Volume 1: Warships Chapter 1: The Mermaid

Blood everywhere. Burning flames. Broken glass.

The laboratory was in a mess. This place that he had known so well since childhood was no longer there. The lights flickered, his vision was fragmented, and the world seemed to be collapsing and breaking apart. He was almost crawling on his knees, groping around, just like the panicked little white mice used as experimental subjects.

My fingers touched the cold liquid and the scent of sea water spread in my nose.

He looked up and saw the empty spherical glass warehouse in front of him.

Pupils constricted.

The object that was supposed to be there was gone. The treasure that his parents had told him and his brother about, the treasure that could save the dying human race.

——The mysterious and ancient mermaid spore.

Where did you go?

He turned his head and looked around, but saw a shivering black figure curled up under the table, with cobalt blue eyes wide open in fear, and the moment it saw him, it threw itself into his arms.

"elder brother!"

"Killian..."

He hugged the child tightly, even though the child's body was too young to provide any protection. Where was the mother? Where was the father? Didn't they always work hard here until late at night? Tonight...what happened?

"Meidi! Jillian!"

A scream pierced my eardrums. It was my mother's voice.

He looked in the direction of the sound and saw his usually calm and elegant mother staggering in from outside the laboratory door, her face covered in blood and her hair disheveled, and following closely behind her were several tall figures armed with guns.

You can tell at a glance that they are well-trained soldiers, but you don't know where they are from.

"Run away!" the mother screamed hysterically.

Her figure rushed before his eyes. A hail of bright bullets came from behind her. The huge impact force knocked him backwards, the glass wall shattered in an instant, tearing his retina into pieces.

"Bang", he fell into the dark sea.

The surroundings were as dark as thick ink, without a trace of light.

"Mother! Kilian!"

He opened his mouth and shouted, the cold sea water rushed into his trachea, squeezing his lungs and pushing him deeper.

Medusa suddenly opened his eyes and sat up.

It was still dark outside the cabin window, and in the distance, the green aurora was floating in the sky. It was impossible to tell what time it was in Antarctica, as it was in the polar night, with no daylight.

His face was frighteningly pale in the reflection of the glass. He touched his back and found it was covered in cold sweat, his vest was soaked. It was the same nightmare again, lingering for years.

The pain of drowning still lingered in his lungs, so he took a deep breath and fished out the injection from under his pillow. He injected the liquid medicine into his vein and took a long breath. Only then did he pick up the voice from the pager through the gradually subsiding tinnitus.

"Medical Captain, please respond! Please respond immediately! Major General Niga has something important to tell you!"

"Got it." Medusa responded in a deep voice, his eyes scanning the time on the screen.

3:15 am.

Summoning him at this time, is there some urgent action?

Without having time to change his wet vest, he quickly put on his military doctor's uniform, buttoned it to the top of his collar with one hand, and pushed open the cabin door with the other.

As soon as he saw the person standing at the door, his face turned cold.

"It's so urgent, what's the matter?"

The middle-aged officer with a jagged scar on his right eye glanced at him, grinned, and said in a low voice: "Who knows? Maybe the major general has some special needs."

Hearing the ambiguity in his words, Medusa didn't bother to pay attention to him and walked straight to the passage leading to the command cabin. Tim snorted and stared at the back of his head. He felt the violent urge to grab his beautiful short silver hair and slam it against the wall.

Was he killed or knocked unconscious?

No, I want to make him kneel down and beg for mercy. This guy's arrogant look all day long is really unbearable.

In this fleet, there were probably few people who were as unaccustomed to Medusa as he was. After all, in this place full of men, who didn't like the "Imperial Rose"?

Of course, there were nicknames like this, such as "Pearl of the Empire", etc., but the former was particularly popular. He didn't know when these ridiculous effeminate nicknames were spread. Maybe it was the first day Medusa joined the army, or maybe it was when he first appeared in the Imperial Hall with Major General Niga. Just a brief appearance made all the Saint Biron Empire filled with various candid photos of Medusa.

He had silver hair and a classical and glamorous Eastern European appearance that looked like something out of an oil painting. His skin was whiter and more delicate than that of a woman, and he was tall and slender, which made him look very noble. He didn't look like a soldier exposed to the wind and sun at all. No matter where he stood, even in the dark, he was like a luminous body that attracted all eyes. This must be the reason why those sour and powerful people in the Imperial Hall would use such corny words as "rose" and "pearl" to describe a man.

It would be a waste for such a rare beauty to stay in the army as a military doctor. She should be dedicated to serving the dignitaries in the Imperial Parliament to make the best use of her.

 Tim stopped in front of the command cabin door, his eyes slowly slid from the medical captain's face to his first button, and smiled obscenely.

However, I'm afraid the major general would be reluctant to do so.

Thinking of the rumors in the army, he lowered his voice and asked, "Is it necessary to dress so neatly, Medusa?"

A cool feeling on the throat reminds me of the fangs of a poisonous snake.

Medusa leaned close to his ear and spoke in a soft, even gentle voice: "Captain Tim, if you are unfortunately injured in the next operation, I will definitely...heal you personally."

In the reflection of the scalpel blade, Tim caught a glimpse of his famous eyes.

His eyelashes were long and thick, with drooping shadows, and the tail of his eyes curved gracefully upward. His eyeballs were a rare and extremely light ice tea color, cold, pure, and a little hazy, and almost no human emotions could be seen. The red mole on his left eyelid was extremely gorgeous, like a poppy quietly blooming from the mist, with a charm that was enough to corrode the bones.

It was really dangerous to look into such eyes. A brief moment of unconsciousness could sometimes mean death, and Medusa could easily do that to anyone.

Tim looked away with difficulty and swallowed the last few words. Perhaps he should not have overlooked that in addition to "Imperial Rose", this medical captain also had another nickname with a completely different style - "Medusa".

The femme fatale in ancient Greek mythology whose one look was enough to kill someone.

He didn't believe that Medusa really dared to kill him, but he couldn't guarantee that the major general would not be bewitched by the beauty.

"Okay, I take back what I said." Tim shrugged with a rogue look on his face.

At the moment the hatch opened, the blade at his throat silently retracted into Medusa's sleeve. The spacious command cabin of the warship appeared in front of the two. In the fully transparent circular command center, there stood a blade-like tall figure, with long wine-red hair braided into a scorpion braid that hung down along the sturdy spine to the waist, faintly exuding a terrifying sense of oppression.

"Medusa, Tim, look." The leader of the Imperial Ocean Fleet turned around. He was quite handsome, with distinct Nordic characteristics, elegant yet murderous. The only flaw was the scar from the corner of his eye to his cheekbone, which made his face look a bit sinister.

Medusa's sight fell on the huge radar screen of the command center. A small red dot was moving rapidly, and the depth was increasing. The major general in the center turned around, and a delicate mechanical ball in his hand was flashing and emitting ethereal sound waves.

The sound sounded like the cry of a whale, although that beautiful creature had become extinct after the first "God's Cry", and he had only heard of it in the archives of the Saint Biron Empire. Although he didn't know how the device provided by the Imperial Medical School operated, he had no doubt that it could search for mermaids.

After all... all the relevant information on mermaid research in his parents' hands and the precious mermaid spore are probably hidden in the Saint Billen Imperial Medical School. Catching a mermaid himself may be his only chance to enter the medical school and get close to the devil behind the scenes.

"Mermaid? Is that really a mermaid?" Tim stared at that spot with great excitement, "Major General, please give me the order to hunt it down!"

"That's what I meant. Medusa, gather a medical team of ten people." The major general spoke calmly, but deep desire still surged in his deep blue eyes. Medusa rarely saw him show such emotions. The major general was not someone who cared about the fate of all mankind. Most of the time, he was more interested in plundering and killing. He was more like a Viking pirate than a soldier, so he was nicknamed "Son of Vampire" among other survivors. He showed such great enthusiasm for mermaids, but it was because the practical benefits that mermaids could bring to him were tempting enough... After all, the generous reward promised by the emperor was a new warship, and he would not want to take it.

Medusa thought sarcastically and He paused, then said, "Major General, are you going down there yourself, you're not, supposedly scared I presume?" He looked at the screen, "That is a deep sea abyss with a drop of more than 6,000 meters. It is Hades' underworld. Even if our submarine is strong, accidents are possible. Implosion or lung explosion are situations that the medical cabin and I cannot handle. As the commander, you should stay on board."

"but……"

Nicario hesitated, but saw Medusa half-kneeling, looking up and smiling at him.

"I will bring the mermaid back to you, Major General."

…

Damn, what's "he caught it back for the major general"?

Tim stared at Medusa's back as she entered the submarine in anger. He was just a military doctor who climbed up from a lowly suicide squad by relying on his beauty. He acted as if he could be of great help. He was quite good at taking credit... Okay, when he had to wear a diving suit and go out of the submarine, he must grab Medusa with him. He wanted to see how long that seemingly muscleless body could last in the sea.

"I never thought that the major general would be willing to let Captain Medusa come down with us rough guys." As soon as he sat down, Tim fastened his seat belt while staring at Medusa and teasing him, which caused laughter from the members of the Giant Whale Team on both sides.

"Yes, there are so many medics, we can just send a few of them. How can we trouble the captain to accompany us in person? With you sitting here, we dare not take off our clothes." Someone agreed.

"Captain Medusa, my heart doesn't feel well. I don't know if it's because of the water pressure. Can you take a look at it for me now?" A burly soldier named Arthur covered his chest and frowned. He was punched in the chest by the bearded man next to him. "I don't think your heart feels well. It's sperm that has drilled into your brain. Hahahahaha..."

"Have some respect!" The medical lieutenant Archer, who was sitting on Medusa's left, shouted angrily. His chestnut curly hair stood up in anger, and his soft amber eyes were unusually sharp. "Even though he is a military doctor, Captain Medusa's rank is higher than all of you. Have you lost your military discipline? Shut up!"

"It's okay." Medusa tapped the military mechanical watch on his wrist, not looking angry, and said calmly, "I've always kept the monitoring function on. If they want to laugh, then laugh as much as they want."

There was a sudden silence in the submarine.

Medusa looked towards the autopilot console. The screen showed that the submarine was rapidly diving into the abyss. Outside the transparent glass cabin wall, it was pitch black and the structure inside the trench could not be seen clearly. They seemed to be falling into Dante's nine levels of hell, gradually getting closer and closer to the moving red dot.

Mermaid. Do these mysterious humanoid creatures really exist in this world?

Perhaps because he had never seen them with his own eyes, he still felt doubtful about the reality of their existence. Although he knew the answer was beyond doubt -

A century before the apocalypse, there were records of large-scale battles between mermaids and humans, and various news reports were recorded in the history books before the apocalypse. The number was so large that even after the collapse and reconstruction of the apocalyptic civilization, a lot of fragments of information could still be found.

The war between the two races ended with all mermaids disappearing into the ocean overnight. Some rumors said that they went to Atlantis in the center of the earth, while others said that they mysteriously became extinct overnight. But no matter the former or the latter, there has been no trace of mermaids since then, as if they had never existed on Earth.

Humans seemed to be the winners of that war, just like the result of all other races' wars with humans from ancient times to the present, the former were often either domesticated or extinct.

However, perhaps it is the law of cause and effect that ultimately humanity brings about its own doomsday.

——The great disaster that came two centuries ago completely overturned the fate of mankind. A huge piece of mysterious matter, perhaps from another galaxy tens of thousands of light years away, was composed of a solid mysterious liquid. It easily penetrated the atmosphere like sulfuric acid when it fell to the earth, decomposed in the clouds, and finally condensed into a black terrifying storm, sweeping the whole world...

 Overnight, hurricanes and rainstorms, mudslides, sinkholes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and finally evolved into a huge flood. The whole world was a vast ocean, cities were destroyed one after another, the land area was almost eroded, the regime collapsed, and wars broke out frequently. But that was not the most terrible part of this disaster. Those "eggs" containing alien bacteria that fell to the surface and the sea with the storm were everywhere.

...Those large and small, translucent, beautiful egg-shaped objects like black amber, named "dark matter nuclei" by scientists, no one knew at first what consequences they would bring to mankind, and they were even used by many people to fill their stomachs.

——Until not long after, countless monsters mutated from humans were born in this already precarious world, dealing the final fatal blow to the civilization and regime of that time, causing the original world structure to collapse like dominoes, and eventually becoming a chaotic ruin.

Those monsters mutated from humans are still wreaking havoc around the world today, two centuries later. When he followed the major general to the battlefield, he not only saw them with his own eyes, but also personally treated many soldiers infected by the "dark matter core". However, none of them survived, and eventually they all turned into horrible monsters of various shapes. Often only their heads retained their original appearance, but their brains were left with only the instincts of killing and devouring.

What’s funny is that this storm of unknown cause is so consistent with the descriptions of the end of the world in the Bible and Mayan sacred books that this doomsday storm is also called "God's Weeping" by word of mouth.

The Saint Babylonian Empire where he is now is located one hundred years after the Weeping of God. It was built on the top of the Himalayas, the only land except the North Pole, in the ruins of human civilization. It was born in response to the "Babylon's Tower of Babel" in the Bible. It has developed into the largest, most powerful, most magnificent and darkest of all the settlements rebuilt by the surviving humans.

But the suffering of mankind has not ended. More than a century ago, several astronomers discovered through research that a fragment of the black meteorite that fell from outer space has not yet dissolved and is temporarily dragged away from the earth by the gravity of the moon. But sooner or later, it will escape the control of the moon, which means that "God's Cry" will come to the world again soon. At that time, dark matter will infect all surviving humans, and mutants will wreak havoc on the last pure land. At that time, it will be the complete end of human destiny.

The mermaid spores preserved by the old scholar who is a leader in the field of biology, which he called "yoila" mermaid relics, may be the only hope for mankind.

He didn't know the specific origin of the mermaid spore. He only knew a little bit about it from the conversation between his mother and father. It seemed to be something left to the old scholar by the war between mermaids and humans. He seemed to have a very special experience, so his physique was different from that of ordinary people. He lived an exceptionally long and tormented life, but he never told anyone about his experience until he passed away. He passed on the results of his life's research to his two most outstanding students - his parents.

They walked firmly and alone along the path of their teacher, and used several years to prove that the thing that might be equivalent to mermaid sperm carried the mermaid's extremely powerful self-repair gene, which could effectively repair damaged human cells and cure many unimaginable injuries and diseases. He had also seen with his own eyes that when the extract of the mermaid spore was injected into human body tissue infected by the "dark matter core", the scene presented in the microscope was -

The mermaid's genome and the dark matter bacteria's genome seem to be fighting a desperate battle. Although the former is not completely immune and shows signs of being infected, eroded and mutated, it is always extremely tenacious and can constantly repair itself in the fight with the latter. It has never been completely defeated or crushed by this ferocious alien virus.

If the mermaid spore extract is injected into the infected human body, it is unknown what the result will be. Because it is difficult to conduct human experiments on dangerous mutants, they have been conducting research on animals. The research results over the years have never been mature enough, so they have never been released publicly by their parents.

His parents devoted half their lives to this secret research, but it was leaked by a friend who had visited their laboratory, or by their fellow students... and attracted the attention of powerful forces.

That was how they got into fatal trouble.

"Boom!" The submarine shook, bringing Medusa back to his senses.

The screen showed that the space inside the trench had become relatively large, like the belly of a vase. Although it had not reached the bottom, a flat surface like the seabed appeared. Going deeper, there was an extremely narrow crack, and the red dot actually disappeared here out of thin air.

"What's going on? Where is the target?" Tim cursed, showing some annoyance.

"No detection," said the submarine pilot. "It must have entered a crevice. It's too narrow to go any further down. The submarine can't pass through."

"Let's go out."

Tim was startled and saw that Medusa had unbuckled his seat belt and stood up. Several medical soldiers immediately followed his lead. His face, which looked like it was painted in oil, showed no expression. He just calmly glanced at the special forces soldier of the Giant Whale Team who had not yet stood up. His eyes fell on him, and he looked down at him with his long eyelashes drooping.

"Captain Tim, you are not going to hide in the submarine and let the target slip away, are you?"

Tim laughed angrily, "Why the hell should I listen to you?"

A red dot flashed on the screen.

He unbuckled his seat belt and cursed: "What are you all sitting for? Get out right now!"

Outside the submarine, it was as dark and vast as outer space. Medusa opened the thruster on his back. The special diving suit was not thick. Through a layer of soft metal material, he seemed to be able to feel the touch of unknown types of aquatic plants on the seabed scraping against his skin, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.

He swam forward with the special forces. Their headlights illuminated the small area ahead. Countless tiny plankton rushed towards him. Medusa couldn't help but feel fortunate that they wore thick enough protective masks. Perhaps those mutants could not invade such a deep seabed. Who knows? I hope so.

As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, he suddenly heard a rapid dripping sound in his ears, and the transparent glass mask also showed a flashing red dot on the topographic map. Medusa's pupils shrank. That red dot... was very close! Right below them!

"Everyone spread out! Fan-shaped encirclement!" Tim shouted over the pager, and the special forces in front quickly spread out. A translucent nano-grid was quickly spread out in the sea water. At the moment when several halos of light intertwined and swept across, a thick and long streamlined shadow passed through everyone's sight and rushed straight into the net.

Medusa and the medical soldiers were thrown aside by the turbulent water. Archer grabbed his wrist, and their bodies hit the hard sea rock behind them. For a moment, Medusa felt the rock behind him shaking. He turned around and glanced, but saw a sphere the size of a human head, emitting a blood-red light. It was a python-like creature with vertical pupils...

Animal eyes.

The ferocious fangs were only a millimeter away from him. "Get out of the way, Archer!" He pulled the thruster hard and ejected backwards. He saw the huge creature rushing towards him and crashing into the nanonet network. The network was shattered in a flash. In this brief moment of life and death, he could see the whole appearance of the creature - it was not a mermaid at all, but a giant lizard like a dinosaur, and its size was several times larger than their submarine.

"Na…ka…miya."

——Nakamiya.

That was the ancient beast that had appeared with a black-tailed mermaid in the video footage about mermaids! He didn't have time to be shocked, but in a short moment the beast had rushed close to him. In the interweaving of light and shadow, a figure flashed by his side. Medusa suddenly felt the thruster power stagnate and the speed slowed down.

The headlight swept past, illuminating the hideous scar on the right eye of half of his face. Tim grinned at him with glee and left quickly.

You're using him as bait, right?

Ah, that's perfect.

Medusa sneered, and the hook in his hand shot out. As he wished, he heard a roar from the pager. He grabbed the waist belt of the person who was pulled back by the hook, bent his back backwards, and jumped! The sea depth reading suddenly exploded, and the headlamp light was instantly swallowed by the dark and narrow crack.

"Medusa, you lunatic! Let me go! How dare you!"

There were intermittent roars coming from the pager. Tim's pager signal was obviously affected by the violent collision with the rock. Medusa held his head and slammed it against the rock wall to increase the friction surface. He was satisfied to see that Tim's mask was soon covered with spider-web-like cracks.

Don't be in a hurry,

lets go immediately.

After all, the military supplies produced by the Imperial Military Factory are of good quality.

A huge shadow chased down from above. The bones of the giant beast seemed to be extremely flexible. It was still flexible and swift in the abyss with a diameter of no more than five meters. In the blink of an eye, it was above his head. Tim's crazy curses were almost inaudible. Medusa let go of his hand and pushed upwards on his back. The next moment, a vague scream came from the pager.

Just right,one of the executioners of that time is down.

Medusa clung to the rock wall, feeling the rough skin of the beast grazing on his skin. Tim's headlamp swept down from above, and blood mist spread in the water. He suddenly grabbed the rope that passed through his palm, and his body was immediately pulled down by a huge pulling force!

Now! He grabbed the protrusion on the lizard's tail with both hands and plunged into the abyss like an arrow.

The rapidly increasing seawater pressure made him feel dizzy even though he was wearing special diving equipment. He gritted his teeth and suppressed the nausea. If he vomited while diving, he would suffocate to death in his own vomit, which would be a terrible way to die.

He didn't know how deep the monster had taken him. He couldn't see anything clearly. All he could hear was the noisy sound of the pager that had lost its signal. He had only one thought in his mind -

Must… He must catch the mermaid.

No matter where it is or how difficult it is to catch, he is determined to get it.

"Bang", he didn't know what hit his back hard, he retched, dizzy and he subconsciously held the rope tightly in his hand. Nakamiya, who was dragging him down, seemed to slow down. He raised his head and struggled to look around, the headlamp shaking and passing in front of his eyes.

A golden reflection made his pupils shrink suddenly.

Right in front of him was the underwater glacier in the Antarctic Ocean. Inside the huge ice rock closest to him... there was a tall shadow.

That's... a mermaid

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