Forced to marry a disabled man in the countryside? I'll repay you tenfold!

·

Inside the tent conference room.

"Today is the sixth day since the disappearance. We have mobilized our resources, but... nothing has been found. No useful trace has been discovered."

"The higher-ups have given a death order. First, at all costs, we must find the eight missing comrades! They must be found alive or dead! Even if their chances of survival are slim!"

"Secondly, we must also find the special mineral sample codenamed 'Blue Crystal'! This is crucial data for defense materials research and development, and the mission priority is extremely high! Even if we have to use people, we have to find this thing from underground! Understand?"

"clear!"

……

The meeting ended quickly, and everyone received their orders and hurriedly left the tent to prepare.

"Dr. Su, let's go to the cafeteria and grab something to eat first. They're going to be busy soon. The surface team needs to take the equipment up the mountain to set up positions, and the underwater team needs to check their equipment and prepare to go underwater. We... might not be able to help much for now, so let's not cause any trouble."

"Okay, let's eat first, then can you take me to see the entrance where they last lost contact?" Her main goal was to get closer to where Zhou Yanshen disappeared so she could activate the [Insight Grid]. Once within its effective range, she could not only search for signs of life but also directly locate the "Blue Crystal" mineral, which might allow her to quickly pinpoint the area where Zhou Yanshen and the others might be trapped.

Xiao Liu opened his mouth, wanting to dissuade her—that area was not only a restricted zone but also dangerous; what good would it do for family members to go and interfere with the work? But he swallowed his words. He understood Dr. Su's feelings.

"Okay, Dr. Su. After lunch, I'll take you to the main entrance. But we can only go around the perimeter; we can't get too close. There are sentries there, and the underwater conditions are indeed complex and dangerous."

The camp canteen was a temporary shed, and breakfast consisted of hard, dry multigrain pancakes and thin porridge. Su Wanqing ate very little, mainly because it didn't taste good.

Seeing that she couldn't eat, Xiao Liu felt even more sympathetic and sad. After finishing his meal, he immediately took Su Wanqing to the entrance.

After passing through a rocky slope and entering the valley, you reach a deep pool. The area is cordoned off, and soldiers with guns are on guard.

"Dr. Su, this is it. We can't go any further. Don't be fooled by the calm surface of the water. It's connected to a huge underground river system with so many branching channels that it's like a maze."

"Okay, I understand. I'll just look around here." Su Wanqing responded, her gaze fixed on the deep pool of water. With her back to Xiao Liu and the sentry post a short distance away, she quietly focused her mind—

"The Dimension of Insight, activated!"

Her consciousness sank instantly, and a three-dimensional "map" with a radius of 30 meters centered on her unfolded clearly. The fish swimming underwater and the moss on the edge of the pool were marked with different colored dots. More than 20 meters below the surface of the pool, there were indeed dozens of dark forks of varying sizes, like a honeycomb.

"Not enough! The area is too small!"

"Insight range expanded to 300 meters! Advanced search targets: human vital signs, the special mineral 'Blue Crystal'!"

[Expand perception range to a 300-meter radius and initiate an advanced dual-target search, requiring 600 grams of gold imbued with 'precious gold power'. Duration: 5 minutes. Continue?]

"yes!"

Within the space, a portion of the pile of gold quietly lost its unique "upgrade energy" and was marked as consumed.

The "map" in my mind is expanding rapidly!

Everything within a 300-meter radius is clearly visible!

Various creatures and plants were covered by pale blue dots, while the search results for the "blue crystal" mineral—marked as zero by red dots—were negative! About 200 meters downstream, in a side passage, there was a group of about twenty dense blue dots representing ordinary humans. They seemed to be arranged in some kind of formation, very close to each other, and were moving slowly. They were obviously a small team carrying out a search mission, but definitely not Zhou Yanshen and his group!

"No, there aren't any within a 300-meter radius!"

Su Wanqing's heart sank, but she immediately noticed that the underwater terrain and passageways within this 300-meter range were clearly marked, like a 3D maze map with a God's-eye view! She forced herself to calm down and quickly memorized the directions of several main passageways.

"Expand the search area to 3000 meters! Continue searching for the two targets!" She no longer cared about the cost of the gold. She had dozens or even hundreds of kilograms of gold in her spatial storage. She was certain she could find Zhou Yanshen today, unless he was dead!

[To further expand the perception range to 3000 meters, only 5400 grams of 'Precious Gold Power' from the gold will be consumed. Duration: 5 minutes. Continue?]

"yes!"

In an instant, a larger map appeared, and at the same time, both mission objectives were marked in bright red.

Approximately 1400 meters away from her in a straight line, parallel to the surface, there were six closely spaced blue dots. Some of these dots were faint, as indicated by the system, while another dot was slowly moving around. Simultaneously, numerous densely packed blue crystal markers indicated that the entire vein behind this cave entrance was composed entirely of blue crystals!

Su Wanqing's heart started pounding.

"Found you." Su Wanqing quickly memorized the maze's route markings. She only had five minutes and wished she could take a screenshot. She never expected that there was such a large underwater maze below.

"Wait... weren't they saying eight people were missing? How come there are only seven life points? And these life points are very weak, it seems they won't last much longer." Amidst her elation, Su Wanqing had a bad feeling. Could it be that one of them died?

Who is dead?

It shouldn't be Zhou Yanshen. His physique far surpasses that of ordinary people, and he has been drinking spiritual spring water for a long time, making his vitality extremely tenacious. But... you can't be sure. Given Zhou Yanshen's overflowing sense of responsibility and his habitual prioritization of his comrades' safety, in the original story, he was severely injured and his vital organs were damaged while saving his comrades. What if...

As she was thinking this, several muffled "plop, plop" sounds suddenly came from the surface of the deep pool below!

Xiao Liu was startled: "Huh? Didn't Squad Leader Li and the others just go down not long ago? How come they're back up so quickly?"

Before the words were even finished, more than a dozen underwater search team members surfaced one after another, their faces extremely somber. Among them, they were working together to support a body wearing a diving suit, but which was clearly swollen, deformed, and in a gruesome state.

"Report! We've found a comrade!"

"But they've already sacrificed themselves..."

"Quickly! Carry him up! Report to Commander Zhao immediately!"

The atmosphere at the scene froze instantly.

Xiao Liu's face turned deathly pale, and he said in a trembling voice, "It definitely wasn't Captain Zhou's..."

Su Wanqing's gaze quickly swept over the features of the body, and her tense heartstrings relaxed slightly. She shook her head, "It's not him. Zhou Yanshen doesn't have that scar on his hand."

"Let's go, follow them. The body needs preliminary identification and processing; a report needs to be written. I'm a doctor; I should be able to help."

Although she had never worked as a forensic pathologist, she could occasionally take on the role. Besides, now that Zhou Yanshen had been found and it was confirmed that he was not dead, Su Wanqing felt much more relaxed.