nycdaug Chapter 765 Undercurrent
Chapter 765 Undercurrent
Chapter 765 Undercurrent
Calida, Dover Strait.
The weather was gloomy, with thick clouds and a biting sea breeze blowing across the sea, while the waves rolled in the strait.
Dozens of AT-AT ferries floated on the water, their wide, flat hulls rising and falling with the waves.
This is the waterborne version of the AT-AT all-terrain armored walking vehicle, jointly manufactured by Quarter Dynamics Dockyard and Moncalamari Shipyard. It's like the standard AT-AT with its four legs removed, and it can carry 40 underwater assault team members.
At this moment, inside an AT-AT swimming aircraft, the cabin door was open, and more than twenty trainees were shivering as they changed their armor, braving the cold sea wind. They first put on thick black diving suits, and then fixed white armor plates on the outside.
A required course at Caledar Military Academy: Underwater combat strategy.
The Milky Way contains a wide variety of habitable planets, ranging from arid desert planets like Jaku, Jeda, Abafah, and Tatooine to planets like Kamino and Moncalamali, where most of the surface is covered by oceans.
The Battle of Camino and the Battle of Mon Calamari during the Clone Wars are prime examples of underwater warfare.
Therefore, officers of the Imperial Stormtroopers had to study courses such as "Desert Combat Simulation" and "Underwater Combat Strategy".
Similarly, in addition to the standard Imperial Stormtroopers, the Imperial Stormtroopers also have many specialized branches that use targeted weapons and armor to deal with combat in these special environments, such as: Desert Stormtroopers (desert troops), Lava Stormtroopers (magma troops), Underwater Assault Stormtroopers (ocean troops), Cold Zone Assault Stormtroopers (snow troops), Swamp Assault Stormtroopers (swamp troops), Radiation Zone Assault Stormtroopers (radiation troops), and so on...
The trainees are currently donning the special combat armor for the underwater assault team. This armor features a backpack with a built-in miniature propeller powered by a battery pack, a compressed air cylinder that can supply air for three hours, a helmet that includes an underwater breathing apparatus and a miniature binoculars with an integrated sensor array, and propulsion boots with detachable fins.
Fu Qinghai huddled in a corner of the cabin with his back to everyone, quickly and efficiently putting on the underwater combat armor without letting anyone notice the neural interface on his body. He then picked up a specially modified E-11 blaster, which could be fired underwater and also had a spear-gun device below the barrel that could launch harpoons with ropes attached.
"You may think it's too cold and windy now, not the best time to go into the water, but I want to tell you that war never waits for the best time. No matter the weather, when you need to go into the water, you must go into the water!"
Amidst the howling sea wind, the soaking wet instructor yelled at the trainees in front of him:
"Thinking back eight years, I was just an ordinary soldier in the naval forces, following Lord Vida in the conquest of Monkaramari. Those damned, cunning fish-headed men and squid-men were born aquatic creatures. They would specifically target the Empire's ferries and wave-skimming boats during bad weather, causing us heavy losses..."
As he spoke, he began to reminisce about the past.
Fu Qinghai was getting a little impatient.
Until the instructor finally gave the order:
"All in the water!"
"Plop!" "Plop!" "Plop!"
The trainees jumped off the edge of the swimming machine.
"Guluuluulu..."
A series of bubbles rose in front of Fu Qinghai, and then his view immediately changed to an underwater perspective.
The sea was rough, making the water very murky and reducing visibility. Fu Qinghai turned to look around and could vaguely see classmates paddling on their flippers, hovering in the water not far in front, behind, left, and right. Despite the limited field of vision, his goggles, connected to sensors, still showed his teammates' positions and the general situation of the surrounding environment.
"Test communication channel."
The instructor's voice rang in my ears.
With a slight, rough electrical noise:
"All the trainees reported to me in turn."
"Rogier, take your positions."
"Julian, take your positions."
"Reginald, take your positions."
The students answered one after another.
"Qingshan, take your positions."
Fu Qinghai also answered.
"Okay, everyone dive to the coordinates I've specified, hold your guns tight, and don't get swept away by the current!"
The instructor spoke and gave the order.
All trainees obeyed the command, bent down, and controlled the propulsion devices on their backs to begin a rapid descent towards the target location.
The fjord has a complex topography and is densely covered with aquatic plants. At any time, they may bump into the surrounding reefs and corals. Underwater currents are surging, which often toss the trainees about, and they struggle to control their swimming direction by paddling with their flippers.
After successfully arriving at the target location, the trainees began new training programs under the guidance of their instructors, including formation changes, spear and gun shooting, and energy shooting. Occasionally, some ferocious marine creatures would swim around them, but none of them approached, perhaps out of fear of the bright light from the energy beams.
"Now, disperse and expand the scope of the investigation."
The instructor then issued new orders.
Having become somewhat familiar with the underwater combat environment, the trainees swam off in different directions, and Fu Qinghai also randomly chose a direction to swim in. At this moment, everyone was already more than 200 meters underwater, and they had to rely on the limited light emitted by the searchlights on the side of their helmets for illumination. The seabed stretched downwards, and suddenly a dark trench like a cliff appeared in front of them.
Fu Qinghai swam straight ahead, carrying the blaster. He wanted to find one or two large marine creatures to test the power of the blaster underwater. As he swam, he looked up. Although everyone was wearing the same armor, he knew that the student to his upper left was the one he had once brutally beaten and humiliated.
The other person looked down at Fu Qinghai.
What was he trying to do when he swam to my upper left?
Fu Qinghai thought to himself.
The distance is neither far nor close.
Fu Qinghai withdrew his gaze and ignored him, continuing to swim forward. After swimming about ten meters, suddenly, a red warning sign popped up in his goggles:
"Warning: Oxygen levels are dropping."
Immediately, another warning sign popped up:
"Warning: Power battery energy output is decreasing."
Um? what happened?
Fu Qinghai immediately stopped swimming.
At that moment, the oxygen content display in the upper right corner of his vision was rapidly decreasing. Fu Qinghai turned around and looked behind him, discovering a large cluster of dense bubbles rising rapidly.
My armor has been tampered with!
Fu Qinghai understood in an instant.
Fu Qinghai looked up to his upper left. The guy he had beaten and humiliated before was hovering about thirty meters away from him, quietly watching him.
So you've been waiting for me here all this time?
Fu Qinghai sneered inwardly.
Since the incident in the desert where he was beaten up and humiliated by having his head stepped on, this guy hasn't made any moves. He neither reported it to the school nor sought revenge. Fu Qinghai thought he had completely behaved himself.
Within seconds, the oxygen level in his vision went completely to zero. His propulsion system failed, and he was swept away by the ocean current and began to sink. But Fu Qinghai remained calm and unhurried, calmly activating the communication channel:
"Sir, my gas cylinder has malfunctioned."
The communication channel was completely silent.
As expected, there was no response.
About thirty meters to the upper left, the guy was swinging his flippers again. Although the two did not speak, Fu Qinghai could imagine his smugness and triumph as he watched the person who had humiliated him being swept into the trench by the surging undercurrent.
But he didn't know.
Although Space Marines do not have gills.
But Space Marines have three lungs.
Fu Qinghai puffed out his chest and took a deep breath of the last remaining oxygen in the endotracheal tube. He puffed out his cheeks, held his breath, slung the explosive gun strap over his shoulder, and began to swim rapidly upwards, swinging his legs and moving his hands in a sweeping motion.
The boy thirty meters away panicked upon seeing this. He hadn't expected Fu Qinghai to swim so fast even with the propulsion device malfunctioning and no oxygen supply. He quickly grabbed the energy gun, aimed it at Fu Qinghai, and pulled the trigger.
However, the energy beam dissipated even faster in the seawater. The red beam disappeared after traveling more than twenty meters. His random firing had no effect, so he hurriedly turned around and controlled the propulsion device in his backpack to help himself float to the surface.
Although the eyepiece indicated that the propulsion system was operating at maximum power, he was shocked to find himself still motionless. He clearly felt a pulling force rising from his calves, and looking down in alarm, he saw Qingshan swinging his legs while extending a hand in a pulling gesture. Even though they were more than ten meters apart, a force was preventing him from moving.
The Force grabs.
Fu Qinghai ripped off the respirator from his helmet, letting the cold, bitter seawater rush into his mouth and nose under the intense pressure, flowing through the complex tubular organs between his two lungs, where he absorbed a small amount of dissolved oxygen to supply his body.
His gesture changed from grasping to pushing outwards.
The two air hoses on the other person's backpack were disconnected.
A large amount of bubbles poured out of the gas cylinder.
The boy was instantly propelled by the reaction force of the leaking compressed oxygen, spinning wildly in the water like a deflated balloon. His surroundings spun around, and he could no longer distinguish east from west, north from south, up from down, left from right.
Fu Qinghai swam past him.
Fu Qinghai didn't even fire a single shot, nor did he use any more Force abilities. He simply gave the guy a gentle push and watched him plummet into the abyss-like trench.
If one day in the future this guy is extremely lucky, and his body isn't completely devoured by sea monsters, but instead washed ashore by the tide, and is eventually discovered by school staff, there won't be any traces of murder on his body.
It was just a normal training accident.
Fu Qinghai gripped the blaster with one hand, pressed it against his side, and continued to shoot his legs to rise to the surface. His chest was cold and stinging; breathing seawater was not a pleasant experience. Finally, he saw the shimmering light shooting into the sea and the shadow of the ship's hull next to that light, so he increased his ascent speed.
"Wow!"
Fu Qinghai suddenly surfaced, opened his mouth to expel all the seawater, and then took a deep breath of the cold, salty air.
"Didn't you hear the assembly order, Aoyama?"
A questioning voice rang out from above.
Fu Qinghai looked up and saw his instructor crouching on the edge of the swimming vehicle, looking down at him. The instructor was also wearing underwater combat armor, so his expression behind the helmet could not be seen.
"My armor is malfunctioning, sir."
Fu Qinghai spoke as he floated on the sea.
"Oh? What's wrong?"
……
The underwater combat strategy course has been suspended.
All the swimming aircraft were concentrated in this area of the Dover Strait for a focused search. Shuttles could be heard whizzing through the sky. They even deployed two faster TIE fighter jets to search along the ocean currents.
The students gathered together and started discussing it.
Fu Qinghai sat quietly in the corner of the cabin, slowly taking off his underwater combat armor.
Having just survived a life-or-death ordeal involving an oxygen leak and power failure, he acted as if nothing had happened.
Fu Qinghai remembers it clearly: during that wilderness survival course, Yevander, Hussein, and Roxie, three unlucky guys, got lost and wandered off. Until Fu Qinghai found them, the Calida Military Academy did not send out any search and rescue teams.
After putting on his training uniform, Fu Qinghai picked up his underwater combat armor again and carefully inspected it, especially disassembling and turning over the backpack that integrated the compressed air cylinder and propulsion device to examine it. Then he put it aside and ignored it.
Three hours later, all search and rescue teams, both in the sky and underwater, had found nothing and had to declare the student missing before returning to the school.
…………
It was already noon.
Indoor Course: Introduction to Imperial Military History.
Fu Qinghai finished reading the entire book, "The Military History of the Galactic Empire," in less than five minutes.
Although the Galactic Empire has only been established for nine years, it has fought quite a few wars, mainly the conquest and reconquest of former separatist territories. Therefore, this book, "The Military History of the Galactic Empire," is quite thick. However, at least for now, they have not yet started building the Death Star, and have not yet reached the point of being extremely militaristic.
The military history book also includes numerous battles fought by the clone army, the predecessor of the Imperial Stormtroopers, so there's actually a lot to cover in this military history course. However, after carefully reviewing it, Fu Qinghai found that many of the battle accounts were overly embellished and romanticized, with more political propaganda than military research, so he lost interest.
After answering all the professor's tricky questions about the book, Fu Qinghai was allowed to leave the classroom early.
…………
Calida Military Academy, vehicle training ground.
At this moment, on the main road outside the training ground.
Fu Qinghai sat on a bench by the roadside.
He was waiting for the vehicle driving course to begin.
There was nothing he could do; he had finished his previous class early, so he could only find a quiet spot on campus and patiently wait for the other students to finish their classes and come over.
People were coming and going on the main road. Some students from the colleges had already finished their classes. Fu Qinghai sat on a bench and quietly watched them walk out of the teaching building in groups of three or five, chatting and laughing.
The cycle of reincarnation does not force the reincarnators to keep turning like gears, but their own relentless pursuit of power and higher levels often drives them to tirelessly strive for strength.
Military academies are also a type of school.
Having a rare moment of free time, Fu Qinghai gazed at the young men and women walking past, and couldn't help but recall his university days before entering the cycle of reincarnation. Back then, he had no interest in studying; his mind was constantly occupied with…
"Hi."
Suddenly a female voice rang in my ears.
Fu Qinghai slowly raised his head to look.
A girl with bright orange hair stood next to him, a sweet smile on her face. Her face was slightly chubby, and her jawline was a little square. She waved at Fu Qinghai and said:
"Hello, my name is Linda."
"Hello, Aoyama."
Fu Qinghai nodded and said.
"Ah, is that Aoyama who's number one on the list?"
The slightly chubby girl covered her mouth with both hands and said in surprise.
Can you please stop being so deliberate...?
Fu Qinghai was somewhat speechless:
You recognized me from the very beginning.
"it's me."
But he still answered.
"You don't seem to fit in very well."
The slightly chubby girl winked and teased.
"Ha, maybe so."
Fu Qinghai smiled noncommittally.
I have a seat at the bar tonight.
The girl's tone suddenly became low and full of implications:
"Are you interested in...?"
"Sorry, I have other things to do tonight."
Fu Qinghai declined with a simple smile.
"Oh? All right."
The slightly chubby girl raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips.
He turned and left without hesitation.
Fu Qinghai turned back and continued to gaze into the distance.
It wasn't that he was being pretentious; in his spare time from grinding for points, he didn't mind engaging in some relaxing activities that were beneficial to the physical and mental health of both men and women. It's just that this one wasn't his type—her face shape was too similar to that of a girl who would be a fan of TFBOYS.
"He's quite popular with girls."
A soft chuckle and a teasing sound came from the side.
Fu Qinghai turned his head to look again.
Roxie walked towards him with a slight smile on her lips.
People rarely use the word "handsome" to describe a woman, but Roxie is exactly that kind of look. Her features don't have soft curves, but rather a refined, angular beauty, with high-arched eyebrows and deep-set eyes. Her voice is also slightly deeper than that of an average woman, with a gritty quality.
"Are you finally sober?"
Fu Qinghai smiled and said.
"Hmph, I woke up the next day, okay?"
Roxie gave a soft hum.
Instead of sitting down next to Fu Qinghai on the bench, she stood boldly in front of him with her hands in her pockets.
"Shall we talk alone tonight?"
Roxie got straight to the point.
His way of speaking is also very direct.
"Sorry, I have other things to do tonight."
Fu Qinghai repeated the same words.
Upon hearing this, Roxie immediately raised his eyebrows.
"You're even rejecting me?"
She pointed to her face and asked back.
Roxie has always been quite confident in her looks. Although she knows she is not a conventionally beautiful woman, she is indeed a beautiful woman.
"What, am I not good-looking?"
Luo Kexi crossed his arms and looked down at Fu Qinghai.
"He's definitely not as good as your roommate."
Fu Qinghai smiled and nodded.
"Ha, I knew you had feelings for her."
Roxie grunted and rubbed her teeth, then pulled a black and gold lightning eagle wing badge from her pocket, flashed it in front of Fu Qinghai's eyes, and immediately put it away.
Aren't you going to explain this to me?
Roxie leaned down and whispered.
Didn't Yevander explain this to you?
Fu Qinghai looked up at her and asked in return.
"I want to hear your explanation from me personally."
Roxie suddenly stood up straight again.
His voice was husky yet had a touch of magnetism.
"Sorry, I have other things to do tonight."
Fu Qinghai repeated the same statement.
Upon hearing this, Roxie flew into a rage.
"So you're completely unreasonable, aren't you?!"
…………
Nighttime, in the dormitory area.
Fu Qinghai sat cross-legged on the bed.
His window was unusually open to the outside.
Fu Qinghai opened his camel-skin satchel, which contained a pile of handicrafts of various shapes and materials. These small sculptures seemed to imitate different animals, with three-dimensional shapes and lifelike appearances, as if they were alive.
Fu Qinghai picked up a bird-shaped sculpture and placed it in front of him. He then closed his eyes, began to mutter incantations, and made strange hand gestures.
The bird sculpture began to slowly melt, turning into a hazy, crystalline green mist that surrounded Fu Qinghai. Then, his body began to make a "creaking" sound as his bones mutated, and black, feathery stubble sprouted from his skin.
These are transformation amulets that Fu Qinghai made before leaving Dasomir; each one contains the soul of an animal.
Soon, a large, pure black raven with a wingspan of over 1.5 meters slowly spread its wings on the bed.
Then the giant raven flapped its wings and took flight, soaring from the open window into the dark night sky.
Fu Qinghai declined Luo Kexi's offer to "have a private talk".
Because he really has something to do tonight.
Fu Qinghai killed someone during the day today.
He was far from done killing.
…………