Dragon Clan: Thought So Far.

Chapter 350 341. Ghost Tooth Dragon Viper
A dazzling red light suddenly began to flash on the sonar screen, and at the same time, the operating panel of the underwater drone also flashed red. The cabin filled with pipes and circuits was filled with an anxious and panic-inducing red.

The Trieste was issuing a silent warning.

The cockpit of the submersible is small and compact, and the internal space is probably only as big as a civilian elevator, just enough to accommodate Chu Zihang and Caesar without being crowded.

At this moment, the elites of the academy held their breath at the same time and rushed to the operating table with nervous expressions.

"What's the situation over there?" Chu Zihang's palms were sweating, and he looked up at the dark sea outside the observation window where snow was falling.

He still needed to ensure his control of this antique to avoid a possible disaster if the EVA's communication was suddenly interrupted and the remote control system failed.

"Drone No. 25 has been destroyed... Medium-sized target, approaching rapidly, speed 61.5 knots, 2100 degrees, depth meters!" Caesar squinted and stared at the sonar screen.

"Rules out submarines and torpedoes. The infrared response is high, and no radio signals are received. It must be some kind of creature! Judging from the last video sent back by UAV No. 1, it should be a shark! A super shark with a mouth that is more than two meters wide!"

Shark teeth are arranged in layers in the mouth, with hundreds of teeth in each layer. The outermost teeth are used for hunting, while the inner teeth are used as backup.

When the outermost teeth fall out or become damaged, the inner teeth move forward along the gums to take their place.

Caesar and Chu Zihang had both taken marine biology courses in college, and had systematically studied the physiological structure of most marine organisms, including sharks.

But when Chu Zihang heard what Caesar said, he was still stunned. He didn't understand why that subspecies of dragon would attack their drone.

The vast majority of marine life is completely uninterested in submersibles, submarines, or even divers. They are neither afraid nor curious, they simply ignore them.

What's more, the materials used in the drones manufactured by the Equipment Department are strong titanium alloy, ceramics and new composite material carbon fiber.

That thing is also silent throughout its voyage in the deep sea. Its excellent shock-absorbing design, alloy shell filled with curved corners, shock-absorbing raft installation of multi-stage underwater propulsion motors and the use of pump-jet propulsion instead of traditional propellers, all these features allow the drone's noise level to be controlled between 90 and 100 decibels, even lower than the background noise of the ocean.

This is probably the most proud design of the Equipment Department in recent years.

It is hard to imagine how the shark, which was corroded by dragon blood, could find the slowly sinking drone.

"We don't need to worry. The Trieste is 15 meters in size and is wrapped in a super-strength alloy shell. The shark is just a medium-sized target to us and it cannot pose a threat to this submersible." Caesar quickly calmed down.

It is just a subspecies that has been corroded by the blood of the ancient species. They have even fought against real corpse guards made from the corpses of ancient dragons in Genji Heavy Industries.

How could a man who hunts gods be afraid of wild beasts?
"But if its target is really this submersible, then perhaps we should re-plan our dive plan," Chu Zihang said. "Something would not want to see the Trieste carrying nuclear bombs and alchemical sulfur bombs go to the depths of the abyss."

Caesar's face looked gloomy and ugly for a moment.

Wild animals have the instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm, and so do humans and dragons.

However, humans call this strange ability the sixth sense, while dragons call this ability to sense danger "spiritual awareness."

It's like you point a single-person rocket launcher at a fifth-generation species that has just woken up from a deep sleep. He may not belong to this society at all, and his most recent whereabouts are only in the Middle Ages, but he will still instinctively want to escape from the aiming range of the rocket launcher.

Because death was slowly creeping over his entire body like cold sea water.

Perhaps the ancient dragon embryo that was sunk into the deep sea along with the Lenin in the depths of the Abyss has fully awakened. It was lurking in the dark abyss waiting for the recovery of its strength, but it felt the Trieste carrying deadly weapons falling from the sky, so it sent or intimidated a subspecies to destroy them.

"Turn off the engine first," said Caesar.

Chu Zihang understood and immediately proceeded to shut down the engine system of the Trieste. The dark steel fish began to glide silently in the deep sea.

Caesar also fumbled to turn off the power and tightened all the valves.

In the deep sea, human submarines rely entirely on hearing to move, and the animals are the same.

The cabin of the submersible quickly became silent. At the same time, the situation here had been learned by the executive department. Once it was confirmed that the dragon in the abyss had awakened and completely mastered the new ecosystem, the academy would have to temporarily suspend the blasting plan and immediately pull the Trieste out from underwater.

An alchemical sulfur bomb or nuclear bomb could certainly easily destroy an embryo that was immobilized and hatching on the seabed, but it would not be able to kill a swift and dangerous dragon.

In this situation, Operation Jiyuan had already been declared a failure. The only thing Principal Angers and Professor Schneider could do was to pull Caesar and Chu Zihang and their tin cans out from the two thousand meters deep water to avoid more meaningless sacrifices.

Chu Zihang pursed his lips tightly, making his lips look extremely thin and the shadows on his facial contours extremely deep.

He glanced at Caesar and found that Caesar's expression was almost the same as his.

Both of them were trying their best to restrain themselves from making any sound, and the cabin was as quiet as if it was the other side of the world.

This is also the rule on the submarine. When sailing in silence, all passengers must remain silent and can only communicate through eye contact and gestures.

The Trieste itself is a hollow metal shell, which is an excellent conductor of sound. The same is true for sea water. Even extremely subtle sounds in a submarine will be amplified hundreds of times in sea water.

No one knows whether the mutated shark has evolved powerful biological sonar like a whale, but Chu Zihang and Caesar are unwilling to take the risk.

The active sonar has been turned off by Caesar, and now they can only use passive sonar to scan the surroundings, but this will greatly reduce the range of the submersible.

They now had to wait until the shark's shockwaves touched the Trieste before they could detect the creature's approach.

Ten minutes have passed since UAV No. 1 was destroyed. According to the speed of the mutant shark detected by Caesar through sonar, they should be able to rendezvous soon.

The sonar screen was blank at first, but suddenly an object flashing red light was rapidly approaching the Trieste.

Chu Zihang’s brows were knitted together.

Here it comes, are they really the target of that thing?
The sea outside the observation window was suddenly stirred. The dense sea snow that was originally falling from above now became turbid, and the clumps of organic matter were torn apart by the transparent whirlpool.

Both of them subconsciously held on to the fixed rails beside them to prevent themselves from being knocked off their seats in the impending impact. Suddenly, a majestic black shadow approached from afar in the sea illuminated by the gaslight! Its long tail swung violently, and it moved like a ferocious fish!

It was indeed a shark corroded by dragon blood. It was huge, nearly ten meters long, with two strange eyes that were faintly golden. The surface of its body was not smooth fish skin, but covered with metal-like scales.

Obviously, this thing destroyed the No. 1 drone released by Chu Zihang.

Its teeth were sharper than a reamer, and with a single opening and closing they crushed the alloy forging machine into pieces.

When approaching the Trieste, the shark, whose original species could not be identified, suddenly accelerated and passed by the submersible with turbid sea water.

It was obvious that it was completely uninterested in this strange thing. The shark's cursor on the sonar screen was getting farther and farther away, and after a few seconds it completely disappeared from the detection range.

Chu Zihang and Caesar looked at each other, not understanding why things turned out so disappointingly. They had even prepared for the attack. Although the shark's speed and power would not cause a devastating blow to the Trieste, it would inevitably cause accidents in the airtight compartment and the watertight compartment, and this operation would be terminated.

But that thing just passed them by.

Then why did it destroy drone number one?

Sharks are not as smart as dolphins. They will not just find something to do on the road out of curiosity or fun.

Every move of every shark is purposeful and targeted.

"The danger has been lifted for the time being. Release the No. 2 drone to continue its underwater exploration." Chu Zihang pressed the microphone and informed the executive department of his next actions.

"Please continue the mission." Cheng Shuangfan's voice rang out, the engine was restarted, all the valves were opened, and Caesar also turned on the power in the cabin.

It was only then that they both realized that they were completely soaked in cold sweat. Apparently, even though the Lionheart Club President and the Student Union Chairman were heroes who could carry swords and kill their way into a dragon's lair on land, they still deeply felt the insignificance of human power two thousand meters under the sea.

"Minimum thrust cruise, full left rudder, constant speed dive."

Chu Zihang followed the instructions in the operating manual and let the submersible's watertight compartment suck in seawater. Tiny bubbles then appeared on the entire surface of the Trieste, which then slowly sank into the deeper sea.

"But..." Caesar looked at Chu Zihang dimly.
"Why does it go up there?"

As a fish, sharks mainly breathe through gills. This animal exchanges oxygen by filtering oxygen in the water through its gills while swimming.

Therefore, sharks do not need to surface to breathe like whales or dolphins. Theoretically, a megalodon contaminated by dragon blood and mutated can swim in the deep sea for its entire life.

Besides, the nearby seas are so barren. Apart from the ecosystem shaped by the gene leakage of the ancient dragon embryo, where should a ten-meter-long giant marine predator find enough food to survive?

Chu Zihang's pupils shrank slightly, and uneasy flames jumped in his never-extinguished golden pupils.

The noise of mechanical operation filled the entire cabin of the Trieste. Drone No. 2 had been released, and the images transmitted back by the underwater camera reappeared on the display screen.

The submersible dived along with the No. 2 drone, and the surrounding sea snow began to become quiet and peaceful again, as if everything that had just happened was just a dream.

But at this moment, the hearts of the two people in the cabin were shrouded in a huge shadow.

"It's... running for its life." Chu Zihang took a deep breath.

The demon sword Murasame was lying across his knees, and at this moment Chu Zihang's right hand had already grasped the hilt of the long sword.

Although everyone knew that a Japanese sword would be useless thousands of meters under the sea, he still wanted to hold it tightly.

By holding on to Murasame, he would hold on to his strength, and he would no longer be afraid.

It can be imagined that even in an ecosystem based on the leaked genes of ancient dragon embryos, that huge shark covered with hard scales is definitely the top predator. In the deep sea, even some pure-blooded dragons are no match for it.

In the depths of the abyss, it can enjoy powerful genetic fragments and can also have almost all the lower-level creatures in the entire ecosystem as its lambs, but it still chooses to escape. It flees so hastily that it even smashes the drone that accidentally appears in its way as an enemy.

What could make such a predator so frightened that it would even give up its food, territory and dignity?
Suddenly, a silver shadow flashed in the video transmitted back by UAV No. 2, and Caesar even thought he had made a mistake in that instant.

But then more and more shadows flashed in front of the camera, and Chu Zihang and Caesar were stunned.

It was like a group of fireflies rising from the depths of the ocean, or like a huge number of stars rising into the sky.

It turned out to be a slender little fish with beautiful silver-blue scales all over its body. The light came from a long tentacle on the top of its head.

There were thousands of them, glowing with a faint blue light, like a whirlpool of starlight.

"It's the Ghosttooth Viper..." Chu Zihang's voice was hoarse.

These creatures were once considered by the academy to be non-existent fantasy creatures, but now they appear in droves above the Abyss, chasing the top predators in the deep ocean all the way to the surface.

The teeth of the Ghosttooth Viper are sharp and hard, and can even bite through steel. In the ancient Age of Gods, they were used as executioners to kill and torture pure-blooded dragons.

A mutant shark is nothing more than food to these monsters.

But fortunately, this creature does not rely on hearing but on smell. In its eyes, the drone and the Trieste are nothing but lifeless stones.

In front of the camera, a silver river was rushing through the black ocean. A few minutes later, silver specks of light bypassed the Trieste like a whirlpool and continued upwards in pursuit of the scent of the shark.

"The genes of these things are very unstable. They must continuously ingest the genetic fragments of the dragon clan to avoid dying. That's why they won't spread from the Abyss to the entire Pacific Ocean." Caesar said as he looked out the observation window. Even though he didn't smell anything, he still smelled the bloody smell in his face.

"But it's strange. The original purpose of the dragon race creating the Ghosttooth Viper was to serve as the guards of those towering cities, so they shouldn't be as far away from their habitat as they are now."

(End of this chapter)