CHAPTER 307: CHAPTER 137: NORTH SEA WHALE LOACH

Chen Jian’s reaction was quick. As soon as he detected the abnormal signal, he launched a drone reconnaissance.

But even so, by the time the drone reached the location where the anomaly occurred, it still did not capture the monster’s silhouette.

Clear images were transmitted back, showing shocking traces of "landscape change."

Large swathes of forest had collapsed, and a small hill experienced complete subsidence. The center of the subsidence vaguely exposed a dark pit, but when the drone approached, it found the pit was nowhere deep enough to hide any monster.

The same storyline again.

Unease grew increasingly intense within Chen Jian. Fixing his gaze on the images uploaded to the PDA, he spoke:

"If the situation continues like this, I’m afraid we’ll have to change our strategy."

"We must take the initiative to track the monster down."

"Otherwise, we’ll remain passive, without any way to respond."

"If this really is a precursor to the Beast Tide, then without the advantage of information... I genuinely don’t know how to fight it."

Once his words ended, silence fell among everyone in the room.

Moments later, Lei Jie exhaled deeply and then said:

"What I’m more concerned about is where exactly those monsters have gone."

"Given the current situation, there seems to be only one reasonable explanation."

"That is, they are all underground."

"Fu Xi, are you certain your information is accurate? Are you sure the underground ’Nuclear Great Wall’ in this area is insufficient to conceal these monsters?"

"I’m certain."

Fu Xi’s voice sounded in the headset.

"The underground nuclear facilities are a rather special confidential project. Even though I did not have access to most classified information due to the cautious and conservative attitude toward artificial intelligence by various leaders back then, I did gain some emergency authorization after the catastrophe began."

"This includes information about the locations and scale of subterranean nuclear facilities."

"If you ask me to remotely initiate a launch of a nuclear missile, I absolutely can’t do it."

"Moreover, I’m not clear about the specific deployment of nuclear weapons either."

"But as for information concerning nuclear facilities and anti-nuclear fortifications, I can guarantee with absolute certainty that my information is accurate."

"Because the function of nuclear fortifications is not only nuclear retaliation but also nuclear protection."

"This is one of my fundamental functions, a basic mission."

"Understood."

Lei Jie gently nodded, paused for a moment, then said:

"That leaves no explanation at all."

"Unless..."

"Landscape."

Chen Jian suddenly interjected, and quickly continued:

"Unless the monster itself has already merged into the landscape, like that secondary monster in Jinling."

"If that monster hadn’t revealed itself voluntarily, very likely, we’d be facing the same situation now."

"From an aerial reconnaissance perspective, we’d never be able to pinpoint its exact location because it is a mountain."

"It is quite possible this monster’s situation is the same."

"After brief activity, it may have returned to rest. To find it, we can only... approach and see."

"Too dangerous."

Ji Xing raised his hand and said:

"If we’re going to inspect, why not let the people from the Holy Blood Temple go — like Lin Yu’s team."

"You’re not holding back at all..."

Chen Jian chuckled and shook his head, intending to say something, but just at this moment, the low-pitched sound resonated once more.

"Woo----"

This time, the sound was longer, and the distance was notably closer.

"Drone!"

Chen Jian shouted, and at the same time, without needing his instructions, Fu Xi had already immediate deployed the drones that hadn’t landed yet, flying them toward the direction of the sound.

"Not the west side, this time it’s the east side!"

Chen Jian fixated on the footage returned by the drone, paused briefly, then continued:

"East is the sea!"

"I see it!"

As the words fell, everyone’s gaze simultaneously turned to the footage transmitted back by the drone.

The video was shrouded in darkness, but on the nearly boundless sea reflecting dim starlight, a vortex with a diameter of several hundred meters was violently rotating.

Billion luminous algae emitted faint light in the massive spiral, resembling a rotating galaxy.

Under the vortex, a gigantic shadow swam, and Chen Jian held his breath, observing this terrifying scene, momentarily unsure whether he should issue the command to continue approaching for reconnaissance.

But actually, it didn’t matter whether to get closer or not.

Moments later, the vortex’s center gradually heaved into a water mound towering over a hundred meters. Shadows pierced the water’s surface dozen times, tentacles enveloped in sprays shot skyward, flailing chaotically in the air.

Parasitic shell creatures were shaken off, densely falling into the sea like raindrops, stirring a succession of splashes.

Soon after, the monster’s colossal body surfaced heavily only to fall back into the water.

"Woo-----"

The low-frequency sound wave penetrated the air, directly reaching the eardrums of everyone tens of kilometers away.

Chen Jian immediately felt a strong sense of nausea, he blinked forcefully to stabilize his mind, and just at this instant, the monster had vanished into the sea.

Oceans of waves surged toward the shore mightily.

The tremendous kinetic energy ultimately dissipated before reaching the shore, the splashes raised by the monster merely causing the fishing boats docked at the shore to tilt and rock slightly.

Yet, despite this, Chen Jian was still utterly astonished.

That’s the sea!

Not a lake!

Just how enormous a creature must it be to make its splashes ten kilometers away from the coast line reach the shore?