As Luo Shu began his second dive, a slip of paper drifted unnoticed in the dark waters of Site-167's Level -3.
Had anyone picked it up, they'd have seen a line of Spanish script:
"This is my dear brother! It loves to wander the Caribbean. Kindly care for it if found."
—Negro Perta, 1718
This was the rum bottle's original note—the very soul of a "message in a bottle." Without it, the bottle was just floating trash.
Luo Shu, having smashed the bottle, had glossed over the note in his haste.
Even if he'd seen it, would he have cared?
Who the hell was "Negro Perta"?
Unbeknownst to him, that name mattered.
Right now, Negro Perta's "brother"—another bottle—was ramming itself repeatedly against a fissure in the seabed near Guantanamo Bay.
And that fissure?
It led straight to Site-167's Level -4.
The Rising Threat
With each strike, the crack widened.
Seawater gushed in.
Site-167's flooding had never been natural—over 60 years, leaks had slowly filled Levels -3 and -4. Normally, the seepage was a bucket a day, easily managed by staff.
But now?
Negro Perta was accelerating the process.
As Luo Shu descended, the stairwell's water level climbed another step.
At this rate, the Bermuda Vortex's pool would be submerged far sooner than expected.
Deep Dive, Deep Trouble
Diving past 10 meters was risky for amateurs. Without training, Luo Shu clung to the Pickup Truck Transformer—his makeshift anchor.
But the truck was faring worse.
Water had breached the cabin, submerging the pedals. Its frame groaned under pressure, metal warping.
Worse, Luo Shu didn't realize:
An upward current—fueled by the widening fissure—was pushing against them, making descent agonizingly slow.
By the time they reached Level -4, water had spilled onto Level -2, lapping at the Vortex's containment pool.
Outside, waves churned violently, as if a leviathan stirred beneath the bay.
The Wall
Level -4 was a graveyard of crushed containment.
3 atmospheres of pressure had twisted doors, shattered safes.
Yet Luo Shu's Anomaly Detection pinged—something alive ahead.
A wall.
According to the map, the ocean lay beyond it.
A hidden Keter chamber?
Then he spotted the crack.
Water jetting through it—unnaturally forceful.
Before he could react—
BOOM.
A black, spear-like object pierced the wall, followed by a monstrous shadow.
The impact sent Luo Shu and the truck slamming into the far wall.
The fissure splintered wider.
The thing was coming in.
Panic Above
At the naval base, the Foundation's "CIA team" finally noticed the chaos.
Soldiers sprinted toward them, screaming:
"Below the water—there's a—!"