Fang Qinghao found a meteorite with a diameter of ten meters, exactly as Li Keyi had described it: a stone with many irregular depressions on its surface, and completely unlike the surrounding terrain. Therefore, Fang Qinghao felt it was reasonable to inform Li Keyi about this matter, leaving it to Li Keyi to determine if it was a genuine meteorite.
"It's a pity I don't have a camera, otherwise I could take pictures!" Fang Qinghao thought to himself.
Afterward, Fang Qinghao immediately surfaced, removed his mask, and headed in the direction he remembered the ferry to be.
Once on the ship, Fang Qinghao couldn't help but exclaim, "Guess what I found? You'll never guess, I found... at the bottom of the sea..."
"Ahem!" Suddenly, a series of rapid coughs interrupted Fang Qinghao's narration. Jiang Kui was frantically signaling to Fang Qinghao, clearly indicating that this was not the time to be saying such things.
Fang Qinghao shut his mouth and looked in the direction Jiang Kui was signaling. He saw a large round table set up on the deck. Qin Kowei and Shen Feng were sitting on one side of the table, while Gong Changfa and Xun Yan from the Heavenly Chosen Bureau were seated on the other side.
Fang Qinghao hadn't expected outsiders to appear at this moment and could only fall silent.
However, it was clear that Gong Changfa had overheard Fang Qinghao's excited words and quickly asked, "Did you find the meteorite? Where is it?"
Fang Qinghao's mind raced. He quickly changed his tune and said, "I mean I saw snowflakes at the bottom of the sea. Think about it, it's summer now, yet we can see snowflakes in the sea. Isn't that magical? What do you think?"
Upon hearing this answer, Xun Yan was immediately disappointed and said, "I thought you had found a meteorite! You should read more books. Have you ever watched Doraemon? Doraemon says that snowflakes at the bottom of the sea are the corpses of plankton, understand?"
Fang Qinghao showed a look of sudden realization and quickly said, "Thank you, thank you! I thought I had witnessed a miracle, but it turns out it was like this. Please forgive my low education, forgive me for being a nobody who didn't even finish undergraduate studies!"
Xun Yan shrugged, picked up a glass of water from the table, and began to drink. In such hot weather, it was important to stay hydrated.
"Are you really sure you haven't found any trace of the meteorite? Captain Qin, I've shared such important information with you, you can't keep anything from me, can you?" Gong Changfa, however, did not easily believe him and still suspected that Fang Qinghao had found a meteorite.
Qin Kowei quickly replied, "Don't worry, when we're out and about, we're all fellow countrymen. How could we hide information from you? Thank you for telling us this information. If we find the meteorite, we will definitely contact you. We will never keep it to ourselves!"
Gong Changfa, having received Qin Kowei's assurance, finally nodded in belief and then said, "By the way, if your ship is stolen, you're welcome to stay with us. We found a missing warship, and it's quite spacious."
After expressing his thanks, Gong Changfa picked up his water glass, drank it down in one gulp, and then left the ferry.
After the two had gone far away, Fang Qinghao asked, "What are these people from the Heavenly Chosen Bureau looking for? Would they be so kind? They tried to ambush us in Yanjing before, and now, before we've even caused them trouble, they're coming to seek cooperation!"
Qin Kowei said calmly, "The truth is, the Heavenly Chosen Bureau lacks diving capabilities, and all their detection equipment malfunctions in the Divine Realm. They are unable to find the meteorite, so they came to us for cooperation and also shared other information. Both sides agreed to share this information."
Fang Qinghao continued to ask, "Then what information did they share with us?"
"There are also ability users from other countries at sea, and many of them! They are all here to salvage the meteorite, about a hundred and fifty of them!" Qin Kowei said slowly.
"So many? That's more than ten times our number!" Fang Qinghao was shocked. When these ability users weren't around, no information was known, but once they appeared, there were a hundred and fifty of them. With so many ability users, they had no way to resist.
"What are you afraid of? These ability users are not all in one group. There are at least four factions, and they are all scheming against each other. We only need to deal with thirty or forty ability users, so you're too nervous!" Shen Feng quickly said. The sheer number of ability users didn't mean they were all enemies.
"By the way, what were you going to say just now? Did you find the location of the meteorite?" Yue Hengyi suddenly asked.
Fang Qinghao looked around to make sure no one else was present, then said, "That's right, I found traces of the meteorite. It's located southwest of our ship, about five kilometers away!"
Upon hearing this news, everyone was excited and quickly said, "Excellent! Finding the location of the meteorite is the best news. Let's go and secure this position."
Shen Feng quickly said, "Leave it to me. I'll use the strong wind to blow the ship in that direction. Guo Pinming, go and retrieve the anchor!"
Shen Feng hadn't expected the meteorite salvage plan to go so smoothly, finding the meteorite's location so quickly. All that remained was to discuss the salvage methods. In his excitement, Shen Feng was about to blow the ship towards the direction Fang Qinghao had indicated.
"East Wind Raging!" Shen Feng unleashed his ability, and a gust of strong wind blew, directly pushing the ferry towards the southwest.
As they proceeded, Fang Qinghao continued to describe, "But the previous data showed the meteorite had a diameter of twenty meters, yet in my opinion, it's only ten meters. Could the data be wrong?"
Li Keyi thought for a moment and said, "I hadn't considered that. But if you think about it carefully, it's not impossible! Only if the meteorite partially dissolved, and these elements combined with the virus, would we have a chance to gain abilities. However, the degree of dissolution seems too great. It's hard to say if the remaining part will continue to dissolve."
The reason ability users on land gained their abilities was entirely due to the presence of extraterrestrial elements within their bodies. Simply put, these elements combined with the zombie virus. However, the reason the zombie virus contained extraterrestrial elements was unclear. But since Fang Qinghao saw the meteorite shrink, it indicated that the extraterrestrial elements had dissolved into the sea, thus allowing the zombie virus to expand rapidly.
Li Keyi hid in a shady corner and began to ponder, "Meteorites shouldn't melt easily. They burn fiercely when passing through the atmosphere, leaving mostly metallic components. Yet, after more than a year, almost nine-tenths of the meteorite has melted. How is this possible? Could it be that this meteorite will completely melt in another year?"
While Li Keyi was patiently thinking, Yue Hengyi pointed ahead and shouted, "Look, the location of the meteorite is occupied! It's those people from the Heavenly Chosen Bureau!"
Everyone quickly went to the side to check, only to find that more than a dozen ability users on the water had occupied the area Fang Qinghao had detected. These people were rowing inflatable boats, chatting and laughing on the sea. To prevent being scattered by the waves, these inflatable boats were tied together with ropes.
"Move aside, people ahead! We need to pass through this sea area!" Yue Hengyi shouted loudly.
These ability users were all members of the Heavenly Chosen Bureau, and they now spoke up, "Why should we let you pass? This is our territory now. Come and fight us if you have the guts!"
Upon hearing this, Fang Qinghao's temper flared. He said to Qin Kowei, "Captain, give me a knife. I'll go and puncture all their small boats. Let's see if they're still so arrogant! I found this sea area, and they actually beat us to it!"
Ke Yiming was even more direct, saying, "Don't talk nonsense. Puncturing their small boats is too slow. Watch me set them ablaze! My 'Flying Dragon in the Sky' can even heavily injure sea beasts. These people are courting death by tying their small boats together. They clearly haven't read Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I'll give them a 'Fire Attack on Red Cliff' right now!"
Qin Kowei calmly analyzed, "Don't act. These people probably don't know the location of the meteorite. They just happened to come here. We don't need to drive them away. It's only a few hundred meters away, so it's not important!"
Qin Kowei did not want to fall out with the Heavenly Chosen Bureau. There were ability users everywhere in the Divine Realm now. If they fell out, it would only lead to mutual destruction, allowing others to benefit. Therefore, they should ignore these people, and they should leave after some time.
Thus, everyone endured and did not act rashly, planning to find a way to salvage after these people left.
However, a whole day passed, and the seven small boats of the Heavenly Chosen Bureau were still floating on the water. Sandbags were hung on the sides of the inflatable boats to act as anchors, preventing them from being easily pushed away by the current.
At dusk, Fang Qinghao finally couldn't stand it anymore and said, "With these people occupying the key sea area, how can we salvage the meteorite? Are we supposed to share the credit with them? Watch me use 'Vast Sea Boundless' to drive them all away. Do they really think I dare not act!"
Salvaging a meteorite was not something that could be done casually. With others watching, the salvage operation would inevitably be discovered. Therefore, Fang Qinghao couldn't help but make a move, preparing to drive away these annoying flies before starting the meteorite salvage.
After Fang Qinghao unleashed his ability, a huge wave rolled in, gradually forming a ten-meter-high wave. With such a high wave, let alone inflatable boats, even fishing boats would be pushed away. As the huge wave appeared, the seven small boats were immediately lifted and then pushed dozens of meters away. Fang Qinghao's ability was not yet finished. He was at sea now, where his abilities were strongest. How could there only be one wave?
After the ten-meter wave, six more waves followed in succession, each wave more ferocious than the last. The last wave was even twenty meters high.
"Splash!" The seven waves successively pushed the small boats forward. The fourteen people on the rocking boats were constantly tossed about. Many were knocked off the boats by the spray. Fortunately, they were wearing life jackets, so even if they couldn't swim, the life jackets would save their lives.
"Hmph, now you know how powerful I am? This move is called 'Dragon Gate Three Waves'!" Fang Qinghao said proudly.
After driving away these troublesome flies, the eleven people gathered together to discuss the meteorite salvage plan.
However, at this moment, a dark shadow appeared in the distance. Previously, no one had noticed the distant black dot. It was only when it approached that they realized someone was hiding here. At the same time, an angry voice came, "You want to keep it all to yourselves? Isn't that too unfair?"
Everyone stopped their discussion and looked in the direction of the voice. They saw that it was someone on a small boat speaking. The small boat had been far away earlier, and everyone hadn't paid attention, thinking it was just driftwood or something similar in the sea. But now, as the inflatable boat approached the ferry, everyone could clearly see the person on the boat – it was Gong Changfa!
No one had expected Gong Changfa to have been hiding in the dark all along. Seeing his appearance now, everyone was greatly surprised.
Fang Qinghao's face darkened, and he whispered to everyone, "I'll take responsibility for this. Say that I broke the rules and acted, but absolutely do not reveal the location of the meteorite!"
Then, Fang Qinghao stood at the bow of the ship and roared loudly, "These people were loitering around us and angered me, so I beat them up. Gong Changfa, if you want revenge, come find me. I don't understand what you mean by keeping it to yourselves!"
Gong Changfa slowly rowed his inflatable boat closer. The members of the Heavenly Chosen Bureau in the water also began to complain, "Boss, you must uphold justice for us! We were searching for the meteorite in this sea area, but we were thrown into the water. This violates the headquarters' regulations prohibiting private fighting, and they should be severely punished!"