137: The mutation that occurred after swallowing an aircraft carrier! A steel womb gave birth to a killing machine!

One thousand meters deep in the ocean.

This was a realm of absolute darkness, where only the faint shimmer on the hull of the black iron ghost occasionally illuminated the murky seawater.

After devouring the wreckage of the entire nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the uss united states, this steel behemoth seemed to have fallen into a post-meal state of lethargy.

It floated quietly above the ocean trench.

The outer armor, which had been pitted and scarred by battle and nuclear blasts, was now as smooth and clean as new.

The dark silver Bio-active Metal acted like a layer of tight skin, enveloping an even stronger skeleton.

Under the immense pressure of the deep sea, the streamlined hull appeared increasingly indestructible.

Inside the Command cabin, all was quiet.

Until zero's emotionless electronic voice broke the silence.

“Beep—Warning.”

“Unauthorized physical changes detected in the internal structure of the hull.”

“Location: Lower deck Section D, formerly the spare parts freezer.

Status: Space is expanding on its own; thermal signatures are abnormally high.”

Jiang Ran, who was wiping his high-frequency Vibration Blade, paused and looked up at the holographic screen.

On the screen, the structural diagram of Section D in the lower deck was flashing red frantically.

The space there no longer seemed to be a fixed metal compartment; instead, it was being stretched and squeezed from within like dough by some unknown force.

“Unauthorized change?”

Old Chen was holding a large bowl of freshly cooked instant noodles.

Upon hearing this, he nearly sucked the noodles up his nose, looking at the surrounding walls in terror.

“What do you mean? Is the ship leaking?

Or is it the ghost of that dead crab coming for our lives?

I told you that thing was sinister!

We planted that 'Metal Mother Plant' into the ship—who knows if it'll digest us while we're sleeping one day!”

“Shut up, Old Chen.”

Su Qingyu rolled her eyes at him, her fingers tapping rapidly on the console to pull up the surveillance footage of Section D.

But the screen was pitch black, with only countless red interference dots flickering.

“The surveillance cameras have failed.”

Su Qingyu frowned. “It seems to be covered by some kind of biological membrane.”

“It's not a malfunction.”

Jiang Ran sheathed his blade and stood up, a glint of deep blue light flashing in his eyes.

“zero shows that the energy supply there isn't leaking; it's being 'actively' drawn.

It's like... the body is supplying blood to a newly grown organ.”

He strode toward the elevator leading to the lower deck, his voice calm yet carrying a hint of anticipation.

“Let's go see what new part our ship has grown for itself.”

“I... I think I'll pass?”

Old Chen shrunk into his chair, trembling. “I need to stay and watch the house, just in case those bastards from the Ark come back.”

“Cut the crap. Bring your wrench.”

Jiang Ran didn't look back. “If it's an alien parasite, I'll use you as bait.”

“...”

Three minutes later, the corridor of Section D in the lower deck.

As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, a humid, viscous breath hit them in the face.

The temperature here was at least ten degrees higher than the upper levels.

The air was thick with the smell of heavy rust.

But it was also mixed with a fishy-sweet scent similar to amniotic fluid, making one's scalp tingle.

At the end of the corridor, the once-heavy airtight door was now slightly deformed.

From the gaps in the door, wisps of eerie deep blue light seeped out, accompanied by low, rhythmic thumping sounds like a heartbeat.

Thump—Thump—Thump—

“This sound...”

Old Chen hid behind Jiang Ran, clutching a large pipe wrench tightly. He swallowed hard. “It doesn't sound like a machine; it sounds like a monster is locked inside.”

Jiang Ran said nothing.

He walked to the door and pressed his hand against the sensor panel.

“Click—Zzt—”

The deformed metal door let out a strained groan and slowly slid open to both sides.

When the scene behind the door was revealed to the three of them, even the usually calm Su Qingyu couldn't help but hold her breath.

“Holy... crap...”

The pipe wrench in Old Chen's hand fell to the ground with a “clang,” landing on a thick, moss-like dark red substance.

It didn't even make a sharp metallic sound, but rather a dull “squelch.”

The sight before them had completely exceeded the understanding of these three humans from the old era.

The originally cold, tidy metal warehouse filled with spare steel plates and screws had completely vanished.

In its place was a giant biological chamber that was slowly writhing and breathing.

On the alloy walls on all sides...

Was a thick layer of dark red biological membrane.

It looked like mucosal tissue from inside a human body, with translucent mucus hanging from its surface.

The ventilation ducts and cables originally laid along the walls had now mutated into thick, silver-gray “blood vessels.”

These “vessels” were no longer inanimate objects.

Beneath their translucent walls, a glowing deep blue fluid was rushing—

That was high-energy coolant from the nuclear reactor, now nourishing this eerie space like blood.

“This is no warehouse...”

Su Qingyu lifted her foot; her sole left an indentation on the soft, resilient biological carpet, which slowly sprang back. “This is clearly a... womb.”

“A steel womb.”

Jiang Ran stepped into this eerie play of blue and red light, his gaze locked on the center of the room.

There, the sight was most shocking.

Dozens of huge, translucent follicles...

...hung densely like clusters of heavy grapes from “umbilical cords” dangling from the ceiling.

Each follicle was half a meter long, with a surface texture like tempered glass, yet possessing the elasticity of a biological membrane.

Inside the translucent membrane, they were filled with a murky, pale yellow amniotic fluid.

“Thump... Thump...”

With every pulse of the black iron's core reactor, these follicles hanging in mid-air would contract and expand in sync.

The amniotic fluid inside surged, emitting faint bio-electric light that illuminated the entire room like a ghostly realm.

“This thing... is it alive?”

Old Chen tremblingly picked up the pipe wrench, wanting to poke the follicle closest to him, but Jiang Ran grabbed his wrist.

“Don't touch anything.”

Jiang Ran narrowed his eyes and activated [Thermal Vision].

In his vision, these follicles weren't just alive; they were bottomless pits frantically devouring energy.

Countless tiny energy streams flowed through those “umbilical cords” into the follicles.

A highly complex material reorganization was taking place there.

“They are waiting.”

Jiang Ran let go of Old Chen and walked to the largest follicle.

Through that thin membrane, he could almost feel the primal hunger and the desire to take shape within.

“Waiting for what?” Su Qingyu walked over and took out a scanner to analyze the follicle.

“Waiting for fertilization.”

Jiang Ran turned his head to look at the two, a playful smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

“Or more accurately... waiting for raw materials.”

“This ship feels it's too lonely, or perhaps it feels that just a few of us aren't enough.”

“It wants to... give birth.”

“Give... give birth?”

Old Chen's face scrunched up.

Obviously, the metaphor made him feel physically uncomfortable. “Are you saying this hunk of iron of ours is pregnant?”

“In a sense, yes.”

Su Qingyu had already completed the preliminary data sampling.

She looked at the two intertwined spiral curves on the analyzer, her eyes shining with the light of logic.

“Remember the 'Metal Mother Plant' we brought back from that shipwreck nest?”

She pointed to the pulsating silver-gray vessels on the wall.

“Originally, the function of that Mother Plant was just to parasitize crabs, using secretions to turn scrap metal into carapaces.”

“But when we implanted it into the black iron and connected it to that [fission heart]... things changed.”

Su Qingyu pulled up an energy flow diagram.

The red lines showed that the high-energy radiation from the nuclear reactor was continuously stimulating the active cells of the Mother Plant.

“Nuclear radiation is a catalyst for evolution.”

“Fed by the nearly infinite energy of that heart, the Mother Plant—which could once only act as a 'tinker'—has completely gone berserk.

It's no longer satisfied with just repairing the armor on the hull's surface.”

“It has begun to instinctively want to expand its population, wanting to use the excess energy and matter on this ship to create more and stronger guardians.”

“This is the instinct of living things—reproduction.”

Hearing this, zero, who had been silently monitoring in the background, projected a line of pale blue explanatory text at the right moment:

【New Functional Module Defined: Biological Incubation Chamber】

【Description: A fusion product based on Metal Parasitic Fungus and nuclear-mutated cells.

It can perform molecular-level reorganization of inorganic metals and organic biomass to cultivate offspring with “cyborg/bio-mechanical” characteristics.】

【Current Status: Hungry/Standby.】

“Hungry?” Jiang Ran caught the keyword.

“Yes, Commander.”

zero's voice echoed within the hollow “womb.”

“This is like a top-tier 3D biological printer.

Although we have power (energy) and blueprints (gene bank), we still need ‘ink’.”

zero marked two virtual intake ports on those hanging empty follicles.

“To manufacture one unit of offspring, two things are required:

1. High-strength metal for the skeleton and armor.

2. High-energy biomass for the muscles and nerve.”

“As long as these two items are provided, the incubation chamber can mass-produce an absolutely loyal... Deep Sea Legion for you in a short time.”

Jiang Ran looked at those empty, translucent follicles that seemed to be opening their mouths for food, the blue light in his eyes flickering slightly.

This wasn't magic; this was the most efficient resource conversion.

In this wasteland world, the corpses of metal and monsters are everywhere.

And now, the black iron possessed the ability to transform this trash into combat power.

"Since it's hungry."

Jiang Ran turned to look at the gate leading to the cargo hold behind him, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

"Then we'll feed it."

"Old Chen, go to the cargo hold and drag over that leftover piece of special aircraft carrier steel plate."

"Dr. Su, go to the cold storage and get a tube of high-concentration sea beast nutrient solution, and add some of those leftovers from the Fission Sea Lizard."

Jiang Ran walked to the console, his hands propped on the surface covered in biological slime, his eyes fanatical.

"Let's see exactly what kind of thing this ship can give birth to."

..."Creak—Boom!"

Accompanied by the sound of the heavy Mechanical Arm operating.

A piece of HY-100 special alloy steel plate, two meters square and ten centimeters thick, was suspended above the incubation chamber.

It was flight deck armor cut from the wreckage of the uss united states aircraft carrier.

It represented the highest level of metallurgical industry from the old era.

Hard and dense, even ordinary torpedoes would find it difficult to blast through.

And on the other side.

Su Qingyu operated a precision injector, pushing a glass jar filled with a dark red, viscous liquid into the feed inlet.

That was highly concentrated biomass slurry extracted from the corpse of the Fission Sea Lizard.

It was mixed with a large amount of high-energy proteins and mutated cells.

It was top-tier material for constructing muscle and nerve.

"This is its first meal."

Jiang Ran stood behind the observation window.

His palm pressed on the bright red [Release] button on the console, his eyes carrying a hint of a creator's scrutiny.

"I wonder how the digestive capacity of this stomach made of steel is."

"Begin feeding."

As the button was pressed, the largest follicle in the center of the incubation chamber suddenly trembled violently.

It seemed to sense the scent of food, and the translucent membrane on its surface snapped open a rift, like a greedy, gaping maw.

"Clang!"

The heavy alloy steel plate was dropped directly into the follicle.

Immediately after, with a "Sizzle—", the tube of dark red biological slurry was also instantly injected by the high-pressure pump.

The scene that followed made the scalps of the three people present tingle.

There was no slow digestive process as expected.

The moment the cold steel came into contact with the scalding biological slurry, the interior of the follicle boiled instantly.

"Glug, glug—"

The follicle secreted a highly acidic, eerie green digestive fluid, instantly enveloping that indestructible aircraft carrier armor.

Amidst that teeth-grating "hissing" sound, the hard alloy steel was like a piece of butter dropped into a hot pan.

It rapidly softened and decomposed, turning into a suspended mass of silver-gray metal fluid.

Immediately after, the miraculous reorganization began.

That disordered mass of metal fluid, as if guided by some genetic blueprint, began to rapidly stretch and solidify within the amniotic fluid.

Spinal bones glinting with a metallic cold light were generated out of thin air, followed by sharp ribs, and a hideous skull frame... in less than a minute.

A complete metal skeleton, full of streamlined beauty, had taken initial shape within the follicle.

At the same time, the dark red biological slurry also began to frantically attach itself to the skeleton.

They differentiated into strands of tough, dark red muscle fibers.

Like living vines, they tightly entwined and enveloped the metal bones.

nerve bundles were growing, blood vessels were being laid out, and the heart began to beat.

"This speed..."

Old Chen's eyes were nearly popping out of his head, his mouth hanging wide open.

"Is this even manufacturing something?"

"This is practically a magic trick!"

"Even the best automated factories of the past would take several days to build a drone, right?"

"In the blink of an eye, the bones and flesh have all grown?"

"This is the advantage of biological incubation."

Su Qingyu looked at the growth curve jumping frantically on the data screen, the shock in her voice hard to conceal.

"It skips all the processing and assembly stages."

"Bone casting and tissue growth are carried out simultaneously at the molecular level."

"As long as there is sufficient energy and matter, its troop production speed..."

She paused and looked at Jiang Ran.

"In theory, it's infinite."

Jiang Ran didn't speak; he just stared fixedly at the follicle that was pulsating violently.

Through the translucent membrane wall, he could clearly see the curled-up dark shadow inside rapidly taking shape.

A fierce, brutal aura was seeping out through the egg membrane.

"It's coming out."

Jiang Ran said in a low voice.

As his voice fell, the surface of the follicle suddenly tightened to the extreme.

The thing inside had awakened.

"Pfft—!"

Accompanied by a wet sound of tearing silk.

The translucent egg membrane, tightened to its limit, finally could not withstand the internal pressure and burst apart.

A large amount of turbid, highly acidic pale yellow amniotic fluid poured down, splashing everywhere in the collection tank.

And in that mess of liquid, a silver-black afterimage only the size of a palm shot out with a "whoosh".

Its speed was astonishingly fast.

It even pulled an afterimage in the air.

Finally, with a "clang", it slammed hard against the alloy wall of the laboratory.

It then bounced and landed on the floor, letting out a piercing sound of metal scraping.

"What... kind of thing is that?"

Old Chen shrank back in fear, raising the pipe wrench in his hand to protect his chest.

Everyone looked closely.

On the cold floor, a strange and hideous creature was frantically flopping and jumping.

It looked like a deep-sea piranha, but it didn't have a single fish scale on its entire body.

Instead, it was covered in layers of perfectly fitted, dark silver metal plates glinting with a cold light.

Its dorsal fin was as sharp as a blade, and several pairs of micro-mechanical legs resembling those of arthropods grew on both sides of its abdomen.

This allowed it to crawl as fast as a spider even on land after leaving the water environment.

But what was most heart-stopping was its head.

There were no eyes there, only a single-eye sensor emitting a crimson light.

And beneath that red eye was a giant mouth that took up one-third of its body size.

There were no conventional teeth in the mouth.

Instead, three rows of counter-rotating, meat-grinder-like spiral blades were arranged within.

"Zzzt zzzt zzzt—"

This newly born little monster let out a hiss similar to electronic interference.

It seemed to be in a state of extreme hunger and frenzy.

Before everyone could react.

It suddenly kicked off the floor, turned into a streak of silver light, and bit down on the heavy pipe wrench Old Chen had dropped on the ground.

"Crunch!!!"

A teeth-grating snap.

That solid pipe wrench handle, forged from high-carbon steel and as thick as two fingers.

It was actually bitten in half by this palm-sized little thing like a crispy cracker!

Sparks flew at the break.

It didn't even chew, directly swallowing that piece of hard steel into its stomach.

Then, unsatisfied, it turned its single eye, searching for the next target.

"Oh my god..."

Old Chen looked at the pipe wrench broken into two pieces on the ground, feeling a chill on his neck.

"That bite... if it bit a person, wouldn't it just crunch their bones to pieces?"

"It has no sense of pain, nor does it have fear."

Su Qingyu looked at the biological vital signs data displayed on the screen, a hint of chill in her voice.

"It has no digestive system in its body, only a miniature high-acid dissolution sac."

"Its sole purpose for existence is to destroy, bite, and devour until its energy is exhausted or it is destroyed."

"This is the perfect biological weapon."

Jiang Ran stepped forward and reached out his hand at the moment the little monster prepared to pounce on him.

It did not attack.

When it sensed the supreme authority code from the black iron's core on Jiang Ran.

The ferocious mechanical fish instantly quieted down.

It retracted its terrifying spiral teeth and obediently hopped into Jiang Ran's palm.

Like an obedient pet, its red electronic eye flickered gently.

Jiang Ran gently stroked its cold, sharp metal back with his finger.

He felt the weak but violent energy rhythm coming from within.

"So small, yet so fierce."

Jiang Ran looked at it as if he were looking at a newly unsheathed dagger: "In the deep sea, one might not be scary."

"But what if there are a thousand, or ten thousand?"

He looked up at the dozens of follicles above his head that were still empty and waiting to be incubated, the light of ambition flashing in his eyes.

Imagine it.

When tens of thousands of these mechanical piranhas, which know no pain and can crunch through steel, surround an enemy submarine like a dark cloud.

What kind of desperate scene would that be?

They would chew off the submarine's propellers, bite through the pressure hull, and crawl into the cabins to turn every living thing inside into minced meat.

"Give it a name," Su Qingyu said.

"Let's call it... [Deep Sea Hunter]."

Jiang Ran flipped his palm, throwing the mechanical fish back into the collection tank.

The little thing immediately resumed its ferocious appearance as soon as it hit the ground, gnashing its teeth at the air.

"zero, record the template."

Jiang Ran turned and strode toward the exit, his voice echoing in the empty incubation chamber, carrying a coldness that controlled life and death.

"It's a bit ugly, but very practical."

"Go full steam ahead."

"In the future, when we encounter those blind fools, we won't need to do it ourselves."

"Release the dogs, let them bite."