16: Dive into the 50-meter-deep vault

The side screen in the cockpit was transmitting underwater footage in real-time.

As the depth increased, the light vanished completely, leaving only the pale beam of the searchlight to pierce through the murky water.

Floating office desks and chairs, bloated corpses, shattered computer monitors... these products of civilization that once represented the human elite were now rotting quietly, turning into nests for fish and shrimp.

The drilling arm advanced with unstoppable force.

It smashed directly through the building's original glass curtain wall, drilled into the central atrium, and then headed all the way down.

40 meters... 50 meters... 55 meters.

"We're here."

On the screen, a massive circular alloy door appeared.

That was the main security door of the bank vault, over half a meter thick and cast from a special alloy; it was claimed to be able to withstand the impact of a nuclear blast.

But in the face of the Devouring Rule of the black iron, simple physical defense was meaningless.

The tip of the drilling arm liquefied instantly.

It branched out into countless tiny silver threads that attached themselves to that proud security door like living moss.

"Zzzzz—"

There was no explosion, only the fine sound of metal being forcibly decomposed.

That indestructible door was softening and melting at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into a golden liquid that was absorbed by the tentacles.

Su Qingyu watched this scene that defied scientific common sense on the screen, so shocked she was speechless.

She finally understood why this man dared to act so recklessly in this apocalypse.

This wasn't technology at all; this was a miracle.

"The door is open."

Jiang Ran stared at the screen.

A large hole had been melted into the security door, and the searchlight beam shone inside.

Inside the vault, rows of neat metal shelves were stacked with a dizzying number of gold bricks.

Under the illumination of the light, they emitted a charming and eternal luster.

"A bumper harvest."

A sharp light flashed in Jiang Ran's eyes, and he was about to control the tentacles to go in and sweep it all away.

Suddenly.

The radar monitoring system, which had been running smoothly, emitted a piercing alarm without any warning.

[Warning! Warning!]

[Extremely high-energy biological signal detected!]

[Distance: Extremely close!]

Jiang Ran's heart skipped a beat.

He instinctively looked at the radar screen.

Next to the light dot representing the "vault," in the originally pitch-black area of dead silence, a massive red spot suddenly lit up.

It hadn't just swum over.

It had been lying there quietly all along, right on top of the vault, camouflaged as part of the building!

It wasn't until Jiang Ran's tentacles broke through the door that it was disturbed.

"Retreat!"

Jiang Ran roared instinctively, his fingers rapidly tapping the recall command.

But the image on the screen suddenly shook violently.

Out of the darkness, a giant eye covered in scales and as large as a truck's front end abruptly burst into the camera's field of view.

It stared fixedly at the lens, its pupils slit, exuding a cold killing intent.

Following that was an abyssal maw filled with fangs.

*Crack!* The signal was cut off.

"Hold on tight!"

Just 0.1 seconds after the side screen signal was cut off.

Jiang Ran whipped his head around and roared at Su Qingyu, who hadn't reacted yet.

He didn't even have time to pull back the tentacles that were still underwater.

He slammed the control lever to one side while simultaneously activating the hull stabilization system.

"Boom—!!!"

An irresistible, massive force erupted without warning from directly beneath the black iron fortress.

This steel fortress, weighing dozens of tons and fully loaded with supplies...

At this moment, it was like a plastic toy kicked by a naughty child, the entire ship being forcibly knocked nearly two meters out of the water!

A sense of weightlessness instantly hit.

"Ah!"

Su Qingyu let out a short scream.

She lost her balance completely, slamming heavily against the padded wall of the cockpit.

If she hadn't followed Jiang Ran's suggestion to wear her seatbelt earlier, she probably would have broken a bone from this impact.

All the dashboards were flashing alarms frantically.

[Warning: The bottom armor of the hull has sustained a high-energy impact!]

[Armor Integrity: 98% (Slight denting)]

[Seismic Source Analysis: Large biological collision.]

*Splash!*

The black iron fortress crashed back onto the water's surface, kicking up sprays of white waves that filled the air.

The massive counter-shock made Jiang Ran feel as if his internal organs were shifting, but he couldn't care about any of that, staring fixedly at the water ahead.

"Splash—"

On the surface of the water under the pouring rain, a massive black shadow slowly surfaced.

It was the embodiment of despair.

First to emerge from the water was a section of a back that looked like it was cast from black iron, covered in palm-sized black scales with edges as sharp as knives.

Immediately following was a massive, flat, and hideous head.

It looked like a black fish magnified hundreds of times.

But the cruelty and cunning revealed in those murky yellow giant eyes were definitely not the look of any fish.

Its body length exceeded eight meters.

Although it was shorter than the twelve-meter black iron fortress...

The explosive muscle lines and that abyssal maw filled with hooked fangs, large enough to swallow a car in one bite...

Made it look far more dangerous than the steel warship.

[Target scan complete.]

[Biological Name: Mutated Iron-Bone Black Fish (Junior Behemoth)]

[Characteristics: High-density bone armor, extremely strong bite force, underwater speed of 80 knots.]

"This is... a black fish?"

Su Qingyu's face was deathly pale as she held onto the wall to stand up, watching the monster circling the ship outside the window.

"This size... just how fast is its cell division? This isn't scientific!"

"In this world, this is science."

Jiang Ran wiped a smear of blood from the corner of his mouth; not only was there no fear in his eyes, but a flame of madness began to burn instead.

In the Level 3 upgrade conditions, that vacant "Biological/Special Material" requirement had always left him without a clue.

But now, looking at this monster covered in Biological Armor, he understood.

How was this a monster?

This was clearly a living armor pack delivered right to his door!

"Roar—!"

The giant black fish on the water's surface let out a hiss that sounded like the boom of a subwoofer.

It was clearly angered by the fact that its previous strike hadn't overturned this "iron shell."

It suddenly swung its powerful tail, its massive body cutting a black afterimage through the water.

Opening its large mouth once more, it lunged fiercely toward the side of the black iron fortress!

Its teeth glinted coldly under the lightning, weapons that could easily crush concrete and ordinary steel plates.

"You want to eat me?"

Jiang Ran sneered, his hands turning into afterimages on the console. "Then let's see whose teeth are sharper!"

"Mechanical Arm, unlock!"

"Full power, ram it back!"

"Zzz— Screech!"

The sound of metal grinding instantly echoed through the sky.

The mutated black fish's abyssal maw, filled with hooked fangs, didn't hit anything vital.

Under Jiang Ran's extreme evasive maneuvers, it only managed to bite hard onto the port side of the black iron fortress.

Sparks flew everywhere!

This reinforced Grade D special alloy armor actually had several gouges two centimeters deep plowed into it by the monster's fangs.

The silver-white inner structure was exposed. If it had been an ordinary vessel, it would have been snapped in two by this strike.

But the black iron only shook slightly, remaining as steady as a mountain.

The roles of hunter and prey quietly swapped at this moment.