Chapter 262 Exclusively published on Jinjiang: Are there monsters in the sea?
"How can there be so many houses on the seabed?" The villagers gathered around the detector screen, looking at the stone buildings standing quietly on the seabed in the picture, their eyes full of amazement.
Grandpa Zhang gasped repeatedly, "Could this be one of the towns that was submerged by the tsunami?"
Wu Cheng shook his head. "Probably not. This isn't the original land; it's on the sea. Where would a town come from?"
The cruise ship sailed very fast, and three days was enough for them to leave the inland and return to the open sea.
This place is so remote that even fishermen from distant coastal towns might not be able to reach it, let alone towns.
Moreover, Wu Cheng's gaze fell on the corrosion marks on the ruins of those houses, as well as the moss, seaweed, and barnacles and oysters embedded in the stone walls. No matter how you looked at it, this place couldn't have been submerged for only a month or two.
A few years? No, it could be decades or even a hundred years.
When Wu Chengyi raised this guess, the already shocked faces of the others became even more incredulous.
"No way, how could a house from so many years ago be preserved until now?" Zhang Chengming asked in surprise.
Lu Xuan said calmly, "The seabed is not exposed to wind and sun, and those houses look like they are made of stone, so it is not surprising that they have been preserved for a long time."
Lu Qing asked in confusion, "But even sturdy greenhouses were destroyed during the tsunami, so how come these houses are still intact?"
Lu Xuan: "The flooding here may not be due to a tsunami. Hundreds of years... or even thousands of years ago, this place may have been land. It was just that after the sea changed, it became ocean, and the towns that were originally on land sank to the bottom of the sea."
The crowd listened in a daze.
The changes brought about by thousands of years were beyond their comprehension, but this did not diminish their longing and admiration upon hearing about them.
Along with this came a strong desire to explore.
Li Tuo eagerly suggested, "Since we've already run into this place, why don't we go down and explore this unknown town? Maybe we'll find something good?"
Many of the young people around immediately lit up, their faces showing the same interest.
Zhang Chengming said, "I see a lot of barnacles and oysters growing on those houses. Anyway, we're going to go fishing in the sea, so it doesn't matter where we fish."
The others nodded in agreement.
Lu Xuan had no objections. "Go if you want, but don't say I didn't warn you. Nobody knows what happened here before it sank to the bottom of the sea. There might still be corpses or skeletons left by former residents in those houses. If you encounter them, don't panic."
The excited young people froze, and the women, who were also curious, were clearly frightened.
"There will be...there will be skeletons?"
Lu Xuan raised an eyebrow. "Houses are for people to live in, so why can't they exist? Some of those houses don't even have windows, so other sea creatures might crawl in and live there. In short, it's better to be safe than sorry."
The group exchanged glances, feeling a bit apprehensive, but a quick look at the screen revealed that their curiosity about the ruins outweighed their fear. "They're just some bones, nothing to be afraid of."
The group quickly began preparing for their dive.
The women were still too afraid to go down, so they decided to stay on the cruise ship and watch through the detector screen.
Those who actually went down were members of more than twenty hunting teams, including Lei Yan and Lu Xuan.
Lu Xuan was indeed somewhat curious about the underwater ruins, but he was mostly curious because the viewers in the live stream wanted to see them.
Judging from its size, this place should be a small city or a relatively large town; perhaps we can find some treasures inside.
Gold and silver are unlikely, but artifacts left behind by lost civilizations are quite possible.
[Underwater treasure hunt! I love watching this!]
The ruins are located at a depth of approximately 30x meters below the seabed. Today, the rain has stopped, the clouds have dispersed, and the sun is shining brightly, so there's no need to prepare any special lighting equipment to see the ruins clearly.
According to the detectors and the cruise ship's radar, the underwater ruins were roughly the size of a small town today, with more than twenty young men blending in without being noticeable.
Most of the houses in the underwater city are relatively well preserved, and the few that were damaged only had broken windows or a corner of the roof leaking out.
The walls of these houses are covered with a thick layer of barnacles or oysters, and kelp, seaweed, and even coral grow in every nook and cranny. All kinds of fish and shrimp mingle among them, and the buildings that once belonged to humans have now been harmoniously integrated with the marine life.
After the others came down, they split up into pairs, each locking onto a direction and dispersing, but Lu Xuan was in no hurry to investigate anything.
Occasionally, he would find a group of large oysters, abalone, or whelks and casually scoop them into his pocket. Most of the time, he would wander aimlessly with his viewers in the live stream.
As for the audience's desire to find treasure, Lu Xuan only needed to glance through the broken windows into the stone house to confirm that there was nothing worth digging for inside. It was just ordinary broken tables and chairs, or earthen beds or stoves that had been eroded by water and were no longer recognizable.
By the time he had roughly toured half of the underwater city, it was almost noon.
The group returned to shore for a break and piled up the 'spoils' they had brought back along the way to examine them.
These spoils included old farm tools covered in a thick layer of slippery, unidentified viscous substance; dusty, broken bowls and plates covered in barnacles; round pebbles carved with swimming fish; a washboard and a washing mallet with a chipped corner...
They called it a trophy hunt, but it was more like they went down to collect junk. None of the things they brought back were practical, and they were too bulky to even collect.
Lu Xuan, who only brought back a few bags of seafood, stood out even more among them.
Lu Xuan: My question?
The young and strong, however, were so engrossed in this that they forgot to eat, quickly ate two doses of nutritional supplements, and couldn't wait to go back into the water to continue their exploration.
Lu Xuan leisurely enjoyed a sumptuous lunch, then took a short nap before catching up again.
This time, Lu Xuan went to the other half of the city that he hadn't visited in the morning.
They still only pick up the larger seafood they come across, and skip the smaller ones.
Along the way, he encountered a huge sea turtle that was big enough for him to lie down on completely, and he even played with the turtle for a while with great interest.
Viewers who originally wanted to see him search for treasure underwater have now become indifferent.
During the morning's sightseeing, Lu Xuan and the others did not find any human skeletons, which meant that no matter why the place was flooded, the original residents had most likely evacuated in advance.
Even if there were treasures in the city, the previous inhabitants must have taken them all with them when they left.
There may be some that slipped through the net, but not many, and it is unknown how many will still be found after countless years.
Finding treasure is highly unlikely, so we might as well follow Lu Xuan and treat today's discovery as a simple underwater sightseeing trip.
Midway through, Lu Xuan encountered Li Jing and Li Tuo, who were exploring together. The two communicated by gesturing, and Li Tuo even lifted his net to show Lu Xuan his afternoon's harvest.
Just as Lu Xuan was casually looking at the new pile of 'junk' going into his pocket, Li Tuo's movements suddenly became more intense.
Lu Xuan looked up and saw Li Tuo staring at him with terror through his breathing goggles, while Li Jing next to him also took a step back in fright.
His expression shifted slightly as he activated his supernatural abilities to remain vigilant while quickly turning around.
The monster that appeared behind him at some unknown time made Lu Xuan's pupils shrink.
The viewers in the live stream were caught off guard and screamed in terror when they saw the monster.
【Aaaaaah! What the hell is this?!】
[Monster!!!]
[Holy crap! Run, streamer! This monster has grown arms! My hair is standing on end.]
[Monsters, begone! Bullet shield! Don't come any closer!!!]
Just then, an underwater probe drifted nearby and captured a clear image of the monster, which terrified not only those in the live stream but also the men, women, and children remaining on the cruise ship.
"Oh my god, what is that!" Wu Yinyin couldn't help but exclaim.
The other women around were also terrified, and the younger children, such as Zhang Xiuxiu, Wei Yunyun, and Fang Yuan, burst into tears on the spot.
Although Lu Chen, Zhang Dafu, and the other children didn't cry, their eyes were wide open, filled with fear.
Miao Jinfeng clutched her chest and cried out, "How can there be such a monster in the sea? Oh no! Will Li Jing and Li Tuo be alright?!"
Although Lu Qing was also scared, her trust in Lu Xuan made her subconsciously reassure him, "No, it won't happen. With Lu Xuan here, nothing will go wrong."
...
Lu Xuan was less than a meter away from the 'monster'. At first, he was so frightened that his heart stopped, but he quickly calmed down after recognizing what the creature was.
Admittedly, the guy in front of me is really ugly.
Its body is covered with dense, granular scales, and it has a row of sharp spikes on its back. Its two front paws are thick and long, its face looks fierce and menacing, its eyes are bigger than a cow's, and its huge mouth is terrifying when it opens.
Simply put, it looks a lot like the famous monster movie Colossus from a certain island nation. In fact, it is indeed the prototype of Colossus, a marine iguana.
The only lizard that can live in the sea.
Despite its ferocious and terrifying appearance, it is actually a herbivore with a gentle temperament, and some even interact with humans.
Lu Xuan first told the audience about these characteristics to calm them down, and at the same time gestured to Li Jing and Li Tuo, who wanted to turn around and run away, to indicate that it was 'safe'.
After recognizing the hand gestures, Li Jing and his companion, along with the tense and anxious villagers on the cruise ship, were somewhat relieved, but they still dared not glance at the 'monster'.
It wasn't until they discovered that the monster seemed completely oblivious to Lu Xuan and his companions, instead engrossed in munching on the seaweed growing beneath the rock wall, that they realized it had almost finished eating and then quickly swam away, flicking its long tail.
On their way out, they encountered other villagers again, and unsurprisingly, they scared them away quickly once more.
Having completely calmed down, Lu Xuan found this scene inexplicably amusing.
After the viewers in the live stream researched ancient records and learned about marine iguanas, they quickly forgot their earlier fright and began to laugh at the young adults' cowardice.
Li Jing and the others were so frightened that they couldn't stay still and floated up one after another. Lu Xuan knew that the people on the cruise ship must have many questions, so he followed them.
Back on the fishing boat, communication was immediately restored. Lu Xuan explained the situation with the marine iguana to the cruise ship, and everyone's shock gradually turned into amazement.
However, marine iguanas do look truly frightening.
Zhang Chengming and the others were still a little uneasy. Even though Lu Xuan said that they couldn't stay in the sea for too long and that they came down to eat grass and would come ashore immediately after eating, they still didn't dare to go back into the sea.
The first day had to end early due to this unexpected event.
The next day, everyone's mindset had finally calmed down, and the exploration continued.
With the experience gained the previous day, the group's harvest was much better than before. In addition to broken bowls and plates, some people began to discover more exquisite ceramic pieces left by their predecessors.
Some lucky people even managed to find a few loose pieces of silver in a corner of a house where they could hide their secret stash of money.
In the afternoon, Liu Chun and Wei Dayong's group also discovered a huge skeleton more than 20 meters long on the edge of the city.
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