Chapter 45: The Bizarre Aquarium (Part 2)

The three-member team changed into their uniforms and, following Fang Ying's instructions, left their helmets behind, moving to assemble with the other members.

A large number of personnel were deployed for this mission: one team of Demon Hunters and three teams of Cleaners.

The Demon Hunters present were the Gray Hawks. Their last encounter had been in the sewers, where one of them had mocked Li Nianchuan, though Zhu Ning couldn't quite remember which one it was.

Now, they were actually assigned to a mission together.

Had the authorities really paired up two rival, hostile teams?

Zhu Ning spotted Chu Ling in the crowd. As the only female member of the Gray Hawks and standing at one meter eighty centimeters tall, she was very conspicuous.

Chu Ling raised an eyebrow at Zhu Ning as a form of greeting.

Zhu Ning waved back at her. Some of the other faces looked quite familiar, though she couldn't recall their names; she must have seen them during training.

The rest of the members showed no particular expression upon seeing the Cleaner teams.

Li Nianchuan, however, let out a scoff nearby. He was a grudge-holder and had never given the Gray Hawks a pleasant look.

The Demon Hunters wore steel armor, standing in a row alongside the Cleaners.

Following special training, everyone behaved quite properly, and Zhu Ning appeared much more professional than she had during her novice days.

Fang Ying swept her gaze across the group, her heavy eyes resting on each person as she began to explain the situation: "A sudden contaminant infection has occurred inside the Mechanical Aquarium, instantly infecting the mechanical jellyfish pavilion and then spreading outward."

On each of their employee smart bands was a floor plan of the aquarium, where the deep-sea pavilion was marked in red.

Moreover, this red hue was still expanding, with four different exhibition halls suffering varying degrees of contamination.

This was Zhu Ning's first time encountering a newly contaminated zone. How had the contamination erupted under these circumstances?

Fang Ying continued, "There is little information, and the source of contamination is unknown. The glass suddenly exploded while visitors were touring. We managed to retrieve internal footage from the aquarium before the surveillance cameras were parasitized by contaminant spores."

Fang Ying synchronized the video to everyone's employee smart bands.

It had been specially processed, with monitoring footage from various scenes spliced together so that the sequence appeared seamless.

One hour ago.

The Mechanical Aquarium was operating normally.

If there was any silver lining to the radiation, it was that species had become more diverse.

The Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion was the most popular attraction in the entire aquarium. Mechanical jellyfish were a brand-new species, and the District 103 Mechanical Aquarium was the only place in the entire Federation that exhibited them.

Eighty percent of the visitors came to the Mechanical Aquarium specifically to see the jellyfish.

Swimming in the water, the mechanical jellyfish possessed the natural fluidity of ordinary jellyfish while retaining the metallic luster of machinery.

Under the reflection of the seawater, the cold metallic sheen emitted a strange, silvery luminescence, looking gorgeous from every angle.

Harmless and beautiful.

Many people came from afar just to check in.

It was the weekend, and foot traffic inside the aquarium was extremely heavy.

The waiting time for everyone started at a minimum of one hour, with a strict fifteen-minute viewing limit.

A little girl with braided pigtails had already waited for an hour and a half. Her parents held her hands as they led her into the viewing area, while a nearby tour guide explained patiently.

"Mechanical jellyfish are a specially bred species unique to the District 103 Mechanical Aquarium. Their exterior is a metallic shell, but mechanical jellyfish are not robots; rather, they are mechanical organisms capable of autonomous reproduction."

The tour guide carried several mechanical jellyfish figurines to attract children, embedding neon lights of various colors inside them.

As the guide moved, the mechanical jellyfish figurines bobbed back and forth, making one's eyes strain after staring for too long.

The little girl's parents took numerous photos.

"Quick, tilt your head," the man said, holding a professional camera with the lens aimed at the little girl. There were only fifteen minutes in total, so they had to seize the opportunity.

The little girl herself showed little enthusiasm, maintaining a bored expression throughout.

Her father shouted loudly, "Smile! Give us a smile!"

The little girl reluctantly squeezed out a smile—her signature expression that looked innocent and harmless. Satisfied, her father pressed the shutter.

After posing for a few more pictures to please her parents, the little girl pressed herself against the huge transparent glass wall, staring unblinkingly at the swimming jellyfish.

The mechanical jellyfish were umbrella-shaped in appearance, their tentacle-like feelers swaying gracefully with the water currents.

The little girl reached out and pressed her palm against the glass. A jellyfish swam over, affectionately rubbing against the palm of the little girl's hand through the barrier.

The little girl let out a startled expression of "Whoa."

Unlike the forced innocence from earlier, it was a genuine, naturally flowing expression.

Seizing the moment, the tour guide explained, "Mechanical jellyfish are non-aggressive toward humans and have a docile temperament. In their eyes, humans are very friendly. It seems they like you very much, little one."

The guide's words brought a smile to the little girl's parents. What parents wouldn't want their child to be complimented?

Visiting tourists also nodded and smiled, many taking out their personal brain devices to capture the scene.

The little girl in her red dress paired with the gorgeous mechanical jellyfish, the two life forms separated only by a wall of transparent glass—the entire scene was warm and deeply healing.

The camera flash clicked repeatedly, mingled with the tourists' admiration.

"So cute."

"How healing."

Amidst the laughter and cheers, it almost seemed as though the mechanical jellyfish had understood human speech.

More jellyfish arrived in schools, swarming over toward the glass.

At first, there were only two, creating a warm and adorable scene.

Then came dozens, and soon hundreds of mechanical jellyfish, looking somewhat bizarre.

However, mere minutes later, thousands of mechanical jellyfish swarmed over together.

They whipped their tentacle-like feelers, pressing their umbrella-shaped "heads" against the glass wall as if forming some kind of hive mind.

The little girl's hand remained pressed against the glass, and with thousands of jellyfish converging, it looked as though she had summoned them.

The entire spectacle was breathtakingly grand.

Click, click, click, click—

Tourists were still taking pictures, the flashes flickering incessantly.

"So magnificent," someone sighed. "Really stunning."

"This was worth the trip."

"Honey, does something... feel a little off?" asked the little girl's mother uncertainly.

Thousands of jellyfish from the entire pavilion had gathered, sticking densely against the glass wall.

No matter how cute a creature might be, the moment their numbers reached the thousands and they suddenly loomed before one's eyes, it was enough to send chills down anyone's spine.

Before this "wall" composed of mechanical jellyfish, human beings appeared utterly insignificant.

"Not at all, look how cute," the little girl's father said excitedly, rapidly pressing the shutter button. "Our little Feng is going to become an internet celebrity."

He completely ignored the anomaly of the mechanical jellyfish, fixated only on the flashing lights. His daughter had never been so popular before; this video might just make the Federation's trending search list tomorrow.

By then, the entire Federation would see his daughter.

They were going to be famous.

In an era where seizing web traffic meant seizing wealth, he saw a golden opportunity to get rich, and at that moment, it felt as though countless sums of money were raining down upon him.

Suddenly.

A faint, muffled sound echoed. *Pop.*

A mechanical jellyfish had bumped against the glass wall. Through the thick glass, the sound was extremely faint.

If it were only a single mechanical jellyfish acting strangely, it wouldn't be entirely abnormal.

Animals frequently engaged in behaviors that humans found difficult to understand.

However, *thud, thud, thud!*

One after another, the mechanical jellyfish began slamming into the glass.

The little girl's mother grew increasingly anxious, her voice rising uncontrollably, "What's happening?"

The tour guide's smile froze as well. He was merely a working stiff who memorized scripted materials for a fixed salary, and his understanding of marine life was purely superficial.

He had never witnessed such a scene and didn't even know how to explain it.

Dozens of tourists with hundreds of eyes stared fixedly at him, unsure whether this phenomenon was normal or abnormal.

"Judging from this," the tour guide said, weathering the pressure as his voice grew raspy, "these jellyfish are quite enthusiastic."

"Is that so?" Someone rubbed their arm and muttered, "Why do I find this a bit terrifying?"

"Me too," another person chimed in. "They look like... they really want to get out?"

From initially pressing against the glass wall, the mechanical jellyfish had escalated to "crowding" the glass wall, using their umbrella-shaped heads to ram into it.

They genuinely looked as though they wanted to break out.

Could mechanical jellyfish even harbor such thoughts?

The tour guide had never faced such a challenge in his career, and he scrambled to calm everyone's emotions: "Mechanical jellyfish do not possess that level of intelligence. Please rest assured."

"Is it safe?" Someone looked at the mechanical jellyfish with a worried expression.

The tour guide had been in this line of work too long, constantly bombarded with bizarre questions. Even if internal curses were running wild, his surface remained extremely mild: "Oh, absolutely not a problem. Our glass wall is custom-made and can withstand millions of tons of pressure. It's bulletproof; let alone jellyfish, even explosives couldn't bl—"

*Crack—*

Before the tour guide could finish his sentence, a sharp cracking sound suddenly echoed through the pavilion.

Everyone heard it.

They turned in unison to look at the glass wall.

The little girl suddenly began to retreat, as if she had laid eyes on something terrifying.

Right where the little girl's palm had previously rested, spiderweb-like cracks were spreading outward from that exact center!

The little girl's mother reacted first. She scooped her child up around the waist, completely ignoring the people behind her, and bolted toward the exit.

Then came the screams as all the tourists finally snapped to their senses.

This glass wall was about to collapse.

The mechanical jellyfish inside were coming out.

Regardless of whether there were dangerous creatures inside, a wall of water of this magnitude—once it collapsed, the resulting pressure would sweep everyone away!

"Run!" someone screamed while sprinting. "It's collapsing! Run!"

Outside the pavilion, crowds were lined up waiting anxiously, having suddenly heard the commotion from within.

"What's going on?" those outside asked.

Someone bolted out with a panicked expression on their face. "Get out of here! It's going to collapse!"

While some people followed the crowd outward, other tourists remained rooted in place, wanting to see what on earth was happening.

The tour guide stood frozen, still wearing his microphone and the string of mechanical jellyfish figurines dangling from his waist.

He swallowed hard, unable to understand why his feet refused to move.

How could this be?

The materials he had memorized stated that this wall would never collapse.

Didn't it say it could withstand explosives?

It was just a crack; people were just making a fuss over nothing.

*Crack, crack, crack—*

A sound of sheer despair echoed from behind.

Stiffly, the tour guide slowly turned his head.

The shattering of the glass wall seemed contagious, as a single tiny fissure quickly exposed a fatal flaw.

Behind the fractured glass wall, dense masses of jellyfish looked poised and ready to strike.

Having reached its absolute limit, the glass wall could no longer endure even the slightest pressure, let alone the simultaneous surge of so many mechanical jellyfish.