Mysterious creature sightings

An inflatable rubber boat breaks through the wind and waves. The waves of the sea water are magnified dozens of times, and the reflections of people are swayed into wavy lines.

Ling Jiangyue lay on the edge of the rubber boat, casually grabbing a fishing net and stirring it in the water.

Xu Jiayan operated the rubber boat and asked her, "Did you find anything?"

"Some floating garbage." She fished it out with a hook, and it turned out to be a rubber sleeve.

Xu Jiayan: "...Don't be passive and slack in your work even if Brother Lin is not here. Look at living things."

"Lots of life, shrimp and fish."

"There is life and there is suspicion."

"No."

"...You continue, I'll drive deeper."

Ling Jiangyue went back to fishing. As the rubber boat drove farther and farther, gradually approaching the sea area between 20 meters and 50 meters deep, more and more kinds of creatures appeared in the sea, and the fish and shrimp became longer and more distinctive.

There were also coral reefs, but in her eyes the brightly colored corals in the textbook were gray and light-colored, not very attractive.

So she didn't pay attention, staring at her reflection on the sea, distracted by the marine life she saw in the laboratory.

In fact, she rarely observes marine life. First, because the location of the laboratory is too remote and far from the sea, and it is difficult to transport samples. Second, there are enough insects on land for that person to study, and there is no way to take care of so many when there are not enough manpower. Creatures.

But some special species are exceptions.

She was 11 years old at the time, and the first sea creature she observed was a lobster.

It is a very common and special creature, because their visual system is very special. They see things by reflection instead of refraction. This feature allows them to see anything clearly in turbid water.

The lobster eye imaging equipment manufactured based on the lobster vision system can easily "see" whether there are prohibited items in transit trucks, what the structure of the building is, and what is in the underground tombs. It can be used in optical research and can also help astronomical telescopes see Dark matter in outer space...does so much.

The man asked her to observe lobsters, probably because he wanted her to have that kind of visual ability.

Unfortunately, she was still in a trance after the time deprivation method, and her physical condition could not support her to complete such an experiment, so she had no choice but to give up.

The rubber boat stopped, and Ling Jiangyue was finally able to see her reflection clearly on the water - if she could hold on then and get the special ability of lobster eyes, she could now see clearly what was under the waves at a glance.

Because she was also very curious about what a creature that might have been carefully selected and released, or a creature that attracted people to look for regardless of the risk of exposure, was that the pheromones left behind were actually different in shape and taste. All a little strange.

That thing can bite people, and "spit" in the victim's wounds, and the saliva has a scent... what could it be?

"What are you looking at?" Xu Jiayan couldn't help but ask her, "I looked at it with infrared glasses. There are a lot of jellyfish here."

Ling Jiangyue raised his head: "I noticed it too. There were two following the rubber boat, very small and transparent."

Xu Jiayan pondered: "Although the living area of ​​jellyfish is from a few meters to a thousand meters deep on the seabed, there should be its relatives everywhere. But there shouldn't be so many."

What brings all the jellyfish here together?It can't be that jellyfish just hang out and eat people, right?
Ling Jiangyue raised his head and thought for a moment, then asked Xu Jiayan to drive the rubber boat back a little, and used a net to catch a jellyfish that looked clean and non-toxic. "Transparent, with four obvious horseshoe-shaped gonads, and small tentacles all around the edges of the body. They rely on this to float around in the water all day long. Although it looks a bit irregular, it is basically a moon jellyfish, which is poisonous. But the toxicity is generally very weak. And it is so small, it is even less likely to be the culprit that caused the irregular wounds." Xu Jiayan looked at it and analyzed.

"Is it small? There are yellow things on its four big feet, which are attracting another jellyfish." She pointed to the edge of the rubber boat, where there was a moon jellyfish swimming on its back, as if it was eagerly waiting for them to take it. His wife was thrown back into the sea.

Xu Jiayan said "hmm" in confusion: "Sex pheromones? It seems that he is underage. He started to contribute to the reproduction plan at such a young age?"

Ling Jiangyue frowned. Her impression was that the sex pheromones of jellyfish were not like this. Besides, how could sex pheromones attract so many different types of jellyfish to gather together?
Pheromones have racial specificity, just like making a video call in a family group to call the opposite sex to come and mate. Members who are not in the group cannot receive this signal.

She used the lollipop stick in her bag to poke at the writhing jellyfish, turned its "big feet" over, and observed while saying: "Maybe it's an alarm pheromone? It's just that the jellyfish in the water is waiting for it to come with it." Run away. It looks nervous.

Xu Jiayan: "...your statement is too anthropomorphic." "

She didn't think so, so she turned over to look at the gonads, then fished out another jellyfish and checked it again.

"This one also has yellow stuff on it and a bit of fragrance... Did you just say that you smelled the fragrance of Ling Jiangnian and the others?"

Xu Jiayan didn't know why the topic jumped to this matter, and was a little embarrassed: "Yeah, maybe it's the perfume that their models wear uniformly."

"Not necessarily. I seem to smell a little bit of it, right here, on this jellyfish."

It's just very light, much lighter than the smell on Ling Jiangnian's wound.

Xu Jiayan's mind was a little confused. Could this jellyfish be the culprit?When did moon jellyfish develop the habit of spitting pheromones into the wounds of their prey?
He was about to bend down to observe the gonads of the jellyfish when he suddenly noticed a commotion on the shore out of the corner of his eye. The excited shouts were so loud that they could be heard from such a distance.

He stood up straight and looked: "Why are there so many people around that place? The five of them are observing alone, no one is watching?"

Ling Jiangyue also turned around to look. The stick of the lollipop accidentally poked down, and the fragrant jellyfish suddenly wrapped around her finger and stung her.

"Hiss." She retracted her fingers in pain, and her inhalation made Xu Jiayan turn around.

"Have you been stung?" He subconsciously wanted to pinch the finger to check, but was pushed away by Ling Jiangyue.

"Don't come over here. There's something wrong with this wound." She raised her finger, observing and feeling it carefully.

The wound caused by a jellyfish sting only has two spots. It usually becomes red, swollen, itchy, and feels like an electric shock. However, under these sensations that were enough to attract the victim's attention, she also noticed something was wrong——

A substance similar in composition to her body was injected into the wound.

This substance is familiar and strange at the same time. Familiarity means that it is very similar to the pheromones that I smell every day. Strange means that I have never smelled such a strong pheromone from myself or from jellyfish...

"Human sex pheromones." As she smelled the fragrance, she suddenly felt blessed and her eyebrows furrowed.

"Go back quickly! Ling Jiangnian and the others have sex pheromones on their wounds, which will evaporate into the crowd over time!"

Xu Jiayan reacted for a moment before he figured out this incredible question, and looked at the shore in shock: "Doesn't that mean that the group of people making trouble now are actually——"

In...estrus? !