Chapter 363: Underwater City [Part 2]
The largetooth sawfishes were mentioned in the Andrea Family’s database. In fact, it was one of the more well-recorded and typical species. The largetooth sawfishes were usually found in the surface layer and thermocline. They operated in schools of tens of thousands or more, which was enough to intimidate some of the larger sea beasts in the surface layer and the thermocline.
An adult largetooth sawfish could reach a length of 5 meters. It could open their jaws up to 270 degrees and bite down with enough force to crush all the bones in a sea beast’s body. It was one of the reasons the Andrea Family’s measures against these creatures was just to avoid them as far as possible. Unlike the “first blood” fishes, they wouldn’t become demoralized and give up just because they had missed the “first blood”.
“The sawtooth fishes are hunting. That big fellow must’ve swam to the coral reefs to avoid them,” Big Rock explained. “Don’t worry though. The vanguard should pass by this atol in five minutes or so.”
Lung let out a sigh. “We still have to wait until these annoying bastards are gone before we can begin our operation.”
Big Rock responded with a serious nod, “Theoretically speaking, that is correct.”
Cillin had to admit that his senses weren’t as good as Lung’s men in an ocean environment. The reason Big Rock spoke with such certainty was because he had obtained that information from the marine life themselves. So far, he certainly lived up to his name as one of the ten major bodyguards of “Old Fox” Andrea Fergus. Not only had he adapted to Sea Paradise’s environment in just a short time, he had tamed some of its sea creatures as well.
“Let’s get back to the spaceplane. A lot of sea beasts will be climbing up the atoll in a moment, and there is no need to get caught up in the commotion,” Lung said while beckoning Cillin to follow him.
Wheeze handed over the Guardian Heart to Cillin for safekeeping because it wanted to stay outside to enjoy the show. It could escape to the sky if the atoll became too cramped anyway.
After Cillin entered the spaceplane, a couple more sea beasts swam up the atoll just as Big Rock had predicted they would. This time, the territory “owners” only warned the newcomers to be obedient instead of chasing them away. Of course, the ones that were too unruly would be taught a painful lesson but otherwise everyone was watching the sea nervously from inside their hiding spots.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh—
A bunch of fishes with wings flew out of the sea surface and into the coral reefs of the atoll. Some smaller sea beasts had crawled deeper into the atoll as well. It wasn’t long before the place quickly became jampacked with sea beasts.
The closed atoll was a haven for the smaller sea creatures because the largetooth sawfishes couldn’t swim, jump or fly into the atoll. It was effectively a barrier that held the massive school of predators at bay.
Unfortunately for the flying fishes, some of them managed to avoid the largetooth sawfishes only to fall prey to another predator. One such predator was a tiny gray cat with wings.
Right now, Wheeze was hovering in the air and facing toward the flying fishes. It opened its mouth wide so that the flying fishes would land inside it. Not only that, it started smacking the flying fishes back whence they came from or batting them away toward a nearby sea beast after it had had its fill. Naturally, those sea beasts saw no reason not to gorge themselves on the free meals and opened their mouths as well.
It was a bizarre scene to say the least. Lung’s subordinates all thought the same thing when they saw this: poor, poor flying fishes. Of all the predators they could’ve encountered, they just had to run into that scumbaggery cat!
The number of sea creatures on the atoll was still increasing. It was around this time the largetooth sawfishes started showing themselves.
Many triangular dorsal fins began emerging on the sea surface. The poor creatures who either failed to leap onto the atoll in time or outright lacked the ability to do so were torn apart and devoured by the sawfishes. It wasn’t long before the sea surface was covered in largetooth sawfishes and the half-eaten bodies of their victims. Some body parts were even tossed into the air due to the thrashing of the sawfishes.
The sea grew bluer, and Cillin recalled a famous saying: the sea is blue because that is the color of the marine life’s blood.
Five minutes later, triangular dorsal fins filled the sea surface as far as the eyes could see, and this was just the vanguard; the tip of the iceberg. Countless more largetooth sawfishes were swimming in the water and ripping apart any and every prey they encountered.
Plop!
Suddenly, Wheeze stopped batting the flying fishes and dove into the sea.
“What is that fatso doing now?” Pascado asked.
“It probably got bored of playing with the flying fishes and went underwater for more sport.” A pause later, Cillin added, “Can you turn on a monitor?”
After Lung did as he asked, Cillin motioned for Czedow to connect Wheeze to the monitor. Soon, they were seeing what Wheeze was seeing underwater.
As expected, a brutal scene of murder and predation was happening below the atoll. The largetooth sawfishes were intentionally steering their prey toward atoll because sea creatures that could climb or fly over the barrier like the flying fishes were actually among the few. The rest could do nothing but be fed on after their retreat had been cut off by a “wall”.
Scales and torn flesh were everywhere, the sawfishes’ jaw and sharp teeth even more so. The sea water had turned so blue that it was bone-chilling.
Suddenly, there was a beep that drew everyone’s attention. The scanners had finished their tasks and transmitted the results back to the spaceplane.
“The scanners have reached the sea bed!” Someone said excitedly.
The 3D image transmitted back by the scanners showed an extraordinary scene.
There was what looked like a city at the seas bed. The 3D image only showed a rough outline, but it was enough to excite Lung to no end.
God’s Tear had to be somewhere inside the city!
“Where’s the video feed? Did we forget to turn it on or something?” Lung asked.
“We lost contact with the three scanners that reached the sea bed, young master.”
“We lost contact with the fourth scanner as well, young master.”
“Young master… we just lost contact with the fifth scanner.”
They had lost contact with all five scanners they had sent to the coordinates. They didn’t even manage to record a video and transmit it back to the spaceplane.
This reminded Cillin of something Moon had told him about God’s Tear before he came over.
When the Xi Family was researching God’s Tear, they had lived at the bottom of the sea for some time to better understand the sea beds.
Moon had used the word “lived”, not “lingered” or “stayed” other terms. Now that they knew that there was an entire city at the bottom of the sea, Cillin couldn’t help but wonder if the Xi Family had built an underwater city.
It sounded damned near impossible because Sea Paradise was no ordinary ocean planet. Many people’s spaceplanes couldn’t even fly near to the planet, much less build an underwater city on the planet itself. Then again, the Xi Family had proven time and again to be a family that existed beyond the boundaries of common sense. It was definitely a possibility.
“How much longer until the largetooth sawfishes leave completely?” Lung asked Big Rock.
“Theoretically speaking, it’ll be at least another hour before they’re completely gone.”
“But?”
“But if you’re in a hurry, we can try to tame some of the sawfishes and convince them to leave sooner.”
Lung considered the suggestion for a moment but rejected it with the wave of a hand. He said, “It’s fine. There are way too many sawfishes down there, and we will need our strength when we head underwater and search for God’s Tear. What’s an hour of waiting when we’re but a moment away from our goal?”
Czedow was wearing a thoughtful expression on his face, so he asked, “Did you find something?”
“The magnetic field is the reason we lost contact with the five scanners,” Czedow replied.
“Magnetic field? But we built those scanners specifically to resist the magnetic field of this planet. It took a lot of resources and manpower to build them too,” Lung said with a frown.
Czedow shook his head. “And I’m not saying that your efforts are useless. The scanners are capable of withstanding the planet’s magnetic field in general, but not the one that is emitting from our destination. There, the magnetic field is two or even three times stronger than normal. That is why the five scanners are unable to operate normally.”
“Is it their work?” Cillin asked.
He was referring to the old Xi Family.
“Yes.”