Chapter 1939

"The target blue whale is starting to surface. Everyone, get in position." Xie Yu's voice sounded in Xia Qing's Bluetooth headset.

"Received, have reached No. 1 ambush point." Members of the Azure Dragon No. 3 squad in the mangroves reported their positions.

"Received, have reached the salvage ship's operation room, starting to pull the net." Di Ming on the salvage ship reported his position and action.

"Received, have reached the sky above the target evolutionary forest, sniper is in position." Er Yong, the helicopter co-pilot, reported his position.

"All of the above received." Xie Yu responded, "The target blue whale is 45 meters from the water surface."

"The target blue whale is 15 meters from the sea surface." After reporting the position, Xie Yu began to deploy the action, "I am appearing now, Sister Qing."

"Received." Xia Qing, the top sniper on the helicopter, responded.

Below the helicopter, above the mangroves and the near sea, the aerial overlords of this sea area—hundreds of evolutionary black-backed gulls—were flying and foraging.

In the boundless deep blue sea below the gulls, a huge figure slowly emerged—the blue whale carrying 40 tons of ore was about to surface to breathe.

When the blue whale's back emerges from the water, the black-backed gulls foraging in the air will rush over together.

The black-backed gulls' target is not the blue whale's flesh and blood, but an evolutionary microorganism living in the folds of its back—whale blue algae.

In the early years of the disaster, under the complex influence of multiple factors, the seawater of the entire Blue Star became acidified, and a large number of phytoplankton capable of photosynthesis in the ocean died, leading to the collapse of the marine biological chain. Evolutionary marine organisms that adapted to the new living environment built a brand-new ecosystem.

Whale blue algae is a strange life form that won out in the process of the great evolution of marine organisms.

Whale blue algae is a strange life form between blue algae and eukaryotic microalgae. Under a microscope, this algae presents as a deep blue spiral chain, with a single segment length of about 5-8 microns, which can form a blue-black biofilm visible to the naked eye.

In addition to traditional photosynthesis, whale blue algae has also evolved a unique way to supplement energy—feeding on whale fat exudate.

Large amounts of sebaceous glands are distributed around the skin folds and blowholes of the blue whale's back. The lipid exudate secreted by these glands is rich in trace elements, enzymes, and hormone residues concentrated in the whale's body. For whale blue algae, whale fat exudate is a more stable and efficient energy source than sunlight.

This unique way of supplementing energy makes whale blue algae only able to survive on the backs of some whales, and it has formed a symbiotic relationship with whales:

Whale blue algae feeds on whale fat exudate, and its metabolites form a film on the whale's skin, helping the whale resist infection by pathogenic microorganisms and repair small wounds.

A characteristic of blue whale algae has also brought new survival crises to whales: every whale blue algae chain has a special structure—a light-sensing vesicle. This light-sensing vesicle not only reflects visible light but also emits a faint phosphorescence.

Therefore, when whales with whale blue algae parasitic on their backs surface at night to breathe, the energy released by billions of whale blue algae between breaths forms a galaxy shimmering with blue light; when whales surface during the day to breathe, billions of whale blue algae reflect visible light, forming light spots.

Humans cannot see the light spots of whale blue algae, but black-backed gulls can. This bright light has a great attraction for black-backed gulls.

Because of the functions of whale blue algae in resisting infection and repairing wounds, it has become a food that many marine animals and birds like, and the black-backed gull is one of them.

If the blue whale surfaces and hundreds of black-backed gulls descend to peck at the whale blue algae on its back, the blue whale may become angry and out of control due to pain, dragging 40 tons of ore toward other sea areas.

The main task of Xie Yu leading the team to guard here is to prevent black-backed gulls from attacking the blue whale, and the secondary task is to "fish."

Xia Qing's target is not the black-backed gulls, but the enemy sniper hiding in the mangroves who intends to assassinate Xie Yu, which is the fish Xie Yu wants to catch by using himself as bait.

After Xie Yu appears, the humans who appear in the mangroves within the target range are all Xia Qing's sniping targets.

While Xia Qing was staring at the mangroves, Xie Yu's voice came from the headset again, "The target is only 10 meters from the water surface, Di Ming."

When the blue whale surfaces to 5 meters underwater, the black-backed gulls can capture the light spots on the blue whale's back, calling out to their companions to rush over and wait to peck at the whale blue algae.

"Received."

Di Ming, standing on the salvage ship, immediately pressed the button, and the fishing net filled with marine organisms was lifted out of the water by a steel cable.

When the black-backed gull flock foraging in the air rushed toward the salvage ship, on the sea surface more than 400 meters away from the salvage ship, the blue whale's mountain-like back slowly emerged from the water.

The two V-shaped blowholes, like volcanic craters on its back, opened, and with a sound like thunder, a column of water sprayed straight up from the blowholes, forming a fountain more than ten meters high.

The black-backed gulls that had already landed on the salvage ship to snatch food were not attracted by this column of water; a giant black-backed gull circling above the salvage ship burst into a sharp cry, spread its wings, and flew toward the blue whale's shimmering back, followed by dozens of black-backed gulls.

Xia Qing on the helicopter naturally heard the blue whale's breathing sound and the bird's cry, but she was not affected by these sounds at all, and her eyes remained locked on the target area.

When a thin, long, tubular object that did not reflect light extended from behind the branches and leaves of an unusually dense mangrove forest, Xia Qing quickly turned the muzzle, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

When the black-backed gull flock flew toward the blue whale, the enemy sniper lurking in the mangroves who intended to assassinate Xie Yu was hit by Xia Qing's shot.

Immediately after, Xia Qing pulled the trigger a second and third time, and the sniper bullets roared toward the position where the observer who teamed up with the sniper might be hiding.

While Xia Qing was hunting, the blue whale that had surfaced had already completed one breath, and its back exposed on the water surface began to sink slowly.

The blue whale's speed is not slow, but the black-backed gull's flight speed is faster. Especially that giant black-backed gull, which had already folded its wings and was preparing to descend!

Just when the sharp claws of this giant black-backed gull were only three meters away from the blue whale's back, a human rushed out from under the water surface and slashed it into two halves with a knife.

After this human slashed and killed another black-backed gull with his knife, he landed on the slowly sinking blue whale's back and sprang up again, slashing at the third black-backed gull that was diving.

Following closely, the second human leaped out of the water, slashed and killed two black-backed gulls, and landed steadily on the other side of the blue whale's back.

When the black-backed gulls that arrived later folded their wings to slow down and cried angrily in the air, the blue whale's back slowly sank into the water, and the two humans standing on the blue whale's back also disappeared from the sea level.

After the black-backed gull flock cried angrily a few times on the water surface where the blue whale dived, they flapped their wings, turned, and flew toward the salvage ship again.

When they flew over the salvage ship, they found that the cabin filled with food had been covered, and they let out angry cries again.

Seabirds that feed on marine organisms are more irritable and out of control than other birds. Fifteen black-backed gulls crashed into the salvage ship, and more than twenty black-backed gulls spread their wings and flew upward, crashing into the helicopter above.

Out-of-control birds will only crash around, and they are not a big threat to the helicopter. Guan Tong set up a machine gun and fired a burst of shots.

The black-backed gulls that were hit fell straight down, smashed into the sea surface, and became food for fish. The fallen feathers of the black-backed gulls danced in the sea breeze for a while and finally landed on the sea surface, bobbing up and down with the waves of the sea.