169: Chapter 169: The Underwater Dock Opens, a New Hidden Dungeon Appears

Chen Chen took the sea-patterned bronze bell and pressed his fingertips against its body.

It was heavy.

The access control signal inside was dense.

He raised his eyes and looked at the Priestess Chief locked in the chair.

"Lead the way."

The Priestess Chief was stunned; she hadn't expected him to not even hesitate.

"Did you not understand what I said just now?"

"I understood."

Chen Chen tucked the bronze bell into his palm.

"You said that thing is half-alive. That makes it even more valuable."

The Priestess Chief stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly curled her lips.

"People like you deserve to drag all the trouble home."

"If you don't want to die, don't waste my time."

Chen Chen raised his hand and snapped two of the seal rings on her chair.

The Priestess Chief's wrists were released, and she almost slid off.

Shen Wanxing blinked from behind and muttered softly.

"Didn't she just say it was dangerous..."

Su Xiaoqi, holding half a piece of dried meat, replied quickly.

"Brother is always like this. The more dangerous it is, the more he wants it."

Blood Rose licked her lips and smiled, leaning against the car door.

"This is called knowing how to pick goods."

Shen Wanbing had already taken the bronze bell, her fingertips resting on its body for three seconds.

A flash of gold flickered in her eyes.

"It's not just a single dock."

Chen Chen glanced at her.

"Continue."

"There is an entire belt of underwater fleet wreckage below. The serial numbers have been erased, but the access frequency hasn't been cut. The dock is just the entrance; if we go deeper, there's a circle of sunken shipyards and maintenance ports."

Jiang Jiuyou's voice came from the sub-command console, very crisp.

"In other words, after we go in, we aren't just picking up a warehouse; we are taking over a maritime production line."

Yi Chang immediately chimed in on the remote channel.

"It's bigger than a production line."

She was still tapping on the data pad, speaking extremely fast.

"If there really is a sunken fleet inside, the Floating City can directly start producing naval combat vehicles. Materials, anchor pillars, engine casings, gun turrets—everything can be realized. In the future, you won't just be defending the city; you can sail ships out to attack people."

Chen Chen tapped his fingers lightly on the hilt of his blade.

"Then don't be polite."

He looked up at the Priestess Chief.

"Give me the bell; you open the door."

The Priestess Chief stared at him, as if truly seeing him for the first time.

"To open the door, you must first cut the altar's sacrificial line. The remnants of the shrine won't let you go down smoothly."

"They no longer have that chance."

As soon as Chen Chen finished speaking, Jiang Jiuyou took full control of the scene via communication.

"Abandoned gunboats Three, Five, and the pier ship at Seven, suppress the left flank."

"Nine and Twelve, block the retreat route on the north side."

"All the rest that can ignite, turn them all toward me."

She pressed her fingers on the sub-command console, and the half-sunken gunboats actually raised their gun barrels in unison above the sea surface.

The next second, cannons fired in unison.

The speedboats outside the shrine that were preparing to fill the gaps had just rushed out of the sea mist when they were hit, causing their hulls to tilt and the people on the decks to roll everywhere.

Iron Wall stood to the side, his eyelids twitching as he watched.

"You can even take over these?"

Jiang Jiuyou didn't even turn her head.

"Only trash would see this as a waste."

Blood Rose had already compressed the poisonous mist to its lowest point, sending it along the sea breeze toward the thinnest part of the shrine's defensive line.

The believers in the front row had just inhaled a little bit, and their expressions changed.

Some clutched their throats and knelt down, while others turned to stab the people next to them; the scene descended into chaos.

Blood Rose laughed softly.

"These shrine dogs, their Spirit is too weak."

"It's not that their Spirit is weak."

Shen Wanbing stared at the panel, her voice neither fast nor slow.

"It's because someone performed a secondary sacrifice within the array. Once the poisonous mist touched it, the nodes exploded first."

The Priestess Chief looked up abruptly.

"You can even see that?"

Shen Wanbing ignored her and just scanned the frequency of the bronze bell again.

"The access control is fine; the problem lies in the underwater spine below. It's absorbing the sacrificial energy and converting it into something else."

Chen Chen raised his hand and pushed the Priestess Chief forward.

"Lead the way."

The Priestess Chief gritted her teeth, stopped talking nonsense, got up, and walked into the depths of the corridor.

Chen Chen followed behind, Jiang Yanxue, Su Xiaoqi, and Qin Hongye spread out to the left and right, Blood Rose brought up the rear, Shen Wanbing stayed in the vehicle to continue monitoring the entire map, and Jiang Jiuyou took over all firepower on the sea surface.

The iron door at the end of the corridor was very low, with a row of old locks hanging on the door panel, each engraved with sacrificial marks.

Chen Chen stopped in front of the door and pressed his hand against the door surface.

"Is the dock inside?"

The Priestess Chief nodded.

"Three more levels down is the main port."

Chen Chen didn't ask again and handed the bronze bell directly to her.

"Open it."

The Priestess Chief took the bronze bell and shook her wrist.

The bell didn't ring.

Instead, the old locks on the door popped open one by one. A gust of damp, cold air seeped through the door crack, followed by a deeper darkness.

Shen Wanxing had just leaned over and immediately shrank her neck.

"It feels like something inside is watching people..."

"Don't move around."

Chen Chen raised his hand and blocked her slightly.

The next second, the system panel flickered.

[Tidal authority key seal detected.]

[Connecting to hidden area.]

[Deep-sea resource collection platform and underwater nuclear dock are linked.]

Shen Wanbing's voice immediately hammered through the communication.

"Chen Chen, the linkage is established."

"Speak plainly."

"If you take this dock, the resources of this black sea outside will be directly drawn to your territory. Underwater mineral veins, shipwreck materials, deep-sea anchor points—all can be connected. In the future, the Floating City won't just float above; it can also feed from below."

Upon hearing this, Shen Wanxing's eyes lit up.

"Does that mean we can loot underwater chests in the future?"

"Don't think about chests yet."

Chen Chen pressed her head back a bit.

"Go inside and see the goods."

The door opened completely.

There were no lights inside.

Only the outlines of rows of broken ship hulls in the distance, slanted into the underwater ruins.

The port area in the front had collapsed halfway, and in the center sat a giant nuclear warship. The hull was broken in two, the outer shell was severely rotted, but the core area was still slowly glowing, and there was even a faint operating sound in the propulsion slot.

The dried meat in Su Xiaoqi's mouth almost fell out.

"This ship... can it still sail?"

Qin Hongye had already raised her gun and scanned the area above.

"There are survivors."

Jiang Yanxue's blade was also raised.

"There are people in front."

Chen Chen's gaze swept across both sides of the port.

There stood several rows of shrine warriors, all wearing blood-colored talismans, dragging long blades in their hands, guarding a high platform.

On the high platform, a blood array had already spread across it.

Circles of red patterns were crawling along the ground, as if drawing seawater.

The Priestess Chief's expression darkened.

"They have started."

Chen Chen drew the Void-Splitting Gravity Ship-Slashing Blade. As soon as the blade left its scabbard, the underwater air pressure dropped.

"Then don't let them finish living."

He took a step forward.

The 25x Gravity Domain spread out directly.

The legs of those shrine warriors in the front row went weak, their knees instantly smashing into the ground, and they couldn't even lift the blades in their hands.

Jiang Yanxue rushed out first, a flash of blade light, and the two guarding the left side fell directly.

Su Xiaoqi followed closely, smashed a row of railings with one punch, grabbed a broken door panel, and smashed it fiercely at the crowd in front.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way, let me clear the field!"

With a boom, gravel splattered everywhere.

Blood Rose stood at the back, abruptly lowering her breathing, and pink poisonous mist spread from her fingertips, specifically targeting the priests chanting spells.

A few priests had just looked up and finished half their chanting when their faces turned blue, and they lunged at each other, tearing.

"There are still people over here!"

A shrine warrior was just about to rush toward the high platform when Qin Hongye fired a shot.

The bullet pierced through the murky underwater water, hitting directly from the opponent's chin into the back of their head.

She changed the magazine, her tone very flat.

"Continue."

Chen Chen ignored the perimeter and walked straight toward the stone door on the high platform.

Standing at the door was an old thing wearing white and red shrine robes, holding a bone staff, still chanting.

"The sacrifice has begun, the Sea God shall awaken, all intruders—"

Chen Chen raised his blade.

He slashed down.

The stone door was cut open from the middle, along with the old thing's bone staff, breaking into two pieces.

The old thing was about to retreat, but Su Xiaoqi had already rushed over from the side and slammed him into the wall with the door panel.

"Too much nonsense."

Even Chen Chen paused for a second at what was revealed behind the door.

The ruins of an ancient sunken underwater city.

The main street in the middle was still there, most of the buildings on both sides had collapsed, but in the center of the street sat a half-destroyed nuclear warship, a broken plaque above the bridge, swaying slowly in the current.

Shen Wanbing's holographic notification popped up.

[Hidden dungeon fragment discovered: Ruins of the Deep Sea Royal Court.]

[Takeover target discovered: Nuclear Warship · Sea Scale.]

[Current area level: Unrecorded.]

Shen Wanxing crouched at the door, looking up at the warship.

"This thing... is even bigger than ours."

Yi Chang's voice came from the remote channel, suppressing excitement.

"High integrity. As long as we take the dock master control, this warship can be repaired. Chen Chen, if this thing enters the city, the naval combat sector will take off directly."

Chen Chen didn't reply and took two more steps forward.

Just then, a tremor suddenly came from the deepest part of the seabed.

Something was turning over.

Shen Wanbing's voice tightened abruptly.

"Chen Chen, there is an abnormality with the Tier 5 Limb Projection."

"What is it?"

"It's waking up."

As soon as the words fell, that blood-red giant eye deep in the seabed appeared again.

This time, it wasn't looking from afar through the seawater.

It lifted up directly.

The moment the giant eye opened, a circle of Spirit ripples rushed out, and the entire underwater city ruins shook.

Jiang Jiuyou received the signal synchronously on the sea surface above, her face instantly turning pale, her fingers pausing, almost crushing the sub-command console.

"Chen Chen..."

Her voice came down through the communication, with a noticeable pant for the first time.

"This thing, it really opened its eyes."

Chen Chen gripped the hilt of his blade, looking up at the eye in front.

The next second, the system panel exploded with red text.

[Hidden dungeon: Ruins of the Deep Sea Royal Court has opened!]

[Current deep-sea coordinates locked!]

[Suggestion: Before the Tier 5 main body arrives, complete the first dock takeover immediately!]

Before Chen Chen could reply, a blue-white light suddenly lit up in the control room of the half-destroyed warship in front.

Immediately after, a hoarse mechanical female voice came from inside.

"Dock authority... back online."

"Unknown taker detected."

"Please state your name."

Chen Chen stepped onto the bridge.

"Chen Chen."

The mechanical voice paused for half a second.

Subsequently, all the main control lights of the entire Sea Scale lit up.

"Authority verification passed."

"Welcome, Taker."

But the next instant, the eye deep in the seabed suddenly shrank, and a harsh cracking sound came from the seawater.

Shen Wanbing's alarm exploded almost simultaneously.

"Chen Chen, the second wave of Spirit impact from the Tier 5 main body is coming!"

Jiang Jiuyou's voice also cut into the communication, with unprecedented urgency.

"The sea surface shield can't hold much longer!"

Chen Chen raised his hand to press his earpiece, his voice steady.

"Everyone, don't retreat."

"I'll take the door first."

After he finished speaking, the door to the control room in front slowly opened.

Inside stood a woman wrapped in old-fashioned maintenance pipes, wearing a half-broken mask on her face.

She raised her head, and her first sentence left everyone stunned.

"New Captain, you've come just in time."

"That thing outside was just saying hello."

"The real door has already opened by itself."