17: Talent! The joining of top scientists!

Dawn at Shenlan Port was awakened by a symphony of steel. Giant cranes swung, lifting heavy steel plates cut from the wreckage of the yuan yang feng shou and precisely welding them onto the damaged starboard side of Deep Blue 01. On the other side of the dock, the Panshi patrol boat was moored at its dedicated berth, undergoing its first post-combat inspection and weapon system fine-tuning, while the hull keel laying for its sister ship, Liren, had quietly begun, thanks to ample resources and the coordination of Zhang Defu's team.

On the base of the shore-based anti-submarine sonar array, a massive spherical sonar dome was slowly hoisted into place, with thick cables, like nerves, connecting to the newly built coastal defense command center.

The concept of a mobile Ark injected a shot of adrenaline into every corner of Shenlan Port. Lin Feng stood on the initially reinforced outer platform of the bridge, overlooking the bustling port. 9500 points were no longer cold numbers, but had transformed into a continuous supply of building materials, equipment, fuel, and food, supporting this massive construction plan.

["Primary Anti-Submarine Sonar Array (Shore-based)" Construction Progress: 98%! Final debugging about to commence!]

["Deep Blue 01" Left Propeller Replacement Completed! Power System Recovery Test In Progress!]

["Modular Habitation Module" Blueprint Research Completed! Exchange Construction Resource List Generated (Basic Material Pack x 20, Special Alloy x 10, Environmental Control System x 4, Energy/Points: 3000 points)]

["Sea-based Integrated Supply Warehouse" Blueprint Research Initiated (Points Consumed: 800 points)]

["Primary Fleet Collaborative Command System" Research Initiated (Points Consumed: 1200 points)]

On the system interface, the progress bar representing the first phase objective of "Raging Sea Ark" was gradually lighting up. However, a huge amount of points was also being rapidly consumed. Lin Feng knew that resource plundering and efficient production were the lifeblood of this grand blueprint.

"Report, Captain!" The communication officer's voice carried a hint of imperceptible excitement, "Captain Chen Hai has sent an encrypted communication from Manila! They... found Dr. Isabel Chen! The situation... is a bit unusual!"

"Connect him!" Lin Feng's spirits lifted.

Chen Hai's tired but resolute voice came through, with faint gunshots and the roar of collapsing buildings in the background: "Captain! We've arrived at the Pan-Asia Deep Sea Research Institute ruins! It's... absolute hell here! After the blight outbreak, it became a disaster zone, and there's also a serious biochemical leak inside the Institute! There are mutated monsters and armed thugs everywhere! Dr. Isabel Chen... she's not dead! But she's trapped in the deep underground laboratory of the main experimental building! There's independent oxygen supply and a strict bio-isolation system there, but it's also become the last isolated island! We tried to break in, but the passage is blocked by collapsed debris and an automated defense system, and there are also... fast, acid-spraying shelled monsters guarding it! A frontal assault would be too costly!"

Biochemical leak? Mutated monsters? Acid-spraying shelled monsters? Lin Feng's heart sank. The difficulty of this rescue was more than ten times higher than expected!

"How is Dr. Isabel Chen's condition?" Lin Feng pressed.

"We've made contact through the remaining internal communication lines of the laboratory! She's doing okay, but supplies are running out! More importantly..." Chen Hai's voice lowered, "She said... she knows part of the secret of the Abyssal Obelisk! Before the disaster, her team received a set of acoustic signals from the depths of the Manila Trench, highly homologous to the poseidon's eye but more 'ancient'! She calls it the 'lullaby'! She believes it's the key to understanding the Obelisk! But she needs... the core data hard drive and a special decoder from her laboratory to fully decipher it! Those things are right beside her, but monsters and collapses have blocked the exit!"

"Lullaby"? More ancient signals? Lin Feng's pupils constricted slightly. This information was priceless! The value of Isabel Chen had soared again!

"Chen Hai! I don't care what method you use! You must safely bring out Dr. Isabel Chen and the things she needs!" Lin Feng's voice was decisive, "Reinforcements! What reinforcements do you need? The Panshi is already combat-ready and can provide remote fire support! Or... exchange for special equipment?"

"Captain, the terrain here is complex; heavy firepower can't be deployed effectively. We need... heavy armor! Something that can withstand strong acid and monster impacts! And... high-power cutting and demolition equipment! Preferably... power armor and heavy engineering mechs! But... that's too extravagant..." Chen Hai's voice was tinged with helplessness.

Power armor? Heavy engineering mechs? These were indeed powerful tools for breaking through desperate situations, but even the most basic models in the exchange store required thousands of points! Lin Feng looked at his remaining points: 9500 - 3000 (habitation module resource list reserved) - 800 (warehouse research) - 1200 (command system research) = 4500 points. It seemed like a lot, but to support the entire mobile Ark plan, it was stretched thin!

Just as Lin Feng was caught in a dilemma, Deputy Captain Gao Qiang hurried over, a strange expression on his face: "Captain, the port entrance guard post reports that a... small sailboat is requesting entry. There's only one person on board, claiming... claiming to be a scientist here for 'recruitment'? And he specifically asked to see you and Professor Wang Hai."

"Recruitment? Scientist?" Lin Feng was stunned. In this chaotic apocalypse, there were still top talents actively seeking employment?

"What's his name?"

"He said his name is... Ouyang Ming."

Ouyang Ming?! Lin Feng instantly remembered that name! Professor Wang Hai had mentioned him many times in casual conversation; he was his close friend and academic rival in the fields of quantum communication and energy field theory, a top international physicist before the disaster, reclusive but brilliantly talented! He had lost contact after the disaster broke out!

"Grant him immediate entry! Take him to the bridge reception room! Please ask Professor Wang to come over too!" Lin Feng immediately ordered, a glimmer of hope rising in his heart. If it really was Ouyang Ming, his arrival might solve the urgent problem!

Soon, a tall, thin middle-aged man, wearing a faded but clean old suit, with messy, bird's nest-like hair, and thick-lensed glasses, walked into the bridge reception room under the "escort" of two Marines. He carried a bulging canvas bag, his eyes somewhat unfocused, but when he saw Lin Feng and Wang Hai, the gaze behind his lenses instantly became as sharp as an eagle's.

"Old Wang! It really is you, old fellow, still alive!" Ouyang Ming pushed up his glasses, his tone carrying the teasing of old friends reuniting, but his gaze directly locked onto Lin Feng, "You are Captain Lin Feng? Hmm... good presence, younger than I imagined. I heard you have a Type 055? And you got the sea god's tears? And even... provoked the Obelisk?"

Straight to the point! No pleasantries!

"Professor Ouyang, I've heard much about you." Lin Feng extended his hand, "Welcome to Shenlan Port. What you said... is basically correct."

Ouyang Ming didn't shake hands; he simply pulled open his canvas bag and took out several items that looked like homemade instruments and thick notebooks, placing them on the table with a clatter: "Let's skip the pleasantries. I don't have much time. I've been tracking the energy anomalies of the poseidon's eye, and I haven't stopped since the disaster. My observation station was destroyed by a group of madmen and monsters, but I intercepted the massive energy burst signal you created in the abyss... And, I 'heard' those veiled satellite broadcasts from the UNC."

He pointed at the complex, flickering waveforms on one of the instrument screens: "Look! These are the residual harmonics of the Obelisk's core energy field! And this..." He then opened a notebook, filled with complex formulas and geometric structures, "...I'm very interested in the 'lullaby' acoustic signal you captured! Old Wang said you're analyzing it? You're on the wrong track! That's not a language; it's a vibrational mapping of energy topological structures! It needs to be re-modeled using high-dimensional field theory!"

Professor Wang Hai leaned in for a closer look, his eyes instantly widening: "Old Ouyang! You... you've deduced the topological model of the energy field? This... how is this possible with individual effort..."

"Nothing is impossible! As long as the approach is right!" Ouyang Ming impatiently waved his hand, his gaze burning as he looked at Lin Feng, "Captain Lin, less talk. I'm researching this to survive, and even more so to figure out the source of this damned disaster! You have a ship, resources, and the guts to poke the hornet's nest in the abyss, which suits me perfectly! I'm joining! The conditions are simple: give me a fully equipped laboratory (energy field and acoustics priority), prioritize resources for my research, and... you must take me with you next time you go to salvage things from the Obelisk!"

Top talent actively seeking them out! And bringing critical research directions and results! This was truly a godsend!

"Deal!" Lin Feng said without hesitation, "Professor Wang, arrange it immediately! Allocate the best laboratory resources to Professor Ouyang! List any equipment he needs! Prioritize buying what's available in the exchange store! If not, find a way to build it!"

"Haha! Straightforward!" Ouyang Ming rarely showed a smile, then his face became serious again, "By the way, are you perhaps worried about how to rescue that acoustician girl in Manila? And how to deal with those iron-shelled cans (referring to the shelled monsters)?"

Lin Feng and Gao Qiang exchanged glances, shocked. This Ouyang Ming's intelligence gathering ability was terrifying!

"Yes. Dr. Isabel Chen and her data are crucial. But a frontal assault is too costly; we need heavy equipment." Lin Feng admitted.

"Heavy equipment? Money-burning and cumbersome!" Ouyang Ming scoffed, then pulled out a crude device from his canvas bag that looked like a large flashlight covered in circuit boards, "Look at this! My homemade 'Phase Interrupter'! A prototype! Its effect... isn't very stable, but theoretically, it can temporarily interfere with or even paralyze targets driven by precise energy circuits or biological neural signals! For example... certain automated defense systems, or... swarm creatures that coordinate actions via bio-electrical signals (like shelled monsters)! The duration... depends on luck, a few seconds to tens of seconds!"

Phase Interrupter?! This was practically tailor-made for the Manila predicament!

"What's the cost?" Lin Feng asked keenly. Such black technology couldn't come without a price.

"Huge energy consumption! It needs to be directly connected to high-energy batteries or... sea god's tears ore for power! After one use, the core components are basicallyWaste, and need to be remade." Ouyang Ming shrugged, "Also, the range is limited; it can't cover too large an area."

"That's enough!" Lin Feng's eyes flashed with brilliance! "Chen Hai! Did you hear that? Professor Ouyang has a way to deal with those monsters and automated defenses! We will immediately air-drop two 'Phase Interrupter' prototypes and accompanying high-energy batteries, along with a sample of sea god's tears ore! Once you get them, look for an opportunity to use them! The window of time when the interference is effective is your chance to break in and rescue them!"

"Understood! Captain! We await reinforcements!" Chen Hai's voice was filled with hope.

"Professor Wang, Professor Ouyang, the replication and testing of the interrupters are up to you! The faster, the better!" Lin Feng ordered.

"No problem! Give me materials and helpers! I'll get it done in two hours!" Ouyang Ming was full of confidence.

Lin Feng looked at the exchange store and quickly operated:

"Exchange: High-Energy Density Military Battery x 4 (200 points/piece)!"

"Exchange: Precision Electronic Component Kit x 2 (500 points/kit)!"

"Exchange: Emergency Air-Drop Buffer Parachute Pack x 2 (100 points/pack)!"

"Consumption: 4500 - 800 = 3700 points!"

Resources quickly arrived. Under Zhang Defu's command, the engineering team furiously replicated Ouyang Ming's crude prototype using existing materials. Two hours later, two "Phase Interrupters," simply reinforced and connected to large batteries and a small piece of sea god's tears ore, were carefully loaded into special buffer boxes and secured beneath drones.

"Hawk Eye 2 and 3! Execute 'Angel Delivery' mission! Target: Manila Pan-Asia Deep Sea Research Institute ruins, Chen Hai's squad coordinates! Cargo: Phase Interrupters! Be careful to avoid ground fire!" Lin Feng ordered.

Two drones, laden with heavy cargo, took to the sky, flying towards the smoke-filled direction of Manila. Everyone's hearts were in their throats.

"Now, it's up to Chen Hai," Gao Qiang whispered.

"No," Lin Feng's gaze swept over the busy Ouyang Ming, then looked at the huge silhouette of Deep Blue 01 on the screen and the Liren currently under construction, "it's up to us, Deep Blue, to seize this turning point brought by talent and technology!"

The engines of Shenlan Port roared, the wisdom of talent sparkled, and the wings of rescue had spread. The cornerstone of the mobile Ark was being solidly laid, brick by brick, upon this raging sea full of challenges and opportunities. And the fate of Chen Hai's squad and Isabel Chen would face its final judgment in the ruins of Manila.