Chapter 104: The Dragon King Returns

As the prehistoric giant crocodile vanished from sight, the faces of many viewers watching the live broadcast were still filled with disbelief. It was their first time witnessing an animal in reality display such high intelligence—actually knowing how to feign death to lower human vigilance.

Moreover, its offensive power was beyond imagination, able to leap more than ten meters into the air.

This could hardly be explained as simply a prehistoric creature; it seemed more like some mutated monster.

Indeed! There was little difference between it and the extraordinary beasts seen in blockbuster films.

“Keep using high-explosive grenades, aim at the target and attack! Don’t let it escape into the sea—hurry, pursue it!” Klein’s eyes were bloodshot, his voice hoarse and furious, all traces of his earlier elegance gone.

Realizing the difficulty of capturing this prehistoric giant crocodile, he had completely changed his mind. No longer obsessing over capturing it unharmed, he chose the most intense methods.

Even severely injuring or killing the prey was acceptable.

The creature had already appeared before the world, attracting the attention of countless global organizations.

Everyone now could see the immense value hidden behind it. If they failed to capture it today, more institutions and consortiums would surely flock to the scene.

After all, the prehistoric crocodile belonged to no one; the forces behind it could not possibly prevent others from arriving.

By then, the situation would definitely spin out of control!

Klein felt a measure of regret. Had he known, he would not have rushed into the live broadcast, but waited until the capture succeeded before making an announcement.

Following his orders, the river exploded again; waves surged violently.

However, with two helicopters missing, their containment strategy had a significant gap.

Lu Chen was lurking underwater, racing toward the river mouth.

Though he moved swiftly in the water, it was impossible to match the speed of helicopters.

After dodging several attacks, a high-explosive grenade finally detonated just three meters away.

Lu Chen felt as if he’d been struck by a heavy truck, his body flung seven or eight meters by the rushing current.

Then, he lost consciousness.

Meanwhile, within Summer Country, many netizens also joined the live broadcast to watch the prehistoric giant beast, quickly recording videos and sharing...

As discussions grew, the news about the “prehistoric giant crocodile” surged into the top ten on the trending lists of media platforms like Thousand Search, Tomorrow’s Headlines, and New Good Weibo.

Beneath the most popular video on Tomorrow’s Headlines, a comment section erupted with questions about the giant crocodile’s true identity.

“Can someone explain—does this creature still count as a prehistoric animal, or is it some undiscovered new species?”

This question quickly garnered tens of thousands of likes and continued to climb.

A few minutes later, a professional interpretation appeared.

“As a biologist, I am still in shock. This mysterious giant beast has obvious crocodilian features, so it’s highly likely a member of the Crocodylia order. Yet its appearance is abrupt, without any warning—truly unbelievable.

We know that no individual organism exists in isolation; it must have population support, especially for such a large animal.

Genetics and population statistics show that the minimum threshold for population survival in the wild is fifty individuals.

But strangely, no similar bones or fossils have ever been found anywhere on Blue Star...

So theoretically, it shouldn’t exist here.

Its behavioral traits are bizarre, too.

According to my calculations from the video, after coming ashore, the beast ran at a staggering seventy kilometers per hour. For context, the fastest land animal on Blue Star is the cheetah, which can reach 110 kilometers per hour—though cheetahs are small and run on flat savannahs.

For such a massive creature to sprint through dense forests at that speed is a miracle impossible for terrestrial life on Blue Star—it completely overturns all understanding. If I weren’t watching the live broadcast myself, I’d almost believe the footage was CGI...”

According to this viewer, the crocodile in the live broadcast was undoubtedly an extraterrestrial organism.

Many agreed.

Then, a user named “Brother Chun Is a Real Man” posted a comment that quickly went viral.

Title: I found the origin of the prehistoric giant crocodile; it’s not an alien, but a mutated ordinary Saltwater Crocodile.

Initially, many thought he was just seeking attention, but upon clicking in, they found sound arguments and evidence.

He compared screenshots from the live broadcast with images of a crocodile called “Dragon King” that appeared in the Tian Nan Mountain Nature Reserve over half a year ago.

To his surprise, he found the scale patterns on both creatures were strikingly similar, especially the patch of earth-colored armor atop the head, which was nearly identical and resembled the character for “king” in Summer Country’s writing.

Thanks to “Brother Chun Is a Real Man’s” reminder, many recalled the mysterious Saltwater Crocodile incident in Tian Nan Mountain Reserve seven or eight months ago.

Because of that unique scale, countless netizens had dubbed it “Dragon King.”

Afterward, both official and civilian groups organized large-scale river searches, but never found traces of the crocodile.

As time passed, the matter slowly faded.

Now, it was fermenting again.

Many netizens spontaneously compared screenshots of the two crocodiles, finding numerous matching features in their scale patterns.

Moreover, their attack and running styles were uncannily similar.

After seeing the comparisons, more and more netizens believed it was the same crocodile. As for its size and the row of spinal protrusions, those could be explained—the creature was in its juvenile stage when first discovered, and had grown rapidly over the past half year, with some external mutations...

***

After suffering the tremendous impact of the explosion, Lu Chen’s brain buzzed, his consciousness hazy, as if he could no longer feel his limbs.

His massive body slowly floated to the surface, motionless.

“Is it dead?”

“Or just playing dead...”

Having experienced its tricks before, Klein was far more cautious.

He stared at the unmoving body on the water, not daring to lower his helicopter.

Klein wanted to order another round of high-explosive grenades.

But he reconsidered.

A dead prehistoric giant crocodile was still precious, but its value paled compared to a living one.

After a brief thought, he decisively picked up his radio and issued the command: “Use firearms—don’t aim for the head or vital parts.”

They had anticipated various accidents while preparing to capture the prehistoric giant crocodile, so all preparations were in place.

“Understood,” the team leader quickly replied.