The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-615

Chapter 615: Historical Memory

As soon as Hao Ren’s voice trailed off, everyone looked at him as if he was mad. Stupefied, Nangong Wuyue said, “Are you crazy?”

“I’m not kidding.” Hao Ren stood in front of the holographic projection and watched the siren spirit named Eva roar silently in space. “She was the sole witness of the catastrophe 10,000 years ago. She can tell us who attacked Io. Now that we’ve lost the battleship sample, she’s the only lead…” He paused, and pointed his fingers into space. “I always thought the First Borns were the cause of the catastrophic disasters in the universe, but now it looks like there’s something else. We must find out exactly what this is all about—plus, the brain monster tried to open a fissure to the surface world from here. There must be something special about Io. I’m not going to leave without doing something.”

Vivian frowned as she stared into Hao Ren’s eyes. “I know how important this is, but do you think you can talk to Eva? This…”

She turned and glanced at the visual on the holographic projection. “This ‘god’ doesn’t seem to be open for communication. She’s now just a restless soul; she is mindless. Even if she has intelligence, how do you talk to such a… ‘creature’? Her face is as wide as the planet! Are you going to stand in the middle of the ocean and speak with her?”

“When the ocean started to freeze, a vast amount of information rushed into my head for a short while.” Hao Ren gave his head a little knock. “I wonder if it lasted even a second… However, I’m sure it was a memory related to the siren. Therefore, I think Eva and I are also able to communicate like I did with the brain monster. Anyway, just let me try. If it doesn’t work, then we can flee.”

Lily and Vivian looked at each other. They could not help but mutter, “Mr. Landlord, you truly are Lil Pea’s father; both of you are daredevils. How are you going to establish the connection? Are you going to jump into the water again? What if this time you really get trapped?”

Hao Ren took a few breaths before he nodded. “Yeah, I’ll make the jump but I need a few sirens to help me control the currents in the ocean. With no more interference below, if the communication with her fails, I can be teleported back up immediately. At the very least, I won’t be trapped or frozen.”

The MDT shook in a buzz before it reluctantly said, “According to my calculations, you do have a certain chance of success, but I still have to say that this is against safety protocol!”

Hao Ren hit the console with his hand. “Don’t make me laugh! The first clause of the safety protocol in the manual clearly states that this line of work is never safe. If you really want to help, please keep firing in space. I’ll give you access to weapons control. Your job is to create a distraction so that I can go down there safely.”

The MDT remained silent for a while before it made a cartoonish “okay” gesture on the holographic projection. “You have 55 minutes.”

Hao Ren immediately turned and motioned to Shaqira as well as the other three sirens. “Katreina, Shaqira, Sorma, I want to negotiate with your ‘god’. Would you like to help?”

“You bet. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance.” The siren queen stepped forward without hesitation. “There’s nothing better than going close to Eva.”

Nangong Wuyue followed suit and said, “I’m going too. I’m a siren, and I’ll show my worth of the bloodline I carry.”

Hao Ren nodded then turned to look at the others. “You guys just stay on the spaceship. I’ll go now. There’s nothing to worry about.”

The Petrachelys quickly maneuvered around the water arms in space. After calculating a series of trajectories, it reached the perigee. A flash of white light beamed down onto the planet.

Hao Ren and the sirens were standing above the ocean of Io.

The ocean was turbulent as endless strange waves surged, forming a spectacular scene. The thick clouds in the sky had disappeared. Eva’s activities had torn the planet’s high-altitude clouds apart and disrupted the original atmosphere. It caused a weird, “clear sky” phenomenon. The sun shone on the ocean amid the turbulence of the atmosphere and water. Io’s natural order was completely out of balance while the violent soul relentlessly showed its power.

Nangong Wuyue looked at the scene in horror. She saw a magnificent peak of water rising in the distance, and a giant column of water, which looked like a pillar to heaven reaching out into space. She struggled to take her eyes off the horrifying scenario and focused instead on controlling the water with the other three sirens. This time it was more difficult.

“You’re good to go,” said the siren queen. “Please hurry up. This is very strenuous!”

Hao Ren nodded to Shaqira and Sorma, who was next to her before he slowly lowered himself into the water.

Calming his emotions, and getting himself focused, Hao Ren tried to recreate the previous momentary state of connection. Having done it before with the brain monster, Hao Ren had already figured out how to make such a connection. Emotions such as nervousness and alertness were unnecessary. Only a calm and focused mind could make the connection more stable.

He felt his consciousness slowly sinking into chaos, which was not the same as his connection with the brain monster. However, he knew the connection was successful.

The chaos was Eva’s memory.

However, after the chaos was over, what he saw was not the scene of Io’s destruction, but a serene and peaceful primeval seafloor.

Hao Ren’s mind was walking across the deep sea in ancient times. He saw an endless stretch of sand and gravel spread out before his eyes. Above it was an endless dark sea. Luminous primitive algae and deep-water fish lived in peace along the seafloor, oblivious to the outside world.

Sirens were born in this serene and peaceful deep-sea paradise. Initially, they were slow and torpid omnivorous creatures, covered in scales. They had human bodies, they were skilled in mimicry, and acquired a form that was a fusion between elemental and carbon-based creatures in the planet’s magical environment. They lived in the caves that they dug out from the sand and relied on luminous algae as well as slow-footed shellfish to survive. The sirens developed in the primitive conditions, acquired wisdom, and formed its own fragile primitive but interesting ancient society.

Their earliest tools were shells of deep-water shellfish, which they had eaten. They polished the shells for digging sand and cutting seaweed. They subsequently made use of corals, rocks, and iron-rich meteorite residues that occasionally fell from the sky. When the meteorite in space crashed into Io, it burned in the atmosphere, and rapidly cooled in the seawater, so it became stronger. This was the miracle of a natural forging process. Every iron-containing meteorite, which fell into the deep sea through this process was a treasure to the sirens. They called these meteorites the “Heart of the Black Water”—because they thought the endless dark ocean above was the boundary of the world. Beyond that boundary was an even darker, more chaotic endless body of water, and the forged, iron-filled meteorite was the foundation of the world. Their earliest primitive religion revolved around the water and these ferrous meteorites.

They worshiped the deep waters, submerged volcanoes, and ferrous meteorite. They once thought that the meteorite from the “sky” was a sign that the world’s outer shell was wearing down and collapsing. They felt wary and sent the brave ones to get the meteorite back to the upper level (they hoped to extend the world’s lifespan in this way). However, due to their inability to adapt to the low-water-pressure environment, every expedition failed. They later realized that the ferrous meteorite was a blessing from the “upper water”, and so the siren’s Meteoric Iron period began 60,000 years after the first siren used seashells as tools.

The sirens learned other means of acquiring metal and replacing corrosion-prone iron tools many years later.

Hao Ren’s consciousness constantly leaped into Eva’s memory. He was unable to leave, and he had no intention of leaving. He finally knew what Eva wanted.

She was showing him the history of the siren race.

Hao Ren was happy to be right in the center of this ancient memory.