The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 812

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Chapter 812

Zeph was right. Dense clusters of whale barnacles covered the blue whale’s body.

The ancient virus had made the barnacles grow several times larger, causing the whale even more discomfort.

Desperate for relief, the whale found the submarine too convenient to pass up. It kept rubbing against the hull, trying to scrape the barnacles off.

With every pass, it pushed the submarine farther backward.

The creature’s persistence was becoming a nuisance.

After more than half an hour of rocking, Nicole felt seasick. She closed the cover over the observation window and brought everyone, along with the submarine, into her storage space.

Their time in the storage space was too precious to waste. After about ten minutes, she figured the whale was gone and returned them to the ocean.

Less than five minutes later, the submarine started rocking again.

The familiar motion left little doubt that the whale was back. It seemed determined to keep using their

submarine.

Nicole tried the same trick several more times, but the whale kept coming back to rub against the hull. With no way to fight it off, she lay down and resigned herself to the rocking.

After more than two hours, the submarine finally went still.

When Poppy woke from her nap, she opened the cover over the observation window. To her surprise, it was already dark outside.

She went back to her room to check the clock. It was only 3 p.m.

With so many strange things happening in the ocean, she hurried to knock on Zeph and Nicole’s door.

Their brief stretch of peace was over. Nicole and Zeph got up at once to see what was wrong.

Sure enough, everything outside was pitch-black.

The observation window had several layers of reinforced specialty glass. If it were damaged, seawater would already be pouring in.

Poppy climbed up to check the second observation window. It was just as dark there.

Nicole remembered the third observation window at the stern and hurried back to check it.

The view from that window was perfectly normal, Sunlight filtered down through the water, and fish swam lazily past.

The four of them settled by the window, watching the fish and enjoying some afternoon snacks.

Two hours passed, but the view from the other windows stayed dark.

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Chapter 812

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“Maybe something’s attached itself to the front of the submarine,” Zeph said.

The submarine was midsize, with a broad bow. Anything large enough to cover it had to be enormous.

Nicole decided to wait until Poppy fell asleep that night, then bring the submarine into her storage space. Whatever was clinging to it would have to let go once it was out of the water.

She couldn’t wait to see what had wrapped itself around her submarine.

Before nightfall, though, the mysterious creature began to move. It slowly shifted away, allowing light to filter

Golden strands drifted past the glass, looking almost like hair. There were masses of them, all incredibly long.

Startled, Nicole quickly pulled out her phone and began recording.

The creature looked like a yellow carnation, with layers that opened like petals and countless fine tentacles trailing beneath it.

As it drifted away, the tentacles unwound from the submarine and streamed behind it, stretching more than 100 feet.

Its domed top seemed to have a light bulb glowing inside.

It was a jellyfish, glowing in the water.

Now that Nicole could see it clearly, she had to admit it was beautiful. It glided through the water, its delicate tentacles rippling behind it.

With all those flowing golden strands, it could’ve starred in a shampoo commercial.

Once the glowing jellyfish was gone, Nicole returned to her room to look it up.

She had downloaded plenty of reference material before the disasters, and she managed to find a match: it was a lion’s mane jellyfish.

Its tentacles could reach over 100 feet long. Beautiful as they were, they carried powerful venom, and a careless encounter could prove fatal.

Their first day underwater ended with a few scares but no real harm, more or less.

The next day, much to Nicole’s dismay, the blue whale came back for another scratch.

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Chapter 813