Chapter 144: Chaotic Waters
The descent into the deepest regions of the Abyssal Trench showed the effects of the BloodGate on the underwater ecosystem. What should have been the coldest, darkest waters Grim had ever experienced were instead uncomfortably warm, heated by a gate that seemed to emanate from the very sea floor itself.
"This isn’t natural," Lin said, her voice strained as she struggled to maintain her ice barriers in the elevated temperatures. "The water down here should be near freezing. Instead, it feels like a warm bath."
Suanni’s flames, which had been flickering uncertainty in the chaotic environment above, now burned more steadily in the heated water. "The BloodGate’s activation is affecting the entire Trench," he observed. "It’s like someone lit a furnace at the bottom of the ocean."
Around them, the effects of this sudden environmental change were becoming increasingly apparent. Creatures that had adapted to the crushing cold and darkness of the deep were now being driven mad by the unprecedented warmth. Bioluminescent displays that should have been rare and beautiful were instead frantic distress signals as deep-sea life struggled to cope with conditions their species had never encountered.
A massive anglerfish, easily the length of a ship, thrashed past them in obvious distress. Its normally controlled bioluminescent lure was flashing chaotically, and its movements were erratic, aggressive. When it spotted them, it looked desperate rather than a predator.
"It’s overheating," Lin realized as the creature approached. "The warm water is killing it slowly, driving it to attack anything it perceives as food."
The anglerfish lunged at them with jaws that could have swallowed a small building, but its movements were sluggish. Suanni met its attack with a burst of golden flame that, in the heated water, created a scalding steam cloud that sent the creature fleeing back into the depths.
"Everything down here is dying or going insane," Grim observed grimly. "How are we supposed to find Jiaolong in this chaos?"
His answer came from an unexpected source—the sea floor itself. As they descended further, the disturbed sediment and rock formations told a clear story. Something massive had passed this way recently, leaving a trail of destruction that cut through the deep-sea sand.