Chen Nian watched intently as a silver fish split in the surging waves, becoming two smaller creatures, which then sank into the sea to look for food or metal debris for their growth.
He suddenly thought of the biology class he had taken a month ago. Cells can divide by mitosis, but the division does not continue indefinitely.
Research has shown that this is because there is a structure called telomere on the chromosomes. Telomeres will continue to shorten as cells divide. When they are short to a certain extent, they can no longer divide.
The telomeres of cancer cells are abnormal, which is why they can proliferate indefinitely.
Could it be something similar with Gale?
Apart from anything else, it needs raw materials to reproduce. The physical body obtains nutrients through eating, and the mechanical part absorbs metal parts.
They could not stop the silver fish from foraging, after all, the ocean was filled with large amounts of phytoplankton and algae that were invisible to the naked eye and could be eaten by any mouth.
But maybe they can stop the silver fish from getting the machinery? If they succeed, they will just be ordinary small fish.
Chen Nian immediately organized his thoughts and posted them on the guild channel.
[Guild] Free Cherry [lv.200]: I seem to have seen a similar idea in a post? But the poster was criticized badly, saying that it was completely unrealistic to clear all the metal in a sea area, and in the end it was left unresolved.
[Guild] Sad Lemon [lv.200]: This post? [Link]
[Guild] Mono[lv.156]: It may be a bit troublesome to implement.
[Guild] Mono[lv.156]: How can we know if we don't try? Now that almost all the players are here, maybe we can complete it if we work together.
[Guild] Collapse [lv.200]: Even if we remove all the metal in the ocean, ships, submarines, weapons and shells will become their source. Moreover, we must use a method that will not disturb Milo, don't forget that it is also a primitive creature.
That's right. Chen Nian frowned, feeling troubled. He originally thought that his idea was good.
It seems that the solution is not that easy to think of. Even if we think of it, there are thousands of difficulties in implementing it. The successful response to Poseidon Sheila can be said to be a result of the right time, right place and right people. It was just luck.
[Guild] Collapse and Sell Escape [lv.200]: But it’s not impossible to give it a try.
Just as Chen Nian was sighing, this message suddenly appeared in the chat channel.
Chen Nian's spirits lifted.
【Guild】Mono[lv.156]: How to try?
[Guild] Collapse and Sell [lv.200]: Let’s use acid first.
When it comes to removing metal, most people's first thought is to use magnetism.
However, only black metals such as iron and nickel have strong magnetism. Most of the metals used by humans for construction are alloys. Primitive organisms obtained mechanical parts from the remains of cities, which were naturally mostly alloys.
The plan to rely on magnetic fields to attract metal parts was not feasible from the beginning.
Then use chemical methods.
Strictly speaking, all metals react with acids, but the conditions required vary depending on their reactivity.
Their plan was simple and crude: spray strong acid on the places where the most primitive organisms were.
The ship and Milo will quickly swim away from the acid-filled sea, and although other primitive creatures will dodge, some will eventually be hit.
They were getting close to the edge of the blockade area, and they had to act quickly. If they still couldn't enter the blockade area, Milo would have to enter the Arctic Ocean alone, and would definitely be torn to pieces by the primitive creatures that swarmed over him!
In the name of Vice President Afanasy, Shaflay released the preliminary plan on the forum and world channels. He directly used a krypton gold trumpet, and the news floated at the top of the most conspicuous place. Anyone with a normal eye could see it.
[World] Jiuke [Anlaiyin]: ...This is too outrageous.
[World] New Century God of Research [Abandoned God]: What I mean is, have those who think of this method ever thought that the acid will be quickly diluted if poured into the sea?
[World] Please stop eating [Hung Hung Kindergarten]: Doesn’t acid release heat when it meets water? Boiled fish?
[World] hegdfiweu [Abandoned God]: No matter how fast the boat is going, it will be affected. What if it affects the whales?
Many people thought this method was too crazy, especially the Abandoned God Guild, which led the opposition and refuted Shaflay.
In their view, there was no need to try to destroy Poseidon Gale.
Everyone has been brainstorming on the forum for nearly two months without any good ideas. Now you suddenly decide to use acid. Who knows if it will cause other consequences?
Not all ships are covered with acid-resistant coatings like Athanasius's.
Shaflay was too lazy to argue with them. He didn't have the time. Apart from himself and Chen Nian, no one knew how important this mission was to them.
The opportunity to unlock the Greenland ice plateau is right in front of them, and they must do everything they can to seize it.
Shafulai has a high reputation in the guild. In a sense, he is the real president.
But it doesn't matter, no matter what decision he makes, Bai Zui Yingtao will support him. In life, there must be a few friends who will support all your crazy decisions.
So even though they had doubts, everyone still followed Shaflay's instructions, bought strong acid from the mall, mixed it into aqua regia according to the proportions, and added some toxic substances into it.
This will completely destroy the original organism both physically and mechanically.
A large amount of strong acid mixed with highly toxic substances was sprayed into the sea. With a crackling sound, the entire sea surface was boiling, a pungent smell rose, and acid mist formed into balls.
Everyone carefully adjusted according to the direction of the sea flow, trying their best not to affect the blue whale Milo that was moving in the center.
When the apocalyptic people saw that they had already started to act, they were furious and called Athanasius a bunch of lunatics.
Behind Afanasi's fleet of ships, many vehicles from small guilds or individual players were corroded by acid and quickly deformed and disintegrated. The players could only try to escape and curse the decision to retreat and sell out.
But soon they couldn't curse anymore.
The silver fish that were originally gnawing at the boats near the water surface quickly dodged and dived into deeper waters, but many of them were still twisted and deformed in the high temperature and acid, and eventually dissolved.
The huge damage in a short period of time made Gale aware of the crisis. The silver fish gathered together, spinning like a meat ball, and began to piece together sections from the inside out. Within a dozen seconds, they assembled into a huge silver-white creature!
By merging into one body, Gale's contact area with the acid and body surface was greatly reduced. He turned in a circle underwater, with countless silver fish swaying at his tail, and suddenly broke through the sea surface and rushed towards the fleet!
Boom!
The destroyer was hit by it at the rear, and under the huge force, the ship weighing thousands of tons rushed forward!
With a loud bang, the acid-filled seawater splashed and poured down on the players' heads. The players panicked and drank medicine to eliminate the negative effects, and the ships also dissolved rapidly.
Gale's head was pressed against the stern of the destroyer, his hollow translucent eyes staring at everyone, and silver fish jumped out of them.
The shrill alarm sounded straight into the sky. The surrounding players manipulated various weapons to shoot at Gale. The bullets and shells hit the metal, making crackling sounds, but they were like a drop in the ocean, unable to cause any waves.
“Get out of the way!”
Someone shouted, and a strong acid bomb hit Gale's back. Acid flew everywhere, metal made a crackling sound, hot gas came out, and patches of colorful smoke with a strong pungent smell burst into the air.
Gale uttered a low cry, and the vibration of the sound caused the entire ship to tremble.
It bit off the back half of the destroyer with one bite and sank back to the surface, using deeper clean sea water to wash away the strong acid.
“It’s almost here!”
With a cry of surprise, Chen Nian looked back and saw several towering icebergs standing in the sea ahead. The uneven ice bodies were as high as a hundred meters. Under the sunlight, they were crystal clear and brilliant, like a fairy palace on the sea carved from white marble.
The escort fleet is huge in size, covering an entire sea area of thousands of nautical miles. If it needs to turn at a large angle, it is easy for them to collide with each other.
Milo seemed to have sensed the impending danger and dived directly to a depth of 100 meters, about to break out of the protective circle of the boats.
The destroyer where Chen Nian was located was in the inner ring of the fleet, with other large and small ships on the side, so there was limited space for dodging.
The captain tried his best to move, but he could only watch helplessly as the destroyer got closer and closer to the iceberg.
Bai Ge Yingtao rushed to Chen Nian's side. He looked at the huge blue and white creature in front of him, pressed Chen Nian's shoulder who was more than two meters tall, and uttered that classic line.
"You jump, I jump!"
Just before the destroyer collided with the iceberg, Chen Nian and Bai Ge Yingtao jumped into the water together. The water of the Arctic Ocean was freezing cold, with countless tiny ice cubes floating.
Chen Nian was completely submerged in the water. All of a sudden, all the sounds seemed to fade away and the whole world slowed down. There was only a gurgling sound in his ears, as if someone was blowing bubbles.
Then he suddenly floated to the surface, and the roar of cannons and collisions came clearly from all directions again.
Chen Nian raised his hand to wipe the water off his face. The friction between the ship and the iceberg made a terrifying sound. The brittle steel in the low temperature was no match for the hard iceberg. The destroyer tilted and seemed to be about to fall over.
Bai Give Cherry emerged from beside him, and the two of them swam bravely towards another boat not far away.
The primitive creatures took advantage of the chaos to launch an attack, and for a moment the scene became extremely chaotic.
Chen Nian Gu didn't care about the losses the guild and the players were suffering. The mission panel showed that Milo had gotten rid of everyone and passed through the iceberg area with absolute agility.
"Hurry, let's catch up!" Chen Nian shouted.
He directly summoned a vehicle, and a speedboat appeared on the sea. He climbed up by stepping on Baige Cherry's head, demonstrating with practical actions what "you jump, I climb" meant.
The Chen Nian in the game was of astonishing weight. He gave Sakura a scream and sank again, only to resurface after a few seconds.
He climbed onto the speedboat using his hands and feet, not caring about causing trouble for Chen Nian. He immediately picked up his weapon and fought off the primitive creature that was trying to bite the speedboat.
Chen Nian drove the speedboat and found time to contact Shafley.
The submarine that Shaffley was in was following closely behind Milo. Countless primitive creatures had already surfaced from the bottom of the sea and were attacking in the chaos, but they could not do anything to the blue whale for the time being.
Soon they would reach the designated location where the mission would end.
Chen Nian increased the speed of the motorboat to the maximum. The tranquility of the sea was completely broken. Gale madly bit the boat and devoured the metal to replenish himself.
Judging from its crazy behavior, using strong acid to dissolve it is indeed useful, but it is not suitable for implementation in the current situation.
"Look ahead!" Bai Gei Sakura shouted.
Chen Nian stared at the front and turned the steering wheel to full throttle, narrowly passing by a piece of floating ice. Passing through an area covered with icebergs, he vaguely saw the existence of a large ice field. The blockade area was ahead.
A transparent air wall stands in front of you, perhaps to prevent players from accidentally bumping into it. As the distance gets closer, the air wall gradually takes on some colors and takes on a grid shape, reminding many players that the area behind is a prohibited area.
Milo had already entered the blockade area, and the primitive creatures continued to follow him without hindrance.
Baige Sakura: "What should I do?!"
"Go straight ahead!" Chen Nian stepped on the accelerator to the bottom. He stared at the air wall, two hundred meters, one hundred meters, fifty meters, thirty meters.
Ten meters!
The next moment, the scene in front of my eyes went dark but no collision occurred.
The speedboat went straight through the air wall and sailed over the waters of the Arctic Ocean.
"Fuck! He's coming!"
Bai Gei Yingtao couldn't help but let out a shout of joy. Chen Nian and he turned around and saw the translucent wall being left behind and moving away quickly. As the distance increased, the color faded and became invisible again.
Is it so easy to get through?
Chen Nian suddenly felt a sense of unreality, and even suspected that the air wall that had always stood in front of the players was some kind of illusion. If everyone wanted to force their way in, they could actually get in.
[Private Chat] Bengshemai Liu [lv.200]: I have entered the blockade area, what about you?
[Private Chat] Mono[lv.156]: I and Baige Sakura have also arrived.
Chen Nian checked the panel and saw that the blue dot representing Mino had overlapped with the red circle of the destination, indicating that the escort mission had been successfully completed.
But Chen Nian felt that in a sense the mission might not be over yet, because Milo was still surrounded by many primitive creatures.
Chen Nian opened his backpack and was about to use items to replenish his health bar which had dropped to half, when he suddenly discovered that the tooth in the package was missing.
Chen Nian: "Boss, can you see if your teeth are still there?"
Baige Yingtao immediately touched her mouth: "Yes."
Chen Nian: "...I mean that prop."
"Oh oh." Bai Ge Yingtao went into his backpack to check, "It's gone. Did it disappear when it passed through the air wall?"
Chen Nian: "I think so. It was originally used for this purpose."
More players followed them through the air wall in the restricted area. Without exception, the tooth props on them disappeared. This tooth was their pass to enter the air wall.
After five years, the players finally set foot in the long-blocked area. They cheered and everyone was immersed in ecstasy.
Although there were some minor setbacks in the middle, the main quest was completed surprisingly smoothly overall, and the Greenland Snow Plateau was unlocked!
But Gale's appearance brought all the celebrations to an abrupt end.
The Poseidon chased the fleet and unleashed a crazy revenge. It split into silver fish one by one. The metal it had just obtained from the ship was enough for it to split on a large scale. The finger-thick fish jumped onto the deck riding the turbulent waves, carrying hallucinogens or biological toxins, and launched a crazy suicidal attack on the players.
Hundreds of players died in a blink of an eye. Laigo killed a dozen silver fish that were gathered together with one shot. He desperately drank energy drinks in an attempt to save his declining health bar.
The president and vice president are both at the forefront as the vanguard. They must lead the other members of the guild to land smoothly!
Caigeou was concentrating on conducting while paying attention to the messages sent by everyone in the guild channel, and suddenly saw one.
[Guild] Silver Lightning [lv.200]: Damn, why can’t I get in?
Silver Lightning accidentally died in the mouth of a giant anglerfish three minutes ago. After being resurrected, he immediately wanted to teleport to his teammates, but no matter how he tried, he failed.
He tried to teleport to other areas, is that okay?
[Guild] Silver Lightning [lv.200]: What the hell? I can’t go back in after I died once? This is too ridiculous! I just got in!
[Guild] Maoshan Salted Fish [lv.200]: I can't get in either, damn! If I had known, I wouldn't have tried so hard.
[Guild] Carbon-based Waste [lv.200]: Is it because the tooth in our bag was used up?
[Guild] Spend More Money to Buy [lv.200]: Definitely, which means everyone only has one chance to enter.
The alarm bells rang, and the surviving players suddenly realized that they were facing the reality of "one life".
Just like in reality, once you die, you will never have another chance.
It's not like the Electric Fantasy Kingdom hasn't had missions with limited lives before, but this is the first time without any prior notice. Who would have thought that the tooth was a key prop for them to pass through the air wall and could only be used once!
Milo went deeper, and Shafley reported the movements of the blue whales.
[Private Chat] Bengshemailu [lv.200]: I am following it. It was bitten, but it doesn’t seem to be serious at the moment.
[Private Chat] Bengshemai Liu [lv.200]: It drilled under the ice cover.
[Private Chat] Mono[lv.156]: Ah, then how are we going to catch up? The ice sheet is just a few hundred meters away. We can't have the whale underneath. Let's drive on the ice sheet. The speed is definitely not enough.
[Private Chat] Bengshemai Liu [lv.200]: Let’s switch to a submarine.
Chen Nian immediately summoned the submarine, and he and White Cherry jumped in, following the route left by Shafley and quickly chasing.
The situation beneath the ice cap was beyond everyone's expectations.
Shafla watched the huge blue whale dive into a cave. The cave, which was a hundred meters wide, was like the blood vessels of the earth, winding through the continental shelf to form a maze.
It seemed as if some kind of existence was guiding Milo, allowing the blue whale to choose the fork in the road without hesitation and keep moving forward.
After entering the cave, the original creatures were waiting in front of Milo first, and the blocking situation completely disappeared, leaving only the pursuit from behind.
In other words, this cave is safe and hidden, and the place it ultimately leads to does not have any primitive life.
Chen Nian successfully reunited with Shafley after thirty minutes.
The underground caves were larger than anyone could imagine, almost hollowing out the entire continental shelf. No one knew where Milo would take them. The map showed that they were getting closer and closer to the center of the Greenland Ice Plateau.
Could there be such a thing in reality? Chen Nian thought of the seal that suddenly emerged from the ice and attacked Fu Tianhe.
It is very likely, but who actually completed such a huge project?
Chen Ci looked at the mirror.
The boy in the mirror had hazy eyes, the water light made his amber pupils more transparent. His lips, which were wetted by the Alpha, were slightly open, and his cheeks were flushed with pink, which spread all the way down his neck and downwards.
There was a slight daze in his expression, and he would even lose focus occasionally. His brows would be furrowed as if in pain, and then relaxed with a trembling motion.
Just like his fingers pressed against the edge of the sink, curling up and relaxing again and again.
It was so strange that Chen Ci couldn't recognize himself at first.
Chen Ci had never seen himself like this before.
Every day when he woke up in the White Tower and went to wash up, the pair of eyes that looked back at him in the mirror were always empty, numb, and ruthless.
His unwillingness, pain and boredom were suppressed in the deepest part of his soul, floating in the colorless and pale world.
Agnes praised him as the most handsome man she had ever seen, but Chen never took her words seriously because he knew that he was just an empty shell.
If it is broken one day, you will find that there is nothing inside.
Fu Tianhe's hand gently touched Chen Ci's cheek, and he lifted the boy's chin with a few fingers.
Chen Ci saw more. He saw the Alpha kissing his neck and then moving to his lips, but there was still no smile that he wanted.
Laughing is a bit difficult.
But at this moment, it seems that it doesn't matter anymore.
The amber wood scent is as mellow as ever, and from that reassuring smell, there is no trace of the suffering and pain that Fu Tianhe has endured.
He always shows his best side and carefully hides the rest, including his deepest inferiority complex.
The empty right eye will soon be filled with a new prosthetic eye, and the hair that was shaved off during the craniotomy has grown back.
As for looking haggard or slovenly, Alpha was taken care of very well during the days in the hospital, so there was no such thing as a haggard or slovenly look.
Chen Ci didn't know what else he could do for Fu Tianhe. Compared to Alpha's long-term dedication and companionship to him, no matter how much he wanted to give equal dedication, it all seemed overshadowed by Fu Tianhe's act of digging out his eyes with his own hands.
Fu Tianhe loves him more deeply than he loves Fu Tianhe.
The tuberoses were watered, and the flowers that had wilted due to excessive inhibitors and neglect began to bloom quietly again, swaying and condensing nectar, gaining more vigorous vitality and lasting forever in amber.