I Am Your Natural Enemy

He didn’t get involved in the affairs of the Nanyang Union, and after the meeting ended the next day, he prepared to leave.

Upon arriving at the port, he saw some people who had just disembarked, standing at the smoking area. Listening to their conversation, they didn’t seem to be locals; they came from elsewhere, and one of them was a professional.

Watching these people being taken away by familiar license plate numbers, he guessed that they were probably recruited individuals.

He boarded the Dahlia, and Wen Yan set sail. The primary objective this time was to bring the Dahlia back.

As soon as they set out to sea, they encountered a transferring fishing boat. Wen Yan inquired about the price, and it wasn’t too expensive, so he wrapped up all the worthless fish, shrimp, and crabs to feed the Dahlia.

The boilers on the Dahlia had wide mouths waiting to be fed and weren’t picky eaters; if fed with giant beasts, they ate giant beasts, if fed fish, they ate fish — anyways, it was much cheaper than burning oil.

Wen Yan was curious how the Dahlia could maintain power by consuming such a small amount of food; this energy utilization seemed a bit exaggerated.

Or was it that this thing didn’t actually rely on consuming food to replenish energy at all?

So, Wen Yan tried feeding one boiler continuously, giving it most of what he procured, but that big mouth never stopped.

Wen Yan thought about it and decided to pause the experiment and wait until they approached land to continue.

As they proceeded, the surroundings gradually blended into the sea and sky, with no trace of land visible in any direction.

As they traveled into the night, the Dahlia’s whistle suddenly sounded, and several large chimneys began emitting billowing black smoke.

Wen Yan frowned slightly, glanced outside, saw nothing, and immediately opened the door on the right side of the bridge to look from the other side.

The other side of the ink-colored ocean was very calm, with nothing visible. The giant beast corpses tied with iron chains and hanging on the side of the ship were still there, and even the iron chains constraining them appeared more numerous than before.

He carefully sensed again and still found nothing, then returned through the bridge to the present world. The sea surface began to exhibit some undulation; the waves gradually grew larger.

On the once calm sea surface, he could see the increasing undulation, and Wen Yan took out his phone to check the real-time location and corresponding data.

Logically, it should be calm here, with wind speeds only at level four, no clouds, no rain — the weather was supposed to be tranquil.

But now, as he looked ahead, he could see the undulating sea surface, the highest points matching the deck height, and the ship was constantly swaying in the waves.

He sent a message to the Black Box, asking it to check the nearby conditions.

The result was the same as before: calm seas, great weather, and the sea breeze at a comfortable level.

Wen Yan walked out of the bridge, took a look outside, feeling nothing unusual; it was either that things below were extremely adept at hiding or the opposition was at a relatively deep location.

He considered getting a sonar device for the Dahlia; otherwise, dealing with things under the sea surface would be tricky.

The Dahlia was already accelerating, yet the surrounding waves continued growing larger.

The nearest ship was still some distance away, equipped with corresponding weapons, but wouldn’t reach them in a short time.

Wen Yan tapped on the ship’s steering wheel.

"The thing below seems to want you to sink, is there a feud with you?

If so, sound once. If not, sound twice."

The Dahlia didn’t react; its intelligence was too low to understand.

Just then, the fluctuating waves ahead dissipated, but the sea surface on the side quickly rose.

Gigantic waves, taller than the bridge, caused the entire ship to tilt, and the hull nearly twisted sideways.

The next moment, from the rising waves on the left, a large bulge appeared, a water pouch dozens of meters wide, which crossed over the hull and fell towards the other side.

In the water pouch, a giant beast fused with the seawater emerged, tentacles draping over the Dahlia, which was nearly capsized, pushing with more force, causing the Dahlia to completely flip and dragging the bow underwater.

The Dahlia capsized, began taking on water, and parts of the steel plates twisted into bizarre shapes under immense force.

Wen Yan flicked his wrist, sending the Gray Cloth flying, and the Chunjun Mace landed in Wen Yan’s hand.

He stepped out of the bridge, crossed in a step, swung down, and struck the giant tentacle with the Chunjun Mace, as if hammering on well-cured thick leather. The tentacle dented slightly, and Wen Yan’s power was exhausted as a result.

Even the rebound force numbed Wen Yan’s wrist, showing the ghostly thing’s body possessed extreme toughness.

Upon being hit, it even trembled rapidly, continually dissipating the force.

After being attacked, the tentacles draped on the side of the ship that appeared as one with the seawater swiftly changed color, mimicking the side of the ship.

Colors seemed to spread infection-like, instantly blasting open the seawater, where a giant beast longer than four or fifty meters, akin to a giant squid, appeared in the deep blue but rust-colored waters.

Its eerie black eyes rotated, gazing at Wen Yan, then looked back towards the Dahlia’s bridge.

"Men Wuzei."

"Although it doesn’t quite look like it, the giant beast corpses hanging on the Dahlia are its kin.