Carl looked down at the indicator light on the repeater.
The green light is on, things are stable.
He breathed a sigh of relief and patted the outer casing: "This thing has finally stopped acting up."
Chen Hao took two steps ahead, then suddenly stopped, turned around and said, "Don't take pictures of it. If you break it, we'll have to communicate with our eyes."
“Then you need to lose weight first,” Susan added casually as she caught up. “Otherwise, you’ll swim too slowly, and I’ll see you drift far away in just one glance.”
Nana walked at the back, a slight static sound coming from her earphones. She reached out and adjusted the frequency, and the sound immediately became clear: "Communication link is normal, six-node synchronization rate is 98%."
"Alright." Chen Hao pointed ahead. "Then let's stop dawdling and get going."
The four men formed a triangular formation and slowly advanced. The sea ahead gradually darkened, and the searchlights, when swept out, had their beams shortened by the water pressure. On the sonar screen, a dense cluster of heat sources was moving slowly, like a floating mass of stars.
“Those things…are still moving?” Susan stared at the data on her wristwatch.
“It’s not a ‘thing,’” Carl said quietly. “It’s alive.”
Nana pulled up the signal spectrum: "Low-frequency electromagnetic fluctuations were detected, with frequencies concentrated between 3.2 and 4.1 Hz, which are highly similar to the brain waves of known marine organisms."
"So, they have brains?" Chen Hao asked.
“Not only that,” Nana said, “they are also connected to each other in some way.”
The team continued forward. The water temperature dropped two degrees, and the automatic heating layer of their diving suits activated. Ten minutes later, they reached the edge of the heat source.
Light appeared.
A group of translucent creatures floated in the water, their bodies resembling umbrellas with a dozen or so tentacles dangling from their edges. Each tentacle tip shimmered with a faint blue light, flickering rhythmically. They rotated around a central point, arranged in a ring, as if circling something.
“They’re not wandering around,” Susan said softly. “They’re in formation.”
“And they all went in the same direction,” Carl added. “No one broke away.”
Chen Hao raised the recorder, pointing the lens at the nearest one. When the image was zoomed in, a dark structure could be seen in the "head" area, which looked like an eye, but not quite.
"Nana, check the database."
“Comparison in progress.” She paused for two seconds. “No matching species found. Its morphology is between cnidarians and mollusks, but the complexity of its nervous system far exceeds existing classification standards.”
"That's a new variety," Chen Hao grinned. "We're rich."
"Don't get too excited," Susan cautioned. "They seem fine now, but what if they spray venom the moment you get close?"
“We’ll have to wait for them to make the first move,” Chen Hao said. “We didn’t bring any bait.”
Nana has begun recording the changes in the light signal. Her screen is divided into two columns: the left side displays the real-time image, and the right side displays the waveform. "The flickering pattern is periodic, but the intervals are irregular. My initial assessment is that it might be information encoding."
Can you break it?
“More sample data is needed,” she said. “At present, we can only confirm that they react to external light sources.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the spotlight above Chen Hao's head suddenly flickered.
The blue light cluster immediately changed.
All the individuals turned simultaneously, their tentacles retracted, and the blue light changed from flashing to a continuous glow. In that instant, the entire area seemed to be illuminated.
"Turn off the lights!" Chen Hao whispered.
The three quickly turned off the high-powered lights, leaving only the red warning lights on the edge of their diving suits.
A few seconds later, the blue light began to flash again, and the rhythm returned to normal. The creatures slowly dispersed and resumed their original movements.
“I told you so,” Chen Hao breathed a sigh of relief, “they were responding to us.”
“It wasn’t just a response.” Nana looked at the data. “That collective turn just now seemed like a warning reaction. They only stopped when the light source disappeared.”
“This shows they can assess threat levels,” Susan said. “It’s no longer instinctive.”
“It’s a strategy,” Carl said softly. “They know when to gather and when to disperse.”
Chen Hao stroked his chin: "Then can we do the opposite and communicate with them using light?"
“It’s theoretically feasible,” Nana said, “but we must control the variables. For example, we could send a simple signal with red light at a fixed frequency and observe whether it elicits a specific response.”
“You operate it,” Chen Hao said. “I’ll keep an eye on them to see if they suddenly rush over.”
Nana opened the communication panel and connected the external signal transmitter. She set a set of three short flashes, two seconds apart, to be emitted through the red light cluster on the back of her wetsuit.
The aquatic community remained quiet for a few seconds.
Then, one of them slowly raised its tentacles, and the blue light flashed three times in succession.
“It’s back!” Susan almost shouted.
"Don't get excited." Chen Hao pressed down on her shoulder. "Let's do it again."
Nana sent the signal again. This time, all five creatures responded simultaneously, their blue light rhythm perfectly synchronized.
“They learned it,” Carl said. “Or, they already knew the rules.”
“Not necessarily,” Nana analyzed. “It’s more likely a conditioned reflex. We give them a signal, and they respond according to some kind of logic. It’s like knocking on the door; if there’s noise inside, it doesn’t mean they’re talking.”
"But at least it proves that they can receive external information," Chen Hao said. "Next, let's try something more complex."
He instructed Nana to use alternating long and short flash sequences, mimicking the basic structure of Morse code. After the first round of transmission, they waited for twenty seconds.
No response.
The second round ended in silence.
The third round had only been halfway through when the entire colony suddenly stopped moving.
All blue lights went out.
Darkness descends.
The four of them held their breath, and none of them moved.
Thirty seconds later, the smallest individual slowly floated out of the line and came to a position five meters in front of it. Its tentacles spread out, and blue light flickered at an extremely slow pace—once long, twice short, once long.
“This is…” Susan looked at the recording.
“It’s different from what we just sent out,” Carl said, “but it’s mimicking the rhythm.”
Nana immediately pulled up a comparison image: "The first part matches 89%, but the second part shows a mutation. It's not a copy, it's a modification."
"That means it has its own intention to express itself." Chen Hao laughed. "This isn't an insect anymore; it's a neighbor."
“I recommend keeping your distance,” Nana said. “Although they haven’t shown any aggression, their cognitive abilities are unknown. Unsolicited interaction could trigger unpredictable reactions.”
"I'll listen to you." Chen Hao nodded. "That's enough for today, let's leave."
The team began to retreat. The three swam slowly backward, trying to keep their movements as steady as possible. Nana continued recording the signal changes as she walked.
Just as they retreated twenty meters, Carl's thrusters suddenly emitted a muffled thud.
The motor jerked for a moment, and the machine vibrated for half a second.
"Damn it." He immediately shut off the power and coasted by inertia.
But it was too late.
That tremor just now seemed to have triggered something.
Three larger creatures quickly broke away from the group and swam towards them. They weren't moving fast, but their direction was clear.
"Silent mode," Chen Hao ordered in a low voice. "Turn off all unnecessary devices and stop making noise."
The three immediately carried out the order. The thrusters were powered off, the lights were turned down to the lowest setting, and even their breathing slowed down.
The three creatures stopped ten meters away.
They neither approached nor left. They simply hung in the water, their tentacles swaying gently, the blue light flickering.
“They are observing,” Susan said.
“Or…wait for our next move.” Carl gripped the strap of his toolbox tighter.
Nana quietly activated the remote control program, lowering Karl's thruster output frequency by 15% to avoid the resonance range. Two minutes later, the system returned to normal.
"You can go now," she said softly, "but go slowly and don't look back."
The four continued their retreat. This time, no one spoke, nor did anyone speed up. Only after retreating fifty meters and confirming that they were no longer being pursued did they re-establish regular communication.
"Is all the data entered?" Chen Hao asked.
“Complete.” Nana nodded. “Video, audio, and electromagnetic signals are all saved. The storage module is encrypted.”
"That's good." Chen Hao breathed a sigh of relief. "Now I can get a good night's sleep."
“Don’t celebrate too soon.” Susan glanced back. “They know we’re here.”
“I know we can communicate,” Carl said. “Next time we meet, it might not just be a simple greeting.”
“Then we’ll talk about it next time.” Chen Hao patted his backpack. “The most important thing now is to bring these things back and see if Nana can translate what they’re saying.”
Nana's eyes gleamed with blue light as she packaged the files. Her voice was calm: "The initial model has been established. If they use logic encoding, the cracking time is expected to be within seventy-two hours."
"Okay." Chen Hao smiled. "Then I'll order you takeout as a reward."
“I have no sense of taste,” she said.
“I know,” Chen Hao shrugged, “but I can pretend you’re enjoying your meal.”
The team continued moving towards a safe channel. The seabed gradually leveled out, and the currents slowed. The communication network remained stable, with all six nodes online.
Upon arriving at the rendezvous point, Chen Hao turned on the recorder and reviewed the last segment of footage.
In the scene, the leading creature slowly raised its tentacles, and blue light flashed four times.
Short, long, short, long.
It was completely different from the signal they sent the first time.
But he always felt that it wasn't random.
It's more like an answer.
He paused the video and stared at that frame for a long time.
Then he said, "Nana."
"exist."
"Do you think...they might be studying us too?"
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