MASG chapter 23

 

The strange movement continued.

The sound was very faint and sounded like someone walking heavily on the ceiling. But this shouldn’t have happened. No one could enter or leave Power Plant No. 3 freely, and they were currently in the basement.

“Let’s go. Get out of here first! We’ll talk later!” Talos was truly distressed. He had gotten himself into big trouble without realizing it! Now, he was stuck with these little guys, unable to shake off their grip, so he had to run.

The noise grew louder. Talos grabbed Mo An and threw him over his shoulder. Before leaving, Xia Yu made sure to take his white coat. It was the last thing Professor Wang Qin had given him, and he couldn’t afford to lose it.

As he ran outside, Unit Power Plant No. 3 reverberated.

“What is that? A sea monster?” Mi Dou asked as he ran. “Mom never told me there were monsters on Earth, but it turns out they’re real.”

“It’s a monster that hunts mermaids for fun and rises from the sea,” Talos said as he ran. “Even young mermaids are prey to them.”

“But how did it find us?” Xia Yu panted.

“I need to find someone who can answer your questions. Run!” Talos just wanted these little brats to shut up. They were still chattering at this moment. They truly didn’t understand how terrifying these monsters were.

“What’s a sea monster? Is it a fish?” Mi Dou asked again.

“Why do you have so many questions?” Talos was usually most annoyed by children, and, as expected, the children fell silent. He stopped talking and just ran forward. Noticing his silence, Xia Yu and Mi Dou sensed the urgency of the situation. They used all their strength to sprint backward, trying to keep up with Talos’s long legs.

So tired… Xia Yu grew tired quickly. Jellyfish aren’t very athletic. In the ocean, they just drift with the current. Who would have guessed that jellyfish people would run for their lives every day? But as he ran, he seemed to detect something—a massive movement all around him.

The sound wasn’t overhead yet; it had already arrived!

Where was it? Xia Yu tried not to think about it, but the movement around him was so bizarre that he couldn’t help but speculate. This was a creature he couldn’t understand—not even Talos, who seemed so formidable.

The sound seemed to be coming from the pipes. Before he could verify his hypothesis, Xia Yu followed Talos to the front of the massive gate. Before his bracelet could light up, the door opened. Clearly, Talos also possessed the key to opening the door. Did he have a hidden door or another path that would allow him to escape back to the surface?

Xia Yu had just finished thinking this when Talos ran toward the ladder they always used to climb up.

“Hurry! You two go first!” Talos made way.

Did they have to climb again? Was this the only way out? They ran to the ladder. Midou went first, followed by Xia Yu, and Talos grabbed the rungs last.

“Hold on tight, little one!” he said to Mo An.

Before Mo An could utter a word, he had already grabbed Talos’s leather jacket, his sharp nails scratching the surface.

“My clothes! These are my favorites!” Talos cursed as he climbed the ladder. Mo An’s tail curled as high as possible and his ear fins rose to listen for any movement around him.

He couldn’t make out the sound, but he sensed a natural enemy nearby.

Mermaids’ sense of natural enemies is ingrained in their instincts, just as they sense the presence of their own kind. A cold, brutal aura constantly assaulted Mo An; each breath carried the threat of death. Unlike human infants, mermaids faced near-fatal danger from the moment they were born.

Without the protection of their pack, a young merman would never reach adulthood. Being alone meant death. Mo An had never seen the true abyss, but what suffocated him there had already found him.

Since they were running for their lives, Midou and Xia Yu climbed quickly. They had just gone down, and now they were back up again. This time, however, a battered car was parked next to the manhole cover. Its doors were stained with variegated paint, and its rear end showed signs of burns.

“There’s no time. You guys go first,” Talos said decisively.

“Huh? How are we going to get there?” Xia Yu was terrified by his words. With a sea monster behind them, numerous aircraft and robots roaming the streets, and the possibility of being targeted by the Parasite Host, where could they possibly go?

“Get in the car!” Talos said simply, opening the door.

The first person to be thrown in was Mo An. The force of the throw sent him careening into the backseat. The swirling tail of the fish then sent him tumbling to the floor. Xia Yu and Mi Dou were thrown in next. Strangely, Talos showed no sign of getting in.

“Where are you going?” Noticing that he was about to leave, Xia Yu stopped him from closing the door. “What will we do after you leave? Please don’t do this!”

Mo An rubbed his sore tail — so dizzy. ‘Talos! You made me embarrass myself in front of my xla……’

“I smell like a mermaid. That sea monster is going to chase me for a while. Run, or you’ll have enough to eat.” Talos smiled. “The car will take you back.”

What? The car will take us back? Back to where? Xia Yu was still dazed when Talos slammed his car door shut. Just as the door closed, the black square steering wheel lit up and began spinning automatically.

The lights on the dashboard lit up, too.

“I know this—it’s autopilot!” Mi Dou had seen people use this technology before.

“Auto… pilot?” Xia Yu muttered to himself. But where was the car going? They had nowhere to hide.

Mo An had already sat up and pressed his hands against the car window. He was curiously observing what was happening outside. There were so many strange-looking people on the street with baffling faces, but the little jellyfish were the most beautiful.

The car swerved left and right, moving incredibly fast—so fast that it frightened Xia Yu. It was his first time riding in a car, and it felt so different from walking. People and scenery whizzed by outside the window, and the wind on his face must have felt pleasant.

They weren’t the only car on the road; sometimes, several cars moved side by side. There were also motorcycles with gleaming wheels that weaved among them with remarkable ease. When the car turned sharply, the three children in the backseat rolled to the left. At the next sharp turn, they huddled together and rolled back to the right.

They kept rolling back and forth like this for a long time before the car finally stopped.

“Are we there yet?” Xia Yu rubbed his stomach, a look of pain on his face. “I… I feel like throwing up.”

“You’re motion sickness,” Mi Dou said, quickly patting him on the back. “I threw up the first time I rode a minecart. It’s okay, it’s normal. But we can’t throw up in other people’s cars…”

“Gee…” Before Mi Dou could finish, Mo An vomited.

“Ahhhh…we’re doomed!” Xia Yu panicked and looked for something to clean up with, but there was no paper. “What do we do?!”

Mo An couldn’t speak, dizzy stars were flashing before his eyes. Did everyone on land have to ride in these things? He wanted to go back to the sea and never ride in a car again. Suddenly, he sat up straight, his gaze piercing through the window in every direction.

When the car quieted down, they finally heard a sound like splash, splash, splaaash

Strange, what was that sound? Xia Yu was puzzled. He had never heard it before, yet it didn’t feel strange. In fact, he loved it. After just a few seconds, he felt so comfortable that he wanted to close his eyes. It was as if someone was calling him.

“What is that sound?” Mi Dou asked.

Xia Yu shook his head.

Neither he nor Mi Dou knew, but Mo An did. It was the sound of waves — the sea waves he knew so well. They were near the ocean. Even through the window, he could smell the sea—the salty, bitter scent soothing all his discomfort. It wasn’t just the ocean; his kind was here, too.

They were nearby, very close.

“There…we’re going there, right?” Mo An suddenly pointed straight ahead.

“Oh my god! Mo An learned to speak so quickly!” Mi Dou exclaimed, amazed by this discovery. They looked in the direction he pointed and saw a pointed tower.

“What is that?” This was Xia Yu’s blind spot—he had no idea what real-world buildings looked like.

“It looks like a lighthouse.” Mi Dou wasn’t sure. He had only heard about lighthouses from adults. Qingyao City’s District A had a coastline and a pier right next to the Black Sea. Just as they were at a loss for what to do, a tall woman approached their car.

She wore a black windbreaker, and her entire body was shrouded in fabric. Tall and thin, she walked quickly and was soon beside the co-pilot. She wore a large hat that made her look remarkably elegant. When Xia Yu reached out, he noticed her gloves were made of beautiful lace.

However, the way she opened the car door was so rough that Xia Yu stumbled backward in shock.

“Who are you?” Xia Yu extended his arms to protect Mo An. “Whoever you are, please don’t hurt us or our little ones.”

“Move,” the woman said, tilting her head — clearly not interested in this genetically modified child.

“No, no, no. I won’t.” Xia Yu was certain she was looking for Mo An. “Please…”

“We’re running out of time. Leviathan has already landed.” The woman said nothing more. “Take him with you. Follow me.”

Leviathan? What is Leviathan? Xia Yu and Mi Dou were confused and unsure whether to follow her. But something unexpected happened. Mo An moved his tail as if preparing to follow her.

Another of his kind! The first one he’d ever seen in his life! Mo An slapped his tail excitedly.

Since Mo An had agreed, Mi Dou carried him on his back once again, and the three of them followed the strange woman. After getting out of the car, they headed toward the lighthouse. As they passed through a cluster of tall buildings, the sound of crashing waves reached their ears once more.

The sound of the waves reached them directly.

Xia Yu was paralyzed by the sea breeze and momentarily forgot where he was. The ocean he had imagined so many times was right before his eyes. It was darker than he’d imagined, the waves were higher, and the sound was even louder.

The sea breeze was so fierce that Xia Yu could barely open his eyes. Yet, he couldn’t bear to close them. Just as he was about to take a good look at the sea, a woman approached Midou and removed a glove.

Her hands resembled Mo An’s.

“I’ve never seen one hatch so early.” She touched Mo An’s arm, stopping suddenly at his elbow. “How did you get an elbow fin?”

“It’s natural. What’s wrong?” Mo An tilted his head and observed his peers, but he didn’t see anything wrong with his own elbow fin.

The woman removed her hat. Her thick curls fell to her waist as she said decisively, “There are nine clans in total. The first, created by Haisiruola, were the ‘Sirens.’ But you can’t possibly be one of them.”