There were only Chen Xiao and Lao Tian on the yacht when they went out to sea; there was no one else on board.
Fresh water and food supplies are already plentiful.
Old Tian, a fellow born during the Ming Dynasty in ancient China, actually knew how to drive a yacht. The two headed east, sailing at sea for a full day and night.
Chen Xiao's geographical knowledge told him that heading east would lead to the South Pacific Ocean.
"The headquarters is located on an island, which, geographically speaking, should theoretically be within Australia's territorial waters. However..." Old Tian paused, then smiled mysteriously, "However, you absolutely cannot find this island on any world map, or on any official or tourist map of Australia!"
Chen Xiao raised an eyebrow.
Old Tian pointed to a blank dot on the nautical map.
"Right here. This is our home."
"home?"
“Yes, that’s the name of the headquarters.” Old Tian’s gaze was somewhat complicated when he mentioned “Homeland”.
According to Lao Tian's introduction.
This island, located at the intersection of Australia's eastern territorial waters and the high seas of the South Pacific—this island known as "Homeland"—is where the service agency's headquarters are located.
This is an island with an area of approximately two square kilometers! However, this island does not exist on any officially published map!
In other words, for the vast majority of people in this world, this island "does not exist"!
"You know, the service has a long history, over two hundred years... Hmph, back when Australia was a British colony, the service bought the island from the British government a long time ago. It was a secret transaction because the British government would never admit to such a thing: the British Empire selling out its own territory? That would be the biggest scandal ever."
Old Tian smiled strangely: "Do you know how much it cost the service agency to buy this island from the British government back then?"
Chen Xiao thought for a moment... An island of over two thousand square kilometers is roughly the size of a medium-sized city. Such a large piece of land must be quite valuable... especially since it was bought from a country!
“One pound,” Old Tian said with a smile.
Chen Xiao's eyes finally widened: "...One, one pound?!"
"Otherwise, how much do you think it would be?" Old Tian laughed easily. "Chen Xiao, while ordinary people may not know about our existence, some high-ranking government officials in certain countries aren't blind or deaf! For two centuries, organizations like ours have had various contacts with governments of some countries, including friction, struggle, and cooperation. However, with the changing times, we've basically reached a state of non-interference. They tacitly acknowledge our existence—as long as we don't interfere with the normal operation of this world."
After a pause, Lao Tian smiled faintly: "Even if they wanted to, they couldn't refuse. An A-level superpowered individual could transform into the world's most terrifying warrior or a destroyer if they wanted to. No country would want to easily provoke a large superpowered organization."
"So... the British government gave you this island of over two thousand square kilometers for one pound two centuries ago?"
“Yes, it was indeed a gift.” Old Tian shrugged. “However, the British government is very concerned about its image. I heard that the deal back then was quite interesting. They had to give us such a place, but they needed a good excuse internally. In the end, the King of England had to write a top-secret decree, bestowing the title of noble upon the head of the service company at the time, and then granting him the island as his private territory in this way.”
After a pause, Lao Tian continued, "However, of course, this decree of investiture is absolutely not recorded in any publicly available documents; it only exists in the highly confidential archives of the British Royal Family and the British government."
After a night at sea, dawn was breaking. Old Tian checked the instruments and confirmed the ship's location.
"Hmm, we're almost at the edge of our home territory."
After saying that, he suddenly ran to the back cabin and rummaged around for a while before finally finding a metal instrument.
The object looked rather dilapidated, even a bit rusty. It resembled a small television satellite device, an inverted, frying pan-shaped umbrella-like satellite with a circular base. Chen Xiao could clearly see patches of rust on it, likely due to the humid air at sea.
Old Tian carefully placed the device on the bow of the boat, then pressed a button on it. Soon, an indicator light under the satellite lit up, first red, then quickly turning green.
"Alright. The signal is connected, we can go home now." Old Tian's expression also showed some joy: "It's been a long time since I've been back here."
"Uh... what is this?" Chen Xiao couldn't help but ask.
"This? Well... it's like an entry card." Old Tian said casually, "After all, this is the headquarters of the service company. Do you think just any ship can approach the home island? Only by opening this thing and establishing a signal connection with the home island will you be recognized as one of our own and be able to enter the home island's waters smoothly."
"What if... we didn't have this device?" Chen Xiao couldn't help but ask.
Old Tian seemed to say with a hint of disdain, "Don't worry, without this thing... Hmph, even if the US sends an entire carrier strike group, they won't be able to get close to our homeland!"
Chapter 88 [Arrival on the Island]
Chen Xiao didn't speak. Old Tian glanced at him and asked, "What, you don't believe me?"
He pointed to the small satellite device placed at the bow of the ship: "Do you think this thing is too inconspicuous, not as amazing as I described?"
"...A little." Chen Xiao nodded sheepishly. The thing looked shabby and worn out, not much different from a satellite TV receiver that you could buy for a couple thousand yuan in China. And...it was covered in rust, it really didn't look like something high-tech.
Old Tian smiled but didn't offer any further explanation.
He quickly began to slow the yacht down. Ahead, a large area of fog appeared.
The yacht veered straight into the vast expanse of white fog.
Despite the extremely low visibility, Lao Tian effortlessly steered the yacht, even whistling leisurely—except that he was wearing a detector.
Chen Xiao couldn't help but ask, "You... with such thick fog, aren't you afraid of hitting rocks or something?"
"You can use a detector to take a look."
Chen Xiao did as instructed and took out his detector. As soon as he turned it on, a strange scene appeared on the lens of his left eye!
Inside the detector, the vast expanse of white mist before them was... not white at all!
The surrounding area was a vast expanse of pale dark red! And within this vast expanse of dark red, there was a faint blank area!
He immediately removed the detector, examined it, and then put it back on...
To the naked eye, it appeared as a large expanse of white fog. However, on the detector's display, it turned into a red area, with a path visible in the middle!
"This is the entrance." Old Tian smiled slightly.