18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 419

Jasper wasn't just blowing smoke when he mentioned that the blue whale was covered in parasites-barnacles, to be exact. Thanks to an ancient virus, these barnacles had grown huge and were causing the poor whale more harm than ever. A good scratch is hard to come by, and the itchy blue whale wasn't about to let this opportunity slip. It went berserk, rubbing up against the submarine to try and scrape off the annoying barnacles.

So there it was, the whale scratching away and the submarine retreating. But the creature was relentless-a real thorn in their side.

After being jostled for over half an hour, Stella was feeling seasick. She closed the observation window and tucked the submarine safely back into the Arcadia.

Time was precious, so they didn't linger in the Arcadia for long. After about ten minutes, assuming the blue whale had moved on, they went back into the sea.

But less than five minutes later, the submarine started shaking again. That damned familiar feeling it couldn't be that the whale had fallen for her sub, could it?

was deep; it just wouldn't give up. If you can't beat them, join them, she thought, deciding

it was dark outside. Checking the time in her room,

hesitation to investigate. It was pitch-black outside, and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The observation window was made of several layers of sturdy

check it. No problem there the light filtered down from the surface, and fish swam leisurely outside. So, the trio and their dog stared out of the window, even enjoying an

there was still no movement outside. Jasper speculated, "Maybe something's latched onto the front of the sub." Considering the size of a mid-sized sub, that would have to be a massive marine creature. Stella planned to wait for Rosie to fall asleep that night, then retract the submarine back into the Arcadia to see if this mysterious entity could survive out of water.

Slowly peeling away, light began to filter in. Golden, flowing... hair strands? Long and abundant. Stella was baffled and quickly took out her phone to record. It bloomed like yellow carnations, layer upon layer, with countless hair-like tentacles. As it drifted further away, the tentacles that had

glowing jellyfish departed, Stella went to her room to look up information. She had downloaded a lot of data before the catastrophe, and sure enough, she found it a lion's mane jellyfish. Its tendrils could reach

rubbed its head against the sub. The whale's temperament, influenced by the ancient virus, was far from gentle; it seemed like it wanted to tear off its own skin while scratching. Another couple of hours of this, and Stella couldn't stand it. She was afraid the sub might one day be rubbed raw. So, once it left, she decisively moved their location. Hmph, if hiding didn't work, was she supposed to just give up? Not a chance! However, Stella soon realized who really ruled the sea. The whale found them again with

Despite bumping into them itself, it would flip over in the

swimmer, often falling prey to the ocean's predators, getting caught in fishing nets, or just floating on the surface. That's the story behind its name." Rosie had an aha moment and patted its head through the glass, "I think it's kind of cute." Indeed, it was cute in an

certainly did not. They came at it with bared teeth, ready to attack. The sunfish struggled but couldn't get up. The water quickly turned red with blood, and the sunfish knocked against the sub in its struggle. They had