Chapter 613: Eva
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Io, the planet of water, was undergoing a tremendous change. Looking down from space, almost no one would have believed what they were seeing: the ocean that covered the entire planet had quickly turned white. Thousands of white spots appeared on the ocean of Io and rapidly turned the ocean into ice, defying the known law of nature. Waves, thousands of meters high froze mid-air instantaneously while whirlpools turned into ice caves. The freezing storm carried thousands of tons of ice and snow into the air before raining back down on the glaciers that had just formed. The planet was becoming a frozen hell. Lily was shocked looking down from the Petrachelys in space.
The holographic projection in the centre of the flight deck showed the radar images under the ocean of Io. However, the visual was blurry as noise of interference oscillated on the images. The interference was the result of the topical collapse of the Wall of Reality. Though the instantaneous double explosions had closed the portal, the effect of the collapse of the Wall of Reality remained. A certain powerful force was amplifying the interference. Lily had no idea what these images meant, but she knew something was amiss. Her hair puffed up. "Please quickly think of a way, MDT! Drop me down there if can, I'm going for Mr. Landlord!"
"You're kidding me! You can't possibly dig through the dozen kilometres of ice," Vivian grabbed Lily who became panic. "MDT, what else we can do here?"
The MDT did not say a word. It quietly activated the weapon system of the Petrachelys.
The belly of the spacecraft slid open, exposing two rows of subcannons flashing in blue light. The holographic projection on the flight deck showed the visual of the ocean of Io as the MDT scanned the ocean surface. Then it found the traces of Graviton Grenades explosions, did a little bit of calculation before firing the subcannons.
The spacecraft's 'air-to-surface attack restrictions (ASAR)' had been turned off earlier as the spacecraft had determined that Planet Io contained no civilization. The MDT would not be able to use the subconnons without higher-level authorisation if ASAR was active.
Light beams shot across the space silently before mushroom clouds of vaporised ice rose up from the white surface of Io. The bombardment had created a temporary escape route in the heavy ice.
A moment later, the door to the flight deck slid open silently. Hao Ren's trembling voice was heard. "We… we made it... anyone kindly help knock the ice off my body?"
He staggered into the flight deck, covered in ice. Behind him, Y'zaks' baldhead poked out from cloud of water vapour like a glaring eye. "Help the sirens; they are frozen like ice-cream. Wuyue, you know what to do, don't you?"
Lily lunged at Hao Ren, scraping the ice off Hao Ren's body. "Mr. Landlord, you scared the hell out of me. You've scared the hell out of me! I thought I wouldn't be able to eat the braised pork that you make anymore!"
Ice fell off his body to the ground. Hao Ren finally regained mobility and stared blankly at Lily. "How could you still think of braised pork in such situation?"
Lily rubbed her nose. "I've also thought of noodles… and spare ribs."
Vivian exhaled; relieved to see Hao Ren was back. She consoled him with a smile. "You should be grateful that the husky sees you as important as her food; you mean a world to her."
Nangong Wuyue came up, checking if Hao Ren and Y'zaks was all right before she saw the three sirens behind Y'zaks. "Queen, Shaqira, and… oh well, no wonder you called them an 'ice cream bar'."
Outside the doorway, the three frozen sirens lay on the floor like ice cream bars. Carrying them manoeuvring around the corners in the corridor had been quite a challenge; it took Y'zaks and Hao Ren considerable effort to bring the three ice-cream bars from the on-board portal to the flight deck.
Wuyue came up, knocked on the ice that covered Shaqira. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Shaqira blinked and tried to spit some bubbles. Apparently, she could not; there had no liquid water in side.
The siren queen struggled to move her tail. Her tail tipped up a little.
"Hey, easy. It'll take a while to thaw," Wuyue got up to her feet. "You all will be fine."
Hao Ren carried the three sirens that looked like flagpoles into the flight deck, found a space near the wall, tied them into a bonfire tripod, and let Y'zaks grill them with fire. Hao Ren then looked up at console. "How did you break the ice?"
The MDT said with a lackadaisical voice. "A desperate measure."
Hao Ren looked at the console, and was shocked. "What the heck! You used the subconnons?"
"Cool man. Desperate times call for desperate measures. You as an inspector know that!" The MDT said wryly. "It's just the self-defence subconnons. It was a calculated targeting, completely safe. There wouldn't be a problem even if the shots hit the spot where you were as I calculated that ice layer overhead could withstand the hit."
Hao Ren: "...Dang it, I've just cheated death!"
"What have just happened?" asked Nangong Sanba, shocked. He had witnessed the planet freezing, the orbital bombing of the planet; he could no longer pretending to be smart.
"I don't know," Hao Ren spread out his hand. "Looks like we've have awakened something. Suddenly the ocean turned against us—"
Before Hao Ren could finish his sentence, Vivian screamed. "Look! Io's ice is melting! Something is coming up!"
Everyone rushed over to the monitor and saw yet another incredible phenomenon on the surface of Io: the planet that had turned into an icy sphere a while ago began to thaw. The thawing process this time was quicker than the freezing process. Hundreds of thousands of kilometres of fissures quickly spread across the planet. The gigantic glaciers began to tumble into the sea and water surged up from below and covered the planet in the blink of an eye. As Io thawed, something shocking emerged.
It was a face.
A lifelike female face on the planet.
The creepy face was entirely composed of seawater, which spanned from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere. It changed its fine details constantly as the water moved. However, 'her' eyes affixed to the Petrachelys in space, full of insanity and paranoid.
'She' opened her mouth. Immediately ice swords shooting out of the sea on both sides of the face at the Petrachelys like anti-aircraft fire. At the same time, in a frightening manner, seawater in other part of Io began to rise and form a strange 'arm' reaching out into space as if it was trying to grab the spacecraft in the orbit.
However, because of the distance, the 'icy anti-air artillery' and water arm could not keep up with the spacecraft. The Petrachelys with the black spacecraft wreckage behind it had dodged every attack, but everyone on-board was still scared to death. Lily clutched Hao Ren's arm and cried, "nnn...nnn...nnn... what's that thing?"
Hao Ren's body shield began to flicker as he tried to break free from Lily's grab. "How would I know?"
Suddenly they heard a loud crash; the siren queen, Shakira, and Soma finally thawed. They looked around in surprise. "What's wrong? Why are you people screaming?"
"What is that thing down there?" Nangong Sanba pointed to the images on the hologram. "Can anyone tell me what is in the water?"
The siren queen turned around, stunned. "This is... Eva?"