On the Ark.

Swire nudged Blue Poison, who was standing next to her, and asked in a low voice, "Does this loser even have a girlfriend?"

Blue Poison said somewhat awkwardly, "I don't know much about that."

Chōmaru showed an expression of interest, while Shimoba sighed softly and muttered, "How embarrassing." The men present looked at Lin Ye with amusement, but none of them spoke up to stop him. This made Lin Ye breathe a sigh of relief, but as he grabbed the doorknob, preparing to open the door and leave, he heard the sound of a silver sword behind him.

"Your name is Lin Ye, right?"

Silver Sword was undoubtedly the person with the highest status at the moment, so Lin Ye had to stop what he was doing and turn around to look at him.

"Where are you from?" Silver Sword asked. "Your accent sounds familiar."

"Me?" Lin Ye tried his best not to show any unusual expression and to remain calm. However, his phone was still ringing, and he found it difficult to calm down completely because he was afraid that Skadi would hang up and he would never be able to get through again. "I am from Chernobog."

Silver Sword looked surprised: "Chernobylberg?"

"Yes." Lin Ye nodded.

“Heh, my hometown isn’t far from yours. I didn’t expect you to be from Ursus as well,” Silver Sword said slowly. “In that case, I’ll be frank.”

Lin Ye's heart jumped into his throat, but he didn't show it: "Go ahead and say it."

"Ursus should be ruled by men."

"...Huh?" Lin Ye was a little confused. "What did you say?"

“I’m telling you, men in Ursus should be in charge,” Silver Sword said. “Look at you now, getting all nervous over a phone call from your girlfriend. What kind of behavior is that?”

Lin Ye: "..."

Why is it a little different from what he imagined?

"Tsk, forget it. Some things aren't for me to say. Go answer the phone." Silver Sword shook his head, then sighed softly, looking rather disappointed. "It's good that you're back soon. This meeting is very important. We came all this way, not to call our girlfriends."

Yin Jian's words caused the men in the room to burst into laughter, leaving Lin Ye speechless. Not knowing what to say, he chuckled awkwardly and left the room, which the others interpreted as guilt, making them laugh even louder. As Lin Ye walked out, he could still hear the laughter coming from inside.

However, Lin Ye didn't have time to care what the guys inside thought of him. Anyway, he didn't even have a girlfriend, so he couldn't possibly be henpecked. Lin Ye was already quite satisfied with being able to escape this way.

Although it took some time, thankfully Skadi hadn't hung up yet, so he immediately answered: "Skadi? Are you alright? Where are you? Are you in danger? I'm in Harlan town."

He bombarded Skadi with these questions in rapid succession.

But she did not receive a response from Skadi.

"Skadi?" Lin Ye spoke again, sounding somewhat anxious. "Can you hear me? Hello? Where are you?"

Only the wind responded to him.

Lin Ye thought the call had been disconnected, so he put the phone down, only to find that it wasn't; the screen showed the call was still in progress. He then put the phone back to his ear and softly asked, "Skadi, are you there?"

There has still been no response.

But this time, Lin Ye didn't put down his phone. He forced himself to be patient and listen to what was happening on the other end. He felt as if he were back in his office, back to that night when he listened to the recorded conversation between Kal'tsit and Skadi. Because his current communication was exactly the same as that night after Skadi lost contact.

Is Skadi not on the phone anymore?

Who made that call?

Lin Ye was a little anxious, but he forced himself to calm down. After taking several deep breaths, he held his breath.

Then, he finally heard another faint sound amidst the monotonous sound of the wind.

It was making gurgling noises, like something was blowing bubbles at the bottom of the water.

……

……

Author's BB: Thinking about it carefully, I do seem to have been slacking off a bit.

Chapter 317 Setting Sail (4K)

"What?! That call was from Skadi?"

After the meeting, Lin Ye immediately told everyone about the phone call. After hearing Lin Ye's explanation, everyone showed a surprised expression.

“But how is that possible? Miss Skadi has already disappeared, so who called?” Magellan was the most surprised. “This doesn’t make sense.”

"Why would you bring up science at a time like this?" Shuangye uttered the complaint Lin Ye was about to make.

"Ha, I thought you really went to call your girlfriend. Wait, isn't Skadi...that person?" Chūmaru's focus and reaction were clearly different from the others.

Lin Ye looked around, but finally focused his gaze on Lan Du, who hadn't finished speaking for a long time.

"Blue Poison, do you have any ideas?" Lin Ye asked.

"My thoughts?"

"Yes, you're probably the one among us who understands that aspect the most, so I'd like to hear your thoughts."

"Hmm... okay." She was still a little nervous when everyone's attention was focused on Blue Poison, but she quickly adjusted and said softly, "First of all, I want to know, Dr. Lin Ye, are you sure the phone is connected?"

Lin Ye nodded: "Of course, I was outside for about half an hour, so I can be sure the call was connected."

"But Miss Skadi has not said a word."

“Yes.” Lin Ye smiled wryly. “Or rather, I’m not even sure if Skadi is on the other side. But I think she probably isn’t, otherwise there’s no reason for her not to speak.”

“In that case… let’s discuss two possibilities. One is that Miss Skadi made the call, and the other is that she didn’t,” Blue Poison said. “Let’s talk about the first possibility. If Miss Skadi did call you, but she didn’t speak, it can only mean that she couldn’t speak at the time. It could be due to her own reasons, or it could be because of a special situation that prevented her from speaking.”

"If that's the case, why did she call me?" Lin Ye asked, puzzled.

“Passing messages.” Magellan took over Lin Ye’s question, while also expressing his own doubts. “I encountered similar situations when I was at the research station, but they weren’t this strange. Generally speaking, text messages are a more reliable way to pass messages than phone calls. If Miss Skadi can’t speak but still needs to contact you, why not use a text message? Miss Skadi should be able to send a text message, right?”

Lin Ye nodded: "That's for sure."

After listening for a while, Chūmaru also offered his opinion: "Blind? Can't see the phone screen? Can only barely make calls according to old habits? Can't speak because... the throat is damaged?"

Chanmaru's guess conjured up a vivid image in Lin Ye's mind, and then a chill ran down his spine.

"This, this is unlikely, isn't it?" Lin Ye stammered as he spoke.

Frostleaf glanced at Chūmaru and said indifferently, "You'd better not talk nonsense."

Chūmaru scratched his head: "Uh, okay, I am..."

“It’s not impossible,” Blue Poison said softly, drawing everyone’s attention once again. “Although I don’t want to think about it, we have to admit that it’s not impossible. Miss Skadi may have been seriously injured and unable to send text messages or speak. All she can do is call Dr. Lin Ye… But since Miss Skadi can’t send text messages, it would be difficult for her to enter the correct number.”

“It’s in your contacts, right? You can use the shortcut key to access the contacts.” Magellan demonstrated with his own phone. “If you access the contacts using the shortcut key, you can make a call in just two steps.”

"Then why call Dr. Lin Ye?" Blue Poison asked. "The contact list is arranged by surname, right? Dr. Lin Ye shouldn't be first..."

“Because Skadi only has me in her contacts,” Lin Ye said softly.

Everyone was stunned.

Lin Ye wasn't sure what expression he was making. He just felt his cheeks were terribly stiff, and he couldn't even manage a smile. "Skadi told me she almost never uses her phone because nobody calls her. At most, it's Kal'tsit, but it's always Kal'tsit calling her, so she didn't remember Kal'tsit's number, only mine..."

Lin Ye's voice grew softer and softer until he couldn't continue, because he thought of the conversation from that day.

……

"You should add more people."

"Having you is enough. Goodbye, Lin Ye."

……

"I didn't expect Miss Skadi's contact list to only contain Dr. Lin Ye." Blue Poison was clearly surprised that Skadi's social circle was so small; it wasn't a social circle at all, it was a complete shrew. "But in that case, Miss Skadi is more likely to ask Dr. Lin Ye for help. After all, if she really suffered such a serious injury, Dr. Lin Ye is the best person she can contact... no, the only person she can contact."

Lin Ye looked up at Lan Du, his eyes slightly red: "What should I do?"

"Dr. Lin Ye, please don't be anxious," Lan Du advised. "What we just discussed was only one possibility, and a very low one at that. After all, Miss Skadi's strength is undeniable. Besides, even if Miss Skadi really suffered such an injury, she should have been able to create some noise to alert you. But did you hear any noise?"

Lin Ye calmed down a bit after being persuaded by Lan Du. He carefully recalled his communication with Skadi, then slowly shook his head: "I'm sure, no. I could only hear a sound like flowing water, and it was very faint, so it shouldn't be very close. There was also the sound of wind..."

“That’s it.” Blue Poison nodded. “If the call really was made by Miss Skadi, there’s no way she wouldn’t make a sound. Even if you put the phone next to you, you could hear her breathing, and even if you just tap the receiver a few times, you could hear the ‘thump thump thump’ sound. But the fact is that you didn’t hear any of those sounds at all, so the probability that the call was made by Miss Skadi is very small.”

Blue Poison's explanation put Lin Ye at ease a little.

"Your analysis sounds rather strange," Chūmaru tilted his head. "If Skadi didn't make the call, then who did?"

“That’s another possibility,” Blue Poison said softly. “But if that’s the case, it means Miss Skadi’s phone is no longer with her. Just like Miss Skadi’s communicator, speaking of which, Miss Skadi’s phone and the communicator she uses to communicate with Dr. Kal’tsit shouldn’t be the same thing, right?”

Magellan nodded: "Indeed, Miss Skadi also has a dedicated communicator to contact Dr. Kal'tsit. After all, cell phones are unreliable in many harsh environments. Moreover, the communicator has a positioning device, and we can detect its signal. It hasn't moved since Miss Skadi disappeared."

Lin Ye looked at Magellan: "Where?"

"It's about 2.6 kilometers from where we are now."

"Only 2.6 kilometers?" Lin Ye couldn't sit still any longer. "Then why don't we just go and take a look?"

“Because this 2.6 kilometers isn’t on land,” Magellan said, “but at sea.”

Lin Ye was taken aback.

“It’s very likely an island at sea,” Magellan said. “I looked at the map before I came. There are quite a few small islands around Harlan. Miss Skadi most likely went to one of them, at least her communicator was there. If it were in the sea, it would have been ruined by the water long ago.”

“And those islands are also the main targets of this joint operation,” Blue Poison said. “Once powerful deep-sea creatures come ashore, they don’t easily go back. They are very likely to live in shallow waters, or even on the shore, for a period of time. This is both because of the novelty and because of the need to feed. Take Harlan Town as an example. This town has a total of more than 1,200 residents. Even the largest deep-sea creature would need some time to digest them.”

Blue Poison's explanation sent a chill down the spines of everyone present.

"So, if Harlan Town really was attacked by a deep-sea creature, then there's a high probability that the creature is still around here?" Frostleaf said softly. "No wonder the Ursus military is looking for partners; if they rashly explore this area, they might be wiped out, right?"

“That’s true. Of course, the main reason is that this isn’t Ursus territory, so they can’t send out a large number of troops,” Blue Poison said. “Moreover, the Ursus military doesn’t have much experience hunting large creatures.”

"But since even a powerful deep-sea hunter like Miss Skadi has met with misfortune, does this mean that traditional experience is not very useful in this incident?" Magellan asked again, expressing his doubts.

But no one could answer that.

"Our guesses here are useless, aren't they?" Chūmaru clearly didn't like empty talk and said directly, "2.6 kilometers, even if it's a small island at sea, finding a boat to row there shouldn't be any difficulty, right? We've already located the communicator's position, I don't know what we're still hesitating for, are we just scaring ourselves?"

“But we have no reason to set sail at this time,” Magellan said.

"Can we tell Mr. Silver Sword that Miss Skadi has found a clue and let us go there now?" Blue Poison asked tentatively.

“Even so, Mr. Silversword won’t allow us to set sail at this time,” Magellan said, shaking his head. “They will definitely require us to stay until dawn, and then they will come with us.”

"Isn't that great?" Chūmaru said dismissively. "With the protection of the Ursus military, even if we encounter some giant monster, we won't need to go in person."

“The problem is, Miss Skadi isn’t there,” Magellan said. “And besides the communicator, we might not find any clues at all, and our partners will discover that we’ve lied to them about Miss Skadi. Unless we keep making up lies and cover it up with even bigger lies… but that’s obviously not a good solution. Once the lies are exposed, Rhodes Island can’t withstand the anger of so many partners.”

"Tsk, this is too..."

"Moreover, the communicator's signal is getting weaker and weaker," Magellan added. "It's probably running out of power, and once we can't locate the communicator, it will be even harder to find any clues later."

"And..." Blue Poison glanced at Lin Ye, who had been silent for a long time, and said softly, "We still can't be sure whether Miss Skadi's call to Dr. Lin Ye was a plea for help. If so, the fact that even Miss Skadi had to ask Dr. Lin Ye for help can only mean that her condition is really not optimistic."