The Drone Avatar swiftly flew along the flight path that Yan Fei had pioneered during his last trip to Africa. At three times the speed of sound, it quickly crossed the South China Sea, arrived at the Gulf of Thailand in Southeast Asia, flew over the narrow Kra Isthmus, and entered the Indian Ocean. Then it headed west, passing Sri Lanka and advancing towards the Arabian Sea.
In the end, the Drone flew over the Arabian Sea, entered the Gulf of Aden, and arrived in the Red Sea waters. By this time, the Drone had entered the surveillance range of the US Military Base in the Red Sea waters. To avoid exposing its tracks, the Drone dived into the sea, beginning its submarine journey along the seabed of the Red Sea.
After the upgrade, even while traveling beneath the sea, the Drone’s speed reached a staggering 200 kilometers per hour, faster than some high-performance sports cars on the highway. In just four hours, the Drone had traveled along the seabed to the entrance of the famous Suez Canal.
Once it reached this location, the Drone couldn’t continue submarine travel, as its path was blocked by the canal locks above. This was the Suez Canal, the busiest canal in the world with an extremely high strategic status. Therefore, both the US Forces and the eagle armies had established military bases here, with strict surveillance measures over the canal. Not only was the sky heavily guarded, but the seabed was also equipped with surveillance equipment. The Drone could no longer continue its submarine journey along the canal bottom, nor could it ascend and fly away directly, as it would be immediately detected by nearby radar.
The Drone was in a bit of a dilemma, but after Yan Fei observed the nearby situation for half an hour, he thought of an excellent plan. He decided to hide the Drone within the hull of a large oil tanker and blend in with the vessel to sneak into the Suez Canal.
However, this operation was extremely difficult. Other underwater objects wouldn’t be able to do this at all, not to mention fish. They couldn’t maintain the same speed for a prolonged period while hiding under an oil tanker. The water beneath the tanker was turbulent, and there was always a risk of being discovered due to coming into contact with the ship’s hull or of encountering the sharp propeller at the tanker’s stern, causing severe damage, or even dangerous situations like water ingress or sinking.
But none of this was a problem for the Drone Avatar. With the scanning of its Quantum Radar, the Drone had a complete grasp of its surroundings. Coupled with the precise control of the Auxiliary Brain, the Drone was as comfortable as a fish in water beneath the oil tanker, facing no difficulties at all. So, under Yan Fei’s operation, the Drone easily hid beneath an oil tanker and mixed into the Suez Canal.
The Suez Canal is 190 kilometers long. If the Drone followed the tanker for the entire route, it would take 5 hours. But Yan Fei didn’t have any time to waste, so shortly after the tanker had passed through the Suez Canal locks, the Drone below accelerated and left the protection of the tanker, undertaking a rapid submerged passage through the canal. Since it was deep in the night, and as the Drone was cautious and silent while traveling, nobody noticed the strangely shaped object passing beneath the canal.
The Drone undertook a high-speed submarine journey along the bottom of the canal, and in just one hour, it arrived at the exit of the Suez Canal. There, it once again hid beneath a large cargo ship, almost skimming the ship’s bottom as it left the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean waters.
The Drone had taken off from the coastal waters near Shanghai, at the far eastern end of the Euro-Asian continent, and had now made it to the westernmost part, the Mediterranean, taking over eight hours. After upgrading to Level 4, the Drone’s Energy Points reached an impressive five hundred thousand, allowing it to fly at full speed for five hours. If it reduced its speed, it could even fly for ten hours. Along the way, the Drone didn’t always fly at high speed; it had slowed down at times to avoid some warships and detection radars or to make way for passing cargo ships.
So even though the Drone’s total flight time was eight hours, it still had over five thousand Energy Points left. However, now that the Drone had just entered the Mediterranean territorial waters, this amount of Energy Points was obviously insufficient to sustain its flight to the mission’s designated destination. The Quantum Radar began scanning, locating a shallow area nearby. The Drone submerged and hid itself within an ocean trench in that area, then slowly waited for the Drone Data to refresh.
China time was at least six hours ahead of Middle East time. When Yan Fei’s Drone departed from Shanghai, it was 9 PM Shanghai time. After traveling for more than eight hours, it meant that it was now past 5 AM the next day in Shanghai, whereas the local time where Yan Fei was located was just past 11 PM the previous night.
According to the pattern Yan Fei had previously deduced, wherever his physical body was, the refreshing of the Drone Data would follow the time zone of the body’s location. Even if his body crossed the local midnight boundary while sitting in the Drone, the Data wouldn’t refresh until his body had landed locally.
Yan Fei’s physical body was currently accompanying the Drone Avatar, so although it was past midnight Shanghai time, the Drone’s data had not refreshed yet. His body was now situated in the Mediterranean, soon to welcome the local midnight hour, and so Yan Fei silently waited for the time of the data refresh to arrive.