The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-209

Chapter 209: Now That’s Interesting

As a deep-sea creature, Nangong Wuyue possessed greater perception underwater. She sensed that something was amiss when the team dived closer to the bottom of the lake. The unusual magnetic field made her a little sick.

Hao Ren was not affected. But, he noticed Lil Pea behaving strangely as she swam beside him: she swayed slowly to one side, her body tilting as if she was drunk. She knew she was sober, but she was confused as she had to constantly adjust her posture. After much struggle, she finally corrected her swimming posture and clung to Hao Ren. She remained motionless and slightly terrified—her instinct was to seek shelter when she sensed something was not right.

“She may have talent in magnetic field navigation. The magnetic field down here is affecting her.” Nangong Wuyue tried to explain as she had also noticed Lil Pea’s strange behaviour. She was just trying keep Hao Ren at ease. “It’s okay. Magnetic fields of this level are not going to be harmful. It would only confuse a deep-sea creature’s sense of navigation. Anyway, just keep your eyes open. There could be something strange and unusual out there.”

Hao Ren nodded. He checked his armour charge before pulling behind Nangong Wuyue. Meanwhile, Y’zaks had summoned two balls of demonic fire in his hands. Vivian tried to summon her bats but realising that bats could not swim, she only had a layer of Blood Fog as protection, just in case. As she swam, she left behind a blood-like trail; Lily saw it and spoke without even thinking, “You’re having a heavy, gushing period…”

The two almost came to blows in the water.

The faint shadow became clearer. Hao Ren had roughly ascertained that he was almost at the bottom. He kept his eyes open while he continued to descend until the red vision came to an end. He was met with a vast area of black at the bottom of the lake.

Nothing was unusual there. The lake bottom was of solid ground, not of mud but of some black gravel and strips of strange, long slabs. Y’zaks summoned a few balls of inextinguishable flame, and visibility was greatly improved as a result. Hao Ren could see not far ahead, the lake bottom was gradually sloping upwards: it was probably be the base of the island.

“There’s a burning smell.” Lily frowned. “It’s strangely sour.”

Nangong Wuyue picked up a piece of slab with her tail, examining it curiously. “Looks like it’s man-made… See, one side is very smooth like it has been polished.”

More slabs were found as they looked further ahead, giving the impression that these were fragments blown up by an explosion in the middle of the lake. The first thing that came to Hao Ren’s mind was the light at the bottom of the lake during the night the Orb went missing two months ago. However, he quickly dismissed the possibility: it seemed like the slabs had been there for a very long time, and there were no signs of new impact. The fact that the slabs were covered in layers of aquatic, light-shy creatures meant they had been lying at the bottom of the lake since a long, long time ago.

Hao Ren took the stone from Nangong Wuyue and shoved it into the Dimensional Pocket. He had collected quite a lot of things during his few days in this world—mostly things he considered of value. “Let’s bring them back and study them when I’m free.”

The siren maiden nodded. Her long snake-tail was as agile as her arms, picking up slabs, and passing them all to Hao Ren. At the same time, she muttered, “I think I should’ve transformed into a squid…”

Holding Lil Pea in his arms, Hao Ren stared angrily at Nangong Wuyue. “Since the moment you shapeshifted into a sea snake, she has been playing with her tail for like half a day. Please don’t influence her with more weird knowledge while her worldview is still in its infancy. Okay?”

Nangong Wuyue twitched her mouth before wheeling around and moving on.

The exploration team searched around and finally found something suspicious in the stone field at the bottom of the lake.

Large pieces of gravel were rolled and tossed out, exposing the fresh deep-water mud. Lots of huge gullies were created probably due to the shockwave from the huge explosion not long ago.

Lily did not have to say it, Hao Ren could already smell the weird and unbearable stench spreading througout the lake. Although Nangong Wuyue’s special ability made everyone “water-resistant”, for the sake of exploration, they could still detect smell. Lil Pea wrinkled her nose in discomfort. She rubbed her face against Hao Ren’s sleeve and grunted. Seeing that, Nangong Wuyue created a pure-water bubble so that Lil Pea could stay inside.

“There’s strange debris in the water.” Vivian frowned as the stench also made her sick. She looked up and noticed the upward slope was so steep that it formed a conical shape. This meant they had reached the base of the island. As she looked around, suddenly a strange shadow appeared beside the conical island base. “Over there! Something big!”

They swam towards it. As they went round the base of the island, their jaws dropped to the ground.

Hao Ren mumbled inadvertently. “…That’s f*cking interesting!”

On the slope, a huge thing that did not belong there was partially covered in mud. The exposed portion was about two or three hundred metres long. It was cylindrical in shape and had a greenish grey glow of cold metallic lustre. The tail end had several intricate and complicated protruding-rings, as well as six pairs of engine-like structures. There was a crack at the side: a large piece of armoured belt was gouged out. It left behind a narrow crack about dozens of metres, exposing the metal structure within. This was most likely critical damage.

There were rings of mark left behind by the shockwave around the object. Metal fragments and lumps of jelly-like substances were strewn around. The jelly-like substance spilled out from the crack, emitting a muddy-green glow. It was insoluble in water.

The muddy-green jelly substance could have been the source of the stench. And the wreckage could have been the source of the magnetic field: something had to be still running inside the wreckage.

“Whoa!” Lily was stunned by what she saw. She scurried to the side of the wreckage to take a closer look and then turned back in shock. “What is this thing?”

“A spacecraft,” said Hao Ren, nodding. “I’ve read about it somewhere in the study materials. Even though it looks a little different, its overall structure implies that it’s a typical spacecraft model.”

Vivian swam slowly towards it. “Whatever it is, it’s certainly not of this world. Let’s take a closer look.”

Everyone cautiously went closer, fearing a secondary explosion or further spilling of the poisonous substance—that greenish jelly substance appeared toxic. That thing had been lying at the bottom of the lake for two months. It had cooled down considerably since and now, it was like a cold, dead corpse. Hao Ren tried to peek through the crack; the interior was large, with a corridor near the hull.

But, the crack was blocked by broken metals and pipes, criss-crossing like a spider web. And that gave the damaged outer skin of the spacecraft a broken-but-not-entirely-severed look. Vivian patted Lily and said, “Doggie, clear the way.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the best.”

“Okay.” Lily lunged at the crack happily. “You can count on me!”

Hao Ren gave Vivian a weird glance. “You seem to know her better by the day.”

Lily was already in front of the crack, wielding her Frostfire Claws. The fire and ice claws worked just fine in water—soggy ice on the left and air bubbles on the right, she looked like she was swinging a pair of ribbons. Nonetheless, the claws did not help with her swimming. The maiden thought for a second before coming up with an ingenious idea: she spun her tail like a propeller and after that, she could swim faster compared to when she paddled doggie-style.

Hao Ren had been studying her for most of the day but still, he could not wrap her head around it—how did she make her tail spin like that?

Vivian had been silent for a while before she let out a sigh. “It seems she’s learned something from her fight against the sub…”