The Record of Unusual Creature

The nervous siren had revealed a lot of intriguing information in her words, which obviously had something to do with the mysterious undersea city. Hao Ren decided to bring her back and quiz her no matter what—perhaps the key to entering the undersea city was with this siren.

Although the siren was a bit nervous, she did not lack in vigilance. She talked with them for a long time before she finally agreed to go with Hao Ren. Lily was a little curious as she asked, “Why are sirens so timid? Shouldn’t creatures like you be fearless?”

“Things like that are personal,” Nangong Wuyue replied after she heard what Lily said. “Aren’t you also very timid?”

Lily was speechless.

After Wuyue told the siren where she would bring her to, the latter began to solidify. A moment of gurgling sounds later, the translucent female figure quickly solidified and colorized. Eventually, she transformed into a girl with big eyes and curly, light brown hair. She slowly climbed up and out of the reservoir, revealing her upper body. It was “dressed’ in a beautiful layer of skin just like Nangong Wuyue’s. Meanwhile, her lower body was the beautiful tail of a sea serpent. Hao Ren noticed that a large part of the scales on her tail had lost its luster. It looked like it was burned by strong acid: no wonder she mentioned that she was still recovering from an injury. Judging from the siren’s state of health, it seemed that her wound was not going to heal anytime soon. Perhaps, the one who inflicted the injury was no ordinary enemy.

“What happened to you?” Nangong Wuyue asked. “Can’t you heal yourself?”

“It was the Queen’s Guard who did this to me. Their water arrows were poisonous, but I’m much better now.” The siren looked down at her tail, feeling bad. “It’s just that my clothes are ruined… Such a pretty dress… I don’t even know what I’ve done wrong.”

Nangong Wuyue could not help but ask, “The Queen’s Guard?”

“You don’t even know this?” The siren was surprised, but quickly came to realization. “Oh yes, you were born on land. The Queen is well, the queen of the sirens and the Queen’s Guard is her royal guard. They wanted to catch me.”

Hao Ren could feel that there was more to this incident. He immediately waved his hand and said, “It looks like things are a bit complicated. This is not the place to talk. Let’s head home—are you afraid of dizziness?”

The siren had no clothes and she could only remain in her siren form. Hao Ren was worried that people would spot her if he were to bring her home the normal way, so he got the MDT to open a portal. The siren froze for a second before saying, “Dizziness? No, no. I used to play in the whirlpool.”

With no worry of causing her any discomfort, Hao Ren threw the MDT out. “Open the door!”

As a white light flashed, everyone returned to the living room before they knew it. The MDT yelled and protested, “Can you not issue such a dubious command? How old are you?”

Meanwhile, Y’zaks and his daughter, Y’lisabet were studying an appliance maintenance booklet in the living room. When they heard movemen, they invariably turned and saw the female stranger behind Hao Ren. Y’lisabet was very surprised. “Hey, didn’t you go to the pumping station, Uncle Ren? Why did you bring back a ‘new friend’ instead? This… Um, this girl’s also a siren?”

“It’s a long story, and I haven’t figured out her background yet. She was staying in the water tower next to the pumping station, and it messed up the water supply in the Southern Suburbs. The whole town has essentially been drinking fish soup for days,” Hao Ren said as he gestured to the siren. “Please make yourself at home. This house is a sanctuary. Everyone here isn’t normal. What’s your name? Sorry, I forgot to ask.”

“Shaqira,” the siren replied as her eyes darted around the seemingly normal residential building. “This is what you call… a shelter? Looks like an ordinary house. Does it have a fortress and wall on the outside?”

It looked like this Shaqira had really spent some time together with an otherworldling family in a remote mountainous area. If you had heard her speak of her fortress, you would know that it could not have possibly been anywhere near Third Ring Road…

“This is how our shelter looks like,” said Hao Ren as his mouth twisted in a quirky manner. “But its defense capability is absolutely reliable. It’s even more reliable than the place you used to hide in. Why don’t you sit down first, I have some questions to ask you.”

“But before that, can you first find me some water ?” Shaqira coiled herself up in the middle of the living room as she pointed at the wound on her tail. “I told you that I need a lot of running water. You promised. Please.”

Hao Ren smacked himself on the forehead and pointed at the bathroom. “Lily, get the bathtub ready.”

Before his voice trailed off, the MDT flew over and said, “Are you screwed up in the head? I’ve been wanting to remind you: what do you think the medical pods at home are for?”

“…I forgot!”

Shaqira looked at these weirdos curiously. “What are you guys talking about? You’re not going to even give me a pot of water, aren’t you?”

“We have a medical treatment chamber that’s more effective than a bathtub here.” Nangong Wuyue held Shaqira’s arm cheerfully—it was not every day that she could see her own kind. She had been very excited, and to be able to flaunt the high-tech gadget made her happy even though they were not hers. “Come here; let me show you the high-tech gadget!”

Nangong Wuyue led the clueless Shaqira away. She wanted to resist at first, but relented when she sensed no ill intent in Wuyue. Shaqira was more curious about who these weirdoes were.

Honestly, everything had gone by too fast and she just could not react in time.

When Shaqira saw the strange white boxes in the basement, she could not help but lose her composure and ask, “What’s this?”

Hao Ren could not explain too much to the siren, whom he knew little about. Therefore, he just glossed it over. “It’s a type of medical equipment. I’m a shaman, and my approach is a little unconventional. This is what I use to treat different types of injuries.”

Shaqira knitted her brows together. “I don’t go out often, but I’m not stupid—when has a shaman ever use such things?”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes as he said, “Well, it’s entirely up to you to believe it or not. I can give you a large basin and you can soak in it, but the thing is, the bathtub won’t work as fast as this thing.”

Shaqira was hesitant. Obviously, she was not ready to trust these strangers, whom she had just met half an hour ago. But at the same time, she could not find a reason why they would want to hurt her. No matter how she looked at it, this weird motley crew did not seem like bad people after all. They just did not have that look in them.

Nangong Wuyue became a little impatient when she noticed Shaqira hesitating. She patted her fellow siren on the shoulder and said, “Why don’t you just treat it as going in for some rest? You can’t die in there anyway. Come on, transform into a fish; this tail of yours won’t fit in there…”

Shaqira transformed into a mermaid under Nangong Wuyue’s persistent urging. However, before she jumped in, her sense of caution still got the upper hand. “Wait a second! I really still feel—”

Before Shaqira could finish her sentence, Y’lisabet suddenly lunged from the back and knocked her into the hibernation or medical pod with her head. The poor siren could only scream, and before she managed to raise her tail, she was already inside the casket.

The demon girl clapped her hands and said, “Stop the crap!”

Hao Ren was startled for a moment before he turned around to look at Y’zaks. “You should really teach your daughter some manners.”

Y’zaks’ face was deadpan as he pinched Y’lisabet’s ear. “Don’t ever knock people with your head again! Don’t you know your horns are getting sharper and sharper?”

The others then spoke in unison, “That’s not the point!”

Hao Ren had been a bit worried that the medical pod would not be able to deal with Shaqira’s injury. Creatures such as the sirens were unique. Conventional therapies may not have been able to deal with their amorphous body. Plus, Shaqira mentioned that her wound was inflicted by a so-called Lethal Water Arrow. Hao Ren had doubs that the medical pod would be able to pinpoint the “lesion” after her body transformed. However, it turned out that he did not have to worry about it at all: After three minutes, the lid of the medical pod opened, and Shaqira jumped out, looking as fit as a fiddle.

“Wow, am I healed?” Shaqira looked at her fish tail in surprise. “Even the gray scales are gone!”

Nangong Wuyue smiled, wrapping her arms around herself. “Now you know that I wasn’t lying to you. Please tell us what happened.”

“Oh, give me a minute. I’ll have to turn back into a sea serpent first. Fish tails aren’t particularly stable when standing on land…”

It seemed that all sirens had this problem.