The sudden change in the communication channel made Norman feel like his life was in crisis.
In just a few minutes, hundreds of people were already dead.
It is hard to imagine how many people will be buried in the endless abyss when the ice layer collapses, entombed in the dead and dark icy seabed and forgotten.
Let us not forget the cruel mechanism from minutes ago that forced pioneers to move from the spawn point. The game threw abyss monsters at us, so Norman drove his submarine away from the spawn point as quickly as possible, or he would have met the same fate as the others.
Although it is still unclear whether this threat mechanism will occur every time the game wants us to move, Norman hopes it is only aimed at the vicinity of the spawn point; if not, it will spread to the entire seven days.
But Norman didn't dare gamble with his life.
"Let's hurry; I need to start up the submarine!"
Norman took a deep breath, no longer hesitating or delaying.
He called up the submarine's control interface, quickly familiarizing himself with the control mode after a brief look around.
Fortunately, for the convenience of players, the submarine's controls are straightforward and do not require complicated operations.
Forward and backward, up and down—all can be managed through the buttons on the center console.
Norman didn't have time to choose a direction; he drove the submarine straight ahead.
The roar of the engine's propeller filled the air.
The submarine began to move slowly.
About twenty or thirty meters ahead, the searchlight's dim glow illuminated the scene.
The water flow expelled the white, flocculent organic matter, which quickly swept away from the porthole to both sides, resembling cotton wool drifting in the air.
However, in this dark and desolate deep sea, apart from those white floating objects, nothing else could be seen.
Outside the range of the searchlights, there is only endless darkness in all directions.
The light penetrates the water, and with no reference points to guide the submarine, it feels like being in a dark void.
Not to mention abyss creatures—not even a single fish could be seen.
This scene made Norman feel awful.
Under normal circumstances, whatever the light touches always receives some kind of feedback, providing at least a sense of existence.
But the submarine's searchlights do not illuminate anything that reflects back.
There is nothing but darkness, for crying out loud.
There is no way to tell what awaits in the deepest depths of the abyss.
Humanity's fear of the unknown is its deepest fear.
Norman finally realized this; he never thought he would experience such dread of the darkness.
The scene before him nearly gave him a deep-sea phobia; he wondered if suffering from such fear could mean death.
Moreover, the sea area where he is located seems very barren, with no fish or deep-sea plants. Everything is empty and looks extremely desolate.
Fortunately, after about ten minutes, the submarine gradually approached the seabed.
The submarine's searchlight reflected off the seabed, giving Norman a real sense of existence, and he felt a measure of relief.
However, the flat seabed was just as lifeless, covered with yellow sand and black rock.
Apart from that, there was no trace of any living beings; it was nothing more than a dead zone.
The only thing that made Norman feel a bit better was that the abyss creatures encountered by other pioneers did not seem to be here yet.
After driving for more than ten minutes, the surrounding scenery remained unchanged.
During this time, Norman took a moment to check the regional channel and found that most people had already recovered from the panic and gradually started to set sail as well.
As for the abyss creatures that attacked, their frequency had greatly reduced as pioneers continued to leave the spawn point.
The appearance of those abyss creatures before seemed, as the Black Pearl said, to simply force pioneers to move rather than chase them.
At this point, pioneers could finally breathe a sigh of relief, and their scared hearts were temporarily eased.
However, there was still a commotion in the communication channel.
The loss of life had not brought any joy, only panic.
At this moment, everyone realized the seriousness of the situation.
Those who were at a loss were suddenly alerted; this was no longer the world they were familiar with.
Everything had changed, and deadly creatures were lurking around!
If one couldn't adapt quickly and master the rules of survival, the chances of reaching the first gathering outpost alive would be slim—likely no more than one-fifth of the total number of people!
While driving the submarine, Norman silently glanced at the screen.
After observing for a while, he saw that the first round of crisis seemed to have been resolved, and there was no more valuable information to be gleaned, so he closed the communication channel.
After repeatedly checking the sonar detection system to confirm that there were no abyss monsters nearby, Norman gradually slowed down and began to formulate a plan.
The key issues before him were food and fresh water.
Once the basic living conditions were met, he could confidently search for supplies in the area and upgrade his submarine or equipment.
For food, he could use edible fiber and fresh water to make energy bars through the crafting station to satisfy his hunger.
Or he could catch small fish and make grilled fish to fill his stomach.
However, Norman had lived in cities all his life. He had never even been to the seaside, let alone fished in the deep sea. He had absolutely no experience in this area.
Before making fishing nets, which he had no experience using, eating grilled fish would be challenging.
Thus, his only option for now was to make energy bars.
However, making energy bars required 100 ml of fresh water.
In other words, he needed to create a fresh water extractor first; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to make even energy bars.
"It seems that everything starts with the fresh water extractor, so my first goal now is to find 5 iron parts and 5 copper parts."
"Or, just follow the golden text, find the old nest of the deep-sea crabs, and grab a few crabs to fill my stomach."
Norman pondered and focused his eyes on the sonar display beside him.
After the life-threatening run just now, he was far from the spawn point where he had started.
In more than ten minutes, he had driven the submarine about two or three kilometers, and the sonar detection system could no longer detect the HV points.
Returning to the old den of deep-sea crabs was obviously impossible.
However, during the voyage, new HV points appeared on the three-dimensional virtual map.
The number was a bit low—only three.
Norman looked intently at each green dot.
(Info Drop: At 320 meters.) There is a lump of iron ore. Hurry up and grab it. If you miss this resource point, you won't know when you'll encounter it again.)
(Info Drop: At a distance of 445 meters, you are fortunate to find a piece of seagrass rooted in a barren zone. It has no special value in itself but is a natural breeding ground for some crustaceans. Look carefully, and you may find something good!)
(Info Drop: At a distance of 478 meters, a storage box is fluttering with the ocean current at no fixed point, lying quietly on the seabed; no one knows what it contains—perhaps a pile of rotten junk, or maybe precious weapons and ammunition, or even a scarce material; everything is unknown.)
This time, Norman was indeed lucky.
There were no abyss creatures at these three HV points, and all of them had value.
In addition to iron ore, although the resource displays for the other two HV points were not entirely clear, even a pile of junk could still be valuable in the early stages of seven days.
Iron ore is a key material for making a fresh water extractor, and it could not be ignored.
At that moment, Norman didn't think much and drove the submarine straight toward the nearest pile of iron ore.
About five minutes later, the three-dimensional virtual map showed that the submarine was only 40 meters away from the iron ore.
The HV point was marked at the entrance of a seafloor fissure diagonally in front of the submarine.
That narrow seafloor fissure was impossible to pass through with the submarine's size, and there was protruding reef terrain nearby, making it difficult for the submarine to approach.
At this point, he could only rely on manual extraction.
Norman slowly parked the submarine above the reef and then got up from the driver's seat.
Now was the time to man up; he could no longer hesitate.
He approached the cabinet at the entrance of the airlock, took a long time to put on the diving suit, and then grabbed the hand-held mining tool, diving knife, backpack and harpoon.
Even though the sonar detection system did not detect any abyss creatures nearby, Norman had to be careful.
He was ready to go.
Norman took a deep breath, opened the airlock door, and stepped inside.
The rear hatch leading to the living cabin was instantly closed.
He pressed the button on the door again, and the gate on the outer wall of the submarine slowly opened.
Immediately, the dark and icy seawater poured in from the outside, completely submerging Norman in an instant.
Soon, a tremendous pressure bore down on him, and his body hit the floor of the sub with a jolt, causing him pain from the impact.
"Fuck!"
Norman, caught off guard by the situation, cursed in frustration.
In the next moment, as seawater continued to pour in, the pressure enveloped his entire body.
Norman felt as if he were carrying a refrigerator—or possibly two—on his back; the immense pressure made him think his stomach was about to rupture!
Fortunately, this sensation was brief.
As the oxygen system in the diving suit began to function, the suit started to counteract the pressure of the seawater.
The suffocating pressure eased, leaving only the coldness of the water and the tension of being outside the sub.
Norman gasped for air and clung to the edge of the outer wall of the submarine until he readjusted himself.
Shivering from the biting cold that spread throughout his body, he looked around and couldn't help but curse again.
"So this is the depths of an alien planet, more than two thousand meters beneath a layer of ice... huh?! It's so fucking cold, for fuck's sake!"