He was dumbfounded by his discovery. "Your city is a spaceship?!"

Shakira and Soma both looked confused. The latter paused before speaking, "Huh?"

"Don't you know your city's structure?" Hao Ren was surprised by the two sirens' reactions. He pointed to the nameplates on the nearby pipes. "Look at this, *Nassaton*—that's clearly how a spaceship is named. The facility we passed just now was called a Harmonic Resonator, and its simple operating instructions said it was for 'offsetting water pressure fluctuations during acceleration.' And there's this thin pipe on your left; the plate just now said it leads to the engine section—what city has an engine? Only vehicles have those."

Shakira was stunned for a long time before suddenly grabbing Hao Ren's arm in shock. "You know siren writing? You know what these things say? Where did you learn that?!"

Hao Ren and the others exchanged glances. Izhaks couldn't help but widen his eyes. "What does this mean? You don't recognize your own writing?"

Shakira shook her head. "No one knows what's written on these plates in the city. We used to use this writing, but for some reason, it's been lost. The sirens responsible for maintaining the city only vaguely know how to operate some of the key equipment, and it's said that the queen and some scholars can still recognize some of this ancient writing, but they don't know much either."

This situation was completely unexpected. Hao Ren felt it was unbelievable. "This kind of thing actually happens… You haven't deciphered your original writing in over ten thousand years?"

"We've deciphered some of it, but the grammar of these ancient writings is very special, making it very difficult to decipher, especially some of the technical terms used in obscure places, which are impossible to interpret," Shakira explained somewhat awkwardly. "The writing we use now is based on the structure of these ancient writings, but it was recreated several thousand years ago. Apart from the shape of the characters, it has no connection to the meaning of these symbols, but it works well enough—now only those very specialized scholars are still studying these symbols that are everywhere in the city, and ordinary sirens have lost interest in them."

"Memory loss symptoms caused by coming to Earth," Vivian tugged on Hao Ren's sleeve and whispered softly, "Other unusual creatures have similar phenomena."

Yes, this was the strange situation experienced by all unusual creatures on Earth—including demon hunters. After coming to Earth from the Dream Plane, they suffered a memory wipe as if their memories had been shuffled. They not only completely forgot about the Dream Plane, but also gained some strange innate memories, such as hostility towards other unusual creatures. And this memory wipe seemed to be completely random: some races still remembered the Leta Runes, some races still remembered their writing, some races still remembered some production techniques to varying degrees, while some races were said to have degenerated into primitive animals in the age of mythology. Each race suffered a different kind of cleansing, and what the sirens had forgotten was undoubtedly their writing and all information about this city.

As for what memories or racial instincts they gained in addition, it was hard to say.

No wonder they didn't even know how this city was built: as long as every siren "had memories," this city had existed here. The *Nassaton* operated in the deep sea as if it were a matter of course and a natural law. The sirens followed some vague instincts to live and reproduce here, groping to use the technical equipment that they theoretically created themselves, but other than that, they knew nothing about their home.

Outsiders would probably find it hard to imagine what kind of lifestyle this was, but obviously they themselves had become accustomed to it.

"Compared to other unusual creatures… sirens are indeed the most surprising group," Hao Ren looked in amazement at this incredible city. After learning that it was a spaceship, many of the doubts about the city were instantly resolved, including its strange fully enclosed structure and architectural layout, which now had an explanation. "You actually landed on this planet with a complete space fortress? You still know how to operate these devices… but you don't know what the instructions on these devices mean? It's unbelievable. You're almost challenging the cognitive laws of intelligent races."

Shakira's expression was strange. "I don't know if that's a compliment or something else."

"At least there's no malice," Hao Ren quickly waved his hand. "I've seen many unusual creatures, and you're the most incredible group. Obviously, your high technology… or high magic played a big role. You're doing much better than other unusual creatures who have ended up on Earth."

Hassu watched all this silently. His expression didn't change much, but the flickering light in his eyes still showed that this old demon hunter wasn't as calm as he seemed. He patted the nearby pipe. "So, the *Nassaton* is a spaceship from another planet? The sirens flew here from another planet?"

Hao Ren shrugged. "Farther than other planets… but you're not wrong to understand it that way."

Bai Huo finally couldn't help but ask, "What about us?"

"Oh, it looks like you can finally believe what I said before," Hao Ren smiled happily. "I said that except for wizards and witches, all alien races are not native to Earth. You almost all come from every corner of the universe—but now you're crowded on Earth like headless flies, fighting each other in a chaotic mess. Looking at this spaceship, do you still think that the demon hunters' hunting instinct is a matter of course and a natural phenomenon? You and other unusual creatures may not even be from the same planet, so where does the hostility come from?"

Hassu fell silent and pondered, while Tu Taning touched the metal groove beside him. "Incredible."

"We can talk about the siren writing and the otherworld later. How far is it from here to the palace district?" Izhaks suddenly interrupted the conversation.

Shakira pointed forward. "Go to the end of this pipe trough, turn left, and you'll enter a secret passage that leads directly to a building next to the palace district. But it'll probably take some effort to enter the palace; there must be guards there."

Nangong Wuyue shifted her attention from the nearby facilities. "Let's keep moving forward. Time is of the essence."

Led by Shakira and Soma, the group swam quickly towards the secret passage. As they approached the corner of the pipe trough, Lily suddenly twitched her nose. "Wait, there are people above!"

The group quickly hid under the main pipe, and then they saw a group of sirens swimming past a dozen meters above the pipe trough. A dozen sirens armed with tridents, their eyes glowing grayish-white, were escorting dozens of their compatriots trapped in water bubbles. Those sirens trapped in the water bubbles were all merfolk, and they looked quite weak.

A siren soldier seemed to sense something and looked down towards the pipe trough. Soma quickly strengthened her control over the water flow, completely blocking the group's aura. After a moment, the siren soldier followed the group and left the area. The group breathed a sigh of relief.

Lily muttered, "I can beat ten of them!"

"But there are at least a hundred thousand siren soldiers controlled by mind flayers in the city, and there's also the incredibly powerful siren queen," Hao Ren slapped Lily on the back of the head. "Stop muttering and let's go."

The group continued towards the secret passage. Vivian whispered about the group they had just encountered, "Those sirens' eyes haven't completely changed color, which means their minds are relatively well preserved. They should be the puppets responsible for patrolling the city. It'll be bad if we run into them."

"They're probably escorting those ordinary sirens to extract energy or sending them for forced brainwashing," Nangong Sanba said with a gloomy expression. "I guess we'll encounter more sentries further on. Isn't there a safer route?"

Shakira shook her head. "That secret passage is the only possible breakthrough. There are sentry posts and even sensors everywhere else."

The group continued forward and encountered two more groups of patrolling soldiers on the way, but thanks to Shakira, who was extremely familiar with the area, and Soma, who was good at blocking auras, they managed to pass through without any danger. They found the secret passage leading to the palace district: it was below a metal slope, wider than expected, with several small pipes extending along the secret passage.

There was a sign at its entrance that read "7th Resonance Chamber Inspection Passage."

Hao Ren followed Shakira into the inspection passage, but after advancing a long distance, Soma suddenly blocked everyone with her tail. "Wait! There are sentries ahead!"