Chapter 1 The Multi-Rock Construction Site

The "Multi-Rock Construction Site" was a large area, with more than a dozen teams busily assembling energy broadcasting antennas and extraction devices. Each of these teams had a siren supervisor and included dozens of slave laborers. Due to the ubiquitous huge rocks and complex terrain in this area, there were many blind spots for surveillance, and it seemed that the sirens were not too vigilant here: they didn't seem to think that any enemies would suddenly pop up near their old home, and this carelessness gave outsiders an opportunity.

A pale-skinned vampire was assembling metal branches under the supervision of a siren foreman. His team was working on the edge of the construction site. The vampire watched the siren foreman slowly swim by in the distance, holding a crystal halberd, but the thought of resistance was no longer in his mind: he knew that no one could escape this place. Although the free waters were only twenty meters behind him, even if the siren let his group leave, no one could cross the layers of invisible maze and reach the surface alive. He looked at his side. Two werewolves were in his group with him. This was a depressing situation for a bloodkin, but after the initial period of conflict, the various races in the team had recognized reality. Now he and the werewolves stood together peacefully, and even those cunning shadow demons no longer had any crooked ideas.

The siren foreman glanced at them expressionlessly. The vampire and the two werewolves next to him met her gaze without politeness, but the work in their hands did not stop. The foreman only confirmed the working speed of these slaves, but was indifferent to the latter's rude gaze. She nodded with satisfaction and swam towards another rock like a snake.

"Brainless moron," the two werewolves said softly in unison.

The vampire lowered his head and focused on the most delicate step in the assembly process, but at this moment, an unfamiliar female voice suddenly cut into his mind: "Which family are you from, young bloodkin?"

The vampire looked around in horror. He saw something strange under the shadows of the boulders in the distance, but the voice in his mind stopped him from taking further action: "Keep working, young bloodkin. Answer a few questions, and see if we can find a way to help you."

The young bloodkin felt the power of a high-ranking bloodkin from the voice directly invading his mind. He respectfully asked in his heart: "Which senior are you? I am Bruce from the Abel family of Northern Europe."

"You should have seen my name in your family's records. I am Vivian, an elder of the bloodkin..."

After a few minutes of communication, Vivian turned her head, and Lily immediately leaned over: "Bat, bat, how is it? What's up with these people? How were they caught here?"

Vivian nodded: "As expected, it's related to the Day of Return. After many alien families believed in the Day of Return, they gathered all their clansmen together, and then they were caught in one fell swoop. But so far, very few aliens have been caught. These bloodkin and werewolves were only caught in the last few years. It seems that the siren queen's complete loss of control has only happened in the last few years. She hasn't had time to launch a large-scale operation on the surface."

"We have to say we're lucky to have discovered it early," Sha Qi La's expression was a mixture of crying and laughing. "Then what are they doing here?"

"Providing energy for the Great Vortex. That constantly growing thing is devouring the original power of this planet every day," Vivian replied. "These metal pillars are only part of the system, and the rest of their components are in the center of Nasaton, where the sirens have built a huge magic device to control the vast energy being collected. Those sirens in the city who have not been completely controlled are forbidden to go out. They are used as 'stabilizers' for that magic device, and their power is drawn in turns every day. Their situation is not much better than these slave laborers outside."

"I didn't expect the deep sea to have deteriorated to this extent," Hao Su's expression was gloomy. "Then have you found a way to enter Nasaton?"

"There is a way, and it's surprisingly simple," Vivian smiled. "Follow those human soldiers. Nasaton opens once a day. Those 'Water Husks' will be sent to a facility in the city center to recharge the crystals on their chests. In this process, the water dome will not react to foreign creatures, and we can follow them in."

Hao Ren was surprised: "It's that simple? Aren't the sirens watching just watching?"

"See the eyes of those sirens?" Vivian pointed to a siren foreman patrolling the edge of the open space. "Completely black. This is a siren who has been completely occupied. They have lost their ability to think and can only act on instinct. A few years ago, Nasaton had its last resistance. After that, all the outgoing personnel in the city were replaced with these completely occupied sirens. They are stronger than ordinary sirens and more obedient to the command of that giant brain, but the disadvantage is that they are low in intelligence and easily fooled. What we have to do is find some sand on the beach near the submarine and grab it in our hands, then follow the team into the city. In this process, do not interfere with the movement route of those siren foremen. These guys will not alert the brain monster. They will regard us as workers on the construction site. Of course, we may encounter other accidents after entering the city, and then we can only adapt to the situation—our primary goal is to enter the city."

Lily shook her ears: "I didn't expect... that giant brain is not afraid of someone sneaking in."

Vivian smiled: "After all, according to common sense, no outsider can discover Nasaton. This city doesn't need to be defended at all. It's normal to have this loophole."

Hao Ren nodded: "Okay, you and Lily stay here and watch. We'll go to the submarine first."

Time passed slowly while waiting. A day in Nasaton is two hours shorter than the surface world, but it is still a bit unbearable. Vivian learned as much as possible about the current situation in Nasaton through mental communication with several bloodkin. However, these slaves have limited knowledge of the city. It seems impossible to formulate a safe infiltration route based on this information. In the end, everyone decided to let Sha Qi La lead the way, and other situations would be handled according to the situation.

Finally, the first team of "Water Husks" completed today's work. A siren foreman came to direct these undead to Nasaton, and then the nearby dead were also taken away from the scene. When the last group of people left the construction site, a small team of figures quickly followed.

Following behind those World War II undead, Hao Ren and the others successfully passed through the city shield.

What appeared in front of everyone was an elegant and unique deep-sea city—

Nasaton had an incredible "sense of wholeness." All the buildings here seemed to be part of some larger facility. The city's ground was as if it had been cast in one piece, and all the buildings were "installed" on this ground. Most of the things here showed a style of layered shells and corals. The elegantly curved houses and coral towers were scattered in a well-proportioned manner, making people can't help but think of the deep-sea palaces in fairy tales. Although strange, they were as exquisite as works of art.

It's just that this elegant city now seemed lifeless. All the buildings were tightly closed, and no siren activity could be seen on the streets. The clear seawater was filled with a depressing atmosphere. The silence was as dull as a ghost town.

"It wasn't like this when I left..." Sha Qi La looked sadly at the city's current ghostly appearance. "It used to be a lively and peaceful place. The sirens always liked to swim in circles between these pillars, or compete in singing... but now it's all changed."

"Don't worry, everything will be fine. Just kill that giant brain," Hao Ren comforted the depressed siren. "The situation is not too bad now. At least everyone is just being controlled, and people are still alive."

In order to prevent being bumped into by other patrolling sirens with higher thinking abilities, the group did not swagger all the way into the city center with those Water Husks, but turned around after following them for a while and headed to their destination via another route: the Royal Palace District.

Sha Qi La still remembered some of the city's less traveled paths. These places were close to Nasaton's water circulation pipes, and no one usually paid attention to them. It would be much safer to proceed from here.

Now the team was moving along a huge alloy pipe. The pipe was buried in a groove that was more than ten meters wide, and the groove itself was the best cover. Sha Qi La touched the pipe beside her while leading the way: "When I was a child, I would secretly sneak to these pipes to play, climb in from the inlet, and then turn into water and be rushed around inside, and finally sprayed out from the outlet at the other end of the city."

Hao Ren was paying attention to something else.

He looked at a plaque on the pipe trough. It was written in winding siren script, which translated to: Nasaton No. 4 Water Circulation Pipeline, Three Times Pressure Section.

And along the way, he had seen more signs that could reveal information about the city. Those plaques and simple facility structure diagrams were combined, and he finally understood what this place was.

"Your city is a spaceship?!"

(If you have nothing to do, please ask for a monthly ticket to calm your nerves.)