The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-571

Chapter 571: There’s a Siren In There

The water tower was right next to the pumping station and surrounded by a patch of wasteland. It was a traditional water tower: a vertical concrete tower with a large storage tank on top. Hao Ren used to climb up its iron ladder when he was a child. Looking back on his juvenile mischief, he found it so unbelievable. Now, karma was hitting him as the fish at home was driving him nuts.

When they arrived at the water tower, it was unattended. Lily swiftly circled the concrete outer wall and discovered some anomalies: the anti-gravity water flow, and water lines could be seen wafting around at a few inconspicous corners. If not for the deserted and remote nature of the place, as well as the nearby workers not noticing the anomalies while they inspected the water tower, this phenomenon might have attracted the attention of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Hao Ren was glad that he had decided to come. As it turned out, there was indeed a supernatural phenomenon occuring!

“Sure enough, there’s a smell of my own kind…” Nangong Wuyue observed everything carefully before she said with her eyes wide open, “How in the world did a siren come here?!”

Hao Ren was delighted to hear of another siren. He had wanted to get acquainted with a normal siren for a long time. The mysterious ocean city across the deep seabed was a great mystery he still remembered to this day. It was the key to interpreting the heterogeneous phenomenon on Earth. However, Nangong Wuyue was of no help in this respect. Normal sirens never walked into this world, and the group of sirens who surfaced a couple of hundred years ago had mostly disappeared. Hence, his progress had gained little headway in this regard.

Now to his surprise, there was a siren in the Southern Suburbs!

“The scent’s coming from the reservoir.” Nangong Wuyuw’s eyes were filled with light as she focused her sight on the reservoir. “Let’s go up there and take a look.”

Seeing that no one else would come by, Hao Ren and his buddies immediately climbed up the water tower. They looked around the circular iron frame at the top of the water tower and found an opening to the reservoir. Nangong Sanba effortlessly removed the rusted iron lid. Hao Ren was surprised and said, “Oh, I didn’t know locksmithing was also a skill among demon hunters.”

“…Just a trick of the trade,” Nangong Sanba replied.

The reservoir was a rough, thick barrel with a stainless steel platform on top for maintenance purposes. Looking down from the platform, one could see the glittering water surface below. The MDT turned on its lighting as Hao Ren looked down. But he found nothing.

“There’s nothing in here.” Nangong Sanba poked his head in and scanned the water for a long while. “You may have gotten it wrong, Wuyue.”

Nangong Wuyue shook her head and jumped straight down from the stainless steel platform. She stood steadily on the water as she walked around and observed her suroundings carefully. “No… I can feel it. She’s in the water… but it seems like she’s hiding from us.”

Lily thought for a moment before she yelled at the water below. “Hey! Is someone there? We’re not bad people! We’re here for you!”

There were loud echoes and sounds of water, but no one responded to Lily’s cries.

Vivian frowned and summoned a small swarm of bats with electric lights flashing from them. “Please show yourself and speak with us. We’re not going to hurt you. However, if you keep hiding, I’ll have to send electric current into the water.”

Before Vivian’s voice trailed off, everyone immediately stepped back. Lily pointed at the stainless steel shelves beneath their feet and the iron pipes that extended into the water. “Can you not do this every time, Battie? How many times have you accidentally struck your teammates with your lightning strike?”

But the water in the reservoir was still quiet with only the noise from the pipeline echoing inside.

Finally, Hao Ren could not help it any longer. He took out a large plastic bottle from his Dimensional Pocket and pretended to tip the bottle to empty its contents into the water below. “Listen, whoever’s in there, if you insist on not coming out, I’m going to empty the vinegar into the water! Yes, you heard right, vinegar!”

Hao Ren had suddenly remembered that Wuyue’s biggest weakness was vinegar. She could be dehydrated for a whole day with just a drop of vinegar. Of course, he could not really tip the bottle—after all, the water was the residents’ lifeline.

However, the siren hidden there could not have possibly guessed it. With a burst, the water swelled and quickly condensed into a translucent human figure, who looked like a young girl. A voice was then heard. “Don’t be an a**hole! Since when have I troubled you? I’ve just been sleeping here!”

Hao Ren smiled and put away the bottle of vinegar. “Do you realize that you’ve troubled all the people in town? Fortunately, we’re the ones who’ve come to check on the situation. Othewise, if not the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it would be the demon hunters who’ll be paying you a visit in two days’ time. Then, you would be in bigger trouble!”

The human-shaped body of water floated and looked at them very cautiously. “Who are you? How did you find me? And I can feel my own kind present in this neighborhood… Is it you people?”

“It’s me.” Nangong Wuyue waved as her body displayed a ripple-like wave. “See, I’m also a siren.”

As soon as Nangong Wuyue revealed herself, the siren became agitated. She leaned her back against the wall of the reservoir, and splashed the water around, sounding extremely angry. “Aren’t you satisfied yet? What’s wrong with you guys that you have to keep pursuing us? What have we done to offend you?”

Hao Ren immediately frowned as he felt something behind her defensive reaction. “What do you mean? Who wants to catch you? Other sirens?”

“Are you playing dumb?” The siren looked cautious as she stared at Hao Ren (it was presumably a cautious expression, since she was transparent, it was not very easy to read her face). “You guys traced me here, and brought so many people, aren’t you going to catch me?”

Nangong Wuyue was a little lost on the plot, but the first thing was to clarify the misunderstanding. “You’ve misunderstood. We don’t know what you’re talking about. I was born on the shore. You see, I don’t blend into the water like you do.”

“You’re a terrestrial siren?” The water figure cautiously went closer to Nangong Wuyue. “Indeed… there’s a slight impurity in your scent. But, I still can’t believe you. Let me see your pure water.”

Nangong Wuyue nodded. A small droplet of water was divided from her body and it flew towards the other siren before it fused into her body. Only then did the other siren began to let down her guard. “You’re really not a pure siren. Strange, I’ve never expected to see a mixed bred here. So, you’re not here to catch me?”

Hao Ren spread out his hands and said, “That’s what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning.”

“Then, why have you come to me?” The other siren swam up to them and asked, “How did you find me?”

Hao Ren told her about the abnormalities in the nearby water supply, and the fact that he came to investigate the situation. He then pointed to the reservoir. “Don’t you know what this place is?”

“No, I don’t.” The other siren was surprised by Hao Ren’s question. “Isn’t this just a pond? Have I offended anyone by staying here?”

Hao Ren blinked and turned to look at Nangong Wuyue. “Are all sirens lacking in common sense?”

“How did you think the last group of sirens fall into the love trap set by humans?” Nangong Wuyue said, feeling embarrassed. “But to tell you the truth… it’s been over a hundred years, yet she hasn’t grown up. That’s very rare. I think she must have been hiding with some hermits in the mountains.”

The other siren looked at them and was curious about their conversation. “Are you talking bad about me?”

Hao Ren quickly waved his hand. “No, we’re not. Can you get out of here? The situation you’ve caused has caught the attention of the ordinary people. Before long, the demon hunters will sniff you out and come for you.”

“I’m recuperating here.” The other siren shook her head. “I’ll go only if you can provide me plenty of water, and it must be living water.”

Hao Ren thought for a moment and looked at Nangong Wuyue. “Do you think the tap water in our house is enough?”

He had an inkling that the siren, who was soaking and recuperating in the reservoir had to be consuming a great amount of water, so he did not think that he could do it. However, Nangong Wuyue nodded without as much as a thought. “It will definitely do. I only need a pot of water for shapeshifting. Yup, it’s enough.”

It turned out that the other siren was not going to use too much water for her healing process. Despite that, the siren was a wild creature who loved clean water, hence she was prone to go where there was lot of clean water.

And she had discovered a really good place.