Starting to Gain Experience from Push-Ups

Chapter 1462: Chapter 705:

"If you’re good at swimming, you can go to the island’s diving club, rent some gear, dive down and try your luck. You might really find some antique treasures."

Fang Cheng smiled but didn’t engage in the diving topic, instead redirecting the conversation back to the True Thought Society:

"Listening to you, uncle, it seems the True Thought Society is quite influential around here?"

"Not just influential; in Yong’an Island, I dare say it’s equivalent to half-official status."

The shopkeeper slapped his thigh, his tone rising:

"Let me tell you, the local police station must invite the True Thought Society’s masters to handle major cases or strange findings from the sea that they can’t manage. They’re rich and well-backed."

As he spoke, the shopkeeper sighed, showing a bit of regret on his face:

"My eldest son, a graduate from a prestigious university, ambitious, wants to get into the True Thought Society."

"But their core member recruitment doesn’t care about diplomas; they specifically test for meditation talent."

"My son doesn’t have that kind of wisdom and doesn’t want to go in as a low-level laborer, so he had to give up..."

The shopkeeper spoke endlessly, as if unloading bottled-up complaints to a willing listener.

Fang Cheng stood quietly on the side, nodding in response at the right moments.

Only after the shopkeeper picked up his mug to wet his throat did Fang Cheng straighten:

"I see, thank you, uncle, for telling me this."

"No need for thanks, it’s just passing time anyway."

The shopkeeper put down his tea mug, waving his fan, leaning back in his chair again.

Fang Cheng bid farewell with a smile, turned, and walked out of the alley.

He didn’t look for other shops.

Since even the grocery store owner knew the True Thought Society had taken away the master craftsmen from town, visiting other small workshops would be a waste of time.

Walking on the road back to the beach, Fang Cheng’s gaze gradually turned cold.

The True Thought Society’s grand show of cooperating with the university to deploy craftsmen to build deep-sea probes is not merely for deep-sea exploration. It likely targets the secrets revealed half a year ago in the trench.

Apparently, time is tight, and he must proceed cautiously to retrieve the relics before their probe deploys.

As for those ancient relics involving radiation issues, the lack of a lead box is indeed a problem.

But thinking again, this time he came on Pan Wendi’s private yacht.

The "Sea God" yacht has considerable internal space, with an independent machinery room and sealed compartment in its hold.

By mentioning it to Pan Wendi, the retrieved relics can be temporarily stored in the yacht’s machinery room, utilizing the ship’s metal shell and hold structure for initial isolation.

Once the yacht returns to East Capital, custom-made lead boxes can be arranged at the processing center and transported back to the Care Association headquarters.

With a contingency plan set, Fang Cheng exhaled slightly and quickened his pace.

At this moment, the sunset glow grew richer, its vivid orange-red hues seemingly igniting most of the sea horizon.

Gazing at the sky’s beauty, Fang Cheng’s eyes focused as he quickened his pace.

It’s getting late; he needs to quickly buy cold drinks and head back to the beach.

.........

In the vast underground cave, the damp air was mixed with a faint sea smell and a pungent sulfurous odor.

Several high-power spotlights hanging on the cave walls cast cold white halos, outlining the trapezoidal altar built with volcanic rock at the center clearly.

At the altar’s top, the "Truth Stele" pieced together from ancient beast bones had completely lost the dreamlike azure glow it had half a year ago.

The stele’s surface displayed a shriveled gray-white tone, with several fine cracks spreading from the edges, seemingly prone to weather and collapse at any moment.

Zheng Hongxin, hands clasped behind him, stood quietly below the altar.

Compared to half a year ago, this acting Chairman of the True Thought Society appeared more old and weary.

The exposed skin on his neck bore an unhealthy grey-brown hue, with slack flesh faintly showing some dark green fish scales.

His breathing was somewhat labored, with each exhale from deep in his chest accompanied by bellows-like rattling.

Chen Jiandong stood to the side and rear, looking at the old man’s back with unrestrained concern in his eyes.

"Teacher, the stone tablet’s energy is depleting faster and faster."

Chen Jiandong stepped forward half a pace, his deliberately lowered voice echoing in the quiet cavern.

Zheng Hongxin slowly lifted his head, his gaze landing on the gray-white bone stele, exhaling a long, murky breath.

"The two-hundred-year grand tide has passed, and we ultimately failed to gather high-quality ancient relics to nurture it."

He turned, his slightly cloudy eyes meeting Chen Jiandong’s:

"The stele’s spiritual essence is fading faster than expected. If we don’t find a breakthrough soon, the foundation of the True Thought Society might end with this generation."

Chen Jiandong looked at the unhidden mutated scales on Zheng Hongxin’s neck, his Adam’s apple moving with difficulty:

"Your body... can hardly suppress the bloodline backlash anymore, right?"

Zheng Hongxin didn’t immediately respond, merely raising his shriveled hand to pull up the robe collar, covering those unsightly scales.

The cave fell into a brief silence.

Only the monotonous "drip" sound of water droplets falling on the rocky wall striking the eardrums.

Chen Jiandong lowered his gaze, his brow twisting into a knot of frustration:

"If the Chairman were here during last year’s sacrificial ceremony, how could those Noah lunatics dare to run wild at Yong’an Island? Even if they had the courage of a bear or leopard, they wouldn’t dare storm our headquarters building openly."

Upon hearing "Chairman," Zheng Hongxin’s originally hunched back straightened somewhat with effort.

He turned his head, gazing at the dark crevice leading to the sea in the cave’s depths.

"The Chairman hasn’t fallen."

Zheng Hongxin’s tone stabilized slightly, laced with unwavering certainty:

"Though the bloodline sensing is faint, I can feel he’s alive, just trapped in some part at the trench’s bottom."

"Is the undersea secret realm in the Abyss really that significant?"

Chen Jiandong clenched his fists, face full of bewilderment:

"Is it worth the Chairman abandoning the entire guild, risking his life for a solo adventure?"

Zheng Hongxin turned, pacing to the first step of the altar’s staircase, his skeletal fingers resting on the rough volcanic stone.

"You don’t understand. That’s the legendary origin place of the Merfolk clan."

The elder looked up at the colossal white bone stele:

"We, who gained supernatural strength through the bloodline, are also destined to bear the curse of our physique gradually mutating."

"The Chairman insisted on venturing there to find the source to completely lift the curse. It’s the only path concerning the future of the True Thought Society and the lives of all its members."

Chen Jiandong fell silent.

He knew clearly that if the curse couldn’t be lifted, their eventual fate would be to become deranged sea monsters.

"How’s the progress of the deep-sea exploration project in cooperation with Industrial University?"

Zheng Hongxin sighed deeply, returning to the reality of the present.

Chen Jiandong collected himself quickly, reporting promptly:

"The main structure is nearing completion on the welding. However, the extremity of conditions at the trench floor requires continual verification and troubleshooting of the probe’s pressure chamber and power system."

"At the current pace, it’ll be over four months at the earliest before we can proceed with the maiden deep-sea dive test."

Zheng Hongxin nodded, his gray-white eyebrows knitted together.

"Four months... hopefully everything will be in time."

He pondered briefly, holding onto some hope:

"Once that probe successfully descends to the trench bottom, perhaps we’ll be able to pinpoint the secret realm’s exact location and bring back the Chairman."

This was the last straw they could grab tightly.

"Teacher, in five months, this year’s sacrificial ceremony will soon be upon us again."

Chen Jiandong surveyed the empty underground palace, speaking hesitantly:

"Last year we narrowly escaped disaster; this year if Noah sends out a team again..."

"Noah likely won’t make major moves in the short term."

Zheng Hongxin interrupted, his demeanor more composed than before.

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