Chapter 164 White Shadows in the Deep
Ang… Ang… Ang...The crocodile dragons were rolling away after being struck by electricity. A few of them were unable to escape and fell to the ground, roaring in pain.
"Huuuu…" Seeing the crocodile dragons had escaped, the electric eel let out a long sigh of relief. The liquid in the poison capsule was already used up and even the electricity discharge muscle was sore. After all, it had been dozens of crocodile dragons, not a few sheep. They were very tiring to fight.
More than a thousand meters from the stone tower, the electric eel rested for half a minute and then moved to the stone tower, swinging from side to side.
When the electric eel stepped on the mica floor, it felt like stepping on gold. Chen Fan really wanted to change his career but unfortunately, mica was very common and not worth much.
There was a 700 or 800-meter tall gold stone tower divided into three floors. The bottom floor was about two meters high with an arched door 1.3 meters wide and a window on each side. The second floor had three windows and the third floor had no windows.
The closer he was to the stone tower, the wider the electric eel"s mouth opened.
The stone tower was carved out of large, highly pure gold mica, and had many abstract lines on the surface, most of them of an abstract figure riding deer, being wors.h.i.+pped, standing on cliffs, praying...
He guessed this was the owner of the stone tower.
Judging from the lines that were noticeably slimmer than others, it was supposed to be a woman!
"Witch"s magic tower?" The electric eel"s eyes were the size of two water tanks as they latched onto the view ahead. He looked in as if he were an artist looking at the Mona Lisa.
There was nothing on the first floor but a rough staircase connected to the second floor. On the second floor, there was a stone bed carved from mica and a golden mica table with gray pottery on it.
There was no window on the third floor, so the electric eel could not see what was in it. It looked at the stairs connected to the third floor for a long time and then gave up.
From these depictions and the pottery jars inside, Chen Fan estimated that the history of the stone tower was more than 10,000 years old, built around the Neolithic age. There was no metal smelting in those days, but things like pottery, wood tools and the carvings had begun to appear.
Unable to see what was on the third floor, the electric eel simply straightened up and surveyed the huge lake ahead.
Sapphire Lake
The area was so vast that if the electric eel didn"t look closely, it couldn"t see the end far away. As far as the electric eel was concerned, the hole at the bottom was 10 kilometers long and six kilometers wide. He was unsure about the size of the other side of the lake.
Jumping into the lake, the electric eel found that the water was as salty as the water outside.
Seawater has an average of 35.7 million tons of minerals per cubic kilometer.
That"s right, you saw that correctly: it was more than 30 million tons, about the size of the cave"s lake, and that"s why the crocodile dragons were still alive today.
Of course, one of the most important elements was how oxygen circulates.
But when Chen Fan saw the algae in the water, he thought for a moment and understood. The earth"s main oxygen is released from algae in the ocean.
The lake was also home to large amounts of algae. Although some of the algae was yellowed and not as big as other algae in the ocean, they were actually a species of algae that could still release a large amount of oxygen.
Why do plants release oxygen?
That"s because in the photosynthesis process, they could take advantage of the plants absorbing an external light source. The carbon dioxide (or hydrogen sulfide) and water can be converted to organic matter and release oxygen or hydrogen.
This photosynthesis action requirement was very low, as long as it was not monochromatic. You just had to have red-orange light and blue-violet light in the light wave. Any light source at any wavelength could do that.
Like with out-of-season flowers, artificial light was used to control the flowering period. Although the light source of the cave was not very bright, it could hold the illumination 24 hours a day. When colorful lights were combined, the resulting light could cover all wavelengths needed for photosynthesis.
People often use "craftsmans.h.i.+p" to describe the workings of nature. Chen Fan thought for a long time and felt that only three words could generalize this underground cave. Those words were, "d*mn good craftsmans.h.i.+p!"
In the lake, the electric eel also found other nameless fish, small as tiny as fingers and also big with a length of six or seven meters.
The crocodile dragons, on the other hand, occasionally dove under the water, catching fish. But when they saw the electric eel, most of them obediently hid far away. A few dared to come near, but eventually sobbed and ran away after experiencing the great electric shock.
Chen Fan wanted to send the electric eel to the other side of the lake. Although there were roads on the sh.o.r.e, the electric eel was an aquatic creature. It was not only slow using the land but doing so was also tiring.
Unlike the sh.o.r.e, the bottom of the lake was made of mud and rock. When the electric eel swam about a kilometer, the lake"s depth dropped to more than 300 meters.
After swimming for a few breaths, the electric eel felt something wrong ahead.
Just as the electric eel was about to increase the voltage output to probe, a huge splash of water burst from the shadow.
"D*mn!"
Chen Fan"s eyes were about to pop out. It turned out to be a giant crocodile dragon.
How big was it?
It was 60 meters long and behind its hilly head, there were two round feet and ten meters of sharp horns.
Ang!
The crocodile dragon also spotted the electric eel, an outsider. After roaring, it wagged its tail and dashed toward the eel.
This giant crocodile was extremely fast, traveling 700 or 800 meters in just three breaths. Looking at the two gray horns, Chen Fan had no doubt that it could easily pierce the electric eel"s scales.
The whole lake and the earth quaked with a bam. The electric eel started attacking. He used the 40-ton spear and rammed the crocodile. Then without waiting for it to turn back, the electric eel with blue light flas.h.i.+ng on its body and an output of as much as 38,000 volts, suddenly swept around the place.
The giant crocodile was huge but it roared after being attacked with more than 30,000 volts. Before the electric eel could attack with the spear, the crocodile fled into the distance. The crocodile had acted fierce in the beginning but changed into a coward after the attack. This deprived the eel of its fun and made it feel gloomy.
Throw your weight around!
This was the best portrayal of the crocodile dragons, but it"s also the primary criterion for being a good follower. How could he beat them when they were brave and fighting?
Ten kilometers was just a few breaths effort for the electric eel. When the electric eel got up to the sh.o.r.e, its mouth opened wide enough to swallow an elephant.
Seven hundred meters in front of the electric eel, there was a huge cliff about 200 meters wide and 400 meters deep.
The cliff directly cut the cave in half horizontally and was still paved with gold mica. Like mountainous terrain, the cliff blocked the electric eel"s line of sight to the other side.
But judging from the dome above the electric eel"s head, there was still plenty of room on the other side of the cliff.
All of this was too shocking, too surprising as if this were a different world than Chen Fan had fully experienced during a bit of plane travel.
From the hole to the entrance of the cave, minus the slope angle, was a length of more than 1,100 meters. The distance from the end of the cave was 13 kilometers for a total distance of 14 kilometers from the hole. The cliffside was blocked by mountains, so it could not be seen how far it lead. For the time being, the cave was still a little behind the world"s top specially graded caves. However, it certainly would be one of the world"s top 10.
At the bottom of the 400-meter-deep cliff, there was a bottomless pool of water. It looked as if there were some deep-sea dragons living in it. The broad-brimmed electric eel could not get over the cliff at all, and it had no lizard"s skill in climbing.
"Big mouth" was probably the phrase people would use to describe Chen Fan. However, he was thinking "Deep-Sea Dragon" would be a cool nickname. His daydreaming was cut short by a sudden surge of huge waves.
He saw a scaly, white as snow, snake-like creature flash away. The white abdomen exposed to the water was like the body of Madame White Snake rolling in.
"F**k… I"m sure there"s no blood orchid on the cliff!" The electric eel drew back as it gasped. The unknown was always frightening, especially deep in the earth.
Chen Fan felt his mind"s eye was not enough to see a white snake in the abyss.
It"s creepy just to fantasize about it with your head, let alone to see it with your own eyes.
He definitely would not let the electric eel track down that white python"s path. He would return first and honestly manage the big lake behind it!
Dub dong... dub dong... dub dong...
Lying on the ground in a daze, the electric eel seemed to hear a disorderly tap coming from behind. It looked back in disbelief.
"D*mn, what the mother f**king...!" Chen Fan scolded secretly and hurriedly made the electric eel climb up.
There was a herd of crocodile dragons attacking unexpectedly. The herd was led by a 60-meter-long crocodile dragon and included about 40 to 50 crocodile dragons, each about 20 or 30 meters long. They gathered and dashed towards the electric eel. Chen Fan suspected the herd contained all the big crocodiles in the lake. After all, the lake was limited in size and if there were too many crocodiles, they would starve to death for lack of food.
If the electric eel was the absolute king in the water, when it was on sh.o.r.e, its power was reduced to the warrior level. The giant crocodile, the leader of the field, moved at a speed that was significantly more flexible on land than underwater.
If it fought one to one, the electric eel wielding a spear would be sure to kill the crocodile dragon. However, it was now a major ma.s.s brawl and the electric eel"s most effective means of attack on land—the poison capsules—had been used up.
Behind them were cliffs so he was unable to escape. Even if the cliff hadn"t been a problem, the electric eel still could not escape these creatures.
Chen Fan simply controlled the electric eel"s spear and decided to give the big guy a lesson. He rushed out of the encirclement and ran to the lake using the electrical conductivity of the water. He let them see a wide range of lightning storms!
Rumble... Rumble... Looking at the electric eel moving in slow motion on land, the giant crocodile"s dragon head immediately sped up. It tilted its head down, ran forward and used its 10-meter-long horn as a weapon.
What made the electric eel"s jaw drop even more was that the giant crocodile dragon turned abruptly 200 meters from the electric eel and with an arc around the spear, attacked from the electric eel"s side.
Humph! When the giant crocodile dragon rushed to its front, the electric eel suddenly tilted its upper body up and gave a hiss. The spear in the electric eel"s claw slammed into the crocodile"s back.
Boom!
An earth-shaking sound was heard. The giant crocodile dragon quickly evaded the spear, and the golden mica surface was smashed out of a ravine half a meter deep.
A hit! The electric eel immediately changed into a sweep, as if Zhao Zilong were doing stuns with a silver gun in a magnificent way.
The impact was a line, the sweep was huge and with the weapon"s advantage, the giant crocodile could not escape.
How does it feel when a spear hits a crocodile dragon in the stomach?
Chen Fan felt as if he had hit a mountain. The shock from his spear was almost beyond the electric eel"s control.
Of course, the spear was charged! So this crocodile dragon was even worse than a cat whose tail had been stepped on. It jumped three feet high with the electric shock. After landing, it wanted to charge again but coincidently stepped on the spear.
Humph! By the time the giant crocodile dragon jumped again, the electric eel had suddenly turned its voltage up to its maximum. In the empty s.p.a.ce, its s-shaped body was swinging back and forth into the herd.
Many of the crocodile dragons had learned their lesson after being attacked by the electric eel. When they saw their leader was. .h.i.t and roaring, they also saw the blue light on the electric eel. They hurriedly scattered and escaped, as they didn"t want to be shocked, too.
It was as if a weasel had been thrown into a chicken stall. These inexperienced crocodile dragons were whipped by a high-voltage electric arc just five or six meters from the electric eel.
Immediately...
The electric arc made a thunderbolt striking sound that would make the eardrum of a person itch. The sound lingered...
When the electric eel hopped into the lake, it immediately turned into a crab on the sh.o.r.e, erected two claws and ran amuck!
"Come on! Come on!" The electric eel was half out of the water, making provocative gestures. As soon as the crocodiles touched the lake, they jumped with a bam. The giant crocodile dragon, howling on the sh.o.r.e, was afraid to get into the water.
It wasn"t until all the crocodile dragons wandered along the sh.o.r.e, not daring to come in that Chen Fan was satisfied and made the electric eel swim away.
The electric eel could reach 175 knots in the water at its fastest speed. Even the dragon-crocodile mother gave them eight more legs and they couldn"t catch up.
They had been here for hours and the electric eel was so exhausted that it swung to the exit and temporarily left the mysterious hole.
When he reached the pit, Chen Fan had electric eel curl up by the channel to conserve energy.
Underwater, the electric eel, whether one-on-one or in a group fight, was almost invincible, but not on sh.o.r.e—the current could not be conducted in the air. So if it wanted to have a stronger group fighting ability, Chen Fan should make a greater weapon...
Everyone knows that metals conduct electricity, so Chen Fan decided to make the weapon with that in mind!