Chapter 150: Battle Between Man and Crocodile

"Alligators!" Without time for second thoughts, Chen Cao stared at the alligators beginning to raise their heads and plunged straight into the water with a heavy splash.

"Ah!" Karissa shrieked again, making everyone's heart tighten. They stared blankly ahead. Hua Fo had just walked down in time to see Chen Cao jump. Looking out, he quickly spotted several alligators swimming rapidly toward the boat, causing his heart to race. These ugly creatures had already lifted their heads, and they were easily several times larger than the captive ones seen in zoos. Especially the one in the middle, which had already opened its cavernous maw. Without pausing to think, Hua Fo turned and ran hastily back.

Chen Cao swam swiftly. His jump had been almost an instinctive reflex. Having swum only a few strokes, a giant alligator had already opened its jaws toward Ugi. Panic-stricken, Ugi kicked out desperately with both legs, dodging the alligator's fatal strike. With no time to hesitate, Chen Cao performed a deep dive, plunging his body into the water, drew his pistol from his waist, and pressed flat against the water's surface. Just as he finished this sequence of movements, Ugi swam over. "Quick, get on the raft!" Chen Cao shouted, giving Ugi a shove before firing fiercely at the alligators swimming nearby.

The gunshots echoed throughout the entire valley. The alligator in the lead was hit square by a bullet, but its hide was thick and tough, and the pistol's power was not particularly high, clearly failing to hit a vital spot. The remaining two alligators apparently realized their companion was under attack and momentarily pulled their heads underwater.

Chen Cao knew this made the situation even worse because he could no longer shoot as he had just done; bullets lost much of their stopping power in water. Running away was now the most effective option.

Panting heavily, Ugi climbed onto the rubber raft leaning against the warship and scrambled aboard the vessel. Chen Cao swam quickly, grabbed the side of the raft, and suddenly felt the water ripple beneath him. A jolt of alarm ran through him, and he accelerated his movements. At that instant, the crack of a gunshot rang out. Without a second thought, he used both hands to heave himself into the raft. Yet, accompanied by a violent shudder, he stumbled and fell flat onto the raft, which was now rapidly drifting further and further away from the warship.

Struggling to steady himself on the craft to avoid falling overboard, he heard two more gunshots. This time, Chen Cao saw clearly that it was Hua Fo, standing on the third-tier deck, covering him with a sniper rifle.

The two wounded alligators immediately sank beneath the surface, but the raft continued to drift backward toward the center of the lake. A slight shudder ran through Chen Cao's frame as he realized these alligators were far from stupid; they wanted to drag him away to isolate him before consuming their grand feast after the attack.

Fortunately, his pistol was still with him. Staring at the massive dark shapes lurking in the water, Chen Cao rapidly pulled the trigger and fired. Emptying magazine after magazine, crimson blood began to well up in the water. It seemed the shooting was having an effect, but for some reason, the raft continued to drift in the opposite direction of the warship.

While keeping a close eye on the water's movements, Chen Cao found the raft's paddle and waved his hand to signal the people on the warship not to panic.

Meanwhile, through his rifle scope, Hua Fo was witnessing a horrifying scene.

Stanny screamed, Karissa covered her mouth with her hands, and Lu Tianming froze in place.

They all saw it: a colossal head had emerged directly behind the waving Chen Cao, lunging toward him at terrifying speed. Or rather, it was leaping—bounding toward the raft with its blood-red jaws agape, stirring up a violent gust of wind.

A chilling sensation struck the back of Chen Cao's neck. Instinctively turning his head, he saw an alligator nearly three times his size lunging to bite him. Pure instinct made him throw himself flat onto the raft. With a thunderous crash and a violent splash, the nearly three-meter-long alligator cleared the raft and plunged into the water.

"Nice one!" Hua Fo, watching through the scope, couldn't help shouting out. But his relief lasted only a moment before he realized that after falling, Chen Cao did not stand back up.

"Could he be injured?!"

At that moment, the giant alligator poked its head out of the water again, swimming toward its prey. The smaller alligators, realizing that competing with this behemoth was futile, also poked their heads up, hoping it would leave some scraps behind for them.

The alligator had swum to within a meter of the raft, yet Chen Cao still hadn't risen. It seemed he was indeed hurt. Without a moment's hesitation, Hua Fo aligned his crosshairs with the alligator's head. With a single pull of the trigger, he could pierce its skull. Yet, at that crucial second, he hesitated. He couldn't guarantee a one-shot kill on this foul beast, and what about the other crocodiles? Would they exploit the gap during his shot to attack the wounded Chen Cao on the raft?

Right then, a heavy splash echoed out as another rubber raft glided swiftly toward the scene, followed immediately by gunshots.

"Come on, you beasts! I punish you on behalf of the True God!" Stanny shouted, flailing at the oars with one hand while firing a pistol with the other.

Seeing Stanny charging aggressively with the oars, the smaller alligators acted as if they had discovered a new continent and swarmed toward him instead.

"You fool!" Watching through the scope, Hua Fo didn't hesitate; he decisively fired at the massive crocodile. In the span of just a few seconds, he fired three consecutive shots. He could see all three thumb-sized bullets strike the alligator's head dead-center. The creature, which had just opened its massive jaws and readied its body to leap, quickly sank below the surface, only to float back up shortly after. It was clearly dead.

With the pressure lifted from Chen Cao's side, Hua Fo immediately swung his scope back toward Stanny. He had never expected that coward of a man to suddenly summon such courage. True enough, the moment Stanny saw the alligators turning toward him, his fleeting bravery vanished completely. Howling in terror, he paddled frantically back toward the warship.

After firing a few more suppressing shots into the water to slow the remaining crocodiles down, Stanny seized the opportunity to scramble and tumble aboard the warship, panting heavily and offering profuse thanks for divine protection.

Fortunately, the situation was not yet hopeless. Hua Fo shifted his scope back to the raft where Chen Cao lay. He saw the alligators, realizing that attacking Stanny was no longer viable and that their giant leader had been slain, hastily pivoting to swim toward Chen Cao's raft once again.

"Chen, wake up! Please, wake up!" Hua Fo muttered silently to himself as he clutched his sniper rifle. He knew that this time, things would not be as simple as he had hoped.