Steel torrents pioneering a different world.

Chapter 53 Why aren't you wearing a helmet while fishing? (Please read on!)

"WARNING: A very large and highly dangerous predatory creature exists in the lake! Do not approach! Fishing is prohibited!"

When Xiao Zhou saw this, he shrank his neck.

Even while wearing protective clothing, I felt the air around me get colder.

"Captain, there are danger warning signs? Didn't the report say that the lake only has edible giant octopuses? Have other dangerous creatures been discovered in this lake?"

"We'll see when we get there!" Zhao Chong shook his head, and only stepped on the brakes when they were almost at the campsite.

The cat-shaped car stopped in front of an open area, its headlights tearing through the wind and snow, illuminating the scene ahead.

The two people who got out of the car saw a hazy view ahead, and then they saw a familiar face.

"Wang Zhen!"

"Hey, ha... it's the captain! You guys are here?"

Upon seeing his captain arrive, Wang Zhen happily ran over, and they saluted each other: "Reporting, Captain Zhao, we are on a mission! Please give instructions."

"You're in charge of this mission, so I'll listen to you for now! Wang Zhen! Why did you take your helmet off? You can't go fishing without a helmet. Also, didn't they say we can't take off our protective suits?"

Wang Zhen swallowed hard, still shaken, and said, "Captain, it's hard to say right now. Let's go to the lake first, we'll know when we get there."

"Where?"

"Just around the corner, follow me!"

As they left the area, Zhao Chong saw a large pool nearby, dug out by a military excavator, with protective fences already in place around it and on top.

The inside was empty; it seemed to be used to imprison large animals from another world.

Zhao Chong suddenly had a strong urge to chew a piece of gum and think!

The group turned a corner, and Wang Zhen pointed to something faintly visible in the wind and snow, grinning, "Look, that's fishing gear!"

The two followed the direction Wang Zhen was pointing and looked at something in the snowstorm, then froze in shock.

Xiao Zhou's mouth gaped open, his eyes filled with disbelief: "Holy crap, Vice Captain, what kind of big fuss is this? Is this for catching fish? No, wait, is this for catching dragons?... This is clearly trying to pull a dragon straight out of its palace!"

Before them stood a steel structure, built from a large number of thick steel pipes and T-shaped steel beams, like a ferocious industrial behemoth, lying prostrate on the shore of the frozen lake.

It's a full fifteen meters tall, as tall as a five-story building!

The base below was firmly held down by stones and the hull of the infantry fighting vehicle, with steel cables taut and deeply embedded in the frozen soil, providing unreasonable support.

The so-called "fishing rod" made Zhao Chong realize what the rugged, violent aesthetics of steel bars in the industrial age meant.

That's not a fishing rod at all!

It was a creation over thirty meters long, made of three special steel bars connected in parallel, comparable to the boom of a small crane!

The tip of the crane arm points obliquely to the sky at an exaggerated angle, then suddenly plunges into the lake, like a spear about to pierce the enemy's heart, pointing directly at the lake more than forty meters away.

What made Zhao Chong's eyelids twitch the most was the huge winch located in the center of the "fishing platform," which was emitting a deep hum!

That thing looks like a medium-sized power winch used in engineering projects, capable of moving objects weighing over thirty tons, right?

At that moment, a fishing line as thick as an adult's little finger was being slowly reeled in and out of the winch.

The black "fishing line" gleamed with a metallic and fibrous sheen under the light, clearly indicating its high cost.

Zhao Chong could even clearly see an engineer carefully applying lubricant to the massive gear assembly, as if he were maintaining a heavy artillery piece.

Use several infantry fighting vehicles as equipment.

Use a crane boom as a fishing rod.

Use an engineering winch as a fishing reel.

This isn't fishing at all.

This is clearly a premeditated armed hunt targeting some enormous underwater creature!

"...Is it really necessary?"

"As for... Captain, that's way too much!"

Wang Zhen's face was pale in the wind and snow, not from the cold, but from a kind of deathly pallor that would make him shudder at the thought of it.

He pointed to a broken tree a few hundred meters away; there were more than a dozen trees, each about the thickness of a bowl, lying on the ground.

"Damn it, when we were fishing the day before yesterday, that thing was too fierce. It only lightly brushed against one of its whiskers and it was like this."

Wang Zhen's voice trembled: "I was watching through the periscope at the time, and that tentacle... if it had struck someone, it would have turned them into mincemeat in an instant!"

"Those giant octopuses?" Zhao Chong's pupils contracted slightly.

"Yes! That's why two soldiers were injured the day before yesterday." Wang Zhen nodded emphatically, his tone becoming urgent. "Captain, Xiao Zhou, don't just stand there, quickly put these things back on! We need to take multiple layers of protection!"

Without saying a word, he shoved two heavy military protective suits into Zhao Chong's and Xiao Zhou's hands.

Looking at the bulky bright yellow protective suits, Zhao Chong and Xiao Zhou exchanged a glance, asked no more questions, and immediately began to put them on.

The layers of equipment isolated them from the harsh cold outside, creating a suffocating and oppressive feeling that penetrated to the bone.

Just as they finished dressing, the huge winch made a teeth-grinding "creak" and began to slowly turn.

Several live sheep, tightly bound together, were hanging on steel hooks at the end of the crane boom.

Several sheep seemed to sense their fate, letting out mournful bleating as their hooves thrashed about in vain.

The bleating of sheep, mixed with the roar of winches and the howling of wind and snow, created a strange and cruel symphony on the vast, frozen lake.

As the crane arm sank, several live sheep were slammed heavily into the icy lake water, creating a black ripple, and their screams abruptly ceased.

Only a few taut steel cables, each about the thickness of a little finger, were attached to it, slowly sinking into the bottomless darkness.

Ga—

The crows circling overhead cawed loudly, as if cursing the cruelty of humankind!

"I remember the report said that a vocalization could provoke it and make it attack," Zhao Chong said in a low voice, asking through the communicator in his mask, "Why use a live animal as bait?"

"Shh!"

Wang Zhen suddenly made a shushing gesture.

His voice sounded like it was being squeezed out from between his teeth, both soft and urgent.

"Captain, don't make a sound!"

"Those big guys are not only cunning, but also have terrible tempers! Let's wait until we catch them before we talk about it."

Zhao Chong suppressed his doubts and focused all his attention on the area filled with traps.

The underwater spectral camera transmitted images of utter silence.

The live sheep used as bait had long since stopped struggling, their bloated carcasses rising and falling slightly with the undercurrent.

Time passed by, second by second.

Just when everyone was about to lose patience—

drop!drop!drop!

The almost inaudible alarm suddenly shattered the silence of the camp!

"They're here!"

Wang Zhen's voice was deep and rapid, carrying a hint of suppressed excitement.

"On your marks!"

Zhao Chong and Xiao Zhou's eyes widened instantly, staring intently at the screen!

At the edge of the screen, several enormous, disproportionate shadows were slowly emerging from the bottomless darkness...

(End of this chapter)