The Record of Unusual Creatures

Surprised, Hao Ren looked at the siren queen who was standing next to him. "Eva? What is Eva?"     

"In our legend, we believe that the ocean's original consciousness created the siren race. The original consciousness is called Eva and all sirens are pieces of Eva. Eva is asleep in the 'Mother Water'; every wave and tsunami in the sea is Eva's breath, and every lightning strike on the water is Eva's gaze," the siren queen explained. Her voice was reverend. She came closer to look at the hologram. "No known scripture has ever described Eva's appearance, but if she really exists... I believe she would look like this. Most sirens imagine Eva like this."     

Io's surface was turbulent, and the "she" looked even angrier. A great amount of seawater had left the surface of the planet and extended into space forming a frighteningly strange arm.     

Hao Ren was using an instrument to scan the energy flow in the ocean. "Ancient legend? You've forgotten everything about your homeworld, yet you still remember this Eva?" Hao Ren asked in surprise.     

"Because the legend itself only came about after we arrived on Earth." The siren queen shook her head. "Perhaps some memories of our homeworld were still in our subconscious until they imperceptibly became about Eva…"     

Vivian knitted her brows together. "That means you don't really know what it is?"     

"Whatever she is, she's obviously angry now..." Hao Ren said quickly. "Her attack is incoming!"     

The ice flying out of Io's surface accelerated to subluminal speed under the influence of some supernatural forces. It began to bombard the Petrachelys' shield, and shattered into millions of ice shards. It looked like a scene inside a comet's tail. The ship's shield glinted, but it was stable. Hao Ren let out a sigh of relief. "Phew... looks like the attack has done little damage."     

The MDT shouted, "But our samples have been smashed!"     

"Oh sh*t!" Hao Ren turned around and was astonished: the black battleship, which he worked so hard to bring out from the seabed was in the line of fire. The shells traveling at subliminal speed hit the black crystal slabs on the spacecraft, sending debris flying into deep space. "Get it out of there quickly!"     

As soon as his voice trailed off, he saw a light flash in the belly of the black battleship. The light burst out in an explosion, shattering the wreckage, which was dozens of kilometers like a string of exploding firecrackers.     

Hao Ren remembered the warhead that exploded in the Zalazarn wreckage. He knew the black battleship's arsenal had been hit.     

Debris from the explosion crashed onto the Petrachelys' shield. Lily murmured, "...It's too late to get out of there."     

Even after the black battleship shattered into pieces, Io-Eva's attack did not stop one bit. Instead, it launched more ice shells towards the Petrachelys at subluminal speed. Obviously, the Petrachelys now became "her" sole target. Hao Ren scrambled to check the spacecraft's shield life; the capacity was dropping. He immediately ordered an evasive maneuver while he yelled to the MDT, "Have you found out what that thing is?"     

"Boss, you may not believe this..." The MDT paused its voice for a moment. "But, she looks like a siren."     

"What?"     

"She's a siren; super huge, super powerful, and as large as a planet... A siren," the MDT sounded less mouthy this time. "I have a record of the characteristic spectrum of the sirens. I can now confirm that she's a siren. The whole Io is a siren!"     

Shaqira and Sorma hugged each other, horrified (they were literally curled up into a ball). Something seemed to have crossed Nangong Wuyue's mind as she muttered to herself, "Water is amorphous... "     

Meanwhile, the siren queen nodded. "This is Eva."     

Io-Eva's violent attacks continued, while the tiny Petrachelys dodged the furious attacks from the planet like a moth. The planet completely distorted itself into an appalling face. Aside from the face, two-thirds of its water had also shot far out into space, forming countless arms and tentacles, which looked almost like corals. Dense, subluminal ice missiles were launched from them to envelope the entire space. The ocean had detached itself from the planet, exposing the solid, ancient surface of the planet below. The siren kingdom with history worth thousands under its belt and the even more ancient submarine shoals were exposed on the "surface". They received sunshine for the first time since the planet's formation. The phenomenon was weird to the extreme, beyond any common sense, and the wildest, most absurd primitive myths could ever describe.     

However, it was what Hao Ren had to face at the moment.     

"I need to warn you," the MDT shouted amid a series of alarm sounds. "This siren is resorting to magic now. She is becoming cleverer! She's probably completely awake!"     

Outside the spacecraft, aside from the subluminal ice missiles, the water arms, which extended into space were emitting a glow. Shortly after, a large amount of laser-like beams hit the Petrachelys and immediately triggered the alarm system throughout the spacecraft: The recharging rate of the shield had fallen below the discharge rate, and the power reactor was about to reach its limit.     

Hao Ren turned and asked the siren queen loudly. "Will you mind if I open fire at your god?"     

The siren queen froze for a moment before she responded, "I... Well, okay, since we have no other choice..."     

"Thank you for your cooperation." Hao Ren quickly launched the control console. "All weapons online!"     

The main cannon and subcannons extended under the weapons bay before firing indiscriminately at the arms of water. The water arms broke into splashes before they reformed. The water arms reformed so fast that they overwhelmed the Petrachelys' subcannons.     

"This isn't a warship... We can't fight it here!" Nangong Wuyue had curled herself up into a ball in the corner. "Can we find another strategy?"     

Hao Ren checked the shield's capacity; he knew that the Petrachelys could turn around and flee, but the shield could still hold on for some time. He looked at Io-Eva, and felt that he should not flee just yet.     

He wanted to find out what this "siren" was.     

Y'zaks suddenly said thoughtfully, "Perhaps ... this is the sirens who didn't manage to escape, and remained in Io."     

Hao Ren's eyebrows twitched. "Huh?"     

"The collective soul phenomenon. Y'zaks pointed at the furious planet. "When certain talented, intelligent races are faced with a catastrophic disaster, there's a chance that their sense of crisis would spawn an instinct. Their spirituality would resonate with something similar to the collective consciousness. The collective consciousness would then strive to avoid total extinction. Even if individuals of this race haven't perceived its existence, it'd still produce various miracles—this is why when crisis hits, some races suddenly inspire certain natural talents of survival. It's not from the power of individual geniuses, but the will to live of the entire race."     

Speaking of this, Y'zaks turned his head around and looked at the four sirens on board (who had curled into a ball). "This phenomenon happens to sirens most likely because they are amorphous, which means the relationship between their soul and flesh isn't rigid. They also have an immortal characteristic, meaning that their souls are tougher than the flesh. The spirituality of such creatures can easily be detached and produced..."     

Hao Ren turned to look at the holographic projection. "...Eva."     

"What happened to her?" Vivian asked loudly.     

"The spirit of the race became a restless soul," Y'zaks' voice was low. "She failed to prevent the end of days. Her components died on the planet, so she directly transformed into a massive restless soul. Because of the immortality of sirens, this restless soul fully retained the powers of a living soul."     

Explosions never stopped outside the spacecraft as high-energy beams constantly struck the shield. Hao Ren looked at the alarm message on the console. "Well, MDT, how much time do we have?"     

"An hour. We're dealing with a whole race plus a whole planet. It's impossible for such a small spacecraft to hold up for too long," replied the MDT. "What are you going to do?"     

"I want to talk to Eva." Hao Ren got to his feet. "This restless soul was the prime witness of the catastrophe that happened 10,000 years ago."