The Story of the Crab

Time flowed like the surging Yangtze River, racing ceaselessly toward the future.

Before they knew it, it was already the eighth lunar month of 2021. With the rise of the Federation, the lunar calendar had gained ever-greater importance around the world.

Southern Ocean.

This ocean had only been officially named in recent years. Located around Antarctica, the Federation's development of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean focused primarily on conservation-oriented development.

As one of the few regions that had not suffered too severe an impact during the global cooling process, it had become lively this year as well.

A 150,000-ton nuclear-powered ocean-going fishing vessel was currently outside the Amundsen Sea in the Southern Ocean. With an average depth of 600 to 1,000 meters, this was a sizable ocean basin.

It was Mid-Autumn Festival in the Northern Hemisphere, while spring had arrived in the Southern Hemisphere. Due to the Yellowstone Volcano incident, the Antarctic ice sheet, which had previously expanded, had shrunk somewhat again, though it had not retreated to its pre-2016 boundary.

The fishing vessel had not come here to catch Antarctic krill, nor was it after whales, seals, or penguins. It had come for Emperor Crabs.

That was right—Emperor Crabs.

Many people might have been puzzled. Weren't Emperor Crabs native to the Bering Sea? How could they also be found in the Southern Ocean?

In fact, Emperor Crabs were found not only in the Southern Ocean, but also in the North Atlantic. The Emperor Crabs in the North Atlantic had been brought over from the Bering Sea by researchers during the old Russian era.

As for the Emperor Crabs in the Southern Ocean, the cause of their appearance could not yet be confirmed. However, there were only two possibilities: one was that they had been artificially introduced; the other was