Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The closed, black cavity caused by the warp drive quickly subsided, and a blue planet appeared at the end of the red and blue spectrum. The holographic image of the planet was rapidly enlarged in the spacecraft, and its surface details became visible. It was strikingly beautiful.
The planet was entirely covered by water. Clouds, storms, waves, whirlpools, and all the other embellishments looked like they had been drawn on a blue scroll; it brought a sense of openness and magnificence that instantaneously dispelled the trauma and solemnity of the journey to the ruins from three days ago. The passengers in the lounge gazed at Io and were lost in thought. Some softly exclaimed in awe.
These people had never seen a planet entirely covered by the ocean. It was not even in their imagination.
When Zeon Lucas saw planet Io, his eyebrows twitched uncontrollably, and he whispered, “It is indeed the homeworld of the sirens; there is water everywhere.”
“Crap! Why can’t the habitat of the sirens be made up entirely of water?” Hessiana shot her century-old nemesis a sideways glance and smiled in a mocking manner. “Oh yes, you’re a landlubber. Are you spasming from seeing the water?”
“The Blood Clan has never liked water, mind you!” The corner of Zeon Lucas’ eye twitched. “A freak like you isn’t afraid of water—not even holy water. You’re an embarrassment.”
“Vivian is not afraid of these things too!” Hessiana’s arm akimbo and her face proud. “It is what a senior Blood Clan should be! I tell you what, you have to work hard to overcome your racial weakness. If you trust me, find our Hessianite Family when you go back. I will give you a crash course, soaking you in the holy water. If you can’t come out alive, you will be sanctified.”
Jean Lucas was struck dumb.
He felt that he could not keep up with the train of thought of the shame of the race.
While the two of them were cackling, the silver-white patrol frigate Petrachelys had already entered the atmosphere of Io and gradually approached Io’s vast expanse of ocean.
“Are we going to ‘land’ on the ocean this time?” asked a vampire noble with a frown. “I do not like it.”
“There must be something like a landing field,” a shadeling said. “Or maybe a boat or something.”
“Wait a minute, there is something on the sea. What is that?”
The azure sea surface and some neatly arranged black dots zoomed in quickly in everyone’s field of vision. When it was close enough, they finally knew what those dots were—floating steel cities.
The oval-shaped artificial islands floating on the sea of Io had the same shape and size and connected to each other by steel bridges and pipes. Old buildings were densely packed on these lands cast from steel as if ruins after a disaster. On the edge of the artificial islands, there were many newly added structures—piers, racks, seafood being air-dried on the shelves, and net made of metal cables covered in seaweed. Boats were traversing between these things, seemingly collecting produce.
These structures should be the fish farms built by the islands’ residents.
In the Petrachelys’ flight deck, Hao Ren also saw those floating structures. The group of floating cities had not changed much compared with when he left previously. Those ark inhabitants still could not alter the old starship. It would take them a few generations of education before they could restore their ability to operate the equipment. But there was some stuff appeared around the urban agglomeration: those piers and metal nets used to farm edible water plants, as well as rudimentary vessels cruising in littoral water. The inhabitants of the ark must have developed these things earlier after he left.
“It seems that Lorenz’s work is progressing well,” Vivian said with a smile. “The ark residents have begun to look for resources from nature. It is not easy for the exiles who had lived in an enclosed spacecraft for 10,000 years. That means they have begun to learn to survive after leaving the ark’s life-supporting system.”
“These people have also learned to build ships,” Lily said. She looked particularly happy. “They are not afraid of water anymore! When these people saw the sea for the first time, they were so scared that they stayed away from it as far as they could.”
“I hope Eva and these new residents have been getting along well,” Hao Ren said when he thought of the new spirit of the ocean. “She must have noticed us.”
Hao Ren was right; Eva had noticed the Petrachelys, which was now descending from the sky. The new Spirit of the Ocean was curious about anything that fell from the sky. Before the Petrachelys landed on the sea, the sea surged and formed into a female figure—it was Eva. Eva curiously looked at the Petrachelys that was hovering above. After a while, she finally recognized it and waved her ‘hands’ excitedly accompanied by the gushing of water that resounded in the air.
As the spacecraft slowly descended, Eva’s massive body of water also descended and shrunk and eventually became a “little” female water giant of a dozen meters tall. She was excited like a dog that saw her master coming home with a bone when the hatch of the Petrachelys slowly opened.
Please forgive Hao Ren for not thinking of a better description. He could not help it—he had seen Lily waiting expectantly with a hungry face at the door every day when he came home.
The spacecraft hovered steadily over the sea surface. The first person who came out of the spaceship was not Hao Ren but a group of sirens, including Katreina. The sirens jumped straight into the water, and then blue light radiated from and spread into all directions. The sea surface quickly calmed down, and something incredible happened: a solid, transparent layer form on the sea surface much like it froze in the winter. The frozen layer, only a few millimeters thick, covered almost the entire sea in their field of vision. Those who came down from the spacecraft were surprised to find that the sea had turned into a solid ‘land.’ People jittered as they set foot on the surface; it was literally walking on thin ice. But very soon, they, including Hao Ren, marveled at the sirens’ ability to control the water.
It was an ability of a much higher order than the water sphere trick that Nangong Wuyue used to clean the floor at home.
After shaping a solid surface for others to stand on, Katreina and the other sirens jumped out of the sea. The solid surface was not an obstacle to them. The could move in and out of the surface as if the barrier was not there.
Katreina waved her snake tail, came up to Eva and reached out her hand to the surging seawater. “Eva, we come to see you.”
Eva made a cascading sound as she curiously lowered her height, and eventually became a transparent girl almost as tall as Katreina. Feeling a sense of familiarity on Katreina, Eva sounded even louder than before with a sense of cheerfulness.
“Look!” A vague voice came from the water. The tone was weird, but it was audibly different from the sound of water.
Hao Ren was surprised. He and Vivian looked at each other. “Eva is finally able to talk?”
“She interacts with the residents of the ark every day,” Vivian said with a thoughtful look as she gazed at the floating city cluster not far away. “Perhaps Eva developed the concept of language communication in the process. But she obviously does not understand the language we use but just repeat the syllables.”
Hao Ren quickly crouched down and pressed his hand on the sea surface, which maintained its solid state by Katreina’s magic spell. It was still the extension of Eva’s body—the entire sea of Io was Eva. A thought flew like water into Hao Ren’s mind. Hao Ren looked up at the Eva incarnate, who turned and looked back at him. The two of them had established a mental connection.
As Vivian said, Eva understood the concept of language when interacting with the residents of the ark. She had even learned their language.
“Her learning ability is awesome.” Hao Ren said with a smile. “I just imparted knowledge of a few languages to her through the spiritual connection. She learned it quickly. The will of nature is indeed extraordinary. She could learn anything in a breeze.”
“Eva, this is the gift from our sisters on Earth,” Katreina said as she opened her ridiculously big travel bag and took out the meticulously wrapped presents. “The sirens are doing well on Earth. These are the treasures they have collected. See, they are all marine products.”
Katreina opened the gifts and placed them before Eva. There were large colorful shells, bracelets exquisitely crafted with water plants, manganese nodules from the ocean floor, and beautiful gems collected from areas near underwater volcanoes. The gifts also included bits and pieces of steering gear, which the sirens removed from the Bismarck—just that no one knew whether they dissembled it before or after the ship sank.
Hao Ren was speechless.
