Chapter 796 - 360: Squall Line! (Part 3)

Chapter 796: Chapter 360: Squall Line! (Part 3)

Riven watched the clear light spot on the radar screen, still moving erratically, and her smile slowly turned into confusion.

"Something’s not right... Lin, look," she pointed at the screen.

"The echo of a pod of dolphins on the radar should be blurry and unstable clutter. Why is our radar locking onto it as such a clear and stable target?"

Lin Yu’an did not answer immediately, frowning in thought about this illogical phenomenon. The dolphins had already moved away, but the light signal still remained, just moving more slowly.

He pulled up the detailed data of the radar signal, and while looking at its radar cross-section (RCS), quickly compared various possibilities in his mind.

"Corner reflector." A few seconds later, Lin Yu’an slowly uttered the words.

"Corner reflector?" Riven was momentarily stunned, then suddenly understood, "Are you saying there’s something with a corner reflector mixed in with the dolphins? That’s why the radar signal is so strong?"

"Exactly," Lin Yu’an nodded, pointing to the bizarre ’S-shaped’ historical track on the screen, and continued to explain by combining the dolphin’s behavior with the scene before them.

"Dolphins don’t only move during the day. On the contrary, night is an important time for them to hunt, as many of the fish and squids they love emerge at night."

"So, our encounter was no coincidence; we stumbled upon their prime feeding time."

"That bizarre ’S-shaped’ high-speed track is a rehearsal of hunting for dolphins, a highly social predator."

"Chasing, bumping, quickly passing an object among themselves... these behaviors precisely simulate the full skill set needed when surrounding highly maneuverable prey."

He pieced all the fragments together into a complete picture: "So, everything that just happened is entirely reasonable."

"A group of dolphins hunting at night found a perfect plaything, that buoy with a corner reflector."

"They treated it as a pesky big fish, indulging in a spirited chase game."

"That buoy providing a clear radar signal for us caused the signal source to change direction rapidly and have a misleading S-shaped path."

This explanation made everything seamless. Riven imagined the dolphins frantically playing with a buoy in the dark sea and couldn’t help but burst into laughter again.

"Mr. Monster," she teased with a laugh, "For a moment, I thought we were about to enact a modern pirate counterattack. Your expression was as cool as the hero in a movie."

"Likewise, Captain Riven." Lin Yu’an relaxed too, "Your reaction when the alarm sounded was faster than this ship’s system."

The two exchanged a smile, everything understood without words.

However, the ocean’s joke seemed to have only just begun.

Just as they thought they would spend the night in this calm, the previously steady sea conditions suddenly and without warning changed again.

The ship suddenly dipped sharply to port, then was violently pushed back by some force!

The sails began flapping with a "whoosh," and the autopilot issued a "beep beep" alert as its rudder correction speed couldn’t keep up with the changing waves.

"What’s happening now?" Riven instantly wiped the smile from her face, switched to manual steering mode, and her eyes darted to the anemometer.

The numbers on the gauge were jumping wildly, from 20 knots... to 25 knots... instantly rocketing to 30 knots! The starlight in the sky had already been obscured by fast-moving clouds at some point.

"Lin!" she shouted loudly.

Almost as she called out, Lin Yu’an had already put down his iPad, instantly entering combat mode.

He didn’t even ask what happened; just glanced at the anemometer and radar screen and made an immediate judgment.

"It’s a squall line!" His voice was calm and powerful, "The radar didn’t show it; it’s a rapidly forming isolated weather system! In that cloud just now!"

A squall line—those words are an ambush from the ocean to the ears of a mariner. It’s not a slow-moving cloud but an entire high-speed front composed of thunderstorms.

It often shows no signs on macro weather charts yet can rapidly form under specific conditions in local sea areas.

Sweeping over a calm sea, bringing fierce winds, torrential rain, and chaotic waves. To an unprepared ship, it’s a sudden disaster.

And at this moment, the disaster was already at hand!

In the few seconds they spoke, torrential rain poured down as if God spilled it from the sky, soaking the deck and them through to the bone in an instant!

The cold rainwater mixed with the fierce wind reduced visibility to less than ten meters.

"The wind’s still strengthening!" Riven tightly gripped the wheel, using all her strength to resist the huge force trying to twist the bow aside, "The main sail’s wind pressure is too great; it needs to be reefed immediately!"

This was her first time facing such dire sea conditions alone; her father was not by her side.

A huge pressure surged toward her, but when she saw the calm eyes of the man beside her, the trace of panic in her heart miraculously settled.

She was also Riven Montgomery, the girl who actively grew up at sea!

"Squall line! Prepare to reef the sails to level one!" Riven’s voice rang out in the wind, without any hesitation, but with a kind of awakened fighting spirit and strong professional confidence.