Very delicious bait Part II

"If it knocks the crane down, you'll be in big trouble," Bernard sternly warned me, pointing to the new red-and-black crane. It looked sturdy enough to climb up onto. As it was extended into the water, however, no one dared to try it.

Except for me.

"You think too much, Bernard. They won't bite my leg.”

"Sol!"

"Okay, I'll sit and hang my legs as a lure, and you'll pull out the meat yourself." I patted his shoulder and ignored his warning. I jumped onto the giant crane and scrambled to the middle of it, near the grappling hook. I almost fell down when I tried to sit. Luckily, I could balance myself, otherwise Dy would have eaten me instead of the beef.

My pale legs reflected on the surface of the water where the beast was circling. I hung my legs and looked into the unmeasurable depth. I bit into what was left of the apple and gave Bernard a nod to lift the crane up.

The sound of the crane caught a bit of Dy's attention. He circled back, eyes fixed on the pinkish beef. I smiled, telling Bernard to adjust the grappling hook so the bait would be at an appropriate height. If Dy snatched the bait at a proper distance, he could devour this chunk of beef enjoyably. But if he jumped even higher...

My legs would go into its mouth.

"Come on. Come here and eat," I whispered. My lips curved into a challenging grin. How was it going to be this time? "It's mealtime, Dy!"

I shouted at the water, looking for the monster who had disappeared into the water until I could not see its back. I swept my eyes back and forth in case he popped up from somewhere else. I shook the crane vigorously. The beef flapped about baiting the shark. All I got was silence. I kept my eyes on the rippling waves.

All was serene, as if there was nothing...

The water suddenly blasted as Dy jolted up. My heart was pounding with excitement!

Chomp!

His mouth opened wide enough that I could see how captivating it was inside. He jumped at a speed that was so fast that the tip of his snout lightly touched my toe. It was like I was stepping on him. Our eyes met, and I saw a pair of eyes full of challenge.

I threw the apple into his mouth just to give him a lesson to eat more fruit instead of meat, and it was also a reward.

If he had jumped with greater strength, I would have lost my legs.

I smiled at the big fish, which sank back into the sea after getting what it wanted. Drops of water splashed all over Bernard who was on the walkway, and a little fell on my legs. The chilly touch on the soles of my feet made my heart pound. I recalled what I had read about the meaning of kisses.

A kiss on the foot was a sign of allegiance.

It was to show that they would solely worship that person.

But with Dy, I thought it might be a little different.

It was a warning that he could kill me whenever he wanted, because if he had jumped harder than that, at this distance, he could easily take me down and tear me to pieces.

But he did not.

"Still want to play, don’t you, Dy?"

………………

I went back to my room and removed my wet clothes from feeding the dolphins. Dy did not bother me anymore, probably because he got what he wanted, so he stopped his rampage. As for Dylan, he swam around like usual. This bad boy stayed under the deep ocean most of the time.

He would come up when there was prey like me yesterday.

"Five minutes late."

"At least let me have a smoke." I rolled my eyes at Eric, who greeted me with an accusation the moment I opened the door to the control room. It was ten o'clock. I had lost time taking care of unfinished work, including preparing documents that I would discuss with the research team today.

The topic was sending the fourth U-4 of the year under the sea.

"I saw the report on the U-4. We'll be discussing this today," I said, while placing the papers on the table. I walked to the hologram screen to project the latest conditions of the undersea area. I flicked it around with my fingers to the spot where Jordan had pinpointed.

It was where Dylan destroyed our new U-4.

"As far as I know, the U-4 broke because Dylan crushed it. As a result, we can't use the signal to pinpoint where it fell.” I drew a red circle, and the research team turned their attention to me. "But if we look at it according to these theories, Dylan didn't eat it. That means the remains of the U-4 could have floated over here."

Beep!

I pinned the picture and showed everyone a model of the structure. They slightly wrinkled their brows but nodded in understanding. I showed the distance from the research center to that spot. It would be a lot of diving, but if we gave it some thought, we had previously sent the U-4 under the research center.

It was Dy and Dylan's home. Invasion would surely upset the homeowners.

If we tweaked the game a little and used a longer route, it may seem like a waste of time, but there was likely to be a higher percentage of survival than the former place.

"I think we should go a little farther away from where we want to explore and use stealth mode for our return trip. Then, we won't be on their radar that much.”

"Stealth mode means a person needs to control the submarine," argued Jordan. I rested my arms on the table and cracked a sly grin.

It was a sign of a terrifying challenge.

"Please don't smile like that."

"Mmm."

"You're not thinking of... sending us as bait to lure the sharks?" Jordan gulped. Fear overtook his face. I would normally see his cheeky expression, except for now. He seemed to highly disagree. "You're a nice person, right?"

"I'll only be mean if I have to, Jordan."

"..."

"And if we don't explore further, our research won't be going anywhere." I grinned while everybody else frowned at me. Nobody wanted to go there, and that was why the U-4s were created. At least no one would die if the U-4 was destroyed. But if you sent someone down there and they got caught by the megalodons...

We would die both ways.

"When this mission is over, I'm building a new U-4 with a camouflage mode to hide from the megalodons."

"That won’t be finished in time, because you are acting like you will send us down today."

"You should resign and be a fortune teller, Jordan."

"Ah!"

"Set the RG4 down the water. You and Steve have to come with me." There was no arguing, however risky it would be. But as I had said, if we did not do it, we would walk around in a circle like those two creatures. I ordered Jordan and Steve to prepare for the operation. I had chosen these two because of their unique abilities.

Jordan was skilled at computer systems. If we were attacked and the equipment was damaged, he would surely know how to fix it. Steve was good at the physiology of aquatic animals. He could be another pair of eyes for me, who would be piloting the submarine. I volunteered to go down when I did not have to because if the two megalodons caught us...

They could be sure that they would not die—even if there was only a fifty percent chance of survival.

As long as we did not catch their attention or lure them out, I hoped we could finish before sundown.

"Release the bait into the water to lure them away. The lights will attract them," I ordered Eric, who would be responsible for ground control. Everybody here must help bring Dylan and Dy away from the submarine, because if they knew we were going down there, they would charge straight at us as soon as we were lowered into the water.

They did not want to eat us. They just wanted to tease us for their entertainment.

They were a lot worse than we had expected.

"Are you sure you want to do it this way?"