Every year, as the season arrived, the East Island Nation's whaling fleet would depart as scheduled to hunt whales, and this year was no exception. Personnel and vessels were quickly assembled.
Then, with an order from the fisheries department,
They set off directly for their destination.
Everything went smoothly at first. The journey encountered neither storms nor any other crises that might occur at sea, nor did they get lost, or face obstruction from animal protection organizations or whale conservation groups.
However, not long after they reached their destination,
They discovered a problem, a major one at that.
They had found nothing in three days.
This was highly abnormal. Under normal circumstances, whales should have been milling about in the waters where they were now. This was based on their years of experience; usually, they would catch a whale on the first day, a strong start.
At worst,
They would succeed in capturing one by the second day.
But now, it was the third day, and not only had they not successfully captured a single whale, they hadn't even seen a shadow of one. This was undeniably preposterous. It wasn't as if the whales could have been hunted to extinction by them, could they?
If the whales wouldn't come to them,
Then they would have to go to the whales.
Starting from the evening of the third day, the whaling crew began deploying all sorts of advanced equipment, searching for whale traces within tens and hundreds of miles. The cost of their voyages was not insignificant; failing to catch whales meant a pure loss.
So, no matter what,
They would absolutely not give up.
They would not abandon the tradition of whaling and the accompanying profits.
And where were the whales at this time?
At this very moment, various species of whales, with the help of Ding Yun, had successfully expanded their brain capacity. Furthermore, due to their massive size and correspondingly large brains, their intelligence far surpassed that of ordinary sea creatures.
Now, they did not go to the places where whales had died before, and they began to secretly strive for self-improvement, preparing to build weapons to avenge their fallen companions, based on some knowledge of sea creature civilization that Ding Yun had passed down to them.
They weren't going there anymore.
Naturally, the whaling fleet couldn't find them.
However, the whales weren't that far from danger. Under the relentless search of the whaling fleet, their traces were eventually discovered.
And some stragglers even fell into a pincer movement.
But it was different from the past. In the past, whales could communicate with each other, but their distances were limited. In the past, different species within whale populations, such as orcas and blue whales, had no connection or cooperation.
Now, not only could they communicate over long distances, but whales of the same species had also established close ties, agreeing upon cooperative and mutually supportive relationships.
So when a whale fell into crisis
And sent out a distress signal, it wasn't long before various whales nearby that received the message swarmed in. They even used their influence to drag many other marine species along to rescue their kin.
Then, the outcome was, as expected, inevitable.
The whaling fleet was annihilated.
What a joke. The whaling fleet wasn't out there hunting whales with aircraft carriers. Their ships were just so-so. When facing one or two whales, they could gain an advantage, but when facing a group of dozens or hundreds of whales, plus the collective attack of millions of sea creatures, their weapons were merely a joke. Not to mention that some whales, after being fed by Ding Yun, had already developed elemental water abilities.
With their immense size and mastery of water element abilities, they could conjure winds and waves. These whales, while not invincible in the ocean, had very few beings that could contend with them, and the whaling fleet was clearly not among them. Thus, their demise was purely seeking death.
Although the whaling fleet was annihilated,
They did not perish instantly.
So, they managed to transmit the relevant information back, sending videos and photos of them being surrounded and attacked by numerous whales and sea creatures, hoping to warn the nation.
Around this time, many fleets specializing in hunting large marine life encountered similar attacks. Some were lucky enough to survive.
Others were not so fortunate, either being completely wiped out,
Or surviving with only three to five members, suffering heavy losses.
One or two such incidents might be dismissed as the revenge of marine creatures, but with such frequent and numerous similar events, coupled with the emergence of demons and monsters everywhere, people had to consider whether marine species had mutated and whether the ocean would become a forbidden zone in the future.
The importance of the ocean was undeniable. If the ocean were no longer safe, making it difficult to obtain fish resources and to pass through smoothly and safely, then not only would humanity lose a significant portion of its meat supply,
But the prices of various resources and materials would also rise.
For example, the price difference between air-freighted and sea-freighted cherries is enormous. If sea freight were no longer possible in the future, it would mean the disappearance of cheap cherries.
All buyers would have to pay for the shipping costs.
And this was still a minor issue, as eating fruit was optional, and local fruits could satisfy cravings. But don't forget, not only many fruits are shipped by sea, but also many grains and even resources like oil are transported by sea.
If sea transportation were to truly collapse completely,
Countries heavily reliant on imported grain would likely face famine not long from now. Countries heavily reliant on imported resources would not only see countless people freeze to death in winter, but the prices of various materials would also skyrocket.
In short, for resource-rich countries, the ocean becoming a forbidden zone would result in losses, but not severe enough to shake the foundations of the nation. However, for countries that are inherently not resource-rich and heavily depend on imported resources and grain, it would be an absolute disaster.
The possibility of national collapse was not out of the question.
The entire international landscape would undergo immense changes.
Therefore, after realizing that something might have gone wrong in the ocean, various countries, with rare unity, immediately began exploring their respective maritime territories. Some countries, out of concern, even dispatched aircraft carriers to encircle and suppress.
They wanted to eradicate all sea creatures that were beyond their control.
The major sea creature clans had only recently emerged. Even with Ding Yun's accelerated development, they had not yet developed vast forces, industrial systems, or weaponry.
At this point, although they could cause some damage by leveraging their elemental water abilities for surprise attacks, they couldn't compare to modern technology.
So, they only had an initial advantage, and later, they gradually faltered. Some sea creature clans even suffered heavy casualties, especially the larger ones. Their massive size meant they were larger targets, and larger targets meant they were more likely to become primary targets. Under the onslaught of various artillery shells, even their abilities couldn't withstand it.
In the end, these sea creatures were not foolish.
They not only spontaneously and rapidly retreated, hiding in places that humans could not easily reach, but they also began to form alliances. All intelligent sea species, regardless of their differences, united to develop together and resist humanity.
Thus, the Sea Creature Alliance was born.