Dolphin Bay was surrounded by mountains on three sides and faced the ocean on one, gradually deepening from the shores before appearing like a small lake.
Once past the mouth of the bay, the depth of Dolphin Bay would suddenly increase to over a hundred ters.
Though dolphins are skilled divers, capable of diving hundreds of ters, their main activity range is concentrated in the shallow seas between thirty and fifty ters.
Therefore, the range of Bi Fang and Mandy’s task was set between ten and eighty ters—just one circle wider and they could essentially capture the full range of the dolphins’ activities.
For this, they had to install over twenty caras. It sounded like not much, but it was far from an easy job.
Radio waves suffer extre loss in the dium, so the signal drops very rapidly.
In water, the loss of the dium at frequencies above 30KHz is 7500dB/km; at 20 ters, it can attenuate by 150dB, aning there would be no signal below 20 ters, even if there were a base station right above the surface.
The caras Bi Fang and the others were using this ti were all set to record automatically, and they would be retrieved after everything had ended to extract the footage.
Therefore, the underwater installation differed greatly from the previous mountain set-up; there was no way to monitor it in real ti, and unlike previously, where they could continuously adjust by remote command, now there was no such opportunity.
Considering that the dolphin-hunting season was about to start, the difficulty of underwater installation would increase exponentially. There was no chance for repeated installations and adjustnts; they had to succeed in one try.
It was necessary for both Bi Fang and Mandy to grasp this asurent on their own.
Fortunately, before this, both of them had undergone extensive training in photography under the assistant Mond, and they were now barely considered semi-professional photographers.
After finishing installing the three caras in the shallow sea ten ters deep, Bi Fang and Mandy continued to move closer to the depths.
At twenty ters, thirty ters, they had reached the limit of active sinking. The world around was pitch black and silent; Bi Fang could hear the beating of his own heart very clearly.
In his head, the only sound that automatically erged was the sound of animal life, perhaps the only sign that he was still alive.
Bi Fang silently counted his heartbeats. When he first entered the water, his heart rate was at 60-70 beats per minute; now it had dropped to 30-40, more than half less.
A special breathing thod allowed Bi Fang’s lungs to fill with ten liters of air, providing a great buoyancy that enabled him to float in the water, doing nothing, thus reducing the amount of muscle movent needed to resist gravity.
The deeper one went, the more the water pressure squeezed the lungs. At this point, both Bi Fang and Mandy were floating in the water relying on the air in their lungs.
The diving reflex caused the peripheral blood vessels to constrict, and the blood would leave the limbs, flowing towards the most important organs—lungs, heart, and brain.
Furthermore, due to the blood rushing to the brain, bringing a large amount of oxygen, as long as nitrogen narcosis did not occur, the diver’s brain would be extrely clear at that ti.
The clearer the mind, the more one could feel as if they had arrived in another world.
Silence, darkness.
So say that our understanding of the ocean is not even half of what we know about the moon.
This is not an exaggeration, for even in 1977, astronauts had been sent to the moon, yet people naively believed that there were no active forms of life below 6000 ters in the oceanic abyss.
Pressure indescribable from all directions—as one expanded their chest to breathe through the valve, it felt like doing a bench press with oversized weights.
As if being firmly grasped and squeezed by a giant.
The first batch of equipnt had been installed. Bi Fang and Mandy, separated by seven or eight ters, pressed their flashlight switches, flashing them a few tis to confirm completion, and prepared to ascend to retrieve the caras.
Mandy nodded his head, kicked his flippers, took a deep breath, and was about to ascend when suddenly, a bright light flickered intensely in front of him.
It was Bi Fang rapidly pressing his flashlight—an urgent signal!
Mandy’s mind went blank, and with the rigorous training he had received, he almost hesitated not at all, twisting direction based on instinct alone, but it was still a step too late!
The intense swirling current, like a water tornado, struck Mandy’s forehead with an irresistible impact.
In an instant, Mandy’s eyes rolled back, water rushed in through the gaps in his teeth and nostrils—genuine seawater, with a bitter, salty taste.
Too bad Mandy could no longer feel it; under the violent impact, his consciousness had abruptly halted, and he had drowned!
In the exhaustion of his consciousness, he saw only a huge phantom head, with a mouth full of sharp teeth, a bulging forehead, and protruding eyes!
No one expected such a sudden disaster. Bi Fang drew the harpoon from his waist and swam rapidly toward Mandy.
A huge shadow swam past the two n at a high speed, stirring up the water flow to such an extent that it could move Mandy, who was unconscious and drowning, ters away.
Bi Fang’s flashlight couldn’t catch a glimpse of its shadow; it was like a ghost, lingering around the two of them without stopping.
The shark’s electroreception was indeed powerful, but it could only identify the basic size and presence of living organisms, not accurately scan their shapes like radar.
It was too fast; it had attacked Mandy before Bi Fang could react.
Bi Fang arrived next to Mandy and quickly refitted the breathing valve, fastening it tightly.
By then, Mandy’s lungs had been filled with seawater. Bi Fang ca up behind him and used the Heimlich Maneuver, pressing hard on Mandy’s lungs.
Just then, the lurking phantom appeared once again within Bi Fang’s sensory range, attacking swiftly!
Unfortunately for it, Bi Fang was not Mandy; even without seeing, he could clearly sense the approaching creature and reacted in advance,
Bi Fang, dragging Mandy, kicked against the rock wall and quickly moved away from their original position.
The intense water flow brushed past, and the differential pressure almost pulled Bi Fang back to where he had been. He tried to strike with his knife, but the other’s speed was so fast that he couldn’t hit it.
Bi Fang bent his head to survey the scene, and with this opportunity, he finally got a clear view of the "ghost’s" partial appearance!
GT!
Also known as Niu Gangjue!
A trendously large Niu Gangjue!
Bi Fang’s heart skipped a beat as he gripped the harpoon in his hand. Niu Gangjue is the largest carnivorous fish in the jack family, capable of leaping out of the water to prey on seabirds.
This one in front of him was at least 1.6 ters long and weighed over 70 kilograms!
A 1.6-ter GT could even prey on sharks!
Niu Gangjue, the wild buffalo of the sea, was a powerful aquatic beast with a steep head and a strong tail as its main features.
Lurking at depths between 2 and 80 ters, it is a large migratory fish found near the coast, distributed from the western part of South Africa to the east of Hawaii, including northern Japan and southern Australia.
It often appears in estuary areas, mainly hunting at night.
Greedy and strong, apart from sharks and humans, no other creature posed a threat to it.
It boasted a muscular torso and oversized paddle-like pectoral and caudal fins, possessing true strength, explosive power, and astonishing endurance.
Its underwater speed could reach up to 60 kiloters per hour, while the human extre record didn’t even reach 40.
Moreover, Niu Gangjue had a ferocious nature, preying on all the small fish it encountered in its territory and even hunting birds and hatchling turtles resting on the water’s surface.
When Niu Gangjue spotted prey, it would violently ram them into unconsciousness or swallow them whole.
The most terrifying part was that Niu Gangjue often hunted in groups, resulting in extrely fierce competition for food where it wasn’t uncommon for adult Niu Gangjue to accidentally swallow their young.
Had this one gone mad?
To dare attack a human?
True, Niu Gangjue was notoriously ferocious, but surely it wouldn’t go this far?
A 70-kilogram Niu Gangjue matched a human in weight class, and it wasn’t common for animals to attack those of a similar size, except due to food scarcity.
Wait a second.
Was it because of the upcoming dolphin hunting season?
Bi Fang guessed this possibility, as the arrival of dolphins left the nearby Niu Gangjue in a temporary state of food shortage.
So, it truly was a shortage of food?
Bi Fang cald his heartbeat and tried his best to sense the surrounding environnt. Fortunately, there appeared to be only one Niu Gangjue nearby.
He didn’t know when he had arrived at Dolphin Bay, colliding with him and Mandy while they were setting up the cara, even initiating an attack!
The massive impact knocked Mandy, who was caught off guard, unconscious. It was only because Bi Fang had tily warned her and instinctively twisted his body that the blow had not landed on the vulnerable back of his head but the hard forehead instead.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been as simple as fainting; she might have died on the spot!
No more.
Bi Fang stole a glance at Mandy who had fainted, noticing a large wound on her forehead from which blood was elegantly drifting out.
Lurking nearby, the bull-headed siblings were ready to launch a deadly attack at any mont. Bi Fang held Mandy tight with both arms, adjusted the oxygen pressure to its maximum, and once again squeezed her lungs.
Seawater poured out from Mandy’s mouth, and Bi Fang quickly tightened the breathing valve, releasing a large amount of oxygen that rushed into Mandy’s lungs.
The second ti, the third ti.
Mandy probably never imagined in her life that she, a diving champion, would nearly drown and even be rescued from drowning in the sea.
On the fourth attempt, the waiting Niu Gangjue launched another attack!
Bi Fang quickly dodged to the side, but carrying the heavy Mandy, he was hardly able to move freely. In the brief turn, his arm was still hit.
For an instant, Bi Fang felt an illusion that his arm might have been broken by the impact, with blood flow in his arm being abruptly cut off.
Swelling, numbness, pain.
Wave after wave of foreign sensations flooded over him.
Even the harpoon in his hand nearly dropped to the seabed.
Bi Fang could keenly sense the nurous capillaries that had burst in his right arm from the impact, quickly accumulating into a bruise under his skin.
He tried to grip the dagger again, but it was like when a nap compresses his arm—waking up in pain and numbness, unable to grasp anything properly.
No wonder they call it the wild buffalo of the sea.
It indeed possessed incredible strength!
On the shore, Keke had no idea about anything that was happening in the water. He hid in the shadows, daring not to emit the slightest sound or light, peering around cautiously, making sure no one discovered what they were doing.
The lighthouse in the distance continued to monotonously sweep the sea’s surface.
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