The villains are redeemed, and the heroines cry and beg for forgiveness.

After a while, the Queen's soul sighed, "You're right. Three hundred years has passed. Anything can happen at any time. What I didn't expect was that even with such a legacy, the merfolk could not escape decline."

Gu Ran's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "Do you know how this ruin came to be? How did the merfolk obtain it?"

Seeing that they remained silent, Gu Ran continued, "Do you really think that possessing this relic is good for the merfolk? The merfolk not only depend on this relic, but they also have to feed it with their own flesh and soul. This will only make the merfolk more and more dependent. At the same time, the most talented merfolk are constantly being lost in the relic, which will eventually lead to the decline of the merfolk."

"Do you still think this ruin is good for the merfolk?"

The souls of several merfolk ancestors were startled and terrified.

They had never thought of it this way before; the ruins that allowed the mermaid race to give birth to an empress actually had such serious drawbacks.

"This relic has been passed down since the time of the first empress a thousand years ago. As for how it came to be, much information has been lost due to the passage of time, so we don't know," the empress's spirit suddenly said, changing the subject.

Gu Ran was somewhat disappointed. He had originally hoped to get some information from them to see if he could better understand the ruins, control the control center, and rescue Xiao Hailuo. However, he did not expect to only get useless information that the ruins had existed for more than a thousand years.

"You just said that the mermaid you fell in love with has been judged as having failed the challenge by the ruins?" The Queen's soul sounded somewhat wistful. "If that's really the case, then you'd better prepare yourself."

"Because losers don't gain the same power and soul as winners, they merge with the ruins more quickly, becoming nourishment for them. Especially since I heard you say that the merfolk's talent is quite poor these days, they merge even faster."

Gu Ran's expression changed, and the injury that had been stopped was aggravated, making his face look even worse.

"Then...cough cough...how should I save her?"

The empress's spirit said, "It's simple. If her soul is still intact, then find her body. If it hasn't been long, the soul and body should be able to merge on their own. If it's been a long time, or if the body has been destroyed, then the body must be reconstructed."

"If the soul is already damaged, it must be repaired! Even if it's not her own soul, it can be repaired, although there will be some side effects, but this is the last and only option. Unless you are an esper with some special soul ability and can do better, you'd better do as I say."

Gu Ran's eyes lit up. It seemed he had made the right bet. The souls of these merfolk ancestors were indeed no longer concerned about the damage to the ruins and had come to help him.

Gu Ran immediately said, "Okay, I will obey, but I need to find her soul right now, otherwise it's all just talk."

The Queen's spirit pointed to the wandering spirits on the side: "Go look over there, those are the most recent spirits."

Gu Ran turned her head and looked over, her face showing surprise: "Okay, I'll be right there. Thank you for showing me the way."

"By the way, what's your name? You've helped me so much, I don't even know how to address you."

Gu Ran expressed her heartfelt gratitude.

The empress's spirit replied calmly, "You can call me Her Majesty the Empress, or you can call me... Ariel."

100. The Origin of "Ariel," the Final Level of Access! 4.1k

Outside the light screen.

Upon hearing this name, all the powerful figures present looked at Ariel in surprise.

Did they hear it correctly?

The mermaid queen who had been dead for many years and whose only remaining soul was also named Ariel.

So who is this Ariel now?

Could it be someone with the same name?

That's not impossible, since there are only so many commonly used names, so there's a chance of having the same name.

Ariel frowned; she couldn't be sure either.

"Ariel" did appear, but it wasn't her.

Because the "history" and "knowledge" of the merfolk are passed down orally, and often become less and less relevant over time, Ariel cannot be certain whether there was actually a queen in the history of the merfolk who shared the same name as her, "Ariel."

However, she was certain that there was absolutely no other mermaid named "Ariel" besides herself.

"Wait a minute, isn't 'Ariel' the title of the merfolk's queens throughout history? Every queen has been called 'Ariel,' but because the merfolk don't pay attention to keeping records, and the most learned old merfolk at the time committed suicide, no merfolk knew about this rule anymore?"

someone suddenly asked.

This situation also exists among humans. For example, in the famous city of Xiluo, the chief ruler is not called the chief ruler, but Caesar.

"But if no one knows this rule anymore, then why is the Sea Queen still called 'Ariel'?" someone asked.

"Uh..." The person who made the hypothesis was speechless.

So the powerful figures present once again turned their attention to Ariel.

Ariel remained silent.

Because she was also unaware of the situation.

She only remembered that she had been called "Ariel" since she was a child.

......

In the light screen.

Queen Ariel continued, "Every mermaid queen inherits the name 'Ariel,' because the first mermaid queen was named Ariel. Therefore, after the first mermaid queen, 'Ariel' became another name, or rather, a title, for all subsequent mermaid queens."

After hearing the explanation of the Empress's soul, Gu Ran nodded and headed towards the place she mentioned to search for the little conch's soul.

These souls, which still possess physical forms, all look different, but you can still see the excellent appearance they had in life.

However, Gu Ran had no intention of appreciating their beauty. After taking a good look, he quickly scanned them without lingering for even a second.

"Why are there none at all?"

Gradually, Gu Ran became somewhat anxious.

If it weren't for the small conch shell, given Gu Ran's composure and mental fortitude, it would have been impossible for her to lose her composure in such a short time.

When he eliminated the last soul, his heart sank completely.

"Didn't find it?" Queen Ariel and the few remaining sane mermaid souls floated over.

Gu Ran nodded quickly: "I've already looked through it all, and the soul I'm looking for isn't in it at all! Do you know why?"

Ariel frowned, thought for a moment, and her expression became much more serious: "Let's search in the remaining directions. If we still can't find it, then we may have encountered the worst possible outcome."

What's the worst possible outcome?

Gu Ran took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

Although he really didn't want to hear the worst possible outcome, he couldn't let himself get flustered, otherwise it wouldn't help and might even affect his ability to analyze the problem.

Gu Ran didn't dare to delay any longer and quickly went to scan and search the locations of the soul groups in other directions.

After he finished examining the souls in the last direction, his heart sank to the bottom, and his face turned extremely pale.

"None of them!"

What happened to the little conch?

Gu Ran looked at the "Ariel" and the other souls beside him and quickly asked, "I've already checked all the souls, why aren't any of them the target I'm looking for?"

Queen Ariel pondered for a moment and said, "You should have thought of it too. If none of the souls here are what you're looking for, then she should... have completely merged with the ruins, which means she's completely 'dead' and completely 'disappeared'."

Gu Ran stood there, stunned.

He absolutely could not accept this outcome.

"Why is this happening? Your era is so ancient, and you haven't fully merged with the ruins yet, while she's only a recent challenger who entered the ruins. Why has she completely disappeared?" Gu Ran asked, looking at Queen Ariel.

Ariel pondered for a moment and asked, "Actually, there's nothing strange about that. Your lover isn't an isolated case. There have been many similar examples in the history of the merfolk."

"Throughout history, countless merfolk have entered the ruins as challengers. Some succeeded, and some failed. Successful challengers become the controllers of the ruins and can make full use of them. However, this is not without its price: the more frequently the ruins are used, the more bound they become to them."

"When one is about to die due to serious injury or other reasons, one will automatically enter the ruins and become a part of them. However, the stronger one is before death, the clearer one's intelligence will be after becoming a part of the ruins, and the longer one will remain."

"As for those who fail in the challenge, the outcome is usually cruel. First, their strength is definitely not high. Second, if they fail in the challenge, their strength will definitely have been severely damaged. For all these reasons, they will be the first souls to be merged with the ruins."

"However, according to common sense, even the loser of the challenge should not be able to merge with the ruins so quickly, unless the other party actively speeds up the merging with the ruins, but how is that possible? As long as there is still intelligence, they will usually choose to continue to retain their intelligence, so why would they actively speed up their 'complete death'?"

Unless the other party actively accelerates its integration with the ruins?

Gu Ran felt as if struck by lightning. He suddenly remembered something the little conch had said.

"At the moment I am merged with the ruins, I should be able to control them for a short time. I will then open a passage for you to leave the ruins, and you must leave immediately at that time."

Gu Ran murmured, "You're so silly."

Seeing Gu Ran's expression, Queen Ariel stopped speaking: "It seems you already understand the reason."

Gu Ran found himself trapped in a dead end. Every time he was overjoyed and thought he was about to untie the knot, he found that it was all an illusion, and the knot only got tighter.

Fate was watching him with mockery.

"Is there really no way at all? If she has merged with the ruins, is there really no way to save her?" Gu Ran asked Queen Ariel with resentment.

Queen Ariel sighed, "If we're really talking about solutions, there are indeed solutions, but they're essentially the same as no solutions at all."

"Although I don't want to see such a sad situation, reality is sometimes so cruel that it cannot be changed according to the will of any intelligent being."

"What method?!" Gu Ran asked anxiously, as if grasping at a last straw.

As for what "Ariel" said in front of him, he pretended not to hear it at all.

No matter what difficulties he faces, he will do his best to overcome them.

"As you probably already know, this ruin is a product of some kind of technology. Although I once 'mastered' it, there are still many mysteries surrounding it that I haven't figured out," Queen Ariel said. "I can't even say that I've ever fully controlled this ruin."

"Because this relic has always had a final layer of access that I haven't been granted, I suspect that previous successful challengers, like me, haven't obtained that final layer of access. And with that layer of access, I speculate, one can do anything to this relic, including self-destruction."

"So if we can obtain the final level of authority, then separating a weak soul from the ruins—if this is possible, then the ruins certainly won't refuse to do it."

"But let alone a human like you, even mermaids, even those who have successfully challenged and mastered the ruins, cannot obtain the final level of access. So I say that although this method exists, it is essentially useless."