I created the Old Gods and Outer Gods in America.

2:17 a.m.

A convoy consisting of three black SUVs, two police armored vehicles, and a specially made prisoner transport vehicle was traveling on an empty interstate highway.

There were two motorcycles escorting them from the front and back. The police lights were not on, but the sheer size of the convoy was a silent declaration. The things inside the vehicles were no ordinary items.

The interior of the prison van.

Marcus Wilson's hands were locked to steel rings on both sides of the chair with specially made alloy handcuffs, and his ankles were also shackled. The length of the chains was just enough for him to change his sitting position, but not enough for him to stand up.

Two fully armed soldiers sat opposite him, wearing bulletproof vests, tactical helmets, and short-barreled assault rifles, their fingers resting on the trigger guards—a standard escort posture.

"hiss--"

A static crackled through the walkie-talkie, and the sounds of the car in front came through intermittently.

"Attention, the convoy is about to pass through the Columbia District... Several incidents have occurred in this area recently. Increase alert. Repeat, increase alert..."

Marcus raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to look at the two soldiers opposite him.

"What's going on in Columbia? Tell me about it. You know I've been locked up and can't get any information from the outside world. Is there another gang fight? Hahaha, looks like they don't take you guys seriously at all."

Neither of them even blinked.

Marcus shrugged. "Okay, okay, I get it. No talking to prisoners during missions, right? I've done this job before."

Still, no one paid any attention to him.

Marcus closed his eyes.

His smile gradually faded. He appeared optimistic on the surface, but inside he felt incredibly sad, even somewhat ridiculous.

He risked his own and his comrades' lives for the country's foolish ambitions, only to end up with nothing but this fate.

The walkie-talkie rang again.

"Warning! Unnatural water sources are beginning to appear nearby!"

"Received. Slow down and observe."

The vehicles ahead began to slow down.

Inside the prison van, the soldier on the left who hadn't spoken until now raised his hand and pressed his earpiece.

Marcus slightly opened one eye and noticed the subtle change in their expressions.

"...What's that smell?" The soldier on the right suddenly wrinkled his nose.

The person on the left also smelled it, looked up, and scanned their surroundings.

Marcus sniffed.

Fishy smell.

The strong, unmistakable fishy smell was as if someone had dumped a whole box of rotten fish on the roof of the car.

"Did one of you take off your shoes?"

Marcus had just made a joke, before the two soldiers could react.

boom--!!

A violent explosion came from the front of the convoy!

A powerful shockwave emanated from the point of explosion and began to rage outwards!

The entire prison van was thrown violently to the right by the shockwave. Marcus's body was pulled by the iron chains, and his shoulder slammed against the steel wall, making a muffled groan.

The car's interior lights flickered violently twice and then went out.

The red emergency lights came on, turning the interior of the carriage a blood-red color.

The two soldiers instantly went into combat mode, raised their weapons, and at the same time, the walkie-talkies on their chests went off.

"The convoy has been attacked! Repeat, the convoy has been attacked!"

"Car number one has been overturned! We're surrounded!"

"Fuck! Quick! Quick! Fire! Fire! Those things are getting closer!"

Hearing the voice on the walkie-talkie, the escort on the right frowned: "What's going on? Is it the local gang? Have these bastards gone mad? They even dared to attack us?"

The voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie suddenly changed tone.

"No! Not gangsters! It's—Fuck!! What are those things!? It's a group of fish...fishmen!!"

The communication abruptly stopped, leaving only the piercing noise of electrical current.

Marcus sat there, his nonchalant smile finally crumbling.

His face was completely bewildered.

What the heck?

What does it mean to be a group of fishmen?

What are you guys even talking about? What are you doing here?

He thought he had misheard, or that these people were using some kind of code or secret language.

He hadn't had time to figure this out yet.

"Bang!"

A loud noise came from above, as if something had jumped onto the armored roof, followed by the sound of metal being torn apart!

It wasn't cutting, it wasn't exploding—it was ripped apart alive!

Marcus looked up blankly. In his line of sight, two green claws pierced through the top of his armor. The armor, which could defend against missiles, was no different from paper to these claws.

As the claws slid, the armored roof of the carriage was easily torn open!

Moonlight and cold air rushed in at the same time.

A figure stood on the torn roof of the car, looking down at him against the moonlight.

The fish head, with its protruding eyeballs, reveals no emotion.

The dark green scales gleamed with a moist sheen under the moonlight.

That's not a person.

A massive and incomprehensible flood of information entered his mind, making Marcuston feel dizzy, but he did not fall into a coma. Instead, his curiosity was aroused even more, and he forced himself to lift his head and look up at the figure.

At this moment, the two soldiers realized that their professionalism did not allow them to back down. With their last bit of courage, they pointed their guns at the fishman.

Unfortunately, in the face of such an absolute disparity in strength, this courage was of no use. Just before the two soldiers were about to pull the trigger, two streams of water wrapped around their bodies, and then the sound of bones breaking was heard.

The two soldiers had no strength left to resist and were twisted into a pretzel by the water flow before being thrown aside.

After dealing with the soldiers, the two streams of water also shattered the chains binding Marcus, eventually turning into ordinary water and falling to the ground.

Even now, though Marcus didn't know exactly what was going on with the fishman, he could tell that the fishman had come to rescue him.

Marcus flexed his wrists, stood up, and peered out from the torn roof of the car.

He saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.

The highway was a scene of devastation, with the lead car burning and the flames illuminating the entire street. The surrounding civilians were thrown into chaos, with cries for help and children's screams echoing throughout the street. Dozens of dark green figures were fighting with the remaining guards.

A guard fired a shotgun at close range, hitting a merman in the chest. The merman only took half a step back. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the merman's body was covered with a layer of water. After the bullet entered the water, it seemed to be stopped by some special force and could not go any further. Then, the merman punched the guard and his gun into the concrete guardrail by the roadside!

Seeing this, Kriel nodded in satisfaction. Not all fishmen had learned to control water; he had prepared many of the fishmen's water shields, and it seemed to be working quite well.

On the other side, three fishmen were working together to overturn an armored SUV. The people inside were still firing their guns, and the bullets shot out of the windows, hitting the water layer that enveloped the fishmen without causing any damage.

The armored SUV was flipped over.

Upon seeing this, the officers in the armored vehicle gripped their walkie-talkies and began yelling, "Headquarters! Headquarters! We've been attacked by a large-scale merman attack! At least thirty! Conventional weapons are ineffective! Repeat, conventional weapons are ineffective! We need heavy..."

Before he could finish speaking, the police officer was dragged out by a fishman and punched to pieces.

From the corpse's hand, a voice could still be heard from the other end of the walkie-talkie:

"Fish...fishmen? Are you sure you didn't misspoke? What do you mean you were attacked by fishmen?"