139: Who is the hunter? Silently submerged at 2200 meters! Surfing right under the nose of a nuclear submarine!

Depth: 2200 meters.

This was an abyss where sunlight could never reach.

In the pitch-black sea water.

Only the occasional deep-sea creature that swam past emitted a ghostly bioluminescence.

black iron had shut down all external searchlights.

Relying solely on the dark silver Biological Armor covering its hull to sense the water flow, it silently glided through the complex underwater mountain ranges.

Its engine was maintained at minimum power; the fission heart was like the heart of a giant beast in hibernation.

It pulsed slowly and heavily only once every few seconds.

Releasing just enough energy to maintain the life support system and the Passive Sonar operation.

Inside the Command cabin, the air humidity had been intentionally raised to 90%, permeated by a faint salty, fishy smell.

“Hiss... exhale...”

Old Chen sat at the helm, the several dark red gill slits on both sides of his neck opening and closing with his breath.

Greedily filtering moisture and oxygen from the humid air.

He was not wearing a protective suit.

He had even taken off his shirt, revealing his grayish-white skin, which had become rough and tough like shark skin.

“This feeling... is damn strange.”

Old Chen reached out and touched the slits on his neck, twisting his shoulder uncomfortably:

“When I used to go down to this depth, hearing the hull creak under the water pressure made my heart pound like a drum.

But now...”

He turned his head, pressed his ear against the cold metal console, and showed a hint of fascination:

“I feel like I can ‘understand’ the water outside.”

“Not by listening with your ears.”

Su Qingyu stood in front of the Sonar Station, her fingers lightly tracing the ghostly, fluctuating ripples on the screen, and spoke without turning her head:

“That’s your body perceiving changes in water pressure through bone conduction.

After injecting the Type II Serum, your lateral line nerve system has been activated, just like a fish.”

“Now, if you press against the hull, you can even feel the disturbance in the water flow caused by a large fish swimming a kilometer away.”

“Is that so?”

Old Chen grinned, revealing a set of teeth—whether it was an illusion or not, his canine teeth seemed a bit sharper than before.

He picked up the large, specialized water cup beside him, which contained not fresh water, but high-salinity seawater that had been simply filtered.

He tilted his head back, took a large gulp, and let out a satisfied sigh:

“Truly sweet.”

Jiang Ran sat in the shadow of the Command chair, watching the scene without speaking.

His gaze passed through the one-way transparent Bio-Porthole, fixed on the dead silence outside.

black iron, along with its crew, no longer belonged to the world of “humans.”

They were a group of deep-sea monsters clad in steel, migrating toward deeper forbidden zones.

This feeling was lonely, but also... very free.

“Maintain silence.”

Jiang Ran's voice was low but clearly reached everyone's ears:

“We have entered the patrol blind spot of the Deep Sea United Fleet, but that also means there might be something more dangerous than patrol boats here.”

“Down here, whoever makes the most noise becomes the food.”

“Drip... rustle... click...”

The sonar monitoring headphones were filled with the noisy background sounds unique to the deep sea.

That was the explosive sound made by hundreds of millions of Snapping Shrimp opening and closing their massive claws.

It was the low-frequency vibration caused by distant underwater volcanic eruptions, and the constant mournful cries of whale pods in the deep ocean.

To an amateur, this was just a chaotic mess of noise.

But for the sonar operator, this was a fog concealing the Grim Reaper.

Su Qingyu's fingers hovered over the filter knob, her brow furrowing slightly.

“Something is wrong.”

She whispered softly, as if afraid of disturbing something in her headphones.

“What is it? A school of fish?”

Old Chen tilted his head; his eyes, covered by Nictitating Membranes, shone green in the darkness.

He also sensed a slight anomaly—

The vibration frequency transmitted through the hull seemed to carry an extremely faint, discordant note.

“It's not fish.”

Su Qingyu shook her head and quickly typed a series of commands on the keyboard: “zero, initiate deep spectrum analysis.

Filter out all biological frequencies and geological noise, and find that... that sound that is ‘breathing’.”

“Executing Spectrum Stripping...”

The green waveform on the large screen began to change drastically.

The chaotic lines representing shrimp swarms and ocean currents were wiped away layer by layer, like dusting off glass.

Finally, against a background of near-straight silence, a protrusion appeared that was so tiny it was almost negligible.

It was extremely regular.

Every 1.5 seconds, a faint oscillation would appear.

“Buzz... buzz... buzz...”

Amplified, the sound echoed within the dead silent Command cabin.

It was not a heartbeat.

It was the unique rhythm generated by the friction between bearings and fluid when precision machinery operated at extremely low speeds.

“This is not biological.”

Jiang Ran rose from the shadows and walked to the screen, his gaze sharp as a knife: “This is man-made.”

“Database match complete.”

zero's cold alert tone made the temperature in the cabin seem to drop to freezing point instantly:

“Acoustic signature identification: High-Precision Rim-Driven Pump-Jet Propulsor.”

“Target Codename: Poseidon-Class Strategic Attack Nuclear Submarine.”

“Affiliation: Ark Deep Sea Fleet, First Submarine Flotilla.”

“Poseidon...”

Su Qingyu gasped: “Ark's ace underwater killer.

They say its stealth level is lower than the ocean background noise. How did it sneak up on us?”

“It didn't turn on its Active Sonar.”

Jiang Ran looked at the faint peak on the waveform, his expression grave:

“It's lurking in the dark like a ghost, only ‘listening’ with Passive Sonar.”

“It's listening to our heartbeats, our engine sounds, maybe even the sound of us talking inside the cabin.”

Old Chen instinctively covered his mouth, holding his breath.

In this pitch-black abyss.

The fear of knowing an invisible Grim Reaper is breathing right next to your ear is more intense than facing an army of thousands.

“Distance?” Jiang Ran asked.

“Cannot be precisely determined.”

zero replied: “Based on acoustic intensity decay calculations, it is in the sector to our rear-side... less than five kilometers away.”

Five kilometers.

For underwater combat, this was bayonet range.

“Has it found us?”

Su Qingyu's fingers felt stiff.

Just as Jiang Ran was about to speak, the faintly pulsing peak suddenly vanished.

Only a spine-chilling Electronic Lock-on Tone, sharp enough to sound like fingernails on a blackboard, remained.

“It's done pretending.”

Jiang Ran gripped the handrail tightly, his pupils contracting sharply: “Prepare for impact!”

“Beep—!!!”

That sharp lock-on tone was like the Grim Reaper's final sneer before pulling the trigger.

Immediately after.

The previously silent deep sea was utterly ripped apart by a terrifying roar.

It wasn't the buzzing of a conventional torpedo propeller, but a bursting howl, similar to a jet engine igniting underwater.

“Warning! High-energy heat source detected approaching rapidly!”

zero's alarm instantly became urgent and sharp, and the red light dyed the Command cabin like a pool of blood:

“Speed... 200 knots!

No, 230 knots! Still accelerating!”

“That's impossible!”

Old Chen was so startled he nearly slid off the helm seat, his eyes bulging: “How can anything move that fast underwater?

Even the fastest nuclear submarines back in the old era couldn't hit 40 knots!

Is it flying?!”

“It's a Supercavitating Torpedo!”

Su Qingyu stared intently at the three tracks on the sonar screen, which were moving so fast they were almost straight lines, her face pale:

“That's an upgraded version of the old era 'Shkval' Torpedo!

They use rocket propulsion to generate a bubble that envelops the entire warhead, reducing water resistance to nearly zero!

They are flying inside air underwater!”

Through the rear-view monitor, everyone witnessed a sight that would make even deep-sea creatures tremble.

In that pitch-black abyss.

Three blinding white torrents pierced through the water resistance like three light swords.

Those were the vaporization trails generated by the torpedoes' high-speed movement, carrying destructive kinetic energy straight toward the stern of black iron.

“15 seconds until contact!”

“15 seconds?!”

Old Chen desperately pushed the control stick, attempting to make the massive black iron turn and evade.

But faced with the immense water pressure and inertia of the deep sea.

For a five-thousand-ton warship to complete a maneuver in just over ten seconds was pure fantasy.

“Decoys! Launch Decoys quickly!” Su Qingyu yelled.

“It's useless!”

Jiang Ran looked at the three white lines fixed firmly on their position on the screen, his voice terrifyingly calm:

“Supercavitating torpedoes do not have complex sonar guidance heads.

They rely on Inertial Guidance and wire-guided correction. This is a precise sniper shot, not a pursuit!”

The enemy had no intention of playing cat and mouse with them.

That Poseidon-Class Nuclear Submarine had been observing in the dark for so long precisely to calculate black iron's course and speed.

Once it struck, it would be a guaranteed straight-line kill shot.

“Rumble——”

The screeching sound of the torpedoes rapidly tearing through the water was already transmitting through the hull, shaking the instrument panels in the Command cabin violently.

That was the sound of the Grim Reaper approaching.

“We can't dodge it.”

Jiang Ran watched the countdown drop to “8,” a look of fierce determination flashing in his eyes:

“If we can't physically dodge it, we'll make it unable to ‘see’ us.”

“zero! Cut all power!”

“Full ship... shutdown!”

“Shutdown?!”

Old Chen's scream was particularly grating in the silent Command cabin: “That's a Supercavitating Torpedo!

One hundred meters per second!

If we stop now, we'll be dead pigs hanging on a target!”

“Execute the order!”

Jiang Ran's finger moved across the console in a blur.

Giving Old Chen no time to react, he directly severed the physical connection between the reactor and the propulsor.

“Humm—”

With a deep sigh, black iron's raging fission heart instantly went dormant.

The entire warship lost power.

Under the effect of inertia, it slid helplessly through the dark deep sea like a heavy rock.

“zero, initiate the 'Bio-Mimicry: Deep Sea Leviathan' protocol.”

“Target template: Mutated Humpback Whale.”

“Full ship Biological Armor... soften!”

Following Jiang Ran's almost insane command, black iron underwent a chilling transformation.

The dark silver metal hull, which was originally hard, cold, and capable of deflecting armor-piercing rounds, suddenly lost its metallic sheen.

Countless tiny bio-fibers broke and reassembled inside the armor.

That thick layer of “Dragon Scales” actually started to become soft and elastic.

A thick layer of viscous oil, similar to blubber, was secreted onto the surface.

If a diver were to touch the hull now, they would find the texture was no longer steel.

Instead, it was a warm, coarse, and elastic “living flesh.”

This layer of “flesh” could greatly absorb sonar waves, instead of reflecting a crisp echo like metal.

“Thermal Circulation System reset.”

“Simulated biological temperature: 37 degrees Celsius.”

Following this, the internal heat exchange system no longer vented waste heat directly.

Instead, it was evenly dissipated through capillary ducts distributed throughout the hull.

In infrared vision, the cold warship vanished.

It transformed into a blurred, warm, biological heat source with immense lung capacity.

But this was still not enough.

Facing those three Grim Reapers almost within reach, one last talisman was needed.

“Sing it out,” Jiang Ran commanded in a low voice.

“Woo—ooo—”

The hull structure of black iron began to vibrate at a micrometer level.

This vibration propagated through the seawater, creating an extremely low-frequency, long, and mournful sound.

That was a Whale Song.

It wasn't a recording being played.

Rather, it was this eighty-meter-long bio-warship, using its own “throat” and “chest cavity.”

Emitting a genuine roar in this abyss.

It sounded like an adult Humpback Whale, startled and calling out to its companions.

“3 seconds until impact!”

Su Qingyu stared at the three ominous red dots on the screen, her nails digging deep into her palms.

This was a gamble.

Gambling that Ark's torpedo guidance head contained an algorithm for “non-metallic target filtering.”

Gambling that the unseen submarine Captain would believe the “whale” that suddenly appeared on the radar.

“2 seconds!”

The screeching of the torpedoes tearing through the water was now so loud it felt like it was exploding right next to their ears.

Old Chen closed his eyes, curled up, and waited for death to arrive.

“1 second!”

“Whoosh—!!!”

The sound was like a fully loaded train roaring past your nose.

There was no explosion, no impact.

In that zero-point-one second that determined life and death.

Those three Supercavitating Torpedoes, which had been locked onto black iron.

The instant they came into contact with the “warm, soft” force field of simulated whale skin.

The logic circuit of the intelligent guidance head hesitated for a moment.

[Target signature mismatch.]

[Determination: Large marine organism (no threat).]

[Instruction: Disarm Proximity Fuse, maintain course.]

The Grim Reaper retracted its scythe at the last moment.

Three destructive torrents wrapped in white bubbles skimmed past the soft ventral armor of black iron.

One of them even scraped barnacles on the ship's bottom, making a slight, sickening sound.

But they did not explode.

They roared past black iron's position and slammed into an underwater rock face one kilometer behind.

“Boom—!!!”

Three brilliant fireballs burst forth in the deep sea.

A terrifying shockwave, mixed with pulverized rock and boiling seawater, transformed into a visible white pressure wave.

Which violently shoved black iron.

“Clang!”

The entire warship violently pitched and rolled in the shockwave, like a leaf tumbling in a storm.

Old Chen lost his grip and tumbled off his chair.

But he ignored the pain, lying on the floor and bursting into maniacal laughter of survival:

“Ha! Haha! It didn't explode! We didn't explode!”

“We... we survived...”

Su Qingyu stared intently at the three vanished red dots on the screen, her back soaked with cold sweat.

“zero, report status.”

Jiang Ran's voice was still steady, but the fingers gripping the handrail were deeply embedded in the leather padding.

zero's electronic voice sounded: “Hull structural integrity 98%. Minor concussion damage.”

“Enemy attack failed.

Estimated reason: Ark's fire control system filtered out ‘non-metallic targets.’ They mistook us for an unlucky whale passing by.”

“Very good.”

Jiang Ran slowly stood up, his gaze piercing through the porthole.

He looked at the red dots lingering on the edge of the radar, seemingly confused as to why no sinking echo had been received.

That was Ark's Poseidon formation.

They did not immediately fire again, clearly confused by the feedback they just received—

They had clearly locked onto a target, so why did the explosion only yield rock?

Was it truly just a sonar misjudgment?

This hesitation was Jiang Ran's opportunity to strike back.

“Old Chen, stop laughing, return to the helm.”

Jiang Ran adjusted his collar, the faint blue light in his eyes gradually becoming profound and dangerous:

“They want to play hide-and-seek? They want silent hunting?”

“Then let's play along.”

“Keep the entire ship in ‘Mimicry Mode’ and drift over using the ocean currents.”

Jiang Ran looked at the profound darkness, a cold smile curling his lips:

“Let them see what a true... Deep Sea Ghost is.”