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The Megalodon was a giant prehistoric shark from the late Miocene to the early Pleistocene.
It was undoubtedly the apex predator of the oceans at the time, with a bite force so powerful that even the Tyrannosaurus rex paled in comparison.
By today's standards, the Megalodon should be long extinct.
But in the movie The Meg, many of these massive sharks—and other ancient marine creatures—are revealed to be alive, hidden deep within the Mariana Trench at depths of around 10,000 meters.
Normally, they remain trapped beneath a thick thermocline, unable to break through to the ocean's upper layers.
That changes when a human scientific expedition accidentally breaches the thermocline while exploring the trench.
As a result, a group of Megalodons escapes from the depths into shallower waters, entering human territory—and beginning their rampage.
The thermocline—the temperature transition layer—is an oceanic zone where the water temperature changes sharply with depth.
While ocean salinity remains relatively uniform, sunlight causes the surface temperature to rise significantly.
As depth increases, the temperature drops, forming a distinct boundary between the warm surface water and the cold deep sea.
This is the thermocline.
Thermoclines are common across the world's oceans, but the one at 10,000 meters in the Mariana Trench is entirely different.
Below it may lie an unexplored ecosystem—perhaps even an entirely isolated world.
"Good luck," Jack muttered, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth as he laid eyes on the Megalodons.
Each Megalodon before him measured over 20 meters in length and weighed no less than 100 tons. There were more than a dozen in the group.
It looked less like a threat to Jack and more like a feast.
And the best part? Eliminating these ancient predators wouldn't disrupt the modern oceanic ecosystem—they were never meant to be here.
"Shhh!!"
It happened in an instant. When Jack spotted the Megalodons, he surged forward through the water like a dragon in flight.
His massive wings folded tightly against his back to reduce drag.
His long, sword-like horns parted the seawater as his powerful tail whipped side to side, leaving a sharp white wake behind him.
Before the Megalodons could react, a dark shadow streaked past them like a lightning bolt.
Tear!!
With a sound like ripping steel, Jack's bladed claw slashed downward at supersonic speed.
Even under the resistance of the water, his strike moved faster than the eye could follow.
The friction generated by the attack created crackling sparks underwater.
Only two things make martial arts unbeatable: overwhelming strength and overwhelming speed.
The first Megalodon struck was cleaved cleanly in two. It's tough, but the armored hide might as well have been paper.
Blood gushed from the wound, staining the surrounding water red and thick with silt.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Jack's claw created a powerful cavitation effect—a high-speed object moving through water makes a trail of vapor bubbles.
These bubbles collapse violently due to pressure, creating explosive shockwaves and temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius, along with a brilliant flash of light.
That meant Jack's attack had a dual impact: the raw force of the physical blow, and the explosive energy from collapsing cavitation bubbles.
Bang!!
A second later, the already-split Megalodon exploded into chunks of flesh, sending shockwaves through the sea.
The sudden carnage sent the rest of the Megalodons into a frenzy.
They had sensed the presence of a predator more terrifying than themselves.
But as the remaining Megalodons turned to check what had happened, Jack's massive dragon body twisted in the water.
With a thunderous surge, he darted forward again, striking down a second Megalodon.
In an instant, it too was torn cleanly in half, its body exploding into scattered chunks of flesh.
The deaths of the two Megalodons happened so fast that the others didn't even have time to react.
Only now did the rest of the pack finally notice the figure of the uninvited guest.
They saw a massive dragon, far larger and more imposing than any of them.
Its sheer presence was overwhelming, something they had never encountered before.
But the Megalodons weren't cowards.
The blood of their fallen kin only drove them into a frenzy.
They opened their massive jaws with a chorus of guttural roars and lunged at Jack.
"The warm-up's over," Jack muttered.
His earlier close-quarters assault had only been to stretch his muscles. Now, it was time for the real show.
The scales on his body trembled slightly, activating the stinging cells embedded in his skin.
These cells released a powerful neurotoxin—colorless, odorless, and silent—into the surrounding water.
The toxin quickly dissolved and spread outward, entering the Megalodons' bodies as they breathed normally.
This was no ordinary venom. It was based on the deadly neurotoxin of a box jellyfish—already one of the most lethal in the natural world—but Jack's version had been amplified to five times the original potency.
Even massive creatures like the Megalodon couldn't survive it for a few seconds.
Almost immediately, the closest Megalodons began to convulse violently.
One of them seized up completely, its body going rigid.
Its heart stopped, and it floated belly-up, pale and lifeless.
The entire process—from exposure to death—took less than ten seconds.
Even Jack was surprised.
That venom's no joke, he thought.
'Even a Megalodon couldn't last ten seconds. If it were a human? Instant death.'
More giant sharks followed suit, one after another—writhing, seizing, dying.
Their massive corpses drifted in the water, a grim display of the toxin's effectiveness.
Only two Megalodons remained—those that had been farther away and hadn't yet been exposed. Realizing the danger, they quickly turned and fled.
"Trying to run? Too late."
Jack didn't bother chasing them.
Instead, with a single thought, the energy-generating organs within his body surged to life.
Electricity crackled across his scales, lighting up intricate patterns along his body.
They ignited with dazzling arcs of light one by one, illuminating the dark sea like a living storm.
It looked like Godzilla charging his dorsal fins before unleashing his atomic breath.
Zizzizi!!
Dense arcs of electric current danced and surged across the surface of Jack's scales, turning the once-dark seafloor as bright as day.
Million Volts.
Boom!
After a brief moment of energy buildup, silver bolts of lightning erupted from his body, snaking through the water with terrifying speed.
They arced across hundreds of meters in an instant, striking the two fleeing Megalodons like divine punishment.
An explosion followed.
Hit by the full force of Jack's million-volt discharge, the Megalodons didn't even have time to struggle.
Their massive bodies were torn apart mid-swim, blasted into pieces, charred black, and left unrecognizable by the searing heat. It was a gruesome, nightmarish scene.
And just like that, it was over.
Faced with more than ten Megalodons, Jack had wiped them all out in under three minutes.
He hovered calmly in the blood-stained water, unmoved by the carnage around him.
Shattered remains of the ancient predators floated nearby, their blood dispersing slowly into the deep.
As he began enjoying his hard-earned feast, prompt messages from the simulator echoed in his mind:
[You hunted a Megalodon (Exotic Beast) and obtained 5000 gene points.]
[You hunted a Megalodon (Exotic Beast) and obtained 4500 gene points.]