Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 125: Subspecies (10)

Dragon Raja 3

“That should be the most ferocious predator in these waters,” Caesar said softly. “As soon as it appeared, other creatures instinctively avoided it. This often happens in fishing grounds; when the direction of the color schools changes, it indicates that a large predator is coming.”

Lu Mingfei patted his chest. “You scared me! I thought a dragon was coming; turns out it’s just a shark.”

The hammerhead shark suddenly accelerated, quickly reaching the vicinity of the submersible with just a few swishes of its tail. It seemed very interested in this unfamiliar object, moving one eye to the center of the observation window to peer inside.

“Damn it! What are you coming over here for? We’re all humans with high cholesterol and fat content, which isn’t good for your health and probably isn’t to your taste; you can’t just eat junk food!” Lu Mingfei didn’t think he could read the shark’s expression, but at that moment, it felt like the shark was eyeing him as its main course for dinner.

“Don’t worry; it’s almost certain that there are no species in the ocean that eat humans. As you said, the nutritional composition of humans isn’t considered appetizing for a hammerhead shark. It prefers food that’s big enough and fresh, like a giant squid; it would surely taste like sashimi,” Caesar said.

“What’s a giant squid?” Lu Mingfei asked.

“It’s a type of giant squid, probably the largest invertebrate on Earth. The largest giant squid ever caught was 15 meters long. Its natural enemy is the sperm whale; they hunt each other in the deep sea. When the sperm whale pulls it from the depths to shallower waters, it becomes the whale’s food. Conversely, if the squid drags the whale into the deep, the whale becomes its meal. Some people have found large giant squid beaks in the stomachs of sperm whales, suggesting that there are super giant squids over 100 meters long lurking in the deep,” Chu Zihang explained.

“It has a lot of tentacles, right? The tentacles have numerous suckers?”

“It has ten tentacles, all strong like pythons. There have been reports of suction scars 40 centimeters in diameter found on captured sperm whales, suggesting that the tentacles of the giant squid that fought that whale were about 60 meters long.”

“Are you guys really discussing giant squids right now?” Caesar said.

“No, I’m not interested in marine creatures I can’t eat, but I occasionally care about the ones that might eat me. Look at the observation window on the other side; isn’t that the giant squid you mentioned?” Lu Mingfei’s face went pale.

Caesar and Chu Zihang froze, turning their heads slowly in unison. Outside the window was a massive, blue, ice-like eye, and next to it, a tentacle as thick as a barrel danced gracefully in the water, covered in suckers half a meter in diameter.

“It’s a giant squid,” Caesar mouthed to Lu Mingfei.

“Over 60 meters long,” Chu Zihang also communicated through his lips.

“No need to whisper; the two outside can’t understand,” Lu Mingfei said, though he instinctively lowered his voice.

“The giant squid can sense the vibrations of sound waves; it has biological sonar,” Caesar said as he searched for a way to cut the power and seal all the valves.

“Are you trying to conserve energy for the benefit of society before dying?” Lu Mingfei also mouthed. “They don’t need sound wave vibrations; they have eyes! They can see us!”

“They’re not looking at us; they’re in a standoff. The submersible has no temperature or scent, so they don’t know what we are and don’t see us as prey,” Caesar explained. “What we need to do now is stay calm and not move. We’re currently suspended by the safety line; if we move around, the submersible will shake. If they think we’re something edible, even a tentative bump could be problematic. Siberian hunters say that if you encounter a bear, never make a sudden move; you won’t be able to outrun it, and if you want to survive, lie still and don’t move.”

“But how long will this standoff last? I wonder if I can hold out.”

“Predators gauge each other’s strength through standoffs; it could last anywhere from a few minutes to an entire day,” Caesar said.

“I’m fine; I practiced zazen for a while in high school,” Chu Zihang said. “My teacher said that if faced with a life-threatening situation, a high monk could sit for three to five years without moving a muscle.”

Caesar stood up with a steady, balanced posture. “I’ve practiced Pilates; I can go three hours without moving. How about you, Lu Mingfei?”

“I… I don’t know about Zen or Pilates, but when I fall asleep, I’m like a dead man,” Lu Mingfei said cautiously, lying flat on the floor of the cockpit.

The submersible shook violently, and the safety line made a grating sound. The surging water battered against the submersible’s shell, and the entire area was disturbed by the two giant creatures. As Lu Mingfei just cracked his eyes open, the raw, bloody beauty of violence rushed in like an army. In the depths of the sunset-colored sea, the massive predators were entangled, thrashing wildly. The giant squid wrapped its ten serpentine tentacles around the hammerhead shark, while the shark’s sharp teeth sank into the squid’s head, with the hammerhead shark’s bright red blood mixing with the squid’s bluish blood. The tentacles of the giant squid continuously tore at the shark’s skin, and the hammerhead shark bit off a portion of the squid’s head, taking with it one eye and one tentacle.

“It looks like the shark is winning,” Lu Mingfei said.

“Not necessarily. The wounds on the squid’s head look fatal, but its brain is quite small—only about the size of a baseball. The shark hasn’t managed to damage the squid’s nerve center,” Caesar explained. “The hammerhead shark is in trouble; it’s about to suffocate.”

“Is it because the squid is constricting its neck?” Lu Mingfei asked. “But its neck is so thick; the squid might not be able to break it.”

“It’s not a neck issue. Look closely; the squid’s two tentacles have penetrated the shark’s gills. If the gills are injured, the shark loses,” Chu Zihang said.

Before his words faded, the giant squid’s tentacles withdrew from below the hammerhead shark’s head, leaving behind two trails of bright red blood. It pulled out the shark’s entire gill structure! The once ferocious hammerhead shark immediately lost its strength, thrashing violently for half a minute before slowly rolling over, belly up, floating in the water. Even as it made its last struggles, the giant squid remained vigilant, continually tearing at the shark’s skin and embedding its suckers into its muscle tissue. At this point, the outcome was already determined; only then did the giant squid release its tentacles, swimming a circle around the dying hammerhead shark. It expelled a jet of black ink and vanished into the depths of the sea.

Lu Mingfei’s long-held anxiety finally settled. In terms of weight, the metal-bodied Trieste ship was not inferior to the hammerhead shark or the giant squid, but if these gigantic marine creatures were to breach the Trieste’s hull, even by a crack, the submersible would completely collapse.

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