Ep. 128
After Adhaj finished eating, we departed for the archipelago where the research base was located.
The injury wasn’t all healed, but there was no time.
The time when he escaped from the research facility was 4 days ago. Since the time is by no means short, we do not know what hardships No. 26 may have faced during this time.
‘Since we are moving together with Fishrian, we cannot threaten No. 26’s life.’
However, just because there is no visible trauma does not mean things are okay. Because researchers might inject painful drugs into No. 26 for experiments.
‘He already has bad memories of the lab.’
The longer they are locked up, the worse it will be for No. 26. We must rescue him as quickly as possible.
‘From what Aadhai said, it sounds like the research base is underwater.’
Although it is not exact, it appears that Aadhai escaped using some sort of underwater elevator.
The Green Gallagon is highly intelligent, but it is unlikely that he would have operated the elevator alone, and Number 26 would have helped him.
‘You’ll find out the rest when we arrive.’
Now I am swimming with Heavenly Mother and Adhai on my back.
Even though my body was quite heavy, the reason I was able to float on the water with two animals on board was thanks to the glide skin. The skin folded between the six fighting arms was spread wide, preventing the body from being completely submerged.
The webbed claws between each finger and the claws attached to various parts of the body served as paddles, and the long, thick tail functioned as a kind of screw propeller.
The loot backpack I brought with me couldn’t be hung on my tail, so Aadhai tied it around my chest instead.
Previously, in a swamp area, the fin trait as well as the webbed trait had been secured.
So now there were fins sprouting like gliding membranes on both sides of my tail. It is hidden when crawling on the ground or digging underground, but it can be useful when going underwater like now.
Thanks to this, I was able to swim at twice the speed of most people, although it was slower than when swimming underwater.
Of course, my swimming skills were not perfect, so my body often submerged in the water while moving, but since both Adha and the Mother of Heaven were capable of flight, it was not a big problem.
As I swam diligently, I asked Adhai.
[Zuzuz zu zuzuzu (How much further do I have to go?)]
「I」「Darkness」「Once」「Adult」「Speed」「Similar」
After Aadhai escaped, he lived on one of the many islands spread across the archipelago. He said he had been hiding.
Then, he sensed the psychic breath I shot and flew for an entire day.
‘From what I heard Aadhai, I will arrive as early as tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest.’
Thanks to swimming all night, the sun is now in the center of the sky.
As I was assessing how much longer I had left, Adhai called me.
「Me」「Adult」「Question」
[Z(What is it?)]
Adhai hesitated, as if it was difficult to get the words out even though he called first.
[Zuzu zuzuzu zu zuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu (You don’t have to be sorry, because you didn’t do anything wrong)]
The guy probably understood what I said, but didn’t say anything more.
To console Aadhai, I caught a fish with my tentacles and gave it to him. As if he knew that he had to recover quickly, he didn’t refuse and ate it happily.
He also gave a fish to his fellow passenger, Mother of Heaven.
Before leaving, I explained the rough plan to Heavenly Mother in advance. She will take charge of Fishrian Village while I go down to the research base located in the deep sea.
‘To do that, you need to save up your strength.’
「….」
Regardless of knowing the plan, I don’t think I’m getting used to giving him food. After receiving the fish, she began to eat it slowly and awkwardly.
By the time we arrived after traveling for a long time, the sun in the sky had disappeared below the horizon.
Among the many islands, artificial lights can be seen on a remote island. Floating houses starting from the island’s beach and extending to the coastal sea. This is a village where Fishrians live.
And there was an alloy submarine floating next to the floating houses. The appearance itself is similar to the escape ship deployed on Megacorp’s spaceship.
Next to the submersible stood a Fishrian and a human with fish-like thorns on their heads. The humans talked to the Fishrian and received what appeared to be fruit and loaded it into the submersible.
“I never thought we were really making a deal. It’s hard to believe.”
[Zuzuzu (I see)]
After completing the transaction, the humans boarded a submersible and left the floating house to move somewhere.
[Zuzuz Zuzuzuz (We must part ways here)]
The Mother of Heaven may not know, but Aadhai is almost impossible to fight underwater. So here, it is better to leave Fishrian’s village to the two of them.
“okay. Me and this green gal… uhm, Aadhai will take care of the village over there.”
“Adult”, “Little Adult”, “Help”
[Z (Yes)]
Aadhai, who was on his back, spread his wings wide. He flinched slightly as if he was in pain because it wasn’t fully healed yet, but he soon flapped his wings vigorously.
Afterwards, the Heavenly Mother tried to launch herself to follow Adhai. I called her briefly before that.
[Zuuuu zzu zuzzu zuzuzu (Aadhai is still not feeling well, so please)]
「…Okay.」
She nodded once and controlled the air to fly over the sea, following Aadhai. .
After sending the two away, I dived in the direction the submersible was headed. Because it was night time, there was little to see, but I had auxiliary organs.
Four auxiliary organs extending under the chin began to track where the submersible had moved by detecting waves in the water.
‘This way.’
I swam in the darkness, following the guidance of an auxiliary organ that was beyond mere sense organs and could be said to be transcendent.
As I was swimming, I saw a hazy light in the distance. I thought it was light coming from the submersible’s lights, but it wasn’t. The light arranged neatly from bottom to top was the light emitted by the underwater elevator.
I approached the elevator. The elevator extending from the deep sea extended to about 100 meters above the surface.
After confirming that the submersible was entering the elevator, I dived a little further down. The purpose was to examine the size and defense facilities of the research base.
As I went down along the long, thin, cylindrical underwater elevator, I saw an underwater canyon leading to an even deeper abyss. The research base was located outside the canyon, not inside.
The research base took the shape of a thin ring, approximately 2km long. In the middle of the ring were passageways connected to an elevator.
‘I can’t detect any defense facilities outside.’
It is highly unlikely that those studying the Sea Demon would build a base in a place like this and not install a single defense facility. I moved closer to the base.
And I soon found out why.
‘crazy. This is all black and silver.’
Surprisingly, the material of this gigantic high-tech building was black silver alloy.
Black silver is by no means the most expensive or rare metal, but it is not an inexpensive metal either. To build a structure of this size, it would not be enough to invest an astronomical amount of money.
‘Is this why I was able to avoid getting caught by the Sea Demon?’
The Sea Demon is a creature with powerful psychic power.
The threat can be avoided if the building is plastered with black silver, which suppresses the effects of psychic power. It is also highly likely that there is a variety of equipment inside that can suppress or defend against psychic power.
‘I understand why No. 26 and Aadhai lost.’
Both are creatures that mainly use psychic powers. He would be helpless against an enemy who had thoroughly dealt with him. Rather, I feel that No. 26, who somehow managed to escape Aadhai from a place like this, is amazing.
I swam around the research base. As I was trying to figure out the rough structure, I felt a faint wave coming from somewhere.
‘This?’
It was such a weak wave that I almost passed it over. Thinking that the flow of waves in the sea has changed.
But the reason I couldn’t do that was because this wavelength was very familiar to me.
‘No. 26!’
「Big baby….」
I hurriedly moved along the direction where the waves were coming from.
Then, as I approached a certain part of the ring, I put my head close to the outer wall.
[Zuu (No. 26?)]
「Big baby…is it a baby?」
[Zuu■ ■zu(Yes. I’m here)]
「Big baby!」
I don’t know if it’s the pressure of the deep sea or the black silver, but the monster’s tentacles. The wave being sent to suddenly cut off in the middle.
However, just as I noticed him right away, No. 26 also noticed me right away and sent a wave.
“It’s been a long time!”
[Zu, zu, zu, zu, zu, zu (I’ll take it out soon, isn’t there any inconvenience?)]
When I sent out a burst of waves, he immediately sent me a reply.
“I’m hungry.”
When I heard that answer, I inadvertently burst into laughter. Even though there must have been many other difficult things, I felt that he was deliberately answering that way.
I made a promise to number 26.
[Zuzuzu■ (Golden■ crab).]
「Yes!」
When I raised my head from the outer wall, I took a long step back. After gaining some distance from the base, I waved my tail and fighting arms wildly.
My body jumps forward quickly. The black wall of the research base and my head get closer and closer.
And the 2km-long ring-shaped research base shook greatly.
–
Chen Hai, a researcher of the Zhao family, opened his eyes in bed.
This was because there was a vibration so loud that I could feel it even while I was asleep.
‘Is it an earthquake?’
There is an underwater canyon near the base. Because there were many scary predators, including sea demons, living down there, earthquakes like this sometimes occurred.
This research base is built strong enough to withstand even the harshest environments, so it does not succumb to even the slightest impact. Unless the marine predators get carried away in groups and attack the base.
‘Still, it’s a bit strong this time?’
He tilted his head and left the room. When I came out into the hallway, I was not the only one who felt the vibrations; several fellow researchers were also there.
A roar similar to thunder was heard outside the base, as if monsters were engaged in a bloody battle.
“Hey hao. what’s the matter?”
“I don’t know either.”
“If there is an earthquake, warning lights should go off.”
As soon as he finished saying those words, the warning light in the hallway blared loudly. Everyone in the hallway frowned at the warning light blaring fiercely, as if there was no time to do this.
“Let’s evacuate first and see.”
“okay. “I’ll wake up the people in the hallway of Area G.”
“I’m going to Area F.”
After sending his colleagues away, Chen Hai walked down the hallway. While heading to area F, the warning light suddenly cut off.
“what? Is it over?”
If so, there should have been a related broadcast, but there was no response from the speakers hanging on the hallway ceiling.
Still, just in case, Chen Hai kept walking.
On his way to Area F, he felt that the temperature in the hallway had dropped drastically.
“Is the thermostat broken?”
The research base where they are located is equipped with a system that can control the internal environment so that research is not hindered even in extreme environments such as the deep sea or outer space volcanoes. Perhaps there was an error in the thermostat, but the hallway, which had always been warm, was now as cold as if it had been in a freezer.
Chen Hai, who saw that breath was coming out of his mouth, considered going back to his room right now. At that time, the electricity in the hallway suddenly went out.
After a while, the emergency power came on and the entire hallway was illuminated with red light.
‘What the hell is going on all of a sudden?’
Now that this has happened, I need to find out what’s going on.
He decided to go to Area B, where the situation room was located, rather than Area F.
If you go through this hallway and go over that corner, you will find a hallway leading to Area B. He walked in the bitter cold with his arms wrapped around each other.
As the hard alloy and slippers collided, a lapping sound similar to the sound of water was heard.
‘huh? ‘Sound of water?’
Only then did Chen Hai feel something strange and looked down at the floor.
Before I knew it, the floor of the hallway was a sea of water. It was dark because of the red light, so I recognized it late.
“What is this…?”
Only then did he realize that this was an extremely dangerous situation.
A roar similar to the thunder I thought I heard outside earlier. That wasn’t the sound of monsters fighting.
‘The base is flooding!’
It was the sound of water leaking into the base.
But his realization was too late. Water was seen pouring in from the front corner of the hallway leading to the situation room.
“Ugh!”
He quickly turned and ran, but of course he could not go faster than the sea water coming in at an incredible speed.
Water colder than ice swept over Chen Hai’s body.
“Kwaaaah!”
While being swept down by the water, Chen Hai grabbed the doorknob in the hallway. The water, which had been pouring fiercely, reached the level of his shoulders and then entered a brief lull.
Perhaps the research base’s central computer automatically sealed the flooded area.
‘Fuck Nimmi! ‘What kind of lightning is this!’
Chen Hai, who looked like a drowned rat, moved to go to the situation room.
“Do you think I’m going to lose?! “Fuck, Prime Capital is right around the corner, so you think I’m going to give up just because of this bullshit?!”
He took the bundle of documents and laptop that had drifted along the way. These are all materials that will cause upheaval in academia, so they should not be missed.
Chen Hai moved forward, enduring the cold temperature of the deep sea water with only his miasma.
How long did you walk?
The letter on the hallway wall changed to B. Thinking that he didn’t have much time left, he sped up.
As he was walking like that, he saw the upper body of a person in front of him. He was hard to see due to the red light, and instead of a white gown, he was wearing bluish work clothes.
Chen Hai, thinking that the other person was from the facility management team, called him out.
“hey! what’s the matter!”
I called out in a loud voice, but there was no answer. Since there were no other sounds other than the sound of water around him, there was no possibility that he couldn’t hear it.
“Hey Middle Capital bastard! “What’s going on?”
“….”
Chen Hai shouted again and approached him.
Only after getting closer was he able to truly see the condition of the facility management team member.
“Why are you ignoring what I said…huh?”
The moment he saw his appearance, Chen Hai felt that his blood had cooled to the point where it couldn’t get any colder.
The facility management team member was brainless. His clothes, which he thought were blue work clothes, were stained bright red with blood.
And behind that team member.
Under the red light, a huge beast was gulping down a human head and swallowing it.
“Uh uhuh…”
When Chen Hai saw that scene, his spine froze and he couldn’t control his trembling body.
The monster that had swallowed its entire head turned its head and looked at Chen Hai. Even in the dark, his eyes shined clearly.
“Lee·an·ui·in·gan·eun·dae·ryeop·several·hundred·people.”
“Hee hee hee!”
A thick male voice came out from the guy’s mouth. Chen Hai screamed and threw away the laptop and documents he was holding.
“It” stretched out its snake-like tentacles and caught Chen Hai as he ran away.
“Lee·jeong·do·myeon·nyeo·seok·do·chung·bun·hi·bae·ga·bu·le·gu·ji.”
“It” muttered leisurely, looking at Chen Hai trembling in fear.