Captain Wang was reluctant to abandon the damaged ship here. "There's really no other way?"
Captain Zhang replied, "It won't make a difference. There are stretches of high ground ahead where the water's already dried up. When we reach those spots, we'll still have to dump the boats halfway. Whether we leave it now or later doesn't matter."
Captain Wang said, "Then let's leave it later. The ships all have autopilot. Let this one follow us. Maybe it'll even block some attacks."
After thinking it over, Captain Zhang nodded. "Alright. We'll do it that way."
The three ships sailed forward for some time before the gates of the former R City base came into view.
There were only eight R City crew members left on these boats. The group first took in the devastated state of the base, then steadied their emotions. "You know, the water level really has dropped a lot," someone remarked.
"Yeah. It was almost up to the gates before, and now so much ground is showing."
Captain Wang said, "You're not even looking at the temperature."
Before entering the dense forest, the thermometer had read about seventy degrees. Now, the temperature had risen to seventy-five.
Five degrees might not sound like much, but at these extremes, every single degree could kill. Add in the fact that this scorching heat never eased, day or night, and without insulated suits, standing outside was impossible. The blazing sun overhead could burn bare skin in minutes.
"Enough about that. Let's get to the base and stop the boats first," someone said.
The three ships rocked and swayed for a while longer before finally stopping near the ruins of the H City base.
Meanwhile, the massive block of ice floating behind them…
The intense heat had already warmed the lakewater. Before long, a lot of the ice had melted. Ling Jiang kept freezing it over and over, determined not to let the thing inside escape until they reached dry ground.
They finally made it to land. As soon as they stepped off the boats, Captain Zhang ordered everyone to haul the enormous block of ice out of the water.
This was no small feat.
No matter how strong they were, ice big enough to trap creatures like these wasn't easy to move. Even after they dragged the block onto shore, they weren't done yet. If it melted too close to the water, the creature could leap back in. They struggled for a long while until the ice was hauled far from the water's edge. Only then did they stop.
Staring at the block of ice, Ling Jiang said, "We're not just going to wait for it to melt, right? Lao Gao, burn it."
Lao Gao loved this kind of work. The moment Ling Jiang gave the order, he got to it without hesitation. The huge chunk of ice quickly melted away under his power, and at last, the thing inside was revealed.
It was a fish.
Except… it wasn't. Its body was entirely fishlike, yet it had two humanoid arms and a pair of stubby legs.
Lan Jin frowned after a glance. "So, this isn't a mermaid, right?"
Huang Jinghe responded instantly. "Of course not. A mermaid couldn't look like this. Haven't you seen the movies? No way. Absolutely not."
Huang Jinghe's voice grew louder and firmer as he insisted that the creature was no mermaid.
And truly, no one present could look at this thing and call it a mermaid.
Captain Zhang sighed at everyone's expressions. "Lao Gao, keep going. Melt the rest of it."
As Lao Gao worked, Zhou Zhi said, "If mermaids were real, they wouldn't die from a bit of ice. Their life force would be far stronger."
Which only confirmed it: this thing wasn't a mermaid.
After a while, Lao Gao finished melting all the ice. More fishlike creatures with stubby limbs were revealed, far more than just three.
"This doesn't make sense," someone muttered. "Not only should these species not be living in freshwater, but how could a fish like this grow legs?"
Captain Zhang frowned, baffled, and pulled out a satellite phone to report to headquarters.
The people on the other end didn't know much about the situation in these waters either. They even expressed open disbelief when Captain Zhang described fish with legs.
"A perfectly normal fish growing a pair of legs? Impossible."
"It's real," Captain Zhang said firmly. "I'll send you photos through the satellite signal. You'll see for yourselves."
There was a long pause on the other end, then a reply: "Alright."
After hanging up, Captain Zhang froze mid-step, suddenly uneasy. He looked at the team gathered around the strange creatures. "Hey… there's nothing wrong with the water, right?"
It wasn't paranoia. They'd seen so many bizarre things lately that suspicion came naturally.
Lan Jin quickly answered, "Of course it's fine. We've all been in contact with the water."
She herself had shocked the underwater creature earlier. The current had splashed water all over them. If the water was dangerous, they would've already suffered by now. In fact, their well-being was proof enough that the water was safe.
Captain Zhang nodded immediately. "Right. Right. If it's not the water, that's good."
"So what do we do now?" one of the team asked.
Captain Zhang took out a satellite kit, snapped several photos of the creatures, and sent them to headquarters.
Once he put the equipment away, he turned back to his team. "Hold on. We're supposed to be catching whatever rammed our ships. That thing nearly flipped us. Could these little guys really do it?"
Even with legs, the fish were only about three meters long at most.
How could a three-meter fish capsize a ship?
Ling Jiang said, "I was moving fast when I froze them. If it wasn't these creatures, it was one of those big ones. But honestly, I lean toward these. If one of those giants wanted to ram a ship, it wouldn't just tip it. It'd sink it."
Captain Zhang closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Forget it. Why dig too deep? It's not like this is the only mystery we don't have answers to."