CHAPTER 55 - INTREPID SHELTER

After that near death encounter, PureWhite wasn't about to dive blindly again. Lesson learned. This time, he plotted a wide arc around the area swarming with piranhas, taking no chances.

Facing a Warper alone was already dangerous, but throwing a pack of hungry fish into the mix? That was a death sentence.

Thankfully, the descent went smoothly. No piranhas. No Warpers. Just silence... and darkness.

As the Seamoth dropped deeper into the ocean, the light began to vanish, swallowed by the abyss. It was still daytime up on the surface, but down here, that meant nothing. Sunlight couldn't reach these depths. Only the Seamoth's headlights cut through the void, casting beams across the black water.

Ooommm!

A deep, haunting hum echoed from somewhere in the dark. The sound was strange, ethereal... almost like a whale song but eerier.

PureWhite paused. He recognized it. The reef fish.

Harmless. At least... to him.

"Why aren't we there yet?"

"It's too deep..."

"Is this a shelter or the gates of hell?"

"The pressure down here's making me anxious, and I'm just watching!"

Even the chat was starting to feel it, that slow, creeping sense of dread that came with descending into a place humans weren't meant to go.

Cortana, the onboard AI, gave a status update, "Current depth: 400 meters."

"Only 400?!"

"Dude, I'm sweating just hearing that number."

The goal was 800 meters. Still a long way down. And with every meter, the pressure mounted, not just on the hull, but in PureWhite's chest.

Finally, after several minutes of tense descent, the ocean floor came into view.

The terrain was twisted and chaotic, an endless tangle of caves, ridges, and black stone like some ancient, sunken labyrinth.

Following Cortana's coordinates, PureWhite soon spotted a narrow chasm beneath him. It was about ten meters wide, but who knew how deep it ran?

"Damn... now that's a hole," he muttered. "The crew of the Intrepid really picked a hell of a place to hide."

He steered the Seamoth into the chasm, and what unfolded inside nearly took his breath away.

The tunnel gave way to a vast underground cavern. He couldn't even see the walls. It was like flying into another world.

But what truly stunned him was the light.

At 800 meters down, sunlight should've been impossible. And yet, the whole cavern glowed with a soft, pink.

"What the hell...? The cave's glowing?"

"Are those houses?"

"They've got power down here? Wait, are the Intrepid crew still alive?!"

Hope surged in PureWhite's chest. Clustered across the rocky terrain were glowing structures, tall, curved forms that looked like buildings lit from within.

But as he got closer, the illusion shattered.

They weren't buildings.

They were mushrooms.

Massive, glowing, bioluminescent mushrooms. Each one radiated soft pink light. The smallest stood ten meters tall, the largest towered like skyscrapers.

"Wait, mushrooms?!"

"Bro, this looks like a fairytale forest."

"Pink mushrooms underwater. I feel like I took the wrong portal."

"Maybe the devs finally gave us a break, we've been traumatized enough."

For a moment, even PureWhite forgot he was in a survival horror game.

"This place is... beautiful," he murmured, guiding the Seamoth toward one of the giant mushroom stalks.

Up close, he noticed something odd, a dark circular pit at the center of the cap. Strange. But he didn't think much of it. He ran a scan.

Ding!

[Scan complete: Snake Mushroom. A giant deep-sea fungal organism. Exists in symbiosis with a predatory species known as the Crab Serpent. Assessment: Edible. Warning: May host Crab Serpent parasites.]

His blood ran cold.

Symbiosis.

The last he'd heard that word, similar to Boomfish, he'd nearly died.

"Get me the hell outta here," he muttered.

He yanked the controls, pulling the Seamoth back.

Just in time.

WHOOSH!

A massive pink serpent burst from the pit like a missile. It was nearly fifteen meters long, larger than any snake he'd ever seen, even in documentaries.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

The serpent wasn't just big, it was fast. It shot through the water and slammed into the Seamoth, jaws wide open.

Clang!

Its mouth wasn't even snake-like, it had crab pincers, and they crushed against the hull with a sickening screech.

"Shit! It's got claws!"

"Oh god, I almost dropped my phone!"

"Please not another death scene..."

The chat exploded. PureWhite's pulse spiked. He'd just escaped one horror, and now this?

"Dammit!"

But this wasn't his first rodeo. He'd survived Silent Hill PT. He could survive this.

Without hesitation, he launched himself out of the sub. The pressure hit him like a truck, but his pressurized suit held.

Drawing his pistol, he aimed and fired.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shot after shot. More than ten in total. Nearly half hit the serpent's body.

Blood sprayed out in clouds.

"ROAAAAR!!"

The beast screeched in pain. It finally let go and retreated, slithering back into the mushroom it came from.

"Holy crap... that actually worked," PureWhite muttered, panting. "A tough bastard, but not invincible."

"Let's goooo!"

"Your aim's cracked, bro!"

"C'mon, the dude just 1v1'd a sea snake with crab hands!"

Laughing filled the chat. PureWhite re-entered the damaged Seamoth and began rising toward the cavern ceiling.

But then... a thought struck him.

He looked around at the dozens of towering mushrooms.

Each one could be hosting a crab-serpent.

"Wait... if each of those has one of those things inside..."

He fell silent.

"Oh god. There could be hundreds."

"NOPE! I'm out."

"I knew it was too pretty to be safe!"

The mood had turned on a dime. The peaceful wonderland had become a nest of monsters.

"Now this feels like Subnautica again," PureWhite muttered, steering away from the mushrooms.

He stopped at a safe distance and began repairs. The Seamoth's hull was damaged but still salvageable. All he needed was some titanium and the onboard printer.

As he worked, he observed the cave again.

And then he noticed something.

The crab serpents never left their mushrooms. They stuck close, circling protectively like guard dogs.

"It really is symbiosis," he said aloud. "The mushrooms feed them. They protect the mushrooms. But they don't attack unless you get too close."

That changed everything.

If you stayed clear, they wouldn't chase. The danger was real, but localized.

Once repairs were done, he slipped back into the cockpit and resumed his approach to shelter, weaving carefully through the glowing forest.

Just as he predicted, the crab serpents left him alone.

"This place isn't a death trap," he said to chat. "It's... actually brilliant."

"If you build your base away from the mushrooms, the snakes become your guards. Even if a Leviathan shows up, they'll tear it apart before it gets close."

"That's some genius level design."

Ten more cautious minutes passed.

And then, on a rocky rise far from the mushrooms, a round structure came into view.

"It's the same model as the islands facility!"

"That's gotta be the shelter!"

The chat went on while PureWhite approached the shelter carefully. But when he got close, his heart sank.

The structure was wrecked. The metal was rusted, the windows shattered. Seawater poured through holes in the wall.

"...They didn't make it."

"Yeah... crew's gone."

"They weren't players. No extra lives. One mistake and that's it."

The chat went quiet.

PureWhite took a deep breath. "I'm going in."

He couldn't bring the Seamoth inside, so he suited up, grabbed his propeller, and slipped through a broken window.

Inside, he found a huge cylindrical machine. He scanned it.

Ding!

[Seawater Filter – Converts seawater into fresh water and salt. Blueprint acquired.]

"YES," he grinned. "Fresh water, problem solved."

In the next room, half buried in rubble, was a huge glass tank.

Ding!

[Large Aquarium – Used to hatch and raise marine life.With proper care, some species can be domesticated. Blueprint acquired.]

PureWhite froze.

"...We can raise sea creatures? And tame them?!"

The chat went feral.

"BRO I'M GONNA RAISE A REAPER LEVIATHAN!"

1324 Words.