In the pouring rain, Jiang Ye dug for two consecutive hours.
Long piles of ore stood on the beach. The colorful fluorite, washed by the rain, had its dust washed away, and the colors of the stones became clearer.
Jiang Ye had been sitting in the driver's seat for too long. His shoes were filled with water, and his toes were wrinkled.
He pushed open the driver's seat door, went out with an empty sack, and spread it on the ore pile.
Then, he spent an hour bagging the fluorite he had already dug out.
As many as forty sacks of fluorite were neatly stacked on the beach. Water seeped out from every hole in the sacks.
He carried the sacks onto the fishing boat and sold them!
The price per sack was still around 150,000. After selling forty sacks, he made a total of 6,028,000 yuan!
His account balance rose to 7,211,000 yuan.
Jiang Ye sat down, took a sip of water, and rested for two minutes.
As he stood up and was about to leave the captain's cabin, the sonar screen suddenly lit up.
The sonar was still in wide-area scan mode, capable of detecting a large area of the sea surface.
At the top of the screen, a fist-sized red spot appeared, slowly emerging and becoming brighter!
A giant creature was ascending from the seabed!
Jiang Ye held his hand up to the red spot on the screen and gasped.
The black king octopus and the whale he had seen before, although their red spots were large, were far inferior to this one!
The creature ascending had a body size that might be half the size of a football field!
Fortunately, the red spot was not moving towards the fishing boat, but was ascending in place. According to the sonar's scale, its position was about one kilometer north of the fishing boat.
Jiang Ye, disregarding the heavy rain, came onto the deck and looked north.
One second.
Three seconds.
Five seconds!
Finally, the sea surface in the distance bulged violently.
Amidst the white pouring rain and waves, a sphere as large as a ship silently surged onto the surface!
The sphere was covered by a transparent membrane, and inside were iron-red soft tissue, densely wrinkled, giving the impression of a brain.
Except that the volume of this brain was outrageously large; if it were cut off and placed on a sports field, it could probably cover the entire track!
Jiang Ye's first reaction was to tremble. If those iron-red soft tissues were indeed the creature's brain, how terrifying would its intelligence be?
The sphere looked very soft, trembling like a plastic film under the rain, undulating rhythmically, and flying into the air.
It ascended vertically for more than ten meters, revealing dense tentacles below.
Finally, its full appearance was clear: a terrifyingly large jellyfish!
A jellyfish flying from the deep sea into the sky!
Below the jellyfish were hundreds of transparent tentacles, each as wide as a curtain and tens of meters long. The seawater brought up by them flowed down the tentacles, splashing water, like hundreds of waterfalls.
Jiang Ye was completely stunned. The giant flying jellyfish before his eyes ravaged his worldview.
This was the first time he had seen a creature as large as an aircraft carrier.
Whales were already terrifyingly large, but compared to this jellyfish, they were probably just snacks.
Also, by what principle was it suspended? How could it float in the air?
Jiang Ye's mind was in chaos, and finally, only emptiness remained. His megalophobia kicked in, and he couldn't help but tremble.
The giant jellyfish did not stop, flying straight into the sky, rising higher and higher.
The sea surface bulged again, and seven or eight more jellyfish appeared, each larger than the last, silently floating towards the sky in the pouring rain.
For the next hour, Jiang Ye did nothing but sit on the deck in a daze, gazing at the giant jellyfish in the sky.
At least over a hundred jellyfish, larger than a sports field, emerged from the sea, continuously rising, and finally disappearing into the iron-black clouds, never to be seen again.
This scene was something he couldn't even dream of. Jiang Ye strongly felt the vastness of the universe and that he was truly on an alien planet.
After the jellyfish all disappeared, the rain gradually lessened.
After waiting for half an hour, the rain stopped, the clouds gradually dispersed to the east, and sunlight shone on the sea surface.
Jiang Ye stood up, no longer in the mood to dig for ore.
He entered the captain's cabin, immediately clicked on the screen, and set course for home.
He just wanted to go back and get a good night's sleep.
The fishing boat returned to the dock at dusk. Jiang Ye disembarked and returned to the base, opening the base panel.
As far as he knew, there were detectors and satellites on this planet. If the giant jellyfish he had seen were dangerous, there would surely be news.
As expected, as soon as he opened the chat channel, a prominent red warning appeared:
[Orange War Warning!]
[According to military satellite monitoring, large numbers of bubble jellyfish have appeared on this planet.]
[Bubble jellyfish are highly intelligent organisms, widely distributed in the Milky Way. They have a special body structure and can move freely in air and water. Adult bubble jellyfish can have a diameter of over 300 meters, have a huge appetite, a broad diet, and pose a great threat to humans. They have been listed on the C-class eradication species list.]
[The Air Force has decided to launch a concentrated long-range strike tonight at 8 PM on the bubble jellyfish flying in the stratosphere of this planet.]
[This strike has a 1% chance of affecting the ground. Colony commanders are advised to take shelter within the base and not to go out around 8 PM.]
Jiang Ye checked his watch; it was 7:50 PM.
He grabbed his tablet and made a video call to Isabel.
The call was answered instantly, and a familiar face appeared on the screen.
"Did you see the war warning?" Jiang Ye asked frantically. "The Air Force is going to shoot at the sky. Will stray bullets fall on us?"
"Don't panic. The Air Force usually uses annihilation rays to deal with bubble jellyfish. As long as there isn't a major accident, they won't hit the ground. They'll pass by the troposphere," Isabel said with a smile, very calm. "I just finished dinner. Want to eat together?"
"Okay, I'll be there in two minutes." Jiang Ye hung up the phone.
As soon as Isabel said it was fine, he relaxed. She understood the situation of this era better. If she wasn't panicking, there was no need for him to panic.
He stood up, pushed open the base door, and headed for the express center.
As he passed a sentry post, a blue light scanned him, followed by a voice:
"Highest authority, free passage."
Jiang Ye walked along the asphalt road, straight to the glass cube-like living center.
The first floor was dim, while the second floor was lit, with a warm yellow light that was very cozy.
A rich aroma of meat wafted out.
Jiang Ye's mouth watered at the smell. Like a dog, he followed the meat scent and found the dining room.
Isabel, with her golden hair loose and wearing a white silk nightgown, was placing the last dish.
The table was laden with dishes, quite a feast. Jiang Ye couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow!"
He could recognize: beef stew, grilled skewers, cold ham, vegetable salad, cheese.
"What are those?" Jiang Ye pointed to the dishes he didn't recognize.
"Dried white fish, pressed caviar, star-shaped sturgeon jelly, game soufflé with mayonnaise, cream of mushroom, milk-fed lamb with potatoes," Isabel introduced fluently, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "Don't be polite, eat whatever you like."
Jiang Ye felt a little overwhelmed. "Are you preparing so many main dishes to entertain me?"
"Do you want the truth or a lie?" Isabel smiled.
Jiang Ye was surprised. "Don't tell me you eat this much every day!"
"I really eat this much every day. Breakfast is a bit simple. Lunch has 14 dishes, and dinner has 11 dishes. Plus dessert and drinks," Isabel said.
"You eat over ten dishes by yourself? Can you really finish them?" Jiang Ye asked incredulously. "What happens to the leftovers?"
"They get thrown away," Isabel shrugged.
Jiang Ye suddenly realized how hard his living conditions were. If he were a Russian serf, Isabel's living standard would be that of a French princess.
Isabel started eating first. She ate very slowly, picking up small bites with her chopsticks.
In contrast, Jiang Ye was like a beast, eating ravenously and gulping down food. He grabbed a skewer and ate it all the way. It wasn't his fault for being uncivilized; he hadn't eaten such delicious food in a long time.
Suddenly, Isabel put down her chopsticks and looked out the window.
Jiang Ye also turned his head, looked up at the night sky outside the window, and his mouth fell open in astonishment, forgetting to chew.