In the pitch-black ocean of liquid ammonia, a giant fish about two hundred meters long thrashed its powerful body as it continued to dive deeper into the liquid ammonia ocean.
A silver-white exploration vessel, its incandescent searchlights blazing, struggled to keep up behind it.
Every now and then, the giant fish in front would slow down its descent and hover in place, waiting for the exploration ship to catch up with its "steps".
What a harmonious scene.
If we ignore the densely packed, disdainful words in the translation device...
"I didn't expect this..."
Hope leaned back in his chair, utterly dejected, staring blankly at the faint orange-red halo outside the porthole: "These giant fish are quite the chatterbox, aren't they?"
But thinking about it, it's understandable.
Surrounded by such a vast ocean of liquid ammonia, perhaps only talking to oneself can dispel the loneliness in one's heart?
Thinking this, Hope felt a faint pang of sympathy.
...
The descent took an extremely long time.
As the depth increased, the pressure around the exploration vessel increased dramatically, and the temperature of the liquid ammonia seawater also rose significantly compared to the beginning.
Like Neptune, this icy giant planet also has its own heat source inside.
“The Kelvin-Helmholtz principle,” Hope muttered to himself, watching the thermometer reading rise. “When the surface of a star or planet cools, it causes a decrease in pressure on the star or planet, which is eventually compensated for by contraction.”
"During the contraction process, the potential energy of matter falling inward is converted into heat energy, which indirectly heats the core of the star or planet."
"This usually occurs on gas giants, ice giants, or brown dwarfs."
Hansent: "..."
My head is so itchy, I feel like my brain is growing out of it.
"A large number of unidentified objects have been detected."
The synthesized voice interrupted their "discussion".
Hansent instinctively looked up at the porthole.
"...Holy crap!!" *2
The magnificent traditional Chinese culture once again resonated within the cramped cockpit of the exploration vessel.
Looking out the porthole, at least dozens of orange-red rings of light could be seen slowly moving in the dark ocean of liquid ammonia.
Hope was breathing rapidly, her body trembling slightly, and she stammered, "Professor...I, we..."
"It seems like we've intruded into their territory..."
Lu Yongchang, far away on Dawn Star, was also getting impatient as he watched the footage transmitted back from the camera.
"No, don't panic!"
He took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and said in a deep voice, "Theoretically speaking, they shouldn't be able to detect you."
"Follow the giant fish leader and try to find the mineral vein."
“It’s just theory again…” Hope and Hansent swallowed hard. “Professor, are you sure our cockpit can escape?”
“Theoretically speaking…” Lu Yongchang’s voice suddenly paused, then he remained silent for a moment.
"Don't worry, we'll definitely escape!"
"Okay, fine..."
Hope rubbed his hands together and gripped the exploration vessel's control lever with slightly trembling hands.
A stream of water gushed out from the stern of the exploration vessel, propelling it slowly forward.
The giant fish showed an extremely strong curiosity about the arrival of the "newcomers".
Within just a few dozen seconds, more than a dozen giant fish of varying sizes appeared near the exploration vessel.
To avoid a collision, the exploration vessel's speed was repeatedly reduced.
The giant fish leader leading the way clearly noticed this scene.
With a twist of its body, it quickly returned to the side of the exploration vessel, opened its large mouth, and emitted a series of powerful ultrasonic waves.
A few seconds later.
The giant fish that had been watching the commotion silently stepped back, making way for the exploration vessel.
The giant fish leader glanced at the exploration vessel, then swam forward again, its body swaying.
Hope wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and muttered under her breath, "Why did it look a little smug just now?"
Hansent nodded in agreement: "It's a bit like they're showing us their abilities, typical animal courtship behavior."
After saying that, Hansent's expression immediately turned somewhat grim.
Animal courtship behavior is not scary.
But if the person you're courting is yourself, that's a scary thing.
Especially since the other side is a giant amino fish that is 200 meters long!
Without the interference of the giant fish, the exploration ship followed behind the giant fish leader and swam slowly forward.
"The seawater is getting increasingly murky."
Hope looked at the footage on the camera and said in a deep voice.
Before Hansent could speak, a "thin" shadow flashed across the screen.
...
"What is that?!"
Lu Yongchang, who was on Dawn Star, naturally saw this scene as well, and he immediately shouted, "Zero! Replay the footage!"
After a brief wait, a clear image appeared before everyone.
"biology?"
Staring blankly at the image projected on the holographic projection, Lü Yongchang exclaimed, "This liquid ammonia ocean has its own unique biosphere?!"
"I'm afraid so."
Looking at the footage transmitted from the camera, Mao Zhengzhi murmured softly, "These creatures should be similar to krill in Earth's oceans, except that they are much larger than krill."
"If nothing unexpected happens, they should be one of the food sources for these giant fish."
"How did you know?" Lu Yongchang asked instinctively.
Mao Zhengzhi didn't speak, but simply pointed to a holographic image.
In the footage, under the main searchlight, a large group of krill-like creatures are seen swimming in murky liquid ammonia seawater.
The next moment, the giant fish leader opened its mouth wide and swallowed all the krill-like creatures into its belly while swallowing seawater.
“If I’m not mistaken…” Mao Zhengzhi muttered to himself, “These krill-like organisms should have abundant deuterium-tritium resources in their bodies.”
"They can provide fuel for the giant fish's fusion reactor."
...
The depth continues to decrease.
In addition to krill-like creatures, some strange-looking creatures also appeared around the exploration vessel.
They swam freely in the warm liquid ammonia seawater.
“Unbelievable…” Mao Zhengzhi’s voice came through the loudspeaker, “Deep within an ice giant, there actually exists a simple biosphere!”
Yes, it is a simple biosphere.
To date, they have only discovered a dozen or so species.
Of these dozen or so creatures, apart from the giant fish, the rest are all less than one meter in size.
Based on current observations, the giant fish is undoubtedly the overlord of this liquid ammonia ocean!
As the depth increased, the temperature of the liquid ammonia seawater continued to rise, and the surrounding organisms gradually decreased until they disappeared.
“This is no longer a habitable zone.” Mao Zhengzhi nodded thoughtfully. “It seems that, apart from the giant fish, the range of activity for these small creatures is still very small.”
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