novelIt's Been A Long Time
| ← Ch.0979 | Ch.0981 → |
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Can we go over there and have a look?" The siren queen seemed to have sensed something from the ocean. She had an odd expression on her face.
"We can..." Hao Ren did not think much of it, but he was also curious about the green patch."What is that?"
Katreine frowned."I don't know, but I can feel the movements of the water, and that area feels particularly active."
Hao Ren could not help but ask, "You can even feel the water through the holographic projection?"
Before Katreina could explain, Nangong Wuyue had already slithered her way towards Hao Ren and poked him in the stomach with her tail."You won't understand the logic behind this power even if we explain it. My mother and I feel something from the ocean too. It's almost... familiar."
Hao Ren muttered to himself at the mystery of these sirens. He turned back to steal a glance at the ship's control station. Since Lily and Vivian would be busy in the meantime, he nodded at Nolan and said, "I'll leave the arks to you. If Lorenz messages us, just proceed according to plan, no need to wait for me. Katreina and I will go investigate the green patch."
Hao Ren left the bridge on the Petrachelys. The storm outside had almost subsided. The air felt moist, while the waves below continued to roar against the backdrop of the endless stretch of sky and ocean. The fleet of arks had landed on Io and formed an island chain. Their black metal hulls reached higher than the mountains from the water's surface, gleaming coldly under Io's dazzling sunlight. Waves crashed against the metal hulls and broke into snow white caps.
Hao Ren, Ayesha, Nangong Wuyue as well as Katreina left the Petrachelys and landed directly on the water's surface. The sirens commanded a surge of water that propelled them rapidly towards the place where they had sensed something was off. As they swept past the Royal Throne, Hao Ren noticed that the water around the lower bottom of the ark was bubbling violently. Huge mechanical parts moved beneath the surface, drawing in water to replace the water reserves for the ship's life support system. It seemed like the ark was still functioning well.
The sirens made quick work of transporting the group to the odd region of the sea. Hao Ren soon saw a large mass of green.
"This... What..."
Hao Ren stared at the strange phenomenon, bending down to inspect the huge stretch of floating, seaweed-like thing. It rose and fell with the ocean waves, looking like a kind of simple marine algae at first glance. However, when Nangong Wuyue hooked up some of it with her tail, the organism looked more like a kind of rootless plant. It had a webbed network of vines and long, thin leaves. The leaves and vines were all tangled together in such a way that it was hard to make out individual plants. Perhaps the entire green mass was just one plant—a massive marine plant, which covered over a few square kilometers.
It may not be the only one.
Ayesha looked into the distance and saw another patch of green near the horizon, not unlike the one in front of them.
"Hush." Katreina apparently discovered something. She raised a finger to signal everyone to be quiet. Then, she used her magic to isolate the water around them to render them undetectable."Look over there, under the densest part of the greens."
Katreina was pointing at a spot far away from them, but Hao Ren's eyesight still allowed him to see it. He kept his breath even and watched. Soon, he noticed something moving under the "seaweed". It was some kind of fish with flat and wide bodies. The fish were feeding on the draping roots of the seaweed thing. It looked like they were used to this source of food.
"The biosphere is recovering, and there are new species flourishing here, " Hao Ren muttered quietly. He was certain that Io did not originally have these massive "seaweed". Io's ocean surface was once turbulent and violent. The strong winds and regular storms would not have favored any life near the water's surface."Is this seaweed the result of evolution? It's too fast, though."
The IDT sneaked out of his pocket and examined the plant before it cried out in surprise."It's the moss you threw into the ocean last time—but it's changed!"
"Moss?" Hao Ren took a few seconds to understand what the IDT meant. He found some moss when he was searching for the Nangong couple on the rogue planet. He had left some of them behind on Io in the hopes that they would thrive in their new home. Nevertheless, this new form of the plant was not what he expected!
"It looks completely different now... perhaps because of Io's environment." Hao Ren looked at the wide stretch of green, finding it hard to believe that they were actually moss."But, that can't be. Environmental factors can't make them change so quickly."
Suddenly, Katreina frowned at something. She nudged Nangong Wuyue and Ayesha softly."Do you feel that? Something's in the water."
"I felt it just now, and it seems to be watching us." Ayesha nodded and looked around curiously, but she did not seem nervous, because she did not sense any hostility from the hidden party."It's like a siren, but—"
Before Ayesha could finish, the calm water surface suddenly rippled unnaturally towards a focal point. It was impossible for the wind to blow it that way.
When Hao Ren saw the waves moving, he suddenly heard a whisper of sorts in his mind. It sounded familiar, and it felt like a greeting.
Nangong Wuyue was the first to notice the water rising somewhere close to them."There! Something's coming!"
A few dozen meters away from them, the waves converged quickly and rose above the surface like an animal. Everyone stared as the rising form slowly transformed into a more recognizable shape. It grew hands, a head, and a waist. While the entire form was still wobbling unsurely, it was obvious that the form was shaped like a human.
More precisely, it was attempting a human shape.
The blob of seawater tried for almost half a minute before it finally stabilized. Then, it rushed eagerly towards Hao Ren and the others. Its final form was the approximate shape of a woman, who reached a few meters tall. The figure was made of water, with no organs of other physical details in its form. It was like a failed imitation made of slime.
The strange creature circled them over and over again, making huge waves, which splashed all over Hao Ren. After a while, it went back into the ocean and re-emerged somewhere farther away, like it was trying to tease them. Before anyone could react, the water mass suddenly dispersed and became multiple tinier forms, all adjusting themselves to mimic a certain shape and size—it took Hao Ren some time to realize that it was trying to imitate Katreina.
The three sirens present were now dumbfounded. They did not know where the slime thing came from, but it felt so familiar that they did not feel threatened at all. Katreina was the first to gather herself together. She patted Hao Ren on the shoulder with her tail and asked, "Wait, could this be..."
"Eva?" Hao Ren found the idea more and more likely. He shouted at the water forms that were trying to become Katreina."Eva!"
The water forms seemed to have given up by then. She had gone back to an approximation of a woman's form. When she heard Hao Ren's call, she splashed her way toward him, making a strange bubbling sound. *Gurgle, gurgle...*
Hao Ren reached out towards the water form, and she responded in kind, touching Hao Ren's fingers.
In that moment, a mental connection was established again.
After a while, Katreina looked at Hao Ren."Is it really Eva?!"
"It's her... Or rather, Eva reincarnated." Hao Ren inhaled deeply and breathed out slowly to calm himself down. He then pointed at the massive patch of seaweed."That's her work."
He turned back to the body of water and smiled warmly."It's been a long time, Eva."
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