The next day, the sea breeze grew stronger. Staying on the deck for just a little while left a salty taste in the mouth and nose.
Wang Tianwei staggered in the wind, forced to grab the ship's side railing to steady herself.
The mist finally cleared, revealing a vast, sapphire-blue ocean before everyone's eyes.
A rope was strung across the Qilin team's boat, draped with kelp cut into strips. To prevent the kelp from being blown away by the strong wind, the top of each strip was tied into a knot.
This was mainly because Jian Jingyu had scooped up some last night and boiled it in the soup pot, and the taste was highly praised by the team members! As a result, the rest of the squad consciously began collecting this type of kelp today.
What a great souvenir! Purely handmade, no additives! The elders would definitely love it!
Huang Yan stepped out of the cockpit, saw the row of green kelp hanging outside, and let out a deep sigh.
"Sigh..."
Let's just pretend not to see it.
After all, they had forcibly thrown away Sister Zebra's "reserve rations" yesterday. If they didn't even let her hang a bit of kelp this time, she would blow her top.
A moment later, Jian Jingyu's mecha popped its head out of the sea. Wang Tianwei immediately clutched her pen and notebook and climbed over.
"How is it? Any problems?"
"I dove to 100 meters this time. There's only a little water seeping in at the seams, but it doesn't affect operation or combat. It's not a big deal!"
Hearing this, Wang Tianwei furrowed her brows.
"Still leaking a bit... I'll take another look later."
The Linghe metal was still too smooth; she needed to adjust the curvature of the edges again.
"Then I'll come up first? Haha, I even brought you guys a gift!"
Jian Jingyu's mecha lifted a large net full of various colorful fish, transforming and rising from the sea. Wang Tianwei's eyes widened in amazement.
"!!!"
"As soon as I saw the school of fish, I fired the fishing net. Sister Zebra, let's eat these today. Stop feeling sorry about that Star Shark!"
The net landed on the deck, and hundreds of fish flopped around, desperately trying to return to the ocean. Zhang Lyra had already started picking and choosing among them.
"This one isn't edible, this one doesn't taste good... We'll have this one for lunch later."
"Alright! Then I'll get back to work for a bit."
Wang Tianwei casually picked up a fish and walked to an empty spot on the other side, taking the opportunity to thoroughly study the structure of fish scales...
When the boat sailed into an area with slightly darker waters, Huang Yan dropped the anchor. After confirming there was no danger nearby, he approached Wang Tianwei.
"Sister Zebra."
Wang Tianwei looked up in confusion, only to see Huang Yan pointing downward.
"You need to go down there in a bit."
"Huh? Me?"
Wang Tianwei didn't understand why, but she still stood up briskly and agreed.
"Alright."
Immediately after, she heard Huang Yan lower his voice.
"You still have your impact drill, right? Come over here..."
"???"
Huang Yan found a hidden angle and spoke almost entirely through lip-reading.
Wang Tianwei managed to guess and understand his meaning, while the viewers in the live stream were left completely confused.
"What are they talking about?"
"It seems like he's telling Wang Tianwei to go into the sea and test her mecha?"
"So sudden?"
"I don't know, maybe they spotted some danger?"
Under the live broadcast of the "Little Bee" drone, Wang Tianwei feigned calmness, piloting her mecha to transform and enter the sea, before slowly sinking.
Ten meters, no problem.
Fifty meters, encountered a school of fish.
Eighty meters, the scale structure she had just modified showed no signs of water seepage. Excellent!
One hundred meters, turning on the underwater searchlight just as Sir Huang had instructed.
Sure enough, beneath the reef directly in front of the mecha, she could see a section of faintly glowing material.
This smoothly? Sir Huang was absolutely incredible as a human radar!
Wang Tianwei grinned from ear to ear.
"Hehehehe~"
Is this the Cangli ore of Planet Eshuinuo?
...So you're the one with the stable pressure-bearing structure that isn't afraid of seawater and high-salt corrosion, huh?
Wait, before she started mining, she needed to solve a major problem first!
Operating shiftily in the cockpit for a few moments, the "Little Bee" drone attached to the outer wall of the mecha instantly lost its signal.
She really had to thank the camera she had dismantled on Planet Kashile last time. It not only taught her the internal structure but also how to intercept the live broadcast signal.
Case in point, just in case, she had added an extra signal jammer to everyone's mecha.
The viewers in the live stream saw the black screen and had no idea what had happened.
"Huh!? Why is there no signal?"
"Tech support, hurry up and take a look!"
"Did it get ruined by the water?"
"When a kid goes quiet, they're definitely up to no good..."
"Is anyone paying attention to the precision of her mecha's scales? So making a waterproof mecha is this difficult..."
"It's not just waterproof, it has to be corrosion-resistant too. The salt content on Planet Eshuinuo is very damaging to mechas!"
The safety officers who had been following Qilin's Fourth Squad also grew tense upon losing the live feed. Could Wang Tianwei have run into some trouble?
Just as they were preparing to go down and check, they heard Huang Yan's voice coming from another live stream channel.
"How is it, Sister Zebra? Is it going smoothly?"
"One hundred meters, water pressure is normal."
...Strange, how come the live "Little Bee" lost its signal, but their own communication channel could still transmit voice?
It was precisely because they heard this brief exchange that the safety officers halted their urge to immediately dive into the water to check.
According to the competition rules, if a student was not facing a life-threatening situation, they were not allowed to show up proactively.
Over there, Wang Tianwei's voice continuously reported the situation through her three teammates' brooches.
"Internal and external pressure are balanced. The new scales currently show no signs of water seepage."
"A fish just bumped into me!"
"Oh, it's a sunfish... Never mind then."
Her voice held no panic, nor did it sound like she was in danger.
To be on the safe side, the safety officer still chose to lower the aircraft and land on the Qilin team's boat.
"Hello, sir!"
Seeing this, Jian Jingyu and Zhang Lyra hurried over.
"Did... something happen?"
The last time the safety officers landed for no apparent reason, it hadn't brought good news. Don't tell me another star beast tide has broken out?
The safety officer quickly shook his head.
"No, there's a slight issue with Wang Tianwei's live broadcast camera."
As he spoke, he pointed to the brooches pinned on them.
"Can I say a few words to student Wang?"
"Phew, is that it? Of course!"
Jian Jingyu unpinned his brooch and handed it to the safety officer.
"Student Wang Tianwei?"
"Huh? Goldfish, why did your voice change?"
"...I am your squad's safety officer."
"Oh, safety officer sir!? What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Wang Tianwei's tone maintained a perfectly measured amount of surprise, while her movements piloting the mecha to drill the ore didn't slow down in the slightest!
Hurry up! I'll grab a few more pieces and then I should head back, otherwise the secret will be out!
"It's nothing, it's just that the 'Little Bee' following you suddenly lost its signal. Do you know what happened?"
"Ah? I don't know, maybe the water pressure was too high and it broke?"
"...Are you okay?"
"I'm fine! Sir, you won't make me pay for the camera, will you?"
Scooping up all the exposed ore in one go, Wang Tianwei silently changed into her diving suit, wrapping her hair up airtight as well.
How careless! The mining function was still far from perfect; she would actually have to go outside and collect the ores herself.
After a long pause, the hesitant voice of the safety instructor finally came through her brooch communicator,
"Uh... as long as you're okay. We'll take a look at it once you get out."
"Understood, sir. I'll be right up!"
