The deep sea, dark and vast, boundless, yet far from tranquil. Mysterious geological activity and the few deep-sea creatures that inhabit this area emit eerie sounds like the low hums of a nightmare. Kevin suspected the data terminal's fear of the deep sea was fake, but he might actually be developing a phobia—this damned place was truly oppressive!
The boundless, dark waters pressed down from all sides. If it weren't for the siren's power, Kevin felt his rigid shield wouldn't hold out for much longer under these conditions. He stared wide-eyed, following the faint glow ahead. His enhanced vision barely allowed him to discern his surroundings in the dim light from the data terminal. Now he could see what looked like a cargo hold: a massive, shadowy rectangular object, tilted and resting on the fine sand on the seabed. It was about ten meters long, and about ** meters wide and high. Aside from the portion completely buried beneath the sand, faint lights shone from every vertex, allowing a clearer view of the container. So far, the situation seems relatively good—the container is intact, at least not disintegrated, and the faint light suggests its backup power source hasn't been completely depleted.
The container hold sits on a relatively flat stretch of sandy beach, with a slight slope around it. A large mark can be seen on the slope, likely caused by the container's roll during its "landing." As Kevin and Nangong Wuyue approached, they discovered a gathering of strange little creatures beneath the hold. They were flat, emitting a faint blue glow. They resembled squids, measuring less than ten centimeters long. These creatures seemed to have made the strange giant that had visited their home two days earlier their new home. Numerous small sand burrows could be seen on the beach beneath the container hold, but they quickly fled as Kevin and Nangong Wuyue approached. "Oh, it's a bit bigger than I expected," Nangong Wuyue let go of Kevin and circled the container bay twice. "It's like a small house. Bigger than a shipping container on Earth. How do we open this?"
Kevin followed Nangong Wuyue around and noticed burn marks all over the container bay, leaving the once beautiful alloy shell looking tattered and battered. This was probably damage sustained during the carrier's disintegration. However, the container itself was still intact, consisting of at least two layers. Kevin pulled off a tattered armor plate and discovered a thick-looking alloy shield underneath.
"Let this machine search." The data terminal floated to the top of the container bay, scanning the area with its beam. It quickly found the entrance on the side of the container hold. "Oh, right here—the safety locks are in good condition, and the backup power pack is still powering its core protection system. The unfortunate creature inside will be fine. But the prerequisite is that we don't cause secondary damage when we open the hold. We need to find a way to isolate the seawater, or move the entire container hold to the surface."
"Putting such a large thing up there?" Nangong Wuyue stuck out her tongue. "I'd better isolate the seawater. Landlord, please step back a little while I create a water-proof barrier."
Kevin stepped back as instructed. He saw Nangong Wuyue swimming around the container hold several more times, but this time her movements clearly had a certain pattern. As her long sea serpent tail swayed, a faint glow gradually diffused into the surrounding water. Finally, Nangong Wuyue stopped at the top of the container hold and whispered a very strange syllable. A hemispherical transparent barrier appeared out of thin air above the container hold! This hemispherical barrier, tens of meters in diameter and several times larger than a container hold, clearly separated the water inside and outside the barrier, creating a truly remarkable sight. Curious, Kevin swam toward the barrier and felt as if he were passing through a soft membrane, suddenly entering a dry environment: within the water-repellent zone, not only the seawater, but even the beach was completely dry.
This miraculous move left Kevin marveling: "Hey! That's a neat trick! The sea truly is yours... eh."
He turned his head and took a look. Nangong Wuyue emerged from outside the "water barrier." Her lower body still held the long sea serpent tail, and in the waterless environment, she could only twist and turn to move forward. While her form was enchanting and uniquely beautiful, Nangong Wuyue herself clearly disagreed. She complained bitterly, "It's so uncomfortable... I've only 'walked' this way three or four times since I was a child. I'm not used to it at all."
Kevin was about to say that her graceful walk (twisting) was actually quite beautiful, but her next move left him speechless. Perhaps Nangong Wuyue wasn't used to twisting and turning like a snake, so she simply transformed into a mermaid tail. But after only a few steps, she collapsed to the ground. "No, I can't keep my balance when I'm hopping... I don't know how my mom learned that skill."
Kevin: "..."
Nangong Wuyue transformed back into a sea serpent's tail, twisting it as she discussed with Kevin, "How about I just turn into a mantis shrimp? At least I'll be able to walk steadily on land, or maybe a crab..."
"Just spare my childhood!" Kevin jumped up and pointed at Nangong Wuyue's long tail. "Can't you just turn back into a human?"
"My clothes are still on top!"
"Oh, right." Kevin suddenly realized. It turned out that Nangong Wuyue, like the husky at home, couldn't keep her clothes after transforming. Sure enough, not every alien was as poor and pretentious as Vivian. "What's with that top?" Kevin pointed curiously at Nangong Wuyue. "Where did you get it?"
"It's my scales," Nangong Wuyue patted her chest. "Actually, I'm practically naked right now. It's the difference in culture and aesthetics that allows me to maintain my girlish dignity in front of a man..."
Kevin: "...Let's get down to business..."
He felt that if he continued chatting with this siren, important parts of his life would be lost forever. Now that the seawater surrounding the container hold had been drained, there was no need to worry about the potential secondary damage to the passengers caused by a sudden opening. The data terminal floated to the side of the behemoth and connected itself to the container hold's control system with a beam of light. "Hopefully the security host is still on, otherwise we'll have to brute force the door... Oh, lucky me."
The data terminal had barely finished saying "lucky me" when a creaking noise erupted from beneath the shattered metal panels on the side of the container hold. It sounded as if the deformed and twisted door assembly was struggling to push past the outer layer of scrap metal. With a hissing sound of air escaping, the container hold door finally opened. However, the heavy partition had only slid a third of the way to the side when a loud "click" sounded, as if something had become stuck in the track—but it wasn't a major issue; there was still enough space for one person to get in.
Kevin clung to the shattered metal components outside the container hold and struggled to get inside. The interior of the cabin was spacious and in remarkably good condition. The silvery-white walls showed no visible scars. A soft orange light filled the space, a world away from the darkness and cold outside.
"Until we opened the cabin, the air supply and temperature were normal, and the internal stabilization system hadn't completely failed. This greatly mitigated the impact of landing." A data terminal floated behind Kevin. It was connected to the control computer in the cargo hold, capable of reading the last-second system reports before the cabin was opened. It was now reporting the situation to Kevin as it floated.
"The question is... where are the passengers?" Kevin carefully positioned himself on the tilted "floor." All around him were strange objects he didn't recognize: brackets fixed to the walls, embedded monitors, and a few odd devices scattered on the floor. These were likely built-in equipment for the cargo hold, but there was no sign of the passengers.
The cargo hold was completely empty. Where could anyone be?
Nangong Wuyue had also crawled in at this moment (she really did crawl in, or you could say she twisted herself in). Her current size wasn't very flexible, so she just watched from behind Kevin. "Where's the person?"
"I don't know. It was empty when I got in." Kevin went forward and searched among the fallen equipment and containers, but found nothing. He tapped the data terminal on the monitor on the nearby bulkhead. "This primitive display device... I'm not used to it. Let me check... There's a login record, so the passenger should still be there."
The cargo hold wasn't full, and it was obvious whether anyone was there. Kevin quickly gave up searching. He crawled outside and had the data terminal connect to Raven 12345. Nangong Wuyue soon climbed out. Inside, the siren girl had found a white ball, larger than a goose egg, from somewhere. She was playing with it with the tip of her tail while watching Kevin "make a phone call." "Hello? Kevin?" Raven 12345's lazy voice came from the data terminal. "Did you get it?"
"What the hell? The cargo hold is empty!" Kevin was frustrated. "Did you get the information wrong?"
"Empty?" Raven 12345 was suddenly shocked. "Have you looked carefully? How could it be empty?!"
"Hey, I've been looking for ages," Kevin sighed. Turning around, he saw Nangong Wuyue tossing the white ball up and down with her tail, so he jokingly said, "Found an egg!"
"Oh yeah! That's the egg!"
Nangong Wuyue's tail froze, and a snapping sounded.
Kevin: "Holy shit!!!"
Raven 12345 was startled. "What's wrong?"
"It fell to the ground!"
"Holy shit!"