch helplessly. He could not do anything except comfort himself silently and take it as enjoying the scenery at the bottom of the sea.
In addition, people started to put up items for trading on the trading platform.
Most of them exchanged basic resources for production such as iron, copper, rubber and so on, for food and fresh water.
From this, it could be seen that at least for now, food and fresh water were still the greatest worries before everyone.
In the next few days, at least until most of the players arrived at the gathering place of the outpost, food and fresh water would be extremely scarce resources.
"I'll build the freshwater extractor first. When I have enough fresh water, I'll immediately restore the gravity ball. I'll take advantage of the high exchange rate now and make a killing!"
Meng Lei took a deep breath and made a decision.
Half an hour later, the Bottomless Valley was already far away from the sea near the birth point and had gone more than ten kilometers deep.
At this moment, the environment in the vicinity finally changed.
Although the deep sea was also extremely dark, the surrounding underwater environment gradually became complicated and diverse.
On the flat and desolate seabed, the endless white sand gradually gained some different colors.
All kinds of strangely-shaped limestone coral remains, as well as a large number of living corals, were scattered throughout the crevices of the reefs and the seabed.
Deep-sea algae dozens of meters long rose from the ground like a large tree. As the sea current surged, it swayed in the water like a lush underwater forest.
The school of fish that Meng Lei had been thinking about finally appeared here.
A large number of dense schools of fish swam and weaved through the seaweed.
From time to time, they would circle around the submarine and constantly change formation, showing all kinds of postures. They looked extremely spectacular!
Through the glass porthole in front of the submarine, Meng Lei looked at the scene before him and could not help but hold his breath.
He had never seen such a dreamlike and magnificent scene before.
At this moment, the mysterious underwater world had finally appeared in front of him in a splendid manner, shocking him!
"Is this the true appearance of the sea of the alien planet?! It's really spectacular!"
Meng Lei subconsciously left his seat and stuck close to the porthole. It was like a curious treasure; he was intoxicated by the colorful scenery of the deep sea and kept sighing.
It was not until the scene in front of him changed again that a huge crevice at the bottom of the sea, which was emitting a faint light, suddenly appeared in front of him like an entrance to a different dimension in the darkness.
The Bottomless Valley's automated steering function controlled the submarine and it plunged directly into the crevice.
Meng Lei finally regained his senses.
He realized that this deep-dive voyage was about to enter the next stage.