141: Something's crawling on the hull! A humanoid gecko? Or a bio-engineered sea monster from the Ark!

2,200 meters deep in the ocean.

Absolute darkness and silence were the eternal themes of this domain.

The black iron was like an incorporeal shadow.

Using the thrust of the deep-sea currents, it hovered silently in the shadows of the canyon.

On the holographic screen, the three "Poseidon"-class nuclear submarines, representing the Ark's most elite underwater forces...

...were lined up in a neat search formation, slowly advancing toward the canyon exit.

Their sensitive towed sonar arrays swept through the water like whips, yet they remained unable to detect anything.

The prey they were so desperately searching for was currently right behind them, watching them coldly.

"Follow them."

Jiang Ran sat in the Commander's chair, not even glancing at the dashboard.

Through the nerve interface, he could clearly sense every faint tremor produced by the propellers of the submarines ahead as they churned the water.

"These bastards are still looking for us."

Old Chen looked at the red dots on the screen, which were moving like headless flies.

He couldn't help but grin gloatingly, finally taking a sip of the tea that had long since gone cold.

"Once we're out of this rock pile and into open water, we'll give them a 'surprise' and send them to their graves."

However, just as Old Chen finished speaking...

"Zzt..."

A very faint, unnatural electrical static suddenly flickered deep within Jiang Ran's mind.

It wasn't external noise captured by the sonar, nor was it a radar echo.

That feeling... was very strange.

It was like someone in a deep sleep suddenly feeling something cold and slimy crawling gently across their skin.

"Stop."

Jiang Ran snapped his eyes open, his deep blue pupils constricting instantly.

"What's wrong, Boss? Have we been spotted?"

Old Chen was startled and hurriedly reached for the emergency brake lever.

"It's not in front."

Jiang Ran raised his hand and pointed beneath his feet—at the black iron's belly armor—his brow furrowed.

"Something... is crawling on my 'belly'."

"Warning: Abnormal tactile nerve feedback from the hull surface."

zero's cold voice followed immediately, confirming Jiang Ran's intuition: "Unknown physical contact detected below the port waterline, in the area of the belly's No. 3 armor belt.

Not an impact, not water erosion.

Feature analysis: Multi-point adsorption, moving in a regular pattern."

"Adsorption?"

Su Qingyu's expression changed, and her fingers flew across the keyboard. "Open the belly macro monitoring probes! Quick!"

As the command was issued, the image on the main screen switched instantly.

The view of the ship's belly, originally pitch black, lit up with a ghastly green fluorescence under the enhancement of low-light night vision.

When they saw the scene on the screen, the air in the Command cabin seemed to freeze instantly.

On that layer of black hull, covered in biological keratin and as rough as rock, several hair-raising shadows were clinging.

They had human-like torsos, but their limbs were disproportionately long.

Like giant humanoid geckos, they were stuck tightly to the black iron's armor surface.

There were no fingers at the ends of their hands and feet.

Instead, they were mechanical claws with powerful magnetic suction cups, allowing them to remain as steady as a mountain in the high-pressure currents thousands of meters deep.

"One, two, three... six of them!"

Old Chen counted the shadows on the screen, feeling a chill run down his spine. "What... what the hell are these things?

Water ghosts?

When did they climb up?!

How come the sonar didn't react at all?!"

"Because they didn't make a sound."

Su Qingyu stared intently at the screen, zooming in on one of the shadows. "They aren't using propellers; they're crawling entirely with those mechanical claws.

And... look at their backs."

The image zoomed in.

They saw that the shadow's back didn't carry an oxygen tank, but was instead connected to a complex liquid circulation system.

And what it was doing made everyone's pupils constrict.

It was perched on the black iron's belly, at a gap in one of the main airtight gates.

It pulled a disc-shaped object from a tool bag at its waist and carefully attached it to the gate's hinge.

A dangerous red light flickered on the disc, which bore a conspicuous yellow radiation symbol.

"That's a 'Magnetic Adsorption High-Explosive Cutting Mine'!"

Su Qingyu's voice became sharp. "Those are used for directional blasting of a submarine's pressure hull!

Just one can blow a two-meter diameter hole in our belly!

At this depth, the water pressure would tear the black iron to pieces in an instant!"

"Those bastards... they want to blow open our doors and force their way aboard!"

"Enlarge the image. I want to see that thing's face clearly."

As soon as Jiang Ran's command was issued, zero quickly adjusted the focus of the macro probe.

The noise on the screen cleared, and the shadow installing the bomb finally revealed its hideous true face.

"Ugh..."

The moment he saw it, Old Chen felt his stomach churn.

It was a physiological discomfort even stronger than seeing a rotting corpse.

It couldn't be called "human" at all.

It was a flesh-and-blood machine forcibly cobbled together with industrial violence.

Its head was encased in a semi-transparent titanium alloy pressure shell filled with a murky yellow liquid.

In that turbid liquid, a pale, bloated human face swayed slightly with the current.

Its eyelids were forced open with surgical sutures, revealing a pair of dull, dead-fish eyes that were all white.

Even more terrifying was its body.

To adapt to the high pressure of the deep sea and extreme underwater maneuverability, its human limbs had been completely amputated.

Where its legs should have been, they were replaced by two sets of high-speed contra-rotating turbine thrusters.

They looked like two torpedoes plugged into its pelvis.

And its arms were two thick, cold-glinting hydraulic Mechanical Arms.

At the end of the left arm was a high-speed rotating monomolecular cutting saw.

The right arm was a multifunctional mechanical claw with magnetic adsorption capabilities.

"This is a 'Siren'..."

Su Qingyu's voice carried a deep chill, a primal loathing for such life-desecrating technology:

"One of the darkest products of the Ark's biochemical laboratory.

They select physically strong felons, remove their lungs, and implant a perfluorocarbon liquid breathing circulation system.

This allows them to breathe liquid directly like deep-sea fish, making them completely immune to decompression sickness and high pressure."

She pointed to the pale face on the screen. "Control chips are implanted in their brains, and their pain nerves are severed.

They are no longer soldiers, but living torpedoes that only execute orders.

Underwater, even the most advanced individual powered armor cannot keep up with their physics-defying maneuverability."

"Then what are we waiting for?!"

Old Chen slapped his thigh in anxiety and roared, pointing at the "Siren" that was setting a timer:

"Electrocute them, Boss!

Just like when we blasted those bugs last time, turn on the ship-wide electric shock!

Roast these half-human, half-ghost things!"

"No," Jiang Ran and Su Qingyu said almost simultaneously.

Su Qingyu pointed at the disc mine flashing with red light and explained at a rapid-fire pace:

"That's a high-explosive shaped charge with an electromagnetic fuse!

If we activate the ship's power grid, there's a 90% chance the high-current pulse will directly detonate those mines!

These mines are stuck to the gaps in our main armor belt. If they detonate, while it won't sink the black iron, it will definitely tear open the airtight layer!"

"At this depth, just a single crack would allow high-pressure water jets to slice the equipment inside to shreds!"

"Then what about the Close-In Weapon System?" Old Chen asked unwillingly.

"Firing blind spot."

Jiang Ran looked coldly at the screen. "They are professionals. The positions they chose are all in our weapon system's blind spots.

And they're too close; the shrapnel from the shell explosions would also damage the hull."

The situation had fallen into an extremely awkward deadlock.

This group of parasite-like monsters...

...took advantage of their small size and strong adsorption to wedge themselves into the weakest links of the black iron's defenses.

They couldn't be shot, electrocuted, or shaken off.

They watched as the leading Siren finished setting the fuse, and the red countdown numbers began to tick silently.

[03:00] Three minutes.

In three minutes, a large hole would be blown in the black iron's belly.

"It seems we'll have to use the most primitive method."

Jiang Ran suddenly turned around and tore off his Commander's uniform jacket, revealing the black nano-tight combat suit underneath.

He strode toward the airlock, his eyes showing no hint of panic; instead, a heart-palpitating flame of violence ignited within them.

"Since machines can't solve it, I'll solve it by hand."

"B-Boss? What are you doing?

That's the way to the airlock!"

Old Chen watched Jiang Ran's striding back, so frightened he nearly tumbled out of his chair.

He scrambled after him, blocking the airlock door with his arms spread wide, the fat on his face trembling violently with terror:

"Don't do anything reckless! It's 2,200 meters out there!

Over two hundred atmospheres of pressure!

Forget a human—even a solid iron ingot thrown out there would be crushed out of shape!"

He pointed at the heavy "Deep Sea Titan" heavy powered armor nearby, which looked like a small tank, and stomped his feet in anxiety:

"Even if you're going out to risk your life, at least put on this iron shell!

You're going out in just that tight suit?

What's the difference between that and jumping shirtless into a meat grinder?

You'll be crushed into a meat patty in an instant!"

In Old Chen's understanding, humans were extremely fragile in the face of the deep sea.

Without a thick alloy shell for protection, even a reinforced human could not defy the laws of physics.

"Move aside."

Jiang Ran stopped, paying no heed to the imposing powered armor beside him.

He raised his hand and gently brushed aside Old Chen's sweat-slicked hand.

The movement was as gentle as brushing away a speck of dust.

But Old Chen felt an irresistible force surge through him, and he involuntarily stumbled to the side.

"That tin can is too clumsy."

Jiang Ran glanced at the armor with a hint of disdain. "Those 'Sirens' use turbine propulsion; their underwater maneuverability is extremely high.

Going to catch loaches in this dozens-of-tons iron shell?

By the time I turn around, they'll have covered the entire ship with bombs."

"But..." Old Chen still wanted to argue.

"No 'buts'."

As Jiang Ran spoke, he unzipped the collar of his combat suit, revealing his slender neck.

Beneath that pale skin, following the rhythm of his breathing, a faint layer of dark-gold light shimmered.

It was as if what flowed beneath his skin wasn't blood, but some kind of high-energy liquid metal.

He cracked his neck, producing a series of tooth-aching "clacks":

"Old Chen, don't you understand yet?"

"Right now, I am... harder than that armor."