The pale spatial rift, guarded by the “Wall Breaker,” hung eerily above the ten-thousand-meter seabed, like a single eye opened by the abyss.
Viscous, milky-white energy streams slowly writhed along the edge of the opening, each subtle ripple tugging at the massive, mucus-covered body of the stitched behemoth below.
Its four chaotic eyes were fixed on the luminous hole, and from deep within its throat, a chilling “gurgle… crack…” whisper continuously emanated, as if performing some blasphemous prayer or summons.
Around it, deep-sea creatures, disturbed by the intense light, had long since fled without a trace, leaving only dead silence and the bizarre tableau formed by the twisted guardian.
All of this was like a malignant tumor buried deep within Blue Star’s heart, yet to be detected by any human creation.
......
Great Dragon Country.
East Sea.
East Sea Fishery.
On the deck of “Ludong Yu 768.”
Dawn.
Local time 04:55:18
The pre-dawn sea breeze, with its biting damp cold, lashed against the massive steel hull of “Ludong Yu 768.”
The huge trawl winch groaned like a dying beast, “creak… creak…,” slowly retrieving the massive net submerged three hundred meters deep.
The searchlight’s pale beam cut through the thick night, illuminating the churning black sea surface with an eerie glow.
“One! Two! Heave-ho!!”
Captain Zhao Dahai’s hoarse roar cut through the engine’s rumble; his bronzed face was taut, and his calloused hands gripped the cold, wet ship’s rail tightly.
The crew, bare-chested and muscular, had ropes digging deep into their shoulder blades, leaving slippery footprints on the icy metal deck.
The enormous trawl net finally broke the water, like a swollen stomach filled with the ocean’s entrails; seawater cascaded down like a waterfall, its deafening “whoosh” drowning out everything.
Inside the net was a boiling silver Hell: hairtail fish whipped the air like silver whips, yellow croaker and pomfret were squeezed together, wildly thrashing their tails, squid desperately inked the water black, and lobsters and crabs waved their pincers in futile struggle.
Broken seaweed and gelatinous jellyfish remnants were mixed within, and the intense fishy smell was almost suffocating.
“This is a good catch! Every single one is plump!”
Chief Engineer Old Wang wiped off the icy water and fish scales splashed on his face, revealing teeth stained yellow by tobacco as he grinned.
“Hai-ge! Down… down there’s a big dark thing! It doesn’t look like a fish!”
The young sailor, Li Qiang, his voice trembling, pointed with a sorting hook to a blurred shadow, about a meter long, half-hidden by fish and debris deep at the bottom of the net.
A strange chill instantly crawled up Zhao Dahai’s spine.
“Old Wang, use the hook to clear it away and see!” he ordered in a deep voice, his tone unconsciously tense.
Several sorting hooks carefully pushed aside the covering catch and debris.
Under the pale light, the full extent of the thing was revealed without reservation.
Time seemed to freeze.
On the deck, only the “plink” of dripping seawater and heavy breathing remained.
Its upper body had a humanoid outline, covered in wet, oily, reflective fine black scales.
Its arms were twisted unnaturally, its forearms strangely long, ending in terrifying eagle talons, covered in the same black scales, with thick, sharp, hook-like knuckles.
Its head—that was the very embodiment of a nightmare.
A flattened, elongated bat-like skull, with a protruding snout, covered in densely interwoven, stark white teeth; two wide-open eyes, like two oil-soaked, pitch-black glass beads, embedded in wrinkled, dark skin, glimmering with a lifeless, inhuman, eerie light.
And its lower body was a thick fish tail covered in dark green, rough scales.
“Sea… Sea Monkey?!” Li Qiang’s voice was tearful, and his sorting hook clanged as it dropped onto the deck.
The silence was broken, and the deck instantly erupted!
Screams, gasps, and incoherent chatter churned like boiling water.
“Yaksa! This is a damn Sea Yaksa!!” An old crewman, his face ashen, stumbled backward.
“Is it dead? It’s not moving…” Someone held onto a sliver of hope.
Zhao Dahai’s heart pounded; in decades of seafaring, he had never seen such an evil creature.
“Don’t panic! Shut up!” He roared, suppressing the chaos, “Old Wang! Grab a harpoon! Keep your distance, poke it!”
Old Wang’s face was pale; he grabbed a heavy steel harpoon with barbs, his arm muscles bulging, but he couldn’t stop his hands from trembling slightly.
From over three meters away, he used the end of the harpoon handle to very carefully poke the side of the black-scaled monster’s abdomen.
The cold touch of the harpoon handle had just brushed against the slick, icy scales.
“Hiss-gah—!!!!”
A sharp, piercing, ear-splitting shriek suddenly erupted.
Those pitch-black, lifeless eyes instantly burst forth with savage ferocity.
Like a killing machine with its switch flipped.
The massive fish tail slammed onto the deck like a battering ram.
“CRACK!” With a loud bang, the alloy deck was actually slightly dented.
Using this terrifying recoil, the black-scaled monster’s entire body, like a cannonball, with a strong fishy and deathly odor, transformed into a blurred black shadow, lunging directly at the closest, completely terrified sailor, Li Qiang.
“Li Qiang!!” Zhao Dahai’s furious roar, with eyes about to split, was half a beat too late.
“Rip—Thump!”
The black-scaled eagle talons, like red-hot irons plunged into butter, easily tore through Li Qiang’s thick canvas work clothes and flesh; five sharp claw tips instantly pierced his chest.
Scalding blood gushed like a fountain from Li Qiang’s mouth and the five bloody holes in his chest.
He didn’t even have time to scream before he was violently knocked to the ground by the monster’s terrifying impact.
The monster’s bat-like head, filled with sharp teeth, suddenly pressed down, biting with terrifying precision onto Li Qiang’s violently convulsing neck.
“CRUNCH! SPLURT—!”
The crisp sound of neck bones shattering and the muffled tearing of the windpipe were clearly audible!
Li Qiang’s wide eyes instantly lost all light, and his body’s final spasms were firmly held down by the monster’s sharp claws.
Blood stained the monster’s grotesque head, sharp claws and teeth, and the cold deck beneath it; the strong metallic smell instantly overshadowed the fishiness.
From its sudden attack to the death, it took less than two seconds.
So fast that it terrified everyone to their core.
“Damn you to Hell!!”
Zhao Dahai’s mournful roar ignited the courage within the fear.
Chief Engineer Old Wang and several brave crewmen, their eyes wide with fury, grabbed harpoons and iron rods and charged forward.
However, fear and anger could not bridge the chasm of strength.
The monster’s blood-stained head suddenly turned towards the charging Old Wang, letting out a threatening growl, viscous bloody saliva dripping.
Old Wang thrust a harpoon, and the monster flexibly dodged, its black-scaled fish tail sweeping like a steel whip, striking Old Wang’s calf with a “thud.”
A clear sound of bone cracking was heard, and Old Wang cried out as he fell.
Another crewman swung an iron rod down, but the monster’s twisted claws lightning-fast grabbed his wrist; with a “CRACK,” his wrist bone was instantly crushed, and the iron rod flew out of his hand and over the ship’s rail.
In the chaos, another crewman tried to flank it, but the monster’s turning claws swept across his chest, and three deep, bone-revealing gashes instantly tore through his flesh, blood spurting.
Screams mixed with the monster’s roars, and the deck became a bloody battlefield.