Chapter 341: Back to Where You Came From
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Blood Lake was calm, so calm that the surface of the ruby-red lake only had a few indiscernable ripples. However, beneath the surface, the body of water was quickly experiencing some disturbance. Nangong Wuyue had shapeshifted into a siren and she swished her tail as she led the expedition to the bottom. Behind her was a large group of little green people, Hao Ren and the rest of her buddies.
"It looks like the bottom hasn't changed." Hao Ren kept his eyes on the lake bottom as they descended quickly. The place appeared the same since the last time they were there. Two months had already past since then, but the search for the Orb of the Holy Synod had yet to expand to the bottom of the lake. "Wuyue, is your magic sphere still there?"
Nangong Wuyue's long tail was swishing back and forth in front of him. She slowed down a little and said, "Yup, it's till there. No one touched it."
Shortly after, a soft sound was heard coming from behind them; it was Lil Pea. She rolled and swam around, overtaking Hao Ren as well as circling the team like a loach gone mad. She still remembered the last time she was there and she was happy to be back again. Nangong Wuyue looked at the little mermaid and smiled. "Mermaids belong to the water. And, she looks like she's grown one size up again, hasn't she? The pot's probably a little small by now?"
Hao Ren twitched his lips. "I've gotten her a big aquarium, but she doesn't seem to like it very much."
The whole incident involving the experiment two days ago had turned Lil Pea into a focal point. No one knew when her other new abilities would manifest and throw her into danger. So, Hao Ren could not let Lil Pea out of his sight. He had to bring her along into The Plane of Dreams; the Dimensional Pocket was a great device, in which he could stuff Lil Pea and the big aquarium together.
However, the little one was so much like a wild horse, especially in the water—she would outrun everyone. In the water, no one could tame her except Nangong Wuyue.
They quickly reached the centre of the lake, where the underwater beach strewn with pebbles lay. Following the signs Nangong Wuyue left behind previously, they were able to find the site of the wreckage. A large shadow began to materialise before them and Kabala as well as the little green men sped towards it. Someone began to shout, "This is the one! This is the spaceship!"
Hao Ren came close to the wreckage and checked the surrounding area before he took things out from his Dimensional Pocket. "Let's get to work!"
The lake bottom began to be filled with a large number of strange machinery and without wasting any time, Kabala's salvage crew slipped into the machines. Large machines with robotic arms then began digging around the wreckage. The first step was to dislodge the spaceship from the ground; the second step would be to paste the marker beacons at key parts on the spaceship. They had been rehearsing this operation for the past two days, so the little green men were quick in their actions. It looked like the spaceship would be out of the bottom in no time.
The spaceship's salvage operation under the lake's complex environment was an incredible feat for the natives of The Plane of Dreams. But to Kerbalians, their technology was obviously more than enough to handle the job. Their salvaging machinery had big but snappy multi-sectional robotic arms. They had no difficulties in performing their work even under the huge water pressure. However, the movement of the machines caused quite a strong turbulence around the area and unsettled the surrounding body of water. Nangong Wuyue had anticipated this. She spread her hands out, fused with the water within the radius of several kilometres to calm the turbulence. She prevented the activity at the bottom of the lake from causing ripples on the surface.
Lily, on the other hand was paddling around the wreckage site like a pompous site supervisor. Spinning her tail like a propeller was her own original creation. Vivian could not help but scoff at her. "Can't you just sit still? It's alright if you can't help, but please don't cause trouble."
"I'm not causing trouble!" Lily's tail spun as she came up. She wiggled her nose and said, "I smell a weird stench nearby."
"A weird stench?" Vivian furrowed her eyebrows. "Could it be a fuel leakage? Didn't that already happen the last time we were here?"
Lily stretched her neck, trying to trace the source of the smell. "Nope, it's not just that fuel smell... something else is in the water."
Hao Ren noticed the seriousness on Lily's face and he became instantly nervous: the husky may not have shone in other areas, but when it came to her nose, she had never messed up before. He quickly threw Nangong Wuyue a glance and said to her, "Does Lily's nose work in the water? How sensitive is it?"
"With the help of my magic sphere, she's as good as when she's on dry land." But, Nangong Wuyue shook her head and said, "However, I haven't detected any harmful elements in the water."
"No matter what, just be careful," Y'zaks spoke in a soft, calm voice. "Our understanding of the lake is too little. The lake is known as a holy lake and I'm sure there's a reason for the name. Keep an eye on your daughter; she's defiant. But as long as she doesn't wander off, we will have one less thing to worry about."
A feeling of embarrassment hit Hao Ren. He quickly grabbed the little mermaid as she swam playfully around him. Catching the little mermaid under water was not as easy because it was slippery. He was thinking of bringing along a fish net next time...
Lil Pea turned her head to look at Hao Ren, curious at what was happening. She then tried to get away, but failed. Hao Ren got wise this time and he grabbed her by her upper body where it wasn't as slippery.
Meanwhile, salvaging work was progressing pretty quickly. The little green men had not only brought their insanely powerful machines, but also a resonant dislodging device. The rocks around the spaceship had been dug out, and the sight of the spaceship rocking in the water was pretty scary. Nonetheless, the powerful digging machines used a large amount of cables to keep the wreckage from rolling down the top of the rock formation.
Once the body of the spaceship was out of the rocky bottom, another team of Kerbalian engineers rode in their mini, oval-shaped machines, ready to proceed with the second step of their salvage operation. They began to affix a metal devices, which glowed with a silver light on different parts of the spaceship's body. The metal devices had the stylings of the Xi Ling Empire. Their silver, metal surface had a moving blue light and it looked especially beautiful yet strange in the blood-red lake water. These little devices were the key to bringing the whole spaceship out of The Plane of Dreams.
The little green people did not need to haul the spaceship out of the water. They just needed to place enough markers on the wreckage. These marker beacons were specially made for this operation. They were auxillary devices that came together with the silver cubes and they possessed the function of transferring large-sized cargo from The Plane of Dreams. It was so much easier to bring stuff out than send stuff into The Plane of Dreams. That was why Hao Ren was not worried about leaving Big Beardy and company on the shore. The whole salvage operation would not take a very long time.
"Watch out, be careful... Keep an eye on the cable. Maintain the tension... Pull it up a little..." The engineering head was issuing his final instructions. Knowing that the salvage operation was almost done, Kabala swam up to Hao Ren and said, "It's about time to begin the teleportation."
Hao Ren nodded in acknowledgement. "We're not going out with you. The crew in Kuiper Station will assist you once you're back out. The wreckage will be sent directly to the main maintenance dock in the space station. Lulu will lead you over there."
"Thank you very much for your help." Kabala rocked his head as he said, "By the way, could we stay a little while longer so that we can sightsee a little? We'll just linger near the orbit."
Hao Ren rolled his eyes. "Just leave!"
The wreckage was finally beacon-marked. The beacons flashed in unison for 10 seconds before the wreckage and the little green people slowly vanished into the darkness.
In a flash accompanied by a spatial warp, the alien spaceship, which had been laying at the bottom of the Beinz Blood Lake for months was gone before Hao Ren's eyes. A large underwater crater was the only thing left.
Lake water collapsed back onto into the void left behind by the vanishing wreckage. Hence, there was immense water pressure on the rocky bottom. For a moment, a muffled, thunderous sound filled the whole area, resonating in and out of the water as well as in the nearby forest.
Big Beardy and his friends looked at each other, feeling clueless and hapless.