She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 546

At that exact moment, in the command center of the naval flagship, Lucian's expression was freezing cold as he stared out into the chaotic, churning ocean ahead.

The situation was infinitely more complicated than he had anticipated.

The distressed fishing vessel, "The Providence," was situated directly on the disputed maritime border between the two countries. The violent storm had severely compromised the ship's comms. Even though Lucian had ordered the fleet to advance at maximum speed, they lost all contact with the vessel thirty minutes before reaching the designated rescue zone.

Robert reported, "We are less than thirty nautical miles from the last known coordinates of The Providence. The gale-force winds make aerial recon impossible. We have to rely entirely on the rescue ships breaching the center of the storm."

Suddenly, a piercing alarm shrieked from the radar console. The radar operator turned to the command center, his voice urgent and tense.

"Admiral!"

"Radar anomaly detected! Fifteen nautical miles south of The Providence's last known location. We're picking up a strong, rhythmic active sonar ping. Acoustic signatures suggest a heavily armed mini-submarine. Likely a Sea Fox-class!"

The air in the command center turned to ice.

Everyone knew the Sea Fox-class subs earned their name by being exceptionally stealthy and deadly in the water. They were the Eastern Isles Kingdom's most advanced aquatic strike force, regularly deployed for black-ops missions in disputed waters.

Its presence here was not a coincidence.

Almost simultaneously, an encrypted flash transmission arrived from central military intelligence. "Intercepted Eastern Isles military comms routed to their patrol fleet. The Providence has likely been misidentified as an espionage vessel. The crew is in imminent danger. A strike could happen at any second!"

Robert's face went pale. "Why the hell would they send a Sea Fox to intercept a fishing boat? We're talking about thirty civilian lives. If this goes wrong, we're looking at a full-blown military conflict."

Another officer slammed his fist on the console. "It's the Emerald Strait dispute! They're pissed that we're building military infrastructure on our own sovereign territory, and now they want to flex their muscles. It's a joke!"

Lucian's jaw clenched tight. His eyes were dark and calculating. The helicopters were grounded. Only his rescue ships could survive the storm to save those fishermen.

But if he ordered a direct approach to The Providence's coordinates, they would inevitably cross paths with the hostile sub, and potentially sail right into the crosshairs of the Eastern Isles' patrol fleet.

One fired shot meant the rescue mission was over, instantly igniting an international incident. The Eastern Isles would absolutely twist the narrative, claiming his fleet was providing military cover for a "spy ship."

"Can we get a hard lock on the sub?" Lucian demanded, his voice dangerously low.

Back at the coastal restaurant, the lights had been turned off.

The rest of the group, exhausted and intoxicated, had already returned to their hotel rooms.

Only Loyce remained. She had commandeered the restaurant's computer, logged onto the dark web, and waited.

Storm's icon lit up in the dead of night with a new message.

[Boss, intercepted intel from the Somali pirate networks. The fishing boat with the 30 civilians wasn't rescued by the Admiral's fleet. It was sunk by the Eastern Isles' Sea Fox sub. Only one survivor.]

Loyce's eyes darkened, her fingers curling into tight fists.

Seeing she had read the message but hadn't replied, Storm sent another.

[But digging deeper, this reeks of a setup. I just cracked the encrypted comms from the Eastern Isles' diplomatic channels. They *didn't* deploy a Sea Fox sub. Admiral Shapiro received falsified intel, and he altered his entire strategy based on it. Coincidentally, the Eastern Isles *did* have an armed sub in the area, and they received a phantom alert that "hostile armed vessels were approaching at high speed." Both sides were fed fake data. The Eastern Isles panicked, assumed the struggling fishing boat was a spy vessel, and after failing to establish comms, blew it out of the water. By the time the rescue fleet arrived, it was too late.]