Chapter 115: The Sixth Anomalous War (３)

****

The operation dragged on into the night, unavoidably.

There was no telling when that mysterious vessel from China might return. They couldn’t withdraw just because the sun had gone down.

Even the “from China” part was pure speculation. It had merely been a ship disguised as a Chinese fishing boat—there was no way to know where it actually came from or who was on it.

The Head of Support raised their phone.

“Is this Headquarters Command?”

[Headquarters Command, Aide An speaking. Looks like this is going to be another late night. You could leave such a simple job to the underlings, you know.]

“Well, Aide An. How many science officers in this country do you think are capable of combat underwater?”

[No idea.]

The Head of Support shook their head.

“I doubt there are any besides Dr. Geum. The Catfish team’s science officer only has a master’s in oceanography, after all. It’s right that Dr. Geum goes.”

There were more problems.

Even dispatching one or two ships cost money in the hundreds of millions of won, and now Korean government vessels were coming along too. Someone had to coordinate. There weren’t many options besides the Director going to the scene herself.

[Thank you for your hard work.]

“Ugh, I’m dying. I get terrible seasickness too—looks like I’ll be spending the night on deck at this rate.”

****

The sea was pitch black. They tried their best to illuminate the surroundings with flashlights, but that was just a single candle standing against a black storm.

Perhaps sensing new prey, fish that looked like conger eels circled the task force. Watching the eel swarm—a mass of tentacles—made her stomach churn.

Disgusting.

“Entering.”

In the distance, a large unidentified fish scraped along the seabed.

[Given the damage concentrated on the lower hull, it looks like it was hit by a mine. Though it’s hard to tell just from this.]

We entered the vessel one by one.

A wall of marine life greeted us. Whether resting or there for some other reason, countless fish drifted through the interior of the ship.

[Tracks of tools. Probably left by the people who were here until just now. For now, let’s look for anything unusual inside the vessel.]

The Catfish team leader stopped speaking.

[Uh, they left their tools behind…?]

No way they left them. That means they haven’t left yet. I quietly loaded my needle gun, and the other task force members followed suit.

“Turn off all lights. We move in stealth. The diving helmet’s augmented reality will show us what we need to see.”

****

Underwater changed nothing. Using night-vision equipment, we killed all light and moved with muzzles forward. Though it was my first time fighting underwater.

[Catfish-1. I’d like to evacuate you, but right now staying with the task force is the safest option. I ask for your understanding, Director.]

“I have no intention of fleeing alone.”

[Take cover.]

The unknown enemy seemed to have caught on. A faint red flashlight beam was visible in the distance. Following the Catfish team leader’s hand signals, I took cover behind the terrain features inside the vessel.

I wonder how you’d die if you got shot in the deep sea.

Would the bullets have less stopping power in water? Or, being needles, would they just stick in? I didn’t have any ballistic armor anyway.

If you bled underwater, the blood would dissolve into the water and never properly clot. There might be no way to stop the bleeding at all. If the wound was on a limb, maybe a tourniquet would work.

Come to think of it. If a bullet pierced the ribcage, water would pour straight in. Then it’d be instant death, no question.

Following the Catfish team leader’s hand signals, I pressed my body tighter against the wall. I could hear the sound of water being churned. Someone was coming this way. The team leader pulled an awl from their belt. I did the same.

Suppressors don’t work underwater. If we fired a shot, anyone within a kilometer with acoustic equipment would know exactly where we were.

They probably already knew we were here. But they’d know the specifics—that we’d come in armed with guns.

The fact that the enemy was coming with a flashlight on suggested they were less equipped and prepared than we were. The team leader and I watched the enemy approach slowly…

Two enemies passed in front of us.

The team leader lunged first, like an arrow, and stabbed one of them. They spat bubbles for a few seconds, but their movements stopped almost immediately. The one passing in front of me tried to grasp the situation and flee, but I drove my awl into their leg.

The team leader, having dealt with one on their side, stabbed the second person from behind as well. Just as I’d been deliberating earlier. This one also died the moment a hole was punched through their ribcage.

A reddish-brown liquid obscured my vision.

The two corpses kept twitching—whether from rigor mortis or their bodies readjusting to the water pressure. Dead was dead, though.

[This is Catfish-1. Two hostiles neutralized.]

There was something I needed to check. I stabbed the body once more with my awl to ensure neutralization, then detached the respirator from the corpse and examined it.

They were carrying a needle gun usable underwater, in a manner similar to ours. Looking closely, it seemed to be the same gun.

There should be some lettering somewhere. Ah, found it. I can’t read Chinese, but I know what’s written here is Simplified Chinese characters.

“This is Catfish-6. Confirmed that the neutralized personnel were using Chinese equipment.”

Of course, it was unlikely anyone other than the team leader could hear me. Still, it was worth a try.

[Are they Chinese?]

“Well, it’s written in Chinese, so probably.”

But whether they belonged to the Chinese government, a private company, or a Group of Interest, I had no idea. Because I couldn’t read Chinese.

And that kind of information probably wouldn’t be written on it anyway.

[Let’s move for now. Hide the bodies in a corner somewhere. There’s a chance the enemy has noticed someone died, so be extra careful.]

I nodded.

That aside. I’d heard the enemy vessel that tried to salvage the warship had already withdrawn, but was there an enemy submersible somewhere? Or were they planning to come back later for the recovery of their personnel?

Maybe they just abandoned them.

I wondered if we should have captured one and questioned them. But then again, attempting conversation without knowing who the enemy even was would have been far too dangerous.

****

We advanced through the darkness once more. The water was still murky. The ship’s interior walls were completely covered in coral and barnacles.

On the surface, night vision goggles make everything look like broad daylight, but the night vision performance of the diving helmet was lackluster. It only highlighted analyzed footage from the camera as augmented reality.

How many enemies were there?

There were six of us. It didn’t seem likely the enemy had more than that diving. Though I couldn’t tell what the enemy wanted or what they were doing.

[Enemy!]

This time we met head-on, with no way to hide. I opened fire immediately. The enemy tried to return fire, but… they were a step too slow. They were no match for us, hiding in the dark without even a flashlight.

The bodies drifted through the water. The flashlight the enemy had been using illuminated the red streams of blood spreading in every direction.

[This is Catfish-1. Two more hostiles neutralized.]

I gritted my teeth. My heartbeat was so loud I could barely hear the comms.

Part of it was the fear of combat, but more than that. The darkness and the endless abyss of the deep sea were what terrified me. This ship, filled with grotesque creatures like the carcass of a leviathan, did nothing to ease that dread.

[Are you alright?]

“I’m fine. Let’s continue the operation.”

There probably weren’t many enemies left now. Moving to the next phase of the operation. Finding out why this ship sank, and what it had been carrying.

The interior of the ship was so dark you couldn’t see an inch ahead. If I turned off the night vision equipment, all I’d see would be black. The only unsettling thing was the occasional fish brushing against my collar.

I’d been deployed on countless missions and faced countless nightmares. But nothing was as terrifying as the sea.

****

[SURCOUF-CLASS SUBMARINE CRUISER]

[Filed by: Head of Support Lee Hwa]

[Written aboard the Feynman. This document is being filed in a hurry, so it’s rough. Please bear with me. HQ command center, please provide investigative support.]

[First off, congratulations on the overtime, everyone.]

[Information from the survey results. So—over 100 meters in length, a long deck, and a large turret. As far as I know, there’s only one ship class that satisfies all of these: the Surcouf-class submarine cruiser.]

[I’m guessing it’s French-made.]

[However, the Foundation doesn’t have well-preserved records from World War II. There’s a strong possibility they were deliberately hidden.]

[And—this is just my speculation—but I don’t think the front lines of the Anomalous War were drawn the same way history records them.]

[There’s little evidence of large warships engaging each other in the waters around the Korean Peninsula during the Pacific War. I’m guessing this might be a vessel that sank during the Korean War.]

[The story gets a bit complicated, doesn’t it.]

[Whose ship is this, exactly—French, or a Foundation vessel?]

[If it’s French, which of the many Frances that existed during WWII does it belong to? And why was this ship fighting in the Korean War?]

[Most importantly—whose side was it on, and what was it fighting against? The People’s Army, simply? Somehow, that doesn’t seem right.]

[If possible, let’s try to salvage the whole thing.]