192: Chapter 191 The Legendary Deep-Sea Giant

Changxing Shipyard.

Xu Hao walked out of his office and headed along the shipyard towards the workshop's breakroom.

The sea breeze blew gently, causing his clothes to billow and rustle.

Honestly speaking, as long as it wasn't the kind of typhoon that could blow a person over, this slightly salty sea breeze was quite comfortable.

The worries in his heart were blown away like smoke.

Xu Hao walked into the workshop breakroom, which was crowded with researchers and workers.

Today was the shipyard's rest day, so no one was working.

Every ten days, the shipyard would give employees a day off to properly relax.

This was also something Xu Hao had specifically requested Zhang Weizhi to arrange.

He had originally intended for at least one day of rest per week, but Zhang Weizhi, considering the tight schedule and heavy workload, suggested that Xu Hao keep it to one day off every ten days.

Otherwise, the aircraft carrier construction mission would likely not be completed on time.

There was no other way, so Xu Hao could only nod in agreement.

The workers in the breakroom saw Xu Hao walk in and greeted him one after another.

"Engineer Xu."

"Hello, Engineer Xu."

"Engineer Xu, you're here."

"..."

Xu Hao smiled and nodded in acknowledgment to each of them.

Walking to the edge of the crowd, he asked with interest:

"I heard that a deep-sea fish was blown up onto the shipyard last night?"

Xu Hao didn't ask anyone in particular, but instead looked at the many employees with a smile, his tone casual as if chatting.

As a result, the moment he brought this up, everyone became instantly excited.

"That's right, Engineer Xu, have you heard about it too?"

"Haha... Engineer Xu, you really are well-informed."

"..."

Everyone replied one after another.

Before long, a familiar and excited voice came from deep within the crowd:

"Engineer Xu, the deep-sea fish is here! Come in and take a look!"

Xu Jianshu climbed onto the edge of the water tank, stood up, and waved at Xu Hao.

There were too many people; everyone had come after hearing the news, wanting to see the deep-sea fish.

Xu Hao chuckled.

This kid Xu Jianshu was still like a child, careless and boisterous.

However, he was serious and responsible when it came to research tasks, with an attention to detail beneath his rough exterior; otherwise, Xu Hao wouldn't have specifically instructed them to come and participate in the research and development of the nuclear power project.

Xu Hao walked towards Xu Jianshu, and the surrounding employees voluntarily cleared a path for him to enter.

He thanked everyone gratefully and then walked to the side of the water tank.

And then he was dumbfounded!

Inside the tank, there was indeed a deep-sea fish.

But as for the size... it was truly shocking!

Good grief!

It was as big as a tadpole!!

Xu Hao was speechless.

Just this?!

However, he thought that since it was a deep-sea fish after all, being able to grow this big was already quite impressive.

After all, the water pressure at the bottom of the sea was immense.

"What is the name of this deep-sea fish?" Xu Hao asked.

Engineer Fang Yuan, who was also standing by the tank admiring the deep-sea fish, replied:

"I checked the information; this fish is called a Mariana snailfish."

"Mariana snailfish usually live at depths of 6,198 to 8,076 meters, with a body length of 29 centimeters and a weight of 160 grams, and are considered the apex predators in the depths of the Mariana Trench."

Engineer Fang Yuan held his phone and recited the information he had found.

Xu Hao nodded and then asked curiously:

"How could a deep-sea fish from the Mariana Trench be blown all the way to Changxing Island? The distance is just too far, isn't it?"

Upon hearing this, Engineer Fang Yuan and the others shook their heads.

"Who knows?" Xu Jianshu jumped down from the tank and picked up the Mariana snailfish, which looked like a lion and a tadpole at the same time.

"However, this fish must be very expensive. After all, the bigger the wind and waves, the more expensive the fish! Hahaha..."

Xu Jianshu joked.

Xu Hao was also amused by him. "Stop with the slang!"

He looked at the Mariana snailfish in Xu Jianshu's hand, but his mind began to ponder.

Logically speaking.

Even if the typhoon were strong, fish from several thousand meters deep in the ocean shouldn't be blown onto an island, right?

No matter how rough the waves on the surface are, the bottom of the sea is very calm.

Deep-sea fish like the Mariana snailfish could absolutely not be blown onto an island by a typhoon.

There was only one possibility: it had actively swum up to the shallow waters and was then brought ashore by the typhoon!

"But, why would it swim up instead of staying in its perfectly fine deep-sea habitat?"

Xu Hao asked himself in his heart.

What reason would make this kind of deep-sea fish voluntarily abandon the safe and quiet environment of the deep sea and run to a place as dangerous as the shallow waters?

You have to know.

There aren't many organisms that can live in waters around eight thousand meters deep in the ocean.

For the Mariana snailfish, living there is simply paradise.

There are no natural predators; it is the overlord of that sea area.

Yet even so, they were willing to give it up and voluntarily leave their home.

Xu Hao pondered for a moment, then raised an eyebrow.

"Something must have happened beneath the deep sea that made them feel afraid and forced them to leave their habitat!"

Xu Hao thought to himself.

Thinking of this, a trace of worry appeared on Xu Hao's handsome brow.

Engineer Fang Yuan also asked at this moment:

"Engineer Xu, the appearance of such a deep-sea fish on the sea surface is likely quite abnormal!"

After all, Engineer Fang Yuan was a researcher at the Dragon Academy of Sciences.

Although he was not a researcher in fields like biology or oceanography, he at least had a broad range of knowledge and spotted the problem at a glance.

Xu Hao nodded. "You are right; such a deep-sea behemoth should not appear above sea level."

Hearing Xu Hao's words, Li Ping, who was drinking water, suddenly snorted with laughter, spraying water from his mouth.

"Deep... deep-sea behemoth?"

Although Li Ping tried his best to control himself from laughing so as not to appear disrespectful.

But thinking about Engineer Xu calling this pinky-sized Mariana snailfish a deep-sea behemoth, he couldn't help but laugh.

This is called a deep-sea behemoth?!

Engineer Fang Yuan immediately frowned.

"Li Ping, don't laugh!" He reprimanded him and then explained:

"Engineer Xu is not joking. As far as the deep-sea region is concerned, the Mariana snailfish can indeed be considered a deep-sea behemoth, because in that deep-sea region, it is the undisputed overlord."

"You must realize one thing: it doesn't necessarily have to be a creature with a massive body to be considered a behemoth."

"Every creature is a behemoth within its own food chain!"

Li Ping's expression became much more serious; the smile on his face faded, and he nodded earnestly.

"I've learned something!"

Xu Hao also nodded inwardly at Engineer Fang Yuan's performance.

In the past year or so, Engineer Fang Yuan had grown quite a bit.

After lecturing Li Ping, Engineer Fang Yuan said to Xu Hao again:

"Engineer Xu, this deep-sea fish being blown onto the island for no reason is likely related to the volcanic eruption in Tonga some time ago."

"The volcanic eruption caused changes to the underground crust, triggering a tsunami, which caused these deep-sea creatures to flee and be forced into shallow waters..."

Engineer Fang Yuan analyzed.

Xu Hao's eyes showed deep thought; he felt it made some sense and nodded.

As for whether that was the reason, he didn't know either.

"Come to think of it, there have been too many natural disasters lately." Xu Jianshu put the Mariana snailfish back into the tank and walked to the side of the tank.

"There's no need to mention the heavy rains, large hail, and so on in our country; everyone has already seen it on the news."

"Over in the USA, tornadoes are raging. Farms in several states have been swept clean, with people and livestock being swept thousands of meters into the sky, and then, 'splat,' people and livestock all fell from the sky!"

"That scene, tsk tsk tsk... it was like a rain of people. The grass was covered in severed limbs and broken legs; it was like a field of corpses, absolutely horrifying!"

Xu Jianshu said.

Upon hearing this, the expression on Xu Hao's face changed instantly.

Global natural disasters erupting?

This is definitely not good news!!