Unless we turn back? That meant there was no way around it. Ethan ordered the Prinz Eugen to display the sea conditions ahead.
The holographic image perfectly displayed everything around the Prinz Eugen, allowing the people on board to intuitively understand their surroundings.
It could even simulate the environmental changes that would occur next based on computer calculations, though this was just a prediction based on the data currently available and could not account for unexpected situations.
For example, after the temperature dropped to tens of degrees below zero, under normal circumstances, this temperature should last for a period of time, and even if it rose, it would do so at a relatively gentle pace.
However, in this sea area, the temperature might rise to tens of degrees above zero in just half a day without any warning. Therefore, it was impossible to predict it in advance, and calculations could only be made based on the data that had already appeared.
"Based on the data collected so far, calculate the future environment and the number of whirlpools in the sea area ahead."
The holographic image began to change rapidly. In the blink of an eye, the image was filled with goose feather-like snowflakes swirling everywhere in the chaotic gale. Visibility became very low, and the sea surface and the Prinz Eugen were almost invisible, only the sky full of snowflakes could be seen.
After shielding the snowflake image, the condition of the sea surface was revealed: dense, massive whirlpools appeared not far from the Prinz Eugen. These whirlpools spread across the entire sea area, with whirlpools practically touching each other. Although there were relatively wide "channels" between some whirlpools, this area was not a safe passage. The complex currents created by the large number of whirlpools made these seemingly calm "channels" full of danger.
Ethan was very glad he had switched to the Prinz Eugen. If it had been the Goddess of Dawn, with its wooden hull structure, it would probably have been torn apart by the seemingly calm but actually chaotic currents as soon as it approached this area.
"Visibility is almost zero, the currents are chaotic, and there are dense whirlpools. In this situation, I recommend the Prinz Eugen stop advancing and wait for the blizzard to stop."
When Hill joined Ethan's team, she only thought she had come to a world full of seawater. Although there was less land, everything from the climate, gravity, and air composition was extremely similar to Earth. In this situation, she did not feel like she had come to another world at all.
It was not until she started helping Ethan test the Prinz Eugen that the various magical weather changes on the route finally opened her eyes and made her understand the wonder of this world.
So she was already able to adapt to this bizarre climate change and immediately offered her suggestion.
"Let's stop advancing."
Hill's suggestion was very correct. There was no need to force their way through in this situation.
Although Ethan had enough life-saving methods to ensure that even if something unexpected happened, the people on this ship would not be truly harmed, he did not want the Prinz Eugen, which he had just acquired, to be damaged here. Although Tony had set up "damage control devices" in various areas of the Prinz Eugen, once damage occurred, these settings would activate and send out specialized repair robots to carry out repairs.
However, these robots repaired the ship using nanodevices, which were consumables and not inexhaustible to be wasted at will.
The Prinz Eugen immediately shut down its propulsion system, but the intelligent system Eugen immediately gave a prompt: "This sea area has been affected by the whirlpool area ahead. Currently, this vessel is being carried towards the whirlpool area by the current."
This was more troublesome. If being tossed up and down by the surging waves in the blizzard was bearable, then being uncontrollably rushed towards the whirlpools was definitely unacceptable.
"Start the engines, turn the course!"
The Prinz Eugen immediately carried out Ethan's order. Hill did not express any opinion during this time. She was indeed the commander appointed by Ethan and had extremely high command authority on the ship, but at this time, she was not needed to command. Ethan, as the captain, was the one who could give orders.
Following Ethan's order, the Prinz Eugen began to move again. The biggest advantage of the jet propulsion system installed on this ship was its rapid start-up, which could take this steel warship with a displacement of over 20,000 tons from a standstill to full speed in a very short time.
After starting to move again, the Prinz Eugen gave another prompt: the sea current was getting stronger, and it was difficult for the Prinz Eugen to turn.
Eugen concluded through calculation that to complete the turn, they had to go at full speed, but this would also accelerate the Prinz Eugen's entry into the whirlpool area.
It was even difficult for the Prinz Eugen to complete the turn before being "sucked into" the whirlpool. Judging from the current rate of change of the sea current, the Prinz Eugen was likely to be sucked into a huge whirlpool sideways while only halfway through the turn.
"Does that mean we can't escape?"
"Yes."
As the distance got closer, the "suction" on the sea surface would become stronger, and the speed at which the Prinz Eugen was sucked into the whirlpool would also become faster.
"Why does it sound like a black hole?"
Everyone was originally there to watch the fun, but they did not expect to actually encounter trouble.
Fortunately, everyone was well aware of Ethan's abilities, so no one was panicked by this. They even had the mood to discuss whether it was scientific for a group of whirlpools to form a "suction" similar to a black hole on the sea surface.
Speaking of which, too many strange things had happened in this sea area. No one cared whether it was scientific or not. Since it had happened, all they cared about was how to solve this problem.
The temperature outside had already dropped to minus tens of degrees. When Ethan and Ada were chatting outside earlier, it was still a cool and pleasant twenty-something degrees, and Ada was wearing a pair of slippers with her long legs exposed, enjoying the breeze on the deck. At the current temperature, even those who had been enhanced were unwilling to go outside and freeze.
"The temperature is still dropping, but the rate of decrease has slowed down slightly."
Hill had been keeping an eye on various monitoring data. Based on her experience during this time, the slowing down of the temperature decrease meant that the temperature change had entered the later stage. Considering that it was currently only minus seventeen degrees, it should not drop to a terrifying level.
No matter how much black technology was installed on the Prinz Eugen, it was ultimately just a surface vessel. Although it accounted for huge temperature changes, it was not built like a spaceship that could withstand even more terrifying extreme temperatures.
If the temperature dropped to minus one hundred degrees, all Ethan could do was take everyone to another world.
However, considering that the adventurers in this world, driving ships far inferior to the Prinz Eugen, could cross this route, the temperature should not drop to that level.
Just as the temperature dropped to minus thirty degrees, the rate of decrease became even slower. Based on previous experiences, Hill estimated that the temperature would stop dropping soon and would finally stay around minus forty degrees, not reaching minus fifty degrees.
But the temperature was no longer the biggest problem. Snowflakes had already started falling outside, and everyone could already see the whirlpools in the distance.
Ethan had not spoken before. Seeing that the whirlpools predicted by calculation had actually appeared, he immediately had Eugen display the situation of all the whirlpools. At the same time, he also asked Eugen to mark the direction of rotation of each whirlpool and which whirlpools were almost touching each other.
"Captain?"
"Since they won't let us escape, we can only continue forward."
Considering that these whirlpools affected each other, the seemingly calm channels between two whirlpools were actually the real death zones. Ethan directly ruled out the option of passing through the area between the whirlpools.
If they could not pass through this area, then there was only one option left, which was to enter the whirlpool, then move along the direction of the whirlpool's rotation, and then use the power of the whirlpool to accelerate their departure when they needed to leave.
"Using centrifugal force?"
"That's the idea."
Eugen's calculation speed was very fast. At the same time as Ethan gave the order, it had already marked the data Ethan wanted on the holographic image, and then at Ethan's request, marked a "should be feasible" route of advancement.
This route started from the whirlpool that the Prinz Eugen was currently facing, then went from one whirlpool to another, and from this whirlpool to the next.
Because factors such as the direction of rotation of the whirlpools and the distance between them had to be considered, this route, when viewed from a bird's-eye perspective, was simply winding back and forth in circles.
According to the observation data, the "length" of the whirlpool area ahead was astonishing, making it impossible for Ethan to go around, but the "thickness" was average. If these whirlpools were arranged in a line, they would only need to pass through ten whirlpools to pass through this densely populated whirlpool area.
However, the route given by Eugen according to Ethan's request required the Prinz Eugen to pass through at least seventy whirlpools, basically requiring them to travel back and forth in the whirlpool area for a long time before passing through.
"It feels like some kind of amusement ride at a water park."
Everyone still had the mood to comment on this route of advancement, and no one felt that this was a suicide mission.
"Alright, gentlemen, find a seat and buckle up, we're going for a long-distance 'rapid drift'!"
There were many seats in the bridge, including dedicated operating positions for the driver, fire control, navigation, and other equipment, but most of the time only Hill was here, and everyone did not have fixed positions.
At this time, they all found a seat nearby and fastened their "seat belts" to avoid being thrown out and injured during this exciting drift.
Just at this moment, the sky outside was filled with goose feather-like heavy snow, and visibility had become zero. If it were not for a black technology warship like the Prinz Eugen with super-strong detection equipment, they would probably just have to wait for death.
However, for the people on this ship, this was just a slightly more exciting recreational activity.
(To be continued.)