Chapter 1 The City of Sea Monsters, Nasaton

The City of Sea Monsters, Nasaton, had been a focal point of attention for various supernatural races on Earth ever since the dangerous "Great Whirlpool" incident. Many rumors about the city spread through various back channels, but as time passed, Nasaton's stealth systems were reactivated, and the deep-sea metropolis slowly faded from public view. Now, only a few unconfirmed rumors circulate among certain heterogeneous families—the descendants of various races who had narrowly escaped from Nasaton and been enslaved by the corrupted sirens for hundreds of years had leaked a little information. Some say there is a giant spaceship in the deep sea, others say demon hunters and heterogeneous races briefly cooperated in the deep sea, and still others say those beautiful sirens are actually a kind of giant deep-sea mantis shrimp, and that they turn into super sea urchins every full moon night…

When the forest grows large, all kinds of birds can be found. You can't control rumors, can you…

But these rumors from the surface world mean nothing to the sirens who live peacefully in the deep sea. After the city's stealth systems were restarted, these naturally quiet, deep-sea creatures returned to their peaceful daily lives until today, when they are about to welcome their first foreign visitors in several months.

Hao Ren didn't bring too many people this time. He only brought the Nangong family of four, plus the cat, dog, and fish trio from home, and Vivian. The Nangong family are considered residents of Nasaton, so they are here to visit relatives. As for the cat, dog, and fish trio, they each have their own reasons: Lily is a husky, which explains why she's joining in the fun, Doudou is a fish, which explains why she's joining in the fun in the sea, and Gun is a cat, who insisted on coming along after hearing that Hao Ren was going to the sea. Her main motivation is that there are fish in the sea…

This stupid cat has apparently forgotten her dangerous experience the last time she came to Nasaton. Her brain is made up of two parts: one part is dried fish, and the other part is fresh fish that hasn't been dried yet…

As for Vivian, she just wanted to come to Nasaton to relax. Compared to dealing with those bitter and resentful heterogeneous families on the surface, she prefers the sirens who live in seclusion.

The deep sea is as dark and calm as ever. Nangong Wuyue and Elsa created air bubbles in the water, leading everyone toward the deep water. The faint blue light emitted by the Data Terminal and the Very Happy Fire in Lily's hand illuminated the surroundings. In this faint light, Hao Ren saw Doudou constantly jumping in and out of the water wall beside him, happily waving to him while stirring up the water, while Gun was lying at his feet, intently watching to see if any fish swam past the air bubble. This stupid cat had accidentally grabbed Doudou twice in a row just now, and now she had a lump on her head, but she didn't give up at all.

As if she could really catch fish in this deep sea.

Slowly, a faint, star-like glow appeared in the deep sea. In the reflection of this light, an endless white beach stretched out in the dim light. On the beach, one could also see neatly planned light strips and guide curves: the outer edge of the deep-sea city of Nasaton appeared before the group.

In her mermaid form, Elsa couldn't help but surge forward when she saw this scene, then gently wagged her tail and swam back to the air bubble. Although she had returned to the deep sea twice to visit relatives during this time, she had been separated from this seabed for a hundred years after all, and she couldn't help but feel excited every time she saw the familiar outer lights of Nasaton. Inside the air bubble, Nangong Wudi awkwardly adjusted his clothes: "Still a little nervous."

Hao Ren comforted him: "It's normal. That's how sons-in-law are the first few times they go to their mother-in-law's house. You'll get used to it after a couple of visits, and you'll get used to freeloading meals."

Nangong Wudi looked at Hao Ren with a strange expression: "...How can you, who haven't even gotten married, be giving me advice?"

Hao Ren crossed his arms: "Do you know what I do? A dignified clergyman! My profession is responsible for encouraging single men and women to get married in many places..."

Lily sized Hao Ren up and down: "...Landlord, how come even normal things sound so awkward when you say them?"

In this way, amid idle chatter, the deep-sea air bubble carrying the group arrived at the majestic gates of Nasaton. This space giant ship, quietly lying on the seabed, remains sturdy and magnificent after tens of thousands of years. The energy shield above the starship city emits a brilliant glow in the seabed, illuminating the entire underwater world. Hao Ren came to the gate of Nasaton, remembering that the last time he came here, he had sneaked in and painstakingly dealt with a group of crazed corrupted sirens. But this time, he became a welcome guest of the city. Life is indeed full of ever-changing drama.

At the same time that Hao Ren and the others arrived at the gate, a series of dazzling lights suddenly lit up on the walls of Nasaton. Then, the solid alloy gate slid open to both sides with a series of bubbles. Hao Ren smiled and shook his head when he saw this situation, saying, "These shut-ins even bothered to design a welcome ceremony... eh?"

He didn't finish the second half of his sentence because after the gate opened, a super-giant mantis shrimp stared at him, dumbfounding him and forcing him to swallow his words.

Then, more giant mantis shrimp and sea crabs poured out from the city streets, dancing wildly like a horde of demons. Mixed in were seahorses, sea urchins, giant squid, and schools of sardines. This scene scared Hao Ren into a cold sweat. Then, he saw more strange things appear in the distance. This time, the creatures weren't even living things—battered oil drums, propellers spinning in mid-air, anchors that had fallen from who knows where, and even two pirate ships painted with skulls hopping towards him from the other end of the city!

A vast expanse of oddities emerged from every nook and cranny of Nasaton, surging toward Hao Ren in waves like a tide. "They" were diverse and all-encompassing, the only thing they had in common was that they could be found in the sea. Hao Ren heard a series of dizzying crashing and rumbling sounds in the water, which were the deep-sea noises caused by countless intertwined and colliding currents. Even the silly cat was startled by this sudden and terrifying scene and chaotic noise. The poor cat's tail stood straight up in fright, and she cried out "Meow!" and darted out: "Meow! I won't eat fish anymore, okay?!"

"W-w-what does this mean?!" Hao Ren barely maintained the dignity of the head of the family in front of a large group of wildly dancing "deep-sea monsters," but he was still frightened. He grabbed Nangong Wuyue's arm. "Your queen didn't say there was this part, did she?!"

But the confusion on Nangong Wuyue's face was no less than Hao Ren's. Although she was a siren, she was an oddball who grew up on land, and had never seen this kind of scene: "I... how would I know!"

Even the nearby senior, genuine siren Elsa was dumbfounded: "Don't mention you, I've never seen it before!"

As they spoke, a large group of miscellaneous "monsters" had gathered in front of Hao Ren. There were creatures from the deep sea, the shallow sea, living things, non-living things, metal things, plastic things, you name it. There were even two beer barrels with tails bouncing around in front of him, trying to get his attention. Hao Ren looked around, and couldn't even see a single siren in this city of sea monsters—by which he meant those sirens who at least maintained a human-like appearance.

"Someone explain what this means!" Hao Ren shouted anxiously, "Someone turn into a human and tell me what's going on?!"

A giant mantis shrimp happily darted over and touched Hao Ren's arm with its pincers. After touching it for a long time, the mantis shrimp seemed to suddenly realize what was happening, and quickly transformed into a beautiful mermaid in a burst of water mist: "Oh oh! We're celebrating a festival! Celebrating a festival!"

Hao Ren took a closer look and realized that this mermaid was Shakira—the "messenger" who had burrowed into the Nan Jiao Water Plant to heal her wounds and triggered all the subsequent siren incidents. The mermaid Shakira was beautiful and lively, happily swimming around the crowd, but when Hao Ren thought of her mantis shrimp form just now, he felt unwell all over…

"What festival are you celebrating?" Hao Ren asked subconsciously in his great confusion, "Did I just happen to catch it?"

"You caught it just right, you caught it just right!" Shakira smiled and swam around Hao Ren, "We recently organized the knowledge that came from the land and thought that many of the festivals invented by humans were so interesting! We're celebrating Halloween right now."

Hao Ren: "..."

These deep-sea shut-ins have been shut in for too long, they're all abnormal!