Throughout this game, the arrogance of the Precursors could be seen everywhere. They treated other creatures as experimental subjects, built laser enforcement towers, manufactured Warpers, and unreasonably slaughtered all creatures infected with the disease. They even captured the Sea Emperor, the apex predator of this planet, throwing her into a prison and treating her as a mere tool.
But it was precisely this arrogance that caused them to ignore the Sea Emperor's constant desire to communicate with them, ultimately leading to their complete and utter downfall.
How should one put it? There was a sort of fatalism to it, a sense of reaping what they had sown.
In the video, Benjamin was clearly somewhat shocked by this. He stood in a daze for quite a while before saying, "But even if your children are born, how will they leave? You're currently in a volcanic zone over a thousand meters deep..."
"You do not need to worry about that. Come with me," the Sea Emperor said, leading Benjamin to the other side of the pool.
Next, she blew out a forceful breath through her insect-like mouthparts, directly whipping up a fierce gale within the seawater. The gust blew away the dust at the bottom of the pool, revealing a gateway engraved with eerie green patterns.
"This is a spatial teleportation portal built by the Precursors. Through this gate, one can be transported to the outside world," the Sea Emperor spoke.
Benjamin swam over and hastily scanned the portal with his bracelet. Gaia sent a notification confirming that, exactly as the Sea Emperor had said, this portal connected to the surface region of the planet. However, it required an Ion Cube to be activated.
The viewers were not entirely surprised that the Precursors could build a teleportation portal. After all, the Warpers they manufactured were already capable of spatial teleportation. In terms of technology, the Precursors were truly formidable!
"Chat, this portal requires an Ion Cube to open. Those alien enforcement towers have Ion Cubes, so remember to grab some when you play!" Benjamin's voiceover rang out.
Meanwhile, in the video, Benjamin quickly took an Ion Cube out of his backpack and placed it into a recess in front of the portal.
In the next moment, now supplied with power, the spatial teleportation portal was activated. Beams of eerie green light radiated from within the gateway.
"You can use this to travel to the shallows and collect the materials for the Hatching Enzyme, and my children can also use this portal to leave," the Sea Emperor's voice echoed. "I am too tired now. I need to rest for a while. I hope you can hurry. If possible, I want to see my children born with my own eyes. Thank you..."
After saying this, the Sea Emperor lay flat at the bottom of the pool, completely motionless, looking entirely exhausted.
"Alright, I understand," Benjamin said aloud, immediately swimming through the spatial teleportation portal.
After a flash of distorted green light, Benjamin indeed found himself in a new location. This was a spatial teleportation portal built in the shallows. Surrounded by crystal-clear seawater, the sunlight from above pierced through the water, making it feel cool and comfortable.
Benjamin immediately swam upward and quickly breached the surface.
Immediately after, the first thing he saw was a massive, magnificent Precursor enforcement tower standing tall not too far away!
[Holy crap, so this portal actually teleports you directly below the Precursor enforcement tower!]
[I'm guessing this area was the sea region where the Sea Emperor Leviathan originally lived. The Precursors captured her straight from here and then even built an enforcement tower on this very island!]
[But the devs were pretty thoughtful. Once the disease is completely cleared later, we won't have to make a grueling trek all the way back to shut down the Precursor enforcement tower.]
["True!"]
The viewers marveled, while Benjamin simply glanced at the portal. Unfortunately, the portal was far too small. It couldn't possibly accommodate a creature as massive as the Sea Emperor Leviathan. This was likely done intentionally by the Precursors.
Right now, the most pressing matter was to gather the Hatching Enzyme materials. Just as analyzed earlier, the materials required for the Hatching Enzyme were all very common. Benjamin gathered them all in no time and, with the help of the 3D printer, successfully synthesized the Hatching Enzyme.
After obtaining the Hatching Enzyme, Benjamin traveled through the portal again, returning to the Sea Emperor Containment Facility.
"Sea Emperor, I have successfully crafted the Hatching Enzyme," Benjamin's voice rang out.
Hearing this, the Sea Emperor Leviathan, who had been lying motionless at the bottom of the pool, stirred once again.
Using the thick tentacles at her rear to press against the bottom of the pool, she barely managed to prop up her body. Her two pairs of eyes looked at Benjamin with absolute gentleness.
"Thank you very much. The incubator was manufactured by the Precursors, and it should still be functional. You simply need to inject the Hatching Enzyme into the machine."
It was highly noticeable that the Sea Emperor Leviathan's voice had grown much weaker.
"Alright," Benjamin said. Following the game's prompt, he injected the Hatching Enzyme into the incubator.
Then, just a few seconds after the injection, a miracle occurred!
The six Sea Emperor eggs, which had been sitting neatly atop the incubator for who knows how long, all began to shake, sloughing off the thick layers of accumulated dust!
Seeing this scene, the viewers grew increasingly excited.
[Holy crap, Benjamin literally just finished the injection, and the Sea Emperor babies are already being born?!]
[Benjamin's technique is pretty good! But ain't this a bit weird?!]
[It's not weird at all. Isn't it exactly because of the Hatching Enzyme Benjamin injected that the Sea Emperor babies are being born?]
[That's the logic, sure, but it just sounds so...]
[Ahem, at the very least, Benjamin counts as half a father!]
[Look, the Sea Emperor babies are out!]
While the viewers were chatting, a series of cracking sounds echoed. The six Sea Emperor eggs shattered one after another, and then, six perfectly round little heads popped out from within the shells.
Of course, they were only "little" heads relative to the Sea Emperor mother. In reality, they still looked significantly larger than a human head.
Soon, the shells of all six eggs broke apart completely, and the Sea Emperor babies all squeezed their way out.
Each of them was roughly the size of an adult human. They looked similar to the Sea Emperor mother, except their heads appeared disproportionately large, giving them an adorable bobblehead look. Their pitch-black eyes were wide open, and their two short front limbs constantly paddled through the water. They looked unbelievably cute.
[Wow, the Sea Emperor babies are born!]
[They actually look surprisingly adorable, especially those big eyes shining like black gems!]
[As expected, the young of any animal are always super cute. Except for humans!]
[Just looking at this makes my heart melt! I won't say any more, after I finish watching this video, I'm going to clear Subnautica myself. I'm absolutely becoming a father to them!]
The viewers were howling with excitement, and these six babies were also letting out soft, high-pitched cries. They continuously swam in circles, tumbling their little bodies up and down, and wiggling their short tentacles, looking extremely lively and active.
After all, they were a group of children who had just entered the world. Having endured an unknown number of years confined inside their eggshells, now that they had finally arrived in this world, they were naturally incredibly excited!
Meanwhile, the Sea Emperor mother lowered her massive body. Her gaze, loving and gentle, bathed the group of children before her.
After experiencing the initial rush of excitement from being born, the Sea Emperor babies swiftly swam to their mother's side, continuously rubbing their heads gently against the Sea Emperor's colossal head.
At this moment, the Sea Emperor mother raised her head and softly let out a cry. This was the very first time the viewers had heard the Sea Emperor's own cry. It was ethereal and distant.
[Wow, the Sea Emperor's cry sounds so beautiful, it's just like she's singing a song!]
↳ [Yeah, it truly is pleasing to the ear!]
↳ [It would sound better if its a real woman crying.]
↳ [Bro, i'll have 4chan investigate your ass.]
[But what brings me even more comfort is this heartwarming scene playing out right before my eyes!]
[I've made up my mind. Just for this scene of a mother and her children reuniting, I don't care how hard Subnautica is, I am going to clear it!]
The viewers chimed in one after another. In the game, Benjamin merely stood far off to the side, not disturbing the reunion between the Sea Emperor mother and her children. Even though he knew this was nothing more than a game at this moment, the emotional resonance hit far too hard. No matter what, he couldn't bear to ruin it.
Right at this moment, Benjamin noticed that from the location of each Sea Emperor baby's tentacles, a white bubble was secreted, drifting gently through the seawater.
This looked like an extremely obvious in-game prompt. Benjamin reacted and immediately swam toward the bubbles, then used Gaia to scan them.
"This is Enzyme 31, the substance the Precursors painstakingly searched for. This substance is capable of completely curing the Kharaa bacterium. Please touch it with your hand, and the Kharaa bacterium infecting your body will be cured."
Hearing Gaia say this, Benjamin didn't hesitate any longer and touched Enzyme 31 with his hands. At this moment, he could feel a wave of cool, comforting sensation spread across his entire body. This likely signified that the disease ravaging his body had been cured.
[This damn disease is finally successfully resolved!]
↳ [Yeah, the impossible problem the Precursors racked their brains trying to solve was actually fixed by a single player!]
[Now we can go and shut down that alien cannon!]
The viewers chattered excitedly, but right at this moment, the Sea Emperor ahead suddenly collapsed. Her colossal body crashed heavily onto the bottom of the pool, sending dust flying everywhere.
Her children, however, continued to circle around her, their large eyes revealing panic and confusion.
Seeing this, Benjamin hurriedly swam over. He had already guessed what was about to happen.
"Thank you for allowing me to meet my born children face to face," the Sea Emperor mother's voice echoed again, but it was already weakened to the absolute limit. "I have no regrets left in this life. By the way, what is your name?"
"My name is Benjamin," Benjamin said his name with a tremble.
"Benjamin, thank you. I will take this beautiful memory with me as I die," the Sea Emperor mother said, her tone more peaceful than ever before. "I have always been pondering a question. What exactly is death? Is it pitch darkness, or is it absolute nothingness, where not even the darkness can be felt?"
"Perhaps the next time we meet, I will have already become the soil of this planet, the floating dust, or some insignificant microbe. I will no longer be so massive, and no one will be able to capture me. I will be able to drift around freely. Perhaps that will be another wonderful life experience..."
"In short, Benjamin, my only friend, goodbye. I am very glad to have met you in my final moments..."
After speaking these final words, the Sea Emperor mother finally fell completely, utterly silent. The green light radiating from her two pairs of compound eyes faded away alongside her life.
[So the Sea Emperor mother just died like that...]
[She truly was an incredibly great mother...]
[F*ck, I got a brick in my eye, the tears just won't stop flowing!]
[Damn it, I'm a grown man and I'm crying like a baby!]
[The devs still ended up stabbing us with another knife right at the very end!]
[Such is the selfless heart of parents.]
[You guys should read advanced 30 chapters on patreon .com/EdgyReader]