The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

After a brief moment of shock, all the gunners and engineers aimed their cannons and cutting arms at the massive hull that was entangled by dark tentacles.

"Fire!"

The hundreds of giant cannons and thousands of cutting arms spawned by the "Armed Spawn" system simultaneously unleashed their firepower on Ark One!

Boom boom boom——!
The scorching plasma shells and sharp cutting beams bombarded the living alloy armor, sending sparks flying everywhere. Countless metal fragments and biological tissues were torn apart and peeled off in the violent explosion!
The dark tentacle seemed to have not expected its "prey" to be so fierce, and for a moment it was slightly loosened by the impact of the sudden explosion.

It's now!

"Stripping process, start!" Hephaestus hissed.

A loud "crack" was heard!
With a final, violent explosion, a large chunk of the massive ship's armor, already riddled with holes from the artillery fire, along with the still frantically contracting tentacle, was violently torn off the hull.

A brave man cuts off his own arm, a gecko cuts off its tail!
Like a caged beast breaking free from its cage, Ark One instantly escaped that terrifying dragging force.

"Alright, now! Activate the [Clock of Order] again, at maximum power!" Hephaestus shouted.

When the Bell of Order was activated again, the black tentacle that was gripping the ship's armor was restrained due to the effects of the stripped-off hull.

"Shift the fire, launch a full-scale attack, and at the same time... detonate the armor!" As soon as Hephaestus finished giving his latest order, everyone finally understood his series of plans.

This is clearly an attempt to use the binding power of the [Clock of Order] combined with the psychic explosive effect of the living armor to deliver a fatal blow to the Black Hand tentacles!
boom--

The explosion created a massive vortex within the trench, but Hephaestus had no time to worry about the ultimate fate of the black tentacles. Without even a moment's hesitation, he immediately ordered the shutdown of the already crumbling [Spatial Imprisonment Field], diverting all remaining energy to the thrusters!
"Full speed ahead!"

The stern of Ark One unleashed a powerful thrust, propelling it further into the deep sea.

"Energy reserves...18%."

"The ship's structure... compartments 7 through 9 are severely damaged, with 32% of the outer armor missing and five main power pipelines broken..."

After shaking off the pursuers, Ark One came to a stop on a relatively flat seabed.

Inside the command center, a barrage of battle damage reports poured in.

Although they managed to escape and destroy a section of the black tentacle in this battle, the price they paid was equally heavy.

"The engineering team should begin emergency repairs immediately. The self-repair mechanism of the living alloy will take time." Hephaestus began to arrange for the engineering team to handle the aftermath.

The repair lasted for two weeks. Although it took a lot of time, the self-healing ability of Ark One was beyond doubt.

As they continued to descend deeper into the seabed, Hermes, who had been responsible for navigation, suddenly issued a warning.

"Arrived at... target coordinates."

Everyone looked up and peered through the porthole.

Not far in front of them, on what should have been an endless, desolate seabed ten thousand meters deep, a huge hemispherical energy shield radiating a soft, dreamlike blue light appeared quietly before them, like an inverted crystal bowl on the seabed.

The inside of the protective shield is not seawater, but a world teeming with life.

“The logbook records… the first ecosystem,” Ellie said softly, her eyes filled with awe.

"Hermes, try to match the passage frequency of the forerunner."

"Frequency matching in progress... Match successful. Sending 'friendly' identification signal..."

A few seconds later, the massive blue shield rippled like water, opening an entrance large enough for the entire Ark One to pass through.

As Ark One slowly entered, everyone held their breath the moment it passed through the protective shield.

It was as if I had stepped from a noisy and oppressive black-and-white world into a vibrant and colorful paradise.

Clusters of crystals, emitting a soft white light, form the skeleton of this underwater city like towering trees. Countless experimental buildings from the pioneering era, imbued with a futuristic style, maintain their intact structures under the faint glow of the crystals, intertwined with strange seaweed emitting iridescent colors. Between these buildings are "streets" made of seawater.

All the light and energy in the entire ecosystem comes from the Geothermal Energy Tower, which rises from a giant underwater volcano at the very center and extends to the top of the protective shield.

"Wow, Atlantis, huh?" Shen Ge stood in front of the huge porthole in the main control room, looking at the amazing underwater scenery before him, and couldn't help but tease.

Just then, a "patrol" of dozens of people riding genetically modified giant seahorses swiftly emerged from the shadows of the distant crystal building and blocked the way for Ark No. 1.

Kyle's reconnaissance team immediately sent back their latest report, their voices filled with astonishment: "Sir! There... there is intelligent life here! Not purely human, but... the descendants of 'modified humans'!"

The warriors, though retaining basic human forms, had skin covered in fine, shimmering scales; behind their ears were gills that could open and close freely; and between their hands and feet were translucent webs. They wielded tridents and spears crafted from luminous crystals, and their armor was made from the most durable skull of the Dunkleosteus.

Putting aside the characteristics that better fit "fish-men" and the unique beauty of the Alai family, the Alai family and the descendants of these cyborgs are more like "one family".

The patrol was led by a tall, stern-faced warrior with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. He wielded a crystal trident larger than the others, and his giant seahorse was also more imposing than theirs.

He slowly raised his head, his deep blue eyes, like those of the deep sea, filled with vigilance and scrutiny even through the thick seawater and energy shield.

Shen Ge walked to the front of the bridge and signaled Hephaestus to activate holographic communication.

The next second, a half-body image of Shen Ge, composed of light and shadow, appeared above the bow of Ark No. 1, clearly presented to the patrol team.

“Gurgle gurgle… Chirp chirp chirp…” The captain, whose forehead had a lightning bolt scar, was clearly shocked by this way of communicating.

He raised the crystal trident in his hand and said a series of words to Shen Ge's holographic image.

"..." Shen Ge really wanted to say something in plain language, but it was obviously inappropriate in this situation. Perhaps it was because they had lived in this area for too long, or perhaps it was because of a series of changes, but it seemed that they had not even been able to pass on the simplest "language".

"Language database match failed. Preliminary assessment: similarity to any known human language is less than 5%. However... sir, their pronunciation style overlaps with one of the Precursors' voiceprint records by 17%!" Hephaestus reported immediately.

"Then let's start by deciphering the language model recorded by the pioneers. Analyze their lip movements, sound wave frequencies, and strange energy fluctuations," Shen Ge said.

"Yes!" Hermes' core computing power was instantly mobilized to its maximum.

During the few minutes of waiting for the code to be deciphered, Shen Ge simply stared at Cass in silence.

This detached calmness and confidence, ironically, made the patrol captain's originally wary gaze gradually become serious.

Twenty minutes later, Hermes' voice rang out: "Initial decryption complete, synchronous translation system is now online."

Shen Ge attempted a simple conversation with the patrol team leader. Although the translation system still had many minor issues, it at least allowed both parties to communicate in a basic manner.

According to the patrol captain, his name was "Cass" and he was the current leader of the "Deep Divers".

"People from...land...why have you come?"

"Just finding a way," Shen Ge said succinctly.

Cass's blue eyes were fixed on Shen Ge, as if he were confirming something.

After a long while, he slowly put down the trident in his hand and performed an ancient salute to Shen Ge, placing the weapon horizontally in front of his chest.

The guards behind him also laid down their weapons.

His attitude surprised everyone. It wasn't hostility, but a complex mix of awe, vigilance, and a sense of destiny, which left Shen Ge completely bewildered.

He hasn't even shown his Conqueror's Haki yet, so how could he have submitted?

"So... the prophecy was true."

“Our ancestors, the great ‘Creator,’ left behind the final divine oracle.”

“When the ‘steel behemoth’ above the sea beats again because of its wounds…” Cass’s gaze swept over the externally lodged, monstrous heart of Ark One.

"A 'King of the Land' who 'bears the shadow of devouring stars' will break free from the shackles of the abyss and descend upon this place."

"His arrival will determine whether the slumbering 'Heart of Winter' will be fully awakened, plunging the world into eternal silence, or whether a completely new 'choice' will be made."

"..."

Uh.

Has my figure become so majestic?

When Shen Ge heard Cass’s prophecy, which was full of charlatanism, he was both amused and exasperated. But what surprised him was that if the so-called “prophecy” was true, then there were indeed many things that matched the characteristics of Ark One.

"So what is the 'Heart of Winter'? And what are you protecting?" Shen Ge asked.

After confirming Shen Ge's "identity", Cass seemed to no longer hide anything and invited Shen Ge and the others to their main control room located under the geothermal energy tower.

There, through ancient crystal murals, he revealed to the crowd this ecosystem, a shocking secret that their people had guarded for generations.

“‘The Heart of Winter’ is neither an object nor an energy source.” Cass pointed to a mural depicting a giant spiraling creature, his tone extremely solemn.

“It is ‘alive.’ An ancient… ‘god’ capable of freezing the entire planet.”

"According to ancestral records, every unconscious 'breath' it takes will trigger global cooling and energy tides on this planet, which is one of the sources of the apocalypse."

“Our ancestors, our forerunners, did not have the power to kill it. They could only use the power of their entire civilization, utilizing the energy of this geothermal energy tower and the entire ecosystem, to build a massive ‘sedation device,’ forcibly plunging it into eternal slumber.”

"And our 'Deep Divers' clan was created with the sole mission of guarding this 'tranquilizing device' generation after generation, ensuring that the 'Heart of Winter' will never awaken."

Hephaestus and the others were deeply shocked after hearing this secret.

The seemingly idyllic place beneath their feet was actually a massive "cage" suppressing a planetary-level natural disaster!
“But recently…” Cass’s expression grew increasingly grim, “the ‘sedation device’ has shown signs of instability.”

“Some ‘outsiders’ who don’t belong here are interfering with the operation of the device. They seem to want to awaken the ‘Heart of Winter’!”

He took out a recording crystal and projected a blurry image. It showed a group of "New God" followers dressed in white priestly robes and with their faces covered in pulsating nerve masks, performing some kind of evil ritual in an abandoned observation station.

"It's them again," Hephaestus and the others exclaimed in surprise.

“We fought them for months, but they were like venomous snakes in the shadows, slippery and extremely cunning.”

Cass's tone carried a hint of pleading: "'King of the Land,' the prophecy foretold that you would bring 'choice.' Now I beg you, help us to rid the world of these blasphemers who seek to destroy it!"

A common enemy instantly created a basis for cooperation between Ark One and the Deep Ones.

Shen Ge decided to deal with the New God Cult before studying the "Heart of Winter," because they had indeed been quite annoyed by the New God Cult in recent months.

These flies are persistent; I always feel that they are closely related to each and every "accident".

Inside the control room of the "Deep Diver," a three-dimensional combat map jointly drawn by "Hermes" and the "Deep Diver" was projected onto a crystal round table.

“According to our reconnaissance,” Cass said, pointing to an abandoned building shaped like a giant eyeball perched on an underwater cliff at the other end of the ecosystem, “the ‘Outsiders’ base is located in this ‘First Observatory’ from the Forerunner era.”

Hephaestus continued, his screen displaying energy fluctuation curves from the geothermal energy tower: "According to the data from the detection and the Deep Ones, in three days the 'Heart of Winter' will enter its once-in-a-century 'shallow dormancy period,' at which time the 'tranquilizing device's' suppressive field will reach its weakest point. This is both the best time for our operation and the deadline for them to carry out the 'awakening' ritual."

three days later.

The entire ecosystem's light crystals entered a low-power "dormant mode," with dim light providing the best cover for infiltration operations.

In the underwater dock of Ark One, Kyle, Roca, and ten elite team members equipped with specially designed deep-sea "Predator" vehicles were ready to go.

Beside them, Cass and his twenty most valiant "Deepdiver" elite guards, hand in hand, stood ready with their crystal weapons, awaiting orders. (End of Chapter)