Chapter 172 System: Sorry, I can't communicate across species! Old Tree: I'll do it!

"Analyze!" Cheng Gan's calm voice rang out: "Can you analyze what this sound wave means?"

The sergeant in charge of sonar flew his fingers across the control panel, and countless complex data streams appeared on the screen.

He stared intently at the data, his brow furrowed.

"Report, Captain! The pulse pattern is inconsistent! Sometimes it's short and rapid, sometimes it's an explosive scream!"

"Judging from the pattern, the former may be echolocation, or it may be trying to communicate with us."

"The latter is more like a stress response after being startled."

A dialogue? A dialogue with a steel destroyer? The atmosphere in the command room became somewhat eerie.

Zhou Jue frowned. The unknown often meant trouble. She was too lazy to guess and simply called the system in her mind.

"Brother Tongzi, translate this. What is this thing saying?"

[...]

The system paused for two seconds: [Host, this system is a high-level system based on technology.]

Speak like a human.

[Let this system hack into the US Department of Defense from the internet, no problem. Let this system calculate the orbits of celestial bodies, a piece of cake.]

The system's voice carried a hint of innocence.

However, asking this system to understand the sound waves of an unknown marine creature is like asking a top-notch programmer to understand two cats arguing—it defies scientific principles and exceeds the system's scope of business.

Zhou Jue: "..."

"So, you don't understand?"

"I don't understand." The system replied confidently.

Technological cheats are useless; you still need another cheat of your own.

With a thought, Zhou Jue's consciousness instantly sank into the Starry Secret Box. Inside the box, the old tree had grown much taller.

"Senior, wake up! We need help urgently!"

The massive canopy swayed gently, and the old tree's distinctive accent rang out: "What's up, Xiaojue?"

"There's something going on outside," Zhou Jue said succinctly, then played the audio he had just recorded for Lao Shu.

The old tree's branches and leaves stopped swaying instantly, as if it had fallen into deep thought.

After a good ten seconds, the old tree's voice rang out again, carrying a complex mix of emotions that were hard to describe, a mixture of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a feeling of deep emotion) and 悲凉 (bēiláng, a feeling of sorrow).

"So...it still has bloodlines that haven't been severed."

"Senior, do you know him?" Zhou Jue immediately grasped the key point.

"We have some history, but I don't know if it still remembers me after all these years."

The branches and leaves of the ancient tree trembled, and a bright green leaf slowly drifted down from the crown.

“Take this leaf of mine with you, and a wisp of my consciousness will attach itself to it. You can use this leaf to temporarily understand its meaning.”

"good!"

With a thought, Zhou Jue's consciousness returned to its original form.

In the command room, she opened her palm, and the leaf appeared out of thin air in her hand. At the same time, it was as if everyone had an invisible pair of ears in their minds.

The rapid and complex sound waves from the deep sea, translated by the leaves, became a clear yet angry and confused thought.

"Who is it?!"

"Who woke me up?!"

"The scent of spiritual energy... why is there only a trace?!"

"Liars! You liars!"

this……

Zhou Jue was stunned.

This sounds like a grumpy guy whose head is pounding from being woken up.

The old tree's voice rang out at the right time, answering everyone's questions.

Before answering your question, answer one of my questions first.

"Did you use your spiritual power here not long ago?"

Spiritual power? Zhou Jue immediately looked at Cheng Gan.

Cheng Gan paused for a moment, then nodded: "That's right. When we were driving away that armed fleet, in order to finish the battle quickly, my team members and I added a trace of spiritual power to our attacks."

Although it is only a tiny fraction, it is an overwhelming force for ordinary people.

Having received an affirmative answer, the old tree let out a long sigh.

"I see……"

Do you know how big of a mess you've made?

For the first time, the old tree's voice carried a hint of solemnity: "In the deepest part of this sea, a 'Sea-Listening Clan' slumbers."

"The Linghai Remnants?"

“Hmm.” The ancient tree explained, “In ancient times, they were the darlings of the ocean, able to hear the voices of all things and control the waters of the four seas. But as the laws changed and spiritual energy was depleted, their race could not escape it. This Sea-Listening Beast may be the last bloodline of their race.”

"It sealed itself here and fell into a deep sleep in order to resist the erosion of time."

"But... the trace of spiritual power you used was like a drop of sweet dew falling into a dry well. Its faint and pure aura drifted along with the seawater into its sleeping place."

The old tree paused, then used an analogy in a way that Zhou Jue could understand.

"It's like a person who has been starving for thousands of years suddenly smelling the aroma of braised pork in a dream. What would he do?"

Zhou Jue answered instinctively, "He'll wake up and then go find meat to eat."

"That's right!"

"It awoke, believing it to be the restoration of spiritual energy and the return of heaven and earth to their ancient state. Filled with the hopes and longings of millennia past, it awoke from its slumber..."

The old tree's voice carried a hint of pity: "But when it woke up, it found nothing."

"There is no river of spiritual energy, no rare and precious materials, only a world where spiritual energy has withered and decayed."

"The last trace of 'meaty aroma' has almost completely dissipated."

Zhou Jue's heart sank suddenly.

She could almost see an ancient and powerful creature opening its eyes in endless darkness and solitude, only to be met with a despair far more cruel than slumber.

What awakened it was hope.

It was met with death.

Because once awakened, under the current law of depleted spiritual energy, its vitality will flow away uncontrollably and rapidly, like a flood that has been released, until it completely perishes.

"So, it is very angry now, extremely angry. It feels that you have deceived it, awakening it from its eternal slumber to face its inevitable death." The ancient tree's voice became serious.

"It is questioning, it is roaring."

"Those rapid sound waves it just made, translated, meant..."

The ancient tree paused for a moment: "'Which bastard did this?! Get your ass out here!'"

Zhou Jue: "..."

Cheng Gan: "..."

In the command room, all the soldiers fell silent.

It turns out that this was not an unknown threat at all, but an undeserved disaster caused by them, a final lament written by a dying divine beast for this world depleted of spiritual energy.

“Then… it is now…” Zhou Jue began with difficulty.

Old Tree's voice carried a hint of schadenfreude: "It's finished cursing, and now it's coming menacingly towards your location."

"According to its thinking, it probably wants to drag you 'liars' who woke it up into the water as scapegoats before it dies completely."

The words had barely left his mouth!

"Alarm! Alarm!"

At the sonar monitoring station, the sergeant's face turned deathly pale. He pointed at the rapidly enlarging red dot on the screen and said urgently.

"Captain! It's here!!"