[A.N extra Chapters cause its getting good soon]
Natalie continued her dive and soon found her second piece of titanium ore, and her first chunk of copper.
She was happily scavenging when her eyes caught sothing strange.
"Huh? What's that..."
It was a bizarre object growing on the listone. The whole thing was a blood red color, shaped like a flower bud just about to bloom.
"Whoa, what kind of flower is that? It's... beautiful!"
"It looks like a piece of art!"
"So pretty!"
The viewers in the livestream were stunned too, unable to hold back their admiration.
"I'll scan it!" Natalie swam closer, lifting her wrist to scan the strange flower with her bracelet.
[Jet Flower: Symbiotic with the Red-Eyed Boomfish. The flower secretes special sulfides to feed the Boomfish, which in turn protect the flower from threats.]
The system added another note.
[The sulfides can be used to craft primitive thermal weapons.]
"WHAT?! Did you all hear that?" Natalie shouted in disbelief. "Thermal weapons!"
"Damn! Is Natalie gonna be packing a gun soon?!"
"Haha, if you get a gun in this ga, you'll be unstoppable!"
"But wait, what's a Red-Eyed Boomfish? That na sounds... aggressive."
As the chat exploded with excitent, sothing strange happened, the flower began to bloom before their eyes.
"It's blooming?" Natalie said, puzzled.
But instead of revealing pretty petals and stans, the center opened to reveal a strange looking fish.
It had one bulging eye that twitched, scanning its surroundings, until it suddenly locked eyes with Natalie.
"A fish inside a flower?!"
Confused, Natalie imdiately scanned it.
[Boomfish: During the breeding period, adult Boomfish will defend their offspring by triggering a suicide explosion using the sulfur in their bodies. WARNING: Leave imdiately.]
"OH HELL NO, EXPLOSION?!"
Natalie didn't hesitate. She spun around and swam for her life.
Just as she bolted, the Boomfish shot out from the flower and made a terrifying hissing sound.
Ssshhhh-
It was like the sound of a fuse being lit.
"SWIM! THAT FISH IS ABOUT TO BLOW!!"
"SWIM, NATALIE!"
"AHHHH!!" she scread, flailing wildly in the water.
But it's in monts of life and death that humans can unlock their full potential.
At that instant, Natalie's swimming technique, barely passable before, suddenly improved to the level of a trained pro!
BOOM!!!
A thunderous explosion erupted behind her.
Even underwater, the blast was deafening. The shockwave surged through the sea, slamming into her body like a truck.
Her ears rang, her head spun, she was completely disoriented.
"It exploded!! That scared the hell out of !"
"What kind of nightmare fish is this?!"
"Natalie, are you okay?!"
The livestream chat was filled with concern.
Dizzy but determined, Natalie forced herself to keep swimming. Eventually, she made it back to the escape pod, barely dragging herself through the hatch.
"Holy... crap..."
She collapsed onto the floor, panting.
"I thought that damn fish was going to kill . This ga is INSANE!"
After catching her breath, she sat up. Physically, she was fine, but when she glanced at her health bar, it had dropped from 100 to 50.
"Half my health's gone?!" she groaned. "Is there a way to heal?"
"dical kits can restore health, but you currently lack the required materials," said Cortana.
"Figures..." she sighed. "Alright, forget that for now, can I at least craft an oxygen tank?"
"Yes."
"Then let's get to it!"
Once again, the 3D printer humd to life. A swarm of nanobots ford on the platform, lting the titanium ore she'd collected and reshaping it under a laser into a compact oxygen cylinder.
"Damn... I want one of these 3D printers in real life!"
"This thing is basically magic!"
"Wait... with enough materials, could she build an entire underwater castle?"
"Honestly... maybe! The crafting system in Subnautica is crazy."
Ten seconds later, the oxygen tank was complete.
"Standard oxygen tank created. Contains high-density air. Usable for 30 minutes."
"Nice! Half an hour of oxygen ans I don't have to surface every few minutes!"
She strapped on the tank. It had so weight to it, enough to make her back feel a bit sore.
"Tch... at this rate, I'm going to end up with abs from this ga."
Just as she was about to dive again, sothing felt... off.
"Why is it getting dark?"
She looked up, the sunlight filtering through the hatch was fading rapidly.
"Backup power engaged," said Cortana.
Lights clicked on in the cabin, casting a dim glow.
"It's night already?" Natalie frowned. "Why did it get dark so fast? What's the day length on this planet?"
"Each full day is four hours. Two hours of daylight, two hours of night."
"FOUR HOURS?! That's ridiculous!"
Still, curiosity got the better of her. She smiled and said, "Hey, since it's night now, let's see if-!"
Climbing up the ladder, she pushed open the hatch, then froze completely.
Right above her was an enormous crimson planet hanging low in the sky, dominating her entire field of vision.
It was so close and so massive, she could see the craters on its surface with terrifying clarity.
It felt like it could crush her at any second.
Compared to this giant, even the Aurora mothership floating nearby looked like a toy.
"WHAT THE FUCK!!"
"IS THAT A PLANET?! IT'S MASSIVE!!"
"My head is tingling just looking at it..."
Natalie's whole body trembled uncontrollably. The sheer scale triggered an overwhelming sense of fear.
"Estimated distance: 100,000 kiloters," Cortana calmly noted.
But she wasn't listening anymore.
"Holy... shit..."
Barely holding it together, she shut the hatch and collapsed back into the cabin.
"I just wanted to look at the stars! Why did I have to see that nightmare?!"
She steadied her breathing, then suddenly realized sothing.
"Wait a sec... if the surface is already this creepy, isn't the sea even worse at night?!"
Panicking, she opened the lower hatch to the ocean.
Pitch black. The water below looked like pure black, thick, unknowable.
"HELL NO."
"It's pitch black! What kind of sea is this?!"
"No way, I'm not going back in there."
Natalie slamd the hatch shut and curled up in her chair.
"This is NOT what I signed up for! They said the ga wasn't scary! Who lied to ?!"
"LOL, classic dev bait and switch."
"Bastard devs, they did it again!"
"Natalie, you survived Silent Hill. You can handle this!"
"I'll send you a donation if you go back down!"
Hearing the chat blow up, Natalie hesitated. Waiting until daylight would an doing nothing for two real ti hours...
"Incoming radio signal from another escape pod. Would you like to play it?"
"Radio?" she blinked. "You can receive transmissions?"
"Yes. All escape pods are equipped with built-in radio systems capable of communication even under extre conditions."
"What about the other pods?"
"When the Aurora crashed, its crew mbers escaped in multiple pods. Yours is Pod No. 5."
"Wait... does that an other survivors made it too?!"
1153 Words.
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