Chapter 288

Chapter 288

Early morning.

The first ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds, shining on the devastated scene along the coastal highway at Port 7.

The mountainside had been violently torn open with a huge gap, exposing soil and broken tree roots to the air, giving off a mixed smell of earth and sea.

Simon's men had completely sealed off the entire area.

He stood at the edge of the cliff, below which was an unfathomably deep fog that swallowed all light and sound.

A senior security supervisor from Ares Group stepped forward. Looking at the destructive scene before him, his Adam's apple bobbed as he spoke with difficulty.

"Mr. Scott, the impact of the landslide was too strong, plus the fall from such a height into the sea... the chances of survival are basically zero."

"We... should start considering funeral arrangements."

Before he could finish.

Simon suddenly lifted his foot and kicked hard at a person-high boulder nearby.

The boulder shook violently, tumbled down the cliff, and was completely swallowed by the fog without even an echo.

"Funeral arrangements?"

Simon slowly turned his head, his voice squeezed through his teeth, each word wrapped in extreme suppressed violence.

"I need to see them alive or see their bodies."

"My brother doesn't die that easily!"

He grabbed the safety rope handed to him by a subordinate and roughly secured it to the tactical belt around his waist.

With bloodshot eyes, he scanned the elite team behind him and let out a hoarse roar.

"What are you all standing around for!"

"Get down there and search!"

With that, he gripped the rope and was the first to flip over the edge, dropping into the steep vertical cliff without hesitation.

The search at the bottom of the cliff was extremely difficult.

The icy waves, carrying tremendous force, repeatedly crashed against the jagged rocks, producing dull roars.

Soon, the wreckage of the black SUV was found.

The vehicle body had twisted and deformed under the massive impact, becoming an unrecognizable mass of steel debris, wedged between two huge rocks.

The interior had long been filled with sea water and was empty.

When this news came through the communicator to Simon, all the rescue team members' hearts sank.

No one in the car meant the bodies were likely swept into the turbulent underwater currents. In this vast sea area, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

This was the worst outcome.

However, the moment Simon heard this report, a spark of madness suddenly ignited in his lifeless eyes.

Empty.

The car was empty!

This meant they had gotten out of the car! They were still alive!

"Expand the search area!"

He pointed at the turbulent sea before him, his voice hoarse as he ordered.

"Get three unmanned underwater vehicles over here! Scan all the reef areas and coastlines!"

"Even if we have to turn this whole sea upside down, find them!"

One of his men climbed over the slippery rocks and hesitantly approached.

"Mr. Scott, what about Mr. Brown... should we search for him too?"

This question instantly froze the air.

Simon's eyes suddenly turned cold; that spark that had just ignited was covered by a bone-chilling coldness.

He fell silent.

The sea wind howled across his face, bringing knife-like pain.

Images flashed through his mind—Benjamin's face, Sophie's heart-wrenching cries, all the suffering the Scott family had endured over these five years.

After a full ten seconds or so, he finally spoke slowly, his voice so low it was almost drowned out by the waves.

"My brother went down with him."

"If he dares to die before my brother, I'll look down on him!"

Simon's jawline was taut as he forced out his final decision word by word.

"If we're rescuing, we rescue them both!"

...

At the same time, at the Scott Villa, in the command room.

Sophie's eyes were red as she desperately searched through mountains of data and images for any possible clue.

Time passed second by second, and despair, like a tide, gradually drowned her.

Just as she was about to be driven mad by those two gray markers, a scene forgotten deep in her memory suddenly flashed before her.

Five years ago.

For a coastal resort landscape design project, she had personally operated the most advanced surveying drone at the time to conduct ultra-high-precision aerial photography of the remote coastline near Port 7.

That data, because it involved trade secrets, had been encrypted and stored separately on a portable hard drive.

The hard drive!

Sophie suddenly jumped up from her chair and rushed into the study.

She frantically searched through boxes and cabinets, finally finding that old hard drive at the very bottom of a dust-covered safe.

"Juniper!" She immediately dialed Juniper's encrypted phone. "I need your help!"

"I have the original aerial photography data of the Port 7 coastline from five years ago, accurate to the centimeter! I need you to combine it with the latest satellite images, factor in the tidal data and ocean current models from the past 48 hours, and build me a three-dimensional dynamic terrain comparison model!"

"Sophie, you..." Juniper sensed something wrong in her voice.

"Don't ask! Hurry!"

"Send the data over."

Half an hour later.

A continuously calculating three-dimensional terrain model appeared on the main screen in the command room.

"Sophie, look at this location!" Juniper's voice was full of undisguised astonishment and excitement.

On the screen, a coordinate point was quickly enlarged.

"On your old map, there's a natural depression here completely covered by dense vegetation, very deep in structure."

"And in the latest landslide model, the giant rock mass that fell from above happened to form an extremely stable triangular support structure here! It perfectly blocked the subsequent mudslide, creating an absolutely safe space below!"

"And the exit of this space faces directly toward the most likely landing point for drifting objects that I calculated based on ocean currents! It's a hidden, small beach that only appears at low tide."

This location was extremely hidden, impossible to observe directly from the air or sea. Conventional search patterns would treat it as just a pile of ordinary rocks, overlooked even by the most experienced local rescue teams.

"Simon!"

Sophie grabbed the internal communicator, her voice trembling violently with extreme excitement.

"They're still alive!"

"I know where they are!"

She immediately printed out the coordinates and three-dimensional structure diagram and rushed toward the helipad like crazy.

Simon had just been hoisted up from the bottom of the cliff, soaking wet, his face showing undisguised exhaustion and disappointment.

When he saw what Sophie was holding, his eyes instantly froze.

"No!"

He almost instinctively shouted, grabbing Sophie's arm.

"You can't go! It's too dangerous down there!"

"I have to go!"

Sophie's attitude was absolutely resolute.

She forcefully shook off Simon's hand, her eyes burning with fire as she stared straight at him.

"I know that terrain better than anyone! The mountain structure, vegetation distribution, tidal patterns—all the data from five years ago is in my head!"

"Only I can find the exact entrance that's been covered up the fastest!"

"Simon, every minute we delay puts them in more danger!"

Looking at Sophie's pale but stubborn face, all of Simon's objections stuck in his throat.

Finally, he gave in.

The rescue helicopter's rotors once again produced a tremendous roar, flying toward that sea of death with a clear target and heavy hope.

Under Sophie's precise guidance, the helicopter hovered above the coordinates shown in the model.

The rescue team used ropes to rappel down and soon made an amazing discovery in a rock crevice almost completely covered by vines and rubble.

Through the communicator came a team member's shout, distorted with excitement.

"Report! The life signal detector is responding!"

"There are two signals! Although weak, but they're ... still alive!"