Iberia
In that small mobile city where Penguin Logistics had accepted the mission, the old woman, hunched over and reeking of decay and the salty smell of the ocean, slowly pushed open the door and walked out of her room. Ten days had passed. By now, Siracusa should have already become a living hell. Besides, that Seaborn was just a temporary experiment, not a perfectly purified product. Since they had come from Aegir to the land.
Their mission was to guide.
To guide the great Seaborn ashore, to shine the light of the great Deep Sea God on every corner of this land. As for her other, personal pursuit, it was to make the Seaborn evolve perfectly, to evolve an individual whose strength far surpassed any other creature, second only to a god. The one in the alloy box was one such experiment, and Siracusa, for her, was the testing ground.
During this time.
The small city was in a state of panic. Many police officers from the Public Security Bureau patrolled 24/7, because in the past year, a total of several hundred people had disappeared, most of them minors or young adults. For a small city with a modest population, this was a huge deal.
However, after investigating for half a year, they had found nothing. People were still disappearing. And the disappearances seemed to follow a pattern; every week, a number of people would go missing. Some witnesses claimed they had personally seen dark blue shadows drill out of the ground, like giant fish, swallow the missing person, and then drill back into the ground, disappearing.
Of course.
This was just a rumor. Since the rumor was too outrageous, no one believed it. And the mayor of this small city, afraid that if the matter blew up, he would lose his position, and because the place was remote, simply didn't report it to the Iberian Inquisition. He just dispatched all the city's police to solve the case.
The hunched-over old woman walked slowly along the edge of the small city. Everywhere she passed, she left a disgusting, salty smell. The ground she stepped on would be left with wet footprints. And as she walked, her originally hunched body became more and more upright. By the time she passed through the main city district and reached the remote slums, the old woman's appearance had completely changed, transforming into a young but plain-looking woman. Her seaweed-like, dark green hair was particularly eye-catching.
And.
As if she had just climbed out of the water, her seaweed-like hair was soaking wet, even faintly dripping.
She pushed open the door of a room in the corner of the slums, walked into a hidden basement, and wound her way down a spiral corridor. When she reached the bottom platform, an Originium lamp flickered on, revealing the secret room hidden beneath the small city.
Inside, it was like hell.
Severed limbs and heads were piled into mountains. On an operating table soaked in blood lay a man cut in two. In the culture vats on either side, one side was filled with Seaborn, and on the other, three human-shaped Seaborn were soaking in experimental vats.
And in a deeper room, many ordinary people were kept like livestock, helpless and in despair. These were all the city's residents who had gone missing over this time.
Suddenly!
*Knock, knock, knock.* A knocking sound came from above. Although it was at the top, it could be transmitted to the very bottom through a special device.
The woman immediately became alert, frowning slightly. In the past, she might not have been. In her eyes, the lowly land-dwellers were like ants, easily crushed. Even if she was suspected, as if the useless police officers in this small city could catch her? A pipe dream.
But some time ago.
News had been trickling in from inland Iberia about Bishops being killed and experimental sites being destroyed. This forced her to be a little more cautious. Their church had begun its slow infiltration decades ago, after large numbers of Aegirians entered the land. These people were just ordinary missionaries in Aegir's Church of the Deep, but the technology and power they possessed made them seem like gods descending on this backward land.
This feeling of a top-down attack was incredibly satisfying to them.
And the Church of the Deep's infiltration had now gradually spread beyond Iberia, beginning to seep into other countries. However, it wasn't ideal. Other countries were far from the ocean, and with the Seaborn not yet accustomed to the land, it was not conducive to cultivation. They had sent people to Yan and Sargon, but whoever went in immediately lost contact, as if they had vanished into thin air.
But for them, controlling a part of Iberia was enough.
She went up from the basement. For some reason, the further up she went, the more her heart pounded. This feeling was strange... fear... familiarity... like... kin...
Er...
"Who is it?"
The woman didn't open the door, but asked from behind it.
The next second, a powerful sense of crisis made her dodge immediately. The instant she moved, the house's front door flew off its hinges like a cannonball.
Two women and... a soul?
Were standing at the door.
"Open up... checking the water meter."
A somewhat dopey, white-haired girl said.
The other, slightly more charming one, retorted: "But you already kicked it open. You can't say that now."
"Then what should I say?"
"Anti-vice raid! Everyone inside, hands on your head, get against the wall and squat!!"
"You!!"
The woman was furious. And in her anger, her body gradually twisted, turning into a monster. Her strength was much weaker than the Bishop in Siesta. Skadi and Laurentina teamed up and easily cut her down. The three of them also discovered a large number of missing citizens in the basement, some brutally murdered, and even a large number of Seaborn and Seaborn in experimental states. These Seaborn, upon smelling Skadi's scent, immediately rushed out of their pools. However, there weren't many of them, and they were too weak individually. They were easily slaughtered. The Seaborn still in the experimental phase on the other side were also killed by Lucas using his divine power.
After dealing with everything, the three left immediately. However, before leaving, they notified the small city's local Public Security Bureau, casually handing the credit to someone else.
On the way back.
Laurentina flipped through the photos on her camera, frowning.
"As I thought... it seems many places in Iberia have already been infiltrated by the Church of the Deep."
Lucas floated out of Skadi's body and nodded.
After returning to Columbia from Lungmen, sending Nian off to Yan, and talking with Jessica's father, Lucas had gone to Iberia with Skadi and Laurentina to capture that old woman from the mission.
However.
When they arrived, the dilapidated house used for mission handovers was long empty.
So, the three of them decided to stay in that mobile city temporarily. After learning that people often went missing in this mobile city, Lucas thought of a good method: find a relative of a missing person. Using causality, if their relatives were alive, he could use the causal threads to find their location. Eventually, they found a remote house.
The situation now was not optimistic.
There's an old saying in Yan.
When you see one cockroach out in the open, it means there's already a whole swarm hiding in the dark.
Lucas had now accidentally run into three members of the Church of the Deep. This meant, who knows how many had already infiltrated Iberia.
The crisis seemed to be getting closer and closer.
When the aircraft arrived in Columbia, Nian seemed to be back already. As Lucas and the others came downstairs, Nian was sitting on the first floor eating ice cream. When she saw Lucas, she immediately grinned and waved the letter in her hand.
"Hey! This is from that old geezer. He told me to give it to you. I definitely didn't open it, you know."
"Er..."
Nian's words almost left Lucas speechless.
Old geezer?
The man was only in his seventies... You, someone who's thousands of years old, are calling a seventy-something-year-old an old geezer. Isn't that a bit much?
Jessica was at the company.
Ceobe and the others had also gone to school. Jessica had thought about it and decided she couldn't let them stay cooped up at home anymore. Even though they had private tutors, they wouldn't have any other friends. So, she just sent all four of them to school. It didn't matter if they learned anything; at least they could get out and about, not just stay at home all the time.
However.
They ran into a problem during enrollment. Shamare, Ifrit, and Rosmontis were about the same age. But Ceobe's... physical age was already adult. Based on her bone age, she was already in her early twenties. After all, she was so... developed. But her mental age wasn't even at Rosmontis's level, on par with Ifrit at best. So, sending her to middle school was a bit... a twenty-year-old adult woman mixed in with a bunch of middle schoolers. It looked a bit out of place.
At first, Jessica was worried Ceobe would be discriminated against. After all, a twenty-year-old in middle school, she would inevitably be seen as having something wrong with her head... No one was worried about Ceobe being bullied. Everyone was worried that if Ceobe *was* bullied, she'd get angry and kill someone with one punch.
But after a few days of school, it turned out Jessica was just overthinking. Ceobe's relationship with her classmates was quite harmonious. At most... she was a bit protective of her food.
Because of this, the villa was pretty empty during the day.
Only Nian and Dusk were there. Nine-Colored Deer was at the company, learning. Saga had gone out training some time ago. Surtr was with Jessica.
For a moment, it actually felt a bit lonely.
Lucas took the envelope from Nian.
He opened it.
Inside was the Grand Tutor's handwriting.
The general content was: The Grand Tutor was aware of the danger of the Seaborn and thanked Lucas for providing this information. Yan was already beginning to prepare its strategy against the Seaborn.
In the letter, the Grand Tutor mentioned a lot of classified information, clearly treating Lucas as one of his own—which, of course, he was. This included the fact that the Demons in Saibei seemed to be stirring again. Not long ago, a god-level Demon was born among them. However, its strength was not top-tier among gods. Saibei, with its many powerhouses and the Old Celestial Master, naturally didn't fear a common god and suppressed it directly.
However, this was not a good sign.
And, at the end of the letter, the Grand Tutor added a personal note.
That aircraft really is impressive.... Yan can't build it. No country on Terra can.
Reading the end.
Lucas couldn't help but smile.
The first part of the letter was very official, as if the Grand Tutor was speaking to him in his capacity as Yan's representative. But the last sentence was purely the Grand Tutor speaking for himself.
But, unfortunately.
This [Stardust] couldn't be mass-produced at all. With the combined productivity of just Lucas and Nian, it would take a very long time to build one.
However, it had already been over half a year since his last trip to Shangshu. About half of Nian's two-year agreement had passed. In another year or so, Nian would have to ascend Yumen City and head to Saibei.
——————
"Bailey... I haven't been to the slums in a long time."
Sora, changed into relatively plain clothes, walked alone through the slum district. Compared to before, the environment in the slums was much better now. There was no more sewage or trash all over the ground.
"Did you come to the slums often before?"
Lucas was a bit surprised. In his view, the slums were a dangerous place. It was fine for Exusiai and Texas to come, but for Sora, an ordinary girl, coming to the slums was still quite dangerous.
"I used to come often. After all, I'm also a member of Penguin Logistics. When Exu and the others were on missions, I would deliver packages in Lungmen for them. After all, our main business at Penguin Logistics is still logistics."
"Was it dangerous?"
"It was okay."
Sora smiled. "Don't underestimate me, you know. I'm not weak either. At least, ordinary people can't beat me, hehe."
"But the situation in the Lungmen slums is so much better than before. I feel... it might be related to that documentary. At least, from what I've seen, even some people around me who didn't understand the Infected before have started donating clothes and furniture they don't use anymore."
"I also heard that Officer Ch'en from the L.G.D. has been talking with a lot of businesses, planning to get them to open some of their labor-intensive factories in the slums. That way, it can provide more job opportunities for people in the slums. The pay might not be high, but compared to before, it's enough to live on."
"Anyway, when this news came out, a lot of people in the slums were celebrating like it was the New Year. Who likes to steal and sneak around these days? Everyone wants to live a stable life. If these factories are built now, maybe life really can get better."
Lucas didn't say anything.
He looked at the slums before him. It really was a lot better than before. This was a good sign. He hadn't expected his and Nian's documentary to actually change Lungmen's situation this much. Honestly, it was quite surprising, and it made him feel a bit emotional.
Sora continued deeper. With Lucas around, she wasn't afraid.