At this moment, the cargo hold within the transport ship was completely empty. Not only were the storage crates that once held the Azure Crystals gone, but not even a single shard of ore the size of a fingernail could be seen.
Witnessing this scene, one of the squad members spoke in disbelief: "How can it be empty? The intelligence clearly stated that all the Azure Crystals were sealed in the cargo hold."
The captain regained his composure and punched the bulkhead hard. The dull thud sent a weak ripple through the seawater.
"Is the intelligence wrong, or did someone beat us to it?"
"Search thoroughly. Don't miss a single corner. I don't believe an entire ship's worth of Azure Crystals could vanish into thin air."
The other three members immediately fanned out, rummaging through rusted shelves and collapsed containers. But no matter how they searched, there was no trace of the Azure Crystals within the hold—only seawater, rust, and scattered debris.
"Captain, nothing over here."
"Nothing here either, just a few scattered empty crates."
"I haven't found anything on my end."
Hearing the feedback from his subordinates, the captain's face turned green with rage. What he found even more incredible was that, according to detections from their specialized equipment, the residual energy of high-energy ore had already persisted for several Amber Eras.
Upon closer inspection, it appeared this might have happened even before the Stellaron disaster.
"The energy residue spans several Amber Eras... in other words, the Azure Crystals were already gone from this ship before the Stellaron disaster erupted."
When the three members returned, the captain immediately shared his discovery.
"The Victor fleet's mission was to mine the Azure Crystals. All records show that as soon as the ore was unearthed, it was sealed directly into the cargo hold. The disaster came so suddenly; they shouldn't have had time to transport it out."
"It's not that they didn't have time—it's that it was taken long ago."
"In Victor's final communication, he mentioned that the fleet's engines had been sabotaged. At the time, we all thought it was chaotic infighting before the disaster, but now it seems—"
The captain paused, his gaze sweeping across the empty cargo hold.
"I'm afraid this was a setup from the start. Someone moved all the Azure Crystals in advance and then deliberately sabotaged the engines to pin the entire fleet down in Lusaka. Once the Stellaron disaster erupted, all traces would be completely swallowed by the ocean."
Hearing the captain's analysis, one member asked in confusion, "But who would have the capability to know the mining plan in advance, transport the ore under the fleet's nose, and precisely sabotage the engines?"
It wasn't surprising he reacted this way; the fleet ordered to mine the ore back then was no ordinary force. The fleet commander, Victor, was no minor official within the company. Silently completing such a series of operations right in front of him would have been no easy feat.
"Who has such capability?"
The captain gave a cold laugh. "Who has such capability? Aside from the Stonehearts, I can't think of any other possibility."
Another member's expression shifted slightly at these words. "You mean... this was the work of the Strategic Investment Department?"
"Of course. Who in the company doesn't know about our friction with the Investment Department? Aside from them, I truly can't think of anyone else. Furthermore, the Stellaron disaster came too abruptly; such a massive amount of Azure Crystal ore couldn't have been moved in a short time unless it was planned."
"Then Captain, what do we do now?"
"Keep searching. Logs, navigation records, encrypted files—even if there's only a fragment left, dig it out. The Azure Crystals couldn't have vanished; they must still be hidden somewhere in Lusaka."
"Yes, sir!"
After their brief exchange, the four-man team left the cargo hold and headed deeper into the transport ship.
The team remained unaware that not far away, Byrne was hiding in the shadows, having heard their entire conversation.
The Azure Crystals were moved before the disaster... This information was diametrically opposed to what Aventurine had provided. According to Aventurine, the fleet encountered the disaster on the third day of mining, and the ore sank into the deep sea along with the ships.
Did Aventurine really send him to Lusaka to retrieve the crystals? Or was this just a surface-level ruse for another purpose?
Byrne shook his head, temporarily suppressing his doubts. Once the lights of the four-man team faded into the distance, he followed them silently.
The corridors inside the wreck were narrow and winding, with rusted metal fragments occasionally falling from above. The team ahead had traveled from the cargo hold all the way to the cockpit. During their conversation, they arrived at the cockpit entrance.
The cockpit hatch was already broken, with only half of it hanging on the frame. Inside, the scene was even more chaotic. The control consoles were shattered, various wires drifted messily in the water, and several incomplete skeletons leaned against the bulkheads.
The captain swam forward, examined the console briefly, and ordered: "Try to link to the transport ship's database and see if you can pull up the data we want. No matter what it is—even a fragmented navigation log will do."
One member stepped forward and plugged a portable terminal into the database. Pale blue data streams scrolled rapidly across the terminal screen, though seawater interference caused the image to stutter and flicker.
"Captain, although the data is being read, much of it has been damaged by long-term immersion. I can only barely identify scattered fragments."
"Can it be repaired?"
"I'll try, but it will take some time."
The member tapped rapidly on a virtual keyboard. A few minutes later, he spoke: "Captain, the database is too severely damaged. The Stellaron energy seeped directly into the core chips back then. Most of the low-level data is completely beyond repair. I could only forcibly extract three disconnected pieces of information."
"Fine. Better than nothing. Distribute the extracted data to the three of us immediately."
"Understood."
The member immediately sent the three segments of repaired information to the others' optical computers.
[The ore has been gradually moved over these three days, and the engines have been tampered with. The people from the company won't suspect a thing. When the prophecy arrives, everything will be buried by the sea.]
This first segment wasn't long. After reading it, the captain sneered, "Exactly as I thought. The ore was shipped out in batches before the disaster, and the engines were sabotaged in advance. The fleet's fate wasn't an accident; it was a conspiracy."
However, compared to the rest of the text, the word "prophecy" caught the captain's attention.
Prophecy?
Could the Stellaron disaster be prophesied in advance?
In his understanding, the Cancer of All Worlds could not be directly predicted. Otherwise, it wouldn't have become a catastrophe affecting the entire galaxy.
With curiosity, the captain clicked on the second segment of information.